Next: We are Scattered

We practice our value of Next when we are able to say yes to God.

This is the last value: Next. The idea behind next is to encourage us to follow Christ in faith to whatever it is He is calling us to. The idea behind next is that while we want to understand what it means for us to live in community as a church we also want to be watchful for what it is God is doing so we can follow Him.

We may not realize it but we are all taking queues from each other on how to act. On what to say or not say, on what is appropriate or not. We are constantly learning from the things in our environment. You are taking queues from whatever environment you are in, no matter what.

A couple of months ago there was cctv footage shown of a group of cafe goers who seem to be fleeing the scene because of something horrendous following them.

Let’s watch it. You see the cafe goers and then a group running through the outdoor dining. Then you see people from the cafe looking behind them and getting up and running in the same direction, seeming to flee from something. Everyone gets up en masse.

But let’s watch it again. Let me show you what really happened. The first group to run through here is a crossfit gym. They are exercising. Some cafegoers mistake the exercise for fleeing and run away with them.

There was never any trouble, just some people taking queues from their environment.

We all do this, maybe not following Cross fitters but we do follow others. We practice next all the time even when we don’t know it.

So we want to be clear about who it is we are following into Next. We are paying attention and listening to God for what He has for us.

When we reach out to someone else in service or hospitality we are practicing next

When we share our testimony with someone, we are practicing next.

When we help other people to follow Jesus, whether here at home or across borders, we are practicing next.

This value exists to keep us looking to God for what He has for us and not

settling into our own ideas of church

or running after something else we are taking our queues on.

We follow Christ and move with Him as He moves.

This morning we are going to look at what the Bible calls the Great Commission. These are Jesus final words in the book of Matthew and He tells His disciples, His followers what they are to do. How they are to build the church.

They are to build the church through helping other people to understand what it means to follow Jesus. We are called to make other disciples.

To be a follower of Jesus and help other people to do the same.

First, a definition: the word disciple is translated as “learner.” Someone who learns from someone else. Someone who take their queues from someone else.

A disciple is a learner.

And so we would say a disciple is a learner who follows and does what Jesus does.

A disciple learns from and lives from Jesus.

For us at FAC we have said that a disciple looks like the five values:

A Disciple welcomes by practicing biblical hospitality

A disciple is connected to God and the church through Bible, prayer and community

A Disciple practices compassion through serving

A disciple leads by pointing people to hope

A disciple looks to God for what is next.

When a disciple practices next, they either cross a border in their soul to follow Christ, a border in their relationships to follow Christ or a border in their environment to follow Christ.

We are disciples when we learn and live from Jesus and become more like Him in those ways.

But what does it look like for us to practice next? Let’s look at what Jesus has given us for us to know Him and others more.

We take our queues in looking to Christ. There is no one with greater authority

Matthew 28:18 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

We often like to get to the places where we get to do the thing. We may like skipping the instruction manual for the active building. We want to skip to the making of disciples. The adventure of next. But we have to understand something key about making disciples.

This is key to our understanding of the church

What has the authority to send us and who has the authority to command us?

Christ says He is the authority. He has all authority

Let’s talk about authority for a moment. This is actually close to our idea above about taking queues from others.

Authority does 2 things in our lives

It validates our identity. It says, this is who you are

It is the decisive force in our lives for moral action

This is important. All of our lives are aimed in a certain direction and it is the things we take our queues from that determine which direction we go.

Jesus is the one we look to and the One we take directions from.

If a disciple is a learned then we are learning from Christ. He is the One leading and speaking and teaching. We find Christ to be the decisive force in our lives.

Part of being a disciple and making disciples is defining who has authority in our lives

The church believes that Christ is the One who has the authority. Christ and His word.

Authority is not our preference or our desires. Authority is not what we think or even what we believe. Authority is Christs.

He determines our identity and direction.

If we determine that the Church’s authority to make disciples is in Christ then that we look to.

Then when Christ tells us to “go” and make disciples. He is trusted because He has the authority and He is trustworthy to follow His command.

If Christ is the authority then we can cross a border in our soul our relationships or our environment. It doesn’t mean we violate those borders and cross them glibly it means we cross them to introduce Christ in those spaces

Where may Christ be leading you to cross a border in your soul to follow Him, to become more healthy? Or to follow Him in your relationships? to become more healthy? Or to follow Him in your environments, to help others become healthy?

We take our queues from following Christ. There is no one more Trustworthy

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We cross borders in our soul, relationships, and environments because we are finding our way back to Him. We trust He is taking us home

The point of being a disciple is to follow someone who knows the way home.

It is to follow someone who has already been to the place you are trying to get to.

And We follow Him because HE has been there and is generous in showing us the way.

Look at John 14:1-4

John 14:1–4 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

When we learn to follow Christ, becoming His disciple in Welcome, Connect, Serve, Lead, Next, we know that wherever He is leading is better than where we have been.

He is the authority and He is trustworthy

He is worth following and He is worth inviting others to follow Him.

So we are disciples, because we want to know the way home, and we make disciples, because we want others to be freed of sin.

When we know someone who knows the way home we can cross borders in our soul, our relationships, and our environments.

josiah learning to drive. Today is Josiah’s 18th birthday

When he was learning to drive he and I would go out and learn the basics. And I had time to share with him why we drive in certain ways and why we do other things as well in driving. But then when we are on the road, because I have 25 years or so of driving, I would have to tell him what to do, no explanation: turn here, brake here. That because I have already gone there, I am a trusted source.

We cross them to grow, to be changed, to follow Christ.

This is called the Great Commission because it is coming alongside the very thing God calls us to do.

We are called to Next in making disciples by helping people understand the power of Christ and the love of Christ in their lives.

We want to do that here. We want to do that in Southeastern Mass.

We want to do that regionally and globally.

What border is God calling you to cross to follow Him?

In your soul?

What is the next thing you may be called to do to follow Christ. Set down pride.

In your relationships

Who is the next person you are being called to care for as you follow Christ. Set down bitterness.

In your environment

Where is the next place you are being called to go to follow Christ? Set down comfort.

Jesus said He will go with us. He will be our comfort.

The value of Next will be filled with the stories of people saying yes to God. About people willing to do what God is telling them where God is telling them to go.

I wanted to invite Arlene Coccia up here. She leads our missions team at the church. She has been on a number of trips over the years but more than that, and the reason I wanted to ask her to speak this morning is because she has said yes to God multiples times in her life. As long as I’ve known her she has been looking for and been waiting to say yes to God.