The Mission: Disciple Making

Scripture Lesson

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Deuteronomy 31

31 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 2 he said to them, “I am now one hundred twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the LORD has told me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ 3 The LORD your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua also will cross over before you, as the LORD promised. 4 The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 The LORD will give them over to you, and you shall deal with them in full accord with the command that I have given to you. 6 Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.”

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their ancestors to give them, and you will put them in possession of it. 8 It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

The Law to Be Read Every Seventh Year

9 Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Moses commanded them, “Every seventh year, in the scheduled year of remission, during the Festival of Booths,,* 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people—men, women, and children, as well as the aliens residing in your towns—so that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God and to observe diligently all the words of this law 13 and so that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.”

WWTW

Introduction: The Wrong Tool for the Job

Broken Mirror

A few weeks ago, someone drove by our house, clipped Sarah’s car, and broke her rearview mirror.

Because we have had several narrow garages in our marriage, no blame or judgement here, but I’ve actually replaced several rear view mirrors on my own.

But this was the first one that I’ve done on this particular car, the stately 2019 Subaru Outback.

As an aside: If you’re sitting here, and you are in ANY WAY responsible for the design of the way the door and the rear view mirror attach on a 2019 Subaru Outback, I’d like to have a word with you.

I can break my adventure down to two errors:

I didn’t have the right tool at all.

What was needed was a 10 mm ratchet.

To say that my garage is disorganized is an understatement, and so I spent the better part of 20 minutes searching and searching and searching, and I couldn’t find one.

I found 10 mm wrenches, but they wouldn’t fit in the door, so that was out.

So I eventually gave up, drove to the local hardware store, and bought the 10 mm ratchet with the extension to reach in the door.

And again, some words that I would like to have with someone, the EXTENSION was not long enough to get to the bolt...

Then I had the right tool…that I had to use in the wrong way.

Eventually, through a series of experiments that I’m sure were on a three stooges episode I saw once, I was able to use the extension plus a crescent wrench and a whole lot of cursing to get the bolt off.

Only to have to repeat the whole process to put the new mirror on...

I had the right tool.

It was a 10 mm ratchet, which was what was required.

But circumstances kept me from using it the way it was intended.

Whether you don’t have any tools at all, or when you aren’t using the right tool in the wrong way, that scenario can be maddening when you are facing a problem.

We have a problem...

The American Church has a problem.

We’ll get back to what it is in a little bit.

But I think we’ve been approaching it with the wrong tools, or maybe even the right tools in the wrong way.

We have a problem.

And so did Joshua.

Bible Break Down

Welcome to the deep end friend!

To set the stage a little bit, Moses is at the end of his journey with Israel.

He has set them free from Egypt.

Parted the red sea

Asked God for bread and quail to rain down from heaven every morning.

Given them the law.

Broken the law when they made a golden calf.

Made a new law.

And constantly talked God out of killing just about everybody.

Moses is a larger than life figure, and he knows that he is about to die.

And he’s asked Joshua to take over.

Welcome to the deep end my friend!

These people that barely listened to Moses? Batter up kid!

I have to imagine that Joshua is shaking in his boots at this point in the story, and that’s why there’s a line that keeps getting repeated over him.

Be strong and bold.

Other translations might say “Be strong and courageous.”

You might very well have this printed on a coffee mug at home.

This is because this line is used over and over and over and over again with Joshua.

In the midst of all that fear, be strong and courageous.

It’s like God keeps speaking over him, “You’ve got this.”

But still, Moses transitions at this point and gives Joshua some tools for the job.

The Law: The right tool for the job.

The Law is so critical to Israel.

It’s more than a theological treatis

It’s a moral code.

It’s the national laws.

It’s their education system.

If you want to live a life that is strong and courageous, you ought to listen to this thing.

You ought to listen to this thing on a schedule.

Everything the feast of the booths comes along, read the whole thing.

Let it wash over you.

Let it handle your fears.

And oh by the way, this tool isn’t just for Joshua!

Give it to everyone, including the kiddos!

Make sure this law gets to everyone.

All Isreal.

The whole country.

Oh and not just them!

The immigrants, who have found their way into your midst looking for a better life? They should hear this too.

No exceptions.

And in particular, make sure this gets to the kids.

Because if you’re going to be strong an courageous, you ought to start young.

Make sure they know the basics.

Make sure they know the stories.

Make sure they know their God.

Joshua had a problem of being afraid to take charge.

We have a problem too.

Our problem

Wrong problems:

We want everyone to believe like us!

This is bigger than religion or politics, though those are certainly the places where this seems to come up the most.

But just be honest, wouldn’t life be a lot easier if everyone saw the world the way you do?

If everyone approached their religion the same way.

If everyone voted for the same people.

If everyone loaded the dishwasher the way you do.

If everyone held the same ideals and goals that you carry.

We think that’s the problem.

That if everyone just believed the same, we’d be ok.

Sadly, that’s not the problem.

Our country is in decline!

No matter which particular news channel you tune in to, this message seems to be everywhere.

Never mind the fact that actually, we’re still growing as a country in almost every measurable metric.

But it turns out that politicians figured out a while ago that the best way to get votes is to make things sound awful, and blame the other side for it.

Come to think of it, I’m not as convinced that’s the best way to get votes...

But still...

It sets us up in a place where we assume that our country is slipping, and that we’re teetering on the edge of collapse at any moment.

We’re not, but even if we were...

Sadly, that’s not our problem.

Our churches are in decline!

Look, I’ve gone over these stats so many times that I don’t really want to get specific. (Come see me if you need it)

Declining membership.

Declining budgets.

Declining influence.

And maybe, just maybe, if the Church was as strong as it used to be, back in the 50s and 60s, things would be better.

But you guessed it, that’s really not the problem.

The reason it’s so easy for us to mistake the problem is that all of these examples are related to the main problem, in fact they’re symptoms of it.

We scare too easy.

We fear a diversity of thought, rather than celebrate it.

We’ve been trained to be afraid that our country is declining.

And we all know the numbers about membership and giving in the church…we’re afraid the church is going to die out.

Our problem, almost at the core of all of our problems, is that we are afraid.

And I’ll bet that God would say the same thing to us that he said repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly over Joshua.

Be Strong and Bold.

All of that brings us around to this big word in the church that we too often fail to unpack:

Discipleship

I think like installing a rearview mirror, we have two main errors when it comes to our thinking around discipleship.

When we don’t have the right tool: Failure to equip the saints.

The Bible

The Barna group had some sad statistics around this:

The vast majority of Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples.

60 percent of Americans cannot name even five of the Ten Commandments.

And fewer than half of all adults in American can name all four gospels.

We revere our Bible in this country...

We just don’t know it very well.

And if this is you, if you’re squirming a little bit, hang in their with me.

There’s no shame around here, and also we might be able to help with that.

Still, all that tells me is that the saints didn’t have the tools needed to be strong and courageous.

Tradition

Even some of us who have a good firm grasp on our Scriptures, some Christians like to think the Bible was written in about 1998 or so.

We forget that faithful people have been interpreting and studying and informing us about this text, and about our faith.

We loose sight of the tradition of the church, and fail to pass it forward.

And by the way here, I’m not talking about tradition when it comes to worship style. (We did that last week anyway).

I’m talking about the traditions of saints like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Barth, Knox, and countless others who have helped shape the faith we carry today.

That tradition is as important a tool as the Scriptures itself if we’re going to be strong and courageous.

Community

Another error in thinking with the church is the assumption that we can do this thing on our own.

As long as I’ve got Jesus, I’m good!

Me and Jesus, that’s all I need.

And I’m worried a little (let me preach straight to the choir) that the pandemic and the ease of online worship accelerated that.

By all means, if mobility or schedule or life circumstance make worshiping with us online your only choice, you are certainly welcome. That’s why we make it available.

But make sure those of us who take in our worship online are connected to a community.

We need each other.

When we use the right tool wrongly

The Bible is a weapon

I have seen folks who use the scripture to make people week and afraid, not strong and courageous.

There is no greater irony in our faith I don’t think.

This book is not a weapon, no matter how many folks want to use it that way.

It was never meant to make people feel worse about their standing with God.

When we do that, we are using the right tool in the wrong way.

The tradition is stuffy

When our tradition becomes our shackles, instead of our liberation, we’re using the right tool in the wrong way.

When we close ourselves off to anyone who might have a new idea, simply because it challenges the tradition we’ve held on to for so long.

The community is exclusive.

When the church is known more for who we exclude,

as a place of judgement rather than of welcome,

when we’re known more for keeping people out than bringing people in,

Then we’re using our community wrong.

We’re missing something...

If our efforts in discipleship are supposed to make people strong and courageous, to eliminate our fears, yet we’re still afraid, we’re missing something.

Either we aren’t giving folks the right tools.

Or we’re using the right tools in the wrong way.

They will know we are Christ’s disciples by our love.

The Bible reminds us that we are the beloved of God, and always have been.

When read right, we hear the same message in just about every story and on every page.

God loves you.

God loves you.

God loves you.

God loves you.

The tradition is passed down from generation to generation as a reminder.

The tradition reminds us that the love of God didn’t stop in Revelation.

The love of God has been passed down from generation to generation.

And different generations have made different kinds of sense of that love.

But it’s an endless reminder all the same.

The community is where it’s ok to not be ok.

This community, our community here, should be a place where everyone feels the love.

We don’t feel judgement.

We don’t allow others to feel exclusion.

We won’t settle for mere tolerance.

Ours is a community where everyone who walks in those doors knows they are loved deep in their bones by the creator of the universe in Christ Jesus.

And when we do that, when we show the world how much we love them, we make disciples.

Make Disciples

Mission Statement

In this series on our mission statement, we saved this one to the end.

Beulah Presbyterian Church glorifies God through it’s worship, by making disciples, and reaching out to welcome and serve others in the name of Jesus Christ.

Simply put, one of the main reasons we’re here is to make disciples.

We make disciples

I want to be clear about this: We’re not called to make New Members.

Though today especially, I need to tell you that new members are important, otherwise I might get grounded...

We are called to make disciples.

We are called to make people who are equipped by the scriptures, the tradition, and the community to know that they are loved by Jesus Christ, and so set their life to be more like him.

What can we do as a church when it comes to this?

By being strong and bold.

We really need to let go of our fears as a culture.

I listed a few, but we could probably go on for weeks about what fears get in the way of our disciple making.

It’s time for us to hear what God told Joshua again and again and again.

Be strong and courageous.

Be strong and courageous.

Be strong and courageous.

By equipping them.

We will share the scriptures.

Not just so people can pass a test.

Not so that it can be used as a weapon

Not so that it can make others feel poorly about themselves.

But so that folks can know that God loves them and always has.

We will share the tradition.

Not so that we can remain God’s frozen chosen.

Not so that we can be stuck in the past.

Not so that we can reject new ideas and fresh thinking.

But so that we can make sense of the scriptures in love.

We will share our community.

Because we know what has been true for a while: We are better together.

By passing on love from generation to generation.

Everyone needs to hear this, everyone needs this reminder.

And maybe, just maybe, this is you today, so let me engage in a little bit of discipleship right here from the pulpit:

You.

Right where you are.

Whatever you’ve done.

Whoever you’ve been.

No matter how spectacular you think you are, or how much you know you’ve failed.

Whatever circumstances have brought you here:

You are loved by God.

You are loved by God.

You are loved by God.

You are loved by God.

You are loved by God.

And if you’re ready to be a disciple of Christ, come. Let us prove it to you.