Discipleship - Life in the Kingdom

Thank you music team. Well done this morning.

Well, good morning Church!

Introduction

If you have ever heard the call of Jesus Christ, If He has ever beckoned you to come, If you have ever sensed Him say, “come and see”, and you responded with a “YES, I will follow You, then you might be a disciple. I say might be a disciple because if all you ever do is SAY yes but you do not follow that up with actively spending time in His presence, learning to become like Him and do as HE did, then it is very likely, that you are a disciple in name only. And if you have been truly born again and you are living as a disciple in name only, then I suspect your Christian life has been, and continues to be an exercise in frustration.

Last week we talked about the idea of passing through the narrow gate of salvation but then remaining near the gate and not traveling very far down the path this side of the gate. We have said that Christlikeness is possible but it is NOT natural. Part of being a disciple of Christ is that we become like Him. Becoming LIKE Him requires that once we have passed through the narrow gate of salvation, once you and I have responded to Jesus call to follow Him, to become more and more like Him requires that we continue to travel down the difficult way that He leads.

Part of understanding what the life of a disciple should look like I think requires understanding the Kingdom of God as pertains to life here in this broken world.

In the book of Matthew, we are told that after Jesus puts the devil in his place out in the wilderness, he makes his way back to Capernaum beside the Sea of Galilee, where He officially begins His earthly ministry. And we read in Matthew 4:17...

Mat 4:17 NLT - 17 From then on Jesus began to preach, "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near."

We know that scripture teaches that repenting of our sins and turning to God is the passing through the narrow gate of salvation, But what of this “Kingdom of Heaven”?

Jesus said, “the Kingdom of Heaven is near”. Some translations say the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand

This morning I want to investigate what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ within the Kingdom of God. Because I submit to you this morning that discipleship is where we can actually see the Kingdom of God advance in us and though us to the world around us.

First let me say a few words about the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven was primary in Jesus teachings. It permeated everything He taught His disciples in the 1st century. He talked WAY more about the Kingdom than HE did about the Church.

We just saw that He began His 3 year earthly ministry by talking about it and it was His primary focus during His time on earth.

The word “kingdom” as translated from the Greek is the word bas-il-i'-ah which means which means “the realm in which a sovereign king rules.”

All through the New Testament, the word kingdom consistently refers to the rule of Christ in the hearts of believers, since, for the time being, Christ’s kingdom is not of this world physically. we are told in the book of Revelation that it will one day be a literal, physical Kingdom on this earth, but for now it lives in our hearts. This is why Jesus said the Kingdom is near or at hand.

In His famous sermon on the mount, Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God. This really needs no interpretation. It is as direct as it sounds. We are to seek the things of God as a priority over the things of the world. Primarily, it means we are to seek the salvation that is inherent in the kingdom of God because it is of greater value than all the world’s riches. Does this mean that we should neglect the reasonable and daily duties that help sustain our lives? It does not.

But for the Christian, there should be a difference in attitude toward them. If we are taking care of God’s business as a priority—seeking His salvation, living in obedience to Him, and sharing the good news of the kingdom with others—then He will take care of our business as He promised—and if that’s the arrangement, why worry? About anything.

But how do we know if we’re truly seeking God’s kingdom first? Well there are questions we can ask ourselves.

“Where do I primarily spend my energies?

Is all my time and money spent on material stuff and activities that will certainly perish, or

is my time spent Practicing the Way of Christ and striving to become more like Him in all my ways?”

Believers who have learned to truly put God first may then rest in His promise: “…and all these things will be given to you as well.” God has promised to provide for His own. He has promised to supply every need. But His idea of what we need is often different from ours, and His timing will only occasionally match up with our timing.

For example, we may see our need as riches or advancement, but I reckon that there are times when God knows that what we truly need is a time of poverty, loss or solitude. When this happens, we are in good company. God loved both Job and Elijah, but He allowed Satan to absolutely hammer Job (all under His watchful eye), and He let that evil woman, Jezebel, break the spirit of His own prophet Elijah (Job 1–2; 1 Kings 18–19). And don’t miss the fact that in both cases, God followed these trials with restoration and sustenance. These “negative” aspects of the kingdom run counter to a heresy that continues to influence WAY too many people around the world, the so-called "prosperity" gospel. False teachers are still gathering followers under the message “God wants you to be rich!” But that philosophy is not the counsel of the Bible—and it is certainly not the counsel of Matthew 6:33 where Jesus says ...

Mat 6:33 NLT - 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

This is not a formula for gaining wealth. It is a description of how God works. Jesus taught that our focus should be shifted away from this world—its promise of status and its lying bait to hook us on all the shiny things it has to offer-and placed on the things of God’s kingdom.

The kingdom of God is simply the place where God rules/reigns. So, when Jesus says that the kingdom is near, what he means is that his rule or reign is at hand; that you are going to see what God’s kingdom looks like in the life and ministry of Jesus. And, as I have said many times, a response is expected when the King comes to reign; that is, one should turn away from their old way of life (repentance) to embrace the reign and rule of the king.

One way I heard it described was helpful to me and hopefully it will be to you. I think it helps to think about the kingdom of God in the same we think about seasons (i.e., spring, summer, autumn, winter). Here’s what I mean: I have spent a fair bit of my life living in places where it gets very cold and snowy in the winter. And in those places when March or April come, even though it is officially spring, it really does not feel like spring. Cold winds continue to blow and the temperatures are still often really cold. Spring is here, it has been inaugurated, but it is yet fully consummated. You have to wait for the sunshine and warmer winds; for the birds to sing and the flowers to bloom. In short, spring has come, it has arrived, and yet it is still coming.

That is where we are with the kingdom of heaven/God: it has been inaugurated, but it has yet to be consummated; it has come, but it is still coming.

So…the kingdom of God is simply the place where God rules/reigns. For now, that is in your heart. It is in your actions and the way you treat others. It has been inaugurated, but it is not yet fully consummated. It has arrived and its completion is a sure thing, but we are not yet able to experience all of its coming fullness.

Now, because we as Christians are still waiting for the consummation of God’s kingdom, what we need to consider is, what does that kingdom look like now, before it is fully consummated? What does it look like in this phase that the church has lived in for the past 2,000 years, or so—the time during which Jesus is reigning, yet we still await the full consummation of his kingdom? We don’t have time to look this morning but I encourage you to go home and read Mark chapter 1: verses 14–39. What you will see there is a window into what that kingdom looks like, and you will see aspects of its presence in the ministry of Jesus.

In that passage you will see ....

The Gospel Proclaimed

The calling of disciples

Authoritative teaching and learning going on

Spiritual and Physical Healing

Opposition to the advancing Kingdom.

So, all of that to say, the kingdom of God is not something entirely invisible ‘out there’, but that it is actually something we can see at work in the everydayness of our lives. It might not look spectacular; it is faithfulness in the ordinariness of life. And that is good news because most of life is, well, ordinary.

It’s completion has been a long game to say the least. If you are a new believer, or you are simply here because you are curious, we are really glad you are here. But here is my challenge to you.

Commit to attending church and pursuing your knowledge of Christ and His kingdom for one year.  Because not very often will you see the impact of the gospel on yourself or someone else in a single day. But if you hang around for a year, and get involved in smaller groups and lives of others who are here, then there is a good chance you will see the kingdom advancing in the lives of people sitting around you right now.

This is a challenge to church members too, of course. We need  to be a people shaped by the gospel; we need to take opportunities to share in one another’s lives so that our neighbours might see the kingdom advancing personally within us, and also through us. Let’s let them see that (as Paul puts it) ‘it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose’ (Phil 2:13).

Now, what about discipleship in the context of this Kingdom we are called to participate in?

I want to begin that discussion with a look at a few of Jesus FINAL words with His disciples recorded for us in Matthew chapter 28.

Mat 28:18-20 NLT - 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Now let’s break this Down.

Jesus told His disciples, “"I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.”

That word authority is the Greek word ex-oo-see'-ah. It means “power of choice, liberty to do as one pleases”

So Jesus is saying I have been Given (implication of a higher authority that gave it to Him, namely the Godhead, which is the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words all persons of the godhead have agreed that Jesus should be granted say over everything in heaven and earth)

How many would agree that “all things in heaven and earth would be pretty inclusive. Nothing left out. He has Say over everything that is. Authority over things seen and unseen by human senses. It is a complete and utter authority. So Jesus is telling His disciples, He is telling those of us on this side of the narrow gate, I have say over it all so what I am about to tell you carries the full weight and authority of the one Who created it all.

So knowing that, here is what I want my disciples to do.

19 Therefore, go (really this means “as you go” is the best way to understand this. It means you do not have to travel to some far off land in order to do this, though that MAY be what He will lead you to do. THIS is more the idea of as you live your day in and day out life, in the midst of your “everydayness”, do what?) make disciples (that is, make apprentices to Me. Not apprentices to you, but to Jesus. To always have our own eyes on and always be pointing others to gaze upon Jesus Christ.) Who are we to do this with? of all the nations.

Among people of every kind. Jesus reference here was to all gentiles, all non-Jews.

So that is the where and the Who. But HOW? He tells us. 1. baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

That seems out of order doesn’t it? Don’t we baptize people AFTER they accept Him as their Lord and Savior? Well some would say this is a reference to water baptism. I happen to think it goes beyond that. I think what Jesus is telling His disciples is that discipling someone else is to...

submerge them in the reality of the trinitarian God. Get em wet if you want to but primarily what Jesus instructions are is to submerge them in what? Water? No, at least not first but to pass on His teachings about the reality of God and the ways of the kingdom of Heaven.

And finally the promise…Listen! I will be with you ALWAYS, ALWAYS ALWAYS until this age ends. in other words. Until the Job is complete. What Job? Disciple-making.

So if we are going to make disciples, which seems to be the only Job Christ left us to do. Then I guess we would need to know what we are making and how we will know when we have made one! Now we have given a working definition of what a Disciple is.

Discipleship is the process of devoting oneself to a teacher to learn from and become more like them. And in our case that teacher of course is Jesus Christ.

So there have been volumes written on what a disciple is but if you are going to make a disciple, you need to know what that is. That working definition seems pretty simple and straight forward. But let me throw some weight to it.

You have heard it said that there is no perfect church. My Pastor used to tell us that if we ever find a perfect church, whatever we do, don’t join it because we would wreck it.

We just did a series of messages on the book of 1 Corinthians. That was a letter written to a first century church that was less than perfect....by a lot! And what we saw was THE primary reason that church was having problems was because there were people in that church, selfish people that insisted on having their own way. I cannot think of a greater cause for church splits than this one thing. Selfishness. Always needing to be right to the exclusion of all others. We see it happening in the world today where people cannot even have their own opinions without being labelled an opresser and the sworn enemy of those who disagree with them. We see it in the world. But we also see it in the church! It is nothing new but we continue to fail to learn the lessons that Paul taught to that first century church.

But here is where the weightiness of discipleship comes to bear. I am going to make a statement that I believe is true and I will give you scripture to back it up. We hear today many any complaints about the church. It is constant background noise in religious circles and many books written asking “What’s wrong with the church?”

Well you will be thrilled to know that this pastor knows the answer. So you can be comforted knowing that of all the church congregations with pastors and Elders, YOU all belong to THE church whose pastor KNOWS exactly what is wrong with the church. Not only do I know what is wrong, I know what will fix it!

Are you ready? EVERYTHING that is wrong with ANY church, Everything that is wrong with THIS church is because of a lack of discipleship.

Here is the statement I promised a minute ago. There is not one thing wrong with the church today that discipleship would not cure.

Pretty bold statement is it not? I will say it again. There is not one thing wrong with the church today that discipleship would not cure.

I believe that is true. Scriptures confirm it is true, and even Jesus Himself believes it is true and we see that in the marching orders He left us with. Of all the things He could have said, he said....make disciples.

Folks, if we do not get discipleship in the mix here at LFB, then the best we can hope for this side of the last church split we had, is we will just be creating another church with all of the same problems we had before. I have heard story after story of unhappy people ready to get rid of the church. But what they end up doing in their effort to replace the church is they don’t talk about discipleship. They just talk about having a different kind of service with maybe a differrent way of preaching or a different style of music. That’s fair enough but if what they are doing does not include a serious push for discipleship, then what they will end up with is just another organization with the same kind of human problems that the present church has.

Most of the things that cause trouble in churches shouldn’t even be there. Like for example, who’s mad at who? Right? That should never be an issue in the church. And when it is, you can be sure that apprenticeship to Jesus is not at the center of it. Self is the most likely culprit.

Jesus said, make disciples to me, make apprentices to me, make students to me…NOT, make everyone do what YOU want them to do. NOT “Make every effort to convince others to see things your way” Not what He said.

Make disciples. And throughout church history that HAS happened, and the results vary in terms of intensity but you can be sure then whenever the charge to make disciples and be disciples is taken seriously, that has always marked the high points in the history of the church. And the people who have done it, that is make disciples, were themselves disciples. And that is how it has to work.

There is no such thing as a significant and long lasting movement who’s call was to “Come and be a nominal Christian”

So it is very important that we understand this. Jesus charge was to make people an apprentice to Him. People of all kinds. No social or political distinctions or other kinds of cultural distinctions and bring them into the presence of God. The trinitarian reality of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Get them wet if you want, but the focus Jesus has is to bring them into the presence of the triune God and from there teach them everything we have learned from Him.

Make disciples. Now in churches today, it is up to pastors and elders and teachers you have in place to decide whether or not we are going to do that, or something else. Jesus did not call us to make Christians. He sure didn’t say go make Baptists! That’s Okay as long as they are disciples. It is okay to be a Christian or a Baptist as long as you are a disciple. If we are all disciples, everything else will take care of itself.

I have said before that I am always astounded at the fact that we have some 40,000 denominations of the Christian church when we all have the same mission statement and the same church growth plan. Matthew 28:18-20 should be both our mission statement and church growth plan.

So when we look at people who were disciples in Jesus day, as we have already established, an apprentice was someone who was learning from Him how to lead a life in the Kingdom of God as Jesus Himself would lead that life if He were me. If I am a disciple, I am with Him in ALL of my circumstances, learning to be like Him.

Now I don’t want you to miss the focus in that statement, My life, not His life. Why is that important? Because what we are learning is how to live OUR life in the kingdom of God as Jesus would lead my life if he were me. This is kind of backwards from how we think and it is to our detriment to get this wrong.

We really have to think that thought. How Could Jesus be me? Could he be me and deal with the things that I have to deal with in my life? And it's only if you believe that he could do that, that you will be prepared to be his disciple. In everything you do and everything you are. Otherwise you'll park him in some special place and then you'll walk off.

Now I have said that it has occurred to us, your elders, that we keep asking you to get involved in the disciple-making process. If that is what we want you to do, then we had better have a process for you to get involved in, yes? There may have been one clearly laid out in the past but with covid and all the trouble that ensued we have lost momentum in that regard. So one of the things we are all thinking and praying about is how to get us back on track.

This series of messages is the starting place. But I can tell you that I am only scratching the tip of the iceberg. We want to and are committed to go further. But what we are trying to avoid is simply starting up ministries and programs for the sake of having them. We want them to be meaningful. We want them to be sustainable. And we want them to be truly helpful to you, the people whose spiritual care is entrusted to us. And so becoming better disciples ourselves and helping you learn to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, so that you can help lead others to be disciples of Jesus Christ, is at the top of the list.

Because here is the thing. Who is it that is teaching you to stop being judgmental and controlling of your fellow man? Who is it that is helping you overcome the hurt and pain and shame in your life? Who is it that is teaching you how to better love your neighbor? Are there any institutions out there that have a course for that? If not, Why not?

I will tell you why I think. I think that the problems of the world eventually come back to the doorstep of the church and the church is failing her people. The church is not the kingdom of God. The nation Israel has NOT been replaced by the church. The church is an outpost in the Kingdom of God. And the church’s job is to extend the kingdom of God through its influence. And that influence should be primarily the transformation of the people who are there. You. If we focus on that, that will keep us from making the mistake of worrying about people who aren’t here. My heart is to help YOU. Those of you who are here. I can tell you over the years I have preached to a lot of empty chairs. But with the limited time I have left, I want to spend that time developing myself and equipping myself to better help and encourage the chairs that are occupied here every Sunday morning.

That does not mean I don’t care about the people of our community who have yet to walk through those doors. I do. But I cannot help them to the extent I can help you. They are not sitting here and listening to me. You are. Yes, I have plenty of opportunities to plant seeds out there in my day to day. But planting seeds is about as far as I will go in most of those conversations. Discipleship is not really happening there. It can happen here though. It MUST happen here because there is no other place for it. And shame on us if that is NOT our priority. Myself and the other elders are committing ourselves to see to it. See to it that you get the help you need to become a true disciple of Jesus. If ...that is what you want. And I pray that it is beloved.

Well this message needs a part 2 so we’re not gonna get to all of those verses on the slide this morning. We will get to them next week. But let me leave you with one of them as I close. I am going to read this slow. Listen carefully. It comes from the New Living Translation. As I read this, see if this is your experience at LFB and if not, ask yourself, how much of that is lays at my feet, how much of the shortfall is my responsibility?

Col 3:12-17 NLT - 12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. 16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Where else are you going to turn, to learn how to live that way if not to the church. If you are thinking that you can learn to live this way in isolation and on your own, you are making a grave error in you thinking. We need each other. Let’s be a church committed to discipleship by being a people who spend time with Jesus, gradually, with one another’s help and encouragement and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, become more and more Like Jesus, and eventually learn to live in the kingdom of people that does what He did in every situation and circumstance. We have to learn His ways in community because His ways are not our ways. Amen?

Let’s pray...