FCA August 2024

Intro

Good morning y’all

how is everyone this morning?

I’m Austin Ussery, I’m the youth pastor at FBC Gray. And before we really get into it I just want to take a second of your time and shamelessly plug our church, if you don’t have a church home we would love to have you. We are right over in down town gray, across from the ice cream shop. We meet at 6:30 on Wednesday and 10:30 on Sunday mornings.

Anyways, let’s get in to it.

What I want to do this morning is remind us of why we are here And that it matters what we are doing in this room and even more so what we do outside of this room.

So here is my question for you?

Who do you want to be?

In JI Packers book, Knowing God, Packer gives a story about these travelers walking down the road and people watching them from the balconee.

Packer aptly groups them in to two groups called Travelers and Balconeers.

And the distinction he’s making is one group the travelers get to see the streets, deal with the problems. They are headed somewhere. They are going somewhere.

And the people in the balcony are kinda heckling the people on the stret, asking the questions.

They get to look down on the city, they get to theorize about the city. Theorize about the streets.

But, they aren’t in them, they are looking down, they don’t have the experiential knowledge of being on the ground.

And I he’s right.

His point are there are two types of people, those who know Jesus and those who don’t.

Those who see Jesus from a far, and those who are experiencing Jesus. Those who Know Jesus. Hence the name.

and I agree with him, but I want to change this thought.

because here is the reality.

It’s not really like this, it’s more like the classic graduation book, Dr Suess, Oh the Places you do.

All of us are travelers. Every one of us are travelers. All going som where.

No one is actually sitting in the balcony.

No balconies in this world.

SO here is the question I want to ask you,

If we are all travelers, who are you traveling with and oh where are you going?

Seniors right now is a very important time period in your life.

All of you are going to do and do something,

The question you get asked early on, is what do you want to be when you grow up?

That question when you get older and wiser is not a job, not a degree, but it’s a person.

Who do you want to become?

We are all becoming someone, who is? What is that like?

So this is where I want to live tonight, where are you going and who are you becoming?

Because right now, you start to set in stone the rhythms and habits of who you are going to become.

Context

So if you have a bible, which all of you do, we just gave you one. Adults, Parents, friends Romans, countrymen, if you don’t have a bible, we have some in the pew. I’d love for you to have the text in front of you.

So turn with me to Matthew 8, verse 18-23.

Jesus has been going all around Galilee teaching and healing, he went to Peter’s house and healed Peter’s mother in law.

He’s healing other people.

And here just a funny thought, Jesus was not a big crowd person. Every time in scripture Jesus gets a crowd around him, he’s either says something wild and people kinda thin out, or he’s like, We should probably get on a boat.

I think a lot of us, at least the dudes, can empathize, oh lotta people, I’d much rather be on a boat.

But right before this, Jesus talks to 2 people. SO this is where our story picks up.

Right off the sea of Galilee.

SO let’s read this interaction together and then let’s unpack it.

But before we do that, let’s pray for our time in the word.

Pray

Okay cool, y’all read this with me.

Matthew 8:18–23 ESV

18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.

Okay, so what is going on here?

First thing, as Jesus is getting on the boat, a scribe.

And that’s important, a scribe meant basically someone who works for the Pharisees.

Someone who was well verse in the law,

And as a scribe this meant he was of the learned class, upper class, he was like ivy league grad, he was at a top law firm working for a Pharisee.

He was probably pretty well off.

You know used to a certain lifestyle.

SO this scribe says, “Teacher, I will follow you where ever you go.”

And what does Jesus say, Matthew 8:20 “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.””

Basically, this is not a comfortable road, this is not going to be a cush life. If you follow me, your life isn’t going to get easier, it may actually get harder.

Then the second guy, it says a disciple, someone who was following jesus around.

Gives what sounds like the most reasonable request of all time.

“Let me go a bury my father.” and Jesus gives just a dead cold answer. “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury the dead.”

Which to us, sounds cold and heartless,

but, this is not what jesus is saying.

The guy was not saying, hey I’ve got a funeral to go to, i’ll be back in a few.

What he was saying was, “Hey, let me go and wait for my inheritance.”

Let me go and live my life how I want for a bit, I can make some money, I can get my inheritance and look at how much better I can follow you, I’ll be able to pay for stuff.

And what does Jesus say, “Follow me. They’ll be fine. But what matter is are you following me?”

And then, the last verse, most bible how they lay the verse they break this verse in to a different paragraph, which is fine, but this last verse really goes ith this story.

It says, Matt 8:23

Matthew 8:23 ESV

23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.

So notice this, hear me, when he got in the boat, his disciples followed him.

Those who were following Jesus, they got in the boat. Those who weren’t, they stayed on the shore.

They went a did what ever else with their life. The scribe may have gone and kept living a cush life, who knows he may have become a pharisee. Got that promotion.

The other guy, he probably went home, made a ton of money, got his inheritance.

That’s great.

But here is the thing. They missed the boat. They didn’t get the boat.

Fast forward, those two stood before God, and what do you think they showed him?

“Look at the house I had!”

When you stand before God, you are not going to be able to show him your stuff, or show him your bank account or your charitable giving statement.

You’re not gonna get to slide of a perfectly crafted resume.

You cant’t say to God, “I think you’re gonna want to read this”

It doesn’t work like that.

Did you get in the boat?

Where are you traveling to? Who are you becoming?

So this is what I want to remind you of and send you out with.

P1 - All of us have a choice to act on the call of Jesus.

All of us have a choice to respond to the call of Jesus.

Both of these guys had a choice. The disciples got in the boat.

P2 - Get in the boat

So what does it look like to get in the boat?

for a lot of us, growing up in the church, when we think of giving our life to Jesus, we think single, solitary moment.

“I gave my life to Jesus.” Which is not bad, but are you still giving your life to Jesus.

So think of it like this, the bible uses the word disciple, which means student.

Our pretty direct translation means student.

And that is what it is.

But I want you to think of it like this, think of it as apprenticeship.

Not are you saved, but are you apprenticing under Jesus?

Because this is what apprentice means. It means training to become like.

An apprentice of something learns how to become.

If you were to apprentice under a carpenter, you would work with wood like the guy who trained you, you would have notes of their style. People could look at your work and see that you worked under them.

This is what a Rabbi did.

When the scribe called Jesus “Teacher” what he would have said was, Rabbi.

Jesus having disciples was not an uncommon thing. That’s what Rabbi’s did, they would take on students and they students would go and follow them around, literally, they would go where they go and do what they do, and were about what they were about.

So this is what Jesus was saying. Come and learn to live like me. Come and live with me and I will show you how to live.

I love how the message put the famous come all you weary verse

Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly

Keep company with me, Watch how I do it, Learn the unforced rhythms of Grace.

When Jesus in John 14 say, I am the way the truth and the life, he wasn’t saying I am the way to truth, and the way to life. He is those things, but what he was saying is, My way is the way to truth, my way is the way to life.

Jesus isn’t telling people to memorize what I am like, but to become a person who is like who I am. Become like me.

P3 - Make Disciples

So what is our call as apprentices of Jesus?

First it is to become a person, who is becoming like Christ.

Second, it is to make disciples. In Matthew 28:19-20 jesus gives his last instructions, we call it the great commission.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus is about to ascend. He is leaving the scene, and this is what he tells his apprentices. Make more apprentices.

Make more disciples. Teach them to be like you after you have become like.

Be a people who when they see you are someone who is like jesus.

So what does this look like.

First it looks like this, in what ever you are doing, make disciples.

In what ever you are doing, bring people in to the apprenticeship of Jesus.

Seniors, all of you have huge plans, some of you make be accountants, teachers, lawyers, engineers, tradesmen, whatever it is.

In what ever you do, make disciples.

Be a teacher who makes disciples, be a finance guy who makes disciples.

What ever it is, the job is secondary to the call. Leverage the job, to make disciples. Think through, how can I use this Job to further the kingdom?

Then second, be good at what you do.

Because here is the last thing we need Christians who are poor at their Job.

In what ever you do, be the best at it.

Think of it like this,

You know how christian movies are kinda cheesy. I know we are at church and you’re supposed to love facing the giants. Their heart was in the right place. They trying.

but like the story is, we beat the football team through the power of friendship… and Jesus.

It’s cheesy. It feels cheesy. And that’s the view the world has of Christianity, it’s cheesy.

Because we have made bad art, and slapped jesus name on it.

The world does not need more bad christian art.

what the world needs Christians who make good art.

The world does not need more christian lawyers, doctors, teachers, what ever you are going to do, that slap a jesus fish on something and call it a day.

The world needs christians who are good at what they do. You want people to call you because you are the best.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the greatest, if not the greatest composer of all time, when he would sign his work he would put two sets of initials.

He would write WAM. for his name.

But then he would also write, SDG.

which means Soli Deo Gloria.

Glory to God alone.

Everything we do is to the glory of God.

As apprentices of Jesus, we do all things to further the kingdom. Do your job to the best of your abilities, not for you but for the kingdom.

Then lastly, as you go out. Find community. I know I have stressed this on Wednesday nights like crazy, but find community.

Here are the stats.

Stone cold stats.

70 percent of students who leave student ministry by their sophomore year are out of the faith.

Not out of church, no longer believers.

So let’s humanize that, there are 21 of you. in two years there will be 7 of you left.

the first thing you need to do is search out community that is making you in to a person who is like Jesus.

where ever you go, what ever you do, ask yourself who am i becoming.

In ten years, you will be the same person you are now except for this, the books you read and the people you surround yourself with.

you will become like who you are around.

You will become the habits you create. You will become the rhythms you set now.

Who are you becoming? Where are you going?

P2Christ - Get in the boat daily spend days/sped life

So, I want to leave you with this,

get in the boat daily.

Y’all have heard me say this quote, but

how you spend your days is how you spend your life.

It takes a whole life to live a life following Jesus.

There are no accidental saints in the kingdom.

Get in the boat daily.

Preach the gospel to yourself. Remember that not only is jesus the way, truth and life, but that way died for you on the cross.

That the truth that he is risen is the way that leads to life everlasting.

Jesus has made a way for us to become like him, to live the only life that leads to life everlasting.

He lived he life we couldn’t and died the death we should of.

In our place he died and rose again.

That is the gospel.

That is what we are inviting you in to.

So what we are going to do now is I’m gonna pray, we are going to confess, and we are going to sing.

While we are doing that, answer the question, who am I becoming? Where am I going? If it’s not jesus, why not?

Do I want to get in the boat?

We want to invite you in to the boat, invite you in to the kingdom.

So, come see christ as lord, come se christ as king.

Pray with me.