The Missing Key

On April 15th 1912, there was a great disaster to take place and it was called the sinking of the Titanic. We're all familiar with that horrific event where over 1,500 people lost their lives. Most people know that event was caused by an iceberg that the ship ran into. But what many people are unaware of is the missing key. A man named David Blair was the second officer who was assigned to be on the Titanic. But the day before it was about to set sail from Southampton England to the US across the Atlantic, he was reassigned to another ship. Being the second officer in command, David Blair had in his pocket, the key to the crow's nest Locker. The crow's nest locker is a locker that held the binoculars for the man who would be in the crow's nest to be able to look out and to see what was in front of the ship. But because it was locked and David Blair did not leave the key, the binoculars were inaccessible and so, the crowsnest lookouts on the Titanic that night, using their human sight, didn't see the iceberg in time to warn the bridge. Some said this missing key was a contributing factor in the sinking of the Titanic. While the iceberg is what opened up the hull of the ship allowing sea water to pour in and eventually sink the Titanic, it really was preceded by a missing key. That missing key opened the door for disaster.

I believe there is a missing key today in our country and in our culture . And hopefully we will be able to discover what that is by the time we are done today. By the way, I am excited today because, due to the time change, I get an extra hour to preach!

Now, In this series we have been looking at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We have said that apprenticeship involves spending time with Jesus, Becoming like Him and doing what He would do if He were in our place and experiencing our circumstances. We have talked about the cost of discipleship. We have said that when we apprentice ourselves to Jesus, it will cost us something. It may cost us relationships. I hung out with the youth a couple of Wednesdays ago and heard a young man share how he had to end a relationship with his girlfriend because she was taking a path away from Christ.

Apprenticeship to Christ will most likely cost personal plans and preferences and require you to put the needs of others ahead of your own.

And I think that there have been many to started their apprenticeship of Jesus BEFORE they counted the cost ans once they realized it, they pulled back. They stopped moving in the direction of Kingdom living. Or, they counted the cost and found it too high and never really moved very far down the narrow path this side of the narrow gate.

In this series we have talked about the practices that will help move you toward being a true Kingdom Disciple.

Things like solitude, silence, confession and submission, study, worship, prayer and service.

A couple of weeks ago I issued a challenge to all of us to MOVE. To go beyond where we are now in our walk and relationship with Him, so that a week from now, a month from now, or a year from now we are further along in our Spiritual transformation than we are today. I challenged us to become very intentional about incorporating Jesus commands into our lives, because if we don’t, nothing happens. We stay the same. And our lack of engagement in these things can even cause the people around us to stay the same.

Now, Depending on how you count, Jesus gave some 50 direct commands to us in the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Maybe some day we will just go through them all and see how we are doing. My point is there are many and that begs the question, how can i poassibly follow all of them? Well the answer is you cannot

Folks, for those of you who are Christians, we are to be ambassadors of the Kingdom of light. It is up to us to show the world what the already here and still to come fully, Kingdom of God is like. Only by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and allowing Him to live His life through you can you truly love and follow God.

Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Does anyone need me to interpret that for you? Pretty clear isn’t it? In order to keep them we need to at least know what they are. Well you will find them in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Now we have already talked about a couple of these commands that I think are most debilitating to our spiritual growth if we ignore them. We have talked about distraction and specifically we talked about the command to forgive and pray for those who don’t see eye to eye with us.

Obedience to that one command would take us a long ways toward being obedient to some of the others like “be reconciled, going the second mile, not judging harshly, do unto others and denying yourself.

What I want to do this morning is to have a look at a few more of Jesus instructions to us found in the book of Matthew and chapter 6. And it is also here in Matthew chapter six that we find the missing key that unlocks many of the struggles we face.

Jesus commands in Matthew chapter 6 is another one of those commands that if we could comply, it would solve many of our real life struggles. These commands are around how we practice some of those disciplines we have talked about, and issues surrounding worry afinances which go hand in hand.

Let’s dive in.

Now, Matthew chapter 6 is right in the middle of what we call the sermon on the mount. Matthew 5,6 and 7.

We are going to move through this pretty quickly because I want to get to the missing key, but I wanted to read through the entire chapter to give us a better feel for what Jesus id getting at.

In chapter 5, Jesus has already addressed how His followers should deal with things like Anger, and Lust and divorce and swearing oaths and retaliation and he finishes with what we looked at last time, the command to love our enemies.

Here in chapter 6, we hear what Jesu has to say about not only giving, but HOW we are to give. he talks about prayer and fasting. He talks about our misplaced values and finally addresses the debilitating issue of worry.

Now before we read this I just whan to offer an observation. And this applies to ALL of Jesus commands. It has been my observation that many people live their lives as if they don’t have any choice. Like life is just stuff that’s happening. And i can’t control it, and it’s just coming my way and I don’t know what’s coming next, and as hard as life can be, we often are hesitant to take any responsibility for any misfortune or suffering we may encounter because we have this idea that everything bad we experience is because of someone else or life is just particularly hard on me. i mean look at all my misfortune! But the Bible actually indicates something quite different. It says we rap what we have sown. We harvest what we have planted. We don’t like to hear that but that is in fact what scripture says and I happen to be someone who believes that the full counsel of God is more valuable than putting a smile on your face for the next 10 minutes. Much of what we are about to read runs counter to our natural bent. But is is that bent generally does not serve us well in the long game of life. So lean in with me and let’s listen to what jesus has to say to us this morning. He says in chapter 6 and verse 1...

Mat 6:1-34 ESV - 1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Folks, God is not impressed with anything we do apart from Him. The only reward we will get from our feeble attempts to impress is that quick pat on the back. Have you ever noticed how quickly people forget about and stop talking about you or your accomplishments? That was your reward. And that reward is short lived and has no eternal value. You say why should I care about eternal value. because like it or not, you are an eternal being. Doing good deeds with the motive to get praise from men won’t reap much of a harvest. The mere fact that you make a big deal about it, strips it of all of its kingdom value. And you will reap what you sow. Instead of looking for that “atta boy”from others’, Jesus says...

3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Same for prayer… 5 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Pastors are really bad this way. When we pray we often go to preaching instead of praying. Praying is not for preaching. Praying is not to be horizontal, it is always to be vertical. Jesus says...

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

We don’t have time to unpack that but let me just say this in no way diminishes the work Jesus did on the cross for you and me. Verse 16.

16 "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Again this is about motive. Are you fasting to show everyone around you just how spiritual you are? Well you might impress one or two who are younger in the faith but that is all the reward you will get from that.

Folks the big idea here is motive. Why are you doing these things. All good things and things every Christian should practice. But the wrong motive can strip all of the kingdom value from these things and leave you with nothing more than a brief and relatively small notice from those around you. Next...

19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is a matter of heart to be sure. It has been said that if you want to see what a persons priorities are, if you want to see where they place value, have a look at thier bank statement. If all you are investing your time and your resources in are physical and material things, guess what? When your physical life is over, someone else is getting all that stuff. Those things have zero value in the Kingdom of God.

22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

There is a kids song that goes like this.

O be careful little eyes what you see O be careful little eyes what you see For the Father up above Is looking down in love So, be careful little eyes what you see

Besides the fact that God is aware of what you lay your eyes on, according to Jesus, what you lay your eyes on can either fill you with light or fill you with darkness. If you think for one minute that all that casting a lustful eye in any direction is not having an impact on your soul, think again. Jesus says what you gaze upon with your eyes will indeed affect your body. Good or bad. Light or dark.

24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Ah money. Scripture tells us that the love of it is the root of ALL kinds of evil. Jesus says you cannot serve two masters at once. Your money is the example Jesus gives but we need to know that our money, our possessions, our hobbies, our careers and our relationships all compete with our devotion to God.

Now Jesus turns to the issue of Worry. Anybody in here this morning ever worry or suffer from anxiety? Here is what Jesus says about that.

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

So all of that puts this next statement in context. And THIS is the missing key.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In other words....

Mat 6:33 AMP - 33 “...first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right--the attitude and character of Jesus], and all these things... What things? all the things you need. The ability to operate within the kingdom of light and do what Jesus would do if He were in your shoes.

34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Folks, I am more and more convinced that just like that missing key on the Titanic that would have provided the crow’s nest lookouts with everything they needed to avoid shipwreck, the missing key for the world in the day and age in which you and I live, is what I will call Kingdom Disciples.

This absenteeism of kingdom disciples, in my humble opinion, has opened the floodgate to the deterioration within the culture. The absenteeism of these visible, verbal, full-time followers of Jesus Christ, has created a gap that has been filled with that which is not based on kingdom values.

A kingdom disciple may be defined as a believer in Christ, who takes part in the spiritual development process of progressively learning how to live all of their lives under the lordship of Jesus Christ. To do what we have been talking about, being obedient to His commands. A Kingdom disciple understands that Jesus Christ is king, and that He rules and they come and they place themselves under his authority.

This absenteeism in spite of all the churches and all the the Christians and all the bookstores and all the activities and all the program this, this missing key has led to chaos in the culture.

In Matthew chapter 28 we read...

Mat 28:16-20 ESV - 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

Let me ask you. When it comes to your Christian walk and apprenticeship to Jesus, do you ever have doubts?

Well, your not alone. This says some of His closest friends had doubts. Their doubts didn’t disqualify them and your doubts don’t disqualify you. here is why…verse 18.

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

‌All Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. To put it in everyday language he's saying to them and to us, because we were invited too, “Ladies and gentlemen, I'm in charge now. I'm not only in charge up there I'm in charge down here.

That word translated “Authority”is an interesting word that in the Greek means power in legitimate hands. It's the difference between a policeman having a gun and a criminal having a gun. Well both have fire power but only one has a badge. And it has to do with legitimate use of authority. And so Jesus Christ says I am the authority now who has been designated to rule on God's behalf in time and space.‌

I'm in charge now and because I'm in charge I want you to link into my authority. So what he's about to say about discipleship has everything to do with the issue of authority.

Jesus authority is the key to our success as His disciples. It is the difference between being a nominal Christian and a power wielding Kingdom Disciple. What is required is that we link into His authority. This has been God’s plan all through history.

According to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 10, all things would be summed up under the rulership of Jesus Christ. It says in chapter 1 verses 22 and 23:

Eph 1:22-23 ESV - 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

And so Jesus is calling the shots, like it or don’t, that is the truth. And He said to His 11, and He is saying to us, is now that my authority over ALL things has been established, I want you (His 11 and all of us who have placed our faith in Him ever since, I want you to make disciples.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

That’s an imperative. It is of vital importance that you do this. it is crucial. This is not a suggestion, this is an authoritative command. Make disciples.

Making disciples is the idea of replicating the image of something. in Matthew chapter 10 when Jesus is explaining discipleship He said its about a student being like His teacher or a slave being like His master. it is emulation.

Well, what does Jesus want us to emulate he want us to emulate? Not ‌only his person but his authority because His point is all authority belongs to me. If you’ve ever noticed, when Jesus sent out his disciples in the New Testament he would regularly give them authority. One of the reasons I suspect we don't have a lot of disciples is because we're not exercising a lot of authority. Because if we were disciples and we were replicating Jesus Christ, we would be demonstrating more authority in history. But when you look at the breakdown in culture, the breakdown in churches, the breakdown in families even among Christians there is Authority missing that is not being transferred and that is because God transfers his authority through disciples not just to Christians.

‌In other words, if you are a Christian but not yet a disciple, you will be lacking in experiencing and executing divine authority because Jesus's point is all Authority has been given to me and I want to transfer it to you through the making of disciples. we don’t take advantage of the authority we have been given.

And be careful not to understand this authority as some king of power trip. It’s more like the anology Tony Evans gives when he talks about being the chaplain for the Mavericks.

When I would go do the Mavericks Chapel they would give me four tickets to the game I get four tickets to the game and these four tickets would allow me to take other people from the church to the game I would tell them don't you drive. Because you'll have to pay 15 dollars or so to park your car. You ride with me because as chaplain, I have a parking space right in front of the arena so if you ride with me you won’t have to pay that. But that’s not because of who you are, that's because of Who I am. Because I'm the chaplain you get to piggyback on my right to park there. Also, I go through a private door not the general public door. But if you are with me you get to go through the private door. But they wouldn't let you in because of who you were. They let you in because of who I am and I let them know you're with me. So you got to piggyback on my authority. And when I go in I would go downstairs where they would serve a four-course meal at no charge to me. But because you are with me, you got to eat for free not junk food but good food because you were piggybacking on my authority. And when the game was over and everybody went their separate ways we're not rushing cuz we're not going the same way everybody else goes. We're going up a private ramp to a private elevator out of private door to a private parking lot and we will be halfway home before most people have gotten to their cars. And that whole day would have happened not because of who you are it would be because of Who I am.

Jesus says all authority belongs to me and I want you to piggyback on it so that I can transfer to you because you are a disciple I can transfer to you authority.

This concept of making disciples means you're making representatives. That’s why its kingdom ‌Disciples. We are heavens representatives on earth. As a disciple, you have been duly deputized.

Folks, I am convinced the reason why we're not experiencing more power in prayer, the reason why we're not experiencing more victory in our lives, the reason why we're not seeing more of God operate in our churches and in our ‌culture is because he is not fully free to give himself experientially. We have all of him but to experience more of him he's not able to do that because we are not attached to him at the level of full commitment.

So what Jesus Christ is asking for is for you to change how you view your Christian life. When you accept Christ you're on your way to heaven but when you become a kingdom disciple heaven is on its way to you. When you are a believer in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of salvation means you're on your way to glory. But when God can trust you with ‌ his authority that means glory is on its way to you. God wants to share his authority with you but only if you are in sync and in connection with him and when you are, you will be able to see God do things that you normally wouldn't see him do because he can trust you to use it to advance his kingdom program and his kingdom purpose.

9/11 was a tragic time in the life of our country. Thousands of people lost their lives because 19 men from halfway around the world invaded our country, flew planes into our buildings and brought the most powerful nation in the world to its knees. 19 men in the name of their faith shook the United States of America and they did it because they infiltrated our country as representatives of a philosophy, an ideology and a worldview. 19 men shut us down and we will never travel again like we traveled before because 19 men brought their ideology here. Beloved, if 19 men could be so committed to their faith and their worldview to bring America to its knees what do you think thousands and millions of followers of Jesus Christ could do if they took seriously what it meant to go public and to represent our faith and our philosophy and our King and his kingdom in impacting a world desperately in need to see the kingdom of God at work.

May God equipped encourage and empower all of us to become Kingdom Disciples. Amen?

Lord’s Supper