Step Forward Part 4

Intro:

Last week of the series.

Next week we will begin a brand new series we are calling forging family

This will be a series where we will look at biblical principles that build a strong family and a loving, Christ-centered home.

As many of us know, family life is filled with joyous wins and troubling struggles.

So, how do we Find stability, safety, and community in Christ to allow us to persevere through whatever comes with an enduring hope for ourselves and our families.

That’s what we will talk about. So, here’s what I’m gonna challenge you to do.

Make the decision here and now, that you will bring your family to church during this series

And invite another family to join you

Can we do that?

Because the enemy knows the quickest way to damage the church and ultimately a community is by breaking apart the family

And statistics will show the direct correlation between the breakdown of society and family

When the family breaks down so does everything else

So let’s build stronger families together and I pray and believe this next series will help do just that.

Ok, so, last week of Step Forward.

Where we are discussing how to attain growth in our spiritual lives

Where we have been saying that following Jesus is not a one and done decision but a big decision that’s followed by a bunch of tiny decisions that fill each day

Put Jesus over everything

Deny yourself

Take up your cross daily

So, let’s revisit our thematic passage that we’ve been in this series, pray, and talk now practically how this plays out

Matthew 16:24–27 NIV

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

As we’ve worked through this passages in Matthew 16 and Luke 9, we need to remember that Jesus is addressing his disciples.

What, then, is a disciple? The Greek word for disciple is mathētēs (math-e-taze), which means “one who learns, or a pupil.”

It is a worker, an imitator, a learner, a partaker, a doer.

So, broadly speaking, the word disciple isn’t necessarily a spiritual word

It is simply anyone who would follow after

Who would imitate

Who would think and do like one that they follow after

Jesus invites his disciples to follow him and become His disciple.

This is a way of saying to learn from me—not by studying a book for a test but by learning a lifestyle.

So, you can have all the head knowledge in the world, but if it does not lead to a lifestyle like Jesus’ you are not a disciple

So the question is then: Are you a disciple of Jesus?

Not are you a disciple because you certainly are.

You are following, imitating, going after someone or at least something?

But are you a disciple of Jesus?

If you are not then I would ask how is it working out for you?

Have you ever had that tugging question rattle inside your brain of: Is this really it?

Is this all that life is about?

So then, what makes a disciple of Jesus?

What does one look like?

How do you become one?

Well Scripture is very clear on this subject

A DISCIPLE IS MADE BY RELATIONSHIP

Matthew 7:21–23 NIV

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The greek word for knew here is “ginosko” (ee-know-sko) the direct definition is: to learn to know a person through direct personal experience, implying a continuity of relationship

A disciple of Jesus is made by their relationship with Jesus

This is why the church has struggled with discipleship for years

Because you can’t program a relationship

You can’t force a relationship

As badly as I wish that I could create an intimate relationship with you and the Lord, I cannot do it for you.

Only you can

But now, look what Jesus says right before he said this

Matthew 7:15–20 NIV

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

A disciple is made by relationship

A DISCIPLE IS DETERMINED BY FRUIT

Straight from Jesus’ mouth. Jesus knows whether or not you are a true disciple by the relationship you have with him

You and I know whether you are a disciple by the fruit that you possess

In other words, if there is not fruit of discipleship in your actions then there is no true discipleship in your heart

So, how does this play out? What does this look like?

What if I want to get serious about my faith? What if I want to be a disciple of Jesus?

What if I’m not sure if I am or not? What if I want to get better at it?

To follow Jesus means to accompany or walk close behind him.

It is a Hebraic expression that means to imitate his life.

But to use a phrase we’ve used before: “you cannot love what you do not know”

Quite simply, you must spend time with the Lord

And as we follow Jesus, we willingly accept hardship, suffering, and even sacrifice to stay close to him.

This is making the daily decision to do what Jesus would do no matter the cost

I can’t state this often enough: The next steps to following Jesus will need to fit who you are and where you are in your journey.

Growth doesn’t happen overnight; it starts where you are.

However, it cannot be just coffee and quiet time. While valuable, there is more to following Jesus than that.

There is sacrifice, self-denial, and dying to self. There is a making of fruit: and all of these things are daily actions and are best accomplished with a plan.

I don’t get why in every other area of our life, if we want growth to happen we come up with a plan

Growth rarely happens accidentally

One year my family decided to run a 5k at thanksgiving now, I dont know if you have ever trained for a 5K or something similar, but if you have then you quickly learn you can’t just run a little over 3 miles on day one with no practice.

Training is an incremental process that builds on what you learned the day before.

My goal was to be able to run the entire 5k without stopping.

So, months before my wife and I started training. We would walk a little then run a little for a mile

Then we would walk a little and run a little for 2 miles

And we built on that until one day we could run without stopping for 3.1 miles or a 5k

Following Jesus is like that. It involves daily staying close to Jesus, recognizing that to start as a new disciple to and become someone who has grown in Christlikeness takes time and effort—with the empowering of God—on the part of the disciple.

So, yes you throw off the things that don’t look like Jesus and you put on the things that do

You allow grace for when you stumble, but you always get back up and keep running.

in continuing with the analogy of running, grace is given so that when you fall, you can get back up and keep running

It is not intended to keep you down

As the saying goes “grace is not opposed to effort it’s opposed to earning”

So, wherever you are today, pick yourself up, do the hard things, decide every day to know Jesus and become like Him

Now, here is how I want to end this series

I want to briefly talk about some major hurdles that get in our way so that our awareness of them might help us see them sooner and leap them quicker

Bob Mumford has a book called “Agape Road.” If you’ve ever sat under Mr. Gary’s teaching then you’ve heard of him and the book.

In this book he gives 7 giants that we all face in our pursuit to love like Jesus

For what we are talking about today, I think these giants act as a stunt to our fruit growing

I would encourage you to pick up his book and read it, I also believe he has some videos online about this, or go talk with Mr Gary about it in more depth and I’m sure he’d be glad to talk in detail

So, I just want to list them and talk briefly about them but there’s so much more that could be said about each

Here is what he says that they are

#1 Look Good giant

The Look Good giant is not just concerned with the outward appearance but with creating a reputation that is not established in truth

This is your desire to falsely imitate and create a facade that is untrue to who you are to gain the positive opinion of another

Many of us will go through hell to look good and it might be the thing that send you there

Jesus wants to free you of that giant

Hypocrisy has been and will always be one of the leading sins that cause people to leave the church

This is why one of our Core Values at Cornerstone is to be “humble and real.”

Religion creates liars, disciples are authentic

#2 The Feel Good giant

This involves avoiding pain and discomfort at any cost, is committed to personal pleasure or gain, and is given to the senses or is sensual

Can you see how opposite this is to the discipleship Jesus calls us to?

Growth takes suffering, Jesus is offering us so much more but He knows it will take suffering and so He plainly prepares us for that

But if all we want out of life is to feel good then we will never be able to be a disciple of Jesus

#3 Be Right

This giant is the longing to enter God’s sphere where we have assumed that we posses the needed knowledge of both good and evil.

The groundwork for the effectiveness of the gospel in a mans heart is his ability to admit that he is wrong. That he is a sinner in need of a Savior.

In other words, if you are always right then you don’t need God

Now, Mumford says that first 3 giants are evident in our lives because of the desire to possess and intimidate

This is the deep rooted desire that drives the actions of the giant to come out

#4 the stay in control giant

The stay in control giant is your belief that if you are in control that everyone is safe and the results are guaranteed

It is the personal acting out as god

It is the desire to determine the outcome of everything for everyone

In this is anxiety of the future

this giant refuses to take no for an answer

refuses biblical limitations and often leads to loneliness

The heart of discipleship is a relinquishing of control

If you cannot participate in anything, with a whole heart, that you are not leading and in control of then this is a giant of yours and you will greatly struggle to be a disciple of Jesus

How silly of us hear Jesus invitation to be a disciple (an imitator of him) and say no, you follow my lead.

Jesus says come be my disciple and our desire for control is turning to Him and saying “no you be my disciple.”

Mumford says that control is the kingpin in the middle in which everything else works around

#5 Hidden agenda

This giant is a user. it is covert with words of peace and a heart of criticism

It is the pursuit of hidden manipulation

And once determined we can not rest until our agenda is accomplished

Discipleship is not about or for your agenda

It is about His

We cannot be lights of the world while be snakes in the grass!

Get over yourself, you’re not that important

#6 Personal Advantage

This is the giant of constant maneuvering for title, position, or recognition.

This is a use of others for personal purposes

We will help someone only if it directly benefits us

How counter intuitive to the kingdom of God

#7 Remain Undisturbed

Perhaps the most secretive and difficult to expose of all this giant disguises itself as the need for stability

In the terms of discipleship it is to respond to Jesus’ invitation like this “I will follow you but only so far.”

Discipleship calls us out of our comfort zone into discomfort

In our modern culture today I can go ahead and tell you that we all struggle with this one

Comfort is a killer to your Spiritual growth

If you want to follow Jesus you might as well grow comfortable being uncomfortable

Mumford says that the last 3 giants are evident in our lives to acquire and manipulate

Now, I don’t know about you but when I first heard this list, there’s a little of all these in me, and there’s a lot of some of these in me

So, here is where I want to encourage us this morning

This is to be human. It is normal.

But to remain this way forever is to deny the call to discipleship

We must start where we are, but we must also grow

And that’s what I so desperately want for you and your family and this community

For you to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ

To grow close to Him in a way you’ve never done before

To experience the love of the Father in ways you never imagined

To produce fruit that would change families and communities

To experience a life of freedom, peace, and hope.

Let’s end where we started:

Matthew 16:24 NIV

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Jesus never calls anyone to be a Christian He always calls them to be a disciple

Jesus’s call is to be a disciple (math-e-taze) not a Christian (christianos) little Christ

Did you know the word Christian is used 3 times in the NT and the meaning of it is used to describe only part of what it means to be a disciple

the word disciple is used 269 times and its not a verb its a noun

Meaning it’s not something you do or don’t do, it’s not something you put on Sunday morning and take off Monday morning it’s who you are or said another way “you are one or you’re not.”

And although this is beginning to change some, in our western culture it is acceptable to be a christian but not a disciple

because being a disciple often looks, sounds, and seems radical

So today, if you want to live the life you were designed to and created to - be a disciple of Jesus

And wherever you are in your journey of that, take a step forward toward Jesus

This happens as we use our time wisely (as Paul advises us, daily spiritual disciplines), avoid giants (take up our cross/put to death sin and self), bear fruit (fruit of the Spirit) and stay close to Him (follow Him.)

Be with Jesus

Be like Jesus

Do what He did

This is the progression of discipleship

Don’t be a Christian, be a disciple