Embrace the Work DNOW

Introduction

How did everyone sleep?

Did anyone have any fun last night?

Well a brief recap from last night:

We discussed what the Gospel is.

We walked through the cycle of sin and the story of Jesus

And I called you to a point of response where I asked you to wrestle with whether you had ever responded to the Gospel and to consider how you see the Gospel.

This morning, we are going to take that next step and talk about what we are supposed to do with the Gospel once we submit ourselves to the Lord.

Open your bible to Matthew 28.

This passage is probably my favorite passage in the bible for a lot of reasons.

I think if you were to look for the most basic roadmap for how Christians are supposed to live and how the church should be structured, this is it.

Everything you read in Scripture, as far as commands for us, can be tied back to this passage.

In the Great Commission, as this passage is called, we find the 11 Disciples and they are once again taking direction from Jesus only this time, it’s post-resurrection.

There are some of the last words that Jesus ever says to the Disciples.

No if you have ever been in a situation where you have lost someone, you know that often the last things the communicated with you are the last and most important things that they want you to hear.

I think that is very much the case here as well.

So, let’s dive into what the work is we are called to do.

The Work

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus’ first command: As you are going, make disciples and baptize them.

He was calling the disciples to continue to spread the message that He has been preaching.

And Jesus is commissioning the disciples, and us, to continue the work of that ministry.

Sometimes we hear the term Great Commission or we see this verse and we think it’s a rally cry to go on a mission trip.

And that’s technically true, but Jesus is calling us to a life-long mission trip not a short-term one.

But the phrasing here isn't meant to be read as a one-time charge, but is literally translated "As you are going".

Meaning that Jesus isn't just telling you to go to Tulsa, Nebraska, Turkey, or Germany, He is calling us all to work on develop strong evangelistic rhythms in our lives that we engage in on a day-to-day basis.

What do strong evangelistic rhythms look like?

They are the small and incremental changes and choices that you make to walk in evangelistic obedience on a regular basis.

Strong evangelistic rhythms are often evident before you ever verbally share the Gospel with someone.

How you conduct your day-to-day life tells people a lot about the Jesus you serve.

How do you interact with lost people?

How do you love people that are sometimes tough to love?

What you are choosing to engage in for entertainment?

What you post on social media?

What hills you choose to die on or causes you choose to champion?

Every interaction we have with people show them more of Jesus or push them further away?

Strong evangelistic rhythms are prayed for and prepared for before they ever become a reality.

How many of you guys have heard of Coach T?

He is the evangelism specialist for the Oklahoma Baptist and he often encourages people to pray for BOB.

Pray for a Burden for the Lost.

Pray for an Opportunity to Share the Gospel.

Pray for a Boldness to Follow-through.

Praying for BOB isn’t just another acronym to remember or some catchy phrase.

Praying for BOB is the key that unlocks consistently evangelistic rhythms because it keeps you in that mindset always.

Gospel opportunities rarely happen by accident.

Every chance to “make a disciple” is a product of intentional obedience and prayerful expectation.

Choosing to engage in prayer in these ways prepares you heart, soul, and mind for the possibility for a Gospel interaction.

Without proper prayerful preparation you will be relying more on yourself than on the Spirit’s guidance.

Strong evangelistic rhythms are lived out in your personal mission field.

One of the things that I believe to be absolutely true is that your mission field is right where your feet are planted.

As you are shopping at Walmart, working in your office, walking the hallways of your school, or wherever you are, that is your mission field.

We are called to bring the Gospel to all nations, and all nations means all people, even the one who are sitting next to us or live next to us.

We don’t have to go on a mission trip to start sharing the Gospel, we are called to be engaged in evangelistic rhythms all of the time in all places.

Strong evangelistic rhythms all point back to the Gospel.

Of course all of the “things” that I mentioned above are important, but they are all point back to the opportunity to bear witness to who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

And they are all rooted in loving the lost person well and help them see Jesus in your actions.

But please don’t hear me say that you can love someone to salvation, because I don’t think that is true.

You can love them in a way that gains more favor with your words and shows them Jesus.

But the only way for them to truly become a disciple is to hear, understand, and submit to the truth of the Gospel.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

They have to commit themselves fully the Jesus’ Lordship. Period.

There is no amount of praying, loving, or anything we can do for them to get saved.

Jesus’ Second Command: Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you

Matthew 28:19–20 “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

This is where I think many churches and Christians start to miss it.

The goal of the church is raise up the disciples in the first part of verse 19 so they can fulfill the second part of verse 19.

The command to teach is no less important than the command to make disciples.

Of course one has significantly higher stakes as far as eternity goes for the one, but equipping that disciple to do the work and empowering them to embrace the work multiplies the stakes and has far more eternal significance.

There is way to much to that process to mention it all today, but a few ways to equip and empower them:

Meet them in the messiness.

Teach them how to engage in consistent spiritual rhythms.

Hold them accountable when they are falling off.

Love them through all seasons.

Encourage and celebrate the wins, even if they are small.

Bring them along to do the ministry.

There is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that goes into the discipleship process.

It’s hard.

It’s messy.

It’s even discouraging at times.

But it is also rewarding.

Good for your soul.

And grows your faith tremendously.

And there is great excitement when you get to watch them start to invest in and disciple others, much like watching your children take their first steps or score their first touchdown.

But in the midst of that, let us now forget who gets the credit.

Jesus reminds us that we are not alone in the discipleship process.

Matthew 28:19–20 “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

When those moments of evangelism or discipleship are challenging, remember these words.

Jesus says “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

There is never a season in any area of life where you are without Jesus as a Christian.

But it’s especially crucial to remember Him and lean on Him when it is messy and hard or when you are facing rejection.

It would be easy to give up and move on, but we are supposed to persevere nonetheless.

This is where “be comfortable in the uncomfortable” come in in this process.

The heart behind that phrase is to get outside of yourself and do hard things but lean into faith more than your own abilities.

Choosing to stay the course will be uncomfortable sometimes, but it forces you to rely on the Holy Spirit and trust in the work that God has called you to do.

But we can’t forget to also give Him the credit for the good stuff too.

We are called to be obedient in growing to the point of sharing the gospel and discipling others.

But someone becoming a Christian is God’s work.

People “getting it” and growing in their faith is a result of God’s revelation in their life.

Yes we can influence it to a certain extent, but God is the one that has to bring it all to existence.

Embrace the Work

Jesus tells us in Matthew 9:

Matthew 9:35–38 ESV

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

There is urgency in the work.

Now more than even people are searching for truth and for answers.

In a world where “truth” can be found at your fingertips, the need for laborers has never been higher.

But as Christians, the correct tool to truly reap the harvest is the Gospel.

And in order to prepare ourselves for the work, we must think honestly where we are in the discipleship process.

Illustration

I think we can find ourselves in one of four spots in the discipleship process.

Each chair represents a type of person:

Chair 1 - The Lost

In this chair sits the person who has never truly surrendered their life to Christ.

There are people sitting in this chair who:

Have made “declarations of faith”

Walked the aisle

Filled out a card

Are good people

Have been baptized

Are serving in the church

But they lack a true relationship with Jesus.

Characteristics of The Lost:

No spiritual fruit is evident.

Church isn’t always a priority as it’s seen as a social gathering more than a place to worship.

Little to no personal interaction with God outside of a church building.

Their biggest needs:

The Gospel

People relentlessly pursuing them

The Work:

Someone who finds themselves in chair 1 needs to only focus on understanding the Gospel and wrestle with the truth of it.

They aren’t really going to be effective in telling about what Jesus can do for their lives if they haven’t really every spent time with Him.

Chair 2 - The Believer

Christians in this chair are spiritual babies.

They may have been Christians for a few days or week.

And they may have been Christians for years but never engaged in the “hard” stuff.

Characteristics of The Believer:

They are dependent upon the church for their growth.

They have not taken any ownership of their faith.

Believers mostly consume from the church and don’t really serve anywhere or give back.

They either don’t yet know how to go deeper or are choosing not to.

Their biggest needs:

Biblical Foundations

A spiritual parent to help them grow

The Work:

Once someone becomes a Christian, there are some basic things that they can do.

They can tell people about what Jesus did in their lives.

They can start to pray for people.

They can seek out opportunities to be discipled.

They can work on basic spiritual rhythms like coming to church, consistently in bible study, etc.

Chair 3 - The Worker

This is the chair that many in the church find themselves in.

They are seeking to go deeper in their faith.

They are looking to serve but maybe aren’t yet ready to lead.

Characteristics of The Worker:

They are engaging in spiritual rhythms outside of the church such a quiet time, prayer, etc.

They are likely serving somewhere in the church, although maybe in a role with less at stake spiritually.

They are looking for opportunities to grow.

They are evangelistically active, at least in inviting people to church and maybe even sharing the Gospel some.

Their biggest needs:

Biblical community

Opportunities to serve and grow

Ownership of some ministry.

The work:

The worker is ready to serve.

They should have a solid understanding of the Gospel and should be developing in confidence about sharing it.

They should be engaging in church on a regular basis and should even be plugging into extra things like Generation Why?, The Call, Leadership, etc.

They should have solid spiritual rhythms established when it comes to quiet times and evangelism.

They should be taking ownership of their faith and doing it because they want to be obedient and spend time with God and not because someone is constantly telling them to.

Chair 4 - The Disciple-Maker (The Teachers)

The goal of the church is for everyone to find themselves in Chair 4.

We want all Christians to become disciple who make disciples.

The people in Chair 4 have been equipped and are being used by God to multiply His Kingdom.

Characteristics of The Disciple-Maker:

They are engaged in teaching and multiplying the saints on a regular basis.

They have a burden in their spirit to see those people they are teaching grow.

They understand the calling to disciples goes beyond head knowledge and are engaging their people in heart knowledge through embracing the work.

Disciple-Makers are seeking authentic connections with the people they have influence over.

They have truly embraced the “others-first” mentality that Jesus embraced.

Their biggest needs:

Encouragement

People pouring into them

Continued equipping

Gratitude

The work:

Disciple-makers are discipling others and walking through life with them.

They are meeting people in the messiness and consistently leading them back to Jesus.

They are serving in the local church and make it a priority in their lives.

They rarely have to be asked to serve, they are just ready to go when the need arises.

This progression is meant to be an ongoing process.

In order to embrace the work, you must first be realistic about what chair you sit in.

If I were able to strip away all social pressures and expectations, what would your answer be?

There is no shame in the chair that you are in but there’s also no room for growth if you aren’t honest about where you are.

Here is what I want you to hear from the sincerest part of my heart, please don’t let those pressures or expectations hinder you from being honest here.

Wherever you are in the process is ok.

Just be honest about it and don’t stay there.

We are going to flame out from time to time and stop growing.

The most important thing that we can do when we realize that is start to fight to move again.

That is where your habit stacking really starts to kick in.

Develop 60-second habits so that you can get the ball rolling on serving, with quiet time, etc. again.

You don’t have to jump back into the deep end and get back to where you were, but you do have to get to growing again.

The second question is this.

What do you need to get to continue to progress?

Start with prayer.

You may not know what you need to do to take that next step and that’s ok.

Who can you reach out to and ask advice from to help you figure it out?

The goal in asking what you need to do to get to the next chair is not to come up with a generic Sunday School answer like:

Pray more

Read my bible more

Love more

Of course, we all need to do more of all of those things.

I am challenging you to come up with action steps that apply to your life specifically.

Some examples of that could be:

I know I am lost so I need to wrestle with the truth of the Gospel and see where I land on that.

I know that I am a baby Christian so I need to look for someone to disciple me and help me grow in my faith.

I know that I am a worker, but I am ready to start stepping into a true leadership role where I’m learning to disciple someone else.

And then once God reveals to you what you next step(s) are, run towards them.

Don’t wait.

Don’t let life distract you.

Don’t let Satan tell you you are ok where you are or you can’t make that jump.

Run towards those next steps and watch how God blesses it.

Whatever moving to the next step looks like for you, it’s going to be a unique experience.

You are where you are today, with the experiences you have walked through, equipped how you are, exactly for this moment of growth.

And that will always be the truth.

So lean into how special that is.

Christians, we serve a personal God who desires to do life with us in the messiness like He calls us to do with others.

How incredible is it that he has a unique and perfect plan for each of us?

Response

As we close, I want you to take a minute and assign yourself to the correct chair.

As I said last night, honesty is key.

Don’t let what others think or what you think you are supposed to be influence your honest answer.

If you are in chair 1 and you would say that you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, that’s ok.

Last night, I clearly laid out the Gospel for you.

I also reminded you that all you had to do to receive it is:

Repent

Believe

Surrender

Some of you did that last night and some of you raised your hands and never moved beyond that.

If you are here this morning and that is what you need to do, then there is no better time than now.

Now, I don’t want to talk you into salvation because the world can quickly talk you out of anything that I talk you in to.

I don’t get paid based upon the number of hands that go up.

What I want you to wrestle with is the true condition of your relationship with Jesus and if you feel the conviction to get it right, and ONLY if you feel that conviction, then take that step this morning.

If you are in one of the other chairs, I challenged you to create some specific action steps to help you take the next step in your walk.

Right now, as we worship, pray for God to start to reveal those to you.

And as He does, write them down, even now.

And then thank Him for revealing those things to you.

Charge

Pray