What is gospel centered discipleship?
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Good Evening, tonight I really just want to speak to you out of some overflow of what is happening in my heart and my walk with the Lord.
I want to answer the question WHAT IS GOSPEL CENTERED DISCIPLESHIP?
What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ?
As I speak I understand that I am speaking to people who have been built here. People who have been shaped and molded to some degree by this church or another church. B ut our desire here is not just that we would grow but that we would build disciples for the future. So basically what I am asking for tonight is for oyu to hear me, but most importantly hear what God says and join me in prayer in asking god to step in and enable us to do what He has commanded us to do in scriptures.
Disciples are people who grow in their knowledge of God, for the glory of Christ, never straying or shifting from the gospel.
Disciples are people who grow in their knowledge of God, for the glory of Christ, never straying or shifting from the gospel.
Disciples are people like you and me who are a family of believers who are growing in thier knowledge of God for the glory of Christ, and do not fall away into error.
That is what is trying to teach us. In Colossians 1 we are catching a glimpse of Paul’s prayer life he is praying for this church at Colossae.
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:9-
I want you to notice here how Paul is praying for them to grow in their knowledge and relationship with Christ and the gospel. How he prays that they be filled with ALL knowledge.
Growing in your relationship with Christ is an essential characteristic of ALL disciples. Paul is not just saying that God is good TO us but more than that God is good FOR US.
Yes God is good to us but more importantly God is good for us, it should be what we want. He is saying that we shouldn’t just want God’s gifts; we should simply want God!
B/c if we go to God for His gifts we wont get His gifts, but if we go togod to get more of Him, we will get God and His gifts.
He is saying GO HARD AFTER GOD GORW IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM, BECAUSE GOD IS GOOD FOR US!
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
P
What is the psalmist saying?
In God’s presence it is there that your pleasures will be fulfilled, that you will truly know who you are bc you will know who God is.
GOD IS GOOD FOR US!
Jesus says come to me and I will give you rest, come to me and out of you will flow rivers of living water, come to me and I will satisfy you. Christ is the Bread of Life HE IS WHAT WE SHOLD DESIRE!
“God and God alone that is our highest good!”- Bavnick
God and God alone that is our highest good! That is what Paul is saying here, he is praying for this church, he is not ceasing to pray that they be filled with the knowledge of God ....
WHY?
bc God and God alone is our highest good
However study after study will show us, that the church, has never had more access to the Bible with less knowledge of it, its everywhere its on our phones its on our shelves nightstands the Bible is literally everywhere.
We can access it virtually anywhere but the church has never had less knowledge of it, and what I am suggesting to you is that doesn’t mean we are acedemically illiterate it means we are lacking in our communion with God.
I dont think you would fail a Bible quiz I mean we are lacking in our relationship with the Lord bc we fail to meet with him. How can we love the God we dont know?
Thats i what Paul is getting at right here, so Bible illertacy is not a matter of ignorance, it is a matter of the heart, it is not a problem with our minds it is a matter of our hearts and affections.
People have never learned how to walk with God, and even if they have been challenged to read to Bible they have never been shown how to study the Bible. It is our job as disciplemakers to both help them learn how to walk with God and how to search the scirptures for themselves.
The Bible never condemns the Pharisees for knowing the Bible it condemns the Pharisees for not knowing the Bible well enough.
A Pharisee is not someone who is zealous about knowledge they are zealous about ignorance.
That is exactl what Paul says in
when he defines it
I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
he says they have a zeal for GOd but not according to kowledge
So Paul who was a Pharisee himself is telling us if you increase in your knowledge of God in your relationship with him there is no greater knowledge to have. WHY?
Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to God’s righteousness.
so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.
So what Paul is trying to show us is there is this intensely practical relationship fellowship with God where we will bear fruit and good works and enduring all things with patience and joy.
ENDURE ALL THINGS WITH PATIENCE AND JOY
(loss of a loved one)
I just simply needed someone to remind me of what I already knew
WE SHOUT DOCTRINE IN THE LIGHT SO WE CAN DELIVER IT IN THE DARK”
We shout the gospel the truth about who He is in rooms like this where the lights on so we can say we know God is good so that when we find ourselves in darkness we can still hold on to the promises of god in the darkness so that when were in the room in darkness by ourselves we can cling on to the good promises from God.
We grow now so we can endure later
So my prayer for us is that we would increase in our knowledge of God so that we can bear much spiritual fruit brought forth by the Holy Spirit and we can endure with patience and joy all that God has for us.
I have hopes and dreams and things I ask God for the church, but none of us know what God is going to do among us, we dont know what the next month or the next year or the next 20 years hold for this church.
So what am I praying for?
I am praying for these things to be true why?
So that not just us as individuals but us as a family of brothers and sisters can do exactly what Paul prays here that we would not endure with bitterness and frustration but with patience and joy.
God is not just good to us but for us
So disciples are people who grow in the knowwledge of God WHY?
FOR THE GLORY OF CHRIST
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For everything was created by Him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things,
and by Him all things hold together.
He is also the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that He might come to have
first place in everything.
IN EVERYTHING CHRIST WOULD HAVE FIRST PLACE
I wanna stop right there, in the season where ball dominates so many families, CHRIST SHOULD HAVE FIRST PLACE IN EVERYTHING
For God was pleased to have
all His fullness dwell in Him,
and through Him to reconcile
everything to Himself
by making peace
through the blood of His cross —
whether things on earth or things in heaven.
this is actually an early church song, so Paul takes an early church song that the church would sing and he puts it in their letter to them, bc how often do we sing things that we need to remember are true
Thats what Paul is reminding them of, that these things you sing these things are true remind your hearts that the things you are singing aren’t just pretty tunes they are eternal truths
He is putting a song in here to remind them of the beauty and majesty of King Jesus.
One of the things going on at the church at Colossae was this: You see this church was a healthy church in a number of different ways they had good doctrine they had a love of god their membership was growing they had good preaching and if you were to look at this church from the outside looking in, you would think thats a healthy God centered church where god is saving people the word of GOd is going forward they are livng right, its a pretty healthy church.
it would be a church you would wanna be a partt ofso why does Paul include something like this?
bc Colossae were beginning grow board with Jesus and they didn’t know it.
We need to think about that for a second
you see they would have never said out loud “yeah we kinda have grown board with Jesus, were ready for the next phase of spirituality we love Jesus but werre ready for whats next.
They had become board and apathetic and when we get there we often dont recognize it until it is too late.
so Paul is saying look snap out of it, lets remember the awe we used to have with Jesus, you see the Colossian church wanted a kind of spirituality that wasnt Christ alone but was Christ and…
They wanted a spirituality that would not allow them to reject Jesus but add things to Jesus
For everything was created by Him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
You see there was two factions in the church of Colossae one wanted JEsus and wanted to follow JEsus but they also wanted to interact with the physical powers of the world.
What would this have looked like to them?
They wanted to take Jesus into the political world
how do we take JEsus into sports, and fitness
Jesus and essential oils, Jesus and angels, Jesus and tradition
they love JEsus and all these other things are good they are meant to love but what are they doing they are elevating these things to the level of Christ and they are saying we want Jesus and...
But there is another faction of the church doing the exact opposite with invisible things,
JESUS AND THE SPIRITUAL POWERS OF THE WORLD WHAT IS THIS
Jesus and angels, Jesus and the spiritual relam
What is true about both groups is that they are elevating created things to the level of the creator.
Good things both spiritual and physical and they are saying we want these things Paul is not saying these are ba things he is just saying dont put these on the same level as the Lord.
His point is that He is the creator of both and to elevate anything is to remove Jesus from creation altogether SATAN IS HELL BENT ON DOING ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING TO ET OUR EYES OFF JESUS AND HIS COMMANDS
I think sometimes the thing we think Satan is trying to do is to outright deny Jesus altogether but that is something he knows most Christians wont do. So I think what He will settle for is not outright denouncing Jesus but instead ignoring and failig to do what He commands
One of the greatest schemes of the devil is for us to become complacent with our view of Jesus
Thats what Paul is facing here He is saying you have seen these things dont you believe them?
He is saying do you love Jesus or just what He has done or will do for you?
The gospel is beautiful not just bc of what was done on the cross but bc of who accompliushed it.
So true discipleship is Jesus and anything it is simply just more of JEsus
How do you know that you have grown complacent and bored, what does you personal quiet time look like?
Are you hungry?
Are you satisified to be inrelationship with the creator of the universe or have you grown bored trying to spice up your relationship with Christ?
Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him — if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
Colossians 1:21-