Leave Nothing to Chance Part 2

This morning we continue last week’s message as we begin a very timely sermon series designed to help us take our discipleship journey to the Next Level.

Discipleship process is what we are talking about. Growing in our walk with the Lord… no matter where we might be in that walk… is the idea. And the purpose in this series is twofold.

One, I believe God is calling every one of us in this room and watching online to take our walk with Him to the next level. No matter where you are in your journey with Jesus, I believe God is calling you to go deeper in your relationship, to fall more in love, and to serve a little stronger.

Two, I believe God is calling every one of us in this room and watching online to help others take their walk with the Lord to the next level. This includes helping those who do not have a relationship with the Lord. As disciples of Jesus, we need to be engaged in making disciples for Jesus. What does that process look like? How is this going to be achieved?

The goal is to move from where we are to where God wants us to be in our walk with Him.

That goal is achieved through INTENTIONAL ACTION AND PURSUIT. Discipleship DOES NOT happen on accident. If we want to be true followers of Jesus, we must choose to do what the first disciples did when Jesus called out to them:

They heard the call

They took action on the call.

Remember, when Jesus called out to Simon, Andrew, James and John, they left their boats and nets and followed the Lord. JESUS BECAME THE CENTRAL FOCUS OF THEIR LIVES.

(SHOW JESUS SLIDE) And is the key point in the discipleship process we are encouraging at HWC. Jesus must be central in that process. The first thing Jesus called the disciples to do was to follow Him… He called them into relationship with Him.

Therefore, the process begins with one name… the name of Jesus… but it continues from there. Let’s look at our main text again.

Matthew 4:18–22 NKJV

18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Jesus said “follow me” - He calls them to a new destination - that destination is Jesus!

That relationship would come through following Jesus. As they followed Him, He would make them fishers of men. This means:

Jesus would disciple teach these guys His will and His ways.

Jesus would send these guys to disciple others.

Again, what we see in action here is:

A CALLING or an invitation offered.

A REALIZATION of a new and needed goal - Jesus

A DECISION to leave behind the old and to follow Jesus

A COMMISSION to lead others to the new and needed goal - Jesus.

So… the process begins with One name… but it continues with a relationship that promotes and encourages spiritual growth.

Such growth requires that we take intentional action regarding our walk with the Lord.

The Process Continues by Taking Intentional Action.

When the guys in the boats heard the call given by Jesus, they had to take intentional action in order to respond. If they desired to follow Jesus, they would have to get up out of the boat and physically follow Him. They had to leave where they were to get where He was leading them to go.

In one case, the guys left behind their nets started walking.

Now, consider this - how important are the nets to a fisherman’s trade? If you have no nets, you won’t catch no fish!

For the farmer it would be like leaving behind your combine.

For the mechanic it would be like ditching all of your tools.

For the nurse it would be like losing your stethoscope, thermometer, and blood pressure cuff.

For the truck driver it would be like abandoning your rig midway through your route.

Those nets were how they made their living! But they knew in this moment… it was either go… or stay attached to what they had always known.

In the case of James and John, they left their boat, their nets, and their father who was with them in the boat! They walked away from it all!

It wasn’t that dear old dad was no longer important to them, but this was Jesus calling them. For these guys to follow Christ as He walked this earth, they had to leave EVERYTHING behind.

Talk about a commitment to spiritual growth! And it was not a commitment that would bear any fruit UNLESS these guys actively stood up and followed Jesus.

Church, when it comes to developing and deploying an intentional discipleship process for both your life and church, passivity will have NO PLACE within that process.

Passivity is where good intentions… go to die. Passivity refuses to take the action needed to initiate the needed change.

For instance… Let’s say a person desires to get in better shape for health reasons.

We can read the right books, watch the right videos, and buy the right equipment. BUT… until we STOP eating the wrong food and START using the equipment we have purchased, we will remain in the same physical condition we hoped to change.

Sitting on the couch, eating your ice cream and thinking to yourself, “man, I really need to get in better shape” is not going to get the job done. The good intention is there… but so long as passivity remains… that good intention is as good as dead.

This principle is true on many levels. Good intentions will not lead to good results until action is taken.

This means working through the the discomforts and inconveniences and getting to work! Yes, those first initial steps may prove to be difficult, but the more disciplined you become, the less “work” it becomes.

Consider the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 as he spoke of his discipleship process.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NIV

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

“I strike a blow to my body...” in other words, Paul is saying when his body doesn’t “feel like” doing what is necessary, instead of settling for feelings, his faith kicks in. He doesn’t want to miss out on what the Lord has form him!

But he fully understands that passivity… will fight against the disciplines he is working to establish.

Here’s the deal, church. There’s an old phrase out there that says, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” It simply means, good intentions are not enough. Passivity is where good intentions go to die. And believe you me, when it comes to your spiritual disciplines, the enemy will DO ALL HE CAN to make you passive!

Make no mistake about it, Satan is TAKING ACTION against your walk with the Lord!

Passivity tells us to settle… to be content with we are. Passivity settles for second place, third place, etc. Passivity does not run in such a way as to get the prize. And I get it… there may not be anything wrong with where you are… but God has so much more in store!

And… When it comes to making disciples, passivity is content to leaving things to chance. Passivity is okay with leaving happenstance in the driver’s seat.

Nothing Jesus did on the day He called those disciples was accidental or left to chance. JESUS WAS INTENTIONAL IN HIS PURSUIT AND HIS INVITATION. And the results are an example of what can happen when we intentionally invite people to come to know the Lord. And we need to understand that… the process only BEGINS at the invitation.

Intentional discipleship is ACTIVE discipleship. What we are talking about, Next Level Discipleship, is making the choice to drop any and all passivity and ideas of accidental or happenstance growth, and become more active in our decision to know, grow in, and serve… JESUS!

And those three steps become our intentional action points regarding our personal and corporate discipleship journey.

First is KNOWING… knowing Jesus.

We cannot grow in or serve if we do not know. Knowing Christ comes by way of having a personal relationship with Him.

Knowing Christ is MORE THAN knowing about Him or being told stories about Him. Knowing Jesus goes much deeper than that.

For the four disciples we have been talking about, they had the opportunity to know Jesus throughout his earthly ministry! How incredible would that be! How much closer could a person get to Jesus when they are literally walking with Him!

Yet… there were still struggles.

Remember Peter? Peter vowed that he would never turn his back on Jesus, but then… when the pressure increased, he denied knowing Jesus three times!

Thankfully, Peter would later come back to faith and be reinstated to ministry by Jesus.

Remember Judas? Judas witnessed all the amazing things that Jesus did, but then… when the price was right, Judas betrayed Jesus to pad his own pockets!

Both of these guys walked with the Lord and were a part of His amazing ministry… yet they struggled in knowing Jesus when it mattered most!

Now let’s look at one more example… Remember the thief? Who while hanging on the cross said, “remember me” after watching Jesus’ love and grace remain even after being crucified? HE KNEW Jesus was who He said He was. In that moment, that thief came to know Jesus.

Instead of going with the flow, he saw the heart of Jesus… and HE KNEW Jesus was the real deal. The condemned criminal, paying for his crimes, knew that Jesus was the only One that could save his soul.

How well do you know Him?

Does your knowledge of Christ move you beyond your circumstance, your finances, your hobbies, your schedule, your comforts and conveniences, and your preferences… Does your knowledge of Him remain in place when it matters most?

KNOWING Jesus begins when we call on His name for salvation… but it doesn’t stop there. KNOWING Jesus moves us to GROW IN Jesus… to get to know Him more.

We are going to unpack this truth for the next couple of weeks. But the point we need to remember is our intentional discipleship journey BEGINS by knowing.

Second is GROWING… or GROWING IN JESUS

Our knowing Jesus leads us to the next step which is GROWING IN Jesus. This part of the process is choosing to engage in spiritual disciplines that result in the maturing and growth of our faith.

Again, Paul likens this part of the process to the steps an athlete would take before competing for the prize. He calls it “strict training” to make sure a person is able to run in such a way as to get the prize.

Our “training” or growing in Christ is extremely important in our every day life in Christ.

The growing and stretching of our faith works to increase our faith that we might persevere and mature in our faith.

This is a DAILY process. Just like physical exercise… we need to engage in spiritual disciplines that help us grow in our walk with the Lord.

We are going to talk about the importance of growing in Jesus AND we are going to talk about its strategic placement as step 2 in the discipleship process.

We cannot claim to know the Lord through personal relationship if we are not growing in the Lord.

We cannot serve the Lord and not be growing in the Lord. Growing leads us to serve, but serving also causes us to grow.

The Third step is SERVING… Jesus

Serving Jesus looks like how Jesus served others. Our service to the King needs to be one of surrender, sacrifice, and compassion.

As knowing leads to growing.... so does growing lead to serving. We cannot claim to be growing in Christ if we are not serving as He desires for us to serve.

Jesus came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. If our desire is truly to be Christ-like (the very definition of what it means to be a Christian) then we must be like Him in our service to God and to others.

Serving Jesus means moving beyond ourselves for the sake of God’s kingdom and glory.

Serving Jesus requires that we place all personal agenda and pride aside as we focus on what the Lord would have us to. God will call us and lead us to serve in many different ways.

Maybe God would have you serve on a ministry team or prayer team. Maybe God would have you serve in a classroom or a church bus. Maybe God would have you assist in the kitchen, on a mop, or on a lawn mower. Maybe God would have you paint a wall or fix a swing set.

Maybe… God would have you reach out to a widow or a single mom or dad on your block. Maybe God would have you fix a neighbor’s car or mow a neighbor’s lawn. Maybe God would have you sit with a friend in the hospital or pray with a coworker on the job site. Maybe God would have you buy groceries for a family in need or put gas in someone’s car.

Serving Jesus happens within the four walls of this church… but it also happens OUTSIDE the four walls of this church.

It happens in large groups, and it happens when no one is looking. What matters most is that we serve the Lord as He is calling us to serve! May His will be done!

This is the process… KNOWING, GROWING IN, SERVING JESUS. This is how we lead others from where they are to where God is calling them to be AND this is how we move from where we are to where God desires for us to be.

And church… so long as we have breath in our lungs, we should be growing in our knowledge of the Lord and serving the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind!

His name the destination. His harvest the work to be done. His way the only way. And we ACTIVELY become a part of journey as we choose to know, grow in, and serve JESUS!

Are You Ready To Run To Get The Prize?

Running in such a way as to get the prize, as Paul spoke about, required a spiritually disciplined life that involved knowing, growing in, and serving Jesus every day.

It meant that even when he might not have felt like “exercising” his faith, he got up and did what was necessary anyway.

Because Paul knew there might be days when his faith could be challenged… and he wanted to be ready for any challenge.

He did not EVER want to be disqualified for the prize. he desired to be about the will of God as he preached the gospel message to the world.

Running in such a way as to get the prize requires… action. INTENTIONAL action. It means all passivity has got to go.

There is nothing passive regarding the process we are going to lay out over the next several weeks. Each point requires active faith as be disciples and make disciples.

Taking our walk with God to the next level means taking our spiritual disciplines to the next level. So the question I want you to ask yourself is this: When it comes to your faith, have you been running in such a way as to get the prize… or have you been content… settled with second, third, forth place? ARE YOU ALL IN?

So what does all in look like? It means moving beyond how we might feel sometimes and giving God our absolute best. FAITH must take the lead.

it means “beating” our bodies, as Paul said, and making it a slave to our faith. Now I’m not talking about whipping ourselves with a switch, but we must be disciplined enough in the Spirit to say yes to spiritual growth, even when our flesh says it’s not convenient, there’s a game on, I have work to do, my chair is really comfortable, it’s been a long week, etc.

When Paul finished his journey, he used these words found in 2 Timothy 4:7

2 Timothy 4:7 NIV

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Paul gives three points of struggle he was able to overcome throughout his life on earth.

He stayed in the fight. He did not give up or give in.

He finished the race. He did all that the Lord had called him to do.

He kept the faith. Even in times of great struggle, Paul never turned his back on Jesus.

How did Paul do this? Because of spiritual disciplines that were evident in his life.

Church, this process we are talking about is no laughing matter. Knowing, Growing in and serving Jesus will make the difference in our ability to one day stand and say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

So here we are, with a choice before us… Will we take ACTION on what is needed… or will we choose to allow our good intentions to remain just that… good intentions?

I guess the answer to that question goes back to that one name we talked about last week. JUST HOW IMPORTANT IS THE NAME OF JESUS TO YOUR LIFE?

Is He number one? If not, are you ready and willing to make Him number one?

PRAYER - Commitment to Jesus. Commitment to placing action to our discipleship intentions.