Why make disciples?

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

Or...

Psalm 62:5–8 ESV

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 7 On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

Prayer

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Say intro to Michael Eash and the Ray family.

Intro

Ten years ago, our culture was forever changed by one word: YOLO. YOLO stands for you “You Only Live Once!” As in, “Going to Hawaii this summer, YOLO!” or “Let’s eat at at Applebees, YOLO!”

There was YOLO, and there was also FOMO. Maybe you’re like “I don’t see these on the sermon notes.” Hang in there.

FOMO means Fear of Missing Out. My dog has FOMO whenever I touch the front door he’s convinced I’m leaving him and going by myself to the dark park. Or maybe you’ve lied to your kids because if they knew you were going on out to see a movie after they went to bed they’ve had FOMO.

But here’s one you may not hear as much that I think impacts us to a much greater degree: FOBO. FOBO. Any guesses? Fear of Better Options. I would argue you are hampered by FOBO on a daily basis.

FOBO is not a new thing, but it is increasingly powerful in a world of limitless options. In the words of former Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson, we wanna be UNLIMITED (look it up it’s horrible)…but at the same time it can create FOBO.

For example...What are you going to do this afternoon? Maybe you’ve already decided. Maybe you’re pumped to just rest on the couch. Come on! But what if you start talking with someone and they say, “Yeah this afternoon we’re hiking Mt Peak and we’re training to hike some bigger mountains!” Your anxiety spikes and that’s the power of FOBO! Sitting on the couch was a good option for how to spend my time, but is it the best option?

Think about FOBO and big decisions like buying a house.

When we started the home buying process, and we put an offer in on a house in Auburn. It was nice! It was in our price range. It had a sauna in the dining room. Not on our list, but whatever! We put the offer in and we thought…what if there are better options out there? Stressful FOBO!

Every purchase has a multitude of options…at Fred Meyer you chose those pretzels but why not the other two dozen options? Chris told you Dots Pretzels are the best, but what if you just wasted $5 and could’ve gotten two bags of Snyders pretzels. FOBO!

But it gets more serious, right?

How’s your job? The economy is still decent enough that you could leave and find other work. My generation was told we could be anything we want to be…find your passion and you’ll never work a day in your life! What if there is a better option?

Friends. You love your friends. But…are there other friends out there? Maybe your coworker...

Church. There are so many churches. Gateway is great…but you haven’t really looked around…what if there’s a better one?

Christian and non-Christian...What do you want to do with your life? Make a choice and you’re saying no to many others. FOBO.

It affects us as a church, as well. Think about all the things we could be doing. We could be focusing on serving the homeless…we could be focusing on serving like going to the Food Bank. We could be focusing on evangelism and going to people who don’t know Jesus. We could be sending more money to missions to help connect with unreached people groups…there is no shortage of things we could be doing right now. How do we decide?

No more YOLO, no more FOMO…FOBO…how do we decide what to do as a church? How do you decide how to focus your time as a Christian?

Here at Gateway Chapel, we we want to be about planting churches and making disciples who hear, love, and obey Jesus. Last week we focused on church (the people of God who worship God because they’ve received the mercy of God), and this week we’re asking, why make disciples? Let’s kick FOBO to the side and make our choice together.

We’re going to look at Matthew 28:16-20 today, and in Matthew 28:16-20, Matthew wraps up his gospel with the story of the resurrected Jesus telling his disciples: go make more disciples. I want to offer four reasons why making disciples is the best thing for us to do. Four reasons.

Pray

We’re starting a four week sermon series called, “Why Church?” to help us clarify who we are and why we do what we do as a church. The context in which we live is increasingly uninterested in and opposed to the local church. Why are we so glad to be a part of the local church? Why do we do the things we do, why is making disciples our mission, why do we do baptism and communion, why do we have church membership? We’ll look at those things in the coming weeks.

But today we’re talking about making disciples, looking at Matthew 28:16-20, as Annika read.

Our text is at the very end of Matthew, and Matthew is all about Jesus being the one who fulfills the ancient promises of God to come save his people. Jesus is the Son of God, and through his death and resurrection, he is bringing inviting others to be sons and daughters of God not through nationality but through faith in him.

Jesus is the main character of Matthew, and so are the disciples. What is a disciple? The disciples are 12 guys that Jesus calls to follow him and learn from his teachings. Jesus is a Rabbi, a teacher of the Jewish Scriptures, and the disciples are to be with Jesus, learn from his teachings, and call others to do the same.

We see as much when Jesus calls the first disciples, Peter and Andrew.

Matthew 4:18–19 ESV

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Jesus is making disciples who will make disciples.

And so the first reason that making disciples is the best thing for us to do is...

Jesus came

Matthew 28:16–18 (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. 18 And Jesus came....

What’s the big event in the story which isn’t mentioned here? The resurrection! The single most important event in world history just happened. Jesus was murdered by the Jewish religious leaders because they did not believe he was the promised Messiah as he claimed. The disciples, who had been with Jesus, believed that Jesus was the Messiah, shared the last three years of their lives with him…abandoned him. Peter denied knowing him. And Matthew says there are eleven disciples and not twelve. Why? Judas betrayed Jesus for an amount of money that couldn’t get you out the door at Costco.

The majesty of the resurrection! The power of new life in Jesus! And the disciples. Eleven of them…eleven men who failed.

Matthew says when they saw him, they worshiped him. Rightfully so! What more proof do you need that this is the Son of God, the one sent by the creator of the heavens and the earth to redeem all things, than the fact that he died but now is no longer dead?

But some doubted. My knee jerk reaction is…they’re so dumb! Maybe it’s just too much to take in. Their eyeballs, created by God are receiving light from the one who spoke light into existence. And their brains, created by God are processing the hinge point of human history, so I think it’s okay to give them some time to take that all in.

And it says Jesus came…he approached…he came near…what is he going to say? It has an ominous feeling to it.

My dad told a story about when he drove the family car before he had a license, and got pulled over by a cop because his taillight was out, and the car got impounded. And his mom told him…when your dad comes home...

Will Jesus be like that?

I think Matthew wants us to hear grace in the phrase ‘Jesus came.’ Only twice in all of Matthew does Jesus come to someone. This time, and another moment on a mountain, when he shows the disciples his glory in Matthew 17.

Dozens of other times in Matthew’s gospel, people come to Jesus. His disciples come to him, the sick come to him, the scribes, Pharisees, Saducees come to him. Isn’t this the way we view the world…humans come to God, but now God approaches humans. And not just any humans, eleven failures. Eleven men probably feeling deep shame. Confusion. And Jesus comes near to them.

Why make disciples? Because Jesus came.

Making disciples of Jesus is the best option for us because Jesus is the kindest, most gracious person that has ever lived. When we get to know him more, we want to see more of him in other people.

Making disciples begins by being a disciple who Jesus has come near. If you’ve trusted Jesus, you are a disciple. You follow him and learn from his teachings.

And making disciples is for all believers, because in this story we see Jesus coming to a group of failures.

The second reason why we make disciples is because...

Jesus is King

Matthew 28:18 ESV

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

Who are people of authority in your life?

Is it your spouse? Your parents? Your kids?

Is it your boss? Clients at work?

Media? FOX News, New York Times, Instagram?

A mentor? A friend? Who do you listen to? Who’s teaching do you follow?

I would argue that Christian or non-Christian, we are disciples of someone because they have some authority in our life.

Our culture has seemingly tremendous power, dominion, and authority, and it makes disciples very effectively. The suburbs are much better at making disciples than the church.

And, Christian or Non-Christian, we are making disciples of others because of the authority we have in our life. We all have influence over people in our life (kids, friends, neighbors, coworkers) and we are shaping them in some form or fashion.

I have an adaptive personality. People make disciples of me easily. I laugh differently based on who I’m around. Anyone notice this? My old boss had one of those, “HA!” laughs, and I used to do that a lot.

If you laugh like this, “TSSSS” if we hang out I’ll start doing that.

We have power and authority over each other. I want you to like me! I want to be like you. We want to be liked in our environment, and that authority over us causes us to follow certain people and behaviors.

Jeff Moline and burkenstocks

But here Jesus doesn’t just say I have some authority, or I have the majority of authority or I have authority over you…he says I have all authority in heaven and on earth…another way to say…everything. Life and death. All of existence. All dimensions. We live in a multidimensional universe…space-time is not all there is. God’s space and our space. All of it.

Why make disciples of Jesus?

Jesus is king. Jesus proved he’s the one to whom every knee will bow by dying and being raised to new life.

I think I struggle here. Two reasons.

One - it doesn’t look like Jesus is king.

If Jesus is king, why do we need a food bank? If Jesus is king, why is life so hard and aging in particular so brutal? If Jesus is King, why have we been pregnant three times and have one healthy baby? Hebrews 2 says even though God has put all things under Jesus, we don’t yet see it that way. Faith is hard for me, I don’t know about you.

Two - I want to be king.

Functionally, Jesus is not the king, he’s a king, and so am I. I do what I want to do, and then I’ll choose Jesus when it works for me. I’ll make disciples if I get around to it and it works in my schedule.

Jesus is resurrected, graciously comes to his disciples, and calls them to make disciples. Why? Because it will be fun? Because it will be easy? Because he is King. And the Holy Spirit is helping us by faith trust that’s a really good thing.

Why make disciples? Because Jesus came, Jesus is King, and...

Jesus Commissions us

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

This is called “The Great Commission.” Commissioning is giving your authority to someone so they can complete a task.

What’s another commissioning in the Bible? How about Genesis 1? God, the ultimate authority, gives his authority to humans to do what? Be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion, have authority over creation. This is like a new creation moment.

If you have kids you may be familiar with the story when King Friday commissions Daniel Tiger to be king for the day and Daniel has to complete Royal tasks to be kind. Anybody?

How do they make disciples?

First, by baptizing them…marking them. Identifying them. If you’ve been baptized, you’ve been identified as a disciple, someone who follows Jesus and learns from his teaching.

Jesus commissions them to teach all he’s commanded them. What did he command? A lot. Most of Matthew is teaching from Jesus. He’s taught them about ethics, the end times, church discipline, life in the kingdom. But what did Jesus say the greatest teaching is? Love God and Love Others. Making disciples is about helping people Love God and Others.

And who is to become disciples?

All nations. No longer just Jews, but everyone who trusts Jesus.

The task we are given, by the power vested in Jesus, is to make disciples. This is helpful because it’s really clear! Life is very confusing, but Jesus here is very clear. Whatever you do, go and make disciples of all nations.

Making disciples of Jesus is the best thing we can do because Jesus came, Jesus is King, and he commissioned us, and...

Jesus is Coming with us

Matthew 28:20 (ESV)

...And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

My friend Nels helped me build a part of our fence a few years ago. And I was supposed to get tools for the job, but I got all the wrong stuff.

And so Nels’ figured that out at one point and said, “Let’s go to McClendons, and I’ll come with you.” Sweet relief!

Don’t raise your hand, but how many of you feel completely insufficient at making disciples? How many of you think ‘some people may be able to do that, but I’ll just mess it up!’

The comfort we have in making disciples is Jesus is coming with us. Jesus is Immanuel, as it says in Matthew 1, which means God with us.

Jesus comes to us, we become disciples, and we are baptized into the Holy Spirit, and are given the Holy Spirit.

Jesus comes to the eleven remaining disciples, complete failures that they are, and says, “You’re the ones I’m choosing to entrust with the task of making disciples of all nations.” That’s like hearing your friend talk about a horrible contractor who worked at their house and saying, “I’m calling them and giving them my business.”

But what happens? The Holy Spirit comes to these guys at Pentecost in Acts 2, and they start preaching and teaching and people start becoming disciples of Jesus in droves.

Acts 4:7–13 ESV

7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

We make disciples not because we should but because we’re with Jesus. If you spent three years with Spencer Doherty, you would make coffee. Not because you should but because you were with Spencer and that’s something he does.

I imagine the degree to which we make disciples is the degree we truly live our lives with Jesus.

Why make disciples of Jesus?

He came to us even though we failed him, he is king (even when we think we’re the king), he commissioned us (it’s what we’re given authority to do!), and he is coming with us (it’s not on our shoulders).

Two questions you may be asking…how do I make disciples? And what do I do next?

How do I make a disciple?

It’s not a simple question. If you ask, “How do I make a pizza?” That’s easier because Alexa or Siri can give you a recipe and then you know what a made pizza looks like. What does a ‘made disciple’ look like exactly?

It’s not an exact science. Jesus doesn’t give us a perfect formula because this commissioning is for all Christians in all times and places…so it needs to apply for all times and places…we just have to figure out how to do it here and now.

There is no one right way.

What works for you? It’s Jesus and you…how would y’all make disciples?

Personally, I don’t think it works best when programmed by the church. I think my job is to help equip you, but not systematize you.

There are books you can read, podcasts you could listen to, all sorts of resources available.

At this point maybe you’re feeling FOBO, there’s too many options!

Ask Jesus, ‘Who?’

Gene Poppino has been discipling and mentoring me for almost 7 years. It began with Gene going on walks and asking God, “Lord, who might be next?” And God graciously allowed me to be an anxious shameful wreck who needed help.

Write down a small list. That was an action item for me this week. Writing down names and stopping to pray.

Maybe the people that come to mind are your kids…God is asking you to be intentional about raising them as disciples. Awesome!

Maybe it’s someone who doesn’t know Jesus and you want to help them meet Jesus.

It’s okay if it doesn’t work out.

It is not failure if you try a discipleship relationship with someone or some people and it doesn’t work out. Schedule, timing, different things can get in the way, and that’s okay. God is helping you move in the right direction.

This happened to me recently, I was reaching out to pursue a discipleship relationship with someone, and it just never got off the ground.

Maybe you say, “Hey, what would you think about getting together and reading our Bibles together and talking about life? Are you free this Friday?”

And if schedules don’t align, your friendship doesn’t click, whatever…that’s okay.

Spend time with Jesus together in a variety of ways.

Maybe you’re going to read Matthew together a few chapters at a time and talk about it.

Pray for each other, or maybe read a book on prayer and try different forms of prayer, meditation, the Daily Offices, take a prayer retreat together.

Listen or play music together, or share songs that are impactful for you.

Have fun together! Play golf, go on walks, play games, eat good food, drink whiskey or wine together…you can do a lot of things together with Jesus as you endeavor to follow Jesus and learn from his teaching.

Why make disciples?

Jesus called us, he is king, he commissioned us, he is coming with us.

How do we make disciples?

There’s no one right way, always pray, it’s okay to try, and spend time with each other in a variety of ways with Jesus.

What’s your next move?

Jesus always makes the first move. What’s your next step?

If you’re a disciple, Jesus has come to you despite everything you’ve done and helped you to follow him. The King has commissioned you to make disciples. What’s your next step in making disciples? Maybe it’s clarifying the relationships you already have. Maybe it’s being a part of a community group. Praying and asking God to help you make disciples of your kids. Maybe it’s praying about a new relationship, sending a text, setting up a time to talk with someone.

There are so many options in life.

So many things we could do! It’s debilitating at times…hence FOBO - Fear of Better Options. Making disciples is THE option because Jesus came, he is king, he commissioned us, and he is coming with us. It’s not one more thing to do, it is the way we do everything. All our relationships, all our endeavors as a church are towards this end.

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