[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 24th of July, 2016. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
What is the purpose of the church? Have you ever given that any thought? Rick Warren wrote a whole book on what our purpose is, as individuals, but what about the church itself?
Our scripture passage this morning is one you’ve heard me read before, and one I’ll very likely read again. Because it carries a critically important message, for us as individuals but more for the church family – for the body of Christ. It’s the last thing Jesus said to us before ascending into heaven, according to Matthew’s Gospel account. And it addresses that question of the church’s purpose.
Listen and follow along as I read the ending of the Gospel account of the Apostle Matthew, chapter 28 verses 16 through 20, from The Living Bible…
Our scripture passage this morning is one you’ve heard me read before, and one I’ll very likely read again. Because it carries a critically important message, for us as individuals but more for the church family – for the body of Christ. It’s the last thing Jesus said to us before ascending into heaven, according to Matthew’s Gospel account. And it addresses that question of the church’s purpose.
Listen and follow along as I read the ending of the Gospel account of the Apostle Matthew, chapter 28 verses 16 through 20, from The Living Bible…
16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had said they would find Him. 17 There they met Him and worshiped Him — but some of them weren’t sure it really was Jesus!
18 He told His disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and earth. 19 Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this — that I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”
--Matthew 28:16-20 (TLB)
Let us pray… Father God, we come before You this morning to hear Your word and listen for Your voice to guide us. Speak to us that we might understand what You have to tell us today. Help us better discern Your will for each of us. In the holy name of Your Son Jesus we pray. Amen.
A man is walking his dog along a beach when they come upon another visitor to the shore. The dog’s owner is proud of a new trick his pup had learned and was eager to show him off. So he tells the other man, “Watch this!”, and tosses a piece of driftwood as far out into the ocean as he can. Immediately, the dog jumps up and runs across the top of the waves to fetch the stick, and then runs back on top of the water to bring it to his owner. The observer merely shakes his head in disbelief. Smiling, the owner repeats this performance two more times. Finally, he dryly asks the other man, “Did you notice anything unusual there?” The observer responds, “Your dog can’t swim, can he?”
Some anonymous person who either had a very dry sense of humor or an extremely keen insight into the current state of the church, or perhaps a bit of both, once observed that the church today is raising a whole generation of mules. They know how to sweat and to work, but they don’t know how to reproduce themselves.
That’s quite humorous, but also quite true, isn’t it. We know how to work, here in this Pilgrim family. We’re no strangers to labors and sweat. But we don’t seem to have a clue as to how to make more members just like us, more good, hard-working believers of Jesus Christ. We don’t know how to reproduce. And we’re not alone. Churches all across our nation share this affliction. That’s why our numbers are dwindling, the church shrinking.
I can’t help but wonder if we’re not like the man watching the dog run on top of the water and surmising only that the pooch can’t swim. Are we missing a blatantly obvious truth?
Last week I mentioned that I was kind of picking up where I’d left off the week before. Well, I’m doing it again this week. I didn’t mean for this to become a mini-series, but it looks like maybe God had other ideas.
We began by recognizing and admitting that without God, we can do nothing. Then realizing that simple truth, we decided that we needed to work on our prayer life, to spend more time with our Father God and our Savior Jesus, to build a closer relationship with them. And that leads us to what I think is the next natural step: helping others do the same things.
First we help them understand that none of us amount to a hill of beans without God. Without Him we would have nothing, we could do nothing, we would be nothing. Then we impress upon them the need to build a close, personal relationship with God and with Jesus. We work with them, nourishing them, praying with them, sharing with them, showing them Jesus at every step along the way. And then someday, we show them how to do the same things we just did.
This is called discipleship. And this is our mission, should we choose to accept it. This is what the church is called to do. This is our Great Commission, given by Jesus before He left this earth. And this is what we are to carry out until He returns to call His church home.
Family, this is the purpose of the church, what we are charged to do: to go into the world making disciples. If we do as Jesus commanded, we will no longer have to worry about raising a generation of mules!
Now this passage from the end of Matthew’s Gospel isn’t the first time Jesus called us to discipleship. It all began at the start of His ministry on earth, when He personally chose and called those who would follow Him in that ministry. In chapter 4 of Matthew’s book, verse 19, Jesus walked up to Simon and Andrew, tending to their fishing nets…
A man is walking his dog along a beach when they come upon another visitor to the shore. The dog’s owner is proud of a new trick his pup had learned and was eager to show him off. So he tells the other man, “Watch this!”, and tosses a piece of driftwood as far out into the ocean as he can. Immediately, the dog jumps up and runs across the top of the waves to fetch the stick, and then runs back on top of the water to bring it to his owner. The observer merely shakes his head in disbelief. Smiling, the owner repeats this performance two more times. Finally, he dryly asks the other man, “Did you notice anything unusual there?” The observer responds, “Your dog can’t swim, can he?”
Some anonymous person who either had a very dry sense of humor or an extremely keen insight into the current state of the church, or perhaps a bit of both, once observed that the church today is raising a whole generation of mules. They know how to sweat and to work, but they don’t know how to reproduce themselves.
That’s quite humorous, but also quite true, isn’t it. We know how to work, here in this Pilgrim family. We’re no strangers to labors and sweat. But we don’t seem to have a clue as to how to make more members just like us, more good, hard-working believers of Jesus Christ. We don’t know how to reproduce. And we’re not alone. Churches all across our nation share this affliction. That’s why our numbers are dwindling, the church shrinking.
I can’t help but wonder if we’re not like the man watching the dog run on top of the water and surmising only that the pooch can’t swim. Are we missing a blatantly obvious truth?
Last week I mentioned that I was kind of picking up where I’d left off the week before. Well, I’m doing it again this week. I didn’t mean for this to become a mini-series, but it looks like maybe God had other ideas.
We began by recognizing and admitting that without God, we can do nothing. Then realizing that simple truth, we decided that we needed to work on our prayer life, to spend more time with our Father God and our Savior Jesus, to build a closer relationship with them. And that leads us to what I think is the next natural step: helping others do the same things.
First we help them understand that none of us amount to a hill of beans without God. Without Him we would have nothing, we could do nothing, we would be nothing. Then we impress upon them the need to build a close, personal relationship with God and with Jesus. We work with them, nourishing them, praying with them, sharing with them, showing them Jesus at every step along the way. And then someday, we show them how to do the same things we just did.
This is called discipleship. And this is our mission, should we choose to accept it. This is what the church is called to do. This is our Great Commission, given by Jesus before He left this earth. And this is what we are to carry out until He returns to call His church home.
Family, this is the purpose of the church, what we are charged to do: to go into the world making disciples. If we do as Jesus commanded, we will no longer have to worry about raising a generation of mules!
Now this passage from the end of Matthew’s Gospel isn’t the first time Jesus called us to discipleship. It all began at the start of His ministry on earth, when He personally chose and called those who would follow Him in that ministry. In chapter 4 of Matthew’s book, verse 19, Jesus walked up to Simon and Andrew, tending to their fishing nets…
19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
--Matthew 4:19 (NKJV)
The next verse tells us they immediately left everything behind and followed Him. But the last part of verse 19 is the important piece for us. “I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus established the model for making disciples. He took these men and made disciples of them, so that they could go out and make disciples of others!
Fishers of men, bringing more people to Jesus! It’s a self-perpetuating process. Kind of like a pyramid scheme, except that it actually does good and it truly pays off in the end. Following this model of a disciple making disciples will allow the truth and the Good News to eventually spread all across the face of the earth, just as Jesus wanted!
Of course, as with any time we try to do what is good and right in this world, discipleship won’t be easy – neither for us or for those we are trying to mentor. There is a cost to discipleship, to following Jesus. Our Lord even warned His followers of this, such as in the 16th chapter of Matthew, verses 24 through 27…
Fishers of men, bringing more people to Jesus! It’s a self-perpetuating process. Kind of like a pyramid scheme, except that it actually does good and it truly pays off in the end. Following this model of a disciple making disciples will allow the truth and the Good News to eventually spread all across the face of the earth, just as Jesus wanted!
Of course, as with any time we try to do what is good and right in this world, discipleship won’t be easy – neither for us or for those we are trying to mentor. There is a cost to discipleship, to following Jesus. Our Lord even warned His followers of this, such as in the 16th chapter of Matthew, verses 24 through 27…
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”
--Matthew 16:24-27 (NKJV)
We need to understand that Jesus isn’t talking about a physical cross, or necessarily our physical lives. The crosses we may have to bear could include public ridicule for our belief, or worse. We may lose some friends even as we gain others. Some of our own family may shun us.
And that leads into the part about losing our life and finding it. Again, this is not necessarily about our physical life, our mortal life. This is more about our spiritual life, our soul. It’s getting back to what Paul says about giving up the old person, our old way of life, and becoming the new person through Jesus.
The thrust of this is that discipleship is not going to be easy, and could indeed be physically dangerous as well as emotionally so. But, if we stay the course, if we do as Jesus commands, the benefits will far outweigh the costs! “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” There’s your profit, and it has nothing to do with earthly gains.
Jesus invited His disciples by saying, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We can issue our own invitation by saying, “Follow me, and I will help you follow Him.”
Does that scare you? It should. How many of us would be comfortable having someone else follow us so that they can learn about Christ? How many of us are perfect and can be the example Jesus was? I don’t know about you, but I’m sure not! Yet if you are willing to follow me, I will show you how to not only be a disciple, but also to make disciples. And together we will follow Him.
It’s not so much what we say that people will remember. It’s what we do. In all things, give God the glory and honor and praise. Spend time with Him by studying His word and in prayer. Love unconditionally, remembering that our enemy is not made of flesh and blood, but is Satan, Lucifer, the devil.
Yes, there are evils and sins committed in this world, but those are done by Satan through people who are simply too weak in spirit to resist his temptations. Those are the ones we need to reach. Those are folks we need to bring to Jesus and make His disciples. And we can’t do that by hating them or screaming at them or cursing them or calling them names. We can only do it by loving them and showing them the love of Christ Jesus.
Follow Him, and become a fisher of men. Our mission is to go and make disciples for Jesus, teaching them all about Him and to obey His commands by word and by example. Just remember: we are not alone in this. Jesus is with us and will remain with us, even to the end of the world.
Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, by Your great grace and love, You sent Your only Son to earth to offer us salvation and eternal life. We understand and acknowledge that only through Him, only with Him at our side, can we enter the gates of heaven. Jesus came and invited us to follow Him as He led us to You. Thank You, Father, for having mercy on us, for loving us this much.
Hear us now, please Father, as we pause for a moment in the silence of this place and speak to You individually, directly, crying out from our hearts…
Lord Jesus, You invited us to follow You along the path of righteousness. You promise to stand beside us at our last when we face our Father God, and to claim us as Your own. Lord, please give us the strength and the courage to help bring others to You. Help us live Your commandment, Your commission, and to go into the world and make more disciples for You. Help us help them find the path to salvation. It is in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus, we pray. Amen.
And that leads into the part about losing our life and finding it. Again, this is not necessarily about our physical life, our mortal life. This is more about our spiritual life, our soul. It’s getting back to what Paul says about giving up the old person, our old way of life, and becoming the new person through Jesus.
The thrust of this is that discipleship is not going to be easy, and could indeed be physically dangerous as well as emotionally so. But, if we stay the course, if we do as Jesus commands, the benefits will far outweigh the costs! “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” There’s your profit, and it has nothing to do with earthly gains.
Jesus invited His disciples by saying, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We can issue our own invitation by saying, “Follow me, and I will help you follow Him.”
Does that scare you? It should. How many of us would be comfortable having someone else follow us so that they can learn about Christ? How many of us are perfect and can be the example Jesus was? I don’t know about you, but I’m sure not! Yet if you are willing to follow me, I will show you how to not only be a disciple, but also to make disciples. And together we will follow Him.
It’s not so much what we say that people will remember. It’s what we do. In all things, give God the glory and honor and praise. Spend time with Him by studying His word and in prayer. Love unconditionally, remembering that our enemy is not made of flesh and blood, but is Satan, Lucifer, the devil.
Yes, there are evils and sins committed in this world, but those are done by Satan through people who are simply too weak in spirit to resist his temptations. Those are the ones we need to reach. Those are folks we need to bring to Jesus and make His disciples. And we can’t do that by hating them or screaming at them or cursing them or calling them names. We can only do it by loving them and showing them the love of Christ Jesus.
Follow Him, and become a fisher of men. Our mission is to go and make disciples for Jesus, teaching them all about Him and to obey His commands by word and by example. Just remember: we are not alone in this. Jesus is with us and will remain with us, even to the end of the world.
Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, by Your great grace and love, You sent Your only Son to earth to offer us salvation and eternal life. We understand and acknowledge that only through Him, only with Him at our side, can we enter the gates of heaven. Jesus came and invited us to follow Him as He led us to You. Thank You, Father, for having mercy on us, for loving us this much.
Hear us now, please Father, as we pause for a moment in the silence of this place and speak to You individually, directly, crying out from our hearts…
Lord Jesus, You invited us to follow You along the path of righteousness. You promise to stand beside us at our last when we face our Father God, and to claim us as Your own. Lord, please give us the strength and the courage to help bring others to You. Help us live Your commandment, Your commission, and to go into the world and make more disciples for You. Help us help them find the path to salvation. It is in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus, we pray. Amen.
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