Every Day

Message Transcription

Well, it is good to be here. I think I remember how to do this, but I'm not sure. So I may have to knock a little rust off, but if you have your Bible, I invite you to turn over to Matthew 28. We're going to we're going to spend some time there this morning as we launch into a new series I'm calling Every Day Disciple. So we want to think about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus in our everyday lives. As we do so, we're going to think together about different places and spaces where we find ourselves in the everyday. You're going to hear from a couple of different voices about those places. So Brian is going to talk with us next week as we launch into elementary and middle and high school. As we begin that time together, Brian's going to come and share with us a word about living in that space, but specifically thinking about our online lives, our technology inspired lives. What does it look like to be an everyday disciple online? Spencer is going to come share with us the week after that as we get a chance to invite and welcome back all of our college students and launch it to a new semester on campus at at tech and FCU in South Plains and think some together about what it means to be on campus again what that might look like for those of us who who meet some of those challenges or who love people who are facing some of those challenges, then we'll think together about our workplaces, the places where we spend most of our time every week engaging and impacting the lives of people around us.

What does it look like to be an everyday disciple when you show up at work and then finally on Labor Day weekend, we'll spend some time thinking about what does it look like to be a disciple in my neighborhood and the people who are in my neighborhood. What does it look like to be a neighbor, someone who knows and loves and follows Jesus and who's committed to his way, but but who also recognizes we live in a real world where most of the people now who live around us don't know or follow Jesus. How do we love? How do we minister to how do we reach out and impact the lives of the people in our neighborhoods? So I hope you're excited about it. I'm excited. We're going to we're going to begin by looking at a familiar passage, maybe to some of us who've been around Broadway a long time. Matthew, 28 It's a passage that means a lot to our leadership team. But before we get there, maybe as you're turning that way, I want you to think some about that word discipleship. What does it mean to be a disciple? As you think about that? What picture comes up in your mind? I know for some of us we think of maybe it's a discipleship class that we participated in at some stage in our spiritual lives.

Or maybe we think of it as as reading certain books that help us grow more in our wisdom and our knowledge. Sometimes we think about it as some type of specific behavior, and maybe that's part of that process. But what I want us to think about is, is the way the Bible talks about discipleship. If you look at the word that's used to translate into disciple, it simply means a student. So as we think about discipleship, I want us to think about what does it mean to be a student, a follower of Jesus, and one that is an every day disciple? Because we know those Sunday disciples, don't we? When I was a kid, our youth minister showed this really cheesy video. Brian, don't do this. But it was called Super Christian. And it shows them bursting through this paper into the youth group. And these super Christian, he's wearing a white suit and he knows all the answers and Bible class and all those wonderful things. And then the next day it followed him to school and he was using the same language as all of his classmates around him. And he was talking about the same things as those who weren't at church. And he was mistreating his family. He was mistreating all these people, but he sure knew how to play the game when it came to church time on Sunday.

And certainly it's a caricature and a really poor one at that. But it was this reminder of we have this ability to to to separate out our church life and our regular life that people can know us and never even know that we're a follower of Jesus. So what does it mean to be an everyday disciple, where my discipleship and following of Jesus doesn't just stop at the building in the parking lot, but actually travels with me wherever I go, whatever I'm doing. Let's look back at this passage that Hal read for us just a minute ago, because one of the things that we're going to see are a couple of things that we'll see from Jesus in terms of what does it mean to be a disciple. It's going to involve some work not only on on his part, the spirit's part, but on on our part. In return, know as we think about disciple one of the one of the ways they're lenses that's been so helpful to me and and learning this from Dallas Willard and several others is is thinking about simply what it means to be a student of something. And so as we enter into this passage, just when I invite you to to roll this question around in the back of your mind, who's discipling you these days? Or maybe for some of us, what is discipling you these days? What are you learning from? What are you a student of? And for some of us, it's our favorite news outlet.

For others of us, it's maybe a particular person. Or maybe an ideology or belief system. Who or what is discipling you these days? And if you look at a 24 hour clock I was looking up this week, what are what are some of the average amounts of time that we spend doing some things? Because one of the most powerful lenses to answer that question, who am I a disciple of or what am I a disciple of is to look at? How do you spend your time? Well, the average American supposedly spends about 7 hours sleeping and about 7 hours working or going to school and about an hour eating. So that adds up to about 15 hours, which leaves you another nine in your day. What are you doing with those other nine? I don't know about you, but my phone sends me a report every Sunday morning. I think it's kind of odd. I don't know that that that's on purpose. Or maybe one of you all did that and hacked my account. But it tells me before church how much time I've been on my phone. Krall. You're up 43% this week, but. Karl, you're down 38%. Way to go, right? It categorizes quantifies how much time I spend. The average amount of time in American spins on a screen.

And he kind of screened about 7 hours a day. That's impacting us. It's shaping us. It's forming. So so it's important for us to periodically stop and say who are or what are we being a disciple of? How do you spend your remaining 9 hours of the day? Well, here in Matthew 28, it's again, maybe a familiar passage to many of us. It's on the side of a mountain, which in Matthew's gospel tends to happen a lot things a lot of things happen on the mountain. The temptations that Jesus experiences are done on the side of a mountain. The sermon on the mountain is on a mountain. The transfiguration is when Jesus takes three of his disciples up on a mountain. There's something powerful about being on a mountain and experiencing God and Matthew's gospel. Matthew points us to a couple of things that I think are going to be important as we walk through this series together about becoming an everyday disciple. We're told this in verse 16. Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go, and when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubt it. First thing to point out, as I was reflecting on this, discipleship is for anyone. And especially for imperfect people. That's always striking to me that Matthew would include these words, this little verse in this section, as he describes the disciples meeting with Jesus again.

If you're like me, I sit back and I think if anybody should have, this should have been a no brainer, for it should have been the 11 guys that walked with him every day for three years who watched him do these amazing miracles. Feeding 5000 people in one city. To see him heal these people of leprosy and blindness, of raising a dead child back to life and handing him to his mother. Of listening to him as he told story after story it, as he expressed in so many beautiful ways and illustrations, what it's like to be a follower, to live in God's kingdom. You would think if anybody had an inside track in understanding it, seeing it, believing it. I would think of someone who watched Jesus die on a cross. Only to find that first Easter Sunday, the tomb empty. And the grave clothes lying on the ground. To then encounter him later that night when he appears and he says, Look at my hands, touch my side. When he sits in, he eats with them. I mean, if anybody could believe. Wouldn't it be these 11? And Matthew tells us some of them doubted. You see, as easy as I think it might have been, what I'm learning here is discipleship is still hard. And I don't know about you, but these are comforting words for me. Because sometimes Jesus promises are hard to believe. Can I say that in here? Sometimes what I read doesn't make much sense, right? Because I'm trying to make it make sense with life happening, real life, or where there's not easy answers, just hard questions.

And I'm left wondering. Who are you? Right. So it makes a lot of it resonates deep in my soul that they're out there going, yeah, this is it. You know, one of the things I think about that is because they're all together, and I'm sure he didn't say every one of them doubted it, just said some doubted because there were some who believed like this is incredible. That sometimes I need to be around some of those whose faith isn't wavering at that moment, who can say, This is incredible, Carl. Remember this. This is part of our story. You see, discipleship is for anyone, especially the imperfect, especially those who doubt, especially those who struggle, especially those who have hard questions and no easy answers, who get a tough diagnosis and know the road is not going to be easy. That discipleship doesn't exclude you because you don't have a perfect faith. Discipleship includes you because we have a perfect Lord. I love how their doubting doesn't disqualify them in the eyes of Jesus. Right. Because in my mind, I'd say, How dare you? Who do you think you are? Doubting me? Take a hike. We don't need any of your kind up here. We only need positive energy in the room. No negativity, no questions. Right. That's not what Jesus does.

That's not what he says. Instead, he looks at these disciples who are wrestling with life and with belief and faith. And he says, You go. Jesus then came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go. You Faithfull people go. And you doubting people you go to and you make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely I am with you always. To the very end of the age, Jesus starts with this promise. All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. It's this promise. If you're familiar with Matthew's gospel, it actually echoes back to Chapter four. You may remember the story where Jesus has been driven out into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. And one of the temptations is he's taken up on a mountain and he's shown all the kingdoms of the world and the devil. Says to him, This, all this I will give to you. If you'll bow down and worship me. Here at the end of Matthew's Gospel in 28, we learn, actually, Jesus got all authority on heaven and on earth, not because he bowed down to the devil. Because he laid down his life. Yes, he was willing to give for us, as Gabe reminded us just a few minutes ago.

He gave everything that we might have life with him. But that's not the only promise. In fact, the last verse, verse 20, he gives another promise. He bookends this teaching with two promises. And surely I'm with you always. Again, a promise that echoes all the way back this time to Matthew Chapter one When Joseph is visited by an angel, as Joseph is trying to consider, What do I do when my life and my expectations are not happening? I'm supposed to marry this woman, but she's pregnant and it ain't me. It's not my kid. What do I do? The angel comes and says, none at all. I want you to take her. Why don't you raise and love this child of your own? He says all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the Prophet Isaiah. The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son. And they will call him. Emanuel which means. God with us. See. God with us becomes Jesus with us becomes. Jesus will always be with us. See, Jesus will always be forever until the very end of the age with us. You see, being a disciple means rooting yourself in these promises that Jesus has all the power that's needed. And that Jesus will never leave you alone. You are never alone. You're never alone. They say all that discipleship is meant to be about, as is living with these promises, learning how to navigate them in the real world, in a world that hasn't yet understood and come under the power and the rule and the authority of Jesus.

So you rather Jesus proclaims all authority in heaven has been given to me. Now I'm in charge. But you and I can look at the world around us and see it's not fully there yet. Right. Gabe reminded us of that a minute ago as well. Or we can see the brokenness. Rather, what Jesus is saying is now that life giving life the good life, the life of kingdom. It's now breaking through. And sometimes it happens in little subtle ways that you don't even realize. And other times it's big and overwhelming ways. But it's happening. In fact, it's the answer to that prayer that Jesus teaches his disciples to pray. In that sermon on the Mount, God made your kingdom come on Earth as it is in heaven. See, Jesus says now now that that promise that life it's breaking through. And how is he going to accomplish this? How will he make this happen? Well, the answer it actually might surprise you. The answer to how will God accomplish this great vision and mission in the world? You actually look at it every morning when you get up. Look in the mirror. You're sitting next to that answer right now. In fact, some of you have your arm around it. Some of you may just want to reach over and squeeze the hand of that answer.

Some of you may be sitting next to an attractive stranger. Don't do anything. Don't make it weird. We want him to come back. But the surprising answer that Jesus gives to this commission to to allowing God's world, his kingdom, his reign, his power to break into the world is you and it's me. Be seen as we embrace that mission, or rather, as he calls it, the commission. Then all of a sudden we begin to see little outpost, little beachheads all over the place, in workplaces and in schools and in neighborhoods and in families that this this kingdom, life is breaking through. It's beginning to change everything. You know, Jesus was the first one to take this word hypocrite and use it in a context of religiosity. It began as as a term in theater that was a part someone would play is I'm going to pretend to be something that I'm really not in. The audience knows what's going on. They can see this unfold over time. All right. That character was called a hypocrite. Jesus was the first one to say, let's let's not bring that into the life of discipleship. That when you're given. And when you're praying. And when you're fasting. When you're an acting, embodying this life of sacrifice and love and service to the world, let's let's not do it in such a way that when people look at us, they see one thing, but they know the truth behind the story.

And when you ask people about the church, this this commission really comes under a lot of scrutiny, doesn't it? Okay. So wait a minute. So what you're telling me is Jesus is going to change the world by using a bunch of people who mess up, who get it wrong, who mistreat people all the time. Right. The world around us looks at it and says, That's crazy. That's crazy. Because I can see the same things going on in the church that's happening out in the world. Why would I want to be a part of that? But you and I both know it's not just folks on the outside who look at the church and go, Man, that's a bad idea. But sometimes people in the church go, man, that's a bad idea. Right. There's a there's a whole group of people called the churched, as Barna has taught us. They're a group of folks who 89% say I'm fully committed to Jesus. And they also say I want to have nothing to do with the church. And truth is, the church has done a lot to create that narrative and to live into it. But you see, Jesus doesn't let us off the hook with that, and neither do any of the New Testament writers. They don't say if the church doesn't work, we'll figure something else out. It's like, No, he's gone all in here. All the chips are in the middle of the table.

He is he is putting it all on his people. But what's beautiful, again, is we're living with those promises. That it's not on all in our power. But it's on the one who has all power and authority and the one who promises never to leave us alone. So he gives them a couple of jobs. He says, I want you to go and make disciples. And he lists a couple of ways. He says. Number one, baptize. I want you to baptize. Those. Into the name of the father. And the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now, as good Church of Christ as we go. Amen, Brother Karl. Right. Baptism is something we hold seriously. Why? Because Jesus held it seriously. It wasn't an optional deal. Baptism was this outward expression of an inward reality, a branding, if you will. That we are his, that we are his people. In fact, Jesus linked it to his own death, that as we are laid into the water, we are we are put to death. And just as Jesus was raised back to life. So are we now filled by the Spirit to be his son, his daughter? His kingdom bringer in the world. Paul spells this out in Romans six, several other places. But the baptism is this key, foundational part to being a disciple to Jesus. Now sometimes we've tried to take that and hijack that and make that like this check, mark this biblical check.

If that's not happening, then it's not. Okay, let's slow the roll. Baptism is not about us. It's about him and our response to following him. And does it impact us? Absolutely. But Jesus, what he does, he says, we don't just baptize you. We don't just dunk you in water and say, all right, you're forgiven. He says, in the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, this beautiful triune life where Jesus and the Father and the Spirit live in community together as they did before creation and during creation and after creation, that Jesus says, We are now baptized into that life. And so somehow following Jesus invites us to live in this beautiful, mysterious fellowship. Where we can know and be known. Where we can love and be loved. Where we can serve and be served at this beautiful fellowship. That's what it means to be a disciple. He says, I want you to baptize him into this life. But not only that, I want you to teach him. I want to show them what this life is all about, not just with our words, but with our actions. Jesus had a lot to say about this kingdom that would be breaking through in our world. He spent time pointing to his followers a very different life. I invite you this week to just go back and read Matthew five through seven and just imagine if we fully committed ourselves to living this way.

That in our relationships, how we treated one another would be modeled upon. This beautiful picture of morality and integrity. Where our lives are built upon these kingdom. Values of love. I invite you to read Matthew Chapter 18 and consider again that difficult conversation you need to have. But Jesus says the way of discipleship to me is the way of forgiveness. It looks like something. Or maybe flip over a couple more chapters to Matthew, Chapter 20. Or talks about the way we operate in the world. Those of us who have been given positions of leadership, of authority. What does it look like to lead as a follower of Jesus? How do people respond to those kinds of leaders? See Jesus said, teach them all that I've commanded. But again, he never just leaves a simple list of rules to follow. Jesus just doesn't say, All right, do this, this, this, this. I'll see you in the morning. Instead he. He wraps it in these promises. This promise that you don't have to do this alone. In fact, I'm calling you a church because it's a group of people, not individuals. Discipleship isn't a solo mission where you just go out and try to strong arm it to the end. Instead, he says, I want you to be a part of a community where together you're going to learn about this life. And by my Holy Spirit, I'm going to help you. Because they're going to be some days where we gather up in this auditorium and it's just like being on a mountain and we're singing and we're praising and we're doubting.

And it doesn't anger Jesus. It doesn't offend him. Instead, he says, Just keep leaning in and you go. You go. This week, in the midst of your doubt. You keep going and you keep loving and you keep serving. You keep inviting. You keep baptizing. You keep teaching. Because not only am I going to empower you. I'm going to be with you every step of the way. There'll never be a moment that I'm not going to be with you. Because I love you. Because you are mine. Jesus is Emmanuel. God in the flesh. God who is with us. There's no greater promise than those two promises. You see discipleship. As we jump into this next few weeks together, I want us to hold on to these promises together as we think about discipleship is for everyone. Especially the imperfect, especially the doubters, especially those who don't quite know how it all adds up. You're in the right place and you're in the right church, because this is a church committed to to asking hard questions and not settling for easy answers. The Church has committed to not pretending with each other, not just acting like we believe it, and then going out and living a different way, but really trying to commit to it. And when we screw up to say, Hey, I screwed up, I'm sorry, and for the community gather around us and to help us and do courage us and to challenge us forward.

But we also hear this promise that discipleship isn't just a solo journey, that Jesus expectation is disciples make disciples, that we would keep that pattern going because that that mission has been given to us. Let's pray. Yeah. As we think about what it is that you've called us to. It can easily feel overwhelming. If we forget those two promises that are wrapped all around us. Egad, you are inviting us to follow you into your life, not ours. You're not asking us just to live our life a better version of it? Instead. Father, you're asking us to lay our life down, that we might take on yours and begin to see the world around us the way that you do. To engage with the world around us the way that you do. To love and to serve and to give and to be patient and to forgive just the way that you do. Father for that life to happen, you are going to have to send us your spirit. You have to fill us again each and every morning. Because this world is not the way you intended it to be. Not yet. Not yet. But, Father, we're thankful that we here today. We're a legacy of these promises that you made on that mountain of so many years ago.

That there were men and women who took you seriously at your word. We said, okay, I'll go. In the midst of doubt and uncertainty, I'll go and I'll keep baptizing and I'll keep teaching. And I'll keep trusting that your spirit is at work. And that you never leave us alone. That God. Over 2000 years. Today in Lubbock, Texas, we sit here. Because faith will men and women took this seriously. God, we want to be those kind of men and women for the next generation. So would you help us to be. But you help us to remember, to see that our failures are our baggage is not something that disqualifies us or separates us from you. I just. It's another opportunity to learn to grow. God, we have to make a different choice. And so far as I know, there are some here today, myself included here, who are facing a choice. God. Would you give us wisdom? Would you help us to choose the way of life? Father, thank you so much for this commission. And for these promises and all they mean to us. Thank you that we're all included in this opportunity and thank you that we don't have to go it alone, that we get to go together. So, God, would you strengthen our church? Would you encourage each one here? Would you help us to help one another? And may we be your hands and your feet in Jesus name. Amen.