Growing Wider Series

For years, they say there was a Divinity School that would invite people to pack a sack lunch and join them on a grassy picnic area where they’d have a prominent theologian give a lecture about God. One year they invited a liberal scholar to come speak and he spoke for 2 ½ hours telling the audience that the resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book, and he concluded that there was no such thing as the physical, historical resurrection. Then the speaker asked if there were any questions.

After about 30 seconds, an old white-haired, black preacher who stood up and said: “I got a question”, and he reached into his lunch sack – pulled out an apple (and he took a bite of the apple). “My question is a simple one.” (He took another bite) “Now, I ain’t never read them books you read...” (another bite) and I can’t recite the Scriptures in the original Greek” (and then he took another bite) “I don’t know nothin’ about Niebuhr and Heidegger” (and he took another bite… and dropped the apple back into his sack). “All I wanna know is this: This apple I just ate - was it bitter or was it sweet?” The speaker paused for a moment: “I cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven’t tasted your apple.”

The old preacher smiled and said: “Neither have you tasted my Jesus.”

This morning we’re going to talk about importance of telling people how our Jesus tastes. In Matthew 28… we are told about some of the last instructions Jesus gave His disciples: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

In other words: Go Tell People How Your Jesus Tastes.

Last week, we talked about the fact that Jesus expects us to storm the gates of Hell. Essentially, once we’ve been saved Jesus wants us to attack Satan’s kingdom, and to put Satan on the defensive. We’ve been called to go to war… and Matthew 28 is our battle-cry. 1. Go and make Disciples! 2. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! 3. And teach them to observe all I’ve commanded you! And you won’t have to do this alone because (Jesus said) “I’m going to be with you always.”

So, let’s look closely at that command of Jesus. First Jesus says: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." (Matthew 28:1) WHO does Jesus want to have make these disciples? Well… that would be YOU and ME. If you’ve tasted of Jesus, and He tastes good to you, and you love Jesus, Jesus wants you to do something about it. He wants you to tell others about Him.

You see, as far as God is concerned, there’s only 2 Kingdoms in the world - one is the Kingdom of Christ, and the other is the Kingdom of Satan. Colossians 1:13 tells us that once we became Christians “(The Father) delivered us from the domain of darkness (Satan’s Kingdom) and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”

You either belong to Jesus… or Satan! There’s no in between.

When Paul witnessed King Agrippa he said that Jesus had commissioned him to: “to open (the eyes of the Gentiles), so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ Acts 26:18

So remember – we are at war with Satan. And we are in this war to WIN! By turning people away from darkness and turning them to the light and from the power of Satan to God we take the fight to SATAN! (pause)

Now when we think about war, we think about conflict – right? A lot of Christians will try to argue people into becoming Christians. But God says - don’t do that.

“Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” II Timothy 2:23-26