This morning I would like for us to take a closer look at what we call Discipleship. Discipleship means “a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower:” If you are a born again believer, if you have asked Jesus Christ to save you from your sins, and you have committed your life to following Him, then you are his Disciple.
Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ is not an easy thing to do. In order to be a disciple of Christ many things that come natural to us as human beings have to be set aside and the exact opposite behavior is expected.
Eugene Peterson in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction writes, “It is not difficult in our world to get a person interested in the message of the Gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier Christians called holiness.” From "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction", Eugene Peterson
Throughout History, we have seen countless millions of people proclaim that they were followers of Christ. Many just so that they could fit in, and in ancient times so that they would not lose their life. Today we see a nation that, if you ask, proclaims that they are a Christian nation. You see our presidential candidates. Both current candidates proclaim to be Christians. Are they really? How can we tell? To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Christ. What does that mean?
Last April I came and preached a message for you on discipleship and I covered the first 3 of the beatitudes. A few Wednesday nights ago I taught on the next two. This morning I am going to try to teach the meaning of the next couple of beatitudes as taught by Jesus Christ on the Sermon on the Mount.
The Sermon on the Mount was taught to the 12 disciples while a multitude of people looked on. This sermon was meant to teach these followers of Christ the things that were important for them to be effective, productive Christians. Today we can look at this message and apply it to us and determine what would make us effective and productive as His followers. We can also use this text and others to determine false disciples.
As a review let us read the passage and again look at the beatitudes that we have covered previously.
Matthew 5: 1And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Blessed are the poor in spirit – this means that we are to be totally dependent upon God.
Blessed are they that mourn – We are to be broken over sin in our lives.
Blessed are the meek – We should be willing to set aside our rights
Blessed those who hunger and thirst after righteousness – We are to desire that our lives would present holiness to others.
Blessed are the merciful – We are always show mercy when we look at others.
We have 4 more to look at before we complete the first part of this message to Christ’s disciples.
We only have time to look closely at the next two.
First is Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. This instruction is telling us that while it is important for our outward lives to present holiness, it is just as important for our inner-life, our secret internal life, to be full of that same holiness.
In the day that Jesus wrote this there were plenty of Pharisees who the people would have said, “boy it sure seems that they hunger and thirst after righteousness. Look at how hard they work to be holy. “ But what people could not see, but Christ could, is what was on the inside of those Pharisees. He told them that they were painted sepulchers full of dead men’s bones. Their internal lives were full everything from greed to lust to pride.
Christ was instructing his disciples to not be this way. While it is important to seek and to hunger and to thirst for the things of righteousness, make sure the heart is right in the reason for seeking it. Does it do any good to seek after things that holy only for personal gain? It is a good thing to teach God’s Word in a Sunday School class. That is a righteous pursuit. But what motivates you seek such a position? Pride? Recognition? Or a desire to spread God’s Word? It is a good thing to give food to those that need a helping hand. But are we doing it so that the Community can see what good Christians we are? So that we can have bragging rights on how many people we are helping? Or so because we see a need and we want to be Christlike and meet that need. Because it is the righteous thing to do?
Blessed are the Pure in Heart. Inward Holiness. What are your motives? There are two people that know what your motives are. You and God. You can fool everyone else, you can even fool yourself for while, but you cannot fool God. Ask Him to reveal the true nature of your heart. Your true motivation for doing what you do. If you want to be the best disciple you can be, you need to be pure in heart, you need to possess inward holiness.
Next we have Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. A lot of people think that this verse means that they are to go around and bring peace everywhere there is a conflict. I have an aunt that calls herself a peacemaker. Beware of anyone that calls himself or herself a peacemaker! They usually do so because wherever they are, there is no peace! They feel they have to make peace everywhere, but what they fail to realize is that they are the cause of the disturbance. This aunt would usually call my mom and tell her all the rotten things that her sisters were saying about her and get her good and riled up. Then she would call my other aunts and them all the things that my mom said about them and before you knew it, she was in the middle of conflict that she would try to solve and bring peace! Have you ever known anyone like that? A self-proclaimed peace maker? Well the good news is that is not the kind of person Christ is blessing here!
This kind of peacemaker is a relationship builder. Christ is telling His disciples, “You want to follow me? You want to spread my love to others? Build relationships.”
How many people do you know? How many people do you work with? How many people do you run into on a daily or even weekly basis? How many of those do you make an effort to get to know? How many of those people do you make any effort at all to learn what makes them happy, what makes them cry, what makes them laugh, what makes them sit alone in the dark and contemplate ending their life because of the hurt that they feel in the deep pit of emptiness at the center of their soul?
You see peace is knowing Christ. The only peace that this world will ever know will not come through a president or the UN or NATO. Peace come in the form of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. You want to be a peacemaker? You have to build relationships with others and share Jesus Christ with them.
I have had many people tell me,” I pass out tracks, and I tell people that if they do not know Christ they are going to Hell, but they just won’t accept Christ.” Well duh! Have they ever invested a single second into that person to show them, first hand, the Love that Christ can offer? People today do not want a get out of Hell free card, most do not even believe that Hell exists. The thing that they need, the thing that they are missing, is love, and acceptance, and a feeling of belonging. All of this is what Christ is offering. All of this is gift wrapped and called the Peace of God. If you are going to be a disciple of God, you must be a peacemaker, a peace bringer. You can do this by building relationships with others and introducing your new friends to the Prince of Peace Himself.
So really the question this morning is, on your discipleship report card, how are you doing? Are you totally dependent upon God? Are you truly broken over the sin in your life? Are you willing to set aside your “rights” for the will of the Father? Do you desire holiness above all else? Are you merciful in your dealing with others? Do have the right motives for calling yourself a Christian? Do you make an attempt at inner holiness? Do you make any effort at all in building relationships with those around you in order to bring peace into their lives through the Prince of Peace. How does your report card size up?
If you are like me, you probably fall short in some areas, or all of these areas. You may be here this morning and know that you never have been a disciple of Christ, you have never surrendered your life to Him, you have never asked him for forgiveness of your sins. That is the first step to discipleship. You have to proclaim as your savior and trust him to save you.
After that, you must dedicate your life to following, serving, and living for Him. That is discipleship. Maybe you are here this morning and you realize that you have failed miserably in one or maybe all of these different elements of discipleship. Maybe you realize that …
Brennan Manning wrote:
“If Jesus would appear at your dining table tonight with knowledge of everything you are and are not, total comprehension of your life story and every skeleton hidden in your closet; if he laid out the real state of your present discipleship with the hidden agenda, the mixed motives, and the dark desires buried in your psyche, …….”
You know what he would see.
But did you know that even then,
“you would feel his acceptance and forgiveness.”
God loves you ladies and Gentlemen. He wants to His church to embrace His love and forgiveness so that we can move forward with His Good News. Christians, many of you need to ask God to forgive you of your short comings, your failings, your hidden agendas, your selfish motives, and your pride. You need to call out to God and ask for His forgiveness and then ask Him to restore you to full use in the kingdom. You need to ask Him to make you a better disciple. Are you willing?
