How to disciple someone
As you get older in life you develop enough life experience to look back upon the friendships you once had. You begin to think about the people who once were so promising and kind of crashed in life. They got divorced, became bitter or something. Then there are others who quietly become a success in life. They are solid Christians and seem to go from strength to strength.
It leads to the question, how do we build into people a faith that can withstand the difficult times of life? How do we give them a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? A faith that is not dependant on a church programme or church pastor but is dependent on Jesus Christ. Something personal not found in a church service or bible study but is found in the heart. That can survive the news of sickness, death of a loved one and failure at university.
Our church exists ‘to inspire people to wholeheartedly follow Jesus Christ’. Ironically following Jesus Christ is not found in a programme. The art of daily devotions, personal prayer and personal bible reading can only be taught from one person to the next.
Today I would like to talk about how to disciple someone.
Luke 6:43-6:49
How to disciple someone.
1) To disciple others we need to stop being hypocrites
2) To disciple others we need decisive action
3) To disciple others look at the house on the rock
And it is these three thoughts to which I want to draw your attention. Firstly, then, in verse 46 we see ...
1. To disciple others we need to stop being hypocrites
Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practiced at spare moments; it is a whole-time job.
W. Somerset Maugham
1874-1965, British Novelist, Playwright
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46)
This passage corresponds with MATTHEW 7:21-23. Matthew records Jesus’ words this way ...
21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! Matthew 7:21-23
Jesus has just finished delivering the greatest sermon in history - His famous “Sermon on the Mount”. He’s talked to the great crowd before Him about the Kingdom of God and how to inherit it; about the weightiest matters of time and eternity; the profoundest truths, yet always in the simplest of words and ideas. But He is acutely aware of those in His audience who are “onlookers” - “observers”. Oh, they nodded their heads in agreement, they even said “Amen!” in appropriate places - if you asked them what they believed they would most likely answer “We follow the great Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth”.
But the Sermon on the Mount failed to penetrate their hearts and get them to change the way they live their lives. A life of daily prayer, bible reading and teaching others failed to materialise.
It is like those advertisements on TV that promise a lean body if you buy their fitness products. We all know people buy them, put them under the bed and never use them. Then they wonder why they have not got a trim body.
For anyone here that has tried to lose weight, you will know looking at the mirror and saying ‘I’m fat’ achieves nothing. It is hypocritical to say I am not happy with my body while still eating large servings of dessert.
It is hypocritical to say we love Jesus, we love South Perth Baptist Church, but we have no desire to disciple someone. No desire to give them a strong faith.
And so, as Jesus ends His great sermon, He closes with “the appeal” ... “(W)hy do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and do not do the things which I say?”
If Jesus IS Lord of our lives, there must be obedience to what He has to say! We must be wanting to teach people to pray and read the bible in a one-on-one setting.
Three things immediately strike me about these poor people Jesus is teaching:
a) They know the right words to say
b) There will be quite a few who do not make it into heaven
c) They will claim to be great Christians
a) They know the right words to say
They cry ‘Lord, Lord’. These are obviously ones who thought they were alright. They know the “lingo”. They’ve called themselves His followers. This is also seen in Matthew 25
1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'
7"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'
9" 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'
10"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11"Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'
12"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'
13"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. (Matthew 25)
b) There will be quite a few who do not make it into heaven
22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' (Matthew 7:22) Jesus says: “MANY will say to Me”. (The word here in Greek is “polloi” - the same word used to describe the multitudes that flocked to hear Jesus. “MANY (multitudes) will say to Me ‘Lord, Lord’.”) FRIGHTENING!
c) they will claim to be great Christians
i) We’ve prophesied in Your Name!
ii) We’ve cast out demons in Your Name!
iii) We’ve done wonders in Your Name!
You might say
1) We have lead worship in your name
2) We have held a church leadership position in your name
3) I have lead prayer meetings in your name
These are all good things - but they are “SIDE ISSUES”, every one! Jesus says the real and central issue is: “I never knew you!”
As Christians, we need to be careful not to become distract by some side issue that takes our attention away from simply following Jesus.
It is tempting to look at church as something for us. I want great worship, I want fellowship, I want friends, I want miracles and I want to be mentored. If I don’t get this here I will find it somewhere else.
38Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."
39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Matthew 12: 38-39
Everything this church does is about Jesus. Gifted preachers, prophets etc are nothing compared to Jesus.
49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."
51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life. (John 11: 49 – 53)
Caiaphas prophesied about the death of Jesus, yet truly he was a wicked man and he started the plot to kill Jesus.
A thousand years before Jesus, the wicked magicians of Pharaoh’s court in Egypt duplicated many of the miracles Moses did.
22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. (Exodus 7:22)
DON’T BE DECEIVED; watch your life and what you believe closely.
So, there will be many who will cry “Lord, Lord”. But His reply to them will be, “I never knew you; depart from Me, YOU WHO PRACTISE LAWLESSNESS!”
The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry in spring 1997 released an article that shows older people who base their Christian faith on TV programmes have a higher rate of depression and lower health than the general population. While those who base their Christian life on regularly attending church have lower rates of depression and better health than the general population.
As a Christian for our own mental well being, we are supposed to be teaching others how to read the bible and are supposed to be praying with them. We are supposed to live in community.
This emphasis on praying with others and reading the bible with them is backed up with:
Jeremiah 31:33 “I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Our faith is not found in television programmes, it is found in praying with people and reading the bible to them one on one. It is not based on the pastor’s preaching or some church programme but on the individual relationships in this church.
2. To disciple others we need decisive action
It is tempting to put off this sort of stuff until tomorrow.
One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. (Luke 6: 47)
This verse can be broken down into three parts:
a) “Comes to Jesus?”
b) “Hears Jesus sayings”
c) “Does what Jesus says”
a) “Comes to Jesus?”
Here is the first step. But it’s a continual step also. Every person must come to HIM for themselves; but then we have to keep coming back to Him every day. Keeping HIM as our focus; trusting in Him alone as Saviour and Lord. As a new Christian we need older Christians to read the bible and pray with us one on one. To bring back that personal relationship with Jesus.
It is not about every voice taking the airwaves at the moment - the latest Christian “guru” on video or CD - not the latest book doing the rounds! “WHOEVER COMES TO ME”, Jesus said.
4When he (Jesus) has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." John 10:4-5
How are the new Christians in our church going to know the good books and videos to watch? They can only know if the existing Christians are willing to pray and read the bible with them.
b) “Hears Jesus sayings”
The second thing is that we must be hearing what JESUS has to say. Where do we find His sayings? In the Word of God! The Scriptures are absolutely primary and fundamental. We need to be constantly in the Word of God.
The Gerontological Society of America released an academic journal in February 1976 that shows as you get older Christian faith makes you feel happier, more useful and more adjusted over time. In May 2007 the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease found those people involved in multiple religious activities recovered from depression 53% quicker than those who only had none, one or two religious activities.
With all this evidence that a personal faith in Jesus is important we still fail to pray and read the bible one on one with new Christians. We deny them the blessing that we already know to be true.
If a new Christian is not reading the bible they will not hear God’s voice. Yet how can they hear God’s voice if we not praying with them and teaching them the bible one on one.
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10: 14, 15)
c) “Does what Jesus says”
There must be a response to Jesus’ words.
"If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15)
Absolutely central is OBEDIENCE. All these other things flow when we are being obedient!
All the talk, and all the good intentions, in the world are no substitute for one moment of OBEDIENCE. Great knowledge is no substitute. So-called “spirituality” is no substitute. In fact, there IS no true spirituality without simple obedience. Living the life that Jesus laid down for us to live; following His footsteps and obeying His commands.
Jesus says, “Come to ME, hear MY sayings, and DO them”.
And so we come to the third and final point:
3) To disciple others look at the house on the rock
When the bad times come and you feel like you are surrounded by a storm how will you survive. Let’s face it a bit of worship and a 25 minute sermon are not going to make everything alright.
I was chatting to two church leaders separately, who were both going through a rough time while I was away. All three of us agreed that every time you stand up to do something right in your life, the devil just rips you down.
47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." Luke 6: 47 – 49
Jesus loved to teach in pictures because He was a master at it. Some of Jesus’ pictures can make an impression on our hearts forever. This is one such picture. Jesus contrasts for us the picture of a house with solid rock foundations with a house built upon no foundations but the shifting sands.
The same is with our lives. In life there are some horrible things that will happen to us. Many of us will wake up one day to discover we have been fired, others will have loved ones die horribly young, people will face financial difficulty and some people here will be told they have a life threatening disease. What foundation do you have for your life when these bad times come?
And you can’t afford to “skimp” on these foundations for your life. There is simply NO substitute for prayer and bible reading. Whilst others may be going after side issues of money, career and worship songs, we have need again to come back and get the foundations right. We need a life based on Jesus Christ involving personal prayer and bible reading.
Jesus said that the foundations determine how the house will stand. To the casual observer, both the house on the rock and the the house on the sand look alike - both may be impressive in their own way - BUT IT IS THE STORM THAT REVEALS THE GREAT DIFFERENCE! Jesus said when the storm came and beat upon the house on the rock it stood firm. But when the storm came to the house built quickly upon the sand - it fell in a heap.
This is verified in the journal Mental Health, Religion and Culture in the May 2000 issue. Where 25,888 13 – 15 yr olds from England and Wales were surveyed about their belief in God and sense of purpose in life. In the survey they found that even at this young age bible reading does make a small but unique contribution to promoting a sense of purpose in life among this age group.
But how can the young people of the church have a solid foundation in the bible if someone older does not sit down with them and read the bible? How do they learn the art of the daily devotion if no-one teaches them? How do you read a chapter of the bible, understand it and then pray? If no-one teaches them one-on-one they will never understand.
A joke to lighten the mood. Why big storms are like Christmas?
10. You begin by decorating the house (boarding up windows).
9. Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season (camping gear, flashlights).
8. Last minute shopping in crowded stores.
7. Regular TV shows are cancelled for "special news announcements".
6. Family coming to stay with you.
5. Family and friends from out-of-state calling.
4. Buying food you don't normally buy ... and in large quantities.
3. Days off from work.
2. Candles.
1 And the number one reason big storms are like Christmas...At some point you know you're going to have a tree in your house!
We all know that life has big storms in it. Where things just go wrong so many times it is not funny. If you do not have a foundation of bible reading and prayer, your life will collapse but who will teach people how to do this? If we existing Christians do not make time to pray and read the bible with new Christians who will teach them.
How to disciple someone.
1) To disciple others we need to stop being hypocrites
2) To disciple others we need decisive action
3) To disciple others look at the house on the rock
Just to sit down with someone, read a chapter of the bible and pray with them. It is so simple to an existing Christian but so new to someone who has never had it before. To use a bible study book as a rough guide or to let them ask questions about the chapter you have just read, to end with a prayer and go your separate ways. So simple, so desirable and yet so rare.
Let us pray
Amen!
The powerpoint for this sermon can be obtained by emailing pastor@southperthbaptist.org
