THE MULTYPLYING COMMUNITY
(How all of us join together to fulfill god’s Purpose)
Oct. 2, 2011
INTRODUCTION:
I have to share with you I’m 51 years old…I became a Christian about 3 months before my 18th birthday, but I was raised in the church…I had a Christian foundation growing up….I was influenced by the Bible through Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, camp, home….I knew the books….most of the stories…I had a biblical view of life…
I’ve been involved in ministry, in one way or another since I was 18….sharing my testimony…working with students as an intern through college…for 33 years I’ve done ministry.
Early on when I was young I wanted to have great youth ministry programs…I wanted my children’s ministry to be filled with really fun activities…and even in my early days as Senior Minister I wanted to plan the right things, organize the right programs, do the right ministries.
So I went to a lot of seminars…I loved to attend conventions and other programs…and don’t get me wrong…they were wonderful…led by godly people with godly motives…I’m just not sure I had my head on straight.
Too many of us think we will change the world with innovative strategies…if we come up with a catchy name for our program…if we can organize an elaborate convention, program, foundation…if we get the biggest names and the well known speaker…we can draw the biggest crowds to the biggest events.
We will have the mega-success at the mega-convention and possible become Christ’s megachurch. But I’ve learned something in my old, stint riddled life lived Jesus utterly dependent self…
Jesus is so different from most of our success driven thinking….
He wandered through the streets and byways of Israel looking for a few men…don’t misunderstand what I’m saying…He wasn’t casual about it…like it wasn’t of eternal importance. But he knew his mission would involve a revolution…It would not revolve around the masses or the multitudes…It wasn’t a program…The world would be turned upside down by a few “Radical” followers..He carefully shunned titles, labels, plaudits and popularity in his plan to turn history on its ear….
What he wanted was a few men who would think as he did, love as he did, see as He did, teach as He did, and serve as He did…all He needed was to revolutionize the hearts of a few , and they would impact the world.
That’s why
I. JESUS TOOK A GAMBLE
As Jesus prepared to go to the cross and die…he prays to the father…and He recounts His ministry in the world.
He begins: “I HAVE BROUGHT YOU GLORY ON EARTH BY COMPLETING THE WORK YOU GAVE ME TO DO.” (John 17:4)
And then He describes His work…and it’s shocking…he doesn’t list all the great sermons he’s preached, or the amazing lessons he’s taught…he doesn’t talk about the 1,0000’s that came to hear him…he doesn’t list the miracles he performed…he doesn’t even mention Lazarus or raising the dead…Instead…
He talks repeatedly about the small group of men God had given him out of the world…LISTEN, THEY WERE THE WORK GOD HAD GIVEN TO HIM”, they were quite literally…HIS! LIFE!
Look at the affection and the investment He has made in their lives. Look at what he says regarding his disciples in this prayer:
1. “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world” (v6)
2. “I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them” (v8)
3. “While I was with them I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me” (v12)
4. “I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” (v19)
Jesus lived for them. During His time on earth He spent more time with these 12 men than with anyone else.
How amazing is that when you really think about it? At the end of the Son of God’s time on earth he has staked everything on His relationships with 12 men. In the middle of this prayer he even mentions one of them is lost, Judas. So now it’s down to 11.
These 11 guys were the small group responsible for carrying on everything Jesus had begun. After His prayer in the upper room Jesus went to the cross and died there. Then He rose from the grave and appeared to these disciples.
One of his final moments is captured in our text, Matthew 28. The 11 gathered around Him and Jesus said, (Read Matthew 28:18-20 again).
After intentionally spending His life on earth with these 11 men Jesus tests them. “Now, you go do the same thing I did with you with others.”
Here is the church beginning, never ending, still viable, strategy of Jesus: Make disciples.
Here is a very important question:
II. What is the goal of the church?
Well that’s easy. We need to get as many people as possible here on Sunday mornings so they can hear Rick preach. I’d share with you there are a lot of churches that operate under thinking like this. Let’s make our services warm, attractive and let’s have a powerful speaker. Let’s take care of their children and students. One person said, “If our members will just invite their friends to the environment we create, then we can take care of the rest.”
The problem with this goal is it is unscriptural. The goal of the church is never for one person to be equipped and empowered to lead as many people to Christ as possible. The goal is always for all of God’s people to be equipped and empowered to lead as many people as possible to Christ.
Jesus’ simple command to “make disciples” means he wants everyone of His followers to share the life of Christ with others in a sacrificial, intentional, global effort to multiply the gospel of Christ through others.
He never intended to limit this invitation to the most effective communicators, the most brilliant organizers, or the most talented leaders or artists. Instead, the spirit of God has empowered every follower of Christ to accomplish this mission in the world.
Being the right church is dependent on using all the wrong people. We have the habit of using the most skilled and the most outgoing. But when we do this it’s as if we say, “It takes someone special to make a disciple.” You don’t need to be a successful preacher or charismatic leader to make disciples. Church professionals aren’t necessary to make disciples.
According to Jesus, people are God’s method for winning the world to Himself. It won’t primarily happen on Sundays while you sit in the pews. But more on Mondays when you share Him in the trenches.
“The Lord added to their number daily (Monday through Saturday) those who were being saved.” People shared Jesus with other people daily.
That’s your calling, our calling here at Fern Creek—to prepare and empower you to do that daily and around the world. Here’s a David Platt quote from “Radical:” (It’s one of my very favorites in the book!)
Read attachment here
If you want to know these men and women in the church who are really impacting this world for Christ it’s those who get this essential truth!
Let me end this morning with the parting words of Jesus to His disciples, to you and me.
3 key ingredients:
III. Going, baptizing and teaching
Go is the intentional. If I tell you to go and I’m forceful about it I expect movement. Disciple making is not a call for people to come to our church but for you to go into their world. Disciple making is not about a program or an event, but about a relationship. It cannot be done at a distance or casually. As we share the gospel we impart life and light. This is the essence of making disciples. Sharing the life of Christ. But it’s not just about going, but also about baptizing.
Baptism is clearly a public picture of the new life we have in Christ. We have died with Christ, died to our sin and died to ourselves. And we have been raised to life with Him.
It is an essential truth for me to understand and communicate if I would ask others to follow Jesus. If I have not died and been reborn to new life how can I communicate how essential it is to another?
Going and baptizing are both crucial to disciple making. But they imply the need for something else just as crucial: teaching.
Folks, this doesn’t mean just gifted individuals in a classroom. It’s a command for all those who follow Jesus and would make disciples.
For example, imagine you’ve gone and led someone to Christ. Then baptized them. Now what? How is she or he going to learn to walk with Christ daily? Well, “Go sit in so and so’s classroom, learn from this gifted teacher. But that’s a far cry from the disciple making plan of Jesus. And it is dangerous. Christ has set each of us up to be teachers. For example if we really want to teach someone how to pray would we send them to a class about prayer? Jesus said and showed the most effective way is to invite them personally into your quiet time with God. Similarly, what’s the most effective way to teach someone to study the Bible? Register them for the next Bible study or sit down with her, walk her through the steps of how you study God’s word?
Doing this raises the bar in your own Christianity and it makes us reproducers instead of receivers.
Let me end by sharing this truth: This requires an intentional choice in your lifestyle. It takes times. It’s costly. It’s humbling. It’s scary. But it’s the most rewarding life you can ever have. It’s being obedient to the call of Jesus. It’s following His Great Commission. And you’ll see its fruit. Because each one of those disciples will have a name: Josh, Ronnie, Heather, Sherry, Jason, Jackson, Jared, Annette, Achmed, Shonai, Jacob…
May we be a community of Christians each multiplying the gospel by going, baptizing and teaching. May we have an intentional strategy for Christ to be shared to all nations around the world. It’s His plan and he showed us how.
