BORN TO REPRODUCE
1 John 1: 1-4, 1 John 2:12 (pp.855) June 9, 2013
INTRODUCTION
I’ve been in ministry now for almost 35 years…3 and a half decades...in children’s ministry, youth ministry, and as a preaching minister…I’m 53…for the first years of my Christian life I was a traveling evangelist…driving from place to place, sharing my testimony with youth groups, camps, conventions, revivals…I remember Wayne Smith telling me with laughter (imitate Wayne laugh) “An Evangelist is a preacher with 7 sermons and a fast car!!!!”
I didn’t have 7 sermons…I had my life’s story…one of providence, rescue and redemption…rescued from the fire, at least twice!!!
From the very beginning of my conversion I knew I was saved for a reason…I was saved so I could tell others how Jesus wants to save them…” It wasn’t complicated or difficult for me to understand what God wanted me to do….Tell somebody…Tell everybody…I did…I told my friends I use to get high with (they thought I was insane) I told my teachers (I went back and finished High School.) I told people at church, at work…I told everyone that Jesus had saved me…I was born again…I finally felt free, forgiven and I understood my purpose for being alive…or at least as much as a brand new baby in Christ can. Bring other people to Jesus…Tell them about how Good He is…Look for the Holy Spirit’s opening…don’t be ashamed of your Lord!!!)
So maybe the most important question is this…if you are a Christian do you desire to “Reproduce?”
I DO YOU LONG TO SEE PEOPLE COME TO CHRIST THROUGH YOUR LIFE?
When John the beloved disciple writes his first letter to the churches you can almost feel the passion and urgency of what I’m talking about in the first 4 verses…
1 John 1: 1-4 (p855)
Jesus, the Word of Creation…we’ve heard Him speak, we’ve seen His love in action in the flesh, we’ve touched Him…We proclaim that He is the Word of life!!! We saw it happen right before our eyes…we witnessed God in the flesh…He brought us into a relationship with God the Father…and our motive for writing this…our reason for sharing this…So you can have the same relationship too…only then will our joy be complete.
Will you honestly answer this question…deep down inside, do you long to see people come to know Christ through your life? If the answer to that question is anything but an unqualified unapologetic yes, then I encourage you to examine your heart. Is Christ in you? Do you believe His word? His word that claims that apart from Jesus there is no entrance into the father’s presence…there is no forgiveness of sins…and all who do not receive God’s grieve will spend an eternity in Hell? Are you experiencing His affections? Do you delight in knowing Him, spending time with Him, proclaiming Him to people around you? Ultimately are you abandoned to His will for you to be His witness in the world?
If these things are not a reality in your life, then no matter what decision you made many years ago and no matter what church you attend, you may not actually be a Christian, for these features are the fruit of followers of Christ. If you don’t desire to reproduce and if you don’t desire to see people come to know Christ through your life, then I encourage you in the words of 2 Corinthians 13:5 to examine (yourself) to see whether you are in the faith.”
Is Christ in you? Because if He is not, if your heart, mind and will have not been transformed by the forgiveness of your sins and the filling of His Spirit---then I urge you…crucify your pride –die to sin and self today and come to life in Christ.
You see its God’s Spirit that produces this burden…this longing to share the word of life…You can resist Him…(I know this for a fact, because I did for months before I surrendered). You can quench the Spirit, you can lie to Him, you can blaspheme the Holy spirit…but you cannot be born anew apart from the Holy Spirit or be God’s adopted child without the Holy Spirit living in you…You cannot bear fruit or accomplish anything of value in the Kingdom apart from Him…He is God’s eternal deposit in our Souls guaranteeing eternity…He prays for us…intercedes…comforts…gives us the words we need to speak in witnessing situations…He is Christ Himself living in us….
So, I ask the question again…do you desire to reproduce…Do you long to see people come to know Jesus through your life? If you do not…there is a salvation problem, because if the Spirit of Christ lives in you He will unequivocally break your heart for lost people…Whether you’re shy or loud…talkative or quite…The spirit of Jesus cannot live inside you and be unnoticed!!!
Fruit will be spiritually produced in your attitude and actions…Disciple making will take place…it’s why you were given the Spirit in the first place. He saved me from Hell. If you really believe that nothing will stop your testimony…that which you’ve seen, touch, heard, experienced…
In July of 1854 the notorious Sheffield criminal Charlie Peace was taken from Armley Jail in Leeds, England, to be hung. As was customary, a ceremony on his behalf was performed by an Anglican priest just before his execution. A priest would walk behind the man condemned to die, reading aloud from the Prayer Book. Such matters had become routine, performed ritually and often without feeling. These were the words that were read: “those who die without Christ experience hell, which is the pain of forever dying without the release with which death itself can bring.”
Such words, falling upon the ears of a condemned man on his way to death and offered with such a startling lack of emotion, caused Peace to stop, turn around to the priest, and ask, ‘what are you reading?’
“The Consolation of Religion “replied the priest.
“Do you believe that?”
“Well…I…suppose I do.”
Then Peace is recorded to have said, “Sir if I believed what you the church…say you believe about heaven and hell – even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be on my hands and knees, and think it a worthwhile living just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that.”
Sincere faith has an urgent…passionate desire to share the good news of a Savior…A Savior that saved us from Hell!!!
Paul wrote to Timothy and said, “I am reminded of your sincere faith….which first lived in your Mother Eunice and in your grandmother Lois, and I am convinced now lives in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you, through the laying on of hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline.” (11 Timothy 1: 5-7, page 832)
Timothy isn’t an apostle…He’s the evangelist, at Ephesus, He’s a church leader, but he’s an ordinary man with a spiritual heritage that makes faith in Jesus, His own powerful testimony…the Spirit God gave us Paul said doesn’t make us timid…He is powerful, loving and self disciplined.
So the question for those who have the Spirit in them is this…
II HOW DO I FAN THE FLAME FOR MAKING DISCIPLES?
1). Prepare yourself – 1 Peter 3:15 says “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
Begin to read God’s word…study it…memorize it…Go do it when you seek counsel, first…connect yourself with a trusted preacher and teacher…connect yourself with a smaller group…that always keeps the health of the body as a priority, and ask questions…”check yourself before you wreck yourself: (Josh Cooper quote) Make sure the group you connect yourself with isn’t an introverted group…but an outreach looking group…you aren’t preparing yourself to just learn truth…you are learning truth so you can live it “out loud” in the world.
2) Pray…Pray during a set time…get up 15 minutes early…sound what you pray for…write it down and when God speaks…thank Him…but develop a pray without ceasing relationship with Jesus…”Flash prayer…pray for people….pray for opportunities…pray for wisdom…pray for spiritual sensitivity….pray for your enemies (you won’t want to…so it develops self discipline)…pray with 2 or 3 others about important issues…covenant prayer is a spiritual conclusion and a biblical promise for answers…
3) Write down a list of people you want to share Jesus with. In the book Follow Me by David Platt:
A MEMBER OF OUR CHURCH named Matthew served for many years alongside Christians in one of the most severely persecuted areas of the world. Coming to Christ in this almost exclusively Muslim nation was extremely costly. Matthew told me that on the first day men or women came to faith in Christ in that country, they were encouraged to make a list of all the unbelievers they knew (which was often practically everyone they knew). Then they were encouraged to circle the names of ten people on that list who were least likely to kill them for becoming Christ-followers. Out of those ten remaining names, the new believers were encouraged to share the gospel with each one of them as soon as possible. That’s exactly what they did, and this is how the gospel spread in that country.
None of your friends will probably not kill you, but you are surrounded by people who aren’t Christians. Write down the names of 2 or 3 or 5 or 10 unbelievers God has placed in your life. Then begin to pray specifically for God’s Spirit to begin to call them….to draw them to salvation.
Look for opportunities to sow the gospel into your conversation…and instead of passively waiting for Jesus to give you an open door…deliberately create opportunities to put them into Kingdom Salvation…part of that might be how you fan the flame.
4) Serve in the World. Notice I didn’t say serve in the church…I hope you do…I hope you connect within these walls, but unless you find a place or places in the world for your light to shine we cannot win the nations…It’s not Jerusalem or the ends of the world….it’s Louisville and the unreal people groups in the world….Look for opportunities to do both…I’m not asking you to crawl on broken glass…but I am challenging you to intentionally consider how you might serve and love those who are lost…find a way like the Acts 5 believers to become highly regarded for Christ in your own community.
5) Connect with the Body of Christ I’m not talking about religious actively devoid of Kingdom Productivity…..But connect with Jesus on Sunday during worship….the Lord’s supper is the hub our faith…worship and praise and preaching binds us together and keeps us refreshed, challenged and on point. I love Bible classes…I love Jr. Worship, I love small groups, I love Crave and our Table (young adults). But scripturally, spiritually something powerful happens when we worship together around His table and His word. Satan wants you to be so busy on Sunday mornings and you feel like you’ve put in work more then you’ve been refreshed by worship. I’ve shared with Jeff a request…Make sure every new believer connects with a study group that will help them grow and hold them accountable…Plug people into a healthy group that loves the body….this way intimacy with a few and worship with the many has power to make disciples grow. Put people with others who help them think, love and serve like Jesus.
And please consider your love for lost people on a global scale, not just people who look, think and act like you. Maybe God will do for you what He did for Dan & Meg, two of our members who now minister to refugees next to a war born Muslin stronghold, as well as Susan & Matt…In fact we have a team with them right now…But if not in person, open your wallet…sacrifice for the unreached around the world. If you want to fan the flame then you must consider how God can use you…you’re gifts for His disciple making purpose…It’s why Gods Spirit, The Spirit of life lives in you….For those who are truly disciples…the passion…the goal isn’t to comfortably slide into heaven…the goal…our passion is to save as many from every nation as possible!
[Right now, before we extend God’s invitation I want you to circle one of those names on your list…and we’re going to pray…pray for God’s Spirit to begin to soften that person’s heart…to open the ground for the gospel seed to be planted…let’s pray.]
(Pray for the circled names)
When you leave this place may you have a burden for those people on your list and may God open just the right opportunity for you to share Jesus through your life with them….Be prepared, be prayerful, fan the flame as you serve the world and love the body of Christ in worship….Remember Jesus’ commission...
“As you go…make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit…teach them to obey everything I have commanded you and I will be with you till the end of the age.”
