Chico Alliance Church
Pastor David Welch
CPR for a healthy walk and witness “Making Disciples”
Review
Today we look at the fourth level of our mission statement. Hopefully these Divine directives will become your life directives as well as our church family directives. They will only be as effective as our church directives as they are applied in the individuals who embrace them. It is my hope these four commands of God will begin to actually define who you are.
• All our activities revolve around deepening our relationship with God.
• We expend time and energy expanding and deepening relationships with people.
• We do whatever it takes to become more like Jesus in our behavior and do what we can to resist and restrain the evil around us.
• We invest time and resources to the task of making disciples (reach and teach).
So far we have reviewed three out of the four directives.
We live to love God.
We live to love people.
We live to live holy
There are many directions one takes in life. Jesus encouraged his disciples to keep their eye on the main thing. Hopefully I have helped you again focus on the main things.
These are the things God cares about.
These are the things God instructs us to do.
These are the things that we will earn or forfeit reward.
So often the urgent crowds out the important. Too often the insignificant clouds the vital. As disciples of Christ, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God fore ordained that we should walk in them. He created us for a purpose. As we focus on His purpose, he promises us the necessary resources to accomplish that purpose. When we operate outside of His clear purpose for being on this earth, we use energy and resources intended for His eternal purpose. Our focus on the little things distracts us from the main things.
Psalm 4:2-5 continues to ring in the ears of my soul.
O sons of men, how long will the things I care about be distasteful?
How long will you love what is worthless and aim at what is a lie?
Isaiah records God’s thoughts and feelings in Isaiah 55:2-3
"Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.
"Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live;
Jeremiah cries out on behalf of God in Jeremiah 2:12-13
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD.
"For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
We live in a culture that so easily distracts us from the important, the vital, the main things. Last week presented a brief overview of the MAIN THING. We only have so much time and energy and resource to invest in life. God grants us resources designated to accomplish his purposes. When we lose focus and spend those designated “funds” or resources on ourselves or things we thing important we do not have sufficient energy to spend on His stuff.
Our energy and resources need to be invested in:
I. Cultivating a dynamic relationship with God
II. Pursuing meaningful connection with each other
III. Restoring purity in our life and resisting the evil of the world the flesh and the devil.
IV. Impacting our world for Jesus
This is CPR of the soul that will keep our heart healthy and functioning well.
The result of a healthy heart is a healthy witness. People will see our lives and glorify our Father in heaven. We will effectively proclaim and practice the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Jesus left his disciples and all future disciples with not only a great commandment to love Him and each other and keep his commandments but a great commission to make disciples of all nations.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
The main verb in the passage is not “GO!” The main verb in the commission is to MAKE DISCIPLES! “As you are living out your life…”
Because you cannot make something you are not yourselves I would present to you that the main thing in life, the reason we are left here is to BE AND MAKE DISCIPLES!
BE A DISCIPLE
Jesus outlined some pretty specific criteria to bear the designation, “disciple”.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Matthew 16:24-26
Here are five marks of a genuine disciple
1. Total Surrender
“Deny self”, to say “no” to self, to say “no” to our personal agenda. Surrender to his agenda and purposes that are much greater than our limited vision.
2. Sacrificial Service
Take up cross of suffering on behalf of others. This is the flip side of saying no to a self-centered agenda. We were born to avoid suffering at any cost. Many of the behaviors we wrestle with this very day relate to self-promotion and self-protection. To live otherwise again demonstrates a radical shift in the core of ones being.
3. Continual Submission
To obey Christ and follow after Christ.
4. Response to the Word of God
Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31-32
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. John 15:7
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
One who does not embrace God’s word cannot be a genuine disciple.
As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore. Jesus said therefore to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. "And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." John 6:66-69
5. Fervent Love for one another
The last mark of a genuine disciple...
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34-35
A disciple of Jesus Christ is one who realizes his own selfish and sinful agenda and says no.
It is one who in turn is willing to do whatever it takes to follow Christ no matter what.
It is one who then makes the decision to embrace Christ and all that He says.
It is one who embraces the Word of God as the source of life.
It is one who agrees to give his life in service to others who have made this commitment.
That’s what it means to truly BE a disciple. Disciples are to make other disciples which involve at least three stages.
MAKE DISCIPLES
We must first reach them with the he truth of God in the context of caring relationships. How do we reach people?
The CPRI memory device can apply to disciple-making as well.
C - stands for cultivating relationships
How? Friendship, church events, prayer, service. Everyone has a style that best fits their personality and the way we are wired. God uses that style to bring others into the kingdom. God intends that each of us bear impact in our own spheres of influence.
P - stands for planting seed
R - stands for reaping a harvest
I - stands for investing in those who do CPR
By investing I am talking about money, prayer and moral support, perhaps physical labor to those on the front lines of mission here and abroad. Not everyone can go but everyone can invest their recourses and energy in support those who do.
"He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." Matthew 10:41-42
You can be reaping the reward of the harvest of others by investing in and supporting what their efforts. Reaching disciples is only the first stage of actually fulfilling Christ’s commission.
2. Teach Disciples
After baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are to teach them. What are we to teach them? Jesus said, “teach them to observe (do) all that I commanded you!” Jesus taught a great deal, so where do we start? First, it is important to break down His teaching to the irreducible minimum.
Teach disciples to continually cultivate dynamic relationship with God.
Teach disciples to pursue meaningful connection with each other.
Teach disciples to restore purity and resist evil.
Teach disciples impact their world for Christ.
This is part of the disciple making process. Finally we are also to serve disciples.
3. Serve Disciples
Most people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care! We are called to a sacrificial, fervent love of people made in God’s image. Not just to teach love but to love.
Our purpose is to make disciples.
• Reach them! from both near and far, both the lost and the scattered.
• Teach them to love and obey God and pursue connection with each other.
• Serve them as we would serve Christ
The main thing is to be and make disciples. Everything we do should be evaluated as to how it relates to being and making disciples. This applies both to us as an organization and as families. The training ground for making disciples begins at home. Making disciples at home is the commission of every man and woman. What you learn there becomes invaluable as God extends and expands your sphere of influence. Being and Making disciples is not optional. It is the main thing.
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you. Jo15:16
It doesn’t stop at retirement either. They will bear fruit even in their old age.
Psa 92:12-15
The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Planted in the house of the LORD, They will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green,
To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
You need to ask God just where you should be putting your time and energy and resources in regard to making disciples. What can I do?
You can pray for opportunities to cultivate, plant and harvest.
