From Church Member To Disciple
GNLCC 11/16/03 Matthew 7:13-27 Proverbs 3:1-13 James 1:19-25
John got back his history exam and for the third time he got a D-. He looked over at his friend Terry, who had a big smile on his face. Terry had an A. John made up his mind he was going to learn all about what Terry did in order to get an A. He noticed that during recess, before a quiz, Terry would take his notes and look over them while others were playing. He found out that Terry took home his history book the two nights before a history test.
He talked with Terry’s sister and she told him that Terry did not watch TV the night before a history test, but spent two hours going over and over the chapter again and again. He also discovered that Terry gave himself his own practice test before the real test. John learned all about Terry’s secret to getting A’s on history tests. John was now equipped with the knowledge to go from being a D- student to an A+.
With this newly acquired knowledge John approached the next history test in the same way as he had the past tests, with the exception that now he knew Terry’s secret. When the grades came back, John looked over at Terry, and sure enough Terry was smiling.
When the teacher handed John his paper, John too was smiling, until he saw that he once again had a D-. What went wrong? Simply learning about Terry’s study habits, was not enough. If he did not apply those same study habits to his own life, they would be of little use to him.
Now in this simple story we can all see that knowledge alone can be a helpful thing to have, but knowledge without application does not produce a whole lot of positive results. One of our goals for the next few years is to become one of the most spiritually mature churches in Ohio. Now I didn’t say to become the largest church or to become a church where we think we are better than everybody else.
A spiritually mature church is one in which people voluntarily and eagerly move from being church members to being disciples of Jesus Christ. It is going to take disciples to move our church from where it is today, to where God is going to place it tomorrow.
How do you tell a church member from a disciple? Now a church member will come to church occasionally and sometimes even every week. The person may serve dutifully in some aspect of ministry. The church member may be greatly admired by others in the church and may even rise to a leadership position.
The church member may say amen, during the sermon, and may sing beautifully in the choir. The church member may look very much like a disciple. So what’s the big issue.
The only thing that separates the church member from the disciple is what separated John from Terry. A church member hears the word of God, a disciple is changed by the word of God. A church member’s power comes from the church member. A disciple’s power comes from Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside.
A church member may enjoy the word of God, but a disciple is changed constantly by the word of God. Church members can be very effective in the church, but they are not of much use to the Kingdom of God once they leave the church doors.
At home, or at work or at school, the church member may turn into a church dragon, and no one who comes into contact with the person is interested in following him or her to church because they only expect to find more dragons.
It’s not that hard to become a church dragon. All that has to happen is for somebody to get on our nerves, or somebody to keep us from getting our own way at that moment. Or we discover somebody has not done something they ought to have done. The church member is not even aware when the transformation to church dragon has taken place. Why? Because the dragon is accepted as something natural.
The disciple knows that the dragon is lurking around ready to show it’s ugly head, and it must be slain again and again. The disciple refuses to accept the dragon as being something natural in his or her walk with Christ. When the dragon appears, the disciple cries out to Jesus for help. The disciple knows every time we find the dragon appearing in Scripture it’s associated with the devil.
In the book of James, where part of our Bible study will be this week, the apostle writes to us about several problems in the church. At the core of the problem was, the church had a number of church members, but not nearly enough disciples. There were those church members who blamed their sin not on the “devil made be do it”, but they blamed God saying “God was tempting me and God did it too long.”
There were church members who had a problem with their tongues, saying a whole lot of stuff that should not have been mentioned. They were talking about other people and using all kind of language to do it.
There were church members who would get an attitude in a minute, and were ready to fight. There were those who said, its okay if you break a few of the commandments as long as you don’t break the big ones. They did not have a problem with adultery as long as you did not murder anyone, you could simply confess and get away with it.
There were those who only wanted certain kind of other church members. They wanted rich people to sit in chairs during service, but the poor ones were to stand up or sit on the floor.
There were church members who talked about all the church needed was more faith, but they would not commit themselves to doing anything or giving anything. There were those who wanted to walk with God, but couldn’t stop trying to be friends with everybody and everything the world had to offer. There were church members who were getting rich, by cheating other people out of their wages.
Now I hope you can see, the apostle James’ church just like every church had a need to move people from being church members to disciples. There is no use complaining about others who are not living right being in the church. That’s exactly where they are supposed to be. How else would they get saved? Jesus told us to go into all the world and make disciples.
The key to moving from being a church member to becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is in yielding to the authority of the Word of God. Let’s read James 1:19-25 together James 1:19-25 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
Now if you have ever had a problem with not wanting to hear what somebody has to say because you’ve already made up your mind, or if you ever said something to quickly and regretted you said it, or if you ever got an attitude and got upset way too quickly or if you’ve ever had some thoughts, that you’re glad nobody else knew what you were thinking, then James is talking to you and me. Now if you never had a problem with these things, you just pray for the rest of us while I finish the sermon.
When we give our lives to Jesus Christ, the possibilities of the affects we can have in this world are beyond our wildest dreams. God can take a prostitute and turn her into a powerful women’s conference speaker. You remember the woman at the well.
God can take a person who has little education and turn them into person who amazes even the scholars with their preaching. You remember a guy by the name of Peter don’t you. Those of you who know Jesus Christ, you know where you were and where God has brought you to today. The thing is, none of us have reached our highest potential in God. Moses was 80 before God called Him.
Now the apostle James says, the key to getting rid of the moral filth and the evil that is in an abundant supply, is to humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. God has made it possible for us to be saved from every type of addiction that we might face.
It does not matter of its drug addiction, alcohol addiction, pornography addiction, lust addiction, gossip addiction, materialism addiction, attitude addiction, or whatever your addiction may be. Veres21 says if we humbly accept the word planted in us, that word will save us.
We find in Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. It’s interesting when Jesus comes as a conquering warrior, He is called the Word Of God. This power of the word of God to cut is what sets us free from our addictions.
But the word of God has to be humbly accepted. That’s where we get into problems. We honestly believe we’re smarter than God. We believe, even though this thing or this temptation has messed up other people, no way is it going to happen to me. I’m going to keep this thing under control. Pride has already started pulling up the word, that God wanted to plant in our hearts.
I heard a lady on Moody Radio giving a testimony. She said her husband was trying to talk to her son about God. He told him, “Son, God has a plan for you life.” His son replied, “Well I’ve got plans of my own for my life.” With those words, the son left the house and did not return.
The next time they heard from their son which was a long time later, it was from jail. He had gotten high with his girlfriend and during the high, they got into an argument and he had killed her.” Do you think those were the plans that son had for his life when he made his bold declaration, “I’ve got plans of my own? Not only does God have a plan for your life, there is a devil by the name of Satan and he has plans for you as well.
Let’s read Proverbs 3:5 together Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; [6] in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. “Have you ever tried to figure things out your way, and you thought you had it all under control, but the thing still came back to bite you.”
To humbly accept the word of God, means trusting in the Lord with all your heart, because to obey the Word of God is not always going to be easy. It is far easier to be a church member than it is to be a disciple.
Have you ever said something like this to God. “But God if I do this, then they’ll think they can use me.” “God, If I do this, I never will get that promotion.” “God If I don’t do that I might lose my job”. “But God If I don’t do this I might never get married.” “But God if I do that, I never will get the stuff I want.”
God’s word never comes back with 24 hour guarantees. God only guarantees the presence of himself when we obey the word. Has anybody here ever did the tough thing and obeyed God, and God blessed you far beyond what you expected?
We deceive ourselves if we think we can shelve God to the side and go ahead and make our little plans become reality. Who has the final say so over your next heartbeat? Even in rebelling against God, we do it at God’s mercy.
The church member is convinced that he or she is somehow gaining brownie points with God by listening to the word of God and saying amen. Many people think the power of the word of God comes from listening to it. How many of us would have well behaved children all the time, if all it took was for them to listen to what we had to say.
“Have you ever had these words come out of your mouth, “now didn’t I tell you.” There again, we assume if we told them, they would do it. The transforming power is not in us saying, but in them choosing to apply. That’s why parents cannot take credit for the good or the bad their kids do. They have to be willing to be transformed.
Just listening to the word is not enough to move a church member to the level of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Thousands of people listened to Jesus preach, but only a few became disciples. Now James tell us that the Word of God can be compared to a mirror. You look into a mirror, to see what you truly look like. But if that’s all you use the mirror for, then you’ve lost out on a great opportunity.
Suppose you’re getting ready to go in for a job interview. You’re walking down the aisle to the interview room. There’s a mirror on the wall and you see this big booger hanging out your nose. How many of you are going to say, “my what a big booger. As soon as I get home, I’m going to take care of that thing. I’ll just hope the interviewer doesn’t see it.”
You go into the interview room, and the person is nice. He does not want to embarrass us so he passes you a Kleenex and a mirror. You look in the mirror and smile, you see the booger, but leave it there and balls up the tissue ready for the interview. What on earth do you think is going on in the interviewer’s mind? Do you think this person is going to get the job.
Letting our spiritual boogers stay on us is the exact same thing as going in for the interview hoping nobody will see it. That’s exactly what we are like, when we sit and hear the word of God or read the word of God and decide, “you know one day I’m going to get around to doing something about that part of me.”
We don’t know what it’s costing us in terms of potential blessings to not apply what we know the word of God tells us to do. Every day we put off getting rid of those boogers is a day somebody is missing out on what God wants to do in and through us and we are missing a blessing God wants to give us.
Now when James was writing this book, the people did not have mirrors that are as clear and crisp as we have today. Only people with money would have mirrors. The majority of the people would only see themselves occasionally in a mirror and would quickly forget what they looked like.
James said, these are the church goers who hear the word of God, but do not do what it says. They agree, “yes that’s me alright”, but once the word is gone, they forget what it was that was seen, and what it was they needed to change. They forget just as quickly as the person looking into the mirror forgets.
But James contrasts that quick cursory look with a person who looks intently. Those of you who put on make-up, you look intently into that mirror to make sure that everything is going in the right place. You look intently to make sure that color is looking good on you. You look intently to make sure everything is evenly spread out. You know that despite what you think in your head that you look like, that mirror is showing you what everybody else is seeing.
When we look intently at the word of God, we do not see a bunch of rules, commandments, and regulations that are going to keep us from having a good time. Instead like verse 24 says, we will be looking into the perfect law that gives freedom. Jesus says, “if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” The freedom comes in our obedience to the word of God.
We start saying things such as: Now God I see now, why you said not to do that, you wanted me to get my degree so that I could do that. I see now why you said don’t go by there, you wanted me to have a healthy marriage. I see now why you said don’t say anything, you wanted me to be able to get that place over there. Our obedience to God provides us with the freedom to enjoy our lives and avoid all the heartache, disappointments, and suffering that sin will bring into our lives.
God is telling us, if you look intently into the word, and keep on looking, we will not only not forget what we learned, when we will apply it to our lives, we will constantly be blessed. This moving from a church member to a disciple is in our own best interest.
It’s not how many verses of bible are we reading, but how often are we humbly accepting it and letting it change us. The word of God changes us by us putting into action in our everyday lives.
The big surprise on judgment day is not going to come from those who are openly sinning to the world. As much as they may try to deny it, they know that there is a God in existence. They have even called on Him a number of times in their crisis. They know they are going to have to give an account for their lives. They are just hoping that hell does not exists.
The big surprise on judgment day is going to come from the church members who never moved over to becoming disciples. They honestly believe the good work they are doing is going to cause Jesus to overlook their intentional disobedience to the Word of God. They will remind Jesus of all the wonderful things they did in His name. Then comes the shocker from Jesus, “I never knew you.”
The good news though is that every church member who is willing, can make the move to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus put it this way “if any of us wants to be his disciples, we must stop thinking, it’s all about me, and start asking, God what do you and your word want me to do in this situation.”
God wants the right to have control over our actions, our attitudes, our possessions, and our desires. That’s the only way in Christ, that we can move from merely being church members to disciples of Jesus Christ. Next time you look in the mirror, try to see if you see a church member or a disciple looking out at you. Then take the word of God, read a portion of it and see what it tells you about whether you are a church member or a disciple.
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick GNLCC 11/16/03
“From Church Member To Disciple”
Proverbs 3:1-13 Matt 7:13-27 James 1:19-25
A. John Looks To Go From A D- To A+
1. Takes Notes On Ted’s Behavior
2. Learning The Secrets—Knowledge
3. Knowledge & Application Leads To Results
B. Becoming Spiritually Mature As A Church
1. Not The Largest Or The Best
2. Moving From Church Members To Disciples
3. The Good Things About A Church Member
4. The Gap Between Member & Disciple
5. Where Does The Power Come From
6. Church Members Become Church Dragons
7. Disciples Know The Presence Of Dragons
8. Disciples Knows This Is Not Natural
C. Apostle James & The Church He Addresses
1. A Lot Of Church Members Few Disciples
2. How Church Members Displayed Themselves
3. Sin Blame, Talking, Some Commands Not All
4. Prejudice Against Poor, Greedy & Cheating
5. Faith, With No Works –Church Was Needed
D. Moving From Church Member To Disciple
James 1:19-25 My dear brothers and sisters take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
1. Yielding To The Authority Of God’s Word
2. Not Quick To Hear, Slow To Speak, Slow Attitude
3. Possibilities Of A Life Given To Christ
4. From Prostitute To Conference Speaker
5. Education And Age Are Not Determining Factors
E. How Do We Get Set Free
1. Humbly Accepted The Word That Was Planted
2. Breaking The Bonds Of All Addictions
3. The Word Has Power To Save
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
4. Jesus Referred To As The Word Of God
5. Power To Set Free
6. What Is To Humbly Accept It—We-Smarter
7. Pride Uproots The Word
8. Testimony—God Has A Plan For Your Life
9. I’ve Got A Plan Of My Own
10. Satan Also Has A Plan
G. Called To Trust In The Lord
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
1. Trying To Figure It Out Alone
2. Obeying The Word Is Not Easy
3. Church Member Easier Than A Disciple
4. Wondering What Might Happen If You Obey
5. God—No 24 Hour Guarantee
6. Out Little Plans—Our Heartbeat
H. Are Brownie Points Possible With God
1. Power Not Found In Saying Amen
2. If Listening All Needed, What Great Children
3. Ever Said, “Now Didn’t I Tell You”
4. Who Gets Credit—Good Or Bad
5. Jesus- 1,000’s Listened Few Disciples
I. A Mirror Could Really Help
1. The Job Interview With The Giant Booger
2. Looking At It And Doing Nothing
3. All Spiritual Boogers Have A Price Tag
4. Few Mirrors In James Day
5. A Quick Look Leads To Quick Forget
J. Looking Intently Into The Mirror For A Purpose
1. When You Put On Your Makeup
2. What You See In The Mirror Is What Others See
3. Look Intently At The Word To See Freedom
4. If The Son Sets You Free, You Are Free
5. When Rules Become Blessings & Opportunities
6. Look And Keep On Looking To Be Blessed
7. Not Number Of Chapters, But Applications
K. Who Is Really Going To Be Surprised On That Day
1. Sinners Will Not Be Shocked To Know There Is
A God
2. Church Members Shocked To Discover The
Character Of God & His Word
3. Jesus—“I Never Knew You”
4. Choosing To Move From Church Member To
Disciple
5. It’s Not All About Me
6. It’s About God & His Word
7. Looking In The Mirror Again
Matthew 7:24-27
"Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse, because it is built on rock. 26But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will fall with a mighty crash."
