Discipleship through Relationship

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Transcript:

I appreciate what Brother Sean said about the gospel being simple. The fact is that so many times it’s the things of God that are simple, and it’s man who complicates them. Now, there’s also a distinction between simple and easy.

Sometimes the simple things are not the easy things to do. It’s very simple on how to be a person of integrity, just tell the truth. But that’s not always the easiest thing to do.

Sometimes there are situations where it’d be easier to lie, but that doesn’t make it right, and that doesn’t make it any simpler. It just complicates things. So many times what God expects from us or what God is telling us are things that are so simple but not necessarily easy.

The gospel is simple and yet so hard for some people to believe, so hard for some people to just humble themselves before God and believe that they are sinners in need of a Savior. Discipleship is simple and yet not necessarily easy. If we’re just looking for the easy things in life, Rarely will we ever get anything worth having.

But discipleship is worth doing even though it’s difficult. And the reason discipleship is difficult is because it requires effort, it requires interest and time as we invest ourselves in other people’s lives, and quite frankly, we don’t always have the time or interest, we think, to put into other people’s lives because we’re too focused on what’s going on in our world. And yet what God has called us to do is not a complicated program, It’s not a 12-step thing.

It’s a very simple process of making disciples as we go through day-to-day relationships. We talked this morning about reaching out to those closest to us. Folks, we don’t have to go to Mexico or to Africa or to some other part of this country to find a mission field.

God has already put people around us that we can reach out to with the gospel, or even people around us who we can reach out to who already are believers and yet have never been discipled. There are people all around us we can begin with, and we already have a relationship with, and we can work with them to bring them to where they need to be, which is salvation and spiritual maturity in Jesus Christ. If you’ll turn with me tonight very quickly to Deuteronomy chapter 6, we’re going to look at some advice given in the Old Testament, which I think is applicable to us today for how they were to disciple their children. And the reason I think this applies to us today is because this is very much the way Jesus discipled his disciples.

Even though they were not his children, what we see here in Deuteronomy chapter 6 is very much what Jesus did for about three years with the twelve who followed him. Starting in verse 3, it says, Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. So he says, everything God’s commanded you to do, follow and obey.

But he says, in addition to this, teach your children to follow and obey, as we get to in just a moment. In verse 4, he says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. This is one of the most well-known passages of the entire Old Testament, not necessarily to us, but to the Jews in that time, in Jesus’ time, and to observant Jews today.

It’s a well-known passage. Even observant Jews today still pray this as a prayer twice a day. And they say, Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.

And they repeat this over and over. And I don’t know if I pronounced all of that right. That’s just what I can get from the English transliteration.

But that means, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And it was to remind them that we serve one God. Not the multitude of pagan deities around us.

Not the God of the harvest, not the God of the sun, not the God of whatever, not any other person, not any other group of people we serve, one God. It’s a reminder to them and to their children and to their children’s children, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And on the basis of Him being the Lord their God and being one, says in verse 5, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.

And now Jesus paraphrased this in the New Testament as well. It says in verse 6, And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. So he says the things that I’ve commanded you and the things that I’ve told you about who God is, these things you’re supposed to talk to, you’re supposed to teach them diligently to your children, You’re supposed to talk about them all the time.

He says, when you’re sitting down, when you’re walking, when you’re lying down, when you’re getting up in the morning, you’re always talking to your children, he says, about the things of God, who God is, and what God has commanded us to do. They’re more likely to remember it the more you keep telling them. Any of you ever had to tell your children anything just one time?

No? Okay, it’s not just me? All right.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates. So they were supposed to talk about it.

They were supposed to put the scriptures where they could see it. I don’t know exactly how they did this, if it was some kind of bracelet or something, but they were supposed to bind it on their hands where they could see it. It was supposed to be like a frontlet.

It was supposed to be something that was in front of their eyes all the time. They were supposed to write it on their house. Folks, they were supposed to be inundated.

They were supposed to be immersed in the word of God and what it was God expected for them to do because that was the only way the nation of Israel, not only the adults, but the children as well, that’s the only way that they were going to learn and remember what God expected from them and who He is. And so they’re told, as you go through life with your children, as you go through life with your children, you’re always talking about the Word of God. You’re always sharing with them what you know about who God is.

You’re always telling them what God expects from you. And when they get tired of hearing it in words, it should be everywhere. Not that they physically had to decorate the whole house.

I mean, they were supposed to write it on the posts and do this. That doesn’t mean they had to go and paint Scripture all over their house. Not necessarily a bad idea, though.

Scripture and the knowledge of who God was, God’s Word was supposed to be at the forefront, was supposed to be at the forefront of everything that they did as a family and as a nation. Now, folks, we are told the same thing. And the reason I believe this applies to us today, I said a moment ago, is because this is the way Jesus Christ did it.

I don’t see in my readings of the Gospels, and believe me, we are not, even if we had time, even if we had a full 30 or 40 minutes, we were not going to go through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John systematically and look at everything in the timeline. Take my word for it. Actually, for now, take my word for it and then go back and check it out for yourself.

But I don’t see where Jesus got his disciples together for eight hours a day and taught them and then sent them home. They clocked out at 5 o’clock. Folks, it didn’t work that way.

When Jesus traveled off to another city, they went with him, and he taught them all along the way. When Jesus went and stayed for the night at somebody’s house, they went with him, and he taught them about God all along the way. When Jesus ate, they went and ate with him, and he taught them about God.

All the time throughout the Gospels, we see three years where Jesus spent day after day after day after day with these annoying men who did not understand what he was talking about some of the time, but he persisted in teaching them about the things of God anyway. And you know what? Even though they didn’t always seem to get what he was talking about right then, we see in the book of Acts that later on, once the picture came together, those things had stuck with them, and they remembered what Jesus had taught them.

Rather than make discipleship some complicated program where we have to teach a class, you have to get a group together, you have to meet with them for an hour and a half every Thursday and every other Tuesday or something like that, rather than make a big complicated program and production out of it, I want to very simply tonight look at this passage and give you three conditions under which discipleship happens. Conditions that are ripe for discipleship to happen. First of all, discipleship happens when we possess a love for God that drives us to make Him known.

Discipleship happens when we possess a love for God that drives us to make Him known. He starts out in the passage, he starts out in the passage by referring them back to the shema, the prayer that says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And he says, as a result of this, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

He starts out saying, this is who God is. And does it capture the whole essence of who God is? No.

Folks, there’s even more about God than what we know from the Bible. Because God, folks, if God revealed everything about who He was to us, we couldn’t even comprehend it. But what God intends us to know is found here in the Bible.

But it’s a very brief statement of who God is and His character and the fact that He is one. And He doesn’t share His glory, as it says in Isaiah. He doesn’t share His glory with any other.

He doesn’t share His worship with idols. Folks, that He’s one Lord. And they’re told, this is who God is, and your response to Him should be to love Him with everything you have within you.

Folks, we need to fall in love with God. I know if I took a poll in here and said, raise your hands. And said, raise your hand if you love God.

I know every, or pretty well know that just about every hand in this room would go up. But say, are we in love with God? Can be a different question.

The question was asked in our Sunday school class this morning, how important, and this was not thrown out because anybody in the class had doubt, but as a result of a conversation one of our class members had with somebody outside who asked, how important is God supposed to be? And Brother Warren told us, you know, the pat answer, the one we would expect to have and to give is, oh, God is the most important thing. but I couldn’t help but think, and I think Warren was thinking the same thing, couldn’t help but think, if we’re honest, if we’re honest, we realize God is supposed to be the most important thing in our lives.

In reality, He’s not always, but we as Christians should desperately want Him to be most important. He’s the one that we should desire to be most important. Folks, we need to time and energy to falling in love with God, and the way we do that is by learning from His Word about who He is and what He desires for us to do.

And then we demonstrate that love by following His will, obeying what He’s called us to do. But discipleship does not happen unless you and I have a love for God that compels us to make Him known to somebody else. I believe discipleship is more caught than taught.

And if I simply stood up here week after week and preached sermons with just dry facts about God, it wouldn’t mean a whole lot. But I hope when I stand in the pulpit, Even though, to be honest, I know he’s supposed to be the most important, but he’s not always, and that’s wrong. But I hope that when I stand in the pulpit, it’s because there’s a love for God that makes me desire, drives me to tell you all more about him and what his word says about him.

Folks, we can stand outside and we can tell the world out there how they need to love God, how they need to trust Christ, how Christ should be the most important thing in the world to them. But if we don’t act like it matters, both in our actions and our attitudes, if we don’t act like He matters, why would they care? Folks, it begins with an understanding of who God is.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And after that, a love for Him that makes us desire to tell other people who He is and what He expects. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your mind.

No, your might. So discipleship happens when we possess a love for God that drives us to make Him known. Second of all, discipleship happens, again, not through any program, not through classes necessarily, but discipleship happens when we’re intentional about instructing others in the truth.

When we’re intentional about instructing others in the truth. Most people are not discipled by accident. I’ve told you before that when I was discipled as a young man, it really wasn’t on purpose in the sense that nobody said, we’re going to sit down and have a discipleship program.

But then again, there was teaching going on that was intentional. When older men, men who were ahead of me in the ministry, sat down with me, and even though we didn’t have a set program or curriculum, we sat down and they intentionally said, we’re going to talk about some things, and we’re going to discuss some things as we’re going through life together. And folks, they taught me intentionally, even if we didn’t realize that was what was going on. But we don’t disciple people by accident.

Discipling people requires effort, ladies and gentlemen. That’s why they go from there, from saying, love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your might, and they go on in verse 6 to say, and these words which I command day, these shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. Not just haphazardly, not just when the opportunity presents itself, but diligently teach them to your children.

Now, those of you who have children who are still around, even adult children, we need to be diligent in teaching our children when we have the opportunity. Your grandchildren as well, we need to be diligent in imparting the truth about God and who He is and what He expects when we have the opportunity. But folks, we’re not the Israelite nation, and I don’t believe we’re limited in discipleship just to our children.

We need to start at home, but folks, our children in the faith, those who are coming up behind us, we need to be diligent, we need to be intentional, and disciple people on purpose. I’ve noticed a tendency when I’m not intentionally teaching my son how to behave. He is learning things by accident, but not necessarily learning the right things.

He learns what he sees other kids do in public, or he learns sometimes what he sees on television. Folks, people will learn to do things. They will learn a way to live, but people do not learn the right way to live by accident.

And we have to be diligent and intentional about teaching our kids what they’re supposed to do, because they’re not just going to go, oh, I’ll be good just for kicks. Folks, people don’t become disciples by accident. They don’t become disciples by accident.

And if we are not out discipling people, again, not in classes necessarily, not in a Sunday morning, Sunday night auditorium setting, but as we go through life with the people closest to us, if we are not intentionally using moments to make disciples, it will become a last priority. Everything else will take precedence, and it won’t get done if we say it’s just an option, rather than intentionally making it at the center of everything that we do. And third of all tonight, as we prepare to close, discipleship happens when we learn to use everyday opportunities as teachable moments.

When we learn to use everyday opportunities as teachable moments. He tells them, and we’ve already gone over this a little bit, but he tells them in verses 7 through 9 that they’re to talk of the things of God, they’re to talk of the Scriptures. When they sit in their house, when they walk by the way, as they’re out going about their daily appointed rounds, when they lie down, when they rise up, tells them to bind them for a sign upon their hands and to make them a frontlet always before their eyes and to write them upon the posts of their house and their gates.

Folks, everyday moments. If we only disciple people around us, if we only disciple our kids and our friends, our relatives, our associates and neighbors, the groups that I talked to you about this morning, if we only disciple those people when we’re in a formal setting and we say we’re going to get a group together, we’re going to have a Bible study, or we’re going to have a class, or we’re going to have a conference, or I’m intentionally going to take them on Sunday. Folks, if that’s the only time we’re doing any discipling, it’s not going to work.

Discipleship happens when we use everyday opportunities as teachable moments. I realize it’s a little more toward apologetics than discipleship, but I heard a radio program yesterday in the car where a man was studying about creation, and then he was studying that himself, but then he’d take his kids to museums, And they would walk through the natural history museums, and he would say, now this is the evidence that points to what God did. And this is the evidence.

See, in these fossils, and here’s the evidence. And I can’t even tell you what all he was telling his kids. But he’d take his kids to museums. And most of us would think, and myself included, would think, oh, a trip to the museum, that might be fun.

I mean, depending on what museum you’re going to. Oh, that might be fun. Let’s take the kids to a museum.

And we go on about our day, and we look at the exhibits. This man was being very intentional in saying, I’m going to teach my kids about the Word of God and about the Genesis account of creation as we’re going through the museum together. And I thought, what a great idea.

What an incredible idea. I read about another man yesterday who, it was his Sunday school class, yes, but rather than just learning about the Bible in a Sunday school class setting, he would take clippings out of the newspaper. And now that I say this, I remember my dad doing this as well in his college class.

Taking clippings out of the newspaper over the course of several weeks and sharing just the gist of a story with the group and saying, now, how can we apply the Bible to the situation that’s going on here? And getting people to think biblically about things that are going on in their everyday world. Folks, we don’t realize some of the opportunities that we have with our kids, with our grandkids, with other people around us to use everyday opportunities as a springboard to talk about the things of God.

In Deuteronomy, they were instructed to do just that, to take every opportunity. When they sat down, when they walked around in the streets, when they lay down, when they woke up, when they looked at their house, when they looked at their hand. Folks, never miss an opportunity.

We have opportunities every day, and we have also the chance to make opportunities. And we need to pray to God for opportunities and for the alertness to see the opportunities, to impart wisdom about who God is and what He expects from us to other people as we go through daily life. Folks, you don’t have to teach a class.

You don’t have to lead a ministry or or pastor a church of thousands. We all have people that we have relationships with and we go through life together with. And we are told to use everyday opportunities in everyday life, put God at the center of it, and use teachable moments to bring people to salvation and spiritual maturity in Jesus Christ.