Making Desciples

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. We do greet you in the name of Jesus. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 28. I'd like to read the last verses of this chapter. The new birth is one step of what Jesus was saying that his disciples should do. [00:00:34] Follow with me in Matthew chapter 28 beginning to read at verse 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And lo, I am with you all way, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Jesus' words to his disciples [00:01:06] In the other translations that I looked at It says something a little bit different than it does here where it says teach all nations The NIV says therefore go and make disciples And the modern Berkeley version says basically the same thing. The only thing it does is invert the first two words there. Instead of therefore go, it says go therefore. The Amplified says go then and make disciples of all the nations. [00:01:39] Very similar message. Make disciples. How do you make a disciple is the question that comes to me as I think of this. It reminds me of what one brother said when we were talking together. We were rejoicing that his child had made a commitment to follow the Lord. It was just very recent. And this brother said, these are my words, but basically the idea of he said that this is but the first step of a journey. [00:02:14] And I would like to have us to consider that. What are the further steps? And I'd like to consider some examples that we have in scripture of people being discipled, being disciplined. They are from the same root. We think of a little different. We think of discipling as or I think of discipling as something a little bit different than when we think of the word discipline. Discipline has more the idea of punishment, where discipling I think includes more than that. [00:02:49] But they come from the same root word. In Mark chapter 16, the words to the apostles were go and preach. I think verse 15 of Mark chapter 16, you find that word. And then if you drop down to verse 20, you find that the disciples did just that. And they went out and preached everywhere. That was what they did. I'd like to also consider in John, if you want to turn with me to John, the last chapter, John 21. [00:03:26] We read, I think, something here that helps us to understand the term to disciple somebody. I'm just going to break in here, verse 15. And I have read this passage often, and I suppose I have noticed that other renderings say something a little different than the King James does in the one place here. But we'll read this, and then we'll talk about that. [00:03:59] Verse 15 of John 21 says, So when they had dine, Jesus saith unto Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. And he saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. [00:04:33] He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus said unto him, feed my sheep. That is what it says in the King James. In the other renderings, it is very similar in the first and the last. Feed my lambs, feed my sheep. [00:05:04] That hasn't changed a great deal. And in the middle one, perhaps it hasn't changed a great deal, but the other, I'm just going to say what some of the other renderings say. Amplified says, shepherd, and then in parentheses it has tend my sheep. There is a little bit more to taking care of sheep than just to feed them. If you are involved in animal husbandry, you know that there are some things that need to be done. I have considered having some animals because I have a little pasture and it would be an excellent place and I could buy some animals and put them there. [00:05:44] But then I remember my schedule and I remember that there are other people that are much better at animal husbandry than I am. You know, when you buy some calves, you have to be ready to take care of those calves. Not only get the feed to them that they need, but calves get sick. Animals get sick, and they need to be tended. Sometimes they need shots. They don't enjoy that very much. But my son-in-law is much better at that than I am, so I have concluded that at least for this time, [00:06:20] I'll let Tim put the animals on the pasture, and I help feed them. I do feed them once a day, but he is better at animal husbandry than I am. Well, we're not talking about animal husbandry, but we are talking about the fact that to make disciples takes more than to feed them. It is an important part. You cannot substitute medicine for feed, can you? But sometimes they need medication. Sometimes they need other things. [00:06:52] and sometimes we need to do the other things. The modern Berkeley version also says tend my sheep in the center portion there. The NIV says take care of my sheep. It just gives a little bit of an added dimension to what is involved in discipling. We could talk about other things. Why did Jesus ask Peter three times that do you love me? Somebody said, somebody has made the suggestion because Peter denied him three times. [00:07:23] He needed to affirm his love and I don't doubt that. But there is more to it than feeding, although feeding is a very important part of discipling. And I would like for you to be thinking of things that you think of as you think of discipling. And maybe you can share that after the message. I would like to turn to Acts chapter 8 and look at a few verses here. [00:07:56] If you recall, in Acts chapter 8, this was just after the death of Stephen, and people were scattered. and Saul was persecuting the church and if you drop down to well verse 12 says and when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God this was after Philip had left Jerusalem he was preaching and I don't see just where he was preaching here but there was a man who believed here it says and then Simon himself believed also. [00:08:34] Simon was involved in sorcery, you remember, and Simon also believed, and then the apostles came, that was Peter and John, but drop down with me to verse 18 here, and when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, then sent they Peter and John, and then Simon, this is not Simon Peter, this is Simon the sorcerer, And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, [00:09:09] Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. Simon saw something, he desired it, he said, give me also this gift, and he even offered money. And you know what Peter answered to Simon. He said, thy money perish with thee. That's not something that, the gift of God cannot be bought with money, Simon. Was this discipling? Was Simon Peter discipling Simon, the censor? I think so. [00:09:40] He was saying, this is not the way you go about this. Beware, I think we need to beware of the propensity that we have to desire power. You see, you notice that word appearing here? He wanted this power. And when Simon saw that through the laying on the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money saying, give me also this power. Simon wanted power here. Well, if Simon would have desired to be filled with the Holy Ghost, [00:10:14] he might have had this power. He might not have. That was not his to say. It's not for us to say. But the point that I am making is this. It is dangerous for us to desire the power. That is one of the things that we should be very careful about. In Acts chapter 14, I'd like to just simply look at this. You notice that there were many things that happened in the book of Acts. [00:10:50] And many times the gospel was preached and people believed. And it was wonderful what happened. However, it was not enough for people to just receive the gift of salvation. Notice in verse 3 of Acts chapter 14. Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord which gave testimony unto the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. And this, I think, was the missionary journey. [00:11:24] Was it Paul and Barnabas? I'm not even sure. I don't see it in the immediately preceding verses. I didn't write that down. But notice the tenor is changing just a little bit. It is important to preach the word. It is important for people to believe. But there is more required than that. That's why I believe what it says. Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord. which gave testimony unto the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. I think that the application of principle is important here. [00:11:59] I don't know what it was that was preached. I suppose it was not only repentance and salvation. Although I think that was a part of their message, repentance and salvation. But it is important, other things are important as well. Well, in Acts chapter 15, we have the Jerusalem Council. I'm not going to be looking at that in detail. But here again, people were saying, what's the answer? Some of the people say you should be circumcised. You have to keep the law is what they were saying. And Paul and Barnabas withstood that. I think it was Paul and Barnabas, maybe it was Paul and Silas in this case. [00:12:35] But it was Paul and somebody else withstood that. No, that's not enough. That's, I mean, that's not right that we ask of them this. And so they went back to Jerusalem and asked, what do you say? And you know the answer that they gave them. Our forefathers couldn't keep the law. Why do we want to put a burden on their shoulders that they cannot keep? I think was the verdict that came there. Not saying that these things were not important, but we are in a different dispensation now than we were back then. [00:13:11] I appreciate verse 28 of Acts chapter 15 for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things and that's in a nutshell the gist of what they asked of them I'd like to also notice Acts chapter 15 verse 36 I think Paul and Barnabas recognized the need to disciple the people. [00:13:47] Notice in verse 36 of Acts chapter 15, And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. Do you think discipling was involved in what they did on these second and third missionary journeys? I think so. Not saying that they didn't preach the gospel of salvation. That is an important first step. We have to take that step before we can continue. But it is important that we continue from that point. [00:14:23] It's interesting to me to notice that Barnabas was willing to disciple a person. If you read just a little bit later in verse 37, Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. Paul didn't think that was a wise thing to do. Paul was Paul. He was a very strong personality. Barnabas was a person, I think he was a compassionate person. See, what does Barnabas mean? [00:14:54] Son of consolation? Am I right? Son of consolation. I think Barnabas was gifted in reaching out to people, in helping people along. And I see people who do that in our congregation. And it is a blessing to me to see that happen. We do not all have the same gift. We don't have to have the same gift. But I think it is good that we cultivate the gift of being a son of consolation. of encouraging other people. We have been recipients of people who have reached out in this past week in a way that we haven't for some time. [00:15:32] And it's kind of humbling to be on the receiving end, but it is a blessing, and I do appreciate the ways that you have reached out to us, the ways that people have reached out to us. It has been a blessing to us. But in Acts chapter 18, I would just like to have you consider with me, I'm not going to be reading a great deal here, but it says, I'm just going to read the first several verses. [00:16:04] And after these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth and found a certain Jew, Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, and came unto them. And let me see, dropping down to verse 11, and he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. I don't know what you think that Paul taught as he taught the word of God among the Corinthians [00:16:36] But I think there was discipling taking place there In fact, as you read the books of Corinthians, you see that I'd like to also consider verse 24 of Acts chapter 18 Just going to read that And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria Notice the descriptive words here I have them underlined in my Bible. I think it's good to do that. An eloquent man, the first descriptive word, and mighty in the scriptures, the second descriptive word, came to Ephesus. [00:17:10] The man was instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught diligently, diligently, the fourth descriptive word, the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly and when he was disposed to pass into Achaia the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him [00:17:41] who when he was come helped them much which had believed through grace for he mightily convinced the Jews and that publicly showing by the scriptures Jesus was Christ. Six descriptive words, I believe, in that short passage that I read. Apollos was a man who was a forceful speaker. And what did he preach from? What did he know? Only the baptism of John. [00:18:13] And yet, he was able to convince people, this is the way. This is what God has ordained. You know, Aquila and Priscilla might have responded to that in a different way. Might have gone on the beachy hotline, for all we know, depending who would have gotten it. But they didn't choose to respond in that way to Apollos. They saw here a man that had a heart for God. He had a heart to proclaim the truth. [00:18:45] And they saw that if they would take him into their home and give him some further instructions, he could be a real asset to kingdom building. And that's just what they did. Well, it says they took him unto themselves. I guess they took him into their home. That's what I assumed. Maybe it was just after the service they said no. Apollos, did you know? What you said is perfectly true. But did you know there's more? The fulfillment of that has come about. This has already happened. and I am sure that Apollos received that gladly and he was a real asset to the building of the kingdom. [00:19:24] You read about Apollos in a number of places and I think he was effective because some people were willing to disciple him, were willing to supply those areas of need that he was lacking in. That wasn't the end of Apollos' ministry. He had much more. He continued preaching because he had been discipled. Acts chapter 19. I'd like to just look at the first several verses here. [00:19:54] And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, this comes back to Paul, Paul having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance, [00:20:26] saying unto the people that they should believe on him that should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. And we'll stop reading there. Again here, some people that were serving the Lord, but they just simply needed some further instruction. And in this case, why did Paul ask them, have you received the Holy Ghost? [00:21:00] I don't know. Did Paul sense that there was something lacking in these men's lives? I suspect that he did. I think the Holy Ghost prompted him to ask that question. But again, Paul didn't make a scene. He didn't tell other people, do you know? He just simply said to them, this is what you need to know to just further round out your experience in God. Now, we could look at the account of the seven sons of Siva in Acts chapter 19, but I'm going to leave that. [00:21:39] But again here, these were people that wanted, maybe these were power seekers, because of what the Bible has to say about them. But they received a certain check. If they were open to what the Lord was saying to them, they received a certain check. They said this is not the way to go. If we are open to what God has for us, God will bring those things our way to disciple us. And it may not always be in the way that we would like to have it, but we do read that in God's word. [00:22:15] We see that, we experience that in our own lives. In Acts chapter 19, just going to look at, maybe we should begin reading at verse 17 and read a few verses here. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus, and fearful, and this is about the seven sons of Siva. And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, and many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men [00:22:51] And they counted the price of them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver What made these people come and confess their deeds? I think they were confessing sin, if I understand correctly I think it was just simply the conviction of the Holy Spirit And so the conviction of the Holy Spirit is one of the ways that God disciples us And they came and they confessed their deeds and also many of them which use the curious art, some of the other renderings say the magic that they were practicing, the things that were not for God's people and they were convicted of this and they had probably one of the more expensive bonfires that we read of in God's word here. [00:23:42] If we want to do things that will bring glory to him, we have to get rid of the sin in our lives. It's interesting to notice that the work of Satan received, I think, a setback on that day that those books were burned. What does it include to disciple? I think there are different ways that people are discipled. [00:24:15] I think sometimes it's just simply relating one-to-one to people. Just in our sharing with brethren, we might just simply share, brother or sister, have you considered this? And just simply share what God has done in our lives. And I think that as we share from a personal experience, it does much to enable us to disciple others. In fact, perhaps it's the only way that we can truly disciple others is when we share from what God is doing with us. [00:24:50] I am blessed when we sit in a small group setting by what God reveals to others. Like in a Sunday school class. I just told our Sunday school class this morning, that's a blessing to me. Things that I hadn't thought of. That's fine. I don't need to think of all those things, but it's a blessing that God works through all of us. It's not just, it's not a one-way thing, this discipling. It is, I think it's reciprocal. It needs to come from you to me, from me to you. I think it's ideal that it is reciprocal. I'm not saying that it always has to be. [00:25:33] Some people do well at communicating in this way. To large groups of people, Apollos was gifted in, and he spoke to people, he convinced people mightily. We need all of these. And it is important that I don't covet your gift and that you don't covet my gift. because if you, and I didn't even have this in my notes but let me see, what does God, what does 1 Corinthians 12 say? [00:26:05] He gave to every man severally as he wills. That's not quite the, those are not quite the words but the idea is, it's not us. It is the way that God wanted to do this. That is the way that he shared with God's people. And our gifts, we do well to use our gifts to make full proof of our ministry, but we do well not to look at others and wish, I wish I would have Brother Daniel's gift or, you know, whoever else you are talking about. [00:26:40] Now, I was just noticing in my daily reading, and I'm just going to turn to a few of these verses. If you want to turn with me, turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 30. I'm just going to read one verse, and I'm going to use some other. I'm going to read out of King James. But I would like to tell you what some of the other renderings use here. [00:27:16] As I was doing my personal reading, I just simply came across some instances of God discipling people. Verse 11 of Jeremiah chapter 30. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee, though I make a full end of all nations, whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. [00:27:48] I will correct thee in measure, I will discipline thee, is what I think the NIV says here. Chapter 31, if you will turn with me to chapter 31, verse 18. And I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastened as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. the word chastened here is again disciplined in the NIV [00:28:23] and in chapter 32 verse 33 it says and they turned unto me the back and not the face though I taught them rising early and teaching them yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction instruction there again is disciplined in the NIV it was just interesting that was just in several days reading that I came across, well, discipling isn't new to the new dispensation. It happened in the old dispensation. [00:28:54] In fact, I'd like to consider some of the people that God used in the old dispensation and then bring this to a close. But I think of Joseph and the chastening that Joseph received. I don't know what kind of person Joseph was. evidently he was not bashful because he dreamed his dream remember the sheaves bowing down to his father [00:29:25] well there were 12 sheaves bowing down to his sheave his sheave was upright and let me see the sun, moon and stars came and bowed down was it to him? I forget but the meaning was similar and maybe Joseph was indiscreet in sharing this I don't know Some people suggest that. But Joseph, I see some disciplining of God in Joseph's life. One thing that I thought of, and I didn't turn to scripture, I just simply thought of some things where Joseph was disciplined. [00:30:00] We read that he was hated by his brothers. In fact, the scriptures say they couldn't even speak peaceably to him. So, that was one of the things that I think Joseph received discipline. He was sold as a slave. And I don't know, to me, it's hard for me to put myself in Joseph's shoes. Because in our family, we would stick up for each other. Now we may have had some disagreements, but you let somebody get on to one of my siblings. [00:30:37] Do you think that I would agree with you and I would turn against one of my siblings? I doubt it. And that's just simply a blessing. I cannot imagine exactly what it was that Joseph went through. But as he was sold as a slave to the Midianites, and then they in turn sold him to Potiphar, And you know the story. He was accused of immorality there, where he was innocent and Potiphar's wife was the guilty one. [00:31:10] But she turned the tables. You know that. He was cast into prison. And even when he did a good turn to his fellow prisoners, they forgot. They didn't, well, the one forgot. The other lost his life. But you know the story. I marvel that Joseph allowed himself to become a better man and not bitter because, you know, a lesser person would have become bitter at all the things that befell him [00:31:45] and there is something that happened as Joseph was faithful do you remember what the Bible says? and God was with him and he prospered whatever he was given to do So, Joseph was faithful and God rewarded that faithfulness. That was true in Potiphar's house, it was true in prison, it was true later even in the ruling of Egypt under Pharaoh. [00:32:15] Although I don't remember that the Bible says it in that many words But I think of Daniel as well As a person who received discipline And I'm not sure if the scriptures say Was Daniel carried away from Judah as a young person? That's what comes to mind And I don't think that Daniel ever returned to Judah How often did Daniel face death? Or how, maybe I should say it this way In the book of Daniel, how often did Daniel and his three friends I think of one time when the king had a dream and the wise men couldn't interpret it [00:32:54] They didn't even come to Daniel and his three friends But they were to be taken to be killed And Daniel through his wisdom, tact, was able to And through his devotion to God You notice he went to his three friends and said we have to pray Our life is at stake We also have the case of the three people, three friends of Daniel. I don't know where Daniel was. You bow down and worship or you'll be thrown into the fiery furnace. [00:33:27] And they were thrown into the fiery furnace. Daniel was cast into the lion's den. There were at least three instances when they faced death and God miraculously delivered them. Do you think God was discipling Daniel and his three friends? I think so, and I think Daniel and his three friends had the ability to accept this as discipling or to reject it. Same as Joseph. They could have become bitter and said, we didn't do anything. What have we done to deserve this? [00:34:00] I think of David as well in scripture. Here, David, when he was anointed to be king, he didn't choose that. That was God's choosing. But when Saul, I don't know if Saul became aware that Samuel anointed David, but he knew that David was in line for the throne. he could see God's blessing on David's life and he became Saul's enemy even though he did many things for Saul [00:34:31] I think that David being in this school prepared him to effectively lead God's people again because David chose to let those things mold him in the image that God wanted to make him some people look at David's writings and they say David was a man that suffered depression, and I am not saying that that wasn't true. I am going to say I think David turned to the right source for relief, and I am just going to leave it there. [00:35:08] I am not saying anything about if you struggle with depression, except that I think it is good to turn to the right source, And I think it is good that we get help, perhaps we could say discipling, even in a case like that. I'd like to just simply bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we come to you and we are grateful for the ways that you disciple us as your children. [00:35:41] We recognize that sometimes the discipling doesn't feel good. but we thank you that you have our good at heart and that you use us to build your kingdom as we allow you to. We just pray, Father, this morning that you would help us to be open to your discipling us, others discipling us, help us to be open to be disciples of others as well [00:36:14] As you give us opportunity, as we have an opportunity to share the word of truth, give us hearts that are willing to accept that responsibility and help us, Father, to do so in a way that others can hear you and your word and your admonition. We just pray that you would bless further this service for your glory. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for watching!