Discipleship and Discipline - Part 2

SERMON TOPIC: Discipleship and Discipline - Part 2

Speaker: Ken Paynter

Language: ENGLISH

Date: 9 September 2012

Topic Groups: DISCIPLINE, DISCIPLESHIP

Sermon synopsis: Marks of Spiritual Maturity.
- Christ is seen in you.
- A solid knowledge of Biblical truth.
- A constant readiness to witness (not argue) on the basis of good example.
- Walking in the Spirit without habitual sin.
- Someone who displays the fruit of the spirit.
- A humble willingness to serve others.
- A genuine love for others.
- Ability to bridle your tongue.

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Discipleship part 2.

Discipleship.

We don’t need better methods to win the lost, we need better men.

Disciple and Discipline have the same root word. God is more interested in our character than in our ministry, for this reason the greatest percentage of Jesus ministry was on our character and not our work or ministry.

The suffering and hardship that the Lord allows in our lives is not to hinder our ministry, but to shape our character, which in itself is all too often the biggest hindrance to our ministry.

In the past the mistake has often been made of focussing on the redemption of the lost rather than discipleship, but the commission given to us by Christ himself is not to make converts, but disciples..

YEAR

EVANGELIST

DISCIPLER

1

365

2

2

730

4

3

1095

8

4

1460

16

5

1825

32

6

2190

64

7

2555

128

8

2920

256

9

3285

512

10

3650

1024

11

4015

2048

12

4380

4096

13

4745

8192

14

5110

16384

15

5475

32768

16

5840

65536

17

6205

131072

YEAR

EVANGELIST

DISCIPLER

18

6570

262144

19

6935

524288

20

7300

1048576

21

7665

2097152

22

8030

4194304

23

8395

8388608

24

8760

16777216

25

9125

33554432

26

9490

67108864

27

9855

134217728

28

10220

268435456

29

10585

536870912

30

10950

1073741824

31

11315

2147483648

32

11680

4294967296

33

12045

8589934592

Discipleship.

(8,589,934,592) disciples starting with just 1 discipler who disciples 1 person a year and makes them a disciple.

In only 33 years and starting with only 1 person we can theoretically disciple the whole population on earth. (after 33 years, the person who started, only has to disciple 33 people, spending a full year with each one)

Unfortunately many Christians remain spiritual babies who can’t look after themselves let alone disciple and look after others.

Discipleship.

Matthew 28:19-20.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

What is a disciple?

A disciple is a follower.

Mark 2:14

As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

A disciple is a learner.

Luke 6:40

A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

1 John 2:3-6.

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Discipleship.

Examples of discipleship relationships in the Bible.

Moses and Joshua.

Numbers 11:28.

Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!

Elijah and Elisha.

1 Kings 19:19-21.

So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the ploughing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant. (Not many want to serve nowadays, they want position, title and recognition)

Discipleship.

Examples of discipleship relationships in the Bible.

John the Baptist and his disciples.

Mark 2:18.

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

Jesus and his disciples.

Mark 1:16-20.

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Discipleship.

Examples of discipleship relationships in the Bible.

Paul and Barnabus.

Acts 9:26-27.

When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

Paul/ Barnabus and Mark.

Acts 12:25.

When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

Discipleship.

Paul and Titus.

Galatians 2:1.

Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.

Paul and Timothy.

2 Timothy 2:1-2.

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

Discipleship.

There are two goals in making disciples.

The first is to lead Christians to spiritual maturity.

The second is to lead Christians to spiritual reproduction. (Sheep give birth not lambs)

Spiritual maturity is not necessarily how long you have been “Born Again”, or how much knowledge you have acquired, but what you are in the light of what you know.

Heb 5v11-14.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Discipleship.

We are not called to live changed lives, but exchanged lives.

His death is my death, his resurrection my resurrection; thus I live in that power for him. We are not to change our old selves, but to exchange them for the life of Christ. We died with him and now his life becomes ours. In the Middle Ages, your clothes showed your status in life, a peasant’s clothes restricted where they could go and sentenced them to abuse and hard labour. The clothes they put on determined their identity and purpose. When we are told to put on Christ, we are being given our new identity and purpose. Yet instead of embracing our new identity , we are still trying to change our old one.

Discipleship.

Mark Twain describes an exchange like this in his classic tale “The Prince and the Pauper.

Two boys, a prince and a desperate, conniving beggar, accidentally meet and switch places. When they trade garments, they actually exchange lives. The prince leaves the castle unrecognized and is immediately harassed and despised as a poor unworthy member of society. Likewise, the true pauper becomes a prince and is treated with all the privileges and responsibilities that come with it. The new prince however does not jump into his new power, it takes him a while to understand who he has become. Meanwhile the true prince is suffering the fate of the peasant boy. He has been found by his slave-driving master and is subjected to all the expectations an consequences of life as a beggar.

Discipleship.

This is a picture of what Jesus Christ has made possible for us. He has taken our place and given us His.

He gave us His name, child of God; He gave us His position, joint heirs with Christ; He gave us His rights to the kingdom of God. Then He went and lived in the streets and took our beatings. He paid for our mistakes and the consequences of our lives. Yet instead of taking our position and using the authority we have, we sit in our secluded quarters, ashamed and afraid that someone will discover us and punish us for our past sins.

We don’t need to try gain Life and Godliness, we have been given it in the exchange Jesus made on the cross.

Marks of Spiritual Maturity.

Christ is seen in you.

A solid knowledge of Biblical truth.

A constant readiness to witness (not argue) on the basis of good example.

Walking in the Spirit without habitual sin.

Someone who displays the fruit of the spirit.

A humble willingness to serve others.

A genuine love for others.

Ability to bridle your tongue.

Marks of Spiritual Maturity.

Christ is seen in you.

Gal2:20.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

A man carrying his cross was on his way to die (Die to self)

Self is not the Sinful nature, remember that even Jesus had to deal with self and surrender his will to the Father, “Your will be done” is what Jesus prayed in Gethsemane.

1 John 2v6.

Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Read Change vs. Exchange.

Marks of Spiritual Maturity.

A solid knowledge of Biblical truth.

2Tim 3:10 & 15-17.

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch… But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Eph 4:11-16.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Marks of Spiritual Maturity.

A constant readiness to witness (not argue) on the basis of good example. 1 Pet 3v15-16. 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, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

2 Tim 4v 1-5. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Marks of Spiritual Maturity.

Walking in the Spirit without habitual sin.

1 John 3:7-10. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

But this is not sinless perfection.

1 John 2:1-4. My dear children I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.

Marks of Spiritual Maturity.

Someone who displays the fruit of the spirit.

James 1:2-4.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18.

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Marks of Spiritual Maturity.

A humble willingness to serve others.

Philippians 2:5-8.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross!

John 13:13-17.

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Marks of Spiritual Maturity.

A genuine love for others.

Matt 5:46-48.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Marks of Spiritual Maturity.

Able to bridle you tongue.

James 3:2 & 7-12.

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Discipleship.

2 Peter 1:3-11. Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

The cost of discipleship.

Romans 10:9.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Romans 12:2.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The cost of discipleship.

Matthew 6:19.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

1 Peter 4:12.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

Romans 8:29.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

2 Corinthians 1:4.

who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Colossians 1:29.

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

The cost of discipleship.

Luke 9:21-26.

Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

The cost of discipleship.

Over the past 50 years, many Christians have been engaged in the process of re-examining the role of the Church in Germany during the Nazi era.

What has become evident in this undertaking is the depth of the chasm between the ideals the Church had always set for itself and the way it responded to the brutalization of the German government under Adolf Hitler. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the few church leaders who stood in courageous opposition to the Fuehrer and his policies.

The cost of discipleship.

The Cost of Discipleship is a book by the German Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, considered a classic of Christian thought.

The original German title is simply Nachfolge (Discipleship). It is centred around an exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, in which Bonhoeffer spells out what he believes it means to follow Christ. It was first published in 1937, when the rise of the Nazi regime was underway in Germany and against this background that Bonhoeffer's theology of costly discipleship developed, which ultimately led to his death.

The cost of discipleship.

One of the most quoted parts of the book deals with the distinction which Bonhoeffer makes between "cheap" and "costly" grace. But what is "cheap" grace? In Bonhoeffer's words:

"cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ."

The cost of discipleship.

Or, even more clearly, it is to hear the gospel preached as follows: "Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness." The main defect of such a proclamation is that it contains no demand for discipleship. In contrast to this is costly grace:

"costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." "

The cost of discipleship.

Bonhoeffer argues that as Christianity spread, the Church became more "secularised", accommodating the demands of obedience to Jesus to the requirements of society. In this way, "the world was Christianised, and grace became its common property." But the hazard of this was that the gospel was cheapened, and obedience to the living Christ was gradually lost beneath formula and ritual.

The cost of discipleship.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi resistant, and founding member of the Confessing Church. In his role as a theologian, his view of Christianity's role in the secular world has become very influential. Bonhoeffer became known for his resistance against the Nazi dictatorship strongly opposing Hitler's euthanasia programs and the genocide against the Jews. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and executed by hanging in April 1945, 23 days before the Nazis' surrender.

The cost of discipleship.

Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 with his twin sister Sabine to a prominent middle-class family in Breslau (Wrocław), the sixth of eight children.

His father, Karl Bonhoeffer, was one of the most distinguished neurologists in Germany as a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Berlin and the director of the psychiatric clinic at Charité Hospital in Berlin. His mother, Paula von Hase, was a daughter of Klara von Hase, a countess by marriage

Expected to follow his father into psychiatry, Bonhoeffer surprised and dismayed his parents when he decided as a teenager to become a theologian and later a pastor.

When his older brother told him not to waste his life in such a "poor, feeble, boring, petty, bourgeois institution as the church", fourteen-year-old Dietrich replied, "If what you say is true, I shall reform it!"

The cost of discipleship.

Disheartened by the German Churches' complacency with the Nazi regime, the 27-year-old Bonhoeffer accepted in the autumn of 1933 a two-year appointment as a pastor of two German-speaking Protestant churches in London: the German Evangelical Church in Sydenham and the German Reformed Church of St Paul's, Whitechapel. He explained to Barth that he had found little support for his views even among friends and that "it was about time to go for a while into the desert"

The cost of discipleship.

Bonhoeffer was condemned to death on 8 April 1945 by SS judge Otto Thorbeck at a drumhead court-martial without witnesses, records of proceedings or a defence in Flossenbürg concentration camp. He was executed there by hanging at dawn on 9 April 1945, just two weeks before soldiers from the United States 90th and 97th Infantry Divisions liberated the camp, three weeks before the Soviet capture of Berlin and a month before the capitulation of Nazi Germany.

Like other executions associated with the 20 July Plot, the execution was particularly brutal. Bonhoeffer was stripped of his clothing and led naked into the execution yard, where he was hanged with thin wire for death by strangulation. The camp doctor who witnessed the execution wrote: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”

The cost of discipleship.

Jesus didn't hide the cost when he called people to follow Him.

Luke 14:25-33.

Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish. Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

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