What a Disciple Looks Like (Part 2) Matthew 10:32-36 Englewood Baptist Church Sunday morning, May 15, 2011

Transcription

1 What a Disciple Looks Like (Part 2) Matthew 10:32-36 Englewood Baptist Church Sunday morning, May 15, 2011 Please open your Bible to Matthew 10. For the last few weeks, we have been talking about disciples and discipleship. God wants to take ordinary people, over the course of time, and display them in the trophy case of grace. These people, called into the kingdom, are often the least of these on earth, the misfits, the mess-ups, the ones you wouldn t pin great successes upon. People like well you and me. Those first 12 disciples were not superstars, but instead, super-sinners. They resemble you and I much more than we realize. Look at a brief bio of each of them and you will see what I mean. First there was Peter. A businessman. A man who liked to fish. Before Jesus called him, he was fishing. When Jesus rose from the dead, he found him fishing. Like all of us, Peter made a lot of mistakes, had a lot of regrets. He was shockingly human. And then there was his brother Andrew: A person highly sensitive to God s leading. The first thing Andrew does, when he realizes who Jesus is.he hastens to tell his brother. Andrew was loyal to his brother who often overshadowed him. James, son of Zebedee. Was a man who walked away from a successful, lucrative family business so that he could find out what Jesus had to offer. James was one of the first to say yes to Jesus. He was the first to die for Jesus as well, killed for his identification with Christ. John, the brother of James. Like many, had a fiery temper, a short-fuse. It didn t take much to set him off. Even still, he developed a profound love of God. Even with his warts, God used him. Philip Was never quite known as an inner circle disciple. He doesn t stick his head out very often, but nonetheless is listed 5 th among the apostles. Bartholomew is known for his outspoken honesty and is probably the one called Nathaniel in John 1. Thomas

2 Was the skeptical rationalist who eventually had one of the most profound theological moments when he saw the pierced body of a resurrected Jesus and said out loud, My Lord and my God. Jesus accepted the title, found it appropriate. Matthew the tax collector, We know him well formerly a traitor to his own people to support himself and his family but became a missionary to them by writing his Gospel. James son of Alphaeus sometimes identified as James the Less. He was surely less well known than the other James. However, he was faithful throughout his life, quietly serving the Lord, and never given much recognition for it. Thaddaeus also called Judas son of James, often confused with Judas Iscariot and didn t develop much of his own reputation. He was quite ordinary, quite normal and average, it seems. And yet, he was handpicked by Jesus, for the team of 12. Simon the Zealot before accepting Jesus as Messiah, a guerrilla fighter who wanted to bring in God s kingdom by force. He was a nationalist patriot and was prepared to go down fighting. Jesus sermon about turning the other cheek must have been a hard one for him to sit through. Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him his love of money and power caused him to abandon and betray even his closest friends. Judas could have repented, he could have done as Peter following failure, but he never did. After his death, he was replaced by a man named Matthias. The 12 th spot was filled in Acts 1. I take the time to run you through this roster because I want you to see that the 12 are not to be idolized. They had individual strengths, a varying degree of natural skill, and a long list of inadequacies. They were run of the mill human beings. Here s the bottom line: If God can transform their lives, he can transform yours as well. That s what discipleship is all about. Transformation. Our call is to be what Jesus wants to make of us. He wants to make something out of you! Look with me now again at Matthew10, where we left off last week. Jesus is laying out the hallmarks of discipleship. What does it mean to be a disciple. There are six main hallmarks of discipleship. Last week, we learned these two: What a Disciple Looks Like 1. A disciple is one who copycats his master. (vv.24-25) 2. A disciple lives in fear of God, not in fear of man. (vv.25b-31)

3 Now, let s pick up today, in v.32, and see what else Jesus has to say about his disciples Read vv. 32+ In addition to emulating the Lord and not fearing the world, a true disciple openly identifies with Christ. 3. A disciple openly identifies with Christ. (vv.32) We say this at the invitation of our services sometime: there are no secret societies of Jesus Christ. Your willingness to be publicly identified with him is first seen in your profession of faith, then it is seen in public baptism. If you re ashamed to be known as a Christ-follower, then you must wrestle with the question: am I truly a Christ-follower? Romans 1:16 says: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Rom. 1:16 Paul was not ashamed when he told his family, his old friends, even strangers that he had been crucified with Christ, and that he no longer lived. What does it mean to confess? In v.32, the NIV translates it as acknowledges me before men. It means to do more than simply nod your head. It means that you become a carrier, a spokesman of that truth. The book of James tells us that even the demons recognize God s power and shudder. But they aren t saved. Demons aren t disciples! They do not identify with Christ. Can you imagine, wives, what it would be like if your husband never identified with you in public? He refused to wear his wedding ring, at any time. At social gatherings, he always found somebody to stand by and chitchat with besides you. In the area of finances, he made every decision apart from you told you about it after the fact. When the children are around, he never put his arm around you, or protected you when they disrespected you. What would it be like to be in a relationship with a man that was ashamed to be associated with you? Let me tell you what it would be like. It would like living a lie. Wouldn t it? You might have some piece of paper from the state that says he s legally yours, but you know the truth. His heart is far from you. In the Old Testament, God had come down hard on the nation of Israel for paying lip service but failing to live the life. Through the prophet Isaiah, he said: These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Isaiah 29:13

4 God is remarkably consistent in his stance on this in the Old Testament. He would not tolerate the fence-riders. Jesus said the same thing: he has no fair-weather friends. We must confess him and face the consequences. Whether we are talking about simple embarrassment or friendly ridicule or even the threat of martyrdom, Jesus wants us to be outspoken about our relationship to him. Disown me before men and you are not a true disciple. Where are you disowning Jesus? Where are you living a lie? Where are you pretending? Is there any duplicity in your life where you say one thing and do another? To confess Jesus means far more than a one-time walk before a church, or a piece of paper that says you ve been baptized. Being a disciple means being outspoken about your Master. #4. What else marks a disciple? 4. A disciple forsakes his family. (10:34-37) Now hear me out before you make a judgment. That statement does not mean neglect or abandonment. This is a statement about priority, and where Jesus stands in your list of loyalties. Let me read what Jesus said about the impact of the faith inside every family. Read 10: A fourth hallmark of discipleship is willingness to forsake everything, even your momma and your daddy if necessary! Jesus begins by talking war and peace. Putting Christ on the throne of your life will require a total renegotiation of relationships. Jesus said, Listen! The world is not going to fall at your feet when you preach the gospel. Rejection comes with the territory and you will, as a Christian, stand alone more often than you might think. There is a cross of loneliness that you will carry if you choose to associate with me. V.36 is a jagged pill for us to swallow. A man s enemies will be the members of his own household. Johnny comes home from college and tells his parents that he has found religion. He has become a Jesus freak. Agnostic Mom and Dad smile and say, That s nice, son. We are glad that you feel more at peace. They themselves feel no conviction to become Christians, but whatever makes their boy happy is just fine with them. You have your Jesus but keep him away from the kitchen table, and everything will be just fine. And it is, for a while. But then, one day, over supper, v.27 comes back into play. Do you remember what Jesus said to us last week? Let s read that again Little Johnny no longer has the freedom to remain silent. He has to speak the truth, in love. And so, when his dad takes his seat at the table and begins to run down other

5 members of the family, using profanity, his usual cynicism, and judgmentalism, Johnny says, Dad, do you really think you should be talking about Uncle Albert that way? What if he were in the room? Would you still say all those things? And ol mom drops her fork. Silence. The chirp of the evening crickets is distinuishable. And she knows, war has just broke out over dinner. Her husband proceeds to hold nothing back about the little twirp who has that gall to bring his goody two shoe religion back home. And you guessed it, things between Johnny and his dad are never the same. Not only that, because his mom has to live with that man, she is never close with her son again either. Soon, he stops coming home regularly, over time, hardly at all. Phone conversations become short and to the point because Johnny always wants to talk about what God is doing in his life. That s real life, folks. That s one of the costs of following Jesus. Family sometimes is forsaken. Last week, I shared a quote from the journal of Jim Elliot, a missionary who was killed at an early age by the Indians he sought to save. I want to share one more. In college, after Jesus took hold of his heart, Jim wrote these inspiring words in his journal: Father, make me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me. --Jim Elliot What Jim Elliot says catches the essence of what Jesus preached. When you reach a fork in the road, you have decision to make: you must go to the left or you must go to the right. And when you speak the truth to unconverted people, whether they are strangers or siblings, they are going to be forced to decision. Most times, Jesus said, you will stand alone. Sometimes, you will see the Spirit move in the hearts of those you speak to. But always, always, you will be rewarded for making Jesus the issue. We now have 4 hallmarks of the discipleship. Let me put them in the form of questions for you to consider: Am I serving others, as Jesus did? No student is greater than his teacher. Am I living in fear of men or in fear of God? Jesus said Do not be afraid. Am I openly acknowledging Jesus in all of my social circles? Am I willing to forsake even my family for the sake of following Jesus. Those first 12 disciples. There was nothing spectacular about them. They were ordinary, common people, just like you and me. What made 11 of them great was simple. They

6 were willing to walk away from everything in order to follow him.