**John 13:34-35 34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. Matthew 28:19-20 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. **** **We began a series of messages last Sunday called The New Community. From I Peter chapter 2 we thought about this powerful picture that we (i.e., believers in Christ) are living stones, being built into a holy Temple by the Holy Spirit. Remember, there was a Temple in Israel in Peter s younger days a huge building complex completed by King Herod. That Temple was the center of the nation of Israel in many ways. The most important of those ways was religiously the Temple was where the people met God. They worshipped there, they offered many different sacrifices as prescribed by the Law of Moses. But about 70 AD, likely before Peter wrote the letter that we call 1 Peter, the Romans squashed an attempt for independence by Israel, and literally dismantled that Temple, stone by stone. Completely destroyed it the last remnant is a small part of a wall that is known today as the Wailing Wall. So the Romans brutally and literally fulfilled the somber warning of Jesus who 30 some years earlier, looking at the Temple told them, that not one stone would be left upon another ; warning them that their hearts and their passions were misdirected, and it would all come to an end. Now, Peter is recalling the image of a Temple to the minds of his readers, but it s a new Temple. This is a Temple not made of stone but it is a Spiritual Temple that God is in the process of building, using the followers of Christ as living stones for its construction. And within this new Temple just like in the old one there are priests. Not just a few priests, but in fact, a nation of priests. A kingdom of priests. Page 1 of 9
So Peter then, shifts his imagery, and the living stones making up this new Temple are in fact revealed as a Kingdom, a nation of Priests who are (again, continually) offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. It s a complex, but wonderful picture! We are both the living stones that together make up this great spiritual Temple, (world wide, cutting across cultures, language, economics, time and space) and we also are the priests within that Temple, offering spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God. Last weekend we concentrated on the connected aspect of this Temple we are a new Community, meant to be together, we are designed to live our lives in real community, we are created to serve a hurting world together. But another question rises out of all that. What are those spiritual sacrifices that we are (expected) to be constantly offering? I would think that it would be a good thing to have some idea of what they are about so that we can intentionally do them. Offer them, since they are pleasing to God. I don t know if I came out and actually said this in so many words last week, but one aspect of those spiritual sacrifices would be the way we recognize and participate in community. A Spiritual Sacrifice would be any intentional action that we do because we are a kingdom of priests, and especially any action that we do with the explicit intention of bringing Glory to God in our lives and in this world. So, for example, whenever we choose to care for each other in community when we stop something we re doing that simply benefits ourselves, and take the time to focus on someone else; say, someone who is hurting in some way, we stop by and talk to them, or write a card to encourage them, even little things like that that s a spiritual sacrifice that brings glory to God in the context of Community. You can see from that one example that these sacrifices are quite varied, and of course, they would be different for each of us you can see too, that they require sensitivity to what is going on around us in order to be all they can be. If we re self-absorbed people, walking around with blinders on to the world and others, we re going to miss many opportunities for offering a spiritual sacrifice that is acceptable to God. Page 2 of 9
If we intentionally disengage ourselves from the greater community i.e., we don t meet together, we don t open our hearts to each other, we don t build any kind of accountability or nurturing or serving networks into our lives we again, obviously, we are going to have a hard time offering a spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God in the context of community. How could we? I want to carry that line of thought a little further this weekend, and talk with you about another context of spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, and that would be the Spiritual Sacrifices of Discipleship. **Last week we talked about the Great Commission the mission statement for the church universal. Our own specific church mission statement assumes that Great Commission, the mission statement of the United Methodist Church ( To Make Disciples for the Transformation of the World ) assumes Jesus Great Commission For us to share the love of Jesus Christ with a hurting world through words and actions is an expression of our being a community of faith (with a purpose that goes beyond our own selves). It s not just about us and Jesus! It s us and Jesus and other believers and the world! To share the Love of Christ is not only to make disciples of others, but it means that we need to be disciples, as well! And to do that requires intentional, often self-denying actions. I mean, actions that we intentionally choose to do because we are a Kingdom of Priests, things we do for the Glory of God, which is (hopefully you remember!) our definition of a Spiritual Sacrifice acceptable to God! You with me? There are certain things actions, plans, works, etc. things that we do in order to both grow as a disciple of Jesus, and to bring others into a similar relationship with their Creator. These actions are also then, spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. What are some spiritual sacrifices in the area of our discipleship? Page 3 of 9
Now, before I give an answer to my own question, let me point out something that is probably rather obvious, but I ll say it anyway: I mentioned last week that all our spiritual sacrifices tend to fall into one of three categories: **1. Community 2. Discipleship 3. Service (and remember, that we re going to talk about service in two parts, but not until November, because of the Church study of the book, Why that is happening in October.) Ok, you ve probably already figured this out the spiritual sacrifices that we offer in each of these three general contexts tend to overlap. These are just categories that I m offering to help us see the bigger picture, but they are not all that distinct. When I get together with a brother for the purpose of accountability and sharing and encouragement in our walk with Christ, that is a spiritual sacrifice that falls into the category of Community and Discipleship. Right? When you go on a mission trip you are offering spiritual sacrifices in all three areas! Which is why mission trips are so life transforming! So, I m just saying that these are very fluid categories. And we certainly need to be about all of them. A church that only concentrates on community after some time becomes a club. A church that only concentrates on service becomes a social agency. Nothing wrong with either of those things, but they are not promised Holy Spirit power! A church that only concentrates on personal discipleship where there is much knowledge but little action, becomes isolated and weak because faith that is not put into practice is dead (according to James). Our spiritual sacrifices need to be intentionally drawing from all three of these areas. It s a bit of a danger to talk about these in separate weeks, like we re doing, because it may seem like we can choose the part that is more appealing or, easier to us, and forget the rest. But that s just not the case. (But I don t know of any other way to do this, other than preaching an hour and a half sermon, and I don t think that would fly for most of you!) Page 4 of 9
So, spiritual sacrifices in the area of discipleship I d like to suggest that we can subdivide this into five very basic disciplines that will all look very familiar to you, and that I hope are already part of your life. This isn t a complicated message, and let s not let familiarity lead us to casualness knowing something isn t the same as doing it. I read about a study once about people s exercise routines that observed the difference between what people said that they were doing as far as daily exercise and what they were actually doing. And, needless to say, people generally feel that they are doing even believe that they are doing a lot more than they actually are they feel that they are walking or running longer, faster, further, than they are and a similar thing is true for calorie consumption. People can t believe that they are consuming the amount of calories that they actually are. Until they start charting them. Well you know, the Prophet Jeremiah said long ago The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? We are even capable of fooling ourselves at times which is why these times of self examination are important. And why we need the observations of others in our lives. Because we know the things that I m about to put up on the screen, we just might think that we re doing them. Even if we re not **The first Spiritual Sacrifice in the area of Discipleship are times of personal devotions 1. Daily Prayer and Study of the Word (1 John 15: 4; 2 Timothy 2:15). Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Jesus said that we cannot bear fruit unless we remain on the vine. And the Vine is himself. That connection, just like any relationship, needs to be nurtured. (If you haven t heard it, please go on our website and listen to the message I preached on Labor Day called First Love.) Our prayer times are mostly not times of petition but relationship building. And God, in those times talks back to us, mainly, through the Scripture. If we re not praying, if we re not reading and studying the Word, we are in danger of disconnecting from the Vine. No fruit! Page 5 of 9
** Equally important is #2 2. Application of the Word (James 1:22) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. not just studying the Word, but applying it to our lives. In other words, if we are studying the Scripture simply to gain knowledge, to know more than others, to be ready to preach a sermon or teach a class, or anything like that, we are totally missing the point! Back in the days of the early church there was a heretical movement competing with the Orthodox teachers called Gnosticism. And, not to get into the details, the essence of Gnosticism which comes from the Greek word for knowledge is that the most important thing there is, is knowing. The Gnostics taught that we are saved through knowledge through divine secrets that only some certain teachers knew. It was declared a heresy for many reasons, but we follow in these dubious footsteps when we think that Christian faith is only about what we know. Friends, you don t have to read very much of the Gospels listen to the words of Jesus, listen to the ways that he responds to questions and you ll see, doing outranks knowing every time. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus, talking about the end of the age, tells of dividing people one from another. And what s the response of those on his right i.e., the sheep? It s surprise! Jesus when did we ever see you hungry, or naked, or homeless? Jesus says Its all about how you treat each other. Because that s really me. Now, is he saying that our thoughts don t matter, that our beliefs are unimportant? Absolutely not! But he is clearly teaching, still, that our knowledge is useless unless it is put into practice. And so, an absolutely essential ending of every Bible study we participate in must be, not do you understand this? but rather, how can I put this into practice in my life? The spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God come in the application of our study time to real life Page 6 of 9
When we take the time and effort to study, and pray, and we do this with the intention of better knowing God, discovering his will, finding the power and the commitment to do that will, then, our study itself becomes a spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God. ** The third Spiritual Sacrifice of discipleship, I m not going to talk about too much, because it was the focus of last week s message. But remember I said that these overlap. And so, Fellowship with other Believers is an essential part of our personal discipleship. 3. Fellowship with Believers (Hebrews 10: 24 25) And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching **The fourth area is Praise. 4. Praise (Hebrews 13:15) Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Hebrews 13:15 actually calls this a sacrifice, so it easily fits into our teaching here today. Karen Murray and I were having a conversation the other day about how amazing (and incomprehensible, to be honest) it is to us that we see so frequently people whose lives are being battered in many ways: Financial problems, relationship problems (like marriages breaking down), problems with children, health issues, and so forth, and instead of running to God the first thing many people do in crisis is they stop attending church. They stop worshipping. They stop praising My observation in that is that they have never really understood the point of worship. They don t realize or understand how deeply we need to get out of our own way, to acknowledge someone greater than ourselves, our problems, to find the perspective of Eternity in the midst of our temporal problems. We reject God s help and refuse to surround ourselves in the community of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and then wonder why we re so miserable. ** The Fifth category of our Spiritual Sacrifices in the area of discipleship is sharing the Good News with others. 5.Witnessing (Acts 1:8) Page 7 of 9
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. It is not difficult to share something that you have come to know as the foundation of your life, something centered in Grace, in Love, in God s compassion we make witnessing a lot more complicated than it is. I do not any longer subscribe to the door-to-door high volume ways of witnessing, or the scatter bomb methods like leaving pamphlets and such in public places, street corner preaching, and so forth I honestly think these methods do more harm than good in the long run. Their day is over, if it ever really was. But when God opens a door (and again, we need to be sensitive) what a privilege it is to share Life with someone who is desperate. Some of our witness especially the beginning will likely be done more through actions than in words. But our mission statement boldly proclaims our commitment to do both. To share the love of Jesus Christ through our words as well as our actions. A man named Joe Stowell wrote this: ** Every day there are opportunities for each of us to reach out to others to demonstrate the excellencies of Jesus. There are family members, colleagues at work, and strangers that happen to intersect the trajectory of our lives who are waiting to be touched by a [follower of Jesus]. In fact, my recommendation is that you plan to commit one intentional act of [goodness] every day just to stay in shape. It was six o'clock in the morning, and I had just finished my early run. As I passed the local Starbucks, I decided to stop in and get a couple cups of our favorite lattes and take them home to [my wife], who would be waking up. Since the café had just opened, there was only one other person in line in front of me. But it wasn't your ordinary wait-in-line-for-coffee drill. The guy in front of me was in a tense argument with the clerk. In loud and no uncertain terms, the customer was complaining that all he wanted was the copy of the New York Times that he was holding in one hand while he was waving a fifty-dollar bill in the other. The fight was over the fact that the clerk did not have enough change yet to break the fifty-dollar bill, which made it impossible for him to sell the paper. Page 8 of 9
It dawned on me that this was an early morning opportunity to commit one intentional act of [goodness] by demonstrating the excellence of the generous spirit of Jesus. So I said to the clerk, "Hey, put the paper on my bill; I'll buy it for him." This immediately defused the tension, and the grateful New York Times guy walked away saying, "Thanks a lot. All I have is yours!" Which evidently did not include the fifty-dollar bill. To my surprise, when the barista handed me my coffee, he said, "Mister, that was a really nice thing for you to do. This world would be a lot better place to live if more people were like you." What he didn't know was that if he really knew me, he probably wouldn't say that. His comments caught me totally off guard, and I knew that I could say something at that point that would point the glory upward but nothing came. So I made some self-deprecating remark and walked out, haunted that I had missed a great opportunity to glorify God. As I was walking down the sidewalk, it came to me. I should have said, "Well, this world would not be a better place if more people were like me. But it would be a better place if more people were like Jesus, because he taught me how to do that." I turned around to go back and tell him that, only to remember that by the time I left there was a line waiting for coffee. It didn't seem to me that it would be a great idea to break into the line and make a religious speech. My only conclusion was the thought that I was wearing my Moody Bible Institute hat. So I prayed that he would have noticed my hat. That he would always remember that Bible people do things like that, and that the world would be a better place if there were more Bible people around. 1 In Discipleship offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Christ. Through study and prayer, through intentional application of the Word, through fellowship with other believers, through praise and Worship, and through our witness. Glory to God! 1 Joe Stowell, Jesus Nation (Tyndale, 2009), pp. 80-81 Page 9 of 9