Because He First Lovd Us Wk 3
The Call to Discipleship
Jakob Davis
(The Ascension and Great Commission)
After His resurrection, His great victory over death, Christ spends some time back on Earth with His disciples, a span of about 40 days. We know from the beginning of Acts 1, that Christ had been ministering, instructing His followers, His disciples, about the commands that had been given and were being given. And yet for what purpose was the Lord doing this? It was to fulfill and to empower His followers to do what He had commanded in the Great Commision. I imagine many of us are familiar with it, but I will read it nonetheless. From the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 28 Verse 18-20,
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”
And further in the same place of Acts 1, Christ promises the Holy Spirit, the Great Comforter, stating that once the Spirit has descended upon the disciples, that it shall empower them to be the witnesses of Christ “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And having finished speaking these things, Christ was taken up into a cloud, being received back into heaven to where He still stands today at the right hand of the Father.
(Obedience and Submission)
And Yet Christ’s promise, as all promises of God do, would ring true. The Great Comforter, the Holy Spirit, would descend upon the Apostles and what would it immediately empower them to do? To preach the Gospel! Acts 2,
“And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs — we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
These men, having just received the Holy Spirit, knowing full well the fate that could meet them, the same fate that their savior had just met only 50 days prior, began to preach! And because of this the Church grew! 3000 souls came to Christ because of the faith and empowerment of the Spirit at just one moment. And they continued preaching throughout the streets of Jerusalem, continuing to be the vessel through which the Gospel would be proclaimed. And despite jailings and warnings from the religious leaders of the time, those who had put Christ to death in the first place, they continued in boldness in the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And because of their faith and boldness, not withholding their lives as Christ did also, thousands continued to come to faith. Yet this notoriety not only brought followers, but also persecution. The followers of Christ save the apostles were driven out of Jerusalem under the threat of death and imprisonment, scattering them and the Gospel away from the Holy City. And yet this scattering did not worsen their faith, but proved to be a testament of it. Acts 8 conveys this point, Verse 4,
“Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.”
This seems to echo back to the Great Commision does it not? “Go, making disciples of all nations…”. The faith of those driven out under threats of death were not broken, but only served to further scatter the Gospel amongst the world. Many others, those thought to be untouchable, whether by righteousness sake (in the case of St. Paul) or those who were viewed as unclean and defiled (the Gentiles) had the Gospel proclaimed to them and in their acceptance were made clean before the eyes of God.
Paul, formerly known as Saul, had persecuted the church in the initial dispersement from Jerusalem. Yet he wasn’t just another cog in the machine, just another priest, he was the man in charge of hunting down the Church of Jesus Christ. He was responsible for the jailings and deaths of many Christians that had not managed to escape Jerusalem in time. And yet even to him was the Gospel given, and even he responded, falling down to his knees before the Son of God on the Road to Damascus.
This man, the persecutor of the church, did not fear the judgment of the people who he once persecuted, but rather knew that his mission, the mission given to him by Him (point up) was far more important. In fact he spent the rest of his life doing it, spreading the Gospel from Israel and the Middle East all the way to present day Spain. He withstood beatings, stonings, mockings, and being a social and societal outcast of his own people so that the news he was entrusted with would make it to where he had been commanded to take it. In the his letter to the Philippians, Paul speaks on his persecution for the Gospel saying in chapter 1 verse 20-21,
“According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
(So Great a Cloud of Witnesses)
Now, I imagine it is possible that many of you out there are wondering about my point. Why have I spent the last, however long, talking about the early church and what they did and faced? And to that, I answer your question with a question. Do you know what the Hall of Faith is? There is a portion of the Book of Hebrews that bears a significant tie to my point. In Hebrews 11, we have the hall of faith, something Pastor Jerry covered a year or two ago, quite well I might add. Detailed within are the accounts of various of the saints who have gone before us, such as Abraham, Enoch, Moses, Daniel, Rahab, Samson, Jeremiah, and many, many others. I’m going to read to you portions of this passage. Hebrews Chapter 11 Verse 32,
“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wondered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented – of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.”
Then in Chapter 12 of the same book, right there in verse 1 it says,
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
These same, our brothers and sisters who came long before us, endured all manners of trials and torments, believing that the price that they were paying here in their flesh was far outweighed by the reward which awaited them and the reward of working towards the Kingdom of God. If we consider just the disciples that saw Christ, the risen Christ, they found it to be more desirable that they work and die for the Gospel given to them, than to fade back and only evangelize to those close to them.
The writer of Hebrews, Paul, who we’ve talked about already a brief bit, finds his end in Rome, beheaded by Emperor Nero. The brothers Peter and Andrew both crucified, along with Phillip. Thomas was stabbed through with spears. Bartholomew was flayed to death and then beheaded. Mattias was stoned and beheaded. Simon the Zealot was sawn in half. Every apostle was willing to die for what they saw and what was given to them, save John who survived the attempts on his life and imprisonment, returning immediately back to spreading the Gospel upon his release.
This pattern of willingness to suffer and die for the Gospel did not vanish after the apostles, for the early church, the church fathers took up the same mission. Hundreds died at the hands of those persecuting them, and died gladly. Disciple and dear friend of John the Apostle, Ignatius, said this as he was led to his death,
“Grant me nothing more than to be poured out as a libation for God while an altar is still ready, that becoming a chorus in love you may sing to the Father in Jesus Christ because God judged the bishop of Syria (which was Ignatius) worthy to be found at the setting having sent him from the rising.”[1]
He went on further in the same letter, begging the churches not to interfere in what he saw as the culmination of his life as a Christian. And this attitude did not change after his death, as for thousands of years after our brothers and sisters have been dying, and dying gladly for the dispersement of the Gospel, striving to know Christ and to make Him known.
And yet here we are, comfortable. Generations of saints died for this news, this Gospel, the same news we are entrusted with, and we can’t be bothered to break as much as a nail for it. Our Gospel is one of convenience. Let me take a show of hands, (walk down among them) how many of us have at any point in our lives shared the Gospel? Now how many have done it within the last year? Now I want you to really think and be honest with both yourselves and with me, how many of us have shared the Gospel with someone who isn’t a friend, a family member, a work acquaintance, or someone that our lives touch through work (this includes the pastors) someone we know and we’re comfortable with? How many of us have done it in the last month? In the last two weeks?
This is my point, our Gospel is one of convenience, one of comfort, one of fear. In many cases we don’t wanna go out of our way to do it. We worry that the other person might think that we are weird, perhaps we fear that they’ll freak out, or maybe that they’ll ask a question that we can’t answer. Our form of evangelism seems to be akin to a circle around our lives. If an individual comes close, we might just share the Gospel with them, but in many ways we remain stationary, almost waiting for people to be pulled into our orbits before we do anything akin to sharing the Gospel. So in many cases our version of evangelism is inviting them to church. Nothing wrong with that right?
The church’s function is not to perform evangelism work where you have failed, it’s to train and equip us to do the work ourselves! The church is not a catch basin. It’s not the pastors or the elders job’s to evangelize our spouse. It’s not their job to evangelize our kids. It’s ours! It’s always been ours!
Many of us, especially likely with our more finely aged brother and sisters, have likely heard the fire and brimstone railings from the old Baptist preachers, railing against our failings and sinfulness just for the purpose of scratching an itch that the pastor has. But I am not those men and I do not feel that itch. This topic, it’s not an itch but an obligation, not a desire but a necessity. I need a clear conscience towards our God, even if it means speaking an uncomfortable truth in a way that isn’t comfortable to hear and I have been stirred up by the Spirit to give this to you. This is not a suggestion or a timid request, but a command. Christ’s commission was not something to be ignored! If we believe in Him like we say we do, we must follow these commands. Matthew 28:19,
“GO therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
You see our Lord’s command doesn’t read “If you go” or “If it’s convenient to you.” or “If you’re comfortable doing it.” It reads “Go”! We are called to submission, we are called to obedience, being willing to suffer and die in the same way our blessed savior was for the proclaiment of a news that isn’t ours, but has been given to us to share! So let us join in the attitudes and conducts of the ones who came before us, who have run the race set before them with endurance, willing and happy to sacrifice all, who fixed their eyes firmly on the One who saved them.
Application
A dear friend told me a story here recently along the lines of what we’ve heard today. Back thousands of years ago was a king named Alexander, known now as Alexander the Great. He was a conqueror, perhaps one of the best the world has ever seen. Well following one of his great conquests, he stood upon the throne of one of his defeated adversaries and presided over the judgment of the enemy soldiers and prisoners captured during the battle. But when he got to a soldier who wore his colors, a Greek soldier that served in his army it gave him pause. He was told of the boy’s crime, he had deserted from battle because of his fear.
Alexander looks at the boy and calmly asks, “What is your name?” The boy looks at him and responds, “Well sir, Alexander.” Enraged and befuddled, Alexander the Great steps down grabbing the boy by his tunic and throws him to the floor and says, quite simply I might add, “Soldier, change your conduct or change your name!” You see Alexander believed that this soldier’s cowardly acts would besmirch the name Alexander and that the boy, if he didn’t change his conduct, was not worthy to bear the same name as him.
For many of us, our own fears, laziness, and complacency have placed us in the position of the young Alexander who carried the same name as his king. We flee from a battle that is already won! A victory that is already assured! I understand the fear all too well but we must move! As it was to Alexander, so it is to Christ our King. If we cannot proclaim His name, a name so much higher than any earthly king or ruler, to all the nations in His conquest, then we do not deserve to bear His name. So, I challenge all of us, pastors and elders included in the same way, change our conduct or change our names. Don’t claim Christ if you aren’t truly acting out your faith in Him, you only make it harder for the world to see Him.
Benediction:
A Psalm of David,
1Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
Amen, go in peace.