The Discipline of Discipleship

ReCAST Church of Mattawan iconReCAST Church of Mattawan

1 view

Kyle Douglass, The Gift of Incarnation; Hebrews 11:1-11 The Discipline of Discipleship

0 comments

00:07
You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Madawan, Michigan Our desire is to help you draw near to God by growing in faith community and service
00:19
Well, hello everyone. My name is Kyle Douglas and I'm executive pastor here at Recast Church and This is actually a re -preaching of the sermon.
00:29
We had some audio difficulties some technical difficulties this week with a sermon and so this is
00:36
Service number three, I guess you could say for the the sake of getting the sermon up on the website
00:42
But thank you for for joining us So what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ?
00:49
If you remember last week, we talked about the grace of God who sent Emanuel God with us
00:56
Jesus came and took on flesh put on a human suit if you will and that's what we call the gift of incarnation
01:04
He came to be our Savior Which he accomplished on the cross and also to model for us what it means to be righteous dudes and chicks, right?
01:14
And he commands us to follow him or be his disciple and when we are obedient Look out
01:22
We are in for a wild ride of transformation because Jesus will move us from where we are currently
01:29
Forgiven. Yes Justified yes on our way to heaven. Yes But still gunked up with wrong beliefs and bad habits and selfishness and sin he wants to move us from that place to a person that more and more reflects the image of our
01:45
Creator and so the gift of incarnation is also a gift to each of us personally as God by his
01:54
Holy Spirit produces Christ in us and Remember that Emanuel doesn't just mean that God is with us in in proximity
02:03
But that he's mighty to save That he's capable of the victory and with him we can win the battle over sin and death
02:13
Both in the next life and in this one So when the going gets tough and the chips are down like with King Ahaz remember
02:22
We cling to our Savior in faith We walk in obedience and we watch
02:28
God do his transformative redemptive work How serious is our
02:35
Father in heaven about holiness How badly does he want you to be transformed into the likeness of his
02:42
Son? The answer is a lot He loves us he wants what's best for us and apparently learning to be perfect in love and Kindness and faithfulness and having rest and strong relationships and trust and peace and being in perfect Familial harmony with our
03:00
Creator and brothers and sisters in Christ is the best So anything in our minds hearts or actions contrary to that best needs to be methodically purged from the system so this morning we want to continue in this theme of the gift of the incarnation and Ask what is the process by which the life of Christ gets produced in our flesh and Sin removed as we follow
03:27
Jesus as a disciple How is God going to make me like his son is the the main question there?
03:34
I? Think the scriptures answer to that is discipline so this morning as we are talking about the
03:42
Excuse me. So this morning we're talking about the discipline of discipleship It's no accident that we take our
03:49
English word disciple from the same root as discipline The word discipline means to teach or correct sometimes taking on the idea of removal or punishment
03:59
So a disciple is one who is being disciplined or taught or corrected in a certain way of life
04:06
But as you know this word has a wide variety of connotations and some of those we don't like so much We can talk about the discipline
04:14
Talk about discipline as a person's self -control or focus as in athletes and soldiers have discipline but we can also hear in it punishment or chastisement we ground our kids or an
04:27
Employee can undergo disciplinary action, which is all rather unpleasant And I think there's one version that has grown increasingly unpopular and that's church discipline
04:38
So how does God employ discipline in our lives is it good or bad? Is it something we should enjoy or seek to avoid?
04:46
I hope that some of those questions will be answered this morning So turn with me to Hebrews 12 1 through 11
04:54
In the book of Hebrews the author commonly believed to be Paul is writing to fellow Jews turned
04:59
Christian brothers In part to explain to them the superiority of Christianity over Judaism that Christ is not just a law abider
05:08
But the fulfillment of the law and over the law and the perfect perfector of God's people
05:14
And that's why we don't kill goats and cows anymore sacrifices for sin because Christ's blood is the final complete sacrifice
05:22
And how many of you are happy that we don't do that anymore? I? I've spent a lot of time in Uganda with my my job as executive director of Orphan Justice Mission And at one point
05:35
I got to actually see a goat being slaughtered that we were going to eat They they went out back and said you want to do you want to see how we cook our food?
05:45
And I said sure and it was one of the most disturbing things. I I've ever witnessed
05:50
So I am I am thankful that we don't have to come and bring sacrifices It really is a messy difficult bloody kind of an act
05:59
But Christ's blood was was that final sacrifice so we don't go back to sheep and goats anymore And that's part of what the writer of Hebrews is trying to say what the law couldn't accomplish in making us.
06:10
Holy he can but these Hebrew Christians were also a Persecuted people who were experiencing most likely the pressure from their fellow
06:17
Jews to give up on all this Jesus stuff and get back to their roots and in the midst of all of this difficulty they
06:25
Like most of us I would think we're probably questioning their faith Where is God? Why would he let these things happen?
06:32
What have I done wrong to deserve this? So listen to what our writer speaks into that situation from Hebrews 12 1 through 11.
06:40
Let's read Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us
06:57
Looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy
07:03
That was set before him endured the cross Despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint -hearted in Your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood
07:24
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son do not regard lightly the discipline of the
07:30
Lord nor be weary when reproved by him For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives
07:39
It is for discipline that you have to endure God is treating you as sons For what son is there whom the father does not discipline if you are left without discipline in which all have participated
07:51
Then you are illegitimate children and not sons Besides this we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them
07:58
Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them
08:06
But he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant
08:14
But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it Let's pray
08:23
Father in heaven, I thank you for your word. I thank you again for another beautiful morning and Just bright
08:30
Christmas God that reminds us of of your your beautiful power your creative power
08:35
And I just thank you for the opportunity to come and gather again as a as a body of believers here at recast
08:40
Father, I thank you for this this chapter in Hebrews For this word that that you inspired
08:48
Paul to write and just God that you would encourage us to take seriously your discipline, but to not see it just as punishment or or Or your judgment
09:00
God, but something that is to refine us and God I thank you that you care for us enough that you would make us into your image
09:06
That you would treat us like sons and daughters And so God I just pray that as we as we continue on this morning to worship and to read your word
09:14
Lord that you would Continue to teach us open our ears and our eyes to what you have for us in your word
09:20
God teach us what it means to be a disciplined disciple and it's in the name of Christ that we pray. Amen So I want to talk about some hard things this morning things that will likely stretch your understanding of God and of the church
09:34
So it's really important that we lay the right foundation for what we're about to discuss
09:41
Our Hebrew passage passage here reminds us of some essentials and first God is a father
09:47
That's how he wants to be known and as the good father. He loves us and wants what is best for us always all the time in every moment as The father of three girls.
10:02
I understand this myself in an imperfect way. No doubt, but but I want what's best for my kids
10:09
I'm generally a pretty rational guy. I think in general I spend more time in my head than in my heart
10:16
Which which I actually got in trouble for When I went through the the journey seminar recently
10:22
I was encouraged to be a little bit more in touch with my feelings, but in general I need reasons for stuff
10:27
I do but when it comes to my kids, I Can't explain it fully, but I just want them to be happy.
10:34
It's a heart thing. I want good for them I don't want them to hurt. I love buying stuff for them.
10:42
I love buying stuff for me, too but I Love to make them laugh and and when
10:49
I see them do wrong or they're mean in the same way my heart Freaks out before my head because I can sense the harm in it
10:56
That whatever behavior they are manifesting is not good for them. And so I introduce correction into their life
11:03
Sometimes painfully so because I don't want something harmful to get lodged in their hearts or their brains.
11:09
I Love them and I want them to be good. And so I discipline them
11:15
We are disciplined because we are loved by God He doesn't want us to be in pain or suffer under the rotting disease of sin.
11:23
So he trains us Corrects sometimes punishes us so that we would learn the good
11:30
Learn to be holy This is very helpful. I think in coloring our definition of love, isn't it?
11:38
Whatever your definition used to be it gets to be remade in this mold. We're a sovereign
11:43
Father God Who loves you in an immense and self sacrificial way?
11:49
introduces things Pleasant and painful to your life in order to make you better That we may share in his holiness the writer of Hebrews says and to produce in us the fruit of righteousness
12:03
And so this is the truth that must be carried through every level of discipline we're going to touch on this morning love
12:10
Love is God's motivation for discipline. It's the church's motivation for discipline
12:15
It should even be our personal motivation for being a disciplined follower of Jesus Francis Chan and Mark Boving said it well in their book multiply
12:25
Which is a book about becoming a disciple a fantastic read if you ever need a good discipleship
12:31
Resource, but they say this if you're not willing to make loving God and loving people your highest priority then stop
12:38
Seriously walk away until you've settled this one essential point Lack of love is the unmistakable mark of death and then they quote first John 3 14
12:49
We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers Whoever does not love abides in death
12:58
The purpose of discipline is to make us more like Christ and the motivation for discipline is love
13:06
Have we got it? All right So as I've read the scriptures,
13:13
I see a theme of discipline flowing throughout and I think we can categorize it into three parts
13:20
Category one personal discipline category two church discipline and then category three everything else discipline
13:30
Each of these are tools in the hand of God to help make you holy But they are unique categories or levels so to speak and and each of them is an immense topic
13:40
That we could spend a whole lot of time Discussing each but this morning
13:46
I'm going to focus on personal discipline and church discipline Since this series is focusing on how the incarnation affects the followership culture of recast as a local church
13:56
But I will wrap up with a couple brief comments about the everything else discipline so level one personal discipline
14:04
Discipline is on the scene any time that we are tempted to leave God's way for any other way
14:11
Part of the work of the Christian is to daily surrender oneself to the teaching of Jesus to be open to his gentle correction and rebuke
14:20
Proverbs 3 5 through 8 says this trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
14:25
Understanding right in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths
14:32
Do you acknowledge God in all of your ways this is the personal side of discipline
14:41
God is working inside you and has provided his word to guide and direct you But you also have you also strive to put your life in order and keep in step with Jesus We discipline ourselves to be more like Jesus and our motivation is love so we have this duty to daily follow
15:03
Jesus Christ and There are practices that we take on to do so and these are called the spiritual disciplines
15:10
Now I do want to be careful about just throwing some stuff out Some more stuff out for us to do because the discipline of discipleship at the personal level is much more
15:19
Than just making and completing some religious checklist It's really about our heart
15:25
It's about surrendering ourselves to the loving care of our father and joining him in reshaping us but the reality is we are physical creatures whose hearts are tied to our hands and I think to make that point we could say it like this our spiritual disciplines are for the purpose of Unslaving ourselves or unslaving our flesh
15:48
Think of the Israelites coming out of Egypt 400 years that people toiled and slaved under the oppressive hand of a pagan nation
15:57
The work they did with their hands affected their hearts their their environment affected their hearts
16:05
The culture of pagan Egypt and of slavery saturated the Hebrews all but erasing
16:11
I think the values of father Abraham except for the fact that they still knew how to call out to him and God walked them around the wilderness for 40 years to train them in a new way of life so Deuteronomy 8 3 through 5
16:26
Moses talking as the Israelites are preparing to move into the promised land after this 40 years.
16:32
He says this and He humbled you Speaking of the Israelites and let you hunger and feet and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your father's know
16:42
That he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone But man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the
16:50
Lord Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these 40 years
16:56
No, then in your heart as a man disciplines his son the Lord your
17:02
God disciplines you So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him
17:11
When we are rescued from slavery to sin through Christ God needs to walk to Egypt out of us and the spiritual disciplines help that happen
17:22
Getting serious about personal spiritual discipline may not sound that great to you you may not see a need to read or memorize more of the
17:29
Bible or improve your prayer life or Find out what it means to worship outside of Sunday morning Or maybe you've tried some of those things for a while in the past and it just seemed awkward or stifling
17:40
God's not into rules anymore. Anyway, right? I Would encourage you to not give up on the spiritual disciplines
17:49
Because I think what we often fail to realize is that discipline leads to freedom It's like learning how to play the piano, right?
17:57
At first you follow some pretty dogmatic rules. It's boring. It's hard. It's stiff
18:03
But if you stick with it You can get to a place where your skills turn into musical freedom and you can create and enjoy music
18:12
My 16 year old niece Olivia is a pianist Though obviously gifted
18:18
She has disciplined herself and learned the principles of her instrument multiple instruments actually, but especially the piano she's trained her fingers and ears to know music and She's working on the
18:29
CD right now and and what's amazing is that she hasn't written down a single note all of the songs are in her head the 12 or 14 or 16 songs, whatever it is and and so the other the other week we were gathered for a family gathering around the holidays and and We're kind of sitting around and we have a piano in my in -laws living room and and we're like Olivia you know play us something from your
18:56
CD and she kind of hemmed and hawed like a Kind of a bashful teenager and and then she finally just sat down and like she just starts to play and this beautiful gorgeous music just fills the room and It was like George Winston was it was in our living room?
19:14
I mean, she's just she's that good that talented and in fact I want to I want to play a brief clip for you right now
19:22
Of this of the CD if you could turn that on isn't that beautiful See God wants you to learn to play the music of the
20:16
Spirit Paul told Timothy in 1st Timothy 4 6 through 10
20:22
Train yourself for godliness The word he uses for train is gymnazo where we get the word gymnasium from Why did he use that word?
20:35
He's basically saying hey hit the gym Stay spiritually fit in our
20:42
Hebrews passage Paul says we are to run with endurance and struggle and consider
20:50
What's he mean? He means don't be lazy. Don't give up Keep thinking the right thoughts get rid of sin stay focused work hard in a nutshell be
21:06
Disciplined about your faith So the exercises we do to stay focused and keep running are these spiritual disciplines?
21:17
things like prayer and studying God's Word and Spending alone time so you can think or worshiping or journaling, whatever
21:27
If our hearts desire is to draw near to God These are the things we do to sharpen ourselves and should in some way be a part of our normal schedule
21:37
Stephen Covey the personal management guru calls it sharpening the saw and Through these godly personal habits we get ready to get out into the world and love people
21:49
So how disciplined are you at the personal level? How hard are you working to know
21:57
God and do the daily and weekly things that are going to keep you strong and fresh so you can get out into the world and Tear it up for Jesus Maybe there's a couple
22:09
New Year's resolutions floating around in there somewhere and that leads us to the second category of discipline.
22:15
I think church discipline But don't forget The purpose of discipline is to make us more like Christ and the motivation for discipline is love
22:28
So level two church discipline Your personal discipline has a purpose
22:35
So that you can be a contributing member of God's team It's like a football player who works out
22:43
Watches film and studies his playbook, right? Those are all really good things to do They can even be enjoyable as activities in themselves, but that personal work is meant to make you better when you step on the field film is wasted if you don't get out with your teammates and practice and start rehearsing the game plan and testing each other's skills and Even more wasted if you didn't show up for game time in a team sport you can only develop yourself as a player so far and you're certainly not going to win a game all by yourself and Christianity is a team sport when
23:21
I was playing football for schoolcraft when I was in high school, there was this kid named Joe meet him up and Joe Joe was a wrestler and he was built like Like a
23:33
S10 truck. I mean it was like you run into that guy and and Your head throbbed for days and and it would seem like every time we'd be in a tackling drill or something
23:45
We'd line up and I would go against Joe. I Walk up to the line and it'd be like, oh man, not again
23:53
And of course we'd go and we just collide into each other and man it hurt to hit Joe But Joe made me a tougher football player
24:04
I Knew if I could hit Joe I could hit anybody the other team threw at me from Chan and boving again
24:16
They say while every individual needs to obey Jesus is called to follow We cannot follow
24:22
Jesus as individuals The proper context for every disciple maker is the church
24:28
It is impossible to make disciples aside from the Church of Jesus Christ, it's impossible to one another yourself as disciple makers we will join together with other believers help them overcome the sin that holds them back and Challenge them to grow into more effective disciple makers
24:46
If you are not connected with other Christians serving and being served Challenging and being challenged then you are not living as he desires and the church is not functioning as he intended
24:59
Just like Joe made me a better football player Your brothers and sisters who are sitting right here next to you this morning are there to make you a better Christian We need each other to become more like Christ.
25:14
We can't do it alone and the church plays two important disciplinary roles one positive in terms of training and accountability and one negative in terms of introducing
25:25
Consequences in order to prevent sin from taking root in the lives of individuals and in the body at large
25:32
So let's look first at the positive side This side is about people joining together to pursue a common mission and support each other in personal transformation
25:42
This is why you show up on Sunday morning to hear the Word of God To learn it and understand it better and that's why you have
25:50
Bible studies and accountability groups so that you can learn from and encourage each other This is why
25:55
I meet for breakfast every Thursday morning with an accountability partner. Who's here this morning. What's up,
26:01
Steve and And and why I talk every other week with one of my close
26:08
Pastor friends and why I meet with Don every Thursday and the elders on Tuesday To hang out.
26:13
Yeah Talk business. Yeah, have fun. Yeah But in large part for accountability
26:20
All of those people I just mentioned helped sharpen me They asked me direct questions
26:27
Have you spent time in the word this week? Have you treated your wife and your kids?
26:33
Looked at anything you shouldn't have Any temptations we can pray for you about it's in these intentional relationships that I'm supported and I feel the helpful pressure to do right to not be careless and mess up seems like Every month
26:58
We get word of another pastor Who's fallen into some kind of indiscretion?
27:05
And I can tell you that myself and the elders we don't want to be there And we know that it's going to take us as a community
27:15
To keep us all strong. I'm so grateful for these guys who are around me
27:24
Because they help discipline me in love so that I can become what I know I want to become a more
27:32
Jesus like person Do you have this kind of community around you if you're wondering if you do?
27:43
I think this is probably the best test there is When was the last time you confessed a sin in your life to someone in this church?
27:51
Or at least to a close brother or sister And I'm not talking about the wimpy stuff.
27:56
You know, I'm not talking about well, I Took extra napkins from McDonald's this week, and I put them in my glove box
28:05
Not that kind of stuff. I'm talking about the nitty -gritty, right? The real stuff the fresh stuff the stuff that is embarrassing to you
28:18
That's a prime indicator of the depth of your relationships. I love how
28:25
Proverbs 27 17 says it as iron sharpens iron So one person sharpens another so what's the negative side or the more punitive side of church discipline
28:40
Well, the church is an organized institution is also called to formally introduce corrective action
28:45
When sin is not confronted at the personal or relational level so if someone is continually and boldly doing something contrary to the teachings of Jesus and Isn't showing any willingness to listen or grow then the church meet leadership may have to get involved
29:01
In order to use what power they may have in that Christians life to call him or her to repentance in What?
29:10
love for his or her own good But also for the good of the church as a whole and this is what we see in the process of Matthew 18 sin is contagious and the leadership of the church is called to quarantine destructive doctrines and behaviors a
29:33
Scriptural example of this is given in 1st Corinthians 5 if you if you're familiar with that passage Where Paul says that the man who is sleeping with his mother ought to be removed?
29:42
Delivered over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit might be saved chapter 5 verse 5 and then later purge the evil person from among you verse 13 and Now we start to shift a little bit in our seats.
29:58
Don't we? This side of discipline doesn't sound like much fun Is this really what the church is called to do isn't that judgy?
30:09
Sounds kind of like a middle -aged type of thing right bloodletting and excommunication huzzah
30:16
I Did I did just say huzzah I Thought the church was supposed to be really nice and stuff
30:25
Kicking someone out doesn't sound nice And another person might say and that's why
30:30
I don't go to church Become a member Etc. Etc. Are you saying
30:39
Kyle that recast might find reason to remove someone's membership or break fellowship with them? Does this seem harsh
30:47
Does this seem contrary to what the church is all about? I Thought the church was full of grace and aren't we all sinners
30:55
What gives you elders the right to kick someone out well, let's go back to the end goal of our followership our
31:05
Purpose is to become like Jesus Christ in every way and there isn't really any purpose to your life greater than that and It is a matter of life and death and allowing sin worse
31:22
Endorsing sin by not confronting it is in itself a terrible evil
31:30
Listen to what a be Bruce had to say about church discipline and he's an old schooler so some of the language might be a little bit stilted, but really powerful passage
31:42
He says such rigor meaning such excessive steps to take discipline pitiless in appearance is really merciful to all parties and It is merciful to the faithful members of the church because it removes from their midst a mortifying limb whose presence imperils the life of the whole body
32:04
Scandalous open sin cannot be tolerated in any society without general demoralization ensuing
32:12
Least of all in the church, which is a society whose very reason for being is the culture of Christian virtue
32:18
But the apparently pitiless rigor is mercy even towards the unfaithful who are subjects thereof for to keep scandalous offenders inside the communion of the church is to do your best to damn their souls and to exclude them ultimately from heaven on The other hand to deliver them over to Satan may be and it is hoped will be
32:40
But giving them a foretaste of hell now that they may be saved from hellfire forever
32:46
It was in this hope that Paul insisted on the excommunication of the incestuous person from the
32:52
Corinthian Church That by the castigation of his fleshly sin his spirit might be saved in the day of the
32:58
Lord Jesus We don't have a problem with cutting out removing disciplining cancer do we
33:08
We want to catch it when it's small we rejoice when we catch a tumor early Ray Z tech and many of you know
33:16
Ray plays in the band here I was I was talking with him the other day and and he shared a story with me
33:22
About two of his bounce of can't bouts with cancer The first was when he got cancer on his lip
33:30
His doctor said I think we can take care of this and he numbed it and cut it out right then and there
33:36
Now Ray was a tuba player and he thought well there goes my career Some of us fear that discipline will destroy us that we won't recover
33:49
But Ray's lip healed and he could play again Now what would have happened if the doctor had let it go longer?
33:57
The remedy would have been more drastic and he may have lost his chops as he said The second bout was with a small tumor on his neck
34:06
It was a small node and the doctor did a biopsy and at first he was told it was benign
34:12
But then two weeks later was brought in by a phone call saying the doctor needed to see him immediately Don't you hate those phone calls?
34:21
so Ray came into the Spartan waiting room with just a couple of chairs and a stool and in the doctor's computer and The doctor said, you know why you're here, right?
34:31
Ray said no Well, we sent your sample on to the specialist in Detroit and you have cancer and it should have come out yesterday
34:41
Unfortunately, I can't get you an appointment for four months Thankfully, he was put on a priority list and had surgery in a month and a half
34:51
Thank the Lord but already by that time that little small node of a tumor had grown to a golf ball sized tumor and The result of the surgery that was needed in order to remove the whole thing
35:04
Was that he lost feeling in the left side of his face? Our sin is a cancer that leads to death and It greatly behooves us to remove it quickly
35:19
James 5 19 and 20 says my brothers if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and Will cover a multitude of sins
35:37
The purpose of discipline is to cut out sin and the motivation for discipline is love
35:43
This kind of love is the foundation for church membership This is why we want to encourage everyone who is serious about following Jesus to make a public
35:54
Declaration of your intention by being an active participant in the fellowship of recast Church membership isn't about getting a right to vote on some stuff the church does
36:04
Though that's a part of it from time to time It's really about committing yourself to a specific group of people to do life together with them and to place yourself formally within their care
36:15
Now I have to admit. I have not always been a strong proponent of church membership
36:22
I've seen it used poorly I've seen it be a platform for which elder boards can bug you to increase your giving
36:29
I've seen seen it used as some kind of inner circle thing Like getting a members -only jacket
36:37
I've seen it become a meaningless bureaucratic relic due to churches putting people on the rolls but being afraid to take anybody off so the church membership outnumbers the people sitting in the chairs and Frankly I've worried that it's confusing to people
36:51
What happened when I believe in my heart and confessed with my mouth that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior I became of the part of the family of God didn't
36:59
I I'm now in church big C, right? So what's this additional step of becoming a member of your little
37:06
C Church If my membership is removed did I just lose my salvation these are legitimate issues and reasonable concerns,
37:16
I think but let let me just please take a moment to state the heart of Don and I as pastors and and and all of us as elders that when we use church discipline
37:33
It is a tool that we would use in love and We would never come at you from a place of of of judgment or of superiority as If we just somehow want to wield arbitrary authority over you
37:54
No We come to you as fellow sinners
38:02
And if you wanted to To look at our rap sheets as elders We got quite a list right guys
38:10
No, if we if we if we use discipline
38:19
We're coming at you to put an arm around you
38:25
And walk side by side fellow sinners to the foot of the cross both in need of God's grace both in need of his forgiveness
38:45
We love you guys We love this church And we want to see every single person here become a fully devoted follower of Christ We want you to to experience life to the full we want you to be all in in Jesus and And it's possible that discipline
39:08
Might be there And let me say too that we as elders are under discipline all the time
39:16
With each other and with you as a church So it's something that we do together
39:24
So what is our purpose in membership? Why does recast have a process where you can become a member?
39:32
We see it as a tool To help make a spiritual reality tangible to you and to facilitate the accomplishment of our shared mission
39:42
Do I need my name on some piece of paper to treat you as a brother or sister in Christ? If I know you love
39:47
Jesus No Nope We are family
39:54
I am a brother to the Christ follower sitting in these seats Just as much as a Christ follower that goes to Madawan Community Church or goes to Morris Hill Bible Church Grand Rapids or Seattle or who worships the glory of Christ in Gwinero, Uganda And we do well to love and support anyone we interact with from the family of God But from a practical perspective you live and work with a particular group of people
40:19
And it's God's design that you join up with a local congregation where you can love and serve others in intentional relationships
40:28
Where other people can get to know you well enough to know you warts and all
40:36
Or you can invest in others and help them become more like Jesus If my great friend and brother in Christ Paul Sirwaji who's in Uganda is my main source of fellowship and spiritual accountability
40:49
Then I'm missing something Paul and I can encourage one another we can pray for one another we can even talk on a fairly regular regular basis
40:57
But it doesn't replace the regular face -to -face contact That should be a part of him being involved in a local church
41:08
What other benefits are there to joining a local church? I think it helps you clarify what you believe you ascribe to a particular set of doctrines
41:18
It provides a natural support system for you We're going to take care of you It helps us as leaders connect you and assist you and you're growing
41:29
We have your contact info and and frankly It's just easier for us to pray for you and check in on you
41:34
And maybe hardest of all but also most rewarding it gives us as your fellow members
41:40
Permission to protect you and train you through discipline It's saying to us.
41:46
I know I need you guys And there may come times in my life where I will be dumb and want to stray and i'm asking you guys to help me
41:54
Stay on track Do you guys know that I give every one of you permission to speak into my life?
42:02
If you feel that there's something Not right with how i'm acting I do
42:10
Now there's some discernment here and i'm not saying that you all that we all have free reign to just get up in anybody's business
42:16
Anytime we want Be humble Act in love But also don't be afraid to address it
42:27
Don't be afraid to address something that doesn't seem right I think even if it's nothing
42:34
The other person will at least know that you care The purpose of discipline is to make us a more christ -centered church family
42:44
And the motivation for discipline is love so lastly and briefly
42:53
God sometimes uses outside events to get our attention And this is the everything else discipline level
43:02
There are examples of this happening both individually and corporately job jonah king nebuchadnezzar paul manasseh
43:12
All examples of personal course corrections through acts of god But the nation of israel is often disciplined as a whole for corporate spiritual and moral failure
43:23
And listen again to this reminder that moses gave to the israelites in deuteronomy He says you shall therefore love the lord your god and keep his charge his statutes his rules and his commandments always and consider today
43:38
Since i'm not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it Consider the discipline of the lord your god
43:45
His greatness his mighty hand and his outstretched arm His signs and his deeds that he did in egypt to pharaoh the king of egypt and to all his land
43:54
And what he did to the army of egypt to their horses and to their chariots How he made the water of the red sea flow over them as they pursued after you
44:03
And how the lord has destroyed them to this day And what he did to you in the wilderness
44:09
Until you came to this place And what he did to dathan and abiram the sons of eliab son of ruben
44:15
How the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households their tents and every living thing that followed them in the midst of all israel deuteronomy 11 1 through 6
44:28
And this brings us full circle to hebrews 12 Remember that here the writer is reminding the godly to embrace the opportunities of god's discipline
44:38
When he brings something into your life to test you and refine you as the teacher in Proverbs 3 says verses 11 and 12.
44:47
My son do not despise the lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof For the lord reproves whom he loves
44:55
As the father the son in whom he delights God disciplines you because he loves you as a father
45:06
But as far as it's up to you and me I think at least in terms of the corrective side of god's activity
45:13
Don't let it get to that point Don't test god's love for you in that way discipline yourself
45:23
And enjoy and engage in the sharpening and loving correction of your church And find out how awesome it is to be all in as a disciple of jesus christ
45:36
So as you enter 2013 recastians join with me
45:43
And remember that god disciplines us to make us more like jesus Who disciplined himself to the point of death even death on a cross
45:56
And the motivation for that great act of discipline was love And so as we come to communion
46:05
And we take the bread And we take the cup We are remembering that great act of sacrifice that jesus did on our behalf
46:16
And jesus didn't want to go to the cross in his flesh It was not going to be pleasant for him to state the obvious Remember in the garden of gethsemane how he prayed father if this cup could pass from me, please
46:36
But not my will but yours be done Jesus christ disciplined himself
46:45
To abide by the will of the father And when you come to communion, you're not just accepting his sacrifice
46:52
As forgiveness of your sins though. That's the that's uh, a major element of it
46:57
You're also committing yourself to walk in his likeness To allow him to discipline you and refine you in order to make you more like him you're associating yourself
47:12
With the sacrifice of christ Who took on flesh and dwelt among us
47:20
And then gave himself up for us in love Not everyone takes communion if you haven't come to that point yet Where you're all in with christ and you've accepted his sacrifice
47:31
Through faith. It's okay to just pass by the elements and just sit there and think about About uh giving yourself to christ, but If you are at that point, then
47:42
I encourage you to to take the bread in the cup. Let's pray father in heaven
47:50
Again, I thank you for your word I thank you for this passage about discipline god and and I thank you for the opportunity
47:59
For our our image of you to be to be refined and honed
48:07
That you are a god that actually cares enough about us to discipline us That you have a purpose for our lives and that you want to see us made
48:16
Into the likeness of your son and it's something that you will see accomplished God, please give us the strength to follow you
48:28
Completely wholeheartedly And with discipline and god humbly we say to you
48:39
As our loving father Whatever you need to introduce to our lives
48:46
To continue to make us and mold us in the image of your son Please do so father.
48:54
Thank you for jesus. Thank you for his sacrifice Thank you for his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead