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Stewardhsip Versus Extravagant Hospitality
Most of the churches are now in the process of developing their spending plans for 2017.
We are no different, we too are in that process.
However, we go about it a little differently than a lot of churches.
We don’t do fund raising, or what is often called a stewardship campaign.
One of our values is extravagant generosity and we believe that that is just one of the 5 marks that make a disciple.
We also believe, since that is the mark of a disciple that extravagant generosity is something that is practiced daily not a 5 week period during the year, just as the other 4 marks of a disciple are.
What are the other 4 marks?
Risk Taking Mission and Service, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith development, Radical Hospitality.
Making Disiciples
Making disciples is what we are all about here, not membership.
Let me say that again, making disciples is what we are about not membership!
This is what Jesus told us to do, as we will see.
He did not tell us to go out and make members.
Belonging to a group does not transform a life or a community.
Only being a Christ follower can do that.
So in these next 6 weeks (except for next week which is homecoming) we will be taking a look at the commissioning Jesus has given us and how we have decided to carry out this commission.
We will be talking about mission today, then vision on Oct 16, then for the next 3 weeks after that we will take a close up look of our vision, or the process of making disciples here at McEver.
Okay, now that the ground work is out of the way, let’s get down to business.
Matthew 28:16-20
The 11 disciples are gathered on a mountain top in Galilee.
It is where Jesus has told them to gather.
We don’t know exactly when Jesus told them to do this (Jesus says something like this in Matthew 26:32) nor do we know what mountain top it may have been.
Wesley, and many scholars today believe it was Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the transfiguration.
Both of these slides show Tabor from the Mount of the Precipice in Nazareth.
The Mount of Precipice is the traditional site where the folks from the synagogue in Nazareth were going to push Jesus off the cliff.
(Luke 4:28-30)
In Matthew this is the only point where the resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples.
Before he has only appeared to the women at the tomb.
We must be careful not to homogenize the resurrection stories in the 4 gospels.
They are similar, but also differ.
The differences are there for a reason and we must understand the differences.
Can’t go into all that today, might be a good sermon series for post Easter though.
Anyway, the 11 have gathered on the mountain top and it says some worshipped and some doubted.
Now, they way that is translated is a bit misleading.
The Greek word really means hesitated.
Either way, this should be a reassuring statement to us, that the church was formed with some hesitation.
Some of the 11 weren’t so sure about this.
There’s some of you today that aren’t so sure about some things in the Bible or with Christianity.
That’s OK! Jesus commissioned all 11, even those that might be a little hesitant.The 11 disciples are gathered on a mountain top in Galilee.
It is where Jesus has told them to gather.
We don’t know exactly when Jesus told them to do this (Jesus says something like this in Matthew 26:32) nor do we know what mountain top it may have been.
Wesley, and many scholars today believe it was Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the transfiguration.
Both of these slides show Tabor from the Mount of the Precipice in Nazareth.
The Mount of Precipice is the traditional site where the folks from the synagogue in Nazareth were going to push Jesus off the cliff.
(Luke 4:28-30)
The he says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him.
He has the authority, he is fully God, he can commission the church to do what he wants his church to do.
Again, this is reassuring.
What it means to us as his church and as believers is that the resources of heaven and earth are at our disposal!
We can only fail if we fail to depend on Christ for everything!
There those of us right now that are hesitant about this move.
About the vote on Oct 5. Look at Jesus promise here.
If we depend on his resources, not ours, we cannot fail.
I have heard people say, well if God is in this move it will work.
Absolutely.
And how do we know God is in it?
By trusting on his promises and moving forward.
Jesus the says Go. Let’s talk about go for a moment.
The Greek word here is a “circumstantial participle” what that means is it is not an imperative, a better translation would be “when you go, make disciples.”
Jesus assumes we are going!
He says to make disciples of everyone.
We don’t exclude.
Wesley’s comment on this verses is kinda funny.
He says: “baptize Jews or heathens” pretty much sums it up!
There are no preconditions on this.
No moral imperatives!
Go he says.
Baptize he says.
Wait, Jesus even before they are “taught?”
I pointed this out to my first church and it made them really uncomfortable.
It says here to initiate them into the body even before they are “discipled.”
There are no preconditions to baptism either.
The only instruction is to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
When can teach them after that.
For me this means that there are many ways we can come to Christ.
Don’t limit them.
Discpleship
Ben Johnson former Professor of Evangelism at Columbia Seminary tells a story about a seminary student who came to see him.
Like many young seminary students she was finding her faith challenged.
That is part of the role of the seminary is to further ground what you believe by calling into question some of the values of your faith.
I have witnessed many younger students drop out because they were so unsure of what they believed when they come across competing ideas they just could not handle it.
This young lady said she had realized that she had no faith.
That she wanted to know Christ but did not know where to begin.
Johnson asked her to give God as much of herself as she could to as much of God as she understood.
This is exactly what is going on, on this mountain top and this is what we are to do.
Teaching is allowing someone to give God as much of themselves as they can to as much of God as they understand!
No preconditions.
No pat answers.
That’s teaching!
I like the way Steve Eason puts it “Disciples are students.
They are like interns.
Interns are watching, practicing under supervision, asking questions, making mistakes, and learning from them.
Jesus said very clearly, “ ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (v.
19a).
Go make students of Christ.
Put people in internships, into a lifelong learning process.
That is a major paradigm shift from making church members or whatever else we substitute for discipleship.”
Like I said we don’t make members, we make disciples because that is what Jesus told us to do.
Reassurance and Misson
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