Committed to Discipleship

OK, very good. Good afternoon and welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Once again, a great blessing to have you worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ with us. I'm going to invite you, brethren, to please open up your Bibles to the Book of Matthew, Matthew Chapter 28. By God's grace today, we are going to continue with our study on characteristics of a biblical church.

Today, we're going to be making the assertion that a biblical Christian that belongs to a biblical church is one that is committed to discipleship. So let us come to Matthew 28. We're going to be addressing today a portion of the scriptures that we have addressed in the past. This is the Great Commission in Matthew 28. verses 18 through 20, but today we're going to be making emphasis on this idea of making discipleship as an important characteristic of not only a biblical church, but biblical Christians within the context of a biblical church.

As I said, we're going to be addressing Matthew chapter 28 Verses 18-20, this is going to be the departing point for our study this afternoon, but we are going to be going through different scriptures and hoping that the Holy Spirit will help us, guide us, instruct us as we consider biblical discipleship. in the context of the local church. So let us come before the Lord. We're going to be reading from verse 18 through verse 20. But as we always do, we're going to ask that the Lord will help us, guide us, strengthen us and give us the light that is needed to speak with clarity and also for you to receive the words of the Lord also with clarity that we will not only be hearers of the word, but also that we will be doers of the word and that by the Holy Spirit.

Let us let us come before the Lord and let us pray together. Father, Lord, we come before you in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Once again, Lord, we give you thanks for allowing us being gathered here together as brothers and sisters on this Lord's Day. We pray for those brothers and sisters who, for different reasons, are not able to be gathered here together with us this afternoon. And we do pray for those who are present, Lord, and those who are within the sound of our voices, Lord, that you will bless us with the truth of Christ Jesus That in the midst of our trouble, that in the midst of our uncertainties, anxieties, and fears, that You will strengthen our faith, pointing us to Christ Jesus, O Lord.

Whatever is the outcome of what we're going to do, that the main thing will be that our eyes will be pointed to Jesus Christ. to the completed and finished work of Jesus Christ and the eternal and sovereign decree of Christ for His people and for His Church. Teach us, O Lord, to rest in Your sovereignty. Teach us, Lord, to rest in Your Word. And teach us, Lord, now through the preaching of Your Word, that we will grow in understanding of our Savior and that we will grow in love one for the other.

We pray that You will do this. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As I said, brethren, Matthew 28, we're going to be reading only those few verses from verse 18 through verse 20 of Matthew 28. This afternoon, we are considering biblical discipleship.

In other words, that a biblical Christian that belongs to a biblical church is one that is committed and one that is concerned with biblical discipleship. We're going to be reading the Scriptures, as I said, from verse 18, Matthew 28. This is the reading of God's Word. And Jesus came and said to them, that is the disciples, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and in the name of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Amen. This is the reading of God's Word. Now, my dear brother and sister, in Acts 11, verse 26, we are given a very interesting detail about the life of the early church. And that is that in the city of Antioch, the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were called Christians for the very first time.

I don't know if you knew that, but this name of being a Christian was something and identified that better the outsider recognizing Christians rather than Christians giving themselves the name of a Christian. And that happens there in Antioch. And the interesting thing about this name of a Christian is that basically means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is comprised of two little words there, Christ and follower of. To be a Christian is to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we are told there in Acts chapter 11, verse 26, that this is not only the first time that it happens, but from that point onwards, people are going to refer to the disciples as Christians. And if you also know the book of Acts, you will realize that in the very beginning, through the book of Acts, Christians did not call themselves to be Christians, but rather they called themselves to be the way. And this is just alluding to what the Lord Jesus Christ said in John chapter 14, verse 6. I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me." The way that the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ saw themselves were as people who were walking on the path, on the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The outsider, they saw them and they said they are followers of Christ, this Christ that came to the people of Israel. All of these people are worshiping him. They are followers of this Christ. But the way that the disciples saw themselves were as people who were walking on the path, on the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is actually very interesting, not only because of what the Lord Jesus Christ says in John chapter 14 about himself, that he's the way, the truth, and the life.

But when you actually come through the Gospels, you realize that Christianity is indeed presented as a path. as a way in which we are actually walking. Christianity is not presented as just an identity of a person, that a person just simply prays a prayer and now they become or they take upon themselves the label of a Christian or the identifier of a Christian. But rather, when you go through the New Testament and the Gospels, you see that Christianity is to be on the path. on the way of following the Lord Jesus Christ.

A path, or a way that starts by grace through faith, and a path in which we are supposed to continue until we arrive to the fullness of the knowledge of the Savior. Actually, the Lord Jesus Christ, teaching in one of his most famous sermons, you may remember the Sermon of the Mount, will speak about two different types of paths, or two different types of ways in which humans can be divided. There are only two paths. There are only two ways. There's one of those ways that the Lord Jesus Christ says that is quite wide, that leads to a gate that is quite wide, that leads unto destruction.

And we're told there in Matthew 7, verse 13 and 14, if you want to check it on your own, is that this path that is wide, that leads into this gate that is wide, Many will find that way, and that is the way that leads them to perdition or to condemnation. On the other side, the Lord tells us that there is another path, that there is another way, and this way is the narrow way. It is the narrow path, this narrow path that leads on to a narrow gate. And when we compare it, or better, the Lord Jesus Christ compared those two paths, He tells us that in this narrow path, there will be few. that find it.

And then when you go through the New Testament, you will realize that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to speak about being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only about being in this narrow path that leads to this narrow gate, and there will be few that find it, but He calls us to take up our cross and to follow Him. He calls us to be a follower of Christ, not only in the blessings that we receive of being forgiven and being a child of God, but He also calls us in the sufferings of Christ to take up our crosses and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in this path. And you realize that the definition that Christ has of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is much more than just simply praying a prayer and calling ourselves to be Christians and to do religious things, but actually to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to lose our lives in this world to gain our lives eternally speaking. That is the cost of what it is to be a Christian.

That is the cost of what it is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. So speaking about biblical discipleship is no other than speaking about one of the most important questions in life. And that is, are you a disciple of Christ? Because saying that we are disciples of Christ is not only that we attend church or that we do religious things, but rather that we are on this path in the Lord Jesus Christ going towards the Father, going to eternal life, that we are in this way, in this narrow path that is going to lead us to this narrow gate, and few there be that will find that narrow path. That is what it is to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is the cost of what it is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in opposition to the path of the world that is wide and that leads unto perdition. So that's why, once again, this is one of the most important questions of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. And I suppose The question that we can ask ourselves from the text that we have before us is not only are you a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, but are you fulfilling the requirement that God has given His disciples, and that is to proclaim the message of the gospel so that others will become disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because, you know, salvation is not only that once we believe and that's it, God says that once we believe we're justified by his grace, but also we start to walk in conformity to Jesus Christ, becoming like him in this life. And it's necessary that those who are on that path, that we'll be participants of what Christ has given us and has appointed for us.

And that is not only to walk on that path, but to bring others to walk on that path. and to encourage others as they're walking on that path. And as we are going through that narrow path onto that narrow gate, when we sit to the side and we see a brother or sister that is weak and that is falling and that is in sin, that we will be the instruments through discipleship to bring this brother or this sister to be strengthened by the grace of Christ to continue to walk in that path. You see, we live in times in which individualistic life is just so the norm of everything that we do that we no longer consider the importance of what it is to not only disciple one another, strengthen one another, and help one another, but what it is important that other people will actually do that for me. Because in discipleship, we show the importance not only of the togetherness and the unity of the Church, but the vulnerability of the Christian and the dependence that we have upon each other.

So it is very important that we ask and consider ourselves this question. Are you proclaiming the Gospel to the lost? to those who are in that path that leads unto perdition, the wide path that leads unto eternal condemnation. Are you fulfilling that which is given to us in Matthew chapter 28 and preaching Christ so that we will make disciples of those who are perishing? And also the other question, it is, are you interested in helping a brother or a sister through the grace that Christ has given you to disciple that person?

So that person will be strengthened in the grace of Christ to continue to walk through that path that is narrow onto that gate that is narrow. And if you answer those two questions of what you are doing for others, then we can ask you also the question, are you being discipled by someone else? Not only in the context, in the collective context of the church, when we come and listen to a sermon or a Bible study or when we speak to an elder or to one of the deacons, but rather, are we helping one another to walk on this narrow path. What is your role? What are you doing, not only for your soul, but for the souls of those whom the Lord has providentially placed around you?

Because the concern of the kingdom is not one that is individual and only about me, my troubles and my problems, but the concern of the kingdom is one that is collective, that is the people of God. So once again, we ask ourselves the question, are we concerned? for the spiritual life of my brothers and sisters, and in my growth in Christ Jesus, and with the grace that He gives me? Am I using that grace only for me, or am I using that grace to bring strength, and encouragement, and Christlikeness, and the Word of God, and prayers, and whatever is godly, and whatever is good to my brothers and sisters? Let me submit to you that once the Christian looks outside of themselves, and they have the perspective of the mission of the Kingdom of Christ, and when we understand that this which we have been entrusted, being Christians in the Kingdom of the Lord, is of great importance, Then we realize that our problems, even though they are difficult and they are painful and they are hard, when we see them in perspective of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are strengthened by the grace of the Lord, not only to deal with the issues that are within us, but also to, by that same grace, to help one another to continue to walk in that narrow path.

What a glorious thing would be, my dear brother and sister, that by the end of that narrow path, we can enter into the narrow gate and hear the voice of the Savior that says, come, my faithful servant. But what a terrible thing will be to enter into the presence of the Savior as we look back, and those who were our brothers and sisters fell, and they fell away from the path, and then they ended up in the wide path that leads them to destruction. And let me submit to you that even though we do believe in the sovereignty of the Lord, and even though we do believe in the power of God, that those whom he has appointed he will bring unto the end, we believe those things. Let me submit to you that it's important for the Christian to understand the responsibility of his and her role in bringing the brothers and sisters, by the grace of Christ Jesus, until the end of the goal of the supreme call. Of course, it is not my responsibility, and I don't have the power to do that in you, or you don't have the power to do that in me.

But the grace of Christ has been given to each one of the Christians so that in helping one another through discipleship, we will strengthen one another to make it through the narrow path until the end. What a terrible thing would be, as I said once again. to look back, and then to see that person that has been walking with us for years, and who's professed to be a Christian, and to be in the things of the Lord, and look back, and then just to see that person deviating and going into the wide path of unrighteousness. And how sad it would be that when we look back, then we see that we did not do anything about that, that we did not pray, or better, that we did not care for the soul of that person. The collective of the church is meant to be concerned with the collective of the brethren.

And that is what I want us to consider this afternoon, if the Lord allows us. Biblical discipleship from this passage and from the New Testament, we're going to be reading many scriptures because I want us to see from the example and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the importance, brethren, of discipling one another. and understanding that there is a responsibility in you, not only in me, in you and all together to disciple one another. And not only that, but also a need in which I'm vulnerable, I'm aware of my weaknesses, so that I come to my brothers and sisters, not only as one who has the answers to questions, but one who needs the encouragement, the direction, and the help, and the guidance of both brothers and sisters in the context of the Church. If the people of God does not understand how weak and feeble we are as Christians, then we are not going to help one another and we're going just to put up on this persona in which I have everything okay with my life and I'm just simply going to portray that onto others while in the secret place I'm breaking and I'm in need and I'm insane perhaps while I'm destroyed.

And when that comes to the light, many times, it's too late. And I'm not saying that it is a responsibility. As I said, we trust in the sovereignty of the Lord. But in a sense, it is. Because if the Lord has placed people within the context of the church, that is for us to look after each other through the word of the Lord, pointing to Christ, and discipling one another.

Spoke too long there in the introduction. But let me just, I want to just do these two things. The first thing is the what. I want us to understand the what of biblical discipleship. We will not understand and see the importance of biblical discipleship if we just simply do not know what discipleship is.

Especially when we live in times in which discipleship is just simply that you go through this book that teaches you step number one, two, three, four, five, on how to be a better husband, or how to be a better wife, or how to be a better marriage, or how to be a better Christian. And then we just go through that book together with another person, and we reduce down discipleship to that. I'm not saying that discipleship is not that. I'm saying that discipleship is much more than that. Or sometimes when discipleship is just simply reduced down to you pray a prayer, you become a Christian, and to be a Christian is equal to be a disciple of Christ.

Hence, you are a disciple of Christ. It is that, but it's much more than that. So that's why I want us to consider discipleship from a biblical perspective. Once we have addressed that, I hope that I can point you to reasons or promises that we have here in this text about discipling. So let us just start with the what.

What is biblical discipleship? You see that the Lord Jesus Christ uses that word there in Matthew as he's recording what the Lord said there in verse 19. He says, go therefore and make disciples all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and then these making disciples is qualified in verse 20 how do we make disciples teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you that were their discipleship is actually a difficult word to to put it in different terms, right? Because when we go through the Scriptures, as I said before, to be a disciple seems to be equal to you preach the Word of God, and people get saved, and that is a disciple, and that is true. But discipleship is much more than that.

Sometimes when you come to the New Testament, then you see that this word discipleship sometimes is used only to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, or an imitator of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is also true. But how do we understand it? Is it to be saved? Is it to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Is it to be an imitator of Christ? How are we going to understand discipleship? So there's going to be one key word that is going to help us go deeper into this idea of discipleship. And that word is going to be learning. Every time that we think about discipleship, we ought to think about learners.

To be a disciple is to be a learner of Christ. And I'm getting that word from the idea of what we have in verse 20. If you see there, we're told in verse 19 that we are to go to the nations, and we are to make disciples of all those nations, and we are to baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And then the qualifier of making those disciples, or the how better in verse 20 is given, teaching them to observe. Those who disciple are to teach those others, those who are learning, and we're to teach them to observe the things that the Lord Jesus Christ commanded.

Here, we have a very interesting flow of things. The Father taught the Son all the things that He was supposed to do on earth. The Lord Jesus Christ taught the disciples all the words of Christ were passed on to the disciples, and now the Lord Jesus Christ is telling the disciples that they are to teach all of these things that has been taught by the Lord on to the rest of the church. The key element of discipleship is learning. The one that is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is one that learns.

So that means that in the context of the local church, we're going to have people who are learners of the things of Christ. But we know from the scriptures that everyone is called not only to be a disciple, but also to go to the nations and to preach the gospel. So then that means that within the context of the church, we have people who learn, and those same people are the people who teach. It is true that in the context of the Church, there's going to be a certain role that is going to be appointed for certain people to be teachers of the Word, and to be preachers of the Word, or to be pastors, but we need to see ourselves, Christians, as teachers and learners of the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, independently of the role that the Lord Jesus Christ has given us. The Apostle Paul speaks about that and makes it very clear in Colossians chapter 3, verse 16.

If you come with me to this verse that we have considered in the past, there we can see this idea of learning or teaching for all Christians in Colossians chapter 3, verse 16. Colossians chapter 3, verse 16. Colossians 3, verse 16, brethren, it says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Here, this verse is not given to the elders. Here, this verse is not given to the pastors.

It's given to all the Christians. And the call is that the word of the Lord will dwell in our hearts richly so that we will teach and admonish one another. Why? Because once a person has been saved by the grace of the Lord, then that person is not only a learner of the things of Christ, but that person is also a teacher of the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have the call to teach one another and to admonish one another.

So when we look ourselves, even though there might be a person that is one that is actively teaching, just by the virtue of being a Christian, there is a deposit of grace in you that is meant to be used for the discipleship of one another. And then you may say, well, I'm so ignorant. I've just been a Christian for one year. I haven't even read the Bible once. I haven't even inquired into the things of the Lord very carefully.

I don't have the ability to teach. I don't have the ability to speak. When it comes to discipling one another, the question is not one of ability to teach or ability to learn. The question is one of willingness to do it. Because the grace of the Savior has been given to all of those who are genuine disciples of Christ.

Actually, salvation from the very beginning, in a way, is learning about Christ. When a person is dead in their sins and their trespasses, that person is blind to the things of Jesus Christ. But when the Spirit of Christ comes, the eyes of that person are open, the heart of that person is open, and then they learn, spiritually speaking, about who they are, who God is, what Christ Jesus has done, and the sufficiency of forgiveness that can be found in the gospel. They have learned, spiritually speaking, something that is the greatest truth and the most beautiful truth that a person can learn. It does not matter that they are engineers, or that they are scientists, or that they are lawyers, or that they are doctors, or that they are teachers.

It does not matter that they are ignorant of things. It does not matter that they have not gone to university. It does not matter that they have never studied. It does not matter that they are not even able to read. If the grace of Christ has come upon them, their eyes have been opened to learn, spiritually speaking, that Christ is the Savior, and that they are now saved by the grace of the Lord.

And that grace now is in them, not only for them to walk in the narrow path, but now to use that grace to minister to another person. That's why it is so important that we ask ourselves the question, not only am I a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, but who are you impacting with the grace that Christ has given you? Who are you serving with the grace that Christ has given you? You see, to be a Christian is not only to come to church and to sing a few songs, and then just to depart, and then just to go, perhaps just to come to the Bible study, and then just to do these things. It is, what am I doing with the grace that Christ has given me?

Am I teaching the things that the Lord has commanded? And when we return to the text there, to Matthew chapter 18, we realize of the object that we are supposed to teach. We are not supposed to teach ourselves. We're not supposed to be learners of ourselves, but we are supposed to be teachers and learners of the things of Christ. It says there, once again, in our passage in Matthew chapter 28, verse 19 and 20, it says, 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 not all my experiences and my Christianity, but teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commended.

Christians are supposed to be teachers of each other of the things of Christ. It is true that providentially the Lord may have taught me by my experience to be a husband, to be a father, to be a teacher. It is true that providentially I may have an experience to do these things, But my experience, if it's not within the framework of who Christ is and what he has done, the power of the gospel and pointed to Christ Jesus, is not discipling a person into the things of Christ. He's discipling a person just to be like me. It is just discipling a person to follow the ways that I have followed.

When Paul says to the Corinthians, be imitators of me, he does not only say that. He says, be imitators of me as I am an imitator of Christ. So we are to communicate each other the things of the Savior. We are to be Christ unto each other. And that requires that if I'm going to be discipling my brother and sister, I do not come with my own wisdom to be transferred unto the other person, but rather I'm an instrument that points the person to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And here's when the word of the Lord is going to be really important. But whether you are a Christian that has been saved for one day, or whether you're a Christian that has been saved for one year, five years, 10 years or 50 years, it is the word of the Lord, the one that teaches us the things of Christ. When a person first is saved, when that person first believes in the name of the Lord, their faith comes by the hearing of the word of the Lord. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of the Lord. It is true that that person might not have an answer to all the questions in the Scriptures, but that person has a glorious answer, and that is that salvation is found in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in that, through the testimony of what the Lord has done in that person, is enough to encourage another person.

Because let me teach you this, my dear brother, and I'm sorry that I used that word, but let me just pass on to you this. The minor things of what you think that is not important in your life is what many times God uses to minister to others. Sometimes, you know, brothers and sisters will say to me, but brother, I don't want to take much of your time. I don't want to, you know, to, you know, just to spend much of your time. I know that you're busy with just having this conversation.

And I said to them, and I said to myself, brother or sister, there are things that God has done in your life That even though I'm not just saying now here, as we're having this conversation, that you, or that the Lord, has taught me through your errors, your sins, your experiences, your forgiveness, and the ways that the Lord has brought you up to this point. Why? Because the way that the Lord operates and works is unknown to us. We are the ones who want to measure how are we doing things. And we're the ones who have to have indicators of how things are going.

But the way that the Lord builds up the church, it is unknown to us. It is necessary, hence, that the brothers and sisters will minister to each other, whether they know that they are doing it or not. Why? Because the grace of Christ in a person is that which builds up that person. And then that person, put into the context of the church, providentially builds the whole body.

Many of the experiences, many of the pains, many of the sorrows, many of the difficulties that you've had are used by the Lord not only to help you grow in conformity to Christ, but to speak to another brother or sister in times of trials or in times of difficulties. This is what it is to teach one another in the context of the church and through the Word of the Lord. That's why I repeat every single Sunday, not only pointing to Christ Jesus, but that we are to be people of the word of the Lord. Because the word of the Lord in us is that which God uses to minister to others. If you come with me to Matthew, to John chapter 8, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to create a clear connection between being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and the word of the Lord.

If you come with me to John chapter 8, as I said, John chapter 8, verse 31, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to create a clear connection between the word of the Lord, that is the things of Christ, and discipling one another. It says, 8, 31, it says, So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, pay attention to this, if you abide in my word, You are truly my disciples. What a powerful statement that is. Like brethren, just read the opposite to that. If you do not abide in my word, you are not truly my disciples, right?

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. That which we minister unto each other is not our psychological experiences of one, two, three, four, five, how can I be a better person? Well, I'm going to take from my personal experience and these things, and I'm going to pass that on to you. The Lord uses the personal experience that we have, but we are to be vessels that communicate Christ Jesus. Because even though I can point you to certain things of my experience that might be helpful to you, that which is more helpful for your soul is that you see the experiences of Christ, that you see the words of Christ, that you learn to trust in the Lord, that you learn to follow the Savior, that you learn to hear the voice of Jesus Christ, and that you abide in his word.

Because if I call you to my experience, if I call you to my wisdom, then I make you dependent of me. And you're not to be dependent on me, because first of all, there's nothing that I can do for you. Just barely, I can't with myself. How am I going to help you? The only one who can help you is Jesus Christ.

It is to come to Jesus and to his words. And the more that I can encourage you to put the word of God in your heart, the more that I can encourage you to pray through the word of the Lord, the more that I can encourage you to trust in the Savior, the more that you do so, I hope, That when the time of trial and difficulty comes, you will come to Christ and know that he's your Lord, that he's your Savior, that he has forgiven you, that he's carrying you, that he's taking you. And through that grace, you will be able to minister to others. Why? Because biblical discipleship is about learning of Christ and helping others to learn the things of the Savior.

And the things of the Savior are the things of the Savior that are found in the word of the Lord. And through the Word of the Lord, and being a disciple in the Word of the Lord, that is how the Father is glorified. If you come to John chapter 15, a very famous verse there, in John chapter 15, verse 7, 8, and 9, there we can see the connection with the Word of the Lord, being a disciple, and the glory that we bring to God. John chapter 15, verse 7. John chapter 15, verse 7.

It says, in John chapter 15, verse 7, if you abide in me, If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." John 15, verse 7, and now 8. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. So we add to the equation of being a disciple. Being a disciple is not only to abide in the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, John chapter 8, but now to be a disciple is that we bear fruit for the glory of the Father.

And if we bear fruit for the glory of the Father, then we are proving to be the disciples of the Savior. Because the fruit of the Christian or of the disciple is not contingent upon the efforts of the Christian, but is contingent upon the one to whom we are united, and that is Jesus Christ. We are the branches that are united to Christ, who is divine, and in him now we receive everything that is needed for us to bear fruit and to prove That we are not branches that are going to be cut away and thrown into the fire, but rather that we are united to Him to receive the life of Jesus Christ and to bear that fruit for the glory of the Father that is seated in heaven. This is what happens in the life of the Christian as we are connected with Christ through prayer and the word of the Lord. That's why I always say to you that we are to abound in treasuring up the Word of Christ in our minds and in our hearts.

Christ has given us different abilities and different talents and different ways of approaching the Word of the Lord. But whatever it is, the time that Christ has given you, the strength that Christ has given you, the abilities that Christ has given you, the best thing that you can do for today and for the future you and for the people around you is that you treasure up the word of God in your mind and in your heart, that you treasure up the commandments of the Savior, so that you may be an instrument in the hands of Christ to minister to others. And then the glory will not be coming to you, but it will be coming to the one who has given you that word to minister unto others. But this requires not only that we abide in Christ, but that we see the importance of the word of Christ through my brothers and sisters into me, and the word of Christ into my brothers and sisters through me. It is the collective of the brethren.

Let us return and let me just show you another thing if we return to our text. So we have the biblical discipleship is learning or teaching the things of the Lord of Jesus Christ, and that is through the scriptures and the word of the Savior. The second thing or the third thing that I want to point you here is that discipleship, my dear brother and sister, is a process. See, once again, here are texts. We're told in verse 19 and 20, it says, saved and now they are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and then we enter into this process of teaching them to observe all the things that Jesus Christ commanded to the disciples and behold the Lord Jesus Christ says and with you always to the end of the world but to the end of the age Here we have this scope of time in which Christ Jesus is telling these disciples, go to the nations and preach the gospel.

People will be saved. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then teaching them to observe all the things that I have given you. I am with you until the end of the world, until the end of the age. Why? Because this process of discipleship is the way in which the church is going to be built up.

This is the way that the church, spiritually speaking, is going to be built up. And when I say the building up of the church, I'm not speaking about a big building. I'm not speaking about a massive presence. I'm not speaking about thousands of people. I'm speaking about the building up of the kingdom of Christ within our hearts.

that we learn to trust in the Savior, that we learn to forgive one another, that we learn to overcome our pains and our trials and tribulations, that we learn to love one another, to commit to one another, to lay down our lives for each other, not only to lay down my life for my Christianity and what I want to do, but just to see each other in the faces and then just to see that Christ Jesus has placed us together providentially and that we're committed to Christ and that we're committed to one another. Why? Because he's our Savior. This cannot be done in the power of the flesh. This can only be done in the power of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit is building up the church so that we can say now that we love one another.

Do you know why? Because he says that if you love one another, John chapter 13, they will know that you are my disciples. Why? Because of the togetherness and the unity of the the saints of the Christians in Christ Jesus and with one another. This is a process, and because it is a process, there's a key ingredient with all processes.

And you know what that key ingredient is with all processes that you have to go through a process? The key ingredient is? Patience. Patience is the key ingredient for all processes. The patience with yourself.

Patience with yourself that you are not going to be glorified just because you have been working with the Lord for one year, or just because you read the scriptures for the very first time, but patience with yourself. As the disciple that is in you is being formed, is being taught, is being led by the power of the Holy Spirit, patience with yourself to understand that discipleship is not the way that you become perfect, but is the way that you become more like Jesus Christ. Because it does not matter that you receive the best discipleship program or whatever it is in your life, you're never going to get rid of the problem of sin that is within you. So while discipleship is a great thing that the Lord has given us for the building up of the church, discipleship will not bring you into glory. The only thing that will bring you into glory is death and the life of Christ in you, resurrecting you and bringing you into his presence.

But we are to disciple one another. We are to grow in conformity to Christ, and this requires patience. Patience with self. Understanding that is the work of the Lord. That if we are diligent in the little things, in reading the scriptures, in praying, and in coming to the gathering of the saints and loving one another, one, two, three, four, then the Lord is going to do the other difficult things.

And if we just spend time with him, he is the one that is going to strengthen us for greater things. But that is what we ought to do, to depend upon Christ. Because Christian maturity is different to fleshly maturity. You know, when you see one of the little kids, maturity in those little kids is that they grow up and they become more independent of their parents. We wash them, we clean them, we feed them, we do things for them.

But as they are growing, growing, growing up, they grow independent of their parents. Spiritual life is the opposite. We are self-dependent when we are not in Christ, and we think that we are rulers to ourselves, and we think that we are wise, and then we think that we have answers to all questions. Spiritual maturity is to growing understanding that we depend on the Lord, and that we depend more and more and more as we advance and as we progress. And this is a process, a process that we need to be patient with in ourselves, and a process that we need to be patient with our brothers and sisters.

discipling another person. It is not setting the standard of what I want you to be, because you should be what I want you to be, and this is what you should be, and I'm going to force you and impose you until you arrive to that standard, but rather discipling one another is this, that I'm going to communicate Christ to you as much as I can, every time that I can, so that I'm going to hope in the Lord that the glory of Christ, or the grace of Christ, Pouring to you will bring you to conformity to Christ Jesus as you advance. And I'm going to wait for the hand of the Lord to do that because I don't want to force conformity to a system of religion just by getting you to do certain things. I don't want to have people that just simply conform to what I want them to do, but rather what we want in the context of the church is that people will be conformed to the will of Christ. And that which is found in them will be real, that comes from above, and is the real substance.

And this process not only requires this patience for ourselves and for other brothers and sisters, but it requires also that we understand a very important thing, and that the first step of this process of discipleship is genuine salvation. Pay attention to verse 19. The first step of genuine discipleship is genuine salvation. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. And then he says, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

And when the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about baptism, he's not only referring to the event of a person going into water and being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit in the event of being baptized. But of course, the Lord Jesus Christ is pointing to the spiritual reality that this person is baptized in water because this person has been baptized already in Christ. The first step of biblical discipleship is a genuine and biblical salvation. Why am I saying this? I'm saying this because the person that is dead in their sins and their trespasses cannot be discipled into holiness.

The person that is not genuinely in Christ, even though the person may be in the context of the church, the person may be seated in the church, the person that is not genuinely spiritually speaking in Christ Jesus cannot be discipled in to be a holy person, cannot be discipled in to be Christ-like, cannot be discipled in to following the commandments of the Lord. The person can be discipled in to conformity with Christ when that person has died to self and has come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The first step of biblical discipleship is that that person is generally saved. Very contrary and opposed to many of the discipleship programs that many times churches will have. They will have a discipleship program here, a discipleship program here, and then people will walk through the doors, They don't even know what is their spiritual condition.

They don't even care. They have not even asked about their spiritual condition, but very quickly they will bring them into the discipleship program to be a better husband, to be a better wife, to be a better couple, to be a better student, a better worker, bringing them into a discipleship program while their hearts are dead in sins and trespasses. Well, they're away from the Lord. The process of discipleship requires that the person will be genuinely saved, and that person has been begotten from above. And you know why?

Because being a disciple requires that we pay a cost. Being a genuine disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is not only that we come to church and that we sing songs and that we have fun with one another and that we enjoy one another, Being a Christian requires that we pay a cost. This is what the Lord Jesus says in Luke chapter 16, I think. If you come with me to Luke chapter 16. In Luke chapter 14.

I have forgotten the passage. Luke chapter 14. This is what the Lord says in Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14 verse 25, it says, great crowds accompanied him and he turned and said to them if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father now brethren just please listen that these are the words of christ right these are the words of the savior he says if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first to deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, if any one of you does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.

He cannot be my disciple, of course. The Lord Jesus Christ is not telling us that we need to actively hate a person because that will be contrary to the commandment that the Lord Jesus Christ will say clearly that we are to love one another, that we are to love our brothers and sisters. But that is, in a sense, that once you take the narrow path of following the Lord Jesus Christ, then you cannot look back. Whoever is back, whoever is back, whatever is the name of the person, whatever is the name of the person, you cannot put that person on a pedestal in such a way that now this person is above Christ Jesus. Whether that person is your father, whether that person is your mother, whether that person is your husband, whether that person is your wife, whether that person are your children, whoever that person is or what they think is that person is not to take the place of Christ Jesus.

We are not to be idolaters of those things that are given unto us, but we are to be worshipers of Christ Jesus. Actually, let me submit to you that the only way that we can love our wives, the only way that we can love our husbands, the only way that we can love our children, the only way that we can love one another, the only way that we can love brothers and sisters and other people is if we love him first. If we love Jesus Christ first, and we understand who he is, what he has done for us, and all of our allegiance is given unto the Savior, then only then we have the freedom not to make of any other relationship an idol, not to make of any other relationship something that is going to prevent me from following the Lord Jesus Christ. So that when even we compare our allegiance to Christ and our allegiance to whoever it is, we are willing to stand alone for the sake of Christ Jesus. Even if those who are around us that are close to us deny the Savior, that we stand against that for the sake of Jesus Christ, so that we are not tempted to compromise the truth when your brother, or your wife, or your husband, or your friend, or the people that is close to you decides to take a different path.

Just because I want to accommodate these new circumstances of my brother, my sister, my wife, or my husband, so I'm going to accommodate that into my allegiance to Christ. There is a cost to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is why the first step of biblical discipleship is genuine biblical salvation. Because in the flesh, brethren, we cannot pay for that cost. That cost is too great. It is too difficult.

because we choose ourselves and we choose those whom we love in the flesh. It is very difficult for us to choose other things that is not us in the flesh, but when the Spirit of Christ comes and opens our eyes and shows us that the life that we have is not only 70, 80 or 100 years on this earth, but this eternal life in Christ Jesus, then we have perspective of absolutely everything else. my wife, my husband, my kids, my family, my church, my people around me, all of them have perspective in light of the greatness of who Christ Jesus is. And that can only happen with biblical salvation in the very beginning. So biblical salvation or biblical discipleship is a process, a process in which I need to be patient with myself and people around me.

And the most important step of that process is genuine salvation in the very beginning. Let me just come and I finish with this if we return to our text. We have said that biblical discipleship, it is learning, learning the things of Christ through the word of the Savior. If we abide in the word of the Savior, we will glorify the Father, and we are able to minister unto each other the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have also said that this blessing of biblical discipleship is one that is a process in which we ought to be patient.

And fourthly, and I was going to say something more, but let us just finish with this. It is that this biblical discipleship, my dear brother and sister, requires the collective of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. How am I going to be discipled if I'm not with the brothers and sisters? How am I going to offer the grace that God has given unto others if I am not with brothers and sisters? The body of the Lord Jesus Christ has been made so that in the togetherness of the body there will be the passing on to each other of the things of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It says once again there in verse 19, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, speaking to all the disciples, baptizing them, the plural of the church, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all always to the end of the age. Here it is not a commandment given only to one person, because that person could not fulfill that commandment of making disciples of other nations. It is given to the body. Why?

Because biblical discipleship is meant to happen within the context of the local church. That is, that Christ has given to each one of his people a deposit of grace, not only for that person to grow in conformity to Christ, but also for that person to minister to others. So the same questions that I asked in the beginning, I will ask you once again. Are you concerned, or is it important for you discipleship and to be a disciple? And more importantly than that, is there anyone in your life now that is providing unto you grace that comes from above, or are you willing to minister unto another person the grace that Christ has given you?

And yes, we ought to do this for our wives and our husbands and people around us. But in the context of the church, are you using the grace that Christ has given you to minister and to disciple to the brothers and sisters? Do you understand that Christ has given something unto you by his grace that is not only for you, but it's also for your brothers and sisters? Are you concerned? for the spiritual growth of your brothers and sisters, not only a concern from far above, and he should do that, she should do that, they should do that there in the church.

They are not doing that in the church. They should, they should. When is the time that you see a gap and then you run and feel that before you wait for someone else to actually do it? We are supposed to be vessels of this grace of Christ to help unto each other as the Lord has given us the ability to do so. This is the way that the church grows, and this is the way that we grow in conformity to Jesus Christ.

And why do we do that? Let me just point you to this, and I finish with this in two minutes. First, perspective, brethren. Let us just read the whole passage. Pay attention to verse 18.

And Jesus came and said to them, all authority, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Christ says. 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 that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end. of the world to the end of the age. The reason why the church is meant to be built up through discipleship is not because you're so talented.

It's not because you're so wise. It's not because you are so good. It's not because you have this ability to learn and to explain things that is so good. The reason why the church is meant to be built up through discipleship is because Jesus Christ has already been victorious. And the victory of Christ, all the authority that has been given to him in heaven and on earth, guarantees that the work of the church is going to be completed and is going to reach to the point that the Lord Jesus Christ desires and wants.

The question is not if the church is going to grow up in the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The question is are you willing to partake of of the spiritual growth of the church as you minister to each other through the grace that Christ Jesus has given you. Because in the end of the day, this path in which we're walking is a narrow path that leads into a narrow gate. And once we enter into that narrow gate, we will look back and then we suddenly see that many people have deviated from the narrow path and have taken the wide path that leads them to destruction. Many there will be that find them.

But we are supposed to continue to strive and to continue to depend upon the Lord because he was victorious. Now, we look ahead, not with the expectation that something will happen, but rather just simply are waiting for the consummation of the things that the Lord has already accomplished and promised. Because we look back and we see the victory of Christ so that we can move ahead, obeying the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have the promise that he is with us always. That is a great promise, brethren, that even in our feebleness and in a lack of ability to speak and to say it and to minister to each other, the presence of Christ is among us.

And if He's among us, He's the one that is going to edify the brothers and sisters. You do not know how much you could have ministered to a brother and sister just through a simple conversation and how the Lord could have used that to minister, to convict, to exhort another brother and sister. And because we do not know that, we are not just to wait to be talented or to have this way of speaking or just to feel all of these requisites or just to go through this program in order to start to minister to one another, but rather we are to be not only hearers, but doers of the word. And let me submit to you that when we give ourselves to the things of Christ, the word of God, and prayer, and fasting, and in the communion of the saints, and in the community of the church, when we give ourselves to the things of Christ, The Lord not only blesses us spiritually speaking, but blesses those around us. It is a simple life committed to Christ for the benefit of others, not only the benefit of myself, so that when I see the whole journey of the bride of Jesus Christ, I can see people that have been discipled into conformity to Jesus Christ for the glory of the Savior.

Brethren, this is what He accomplished upon the cross when He died. He died for your sins. He forgave you. He made you His child. And now, as children of God, we have this glorious opportunity to help one another, to disciple one another, to continue to walk through the narrow path to give Him all the glory.

Once again, The question is not do you think that it's important, but are you willing to be discipled, and are you willing to disciple one another, and are you willing to proclaim the gospel unto the lost so that those who are walking in the wide path will come into the narrow path to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And may Christ give us the grace that we need to accomplish all of these things for his glory and edification of the church. Amen? Amen. Let us pray.

Father, Lord, I give you thanks for your word. I give you thanks for your goodness. I give you thanks, Lord, for your presence among us, Lord. I do pray that by your grace, Lord, you will speak to your people, that you will point your people to the urgent need of what it is to minister to one another. We do pray, Lord, for all the brothers and sisters who for some reason are not able to be present here.

And we pray, Lord, that you will grant us the desire to help one another, to minister to one another, to be abiding continually in your words and in your presence, Lord, so that we will be vessels of your grace to help and to minister to each other. Help us, Lord, to desire genuinely to spend time with each other, Lord, in the things of Christ. Help us, Lord, please, to care for one another, not only just to care for the fleshly, external things which we do care for those things but also to care for the spiritual things of our brothers and sisters or we are not able to do these things in our own strength and we're not able to do these things according to our own wisdom so we pray that you will strengthen us by your Holy Spirit and the number of those who follow Christ is only important and is strengthened and takes relevance, Lord, by your grace. So I pray that with the feebleness of our vessels, many times broken vessels, Lord, that you will pour inside of us of your grace. We ask, Lord, that you will forgive us.

We ask, Lord, that you will cleanse us from our unrighteousness, Lord. We ask, Lord, that you will point us to Christ. And we ask, Lord, that you will grant us a genuine desire to love one another and to disciple one another, that we will be known for the love that we have one for the other, and that we will also be known for being learners of the things of Christ, being teachers of the things of Christ, that we will instruct one another and we'll point one another into the things of the Savior. As we come now to this table, Lord, we pray that you will bless us in the partaking of the elements in our union that we have with Christ Jesus, that if we are one body, it is because we are united to Christ. And we pray, Lord, that you will bless us as we partake of these elements and that we proclaim the death of our Savior.

Bless us, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.