Understanding Discipleship: Commitment and Application

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast,

where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical

words that have great significance to our faith.

The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where

once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are

familiar with in scripture.

So come along with me, let's study the Word of the week.

Pastor Josh here with another Word of the Week.

And actually we're going to be continuing on with the same word

that we've been talking about now for quite some time, and that

is the word discipleship.

And really what we've been looking at here in the study is the

concept of discipleship.

What is discipleship?

It is the understanding of following Christ, being committed

to Christ, and then showing others how to do the same.

And so In Matthew, chapter 28, when we find the Great Commission,

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

we find the directive of God to make disciples, teaching them,

demonstrating to them what it means to walk in truth.

We know that in 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 2, Paul challenges

2 Timothy 2:2

Timothy to teach people what he has been taught from, from Paul

to, to a very clear way so that they can teach other people,

so that they can teach other people.

And that process goes on and on.

Later on second Timothy, chapter three, Paul explains, I believe

it's in verse 10, the, the content of that teaching.

And it was basically the doctrine, yes, but also the lifestyle

and the application of, of the teachings.

And so a part of discipleship is, yes, teaching facts about Scripture,

but it's also teaching the application of those facts in Scripture

to the actual life of the Christian.

Because we can't keep discipleship in the theoretical.

We have to apply it to real things that, that are happening to

us in our life.

And putting feet to the teaching is essentially the application,

and it's really the, the core of everything that we do as Christians

is, is applying what we already know in our minds.

And, and that comes from a genuine nature of loving God.

Because what we see in the New Testament is that Jesus says that

if we love him, we will keep his commandments, we will obey.

And so it is fostering or teaching the understanding of, of

loving God with everything, with all of our heart, soul, mind

and strength.

But it's also teaching people that loving God is serving God, loving

God is obeying him.

Loving God is submitting ourselves to his will and his way

in our life.

And so we have to, as Christians, when we're discipling

folks, is to take time to demonstrate to them the Importance

of not just knowing the truth, but applying the truth.

But the word I want to talk to you about in the umbrella of discipleship

today is the word time.

Because to properly disciple someone, to properly lead someone

to the truth of God, and to foster that growth in their life

through the Spirit and through the Word, it takes time.

And so time management is important because time is short.

And the Bible says in, in the Old testament in Psalm 39 that, that

life is short.

Verse Verse 4 of Psalm 39 says, Lord, make me to know mine

end and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know

how frail I am.

Behold, thou has made my days as a hand breath, and mine age is

as nothing before thee.

Verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity.

And so what the Bible is telling us in the Old Testament there

is that life is short.

Our time is short.

And so we can either use that time for the cause of the kingdom,

the cause of the gospel, or we can use that time for the things

that bring us pleasure, that distract us, that entertain us.

We see that in the Old Testament.

We also see that teaching in the New testament.

James chapter 4, verse 14, it says this.

James 4:14

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.

So you don't know what tomorrow is going to bring.

For what is your life?

It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then

vanisheth away.

So life is but a vapor.

It's like a little cloud of smoke that dissipates away.

And so the point of that is this.

We only have a certain amount of time here on this earth and we

don't even know what that time is going to be.

We don't know if tomorrow is going to be guaranteed.

I mean, I hope that all of us live long, prosperous, healthy lives.

But the truth is is that that's beyond our understanding of

whether or not that is going to be happening or not.

Our time on earth is short.

And in comparison to eternity, it's, it's minute, it's, it's a dot

on the map.

And so what God tells us to do is to use our time wisely.

We know that in the book of ephesians, Ephesians, chapter 5,

Ephesians 5:15

verse 15 says this.

See then that you walk circumspectly.

That idea of walking circumspectly means to look around,

to notice things around you, to be aware of the opportunities

that you have.

It says, not as fools, but as wise.

So the foolish thing to do as a believer is to walk around short

sighted Focused on ourselves, focused on the material, focused

on the things of this world, and missing out on the things around

us.

And so, in contrast to that, being wise is to walk circumspectly,

thinking about opportunities, to point people to Christ, to point

people to the things of eternal value, and to disciple folks

for the kingdom.

And so walk circumspectly not as foolish people, but as wise.

And that wisdom comes from God.

But then we see verse 16, and maybe you're familiar with this verse,

it's a commonly quoted verse.

It says, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

And so that idea of redeeming is buying back, using, utilizing

the time that we have for the things of God.

Why?

Because the days are evil, because the days are short, because

we are marred by sin and our world is marred by sin.

And ultimately the judgment of God is coming.

And though we don't know what that time is, we know that it's getting

closer.

And so what does that mean in the concept of discipleship?

Well, it means this, number one, we have a limited amount of

time to impact people for the cause of the gospel.

So get busy, look for opportunities, and look for those

open doors of discipleship.

Look for those open doors of the Gospel.

And when those doors are open, run through them, utilize that, redeem

that time.

Because we know that the days are evil.

Psalm 90:12, it talks about numbering our days that, that we

Psalms 90:12

can grow in wisdom and, and over and over again.

The Bible reminds us to take note of the time that we have and

not to waste it.

And so you can, you can pick out passages from the Old Testament

and the New that remind us about that.

Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 11 says, he hath made everything

Ecclesiastes 3:11

beautiful in his time.

Also he has set the world in their heart so that no man can find

out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

So we ultimately understand that, that God, our creator, the

one who knows all things, has created us as eternal beings.

We are going to live for eternity, whether it be in heaven

with him or obviously in hell, in, in our rebellion.

But no doubt we have to understand in our lives that we are

eternal beings.

And so there, there is more at stake than just the time that we

have here on this earth.

But the only time that we have to invest into that eternity is the

time that we have here on this earth.

And so the, the, the days are evil, yes, but we know that we have

plenty of opportunities to serve God and to love God and to

ultimately demonstrate our obedience to him through making disciples.

And so it takes time.

It takes time management, it takes planning, it takes an opportunity

to be ready to sacrifice our time.

And we're going to talk about for the next few weeks some things

that we need to give over to the Lord to best minister to people

in discipleship.

And the first thing that we're going to talk about is our time.

One of the gifts that we can give to the Lord and also to others

in discipleship is our time.

And our time is valuable.

What is it?

What is it?

The.

The phrase time is money?

We.

We know the reason why time is money is because our time is valuable.

We only have a limited amount of it.

And so are we going to be willing to say, you know what?

I am going to love a person enough to give them my time.

And that's sometimes hard, sometimes very hard, to sacrifice

our time for someone else.

Why?

Because our time is valuable.

And we think we need to get these things done.

But when God sets something in our path for us to use as an opportunity

for discipleship, the Bible says that we need to invest that.

There's a parable in the book of Matthew, Matthew, chapter 25 talks

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

about the parable of the talents.

And essentially what happens here is that the.

The Lord the Master gives these servants a denomination of

money and a certain amount of money, and they're called to utilize

that in the time that he is away.

And when he comes back, the two servants that invested the time

well and saw that that money grow, that investment grow, those

are the ones that were called faithful.

Well done now, good and faithful servant.

And the one who didn't invest that money, the one who took that

money and buried it in the ground, that was the one that the

Lord condemned because of his lack of investment in the time that

he had.

And so the parable of the talents and all of these other passages

of scripture speak really in a very clear way about laboring, working

for the Lord faithfully until he comes back.

We should be diligent.

We should use the time that God has allowed for us to.

To serve not ourselves, but to serve him.

Matthew chapter six speaks about where our heart is.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.

This is Matthew 6, verse 19.

Matthew 6:19

Where moth and rust do corrupt, and where thieves break

through and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither

moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through

nor steal.

And so the Bible speaks very clearly there about this idea that

what are we going to invest in?

Are we going to invest in the things that we have here on this

earth that we hold so tightly to, are we going to invest into the

things of eternal value?

And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is impacting others

for, for him in the name of the truth of God.

And then in Matthew 6:21, it says, for where your treasure is,

Matthew 6:21

there will your heart be also.

So whatever you treasure, that's where your heart's going to

be.

So if you treasure the Gospel, your heart's going to be in the gospel.

If you treasure discipleship, your heart will be in discipleship.

If you treasure the importance of reaching people for Christ, your

heart is going to be there reaching people for Christ.

And so may our hearts be set towards the things of God so that

our investments are set into the things of God.

And we're not just talking about financial investments, even

though that could be the case in this case, we're talking about

our time we're going to get later on to other elements of, of

our lives.

But at this point in time, we're looking at the, the importance

of investing our time, sacrificing our time for others,

and sometimes ministering to people in discipleship does take

a lot of time and it can get somewhat frustrating because of the

fact that, hey, you know what?

I taught that person something before and yet they haven't gotten

it.

We gotta go back.

But that time is valuable because it's truly that time that

is needed to see people come to Christ and follow Christ.

And so may we set our affections on the things above things

of the Lord and set our time on the things of God and be able

to walk circumspectly looking for those opportunities to redeem

the time or utilize the time for the cause of the Gospel to those

around us.

And so discipleship takes time, discipleship takes sacrifice.

Discipleship in, in many ways can be, can be a wearisome process

because our bodies get weary in serving, our bodies get weary

in well doing.

But the Bible says In Galatians, chapter 6, verse 9, don't

Galatians 6:9

get weary and well doing, because in due season we will reap

if we faint.

Not.

So think about that today.

Think about where you're investing your time is.

Is our time being spent in the things of God?

Is our time being set in the things of our own desires?

And if our desires align with God's desires, that's fantastic.

But the problem is sometimes that our desires will contradict

the things of God.

And therefore we must die to ourselves.

We must die to our flesh.

We must die to the things of this world and submit ourselves to

the work of the Lord in discipleship.

So may we be disciples today, following Christ to the best of our

ability.

Well, we thank you for listening to this podcast.

We're going to continue on with this series of the Word of the

Week next week with another thought on discipleship.

And when we get done with that, we will continue on talking

about different things, different elements within Scripture

that can help us understand what it means to follow Christ truly

in accordance to His Word.

Well, thank you so much.

I appreciate you listening and would really appreciate if you would

share this podcast with someone that you know, someone that

you love.

And hopefully it'll be a blessing to them as it's a blessing

to me as I continue to push forward the Word.

Here on the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, we want to proclaim

the world to the world, I should say, the truth of God in every

way.

Well, God bless you.

Take care.

Have a wonderful week.

Hey, I really appreciate that you listen to the Word of the Week

podcast.

If you have any questions about the podcast or more about our

church, Middletown Baptist Church, you can find more information

about us on Facebook or YouTube or you can find the podcast

on NBCPodcast.org you can contact me directly at Josh Massaro

at middletownbaptistchurch.org stay tuned for future Word of the

Week episodes where we dive deeper into words that impact our

life according to Scripture.

Thank you so much.

God bless.

We'll talk to you soon.