Now What? with Pastor Ryan Braley

God, we give you thanks this morning for your presence here and I thank you for your love for us.

We just pray that this morning you would help us to understand what it means to be a disciple in a deeper way.

And, god, if we wrap up this series and move towards Advent, we just pray that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear and we just thank you for yeah, for running this room and I pray that, god, today you will come and meet us in a new and fresh way, in all the ways that we could use either just the revelation of you or just something from you.

God, would you come and meet us where we need it and bless our time this morning and remind us that you were with us always.

May you bless us in Jesus' name, amen, amen.

You gonna be seated.

Good morning everyone.

I said last night I said I need a really handsome, strong young man with big muscles to help me.

My son, gavin, said say no more, dad, he's like I got you.

So, thank God, I don't know where he went.

My thanks for your help.

Well, we are wrapping up our discipleship series right at the end, which means that next week, as you know it's already Advent.

Yeah, let's go.

Advent is the season in which we look forward to the coming of the Christ child into the manger's story.

There he is, and also we look forward.

So every year we look forward to Jesus coming in the manger at Bethlehem, but then also we look forward, in more of a cosmic way, for God to make all things right and to bring this thing to a close, and so we wait for that as well.

But Advent is also a great time for you to think and pray about inviting someone to church.

Now, I'm not the kind of guy who's like, hey, you better invite your friends to church.

It's the only way.

You better do it or you're gonna be.

That's not my style.

Rather, I like to think about it this way there are people in your life who could really benefit from being a part of our church community that is seeking the good, the highest good, which we call God, and that is doing it together and that is trying to figure out how to practice the ways of Jesus, that's trying to love our neighbor and make this a little bit better and to be salt and light.

And then, at a day and age when folks are more disconnected than ever.

I mean, I know that we're more connected, rather with our phones and social media and so on, but we're more lonely and feel disconnected in a real, tangible way.

And these are your friends and coworkers and neighbors.

We need community.

We need it desperately, and I just saw another drive through Starbucks going up over by Target.

I'm like I drive through coffee shops are killing me, man, because we can't hang out anymore and we need more places to be together and to talk about serious things like the words of Jesus with these ancient texts and the church is a great place to do that You're gonna figure out what you're doing in life and where you're going, what's your meaning and how are you gonna live your life.

These are deep, important questions and your neighbors and friends and relatives and loved ones and strangers are asking the same one.

So I invite you to invite them to church, and Advent's a great time here.

We have the Christmas trees up.

It looks really cool and fancy.

And here's Sonia and the team do a wonderful job of decorating a little swap Wonderful, and so be thinking and praying about someone you can invite to be a part of this.

These next couple of worship gatherings and then when you bring them, introduce them to somebody and have them connect with somebody and meet somebody whether it's me or Sonia or Ben or Isabel or your Pews sitting neighbor or someone else but invite them and then introduce them to somebody, sound good, at least pray and think about it.

So we're at the end of our discipleship series.

We've been exploring what does it mean to follow Jesus?

We want to be a place.

Our mission here at Central is to follow belong love, to follow Jesus and then to create a place where we can all belong, because we need community, we need family, we need each other.

When I say family, I don't mean brother, sister, mom, dog, white picket fence house, I mean like this is a family.

We need to be this for each other and so follow belong together and then love.

We want to love our neighbors across the street and then also around the world.

So we want to follow belong love.

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

We are a follower of Jesus.

Now we're at the end.

It's means we're at the end of Matthew 28 and Jesus.

By this is the end of the series and Jesus gives his last words to his disciples.

These are the last things he says to his disciples, and he's what he says.

He says look, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

All of it has been given to me.

So therefore, go, go and make disciples of all the nations, amen, and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey all the things I've commanded you.

Then he says and remember that I will always be with you, even to the end of the age.

It's the last words of Jesus.

And I wonder, you know, what would I say if I had my last words to say to my friends, my community, my church?

Maybe these are not my last words, I'm just saying if they were, or to my wife, or if I were to write them down, what would they be?

What would my last words be?

What would your last words be?

Well, arthur Conan Doyle's last words were as follows he was dying and he was in his garden and he clutched his chest and he said this to his wife you are wonderful.

And he died.

By the way, I asked my wife because I envisioned this if my wife was there, katie, I would say to her you are wonderful and I would die.

I go, katie, what do you think my last words would be?

He goes oh, I know what they'd be.

I go.

What would they be?

She goes oh, they'd definitely be boy.

After all that working out and all those weird foods I ate to be healthy, and I still died.

Thanks, that's not what I was envisioning, you would say, but she's such a romantic though You're wonderful, arthur I would say to her how about this one?

This is Wilson Meisner, who was visited by a priest on his deathbed.

And the priest says I'm sure you want to talk to me.

And this is what he says.

Back to him, he says oh no, why would I talk to you?

I've just been talking with your boss.

It's a mic drop, I don't need you.

I've been talking to your boss.

And then, convicted murderer James W Rogers is standing in front of the firing squad.

He's been condemned to die and right before they shoot him, he's a murderer.

They say to him any last requests?

He said yes, I do.

And that's what he says Bring me a bulletproof vest.

Smart, that guy.

What a smart lad.

Needless to say, they did not bring him a bulletproof vest.

He died anyway.

And then maybe my favorite, emily Dickinson, said this before she died I must go in.

The fog is rising.

Jesus said all authority's been given to me In heaven and on earth and therefore go, make disciples of all the nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and then teach them to obey all of commandment.

You guys, and remember, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.

How's that?

For final words, jesus said these things to his disciples.

And, by the way, this whole thing, this discipleship journey, began weeks ago here at Central.

But Jesus began with him saying to the disciples come, come and follow me.

Of course they do.

And he says I want you to be like me, learn to be like me, do the things I've been doing.

I think you've got it, I think you can do it.

I believe in you.

I know it's important for you to believe in me, but I believe in you and I think you can be just like me.

There's a rabbi calling his followers, his students, his disciples, his apprentices come and follow me.

And so they go and they start following him everywhere he goes and doing the things he does.

Remember, peter gets out and walks on the water because he thinks he can be like Jesus, he's his disciple.

So he begins with come and follow me, and now it ends with him saying go, but he takes him on a mountain.

This is how the scene ends.

You heard it just ready.

He takes him to this mountain in Galilee, so away from all the hub of Jerusalem and all the noise and the chaos of the city and the temple, and he goes up north again, which is where a lot of these guys are from this Podonk little town in Galilee region.

He goes on a mountain.

Of course he would take them on a mountain, a sacred place in the ancient world, a thin place with veil between heaven and earth.

It's dangerously thin and heaven and earth kind of crossover.

And there's all kinds of scenes in the gospel Matthew where Jesus is doing things on a mountain.

Here's a couple of them.

So the temptations take place on a mountain.

The sermon on the mount was on a mountain and of course the transfiguration, where Jesus is transfigured, happens in Matthew on a mountain.

Then the final discourse remember, matthew was made of five major discourses, or five major teachings of Jesus.

You can look them up.

And the last one happens on the mountain of Olives.

So the Mount of Olives Course is one.

Scene two, where Jesus and the disciples.

He makes them follow him to go into this mountain and they're looking for this archon stone as a dragon guarding it.

Wait, that's a different story.

Never mind, that wasn't in the Bible.

I forgot that one.

Lord of the Rings, the hopper.

Anyway, he takes one of them.

That joke killed at the first gathering.

Believe it or not, they love that joke.

You guys apparently were sleeping.

He goes to the mountain and he tells them these final words and of course he would.

God, of course, met with Moses on a mountain, god met Elijah on a mountain.

And now God meets the disciples.

God and Jesus meets with the disciples and gives them one final goodbye and one final commissioning.

And it's crazy, their response.

Here's their response.

The text says, if you notice that they worshiped him but also some of them hesitated or doubted.

The word doubt and hesitated is the same in the Greek.

Here's the Greek language.

Actually it's the word proskinane and distusine.

I'm not gonna have you do it after me because we might have a marble mount situation going on.

But they worship him and they kind of hesitate, they kind of have this doubt.

Oddly enough, this same combination of words where the disciples hesitate and worship him, takes place a while back, when Peter, as I mentioned, was getting out of the boat and he walks in the water.

Remember when he does that.

And he's walking on the water and he all of a sudden begins to have doubt, he hesitates.

Remember, I said to you he's not doubting Jesus, because Jesus isn't sinking.

He's sinking.

He's doubting himself, he's hesitating, not knowing if he can do it or not, and he begins to sink.

Then they all get in the boat.

Jesus, of course, saves them to get in the boat and when they're in the boat, they worship Jesus.

So here's this combination of words where it's both worshiping and hesitating, for the disciples Fast forward, and you think the disciples would have figured it out by now.

You'd think that they would no longer have any doubt or hesitation after all this time, after the crucifixion of Jesus, his own resurrection.

But they still have doubt.

It's almost as if Matthew's saying hey, listen, sometimes you look back on your journey and you realize gosh, have I even grown at all?

Am I any different?

Am I the same guy who was?

I mean, I did the same thing back there.

I did it again.

Maybe that's what discipleship is.

It's like there's ups and downs.

Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't.

Sometimes you look at that and make progress.

Sometimes you're like, man, is that same thing Got me again?

It's like three steps forward, two steps back.

This is why I love the theology of the cross.

At the end of the day, we just meet at the cross.

I'll meet you there.

That's such a great place to start.

You wonder why would they doubt?

Did they doubt that he was resurrected?

Or did they maybe doubt like, should we worship him?

He's?

You know, we're good monotheistic Jews.

Are we supposed to worship this human in Jesus?

Or did they doubt it and they worshiped him?

And then he tells them hey guys, all authority has been given to me, all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me.

It's Christ the King, sunday.

If you follow the church calendar, it says Christ the King Sunday.

It's the day we announced the kingship of Jesus.

And here's what Jesus is doing.

He's saying to them hey, I am actually now currently ruling in this place.

If you were to ask them, or if you ask me today, I would look around and be like are you really Like, right now he's not saying hey, one day I will be king.

It will be down the road.

No, he's saying I am currently king.

I have all authority that's been given to me.

I'm the one in charge, I'm the one ruling here, right here and right now.

What a claim to make by Jesus.

He's announcing himself as king on the cross and which is sort of coronation ceremony, and in his resurrection, his overcoming death, jesus is given all authority.

He's the king.

And if you're like me, I look around and I'm like what the what are you talking about?

There's no way.

This world is not how it's supposed to be.

Are you really currently king?

But here's what I think is happening.

Jesus didn't say I have made the world exactly how I intended to be right now.

Instead, he's like no, I'm king, and it's almost like I'm going to work it out as we go forward.

So be patient and bear with me.

I'm going to bring the kingdom to fruition, to its fullness at some point, not right now, but at some point.

I will probably down the road and you're inviting.

So NT, right?

I love how he worked.

He works like this.

He says that the claim is not that the world is already completely as he just intends it to be.

The claim, rather, is that he's working to take it from where it was under the rule not only of death but of corruption, greed and every kind of wickedness, and to bring it, by slow means and quick, under the rule of his life and giving love.

I love that by slow means and quick, because sometimes the kingdom bursts forth in like seconds.

I've seen folks quit using drugs instantly Cold turkey is done.

I've seen alcoholics just stop.

I've seen marriages just fixed instantly.

I've seen people be healed of like diseases, like that.

Oh, this is like it's quick.

And yet other times I've seen it go slow, a lot slower than that.

And so, yeah, jesus is bringing the kingdom of God by slow means and quick.

He's bringing all things under the rule of his life, giving love by slow means and quick.

And here's how he does it.

He tells the disciples hey, I've been given this authority, therefore I'm sending you.

So if you ask, how does God bring his kingdom?

Well, in the story it's through the disciples.

Then, like, we're all in big trouble.

Remember, those guys was 11.

Now they're done 11.

They were knuckleheads.

They're from like podon, parts of Galilee in these region.

They're fishermen.

They're like, not that, they're like these guys have a future hope of the church.

We're all in big trouble, but they did it.

And, by the way, if you want to be a follower of Jesus, a disciple which is kind of what our aim is here anyway and if you're not quite there, that's totally fine, but come along for the right anyway, but that's what we want to do.

That means it's also through you and me that Jesus is using us to bring the kingdom of God.

God can do it on his own, no doubt, but God in some ways chooses to use us to bring the kingdom of God.

I'm not sure it's the greatest plan, to be honest, but he does anyway.

Now it's the Christmas season, officially, now that it's after Thanksgiving, and so now we started my Wife Family and I had a Christmas movie watching, christmas movie binge watching session this weekend and we watched this movie called the Christmas Chronicles.

You ever seen the Christmas Chronicles?

Okay, some of you have.

I'm going to give you a spoiler, but this is a movie we saw at Friday night and it's about Santa comes to town in Massachusetts and when he lands there, there's this young boy and young girl whose family life has been kind of like thrown off of Kylter because their dad has died and now they're kind of teenagers.

They're always at you know, at odds with each other.

The mom's working all the time in the family.

That's kind of crumbled apart.

Santa lands there and they climb into a sleigh to catch him in the act and they climb into a sleigh to go on an adventure.

Well, when he discovers they're in the sleigh, all heck breaks loose.

The sleigh crashes, he loses his magic hat, the toys and the reindeer take off and he's like I got to find my hat, because my hat is how I can do all the magical things that Santa can do.

So this has magic.

Right, you may be seeing the story.

So they go on this long adventure and long ball.

They finally find the hat at the end of the movie.

You get the hat, you get the reindeer back, they fix the sleigh, they find the toys, the elves help.

It's crazy, it's really cool and Christmas spirit is redeemed and along the way, the young boy and the young girl make amends and their family, though the dad can't come back to life, the family still missing the dad.

But the family is brought healing, you might even say salvation.

And then, at the very end, santa doesn't have his hat on at the moment.

Also, he lifts the sleigh without his hat on and the kid goes hey, you don't have your hat on, how can you lift the sleigh up?

And the reindeer?

He winks at the kid.

He goes I never needed the hat.

Young man what?

He never needed the hat.

Why did he bring it along with him?

Because they needed to go on the adventure.

It brought healing to their family.

The hat was just a ploy.

Now, far be it for me to compare God to Santa.

Okay, but bear with me.

God has invited you and me to be a part of the kingdom of God and to help build it and spread it.

He's invited you and I to collaborate with him.

Why?

Because God has always been collaborative.

God could do it instantly on his own.

He doesn't need us, but he's always wanted to collaborate with us.

Here in Genesis 2, at the very beginning, it says God took man and put him in the garden of Eden and he asks Adam hey, take care of it, tend to it, garden it.

He has him named the animals and then, when Eve comes onto the scene, they're like they're asked to take care of the whole thing.

Why?

God didn't need them, but God has always, from the jump, been a collaborator.

See, those who believe, which is you.

If you're here and you want to follow Jesus and me, those who believe are given the responsibility to go and make real in the world the authority which Jesus already has.

I'll say it again those who believe, those of you who want to be a follower of Jesus, who are seeking to be a disciple and kind of go after him, it's your responsibility, your duty, to go into the world and make real the authority that Jesus already has.

The kingdom of God advances in as far as we take it.

Now, again, god doesn't need us, but he's chosen to partner with us and collaborate with us.

Now, here's the deal If we take the words of Jesus seriously which I want to do and I invite you to do, to take these words seriously, if we do, this is the invitation.

Now you might be hearing like hey, ryan, I take them seriously, but I want to ignore them.

Fine, that's fair enough.

You can ignore them, that's fine.

But if you want to take them seriously this is what he says I want you to come and help me.

I want collaborators, partners.

You're going to do with me, and this is in part, at least in part, the answer to the Lord's prayer.

When Jesus prays, hey, let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, well, maybe Jesus wants you to be the answer to that prayer.

You know, sometimes when you pray for something, the first answer to your prayer might be you Like oh Lord, jesus, take care of that poor person and provide food for them.

As I walk this way to get myself a chipotle burrito, well, maybe you should feed them, ryan.

Maybe God wants the prisoner to have a visitor and to be ministered to by you.

Maybe God will show up in that prison cell when you go there.

Maybe God will take care of a single mother by using you to do it.

Maybe you're the answer to your own prayer.

This is how God has always worked.

He's always collaborated with us and if we take the words of Jesus seriously, maybe we're the means by which God wants to establish and bring this kingdom and have it spread from here to the ends of the earth through you and me, which means we have a job to do.

In fact, jesus says we got three things to do.

He says look, make disciples, baptize them and teach them to obey.

So I want to unpack all three of those quickly.

He says go, go there, for now that I've given all authority.

Go there for, and make disciples Now.

When I was a kid, we'd go to parties and my mom would be there.

My mom would tell us it's time to go.

She say it's time to go, guys, get your coats on.

Great, so I get my coat on, right, I'm ready to go home, mom, and I'd be the door waiting with my coat on, because I know it's time to go.

And, without fail, three hours later I'd be standing by the door waiting to go.

Mom, you said three hours ago that we're going to leave.

Yeah, no, I got it.

It's time to go.

Time to go.

Get your coat on.

My coat's on, mom.

In fact, now I'm drenched in sweat.

If I go outside now, I'm going to freeze to death.

Mom, it's been three hours.

Let's go Church.

I'm here to tell you this morning it's time to go.

You cannot stay here.

Jesus said all authority has been given to me, so I'm going to go, go, go and make disciples of all nations, go.

It's time for you and I to go.

See, this stuff isn't really about us, as Pastor Paul used to always say that Jesus comes to us on his way to going to somewhere else.

Right, you're gonna be playing for a long time if you're starting now.

Sorry, I misled her.

I'm almost, almost done.

And, by the way, it's not about you.

You can't stay here.

Go to all the nations, which means for them it meant the Gentiles.

Jesus, in this moment, fatally opens the doors up to the whole entire world, which was people they didn't like.

You are called to go to people you don't like, people unlike you, that think different than you, that vote differently than you, that live in the other sort of town than you.

That's your job to go to the outsiders.

The mission, or mission has always permeated Matthew.

In Matthew 4, he tells me to be fishers of men and women.

In Matthew 10, he sends them out to go and minister to people to take care of their physical needs, their social needs, their spiritual needs, their emotional needs.

They were always to go, which means that we do not exist for ourselves.

We exist always for the other.

By the way, in this disenchanted world, if you want to get the world's attention, give your life away.

Give your life away.

That'll get folks who don't believe in God, that'll get their attention.

If you choose the way of the cross and live your life for others, that'll get people's attention.

Jesus had to go into all the world and make disciples.

By the way, this is evangelism.

Evangelism is this idea of the Greek word, for evangelism is the word you and Galeon.

Everyone say you and Galeon, and the you and Galeon in the Roman Empire was when the Empire would grow and the Roman Empire would take over another city.

They would send out like a telegram not a telegram, but like an announcement to all the ends of the Empire Say, hey, the Empire is spreading, and if you were inside the Roman Empire it's good news for you, but if you were under the boot of the Roman Empire it was bad news for you.

And this word was co-opted by the early church.

Evangelism is just you going out and living your life following Jesus, practicing the ways of Jesus and telling others about it.

You're announcing the good news.

So show people, tell people, invite them to church and show them.

Then he says this so go, go out of the world and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We saw this earlier this morning.

So the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I love that.

It's the familial, it's the personal and it's the transcendent.

It's the sacrament that wakes people up with the presence of God in their lives and the love of God in their life.

So go and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and re-enchant people.

We live in a world that's been disenchanted, so help reconnect people to the divine, to the Holy, to the sacred.

Remember Richard Beck is this way.

He says at root, enchantment is simply a holy openness to divine surprise.

Enchantment isn't forcing yourself to believe in the unbelievable things, it's allowing yourself to be interrupted by and surprised by God.

This is what sacraments are.

Baptism communes, it's just you being open to the divine surprise of God.

So Jesus says go, you can't stay here, you gotta go, leave this place and go and baptize.

Well, as you make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And he says teach them to obey all I've commanded.

Which of course brings me to La Crosse Now.

A long time ago.

Can you hear me now?

Still there we go.

A long time ago.

I played La Crosse in high school and I was good at it and I loved practice.

By the way, when he says, teach him to obey all I've commanded, he's not saying just give them the information.

If that was the case, you could make a photocopy of your Bible and just pass them out.

He says, teach him to obey.

In other words, have them come and practice the things I've taught.

Teach them the Sermon on the Mount, the ways of Jesus, instruct them and all these things, and have them practice it.

Have them obey it.

By the way, you and I are to be practitioners of the Jesus story.

We're to practice it and in doing so, turn to Matthew 7.

Open, real quickly, matthew 7.

It says this In Matthew 7.24, jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5, 6, and 7.

He says this Anyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice, it's like a wise man who builds his house in the rock.

See, following Jesus is always about practice.

Practice man.

I'm talking about practice.

Most often, we don't think ourselves into a new way of behaving.

We behave ourselves into a new way of thinking.

So the teachings of Jesus try them out, practice them, try them on.

If you're new here this morning I've never heard this Jesus stuff give it a try and just see what happens.

If you're a Christian and you've been a long time follower of Jesus but haven't really been putting them into practice, try it out and just see what happens.

You might just discover something beautiful down there.

All right, how's my hair?

I'm just kidding, I don't care about my hair.

Try it, put into practice.

Jesus has all authorities been given to me.

Now you can play right, give it to me.

So go make disciples and baptize them and teach them to practice my ways and watch what happens.

This is this and I promise I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.

Matthew one opens up, his name is Emmanuel, so they call Jesus in the beginning of Matthew.

Because I'm with you.

Jesus is the one who stays and I'll be with you, he says, even to the end of the age.

So as we come to the end of our discipleship series, remember these final words, the last words of Jesus Go make disciples, baptize them and teach me to obey, and along the way you might experience ups and downs.

You might look back like am I a different person?

Am I growing at all.

You might have doubts.

You might say, jesus, let me see the hands and your feet, let me look at your scars.

I just, I don't know if I believe.

Yeah, yeah, you're a good company.

You might try to walk on water and fall in.

I don't know, that's you're a good company.

You might fall asleep while praying.

Yeah, yeah, you're a good company.

You might get caught in an argument about who's the greatest Jesus, we're the greatest, me here.

You might have an angry outburst here or there on your discipleship journey and cut some dudes here off.

Hopefully not.

Okay, you might.

Yeah, that's part of it.

That's discipleship.

That's what we're doing.

We're trying to reconnect to the divine and practice the ways of Jesus and teach others to practice them.

Just give it a shot.

Just see what happens.

So, central as you go, may you know that all authorities may give me Jesus, on heaven and on earth.

Therefore, you should go.

Don't stay here.

Go.

It's time to go.

Get your coat on, go and make disciples, as you've been blessed.

Go bless others as you've been given to.

Go give to others as you've been forgiven.

Go forgive others, go and share, tell the story and baptize people and them, and the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey Always, command them and never forget.

Central that Jesus is with you, amen.