A Learning Church

Going to be looking together this morning at two passages of Scripture.

So if you want to go and find both of them to begin and stick your bulletin in one, might be helpful, but we'll be going back and forth between the two this morning.

The first is Acts, I'm sorry, Matthew 28.

The second is Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I've been in both of them so much I keep going mixing them up in my own head.

So Matthew 28 is where we will begin.

Familiar passage, perhaps, to many of you.

One of the Lord Jesus' last commands given to his disciples.

Again, that's Matthew 28.

I'll begin reading in verse 18.

And Jesus came to them, to the disciples, and said, 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 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.

And then Acts chapter two.

Read begin I will read beginning in verse forty one through the end of the chapter.

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Our Lord, we come before you this morning to hear you speak to us.

As we've just sung, break the hard and stony ground within us.

That your word might penetrate and go deep inside.

Cause us to bear fruit from your word.

Enable us to see how we need to react to what you have said.

Cause us to love you more and live that out, we pray in your name.

Amen.

Well, last Sunday I had the privilege of introducing to you our new vision statement as a church.

Front and center on your new bulletin design.

And this new vision statement is nothing new in its content, but it does take truths, primary foundational truths for the church and bring them together into a single guiding statement for what we do as a local church.

So as we seek to have sort of a renewed focus as a church, we need to make sure that that is a correct focus.

We do that by ensuring that our guiding principles come directly from Scripture.

Now, last week we saw that that begins with understanding that the God we worship is a speaking God.

We have his words recorded for us in the pages of Scripture.

And since he is a speaking God who has recorded his word for us, our foremost priority must be hearing and learning what he said.

So we declare the word of God at Faith Evangelical Free Church.

That is our priority.

But we would be neglecting a significant part of Scripture if we just stopped there.

There's more to the responsibility of a local church than declaring God's word.

We are also to be a discipling church.

Now you won't find the word discipling or even discipleship for that matter in your Bible.

So to understand what we're talking about, we need to know a little bit about the word that is included in your Bible: disciple and disciples.

Now most people are familiar with the Great Commission.

We read in Matthew chapter 28 that Jesus has all authority.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Therefore, he has the right to issue the command to make disciples.

That command was given to the apostles.

But throughout church history, it has been understood to apply to every single church in every single age of the church.

That means it applies to Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our struggle as a local church is to answer the question: how does this apply to Faith Evangelical Free Church?

We know it does apply.

The question is how?

There have been all kinds of answers to that question throughout church history.

In modern times, a prevalent answer has been to make discipleship a specific ministry within a local church.

So we have churches who have discipleship programs led by discipleship pastors to gather people together to make them into disciples.

The idea being, you're not a disciple, you need to be a disciple, so let's make you what you weren't, right?

I'm very grateful that the Lord has chosen to be gracious to our ways of figuring things out.

And so he's graciously used those kinds of methods.

But I think a closer look at what God has said will challenge those kinds of ideas.

So as we think about Jesus' command to make disciples, let's first ask the question, what are disciples?

What is a disciple?

Now that's a basic question, right?

If we are to follow Jesus' command to make disciples, we better know what they are.

We don't go about trying to make some new kind of ethnic food without first knowing what that ethnic food is, right?

So why would we do that with disciples?

We need to know what a disciple is.

And at its core, a disciple is a learner.

That's what the word means.

It means to be a student, a pupil, someone who learns.

A rabbi was a teacher.

As a teacher, he had students, and a disciple was one of those students who learned from the teacher.

And the goal of a disciple is to become like his teacher.

In fact, that's what Jesus reminds us of in Luke chapter 6, verse 40.

Luke 6:40

He said, A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher.

Do you notice there that that idea of training involved in that?

There's a teacher who trains somebody who is learning.

There's a humorous example of this, at least I think it's humorous, in Matthew chapter 9, if you turn there and look at it if you'd like to.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

And this passage in Matthew 9 highlights a play on words that Jesus employed to respond to some Pharisees who were pestering him.

So if you want to find out how to respond to pestering people, look at Jesus.

He helps you with that.

In Matthew chapter 9, we see in verse 9, Matthew is a disciple of Jesus from here on out.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

So Jesus comes along, he sees Matthew sitting in his tax booth collecting taxes, and Jesus stops and says to him, Matt, follow me.

He leaves his tax booth and follows Jesus.

But then he promptly throws a party.

Matthew has a meal to celebrate his newfound connection to Jesus.

Now, if you are a social outcast like Matthew, that's what tax collectors were, and you gather all of your friends for a party, who are your friends going to consist of?

Fellow outcasts, right?

That's why we're told that he had a party for tax collectors and sinners.

So they sit down.

Verse 10, they were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.

Apparently the Pharisees were around.

Pharisees saw this and they said to Jesus' disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

I've always found it interesting.

Why didn't they not ask Jesus?

Instead, they go to his disciples.

Now, you need to remember, the Pharisees had disciples too.

You can see that in Luke chapter 18.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

They were teachers, and as teachers, they had their own disciples.

So here, in this situation in Matthew 9, there are teachers challenging the disciples of another teacher.

Except in this instance, they were challenging the disciples of the true teacher.

Now, what I want you to notice is in verse 12 and 13.

Jesus, when he heard it, said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

Go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Go and learn.

Jesus is telling these teachers, you are not fit to be a teacher.

You need to be a learner.

You need to become like Matthew.

You need to become like these tax collectors and sinners and become a learner who follows me.

You need to be a disciple, not a teacher.

Because a disciple learns.

That's why the Great Commission includes the statement: make disciples teaching them.

Anyone who was a teacher could have disciples, people who learned from them.

So the Great Commission was given to Jesus' followers in order to lead others to come and follow Jesus in order to learn from him.

Very quickly, however, as time progressed and the church begins, the term disciple became synonymous with Christian.

In John chapter 8 and verse 31, Jesus said to the Jewish people who believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

John 8 · chapter mention

So there's this group of people who believe in Jesus, and as a group they are called his disciples.

What that tells us is disciples very quickly became a term that Jesus used to refer to those who believed in him, who believed in him and began to follow him.

And as we move into the book of Acts, we see that even more.

Acts chapter 6 shows us that the disciples were gathered together.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

In Acts chapter 9, verse 1, Saul, breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to get permission to gather them up.

Acts 9:1

So disciples referred to the collection of followers of Jesus.

But that begins to take a change.

In Acts chapter 11, in a place called Antioch.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

It was there, Luke tells us that the disciples were first called Christians.

And that was a derogatory term, by the way.

Christians didn't call themselves Christians.

Disciples were called Christians by those who weren't disciples.

Looking down at them, oh, you are one of those Christ followers.

Paul goes around to the areas that he's already ministered in, strengthening all the disciples.

Who are those disciples?

Well, they're people who have come to Christ.

In fact, we see that emphasized in Acts 13, where the disciples, it says, were filled with the Holy Spirit, a defining characteristic of Christians being filled with the Holy Spirit.

So disciples were known as Christians.

Very early in the life of the church, disciples were people who heard about Jesus and came to believe in Jesus.

And as they were known as believers in Jesus, they were called Christians by those who did not believe.

And as those people heard the gospel and came to saving faith in Christ, they became followers intent on learning from Jesus.

Because they were followers of Jesus, they were derogatorily called Christians.

By this standard, beloved, every Christian, every genuine believer in Jesus is a disciple.

If you are a Christian, you are a disciple.

If you are a disciple, you are a Christian.

But there's a third aspect of the meaning to the disciple.

A disciple is a learner, he is a Christian, but he's also someone who is bound to Jesus, specifically for the purpose of obeying Jesus.

That's why Jesus said, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Someone who is bound to Jesus to do the will of God.

That's why the disciples answered the command, follow me.

That's why they left their boats, that's why they left their nets, that's why they left their tax booths.

They were now bound to Jesus to follow him, to learn from him, and to do God's will.

But to be bound to Jesus means he comes first.

He takes priority over everything.

We see that in very stark words in Luke's gospel, especially in Luke 14.

Jesus said in that chapter, whoever hates, whoever does not hate, father, mother, brother, sister, even his own life cannot be my disciple.

He said, Whoever does not bear his cross daily cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not even renounce his own name, his own life cannot be my disciple.

Now, those are statements that illustrate the priority of Jesus in the life of a disciple.

He comes first.

I am bound to him.

Now the New Testament letters serve to illustrate and explain what it means then to follow Jesus as a disciple.

What does it look like to be bound to Jesus and to obey his will?

That's why there are passages like the one we find in Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians, Apostle Paul is directing his comments to the context of disciples gathered together, like we are today, believers in the community, gathered together to serve and to worship.

Paul wrote to them, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord.

Now stop there.

He was a prisoner of Rome.

As he wrote that, he was sitting in a Roman prison.

But he calls himself not a prisoner of Rome, but a prisoner of Christ.

He is bound to him.

And whatever situation he's in is because he's bound to Jesus.

And then he begins to apply that to the local church.

He says, Therefore, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling.

What is your calling?

To be a disciple who is bound to Jesus to do his will.

What does that look like?

Well, it looks like walking with humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

That's what it looks like.

Paul would go on to say to the Philippians, What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.

Why?

Because he was acting as though he were a teacher and people were learning from him.

Where did Paul hear and see and learn?

From Christ.

So he's passing that on to other disciples.

A disciple hears and learns Christ's commands and begins to live them out as they follow Jesus, seeking to do his will.

So think about yourself for a moment.

Are you a disciple?

Are you someone who has encountered Christ, seeing him as God the Son who died to give you true life, hope, and forgiveness, and to give you purpose in life?

Can you legitimately be called a Christian in such a way that someone would look at you and say, You are a Christ follower?

But what about the last part?

Have you heard Jesus call to follow him, to be bound to him, and to do his will?

Beloved, here's the hard part.

We cannot choose to believe and at the same time reject being a disciple.

It's not an option.

The choice to be a disciple, but refuse to be bound to Jesus does not exist.

You cannot separate any of those three truths of being a disciple.

They belong together.

A disciple is a Christian who is bound to Jesus.

That doesn't mean it's easy.

If you're a disciple of Jesus, then you know that life as a disciple is difficult.

Jesus warned people who wanted to be disciples.

He said, Are you sure?

Because the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

I don't have a pillow.

Learning is hard work.

Following Jesus can be painful.

It can be frustrating to learn from Jesus, to take in what he says and yet struggle to live it out.

That's why sometimes we cry with the Apostle Paul, oh, wretched person that I am.

Who will deliver me from this body of flesh?

Why do I keep doing the things that I don't want to do over and over and over again?

It can be frustrating, it can be a struggle, but being a disciple means that we believe God intends our learning and our struggling and our following Him to be good because He is good.

That's why Jesus would say His burden is light and His yoke is easy.

Because He takes the willing heart, soul, mind, and body, and He empowers it to do His will.

And He does that through His Word.

That's why Peter would say, Long for the Word of God that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

So when we begin to understand what a disciple is, the second question we need to answer is what is discipling?

Now to answer that, we need to understand some time frames involved.

When Jesus gave the command to go and make disciples, he implied that there was action that would lead up to the point of salvation and action that followed salvation.

Or we could say that discipling includes something before becoming a disciple, and discipling includes what continues on as a disciple.

Let me explain what I mean.

We often refer to the first stage as evangelism, that time where a person is led to genuine faith in Christ.

We see an example of that in the first couple chapters of the Gospel of John.

John tells us that Jesus called a handful of the disciples to himself, and at that point in time he says it's Peter, Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel.

He says those men left what they were doing and they began to follow Jesus.

And as they followed Jesus, they became knowledgeable.

They learned who he was, they learned what he was like, they came to know him.

And then Jesus took them with him to go to a wedding at Cana in Galilee.

And there Jesus turned water into wine.

Then John says after that this is what John wrote.

He said, and then his death.

Disciples believed in him.

We see evangelism taking place.

Jesus brings people along so that they come to know him and then they believe in him.

That's what takes place every time you speak of Jesus to an unbeliever.

There is an introduction to Jesus, followed by learning who Jesus is, and that is the means that God uses to lead people to salvation.

Proclaiming the gospel, that is, speaking of Christ, leads to salvation.

That's what the scriptures mean when they say faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

So we introduce people to Jesus so that they come to know him.

And then there's a moment in time, we may not know when that moment is, but there's a moment when genuine faith occurs when they believe in Jesus.

Once a person has expressed faith in Christ, the second stage of discipling begins.

What is that?

Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that He commanded.

In that short command, Jesus identified the two primary aspects of discipling or discipleship that follow becoming a Christian: baptism and teaching new believers, new learners, so that they will keep all that Jesus said.

That's what discipling is.

Now that implies a content-based teaching that encourages and directs and exemplifies a lifestyle of joyful following and obedience of Jesus.

That's the command of the Lord Jesus.

Now, what do we see the church doing after that command was given?

Well, the fullest picture that we have of that is in Acts chapter 2, verse 42.

Acts 2:42

It says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Breaking of bread there might be referring to communion, might just refer to being eating together, a meal, or some combination.

But do you see what's happening in that one verse?

Discipling.

That is discipling in action.

In the previous verse, verse 41, 3,000 people believed in Jesus in one day and were baptized in a public profession of faith and association with Jesus.

That's a lot of baptisms.

Those 3,000 new believers were then integrated into the community of faith and discipled through teaching, fellowship, food, and communion and prayer.

The first megachurch happened overnight.

They didn't have time to develop programs or curricula.

They simply gathered together to learn, to be taught from the scriptures.

They had fellowship together around food or the Lord's table, and then they sought to live out what they had learned in obedience to Christ.

That sounds very simple, but you know what the result was?

Verse 47.

The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

There's no description here of events put on by the local church.

There's no description of programs being offered or even evangelism training.

And yet people were coming to faith in Christ.

How?

How did that happen?

Well, the easy answer is God did it, right?

That's what verse 47 says.

The Lord added to their number.

This was something that God was doing, and it's something that he delights in doing.

But from the human vantage point, God used the fulfillment of the Great Commission to bring that about.

That command in Matthew 28 begins with an assumption.

Now our English translations use an imperative force verb.

They say go and make disciples.

The word go is a participle, not a command.

So it's better perhaps to view it as an assumption.

You are going to go.

Therefore, as you're going, make disciples.

Going where?

Yes.

Everywhere.

Wherever you go, whatever you're doing.

And we see that in the actions of the New Testament church.

As they went about their lives, wherever that was or whatever they were doing, they spoke of Jesus and they lived out a life of Jesus through the power of the Spirit, and they sought to lead people to believe in him.

They made disciples.

But they didn't stop there.

Those new believers, those new disciples, were integrated into the church and continued to be discipled.

Everyone came together to learn, to fellowship, to pray, and yes, even to eat.

Getting together to eat's a good thing.

Then they went their own way, seeking to obey Christ while repeating the process.

Going, making disciples, teaching them, repeat.

Go, make disciples, teach them again and again and again.

Now this is based on an important distinction that I call the going church versus the gathered church.

Or you might say, as the church goes and as the church gathers, but while that may sound like a soap opera title, that's not what I mean.

The primary difference between Matthew 28 and Acts chapter 2 is the difference between going and gathering.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Matthew highlights the going, that daily activity of disciples, whether that be working or shopping or traveling or going to class or being outside with your neighbor.

But in Acts, Luke highlights the gathering of the disciples for specific purposes.

And there's a cyclical pattern that is exemplified for us.

The church scatters to go out and about their lives and daily life into the world seeking to make disciples.

That's evangelism.

Telling others about the good news of Jesus and encouraging them to believe in Him and to follow Him.

The primary mode of evangelism is for each of us to speak of Christ and His work on the cross wherever we go.

But then we gather together.

And when we gather, we bring with us any new disciples who have come to faith during our going time.

We gathered to continue the discipling process through baptism, through teaching, through fellowship, and through prayer.

And through that, we instruct and we encourage one another to observe all that Jesus commanded, and so we fulfill the Great Commission.

Fulfilling the Great Commission requires both the going of the church and the gathering of the church.

It requires that we be continual learners in order to know Christ more so that we love him more.

And as we gather together and are strengthened through teaching, prayer, and encouragement of the fellowship of the saints, we are then enabled to scatter once again to take the life-changing news of Jesus to a dying world.

It's important to remember that the New Testament letters were often written to the church gathered.

And they are instructive to us as we gather together to be discipled.

And then we scatter to take what God has given us to a waiting world.

Over and over again, week after week, year after year, we repeat that process.

That is how Jesus builds his church.

That's how he strengthens the church.

That's how he matures his bride.

And we begin to see some significant clarifications as we seek to distill this into some practical truths.

The process of evangelism, of leading people to faith in Christ, to encouraging them to come to see Jesus and become a disciple, a learner, that process is not the primary purpose of the church gathered, but of the church scattered.

Speaking of Jesus in order to lead others to believe and follow him is the primary task of the going church.

Now, evangelism does take place when we gather together.

At least it should, it must.

Because there are bound to be people present who do not know Jesus.

There are bound to be some here, even this morning, who think they know Christ, but really don't.

So the gospel message must always be at the core of what we do when we gather.

But the Lord's primary intention is that we each go about our life making disciples as we go.

For faith evangelical free church to be a church that fulfills the Great Commission, we must each, every single one of us, be first people who seek to make disciples throughout the week.

Beloved, we must not leave that primarily to our supported missionaries.

We mustn't fall into the trap of believing that someone is only going to hear about Jesus because they step through the doors of a church building.

We go to lead people to Jesus.

You know, there's a very simple process for us to double our attendance in one week and be out of space.

That'd be a great problem.

Very simple process.

We could double our attendance in one week if every single one of us would bring back one person next week.

Just one.

We go to lead people to Jesus and we bring them back together with us.

The pattern demonstrated in Acts and the Epistles is that the gathered church focuses on the spiritual growth aspects of discipleship.

So we have gone out, we have made disciples, brought them to the point of faith in Jesus, and now we bring them with us to gather together to continue to build one another up.

So we teach learners the word of God.

Learning leads to worship.

Learning and worship together around the words of the speaking God moves us to fellowship together because we've been brought together by the Word of God Himself.

And we pray together.

We pray together because we are speaking people who worship and obey a speaking God.

Praying draws us together and it draws us to Christ, binding us to Him, but also binding us to one another.

And through that process, we are empowered to go out once again until we gather next time.

I hope you see then that the discipleship is not a class.

It's not a program that we offer or endure.

It's not something that we go through that we graduate from, and ta-da, you're now a disciple.

No, that's not what it is.

Discipling and discipleship is a lifelong process of going and gathering.

Over and over and over again.

Going, scattering to take the good news of Christ with us, and gathering together with old and new disciples.

We gather to learn from his word.

Because that's what a disciple does.

He learns continually.

And as we go and gather and learn from Jesus, we start growing together.

And before you know it, as we grow together, what happens is that a culture of discipleship is developed within the local church.

And then we are all participating together in bringing others to join us in this process of learning from Jesus and following him and being bound to him.

This is why our purpose as the church gathered is to focus on the teaching of the Word of God.

If it facilitates our continued growth and following of Jesus.

When we have spent a week going, we need to be fed by listening to Jesus together.

I've tried to fast, I'm not very good at it.

I like to eat too much.

When we go a week of fasting apart from one another, we need to get together again to be fed.

We need to hear truth from Jesus.

We need to be encouraged by one another in obedience to what we hear.

We need to pray together and care for one another, just like the church did in Acts 2.

We are merely a small part of the Lord's church.

But every single one of us has been given the command to make disciples as we're going.

But as a gathered group of disciples, we must focus on taking those believers present in this place and move them further down the road of following Jesus.

How do we do that?

By teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you in the context of gathering together as a community of disciples.

That happens through our main worship times together on Sunday mornings.

It happens through our Sunday school Bible classes, through weekly Bible studies, through life groups, through other fellowship opportunities and serving one another in various capacities.

We want to provide those opportunities for us to gather together and to be discipled.

There are other activities that serve that purpose as well.

But whatever we do as a gathered church needs to be filtered through the teaching of God's word so that we become greater and more dedicated learners of Jesus through the desire then to disciple maturity in believers.

For the desire to generate maturity in believers.

There are all kinds of opportunities.

Do you take advantage of them?

If you consider yourself to be a Christian, you are a disciple.

If you are a Christian who is a disciple, then you are bound to Jesus.

If you are a Christian and a disciple who's bound to Jesus, you're bound to the community of faith.

Are you starving yourself?

By not gathering together.

There's a reason why Hebrews says, do not forsake the assembling together of the saints, because you'll starve to death.

If we forsake the assembling together, we're not going to be discipled.

We're not going to be encouraged, we're not going to be strengthened to repeat the process, to go and to come back.

Is there any magic in the things that we do?

No.

If there is, you're at the wrong place.

There's no magic in those activities or in those offerings that a local church gives.

But there is power and great grace.

Because Jesus commanded them, he has ordained that his church learn, be discipled through them.

And what happens is, bit by bit, grace upon grace, he continues to make us more like him.

The Spirit of God moves us together towards greater maturity by taking the scattered church and gathering them together around the Word of God, prayer, worship, and fellowship.

And so he matures his people to be more like him.

But that's next week.

We'll have to come back for that one.

Let's pray together.

Our Lord Jesus, we we know that we all have growth that is needed, that is required in our lives.

Some of us feel inept at being a disciple.

Some of us are insecure.

Some of us feel inadequate.

How can I speak of Jesus?

But the truth is that you have given us a command, and along with the command, you've given everything needed to fulfill that command.

So we ask that you would fill us with your spirit so that we might be disciples who fulfill this great commission.

Empower us and enable us to disciple one another in the context of our gatherings.

Lord, can we be bold?

We know we can.

Would you do here at Faith Evangelical Free Church and in Grand Forks what you did in Acts chapter 2?

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Would you would you empower us and enable us to make disciples wherever we go and even overnight transform our gathering together?

Would you do that for your glory and for our maturity?

Grow us closer to you.

Grow us closer to one another so that we might display to a watching world who Jesus is.

Amen.