Family Of Missionary Servant Disciples

Today I want to talk to you about being a family of missionary servant disciples.

! Family of missionary servant disciples.

This is our church.

We say, what do you guys do as a church?

What kind of constitutes the life of your church?

And we organize the life of our church into what we call missional communities.

Missional communities are a small family of believers

on a mission to specific people and places.

Okay?

And those missional communities are trying to do all four of these things.

Be a family that's on mission, that serves one another,

and that really becomes disciples and helps each other become disciples.

So, family of missionary servant disciples.

These four identities are the things we're trying to identify with as a missional community.

And the reason this is important is because our mission flows out of our gospel identity.

Okay?

And if we forget this, we're in danger of finding both positive and negative identity

in what we do, falling into a religious performance trap.

Okay?

Which we don't want to do, obviously.

Christ's work has given us identity that we work from, not for.

You hear me on that?

Christ's work has given us identity that we work from, not for.

We are not saved by good works.

We're saved for good works.

Do you follow me on that?

Okay?

Our doing flows out of our being.

All right?

Ephesians 2, 8 to 10 kind of articulates this.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand

that we should walk in them.

So our salvation is not a result of works, but the result of that is good works once we

know who we are, who Christ has made us.

And this is really important because we can seek to strive to be a bunch of things that

we can do to our own strength and we can do to our own energy.

And eventually we're going to fall flat or we're going to get burnt out.

We're going to be like, forget this.

This doesn't sound like life.

This doesn't sound like peace.

This doesn't sound like the fruit of the Spirit.

And you know why?

Because it's not.

The fruit of the Spirit is fruit of the Spirit, not of the flesh.

Okay?

And so if we are not seeing first what our identity is and living out of that identity,

we're going to end up falling into this religious performance trap.

And I don't know about you.

I've done that before.

Don't ever want to do it again.

And if you've done that before, I'm sure you never want to do it again.

It's a racket.

It's a rat race.

It's a hamster wheel.

It's not what Jesus Christ died and resurrected for.

He didn't do that so that we could just try harder and we could just be better people.

He's not a humanist.

Okay?

Christ lives for the glory of God, believes that we function best when we live for the glory

of God by the identity that is given to us and imparted to us through the gospel.

When Jesus died and was buried and rose again and we put our faith in him, our identity changed.

Who we are changes.

There's implications to his death, burial, and resurrection.

There's implications to the gospel.

And we live out of those identities.

Okay?

We don't have to strive to be those things.

God has already made us those things.

The question is, do you believe that?

What is your motivation?

Is it the gospel?

Is it, or is it man-pleasing?

Is it insecurity?

Am I insecure?

Therefore, I'm trying to fill that void of insecurity with performance.

All right?

Do I care a lot about what people think?

And so I'm doing things so that those people will be pleased.

Which eventually I can maybe do for a little while, but it's not going to last.

Okay?

Romans 12 verse 1 in the CSB says,

Romans 12:1

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God,

I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true worship.

Okay?

And I want to read that before we jump into these,

because I don't want any of us hearing this message and think,

you rah rah, try harder.

Okay?

I want you to hear this message and say,

God has been merciful to me, therefore.

Right?

God has been merciful to me, therefore.

In view of God's, it says, therefore, in view of God's mercies.

His mercy to us causes us,

out of the overflow of who he has made us in him,

redeemed, washed, cleansed, forgiven, saved.

When those things come upon us and transform us,

in view of that mercy, we offer our bodies as living sacrifices.

If you offer your bodies a living sacrifice to get something,

you have not understood the gospel and you're missing Christianity altogether.

And we don't want to have a church that functions that way.

Okay?

So, these are four things that we're always trying to do

in the context of our missional communities.

These are four things, four cylinders.

You know, someone says, hey, now we're firing on all four cylinders.

Here you go.

Here's the four cylinders.

Okay?

These are the four cylinders we want to be firing on.

And there's going to be different seasons where we emphasize one over the other,

because that's the season we're in.

Kind of think of it when you're riding a bike.

You never push both pedals when you're riding a bike.

You only push the pedal that's up.

And there's going to be seasons of time, and it's like, you know what?

Now's the time to focus more on family.

Now's the time to focus more on discipleship.

Now's the time to really focus on serving one another.

Now's the time to focus more on mission.

Okay?

And recognizing those things and not getting caught in some weird performance trap.

Again, when you're hearing this and saying,

we've got to do all four of these, and we've got to do them all at the same time.

And we're doing this, but we're not doing this.

And we're a failure, and we're not doing church well.

And it's just like, whoa, chill out.

Just like, what's the season we're in?

What are we focused on right now?

We can do a couple of these things at the same time, maybe.

All right?

But there's freedom and rest in the gospel to be able to say,

as a church, let's just cultivate these things.

Let's learn and grow and see how we can cultivate these things better

in the context of our missional communities.

Before I jump in, I want to say one thing.

The difference between addition and multiplication.

Okay?

Most churches would say they want to grow.

Any healthy thing grows, so you should say that.

Okay?

A church should want to grow.

I don't think that's selfishly ambitious, although it could be.

But it's good to grow.

All right?

But there's two ways of growth the Bible talks about.

It talks about addition and multiplication.

All right?

In concept, maybe not in specificity.

And addition happens a lot of times in churches in the sense that a really slick Sunday morning

presentation, the charismatic preacher, the amazing worship team, and the killer kids

ministry, kind of the holy trinity of church planting, right?

You know, preaching, worship, and child care.

You nail all those things.

Those things themselves will add people to the church.

What do I mean by that?

Well, you ask someone, why do you go to that church?

Oh, man.

Killer preaching.

Just love the preaching.

It's awesome.

That guy.

He's great.

All right?

Or you say, you know, why do you go to the church?

Oh, the child care is amazing.

Why do you go to the church?

Oh, I just love times of worship.

It's so awesome.

And those things add people to the church.

But they're limited.

It's just three things.

Those three things, we're not adding.

Well, I really, and then now we also do, I don't know.

I don't know what else you'd add.

But it's just those three things, right?

And they're constantly adding people to the church.

That's not a bad thing in one sense.

As long as Christ is preached, like, and people come and they hear the gospel, that's great.

We rejoice that Christ is preached.

But I don't think it's what God intends for church.

I think he's wanting multiplication.

Okay?

And if you have addition, you have this maybe just kind of growth all the time.

The way we're trying to build is through multiplication.

And what that looks like, it's going to be really slow on the front end.

But over time, it's exponential.

What do I mean by multiplication?

What I mean is the attraction is not the show we put on.

It's not the things we do necessarily on Sunday morning, although that can be part of it.

It's the people.

It's the people.

It's a quality people that function together as family, that function together as servants,

that function together as disciples, that function together on mission.

And it's in the everyday stuff of life.

It's all the time.

And when that group of people is solid and they are representing Christ, living like Christ,

when that group of people becomes a people on mission that is filled with the Holy Spirit

and they're functioning the way that God has called us to function,

then the church multiplies because any given one of those people is going to interact with other people

and be on mission to them and reach them and love them, see them get saved.

And then you have exponential multiplication.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

As more and more people come to the church, you have more and more touch points for impact

and gospel impact especially.

And so that's what we're going for.

We're not just looking for, you know, let's get some really good paid professionals.

We can get in here to do all the work of ministry.

The work of those guys is to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

God wanted the church to be saints who are doing the ministry,

not a few paid professionals that everybody else consumes from and is a spectator of.

Church is meant to be all of us participating, using our gifts,

recognizing no one person is the whole enchilada.

We all have a certain part that we play.

And as we all do that together, the church builds itself up in love and grows and grows.

That's the multiplication we're seeking.

It's slow on the front end because we don't have that many people, right?

But more and more as we just interact with people and we're faithful and we're not in a rush,

we're not in a hurry, we're just faithfully conducting our lives, glorifying Christ,

building relationships with people, preaching the gospel, growing in discipleship,

challenging one another, confronting one another, loving one another, praying for one another,

being there for one another, comforting for one another, all these things.

People start, we start interacting with people and they're exposed to the family of believers.

They're experiencing Christ in a myriad of ways from a myriad of people.

That's multiplication.

You follow me on that?

Some of you do, maybe some of you don't.

Okay, good.

We can talk more about it.

So let's jump into it, all right?

First one, family.

We're family.

In Christ, we are children of God, which makes us family.

Okay, John 1 verse 12.

John 1:12

Great verse.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to be called children of God.

A lot of times, especially as Americans, we like to talk about our rights.

My favorite right as a human being in Christ is the right to be called a child of God.

That's a good right.

That's a right I will stand up for and boast in, right?

I've been given the right to be called a child of God.

And together, we have been given the right to be called children of God.

And what does that do?

That identity makes us family.

That identity means we function together as brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers.

Verse Timothy 5, 1 to 2 says,

Do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as he would a father.

Younger men as brothers.

Older women as mothers.

Younger women as sisters in all purity.

Seeing the language here?

Again, this speaks of our identity as a church.

We're family.

This is the same that's true when it speaks of overseers or elders or pastors.

Verse Timothy 3, 4 to 5 says,

He, speaking of an overseer, must manage his own household well,

with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.

For if someone does not know how to manage his own household,

how will he care for God's church?

Again, basically saying, if you can't take care of your own family,

how will you take care of what is also called the family, the family of God?

The training ground is your own family because this larger entity is a family.

And the skills transfer.

You being able to manage your own household, your own family,

carries over to the household of God, which is also a family.

1 Corinthians 4, 15.

Paul said to the Corinthians, he said,

Though you have countless guides in Christ,

another version says 10,000 instructors in Christ,

you do not have many fathers.

For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

See this familial language.

1 Thessalonians 2, 11 to 12.

For you know how like a father with his children,

we exhorted each of you and encouraged you and charged you.

Okay?

Like a father with his children.

1 Thessalonians 2, 7 to 8 says,

We were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

Okay?

Does this mean Paul was trans?

No.

It means that Paul was able to...

You didn't see that question coming, did you?

Okay?

Well, what's the deal here though?

Paul says, he just said in the same book,

that like a father with his children.

Just making sure you guys are awake.

And then he says like a nursing mother.

Okay?

This again flies in the face of macho Christianity,

where men think that they can't have any kind of tenderness to them.

All right?

They must be tender.

Paul unabashedly says like a nursing mother taking care of her children.

And he says,

I was so affectionately desirous of you that we were ready to share with you

not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves,

because you had become very dear to us.

This is the language of family.

This is the language of fathering, mothering,

becoming dear to one another, affectionately desirous of one another.

You ever been a part of church where you'd say,

I'm affectionately desirous of the other person?

I hope you have.

If you haven't, we can be.

Okay?

And again, it's not about,

well, I just have to try really hard to make sure we're a family.

No.

God has given us the right to be called children of God.

We just need to act out who God already says we are.

We need to believe, and our belief will inform our behavior.

Okay?

Our belief will inform our expression of church.

Do you believe?

Do you believe that we are children of God in a family together?

Lastly, Philippians 2.22.

Paul said,

You know Timothy's proven worth how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.

Okay?

So how do we live out our identity as family?

Okay?

Two main ways, before we get into more specifics,

is just, number one, time together.

Any healthy family spends good time together.

Quality time together.

All right?

And a lot of people love to say,

Well, I want the church to be a family.

Or the church is a family.

But, or,

Are you willing?

Is your desire consistent with your level of time you're willing to invest?

Someone once said,

Time equals relationship.

Okay?

You really can't have a relationship much deeper than the time you spend.

Time is what builds relationship.

Time is what builds a sense of family together with people who aren't your blood.

But it can be stronger because you have that bond of the Spirit,

or what the Bible calls the fellowship of the Spirit.

And so it's important for us to be able to say,

Hey, I am not only just willing,

I am prioritizing and setting aside time to cultivate family with the people around me.

Okay?

And that doesn't mean being really awkward and weird and contrived.

Because again, that doesn't build family.

That just builds divisive weirdness.

All right?

We don't want that.

You don't want that.

It's just being normal with each other.

It's doing the things you'd like to do with people and enjoying one another,

enjoying life together.

Okay?

So that's one aspect of family.

It's just cultivating time.

Just making time for one another.

The other side, though, which I say is almost as important,

and the longer I'm at this, I'm starting to think maybe it's even more important.

Jury's still out on that.

But is growing as a family together through mission.

You know, you hear the term even band of brothers.

What caused that band to become brothers?

Mission.

War.

You know?

And when you get in the trenches together,

when you fight for other people together,

when you're preaching the gospel together,

when you're on mission to specific people and places,

when you're ministering to people and in the trenches with people and crying with people

and burdened with people and losing sleep over people together,

you know what I'm saying?

Where, I mean, have you ever been so burdened by someone or a situation or their sin

that you can't even eat,

and there's other people who can't eat because they're so burdened by it?

I've experienced that before.

When you go through the trenches like that,

and then you come out on your side,

and you see God's faithfulness,

and you see the victory,

and you see God redeem broken things,

and people repent of their sin,

what does that do with those other people?

You might have nothing in common with them,

but you know what you have in common with them?

You've been in the trenches together.

You've been at war together.

You've grieved together.

You've cried together.

You've pleaded together.

You've prayed and fasted together.

You've been on mission together,

and what happens is it forms deep familial bonds

that in some ways time together can't really touch.

This is why, you know,

the people who come back from war have a bond

that they didn't have when they started,

even though when they went out there together,

they had really nothing in common.

What drove them together?

The mission, okay?

And so think of those two things.

I think those are primary in cultivating family together,

but just trying to be brothers and sisters to one another.

What does it mean to be a brother?

What does it mean to be a sister?

If we're older,

thinking about what it looks like

to be fathering or mothering people.

You might say,

well, I don't want to be a father or mother.

I don't know how to be a father or mother.

No one fathered and mothered me.

Well, you can find out.

Ask someone you do know who is.

Get into the scriptures and learn how,

because if you're older,

invariably someone is looking to you in that way,

and you might not even be realizing it.

They're looking at you and they're thinking,

oh, you're a father figure.

You're a mother figure.

And you're thinking,

I don't want to be a father figure or mother figure.

Why not?

A family screwed us up.

It's going to be a family that puts us back together.

It's part of the reason why we have the family of God.

The church is that entity

that can come and redeem those broken places

where our own natural families have screwed up.

We can still experience the father with skin on it.

The father fleshed out in a group of people

where you understand who God is

and what he does through people,

the way they love you,

the way they listen to you,

the way they're there for you,

the way they're consistent with you

and faithful with you.

You get to be able to see the faithfulness of God.

Okay?

This means meeting regularly with people

in your missional community.

It means eating meals together

with your entire missional community

or just certain people in your missional community.

All right?

Meal sharing is all throughout the scriptures.

Don't negate that as not a big deal.

You may say, well, that's just life.

No, that's actually intentional.

Jesus would see someone when he saw Nicodemus.

What did he say?

Hey, I want to go over to your house.

We're going to eat.

We're going to eat together.

That's a form of ministry.

Get to know each other

and get familiar with one another's stories

and their testimonies.

If you know that a person knows what hurts you,

there's a deeper bond there, right?

If you know that they know you

and they know what's been hard for you,

they know what you've been through.

Party and celebrate together.

Their birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers,

wedding receptions, holidays.

Do we do this stuff together?

That's what families do.

Families do that together.

Okay?

Families should be, if they're healthy,

they're good communicators.

You think, well,

my family isn't very good communicators

and there's pain because of that, right?

What is the key to communication?

Or, I'm sorry,

what is the key to community?

Just gave away the punchline, sorry.

What is the key to community?

Communication, right?

Same root word, right?

Community, communication.

It's communing.

People say,

well, I want community,

but I don't want to communicate.

Tell me how that works.

Tell me how that works.

It doesn't.

It doesn't.

I want community,

but I never want to return people's phone calls,

texts, boxes,

whatever it may be,

or I just want to do it on my own time.

How's that working for you?

It doesn't.

Okay?

You can't have community

or what's even deeper than community,

family,

if we don't,

if we aren't good communicators.

Okay?

This looks like,

family looks like being voluntarily open

with one another.

Family doesn't wait to be asked.

Family just opens up.

Okay?

Makes that really open.

Whenever someone asks me,

I answer their questions.

What about being voluntarily open?

Where you don't wait

till they ask your questions.

You know people like that.

They're the ones you feel you know the best

because they're an open book.

And being an open book,

having the windows open,

is one thing,

but is the door locked

and bolted

and chained shut?

Do you let people in

after you're open?

Are you vulnerable?

This is what family is.

Family lets people in.

They say,

well, my family doesn't let me in.

Right,

but that's not healthy family.

Healthy family lets you in.

Okay?

Family helps each other.

They share stuff with each other.

Intentionally blessing one another.

They share hobbies

or interests together.

And you don't just share

your own interests,

you share the other people's interests.

Okay?

Getting into other people's worlds.

We have fun and relaxed together.

Okay?

Maybe even get,

you know,

a missional community

going away together

on a trip together.

Just growing together,

having fun together,

and then looking for the seasonal rhythms

of when that makes the most sense.

Family can be cultivated

all year round

very easily.

Okay?

Secondly,

we're servants.

In Christ,

we belong to God,

which makes us servants.

Okay?

1 Corinthians 6,

19 to 20

says,

you're not your own.

You were bought with a price.

So glorify God in your body.

Okay?

Because we're not our own,

we glorify God with ourselves.

Like,

we're no longer

at the disposal of ourselves.

We can't just do what we want,

when we want,

how we want,

the way we want.

We've been bought.

Jesus bought us

with the blood of Christ,

and now we're his servants.

Okay?

That's the identity we have.

But it flows out of his purchasing of us

by his blood.

When we take the Lord's table,

we remember

not just that he died for us

to be forgiven,

we remember that he died

for us to be bought,

that we were purchased,

that our life is no longer our own.

And so we glorify God with our body,

not out of obligation,

but out of response

to the death of Jesus on the cross

when his blood was shed,

so that ours wouldn't have to be.

He died in our places,

as Sean shared this morning,

right?

The substitutionary sacrifice

of the Savior.

Galatians 5.24 said,

those who belong to Christ Jesus

have crucified the flesh

with its passions and desires.

So when you know

that it's our identity,

that we belong to him,

that he's purchased us,

the implications of that

are that we crucify the flesh

with its passions and desires.

That's the fruit of someone

who knows they belong.

That's the fruit of someone

who knows I'm a servant of Christ.

Because I belong to him,

I've put to death the flesh

with its passions and desires.

Mark 10.43-45 said,

whoever be great among you

must be your servant.

Whoever be first among you

must be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man

came not to be served,

but to serve,

and to give his life

as a ransom for many.

What is your heart

when it comes to service?

Galatians 5.13 says,

through love,

serve one another.

1 Peter 4.10-11 says,

as each has received a gift,

use it to serve one another

as good stewards

of God's very grace.

Whoever speaks

is the one who speaks

oracles of God.

Whoever serves

is one who serves

by the strength

that God supplies.

In order that in everything

God may be glorified

through Jesus Christ.

Okay?

You each have gifts.

We all have gifts.

Are we using them

to serve one another?

Yeah, knowing that

my gifts don't belong to me.

I don't belong to me.

I've been purchased

by the blood of Jesus.

Therefore,

everything that's given to me

is for the body.

It's for others.

I've been given a gift.

It's used to serve one another.

I've been given things.

It's used to bless one another.

That's the heart of a servant.

And I think there's two ways,

I think,

that this service fleshes out.

One,

just the service

of the family of God.

We serve one another.

We look for ways

that we can help one another,

do things for one another,

but also missional service.

Where we can,

there's sometimes

when you're trying

to reach out to someone,

I remember

even one of my neighbors

many years ago

when I moved into the house

we lived in before this one,

I was trying to reach out

to a neighbor

and there was no

getting through to them.

And I remember just,

they were out

sealing their front deck.

Kind of an innocuous little thing,

not a big deal, right?

I just said,

hey, we'll help you.

They're like,

oh, you don't have to help me.

No, no, no, we'll help you.

Went back in the house,

put on some paint clothes,

came out there.

We just sat there,

talked to them.

I mean, it wasn't hard work at all.

But you would have thought

we gave my firstborn kid

to them or something.

They were like super overjoyed

that we would help them.

And you know why?

Because they probably

don't have any friends

who do that.

And you might think,

well, that's normal for us.

We do that for each other

all the time.

It's not for them.

They don't have friends

that do that.

They were so taken aback

that we would help them

seal their deck.

It was a very tiny deck.

It wasn't that big of a deal.

You know, so easy, easy win.

But in their world,

that was big.

Okay?

Serving the lost

is a huge way

to break down walls.

Doing different things.

It's not hard.

And it's fun.

It's fun when you do it

because you belong to Christ.

It's not out of

religious obligation.

It's not out of striving.

It's that,

hey, I've been bought

with a price.

Seal a deck?

Yeah, I can do that.

I can do that.

Jesus purchased me.

This is no big deal.

And if this is an inroad

for these people

to be open,

to be talking to them

about the gospel,

let's do it.

That conversation

on that deck

led to me

going on a trip

down to Haiti

with them

and their parents

where I preached

the gospel to them,

their parents,

to all the workers

down in Haiti

that I met,

and a bunch of other people

that I met

throughout that whole trip.

It was like a paid

missions trip

through them

that they didn't know

that I was on.

And it all started

with me just going

over there

and doing their deck.

So,

look at that.

That worked out

pretty awesome.

What are some ways

we can serve one another?

Help each other

when in need.

Okay?

And here's a key one.

And not letting people

do things alone.

You know the thing

that you have to do

that you don't want to do

but you have to do it

and you hate to do it alone?

The best thing to do

is to help the person

with that thing

so they don't have

to do it alone.

I remember one time

I was working on my house

when I first moved

to Kansas City in 2008.

Bought a house

in the Northeast

and I was

flew down here by myself

and was working on it.

And another guy

I had known here,

a spiritual father of mine,

showed up

on a date night

with his wife

in their nice clothes,

saw me there alone

and had compassion for me

because they had known

what it's like

to be working on a house

late at night

all alone.

And they started

going to work.

I'm like,

no, no, no.

Do not do this.

And they're like,

no, no, no.

We are doing this.

We're not letting you

do this alone.

And I'm like,

no, you guys are all

in your nice clothes.

And they're like,

we have been in many nights

like this

where we've done stuff alone.

We're not letting you do this.

And it just meant so much.

I mean,

in one sense,

I didn't want them to do it

because I'm like,

you guys just want to date.

You're in your nice clothes.

But it really meant a lot to me

because when someone says,

I won't let you do this alone,

there's something really bonding

in that moment.

So that's how we can serve

when I look for opportunities.

When someone's doing something

by their self

and that you can tell

they're really burdened by it,

just like,

hey,

I'm not going to let you

do this alone.

Let me come help you.

Let me come over there.

I'm coming over right now.

And they say,

no, no, no, no.

Come over.

No, no, no.

I'm coming over right now.

Okay.

And then you just go help them out.

So that could look like home repair.

It can look like working

on each other's houses,

babysitting each other's kids,

serving.

You know,

some people just never get a date

because they don't know

when to watch their kids.

That can be huge.

Making or paying for meals

for each other,

praying for one another,

helping each other move.

Okay.

We've been able to bless

a lot of people through moves,

making one of the missions

of my life is to make

moving suck less for people.

So I'm just trying to,

create like a lot more people

to help move.

So let's just go short and quick.

And it's not as a horrible experience.

Helping each other budget.

All right.

Listening to each other,

showing hospitality without grumbling

by opening your homes

to one another

for gatherings or meals or parties.

Barring your stuff to each other,

borrowing vehicles,

tools, clothes,

and then just looking

for those seasonal

kind of rhythms of service.

Maybe there's certain seasons

where it makes more sense

than others,

but service is pretty much,

I think,

a year round thing

that we can be doing

here and there.

Okay.

Next thing.

Number three,

we're disciples.

Okay.

We're disciples.

In Christ,

we abide in his word

and bear much fruit,

which makes us disciples.

John 8 31 says,

so Jesus said to the Jews

who had believed them,

if you abide in my word,

you are truly my disciples.

And then John 15,

eight says,

by this,

my father is glorified

that you bear much fruit

and so proved

to be my disciples.

Okay.

So because of what God

has done for us,

we abide in his word.

And in that abiding,

what ends up happening

is we bear much fruit,

which proves

that we're disciples.

Okay.

You don't strive

to be a disciple.

Discipleship

and the fruit

of discipleship

comes out of abiding

in who Jesus is

and what he's done

for us.

Okay.

It's a fruit

that comes out of us.

It should be coming out.

It should be coming out

of us in some ways,

some ways effortlessly,

not always,

but there's just,

it's just,

it's growing inside of us.

There's a seed inside of us

that grows.

The word of God

grows inside of us,

our abiding in him.

And it's Christ

who lives in us.

It's no longer I who live,

but Christ who lives in us.

When Christ lives through us,

does Christ have a hard time

living the Christian life?

No.

Does Christ have a hard time

bearing the fruit of discipleship?

No.

Has he ever?

No, he doesn't.

And when you are in Christ,

it's no longer I who live,

but Christ who lives in you.

And when Christ lives in you,

the fruit of Christ,

the fruit of the Spirit,

the fruit of discipleship

comes out of you.

Okay.

And it proves

that you're a disciple.

If you abide in my word,

you are truly my disciples.

If you bear much fruit,

you so prove

to be a disciple.

Fruit is the proof

of discipleship.

Okay.

This is why we look for fruit.

This is why we confront fruit.

This is why we have conversations

about fruit.

And this is why we don't judge

people's hearts

because we don't know

each other's hearts.

But we do know each other's fruit

and we can speak to the fruit.

Okay.

Luke 14, 26 to 27 says,

If anyone comes to me,

it's not hate his own father

and mother

and wife and children

and brothers and sisters.

Yes, even his own life.

He cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not bear his own cross

and come after me

cannot be my disciple.

And verse 33 says,

Any one of you

who does not renounce

all that he has

cannot be my disciple.

So discipleship

has it with a great cost.

And for us to be disciples together

means we're going to have

to challenge one another.

We have to hold each other accountable

to walk in divine order

to make sure we're not exalting

good things like family

above Christ.

We're not exalting good things

that we're supposed to do

without not doing the right things

in the wrong order.

All right.

But we're doing the right

and they're not just doing

the top things

and neglecting the lesser things.

We're doing all the things

in the right order.

Okay.

That's discipleship.

That's the kingdom of God.

We're seeking the kingdom.

We're teaching one another.

Okay.

Acts 11 26

says that in Antioch

the disciples

were first called Christians.

Some people teach

that disciple

is different from Christian.

The Bible doesn't.

Disciple and Christian

are synonymous.

When it says disciple

it means Christian.

When it says Christian

it means disciple.

So when we make disciples

we make Christians.

Okay.

When we encourage people

to be disciples

we encourage people

to be Christians.

In 2 Timothy 2 verse 2

2 Timothy 2:2

says what you have heard

from me

in the presence

of many witnesses

entrust to faithful men

who will be able

to teach others also.

Okay.

And is this not

the essence of discipleship?

You hear things

you grow in things

you learn things

and then you entrust

them to others.

You teach them

to other people.

This is what we do

as parents right?

We've learned things

and we hope to bring

our kids up

in those same things.

It's not just

in these set times

of discipleship

it's in their coming

they're going

when they're rising

when they're going to bed.

We are speaking truth

to them

and it should be

the same way

in the church.

It's not just

relegated to Sunday mornings

and Wednesday nights

it's in the everyday

step of life

where we're learning

and teaching

and imparting things

to other people

that we have received

from others.

Okay.

What is the

two kind of ways

to look at discipleship?

One is in seasons.

There are seasons

we're always doing

discipleship in one sense

but then there's

a seasonal aspect

of it.

I think in

especially in Kansas City

the deep winter time

and the deep center

summer time

is the best time

to hunker down

for discipleship

because when it's

really cold

people don't really

want to go out

and hang out

and do all kinds of stuff

and in the middle

of the summer

when it's super hot

people aren't getting out

those are good times

to kind of hunker down

and say alright

let's do some discipleship

let's get in the word together

let's study something together

let's talk about

some discipleship needs

in our missional community

let's use this season

for that particular time.

Okay.

But then there's also

the life on life discipleship

there's going to be

strategic times

much like we're doing

what is a man

on Monday nights

that's a specific thing

nine weeks talking about

what is a man

that's great

it's good stuff right

it's helpful

isn't it

I know it's helpful for me

but in a Sunday morning sermon

helpful

okay

hopefully what I'm preaching

is helpful

I know I listen to the other sermons

those are helpful

okay

but what about

is it just that

is that all we do

no

when Jesus

ended his life

did he have 12 disciples

when he was

crucified

and then

left this earth

did he have 12 disciples

when it was all said and done

no

he had 120

okay

well

where did the rest

come from

if disciples

are only made

in the context

of small groups

well

he spoke to them

in larger groups

so it's in all things

it's the large

it's the small

it's in the public

it's from house to house

okay

that's why we're not

one or the other

it's both

all right

the bible says

in public

and from house to house

do we believe in public

yes

I'm preaching right now

in public

do we believe in house

absolutely

we open up our homes

you guys open up your homes

this is intentional

and this is where

discipleship happens

in the life on life

in the context

of life on life

you're with each other

and you're talking

with each other

and these things happen

and you can be led

by the spirit

it was really awesome

last night

we had a family over

before they came over

my wife

I believe prophetically

brought up something

to me that she thought

I should talk to them about

and when she brought it up to me

I had already been thinking

about those things

so I was like

yes I like this

tell that to me again

I want to make sure

I got it right

so she told it to me again

then we sit down

and I'm just praying

and looking for a way

to bring this into the conversation

not in a weird awkward way

because it's kind of

a confrontation right

but I really care

for these people

and the guy

starts sharing

he's like

hey I have this dream

the other night

and you were in it

I was like

oh you tell

and he had this dream

it was insane

the dream was exactly

what we were going to

talk to them about

and it painted it all

perfect

and I was just kind of like

wow this is the biggest

softball I've ever received

it was

but it was

Gene and I

were so encouraged

it's just like

this is how

discipleship happens

it happens supernaturally

too

like you can trust

for prophetic words

you can see God

give prophetic dreams

and I think it probably

made him so much

more receptive

to even what I had to say

because he had this dream

like God actually

put me in a dream

to talk to him

ahead of time

so that when I talk

to him in real life

it would go better

thank you Lord

that was great

but so encouraging

I mean it just made

Gene and I both say

we need to pray

for more of this stuff

this is awesome

did you tell them

that Gene and I

said something

yes we did

we told them afterwards

she's like

can I tell them

I'm like yeah

tell them

but it's so encouraging

and but sometimes

we forget about

stuff like that

we think oh

we're just striving

in the flesh

like oh here's

some people here

they're at my house

should probably

encourage them

or challenge them

or teach them

instead of thinking

hey the God

of the universe

is present

he's with me

he saved me

I don't have to strive

I don't have to

make something

happen here

that's not my job

I have my job

just to be faithful

and so it's like

alright here we are

Lord

let's do this

what do you have

and then look what

he does

and we need to

expect more of that

that's discipleship

yes we'll have

formal stuff

we'll do man camp

you know what is a man

on Monday nights

we'll do teachings

like this

and we'll do

marriage stuff

and parenting stuff

and other kinds

of training

those are all good

things

what about the

life on life

we speak boldly

to one another

but in love

in each other's

living rooms

and kitchen tables

that's important

okay

so what are some

other ways

that we do

identity as disciples

studying and being

prepared

to teach others

the gospel

or practicing

preaching the gospel

to each other

sometimes even

taking the Lord's

table together

or being fluent

in the gospel

okay

where we can just

speak the gospel

to one another

so that we get good

and so we know

how to speak it

to the lost people

this looks like

confessing your sins

to one another

okay

and just saying

and not exalting

the sin

but exalting

the Savior

there's a way

to confess

sins

that makes

your sin

exalted

and there's

a way

to confess

sins

that exalts

the Savior

of your sins

know the difference

we don't want

to have a church

where everybody

leaves the

accountability time

and feels

morbidly

discouraged

just like

oh

that

that was rough

everybody

shared their sin

and

now

we're going to

do it again

next week

you know

like

there's nothing

I don't want

to do this

next week

this is horrible

you know

instead of

hey

this is what

Christ is

saving me from

yes

this is

this is a struggle

but I want you

to know

how I'm accessing

Christ through faith

or you say

hey

I want to confess

to you some sin

and I'm having

a hard time

believing that

Christ is saving me

I'm having a hard time

accessing the

saving power of Jesus

would you help me

would you speak

the gospel to you

would you expose

my blind spots here

I'm missing something

right

and then someone

helps you

and say

okay

now I can testify

God's saving me

because I see it

the Bible talks about

you've been saved

you're being saved

and you will be saved

it's three tenses

and so often

in the church

we talk about

hey man

hey brother

I've been saved

I've been saved

or we talk about

the Lord returning

and we will be saved

and then what is it

we just grit our teeth

and try to stay free

from sin

and our own strength

all through this life

no

the same power

that saved us

from the penalty of sin

is available to save us

from the power of sin

and so we can be being saved

that's sanctification

right

well that happens

in the context of body life

that's discipleship

that's our identity

as disciples

we teach each other

to rejoice

and magnify

the saving power of Jesus

even in the midst

of our sin

even in our sin

and I say

even in the midst

of our sin

where else are we

going to do it

right

I mean

that's where we need it

okay

this is studying

and obeying the Bible

together

notice I didn't just say

studying the Bible

you know

a lot of people

want to have a Bible study

how about a Bible obeying

right

like

you can study the Bible

but are we doing it

right

it's easy to study it

in one sense

like wow

that's really good

I studied the Bible

okay now do it

can we just study it some more

I mean

that's a lot more fun

no

we have to obey it as well

right

we speak the truth

and love to one another

we determine

discipleship needs

in the missional community

and then teach on those needs

and don't think

that only the lead partner

is the one who can do that

you might be seeing something

that they're not seeing

had someone come up to me

the other day

and just said

hey

this is just something

I've noticed

I think would be good

to teach on

I was like

I did not think of that

but I think you're right

like that's really helpful

thank you for bringing that up

so

those kind of things

are helpful

sometimes you're seeing

a need that someone else

isn't seeing

and maybe you're even

the one who's going to teach it

you know

like hey

could I teach on this

do you think I could

take some time

and just share this

maybe it's briefly

maybe it's a little bit

more longer form teaching

but that's helpful

for us to become

disciples together

growing and understanding

what gifts you have

and then how you can use

the gifts you have

to serve one another

and disciple one another

build one another's up

could look like

praying and prophesying

over each other

right

just praying over each other

asking the Lord

Lord would you speak to us

for this person

this person

that's being discouraged

Lord just

it'd be awesome

if you gave us a word

for them

and you're just waiting

on the Lord

maybe he does

maybe he doesn't

but you're making room

for him

to speak to you

you're listening

you're waiting

okay

maybe it's a

specific person

maybe it's a whole family

maybe it's just a couple

it could be any of those three

or teach on being

filled with the Holy Spirit

and praying for people

to be filled with the Spirit

okay

valuing the filling

of the Holy Spirit

and the power of the Holy Spirit

realizing again

we're not doing church

in our own strength

we want to be

a church

that is charismatic

in the sense

that we believe

in the power of the Spirit

not we believe

in all this weird excess

we believe

that God's Spirit

empowers us

to do the thing

God has called us to do

that can only be done

by God's Spirit

and so we're not going

to substitute

the Spirit

with the flesh

and say

this is church

that's not church

and it does not exalt

the third person

of the Godhead

which is the Holy Spirit

okay

lastly

how we can become

disciples together

is we can pray

even for freedom

with each other

sometimes

the Bible says

in Ephesians 4

that when you let

the sun go down

and you're angry

you give the devil

a foothold

okay

if we believe lies

about God

or about the Bible

and you know

it says the devil

is a father of lies

you can get a strong

hold on us

or a foothold on us

and we need to pray

sometimes for freedom

there needs to be

confession

repentance

and bringing things

into the light

darkness is the domain

of darkness

and sometimes people

walk in secret sin

and we get those things

in the light

and then we see

people be set free

there are some people

who are stuck

in certain things

you know

the Bible says

resist the devil

I mean

it says

submit

James 4 verse 7

James 4:7

people love to quote

James 4 verse 7

James 4:7

and just say

submit to God

and the devil will flee

and they skip the middle part

it says

submit to God

resist the devil

and he will flee

and a lot of people

skip the resisting part

you have to resist the devil

and you know

what's best done

with the brothers and sisters

where they can just

resist the devil with you

and of course

though

at the backdrop

of submission to God

we're not just

willy-nilly

resisting the devil

when there's not

submission of God

we're taking the whole

verse in context

we're saying

you must submit to God

and when you submit to God

we resist the devil

and then what does he

got to do

he has to flee

he has to flee

lastly

we're missionaries

okay

in Christ

we are sent by God

which makes us

missionaries

or people on mission

John 20 21

says

Jesus said to them

peace be with you

as the Father

has sent me

even so

I'm sending you

I'm sending you

Matthew 28 19

the Great Commission

right

go therefore

and make disciples

of all nations

baptizing them

in the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit

go

I'm sending you

this involves

getting out of our

comfort zone

have you ever met

any person

who drifted into mission

just kind of

accidentally found

themselves there

you know

D.A. Carson

says nobody

drifts into holiness

I would add

nobody drifts

into mission

no church drifts

into mission

it's like wow

we have this church

nobody was even

thinking about mission

we weren't aiming

at mission

and then we just did

we just got on mission

and all these people

got saved

said by nobody ever

that just does not happen

okay

mission is

the uncomfortable

thing to do

mission is the thing

you have to believe

that God is sending you

and then you have to

go

okay

you have to

leave your spot

you're in

and go to another spot

you have to go

nobody drifts into that

that doesn't just happen

that's an intentional action

and it flows out

of our identity

when you know

that's just not something

I do

it's something I am

that I have been sent

by God

God didn't want me

to be stationary

God didn't want me

to just be comfortable

God didn't want me

to just be in my

us four no more

bless me club

where I just listen

to good sermons

hear good music

and have my kids watch

no

God has died on the cross

and then says

if you want to be my disciple

you pick up yours too

now go seek and save

those who are lost

just like I did

follow my example

follow me

follow me to where

the lost are

don't ask them

to put the uncomfortability

on them

and to come to you

you put the uncomfortability

on you

and you go to them

that's what true mission is

right

Acts 20 24

Paul

the quintessential

I love this verse so much

I do not account my life

of any value

nor is precious to myself

if only I may finish

my course

in the ministry

that I received

from the Lord Jesus

to testify

of the gospel

of the grace of God

you know why

you don't drift into it

because the only way

you can finish the course

of testifying to the gospel

is if you don't

account your life

of any value

you know precious

to yourself

and so that takes

some high level

intentionality

okay

this is why

St. Corinthians 5

talks about us being

verse 20

talks about us being

ambassadors for Christ

God making his appeal

through us

if you know you're

an ambassador

you know that's an

identity of us

as a church

we make appeals

we appeal to people

I implore you

on behalf of Christ

be reconciled to God

right

that's what we do

if we're ambassadors

of Christ

it's what Philippians 1

Philippians 1:5

verse 5

calls partnership