“Discipleship In The Triune
God”
Matt. 28:16-20
Intro.: Recently, in a newsletter article I attempted
to explain the difference between Christian discipleship and church
membership. In that article I explained
that discipleship focuses on the will of God as He makes it known to us through
His Word, and that it is a way of life created in us that is different from
what comes “naturally.” Membership, on the other hand, can become self-serving,
focusing on our own will and doing whatever our sinful mind imagines, always
asking what we want rather than what God wants for us.
I
pray that this description will lead you to ask a few questions. 1st – Which have I been, a Christian
disciple or merely a church member. 2nd
– Which does God want me to be?” and 3rd – How do I become and remain a disciple
in the Triune God?
Only
you under the guidance of the Holy Spirit can answer the first question, but
today’s Gospel does a pretty good job of answering the other two.
I.
The Great Commission Shows Us That God Wants Us As Disciples.
How
many of us would say of our children, “Oh, I want them to grow up to be lonely,
poor and hopeless. I want them to wander
through life aimlessly, confused and without purpose. And I want them to die in unbelief and suffer
eternal death”? Well, this is not the kind of life that Jesus
wanted for His disciples or for any of us either.
A. As our Gospel begins the lonely eleven,
still somewhat confused after Christ’s death and resurrection, are going to the
mountain in
Out of love Jesus did not wait for them
to come to Him, nor did He scold them for their ignorance. Instead, He approached them and revealed
Himself to them. He told them “All authority in heaven and on earth [that
is all the powers in the material and spiritual realm] have been given to Me.” Jesus was both, the Son of God and Son of Man,
the promised Messiah, who would reign forever at the right hand of the Father
for the sake of His disciples. Beginning
with this revelation of Himself Jesus went on to bless them with a noble
mission to reveal His love for all people.
“Going, therefore,” He told
them, “Make disciples of all nations..” There on
that mountain in Galilee Jesus delivered His disciples from their life of
loneliness, poverty and hopelessness. He
gave them a clear mission, certainty and a noble purpose, and He gave them a faith
that would deliver them to eternal life.
B. That message Jesus offered those disciples
is also our assurance that He wants the same life of discipleship for us. He does not want us to be lonely, poor and
hopeless. He does not want us to wander
aimlessly, confused and without purpose.
And He does not want any of us to die in our sins and perish to suffer in
hell for eternity. From that mountain those
eleven, then the hundreds, and thousands and millions of disciples who followed
went forth as the Church with the very authority of Christ to make disciples of
all nations and to make disciples of you and me. As with those disciples Jesus does not wait
for us to come to Him. He does not leave
us in doubt and unbelief, but sends people into our lives who share Him with
us. People who share His love for us and
want us to have the same joy they have in being disciples in the triune
God. The answer to the question, which
does God want us to be Christian disciples or church members, is obvious. He wants us all to live the wonderful life of
discipleship. But then comes the
question, how do we become and remain disciples?
II. The Great Commission Tells Us How We
Are Made Disciples.
In our Gospel Jesus gave His disciples two means
for making disciples, when He said, “Going,
make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – Teaching them to hold onto all, whatsoever,
I have commanded you.” Notice that
Jesus says nothing here about marketing programs or sociological methodologies,
which might work quite well in adding members, but do not make disciples. Instead, He offers us the simple and
inseparable instruments of baptism and teaching.
A. Discipleship, your discipleship, begins with
a good start. When I was young I used to
play a board game, called “Life,” have you ever heard of it? Played it?
In that game you get a car, spin the dial and move spaces around the
board. You may get married, have
children, buy a house, and receive regular paydays. The winner is the one with the most money at
the end, and then you retire to millionaire acres. One of the first decisions you have to make
in the game is whether to go into debt for college or just go straight out into
the world and start making money, right away.
If you go to college you usually have better paydays and more
opportunities to make money throughout the game. If you don’t, you save a lot of money at the
beginning and get a head start on the rest of the players. How you start the game of Life makes a huge
difference in how the game goes for you.
The same is true in a life of discipleship. The goal is not the same; it is not about
money and ending up at millionaire acres.
Instead, our goal is receiving spiritual riches and enjoying an eternal
life of rest in God’s grace. Yet, how
you begin still makes a huge difference.
The starting place for us is with the One True God who reveals Himself
to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
For most of us our life of discipleship began when we were baptized in
that Holy Name.
That beginning makes all the difference
for those of you who have been baptized, because there in the cleansing flood
and washing of rebirth God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit came and gave
Himself to you and made you His own. The
Father was there and said to you: “I am
your God, and you are My child. Although you turn from Me
I come to claim you back and care for you.”
The Son was there and said to you:
“You poor, helpless human, I am your Savior and God. I became like you so that I could die on the
cross for you and now My blood cleanses you from all
your sin. Here I place My robe of righteousness over you. And I will lead you safely through death into
eternal life.” The Holy Spirit was there
and said to you: “I am your God and you belong
to Me. I give
you faith and a new heart. You are My child, and I will be your help, strength and comfort all
the days of your life and even forever.”
Beginning a life of discipleship with such
a baptism gives us a unique way of looking at the world in which we live. The earth, stars, animals, plants, and
universe are not just random hiccups of nature or an endless product of
evolution, but all are fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Each day we believe that God the Father, the
Creator of heaven and earth is still active in caring for what He has
made. Despite the frustration that our
sin has brought upon it resulting in natural disasters and disease, hatred and
violence, pollution and a dying planet, we can still see a tree bearing fruit
as a gift from God. We can see our jobs,
our families, our homes, and the people all around us who serve in their
vocations as blessings that flow from our Father’s love.
Beginning a life of discipleship with
Baptism in the name of the Trinity also makes a difference in our relationship
with God. We know that it’s all grace, a
free gift. Every time we begin our
worship with confession and absolution we are admitting that we are poor
miserable sinners who do not deserve a relationship with a Holy God. We recognize that we have sinned against Him
and one another by thought, word and deed, and deserve only temporal and
eternal punishment. But the Son of God
who came to us in our baptism is also the One who came as our Savior. He came not to be adored and served, but to
cry out in agony on a cross and to serve us by giving His life as a ransom for
us. He came to rise from death in
victory and give us the promise that through faith in Him we will be raised
also to live body and soul with Him forever.
For the sake of His Son we have been forgiven and have received the
privilege of being called the children of God.
Those of us who were blessed to be baptized as children were placed,
even kicking and screaming, into the loving and forgiving arms of God from the
very start.
Beginning with Baptism in the name of the
Trinity also makes a difference in the kind of people we become, because there,
in the waters of Baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who has given us a new birth to
a living hope through the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. He was placed into us as a seal and guarantee
of God’s favor. When we began our life
of discipleship in baptism the Holy Spirit brought us into the family of God; a
family that transcends every time and place and a family that will be with us
and love us forever. In this family we
encourage, support and build each other up in faith and love as the Holy Spirit
continues His work. Which brings us to
the other means Christ has given us to make us disciples that the original
Greek demonstrates should never be separated from the gift of baptism. That other means is the pure and blessed
teaching of all that Jesus has commanded His disciples to treasure and
keep.
B. Baptism is a great beginning to a life of
discipleship that can make a huge difference in the way we live our lives. But baptism viewed only as something in our past
that made us a member of a church, baptism apart from a faith that is shaped
and nurtured by all that Jesus has said to us in His Word will not sustain us
in the life of Christian discipleship that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
wants for us.
The other day I was going through our
Church records and discovered that in the last 13 years the Lord has used me to
baptize 167 people in this congregation.
167 children and adults received a great beginning to their life of
discipleship in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
but how many of those are still disciples and how many are content in being
members of a church, just names in a book?
As I look out over the congregation my heart grieves over those who
after receiving a blessed beginning in baptism have not continued to grow in discipleship
by being taught everything that Jesus has commanded us to treasure. I mourn for all those who have fallen again
into the depths of spiritual loneliness, poverty and hopelessness, for all who
after walking with Christ now wander aimlessly, confused and without purpose. And for those who in their wandering away
from Christ may be in danger of losing their faith and salvation.
[In
a few moments we will tell you confirmands that we
rejoice that you have been baptized and have received the teaching of the Lord,
but that is not the end of it. Just as
baptism was not the end of the disciple making process, neither is the Rite of
Confirmation. We, your family in Christ,
will pray for you today and everyday that He who has begun a good work in you
will bring it to completion at the day of our Lord, Jesus Christ.]
There is nothing any of us can do to make
ourselves disciples, but God has given us those precious and powerful means,
baptism and teaching. Many of you have
received a good beginning to a new life of discipleship through baptism, and
now that life continues and the ongoing process of disciple making happens as you
continue to receive, treasure, and guard all that our Lord Jesus Christ has
given you in His Word. In this Word the Triune
God continues to reveal Himself to you as the one who creates, redeems and
sanctifies you to be His own. In the
Word of Law He continues to put to death your old sinful nature that fights
against Him and attempts to lead you into hell and in the Word of Gospel He
breaths new, spiritual life into you with the assurance of forgiveness and
salvation. This is how disciples are
made, and this is how you and I are being daily transformed into Christian
disciples, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Concl.: Today we
celebrate that God wants us to have the joyful and blessed life of discipleship
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And we give thanks that He has provided the
way for it to happen for us and through us for others. By God’s grace in Christ we will never be
lonely, poor or hopeless, we will never be left to wander through life
aimlessly, confused or without purpose, and we will never perish, because we
have the promise of our Lord Jesus, “Lo, I will be with you always, to the very
end of time.” Amen.