Making Disciples (Pep Talk)
A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
April 22, 2018
at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia
Proverbs 1: 22-33
Matthew 28: 16-20
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite our eyes
Help us to think outside of our minds
Help us to be more than our lives
For your eyes show the way
Your mind knows the truth
Your being is the life.
Amen.
Begin with the Old
Testament
These are Words of
wisdom in a book of words of wisdom, Proverbs opens with introductory words
about the purpose of these words.
I want to read this
opening to get at the purpose of Proverbs. . . to give us some context
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of
Israel:
2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,[a]
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.[b]
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,[a]
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.[b]
But now in our
passage we have the lady wisdom herself, rebuking the foolish.. . . take a
listen.
“How long will you who are simple love
your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.
24 But since you refuse to listen when I call
and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,
25 since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you—
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.
24 But since you refuse to listen when I call
and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,
25 since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you—
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me,
29 since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord.
30 Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
31 they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
they will look for me but will not find me,
29 since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord.
30 Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
31 they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
As I was reading these
words and their tone, I couldn’t help but think back to the locker room and the
sideline. . . the pep talk.
Pep talks. . .
All the different
coaches I’ve seen do it
Baker
When
a senior – young coach
Hampden
– Sydney
Ed
Del
Orlando
– props
Me
– Quiet coach, who when loud, meant something
Became
my role to give the pep talks
I
got to be pretty good. . . you give a different one before the game, at half
time, and then after
This
morning’s text has that element, as it is the famous last words that the risen
Jesus leaves the disciples with according to Matthew
Here
is that text:
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the
mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but
some doubted. 18 Then Jesus
came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I want to do
a few things today in looking at this so called Great commission, this pep talk,
because we have it all in the text
1.
I want to think about the audience. . . these disciples. . .
where they are, here with everything going on. . . and then compare them to us
2.
Then I want to look at the content of what Jesus is saying. .
. how it is taken, how we should take it, what is Jesus really saying to them
and therefore to us here
3.
Then Last I want to look at the game. . . if this is the pep
talk, the game plan outlined, the last remarks by the coach. . .
I want
to evaluate how the game has been played based on what Jesus told us it was all
about, and maybe this could turn into my own half time speech where some
important adjustments might be made. . . hey it’s a plan, let’s see how we do….
So the
disciples. . . they’ve been through a lot,
they’ve seen
Jesus crucified,
they’ve
deserted and abandoned him,
they’ve got
all that guilt going on
But now he’s
back and he’s invited them to join him
He’s filled
their nets, broken bread with them, its been like old times
But now he is
going away again, and he is leaving these words
Look it says
they did two things. . .
1.
they worshipped him
2.
Some doubted
I get both. .
. much has gone on. . . you’d be amazed for sure
But there
would also be this doubt, this place in the back of your head that thinks, how
can this be possible.
It’s too
strange. But you are hear and you are worshipping
You are in
the game at least, and I’ve always thought that is enough
To be there,
to be engaged to be wrestling with the reality and its possibilities,
not because
you’ve got it all locked down, but because you don’t
And that is
ok for us too, Jesus doesn’t give this pep talk to perfect people, but to
people
So there we
are when we hear this:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. 19 Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age.
All
authority, not some but all
Heaven and on
Earth – so the Romans aren’t the source of authority
No God is. .
. and all of that authority was
Given – gift,
granted, bestowed, placed in the hands of. . .
Me – Jesus,
the crucified one, he who has been raised
He who is Risen, he who was their
friend and teacher
What, all authority, heaven and
earth
Therefore –
Since that is true
Go – and make
– make what
Disciples of
all nations
Baptizing
them, into the trinity, Father Son and Holy Spirit
Teaching
them, to obey all that I taught to you
So we are to
teach them, not just baptize them, not just proclaim them “Saved”
But to teach
them to be disciples, and discipleship is difficult
It’s a
calling, it is carrying your crosss, picking it up and following.
Discipleship
is what it is all about
So lets do
the final thing now. . . how have we done? How has the church done on this pep
talk, this game plan?
Highlights,
and low lights
What was it
like when to be a Christian meant to be martyred
Easy to teach
the difficulty of discipleship then, it might be hard to learn it, but it
wasn’t hard to teach it
The Book of
Revelation seeks to teach it. . .
Go out and
proclaim Jesus is Lord, even though it may cost you greatly
Yes, but
proclaiming isn’t the same thing as this “making disciples” and teaching them.
. .
But then the
Emperors became Christian. . . and so everyone must be
So now every
one is nominally a Christian, but are disciples being made?
What about
Crusades, and war, what about inquisitions? What about burning heretics, where
is the teaching?
And therefore
what are we doing now? We deal with all of that history every day, when we are
out to make disciples and teach,
And it is hard,
it is difficult, it takes a whole lot of patience and faith, has it come full
circle. . . well not quite yet, no lions, no arena, no real persecution.
But much is
against us. . .
Even
ourselves. . . everytime we sell ourselves short
Yes there is
doubt, there is fear, there is inadequacy, and humility,
But there is
also a great commission here
Giving us a
job to do
From someone
who was given all authority in heaven and on earth
Would one
such as that give it to us if we were not capable of delivering. . . and that
means teaching, teaching people to become disciples, followers, people being
taught, led in the way of Christ himself
Not just
filling the roles, but changing lives,
I start
almost every sermon with the same prayer, it is a prayer of striving
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite our eyes
Help us to think outside of our minds
Help us to be more than our lives
For your eyes show the way
Your mind knows the truth
Your being is the life.
Amen.
Such things
are only possible because Christ is with us to the end of the age, but since he
is, they are, and we serve no one by humbly shrinking from them or
rationalizing, to talk them away, instead let us humbly begin to greatly strive
to fill the commission for we have been called!
