Mission #2 - ... Into Fully Devoted Followers

MATTHEW 28:18-20

FULLY DEVOTED FOLLOWERS OF JESUS

          Many believers do not fully understand their Christian life.  They assume that since their salvation was instantaneous experience, their change into the image of Christ should also be quick and easy.  NOT!  This involves a lifelong quest of following Jesus.  This change only comes from an intimate, prolonged relationship with Jesus.  RBC has been placed in such a time as this to bring people to a saving relationship with Him and then grow them into fully devoted followers of Jesus.   

          There are two types of followers of Jesus here today- spectators and participants.  Which one are you?  If we are to fulfill our call and grow our part of the almost 8,000 new people coming to our 5 mile radius in the next four years into fully devoted followers of Jesus, then those of you that are spectators must become participants in our call from Jesus.  What an awesome opportunity for us!   

I.  WHAT DOES BEING A FULLY DEVOTED FOLLOWER INVOLVE?

           “Disciple” in Jesus’ day meant “the pupil of a teacher.”  When it was used of a Christian, it meant to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus.  There are three things involved in being a fully devoted follower of God: the calling, equipping and sending of God.  We see this in the lives of David, Joseph, Moses, Paul and all fully devoted followers of God.  (Review)  Why should it be different for us?  What is involved in these three actions of God? 

          A.  A Fully Devoted Follower of Christ is CALLED to walk with Christ. 

There is a difference between devotion to principles and devotion to a person.  Millions of people today are devoted to religions, causes or philosophies.  Jesus Christ never asks us to devote ourselves to a cause or a creed; He asks us to devote ourselves to him and to follow Him wherever He is going and to do whatever He desires to be done.  That takes a fully devoted follower to do it.   

          If you go to a theatre and purchase a ticket are you going to leave the theatre and go next door to the restaurant to eat and hope to run into someone who has seen the movie so they can tell you all about the movie?  Of course not!  The only way to really experience the movie is to go to it.  The beauty and glory of Christ can only be observed if we are where He is.  You never personally experience the fullness of the glory and majesty of God until you walk in a close relationship with His son, Jesus.  Yet some of you go about your life relying on someone else to tell you how good God is to them!  In other words your relationship with God is second hand.  You come to worship, Sunday Bible study, special Bible studies, special events and hear what God is doing in the lives of others and think that there is all there is to being a follower of Jesus.  God wants to abundantly bless you, but you are content with table scraps! 

Do you remember when Peter and John were arrested after Christ went back to Heaven.  These are the same guys who had run for their lives when Jesus was arrested and tried.  Now they have the boldness of a lion as they preach and are not afraid of the threats of punishment if they don’t stop preaching about Jesus.  Why were they so radically changed?  We find the answer in the mouths of their enemies when they saw their courage and realized that they had no training and were ordinary men.  They said, “These men have been with Jesus.” 

B.  A Fully Devoted Follower of Christ Must be EQUIPPED to Live Like Christ.   Did you ever wear braces?  I didn’t, but I financed two who did!  Those braces are put on and the pain starts soon after.  The braces are meant to put a steady, constant pressure on the teeth until they are moved into the right location.            We are to “attach” Jesus to our minds and hearts so that we can be changed into His likeness and be effective world changers for Him.  We are to let Him apply the gentle, steady, constant pressure that will change the location of our desires, motivations and ambitions.  Then we can love, pray, worship, serve, cry, obey, humble ourselves, be under God’s authority, resolve conflict, take care of the poor, resist evil, denounce hypocrisy, and have compassion like Jesus did.  This equips us to represent Him well to our world.      

 Even though we can’t physically be with Jesus like His earlier followers, we can “attach” Him to our life through Bible study, prayer, and worship of Him.  Jesus invites His followers to come and “learn from Me.” (Mt. 11:28-30)  This is to learn about who Jesus is, what He is doing in our world and what He wants us to do with Him.  Then we will be equipped with the wisdom we need to make sure our mission is His mission for us!  When we find His mission for us and attempt to do it, then we can know that He will supply the power to accomplish it!  Always.     

C.  A Fully Devoted Follower of Christ Is SENT to Work for Christ.   The purpose of our equipping is that we will be prepared for every good work that God wants to do through us.  God wants us to bear much fruit.  This can only be done when we have been equipped with the right equipment.  Then God will call us out. 

It is good to begin by going out with someone who has already been there.  It is like on the job training for followers.  I have asked our leaders to look for someone to mentor in what they do for Christ here at Ridgecrest .   Now I’m asking those that feel God is ready to send you out to find someone to learn from.  God will bring someone in your life that is doing something here at Ridgecrest that you could see yourself doing.  Go ask them can you help them do what they are doing.  This is the beginning of being sent by Jesus to be His servant in the world.  

III.  RBC’S JOB IS TO MAKE AND EQUIP JESUS’ FOLLOWERS.

          A.  Make Followers of Jesus.  He didn’t call us to make Baptists or Presbyterians or Methodists.  He called us to make disciples of Jesus Christ.  We must constantly introduce people to the salvation that is found only in Him.

          B.  Make Fully Devoted Followers of Jesus.  Why is this so important to Christ?  People need the Lord because it is only spiritual transformation that will make the needed changes in their world to make their life worth living.  The happiest people in the world are fully devoted followers of Jesus.  For their sakes Jesus calls us to help as many as possible to be fully devoted followers of His. 

We are to teach all followers to obey everything Jesus told us.  We must teach the wisdom of coming under the yoke of Christ, which means the complete submission of our lives to His leadership.  We can’t soft sell this.  Did you ever stop to ask what a yoke is really for?  It is not a burden to the animal which wears it, but it actually makes their burdens light. If you attached a plow to the oxen in any other way it would be intolerable.  It is not meant to give pain, but to save pain.  And yet people speak of the yoke of Christ as if it were a slavery and look upon those who wear it as objects of compassion.  Compared to the burden of sin, the yoke of the Lord is easy.

          Christians are to be servants.  We are to "work for the night is coming."   We are not alone in Christ, but serving alongside of each other.  Let’s teach people at RBC to take up the yoke of Christ and be fully devoted to Him and His cause.  

CONCLUSION

          In every Christian's heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross by putting Christ first in his life.  If he refuses the cross, he remains on the throne.  Perhaps this is at the bottom of the worldliness among believers today.  We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do all the dying.  No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying.  We want to stay in charge.

          But look in the Bible at what Jesus can do when He is in on the throne.  Look at what God has done around here when He was on the throne.  Let’s give the throne to Him and teach our world to do the same in order that God may work His wonders among us and make our lives worth living.