Sermon Audio

Introduction

I want to begin by thanking everyone who labored to make Pastor Larry’s retirement so meaningful last weekend. I know that the whole affair was a blessing to both them and their family who were in town for the event. I am personally thankful for the faithfulness that God granted to Pastor Larry and his wife Betty for so many years, and I know that these last few weeks have been like climbing a hill of business and anticipation as we prepared for the party and prepared for the service. The emotions built. The planning culminated. The effort produced fruit. And they were honored. So, thank you.

Today, we stand together just on the other side of that hill. We are looking out together over the landscape of the future. As we do that, I believe that the Lord is calling us to remember together our marching orders. We have a vision statement that is very simple. [Worship. Love. Serve.] And that mission statement is crafted to shape how we do the one thing that the Lord has called us to do together as The Road. So, I want to remind you what that one thing is.

Before I do that, I want to remember together who we are. We call ourselves The Road. If someone asks you, “Why did you call your church The Road?” What do you say? … The Road is a distillation of a few of the other names that this body and The Body has had over the past 2000 years. In 1978 there was a little house on the hill with Christians singing in the garage. It was called Duncan Road Baptist Mission. In the Fall of 1980 the mission was able to sustain itself and so they called a young pastor named Larry Chapman. After Larry had been there for a few years, they were able to gain their own 501c3 status and were established as a Missouri Not-For-Profit Corporation called Duncan Road Baptist Church on June 25th 1982.

A little over twenty years later, the Church chose to step away from the SBC and became Duncan Road Church. Then, as pastor Larry and I prayed and talked about what God might have for this little body of believers, God put in on our hearts to suggest a new name for the church. “The Road” In that name there is a vision of a church that is always returning to the roots of the faith. You see the Bible tells us that we weren’t always called Christians.

As I read these passages from the book of Acts, I want you to listen for the word “The Way.” The Greek word that is translated “the Way” means a way, a path, or a road. That is the kind of Way that they were talking about. A Road. A path that flows into the future where we see our Savior beckoning us with nail scarred hands to come and follow.

Acts 9:2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Acts 19:9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

Acts 19:23 ¶ About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.

Acts 24:14 But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,

Acts 24:22 ¶ But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.”

This idea of a movement of Jesus’ followers that were known around the ancient world as “The Way” melded with the idea that Duncan Road had always thought of themselves as people on The Road with Jesus.

All of that came together and you can see that we are very intentionally identifying ourselves with those that were hunted by Saul of Tarsus. We believe that we are one people with those who were scattered by the first great tribulation and went about preaching the Good News where ever they were driven. We want to be known as The Road because we believe that we know the One who is The Road to God the Father, Jesus Christ. We are The Road. If the Lord wills, and one day we own our own facility in which we bring our praises to God, we must remember that that building is not The Road. When we go to that building, let us not say that we are going to The Road. We are going to meet with The Road.

Now, what is the one thing that The Road is called by God to do? There is just one thing that God has called out to us and said this is what we are to be about. For that one thing, we must go to the key text in the Bible where we hear from Jesus’ lips our marching orders. The instructions that he had for that little band of followers who came to be known as “The Road.” Today I want to meditate with you on the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20 and apply it to us, The Road.

Overview

“The work of this church is not finished. God’s purpose is to make himself glorious in the work he does in his people. That’s the Lord’s purpose for The Road and the Chapmans.”

That is a quote from Pastor Larry’s last sermon from last week. God’s purpose is to make himself glorious. That doesn’t mean that God is not glorious enough yet and he needs to make himself more glorious. That means that God’s beautiful glory is infinitely massive, and yet we as human beings are blinded to that glory by sin, and Satan. God’s purpose is to reveal to the whole world the glory that he really has. Today we are going to focus in on Jesus’ Great Commission because this is how God has chosen to use the Church to unveil his glory so that people can see how glorious he really is and seeing be changed to be like him. God’s highest goal in creation is to reveal his glory, and the role that he has ordained for The Road in accomplishing his goal for creation is this.

Make Disciples

That is the main mission of the rest of your life if you belong to Jesus.   Make Disciples. 

That is the vision and purpose of all that we do together. Make Disciples.

That is what everything is aiming at for us as The Road. Make Disciples.

And our vision statement gives shape to that mission. “Worship, Love, Serve” is all about making disciples. We didn’t leave it so short so that it can be turned into a relativistic mush that means whatever the reader wants it to mean. “Worship, Love, Serve means making disciples. Always think of it that way. What is Worship, Love, Serve all about? It’s all about making disciples.

So, let’s focus in on the Great Commission in Matthew 28. I want to call to your attention four things this morning.

1. The Great Commission is set in a context of obedience and worship.
2. The Great Commission is founded on the foundation of the authority of Christ.
3. The Great Commission is our One Thing…Make Disciples.
4. The Great Commission involves going, baptizing, and teaching. (I ended up running out of time and skipping this point. Tune in next week. 😉

Scripture

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “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.””

(Matt 28:16–20)

A Context of Obedience and Worship

Obedience

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

The Great Commission is set in the context of obedience and worship. They obeyed Jesus. They did what Jesus told them to do. Jesus said, ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) As we seek to carry out the mission of the church(make disciples), we must first be disciples, and disciples obey their master. If you are not walking in obedience to Jesus, then you are not a disciple.

Does that sound right to you?

Luke 14:33 So, therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

John 8:31 ¶ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

John 15:7 “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

Walking in obedience means following Jesus and following Jesus means walking in obedience. Choosing disobedience is choosing someone or something else to follow other than Jesus.

Walking in obedience does not mean living a sinless life. Everyone who is walking in obedience to Jesus is still living in a humanity that is mired in sin. Following Jesus in a sinful body is the stuff of Christianity. We live life with two realities. (1)We are declared holy and righteous in Christ. We have imputed righteousness. God the Father looks at us and sees Jesus Christ, God the Son. He sees His perfect righteousness instead of our sinfulness. (2)We are also Spirit empowered to grow in Christ likeness. We fight a fight of faith in Jesus that makes us become more and more like the One whose righteousness we have been given. We fight by depending on God for everything and trusting that He is giving us what is best for us. We fight by keeping our eyes on Him, and His promises for us.  We fight by spending time with him in prayer and meditation on him.

If you are new here among us you will find that you are not among a people who think they have all their stuff together. We don’t think of ourselves as having arrived so that we get to tell everyone else what to do. We are a bunch of folks who are messed up with messed up pasts, but we have come to know Jesus. We have been washed by him. We have a righteousness that is not our own, and we look to Jesus, the one who called us, and purchased us, and made us sons and daughters of his Father in Heaven. We look to Jesus’ and we throw up our hands and say, “I don’t have any idea what I’m doing here. So, I’m going to do what you say.”

Worship

And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

Worship, maybe more important than obedience, is also the context of our mission. This is what Jesus was talking about when he was in Mary and Martha’s home and Martha was anxiously toiling. Martha was upset with her sister who was sitting at Jesus’ feet because she was not helping, Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)

Mary has chosen to sit and gaze upon the beauty of Jesus. Mary has chosen to sit and listen to Jesus. Mary, who poured out her whole inheritance on Jesus’ feet. Mary, who knew how precious Jesus is. This is the One Thing that is necessary for each of us who know who Jesus really is.

Now after his resurrection, the disciples knew too. They all obeyed Jesus words, and they all worshiped him when they saw him. The disciples were enraptured by him. They worshiped him. In this sermon, You will notice that it says that some doubted. Does that give you comfort? That gives me comfort. The Greek word that is translated “doubt” is not meant to be a contrast to the ones who worshiped. Matthew is not saying here that some worshiped and some doubted, and so doubt and worship

You will notice that it says that some doubted. Does that give you comfort? That gives me comfort. The Greek word that is translated “doubt” is not meant to be a contrast to the ones who worshiped. Matthew is not saying here that some worshiped and some doubted, and so doubt and worship are the two opposites here. No, he is just talking about uncertainty, or to have a quivering heart. They were unsure and scared as they encountered the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Have you ever been unsure as you follow Jesus? Have you ever been unsure and scared as you encounter the resurrected Jesus and begin to understand the claim that his deity has on your life? I have. The apostles were. If we know who he really is, we should be. They were unsure and scared, but they were walking in obedience to Jesus and living lives of worship to Jesus.

Built on the Foundation of the Authority of Jesus Christ

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Now Jesus speaks. He speaks with the kind of earth shaking reality that can only be either insane babble or massively life changing. This is the kind of statement that made C.S. Lewis say that Jesus cannot be just a good teacher. A good teacher does not say something like this. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” That is either crazy talk or crazy truth. That is the decision that is before all of us every time we wake up and plan our day. Do we believe that Jesus Christ wields all authority in heaven and on earth?

If we do, then we live in a different reality than almost everyone else in this world. This is not the picture of God that the world has. A carpenter from Galilee showed up among the Jewish people two-thousand years ago. He claimed that he was bringing the Reign of God on earth and even that he was one with God. He healed the sick, and calmed the storm, and cast out demons, and raised the dead. He claimed that He was the only Road to get us to the One who created us and loves us and will complete us. He said that he is living water that will satisfy our souls. He said he is the bread of life that fills us with the life that we have lost. He laid claim to the eternal, all-sovereign throne that God promised to a descendant of the Jewish king David through the wilds-eyed prophets of the Jewish Scriptures. Then he was crowned, and robbed, and lifted up for all to see.. nailed to a cross where he hung and bled and died.

Then he rose from the dead and never died again! He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” What are you going to do about it?

Our One Thing – Make disciples

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

This is it. This is our one thing… our one mission.

There are a million ways to get lost in the weeds of good things. We are often enslaved by the tyranny of good things. We want so much to be good people. We want to make others around us like us. We want to be seen as a kind and compassionate man or woman. We want to be for ourselves what Jesus says only he can be. So, we try to be little saviors for the world by feeding and clothing the poor. We try to be little saviors for the world by raising money for a good cause. We try to be little saviors for the world by preaching organic food, or coaching little league, or going to help victims of Hurricane Harvey, or Irma, or marching outside an abortion clinic, or adopting a baby.

These are all things that we absolutely should do. If God puts us in the way of hurting people in this world we absolutely should help. But, that is not our one thing. Atheists, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Buddhists, Scientologists, and Agnostics all do these things. They all have this to offer. They all want a better world.

No one else can do anything about this suffering world’s real problem! No one! There is no one else who is obeying this command given by the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth. We, The Church, are the only ones who know that Hurricane Irma is not what Floridians should be afraid of this morning. We, The Church, are the only ones who can tell the world about the One who pierced into our broken reality and was pierced to give us a Road to the One who stands outside of our broken reality.

I do not want to discourage good works. I want to encourage good works. But let us never ever allow good works to be an end in themselves. We are serving Hors d’oeuvres on the deck of the Titanic. What people need from us is for us to use the Hors d’oeuvres to start a conversation about the fact that we hit an iceberg and are all going to die.

This is our one thing. Make disciples. This is what we, every one of us, must be about. We are a light in the darkness. We are the only light in the darkness. Let us be lavish in our good works, but let us make sure that they don’t cover our light.

Discipleship in Grace Groups

Today, as we look out over the landscape of the future together, I want to sound the trumpet call. Charge! We belong to The Road. We have a great mission. We are about making disciples. That is the purpose that unites everything that we do around here. We have shaped our ministry to hungry people in our community around the purpose of making disciples. When we engage with children on Wednesday evenings, we are aiming at making disciples. When we meet in Small Groups, we are all about making disciples. That’s what it is all about. We are discipleing one another in our Grace Growth Groups.

You see, making disciples is not just a synonym for evangelism. Nor is making disciples just a process for growing and teaching after someone becomes a Christian. We in Christian circles often use language like evangelism and discipleship like they are separate terms covering separate processes as though we don’t start discipleing people until after they are thoroughly evangelized. That is not the case. Discipleship, disciple making, is the over all mission of The Church. We as The Road have some very intentional ways that we do this. In these groups is where we disciple one another. In these groups, we nurture relationships that are more than skin deep. Grace Growth Groups are our way of building an intimacy and a trust that will give us a foundation for preaching the gospel to each other when we are distracted. We are all distracted from time to time. We are distracted by prosperity. We are distracted by our suffering. We are distracted by our flesh. We are distracted by the enemy of our souls. There are myriad opportunities for us to get distracted from our focus on the beauty and glory of Jesus and his death and resurrection, and we need other Christians who are close enough to us to point it out.

The Christian life is not an individual sport. We are not meant to go it alone. Over the next two weeks, we are going to look at the “one-anothers” of Scripture and the meaning of Biblical fellowship. My hope is that we can catch a vision for how radical this community life is supposed to be. We are meant to live in relationship with others who are also of The Road. We are meant to sharpen one another’s faith through living life together. We are meant to encourage one another with the Gospel when we are distracted. We are meant to rebuke one another when we turn our backs on the Gospel.

On September 24th, two weeks from today, we will gather in our little barn out on the property that we own in Grain Valley. We will eat a potluck dinner together. I will bring a word of encouragement and vision for our Grace Growth Groups this year. We will identify the groups that we will go deep with this year in relationship.

Then, on October 1st our Grace Growth Groups will begin to meet again in homes. I cannot overstate the importance of these groups. This is our context for discipleship. This is our context for the one-anothers and the fellowship that we will consider over the next two weeks. Please get in a Group. Please.