First Step: Discipleship

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
Manassas Presbyterian Church
Manassas, Virginia
September 7, 2008

First Step: Discipleship
2 Peter 1:1-11
Matthew 12:46-50

We hear the words each time we celebrate a baptism,
hear them, of course, if we are able to take our focus
off the baby for a few seconds.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations
…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
(Matthew 28:19)

“Go and make disciples” --
A call to action, a call from our Lord
to go out into the world
among those we know, and those we don’t know;
among people who look and think like us,
and among people who don’t look or think like us;
among people who are our friends,
and among people who are our enemies,
always remembering Jesus’ teaching
that everyone is our neighbor.

“Go and make disciples.”
The only passage we hear from the Bible
with greater frequency
are the words we will hear in just a few minutes,
“Do this in remembrance of me”.

“Go and make disciples.”
But what are we to do with Jesus’ instructions?

Are we to go door to door,
standing on porches and front steps
unmoving and unyielding until we’ve converted
whoever answers the door:
“I will not leave until you become a disciple!”

Is that what Jesus taught the first twelve
he called to follow him?
Is it what he taught the 70,
as the group following him grew in numbers?
No, he taught them to take the word out,
but to move along and leave to God
the task of converting,
leave to God those who did not respond.

Our call is to take the word out into the world to all,
and bring into an ever-widening circle of disciples
those who do respond,
those whom God converts and convicts
by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

But even before we take that step out into the world,
out in response to Christ’s clear call to every one of us,
we should probably take a step back, each of us,
and have a look inward,
a look in the mirror.
Before we go out to make disciples,
we have to be confident that we are disciples
each of us.

The word “disciple” comes from a Latin word
that means “pupil”.
The Greek word we find in the Bible is even stronger, though:
it means someone who “loves learning”,
who understands the need to learn.
Disciples are pupils, always learning, always growing.
Disciples are disciplined:
the two words come from the same root.

We talked last week about our need to work at our faith,
to grow,
to grow in spiritual maturity,
which presumes that we are learning,
that we are life-long pupils.
When we stop learning,
stop working at growing in faith,
by the very definition of the word,
we’re no longer disciples.

The first step in discipleship
is to live grace-filled, graceful lives.
We have been given God’s grace in Jesus Christ;
and as disciples we should live that grace
by extending and sharing that grace.

Our every act, every deed should be grace-filled, and graceful.
Our every word should be be grace-filled, graceful.
The words we speak should not be critical,
self-righteous, or judgmental;
Grace-filled words are words that,
as Paul teaches us, build up.

We live in a world in which grace-filled, graceful speech
is more the exception than the rule.
Snide remarks, sarcasm,
condescending words, mean-spirited words;
even simple gossipy comments shared
with a friend over a cup of coffee
can so easily lead us from grace,
and lead us away from faithful discipleship.

Last week we talked about different faith practices,
that Paul exhorts us to follow.
Do you remember some of them:
love one another with mutual affection,
honor one another,
contribute to the needs of the saints,
extend hospitality,
live in peace even with your enemy.

Peter provides us with similar teaching:
“Make every effort to support your faith with goodness,
and goodness with knowledge,
and knowledge with self-control,
and self-control with endurance
and endurance with godliness,
and godliness with mutual affection
and mutual affection with love.”

Last week I challenged us all to adopt one faith practice
in particular, to make it a discipline,
a specific act of discipleship:
that we create a culture of welcome and hospitality.
We do that pretty well,
but I had a specific challenge for all of us:
to reach out every Sunday to someone you do not know
and go up and introduce yourself to that person,
to leave shyness behind,
as well as your concern that someone you think is
a stranger may turn out to be a 30-year member.
As I said last week, if you do not know the person,
and he or she doesn’t know you,
then you are strangers to one another.

How many of you did that last week,
started that discipline,
by introducing yourself to someone you did not know?
That’s what Jesus calls us to do!
That’s doing the will of God,
growing in discipleship
as a brother or sister of Christ.
If you didn’t do that last Sunday,
you’ve got the perfect opportunity to do it today
during the picnic.
And do it again next Sunday, and the Sunday after that,
and every Sunday.

There is no difference between any of us
and the twelve men Jesus first called to follow him
that we call the disciples, generally
disciples with a capital “D”.
Frederick Buechner reminds us that,
“There is no evidence that Jesus chose them
because they were brighter or nicer than other people.
In fact the New Testament record suggests
that they were continually missing the point,
jockeying for position,
and, when the chips were down,
interested in nothing so much as saving their own skins.
Their sole qualification seems to have been
their initial willingness to rise to their feet
when Jesus said, ‘Follow me.’”
(Beyond Words, 140)

You and I are disciples in just the same way Peter was,
Andrew, Matthew,
Mary Magdalene, Paul,
Lydia, Phoebe, Titus
and the thousands upon thousands
millions upon millions each of whom
have said “yes” to Christ over two thousand years.

Peter was right when he said,
“[The Lord’s] divine power
has given us everything we need
for life and godliness.”
(2 Peter 1:3)
Everything we need for life and discipleship.
But that’s always just the starting point,
the beginning of our lives as disciples.
We are called to build on the grace we’ve been given,
to grow in discipleship
so that we can go out and make disciples.

So come to this table as a disciple.
Come to this table to share in this meal
our Lord has prepared for all of us,
brothers and sisters in Christ,
brothers and sisters of Christ.

Come to this table to be fed,
to be strengthened, and to be nourished
by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

Come to this Table to renew your commitment to discipline
and renew your commitment to discipleship.

And then go from this Table,
but don’t go far.
Go only as far as the nearest stranger
and extend your hand in greeting,
one brother or sister to another,
one disciple to another.

Do that, and somewhere in the room,
Jesus will be smiling as he looks at you
and thinking to himself,
“Yes, there is a faithful disciple
who is doing the will of my Father in Heaven.
There is my sister, there is brother.”

AMEN