I believe that if our World, our Nations, our communities, our schools, our homes will ever see peace it will only happen when the voice of the "Church" one again rises to the cause above and beyond the noise of violence to ring forth the truth that Jesus is the Son of God and the Prince of Peace!

In order for that to happen churches throughout the land need to cease the internal fighting, bombarding one another over issues of scriptural interpretation and begin to do that Which God has called upon the "Church" to do - GO and MAKE DISCIPLES of the WORLD!

"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." With these words, in "The Cost of Discipleship," Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave powerful voice to the millions of Christians who believe personal sacrifice is an essential component of faith. Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, was an exemplar of sacrificial faith: he opposed the Nazis from the first and was eventually imprisoned in Buchenwald and hung by the Gestapo in 1945.

In this work, "The Cost of Discipleship," first published in German in 1937, Bonhoeffer asks the questions, "What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us to-day?" Bonhoeffer's answers are rooted in grace and God’s Word. The book builds to a stunning conclusion: its closing chapter, "The Image of Christ," describes the believer's spiritual life as participation in Christ's incarnation, with a rare and epigrammatic confidence: "Through fellowship and communion with the incarnate Lord," Bonhoeffer writes, "we recover our true humanity, and at the same time we are delivered from that individualism which is the consequence of sin, and retrieve our solidarity with the whole human race."

For several Wednesday evenings we met and discussed as a "church" what we believed to be our "Core Values" here at Stanfield First. In other words those things that you said ought to be un-negotiable for us as a church. We shared old ones, added new ones, and then we trimmed them down into just a few. You have a copy of those "Core Values" included in your bulletin this morning. I call your attention to Core Value number 7 which says:

"† We believe that we should be a "Disciple Making" church thereby
being obedient to the "Great Commission" as stated in St. Matthew 28:19-20."

A "Disciple-Making church." But what does that mean? What does that involve? Does it require certain things of us? Should it compel us to do certain things? I think the answer to the last two questions is a resounding YES! YES it requires certain things of us! YES it should COMPEL us to do certain things!

When Jesus told His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, they knew what He meant. He had taught them by His example and they understood the principles and priorities they had seen in His behavior. They were to win others to the faith and make more of what they were.

Jesus modeled both a strategy and a life-style. Jesus was a man with a plan. A man with priorities. A man with a goal.

We must begin with a dream. The Bible teaches us that "where there is no vision the people die." (Proverbs 29:18 NRSV) We must have a vision! A vision of what God wants for us to be and to become. We must have a vision of a World filled with people who desperately need Jesus.

Sounds funny to some people to hear the name "Jesus." Bill Easum in his book "Growing Spiritual Redwoods," says that people would much rather talk about knowing "Christ" than knowing "Jesus." He also reminds us that the word "Christ" is the theological word that refers to "Messiah," while "Jesus" is the name of the person. We don’t simply need to know that God has sent a Messiah - we need to understand that the Messiah is Jesus.

We are told of at least one occasion in which Jesus was standing on a hill looking down on the cities and when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." We need to see a people in need of Jesus.

In his book, "The Disciple Making Church," Bill Hull says that Jesus had a four phase development plan built around four key statements each inaugurating a new phase of the process of disciple making. I want to share three of those with you this morning.

The first is "Come and See." In St. John 1:46 we read: 46 Nathanael said to him, (Philip) "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."

If we are to be a Disciple Making Church we have to extend an invitation to others to "Come and See."

A few months ago Tom was on his was to a meeting outside of one of the fastest growing cities in North America. It was evening and he was late (as usual), and he hadn’t taken the time for supper. He stopped at random where restaurants line the highway.

The restaurant he chose was not very busy. They seated everyone together near the front window to give the appearance of popularity. As he was seated, he noticed two men at the adjacent table. Judging by the sample cases on the floor, and the suit coats hanging from the backs of their chairs, he guessed they were salesmen relaxing together after a busy day of work.

They had long ago finished their meal, and sat with coffee cups before them. It was clear that they were rapt in intense conversation. The waitress who refilled their cups went unnoticed. Throughout Tom’s entire dinner they talked and talked, with frequent animation. One man began to speak the most, and the other listened with such expression of eagerness that one just had to eaves drop!

The one was sharing with his colleague the "bottomline" reason that he did not commit suicide. He was persuading his partner not to despair, and listing the real reasons he thought it was worthwhile to give the world one more day. He talked about Jesus, not with any vast knowledge of biblical quotations or historical doctrines, but simply from his own daily experience of the transforming power of God. And his friend was drinking it in with his coffee!

Before they left the restaurant, the Christian had invited the pre-Christian to come and worship with him in his church. Now, Tom knew of this church. Some of the members of that church were controversial. Some of the worship services at that church used music with less than the best aesthetic qualities. Some of their ideas were strange, and some of their activities seemed a little crazy. Yet somehow none of that really mattered now. Suddenly it wasn’t too hard to understand why this church was one of the most dynamic and diverse churches in North America.***

Why was that church one of the most dynamic and diverse churches in North America? Because it had members who were out in the daily routine of life sharing Jesus over a cup of coffee and inviting people to "Come and See."

The second key phrase is "Come and Follow Me." In Matthew 16 Jesus addresses His disciples: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and come and follow me." He called them to "Come and Follow." He modeled for them what it is that they were to do. He set forth the example.

If we are to be a Disciple Making Church we must set an example for our world to follow. I think that many times we get things a little bit twisted. Let’s do some active listening this morning and really hear what God has to say to us. We all come through the doors of our church each week with our own precepts - our own feelings and beliefs already in place. Often times we are guilty of making the Bible a slave to our beliefs. In other words we come in here believing certain things that have been instilled in us all our lives. We then go through the Bible hunting and picking those things which seem to support our beliefs or feelings.

Let me give you a revolutionary idea that I think would serve us much better. Perhaps it would be far better if we began with the Bible and drew our beliefs from the Bible and changed our feelings to agree with the Bible rather than twisting the Bible to conform to our beliefs and feelings.

The Bible teaches us for example that love is not a feeling - it’s something we intentionally do. Therefore if we are going to be a Disciple Making Church then we have to intentionally decide to love one another even when we don’t feel like it!

As a New Testament church we must model a biblical behavior, a Jesus behavior for the World to see and follow. There seems to be a WWJD craze! You’ve seen it. The initials "WWJD" are appearing on everything - everywhere. The only problem are that some of the people wearing the WWJD paraphernalia don’t have a clue about what Jesus would do. Would Jesus hate someone because of the color of their skin? Because of a circumstance in their life? Because of past mistakes?

If we are going to be a Disciple Making Church we must truly model what Jesus would do.

Finally in St. John 15:4 Jesus says to His disciples: "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

Jesus expected His disciples to remain in Him. I have used this phrase here before and at the risk of using it to ad nausium I use it again "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." If we are going to be a Disciple Making Church we must remain in Jesus. When we get our eyes on numbers, on ourselves, on anything else but Jesus, the Main thing is no longer the Main thing. Jesus must be the center of our attention. Jesus must be what we are all about. Not imitating Jesus for an imitation is nothing but an imitation. But allowing His sweet, gentle, yet powerful Holy Spirit to transform our lives and our church into His image. Actually doing what Jesus would do. Actually acting how Jesus would act. Actually speaking as Jesus would speak.

God is truly at work in our church. We’ve added new staff. We have growth in numbers. Ministry is taking place. People are noticing the difference in this place and are talking about this place. But I am convinced beyond any doubt that we have only touched the very tip of the iceberg so to speak. I am convinced that if we can truly become a Disciple Making Church there is no end to what Jesus is going to do.

In order for that to happen it places a claim and a call upon the life of each and everyone of us. In order for our church to become a Disciple Making Church each one of us must first become disciples of Jesus and secondly we must ourselves become disciple makers. A church or any organization is in reality a reflection of the people who make up that church.

How about you this morning? Are you a disciple of Jesus? Have you asked Jesus to come into your life and transform it? If not will you be willing to do that this morning? Jesus gave His life for you will you give your life for Him?

If you are a disciple of Jesus then are you in the business of making disciples? If not I say to you the same words - Jesus gave His life for you won’t you give your life for Him? Are you willing to say to another this morning: "Come and See. Come and Follow. Remain in Him?" Making Disciples! This is what we do in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! Amen.

*** From "Growing Spiritual Redwoods" by Bill Easum

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