Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

Look! They’re Moving!
St. Matthew 18:15-20

A confirmed bachelor and a married man were talking to each other about the pros and cons of family life. At one point in the conversation, the married man asked:

"Do you know what it means for a dad to come home to three adorable well-mannered, respectful children who are thrilled at the sight of your coming home?

"Do you know what it means to come home to three adorable, well-mannered children who hang on your every word and think you are the smartest person and the best guy in the whole wide world?"

To which the bachelor replied, "No. What does it mean?"

"It means that you're in the wrong house," said the father.

Jesus says to His disciples in today's Gospel Lesson (Mt. 18:20).

"... where two or three meet in My Name, I shall be there with them,"

Which means that we who are now gathered together in His Name are in the right house because Jesus is with us now!

Isn’t it an awesome thing to be in the presence of Jesus? Have you ever noticed as you read the Gospels that things happen wherever Jesus is? Whenever someone encounters Jesus things happen. Often things which are unexplainable. Things which baffle the human mind. Things that even the most educated people cannot begin to understand.

Last week I was talking with a seminary professor about our church. I told him that it is an amazing thing for me to simply watch how God is blessing our church. I told him how almost unbelievable it is to see the way Jesus is having an impact on lives in our church.

But you know? These things should not be taking us by surprise. If we read and understand the Word of God, if we read about all the events in the life of Jesus and those who encountered Him, this is absolute normality! This is what it is and always has been like to be in the presence of Jesus.

Remember the woman at the well? After encountering Jesus she told others "Come and meet a man like I have never known!" Her life was transformed for all eternity. That’s what happens whenever we are in the presence of Jesus. Whenever we are in His presence He touches our lives and the effects of His touch are eternal!

I wish you could have stood on the stage with me, and some of you did last Saturday night following the concert. The power on that stage was overwhelming. When the invitation was given there was a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There was not one single person in that Civic Center who could deny the presence of Jesus. As we sat on the floor of that stage and prayed with all those young people who accepted Jesus there was a presence and power that was undeniably, the presence of Jesus.

Before I said the benediction, one of the singers walked up to me, hugged my neck, and said: "You better have us on your agenda next year! Things happen in this place!" My reply? "That's because Jesus is truly here." And He is. He could feel the presence, I could feel the presence. And feeling the presence of Jesus makes us want to go and get all the people we can to share in the experience!

Some months ago God gave me a vision for this church. A vision which is a response to the Great Commission found at the end of Matthew:

"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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’"

As I read the words of Jesus I see a mandate for the Church. It is from this mandate that the vision comes.

Once upon an eternity, St. Peter greeted three new arrivals at the Pearly Gates. He began their heavenly orientation with a question:

"What would you like most to hear your family and friends say about you at your funerals?"

The first replied, "I would be most gratified to hear them say that I lived a useful life as a doctor and as a family man."

The second replied, "I would be happy to hear them say that I was a wonderful wife and mother and an excellent school teacher."

Said the third, "I would like to hear them say, "Look! He's moving!"

Not at our funerals, but here and now, in our gathering together in Jesus' Name, what we should like to hear Him say is, "Look! They're moving. Look! They're following My directions! Look! They're are on their way to becoming the person I want them to be! Look! They are moving! This Church is becoming all God intends for them to be!"

For that to happen we must all take ownership in the vision. We must all share in the calling of God.

We are likely to encounter those who criticize Jesus' relentless call to discipleship and the demands He makes on our lives as we become His disciples. We’ll gain some people and we might even lose some people. Whenever I visit guests I openly and unapologetically say "First Baptist Church is not a church for everyone." And we’re not. But, if you want to be involved in making disciples, if you want to share ownership in a vision, if Jesus has placed a relentless call upon your lives to serve, then First Baptist Church may be the place where God wants you to be.

Throughout history there have been those who criticize a vision driven church. What such critics fail to understand is that the Will of God for our lives cannot be evaluated by feeble notions of right and wrong, good and evil. What they need to understand -- what we all need to understand-- is that whatever God demands, He demands because He loves us. As a Spanish saint once said, "God writes straight with crooked lines."

Jesus clearly stated that His call to us to follow Him and His appeal to us to transform our lives, are inseparable. To follow Jesus is to change your life, intentionally -- from who you are to who you are meant to be; from what you are doing to what you ought to be doing.

Last Sunday we announced the wonderful ministry opportunity that God has placed before us. We announced that we were going to start a new church right here in our community. When the service was over there were tears everywhere. People were hugging each other and telling each other how much they are loved. By the way that’s one of the things I love about this place. This is a hugging church and I like that! We all need to be hugged! Last Sunday Jesus allowed us to bring down cultural and social walls. We all experienced the presence of Jesus and we took a giant step of faith toward becoming a Disciple making church.

A disciple making church is a church filled with disciples.

Jesus' true disciples cannot be content with the status quo. Jesus' true disciples cannot drift along through life, forgetting that the call to follow and the call to change are inseparable.

Jesus wants us to experience the joy of His love flowing through us.

God wants the experience of His love to make us whole.

God wants the experience of His love to provide us with meaning and purpose for our lives, a genuine sense of direction for our lives and our church.

God wants the experience of His love to result in the kind of movement for our lives that reflects His love through the way we relate to others.

This is what the call to discipleship is about.

This is where the vision of becoming a disciple making church begins.

It involves a strong desire to bring others into the presence of Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke Jesus tells a parable about a man who is going to prepare a great banquet. The master of the house sends our his servants to invite the people in. Many make excuses why they cannot attend. Then the master of the house issues a command to his servant :

"Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame."

And the slave said, "Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room."

Then the master said to the slave, "Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled." (Luke 14:21-23)

If we are going to carry out this vision of becoming a disciple making church we must do three things:

Go, compel, and teach. That is the only way to carry out this Great Commission.

My Daddy use to have a phrase he loved to use whenever we were working out in the field: "It don’t get done looking at it!" So it is with discipleship. We can talk about it until we are blue in the face. Yet the only way it is going to ever be accomplished is if we are willing to say "Yes! This call to discipleship as revealed to us through Jesus is so good for me, it is so good for others, so life-enhancing for me, so life enhancing for others, that I will put every part of my being, my whole self into my response. I will offer my time, my talents, my feelings, my mind, my body, to God in service of others."

We who have gathered together in Jesus' Name, let's say it and mean it, and surely we will hear Him say, "Look! They're moving!"

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