First Pres Discipleship Team - Add'l Info, Page 1

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Jesus makes it clear his followers can be confident knowing where they will spend eternity. But what are we doing with our lives after we become Christians and our future is secure? The New Testament has a lot to say about this. Here are a few texts. These first three will be very familiar.

"For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost." 

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 

"Therefore go 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 I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

Mt. 13, The parable of the sower explained.   

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” 

Study guides of this chapter in Matthew usually ask a version of these questions:  Which kind of soil are you?  What kind of a yield is God getting from the seeds you and your fellowship community are planting?

In Matthew 16:27, Jesus says, "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done." He repeats these words to John near the end of the Bible in Revelation, 22:12.  “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done."

And here's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8. "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor."

Continuing, Paul states a few verses later that all believers need to build our lives carefully on the foundation of Christ. And... "If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. vs. 14).

If you are interested in reading more about this topic, here are two parables of Jesus that deal with the fact that we have responsibilities and we will be rewarded accordingly. 

NOTE:  If you click on these links all you need to do is click on the <1st Pres> tab to return here. 

The parable of the ten minas, Luke 19: 11-27.  

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+19%3A11-27&version=NIV

The parable of the talents (bags of gold), Matthew 25:14-30, 

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A14-30&version=NIV

Well, if God wants to reward each of us for obeying his command to "love our neighbor as ourselves," we certainly don't want to see any of us lose this opportunity.

We each get only one chance at life. And for us alive now in America with all our privileges and blessings, how can we not want to serve the cause of Christ in all we do, and do it in community with others who feel the same?

Will you give Jesus an opportunity to help you better discern what will be involved when we stand before Him to give an account of our lives?  If we think about it, isn't this moment what our entire lives are pointing toward?  (I have no idea how many movies you watch in a year, but this might be the most important hour you will spend watching anything this year or any year).

This play (it's mostly a monologue) on the subject of what happens to Christians after we die.  There are some funny moments, and like in any play, a few tedious moments.  Plus, the author would freely admit it's just his imperfect depiction. But the point of the play is to bring us to that moment when we each recount our lives with Christ.  I promise you it will be time well spent. Everyone who watched it has come away changed. They began to see their lives differently. And so will you.

There is no video trailer available, but here's the written introduction.  

WHAT IS THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST?  Romans 14:10-12  says, “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat…so then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:10tells us, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” In the context, it is clear that both scriptures are referring to Christians, not unbelievers. 

“The Bema” or Judgment Seat of Christ, therefore, involves believers giving an account of their lives to Christ. The judgment seat of Christ does not determine salvation; that was determined by Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf (1 John 2:2) and our faith in Him (John 3:16 ). All of our sins are forgiven, and we will never be condemned for them (Romans 8:1). We should not look at the judgment seat of Christ as God judging our sins, but rather as God rewarding us for our lives. Yes, as the Bible says, we will have to give an account of ourselves... This overall focus should keep us from worrying over every stupid thing we've ever done, or thoughtless sin we have committed. It's a time of reward, not punishment.

This play is 1:09 long and you should wait until you can watch it uninterrupted.  

Based on the novel, The Bema: A Story About the Judgement Seat of Christ, by Tim Stevenson, The BEMA Drama is performed by Pete Briscoe. (NOTE: Pete has performed it several times).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBZrE7VKdsE&t=310s

RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM.  In the US, this term generally has a positive meaning, and often leads (or at least should lead) to the development of each  person's full potential.  However, we can also see how an excessive focus on “me, mine and ours" has had wide-ranging ramifications for us personally, as well as our nation. 

Unfortunately, our church culture has often embraced "individualism" to such an extent that it sometimes serves as an idol, competing with God's commands for us to live in counter-cultural Christian community based on His love, and values. As a result, we are doing a grave injustice in our witness to non-believers. 

Is what we see modeled in our neighborhood churches that much different from what takes place in our local social service organizations, like Rotary, the Lions Club, or Rotary? 

 John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

Here's a link to an article that summarizes five misconceptions in the way we think about community. 

https://relevantmagazine.com/god/5-big-misconceptions-about-community 

 Here I've summarized a few blog posts about church by Scott Lenke, "The Prodigal Thought."
What I do long for regarding the church, is that we move towards functioning as a community of God’s people who see relationship as essential above all other things. We begin to experience what Eugene Peterson has termed as ‘conversational humility,’ meaning we have shared conversation, with humbleness, allowing for the diversity of our strengths, gifts, abilities and differences.

Our conversations do not consist of simply the surface issues, although there is nothing wrong in talking about basketball or a new novel we just finished or about our favorite music group. But, we are ultimately called to something deeper, as David Benner reminds us in his book, Sacred Companions,  "This is not the same as discussing theology, church politics or even the Sunday sermon. Genuine spiritual intimacy involves sharing my experience, not simply my ideas.’"  But now, I want to move on and briefly challenge us to guard against one of the biggest enemies of the church, at least in the western world. That enemy is called individualism. We, in America, and other parts of the western world, have been so trained in the ideology of individualism. I can make it on my own, I can pray on my own, I can worship on my own, I can reach others for Christ on my own. You see the mistake with those statements. There are too many ‘I’s’. Many times, there can be too much of ‘me, Jesus, and my Bible.’

Yet, Christ called us into a body, into a family, to be part of a people. He called us into life with a variety of others who are to be joined to us, ones with whom we have covenant relationships. We know this from reading such passages as 1 Corinthians 12. For some of us, the body analogy has been overdone. But if we read the passages again, I wonder if we might find something fresh.

We are not each individually Christ-followers. We are together Christ-followers. He accomplished so much through His intercession, death, resurrection, and ascension. Yes, He died so you and I could each spend eternity with Him. But He also accomplished all that we need to live life together, truly believing we have been called into this journey together. Let’s keep going deeper with one another. Let’s keep sharing our lives with one another. And the world will see something they haven’t seen since possibly the first century. 

To end out, I wanted to look at one of the most important passages concerning the topic, and one of my current favorites. It is found in 1 Corinthians 14:26:

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

There is a little phrase in this Scripture that jumps out at me – ‘each one has’. That’s right! Each one has! It doesn’t say a few have, or most have, or all but you have. It says, ‘each one has’. What a revolutionary idea. But yet, it’s been around for almost 2,000 years! Now, most of God’s people are beginning to realize that we are all called to ministry, we are all called to serve on behalf of Christ. We see Scriptures like 2 Corinthians 5:18 that actually help us believe such life-changing truth:

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

But, when we gather together on Sunday’s (or whenever), do we really believe the truth that each one has. For it is the main church gathering which Paul is addressing in 1 Corinthians 14. In that main meeting of the saints together, he says we all come with something – a song, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation. And there are other things we could slide in there.

But have you noticed that Sunday mornings are usually dedicated to one person, or possibly a handful. Yeah, we all sing, or most of us, and we all listen to the ‘preacher’, or most of us. But 1 Corinthians 14:26 seems to teach that all of us have something specific, and special, to give in the meeting. Thus, we must shield ourselves from taking on an audience mentality when we meet together. That means guarding against letting one person, or a handful, do everything and lead everything. For remember, we are the people of God called to share our lives together. And when we gather together, we must embrace the reality that ‘each one has’. We cannot leave it to the professional paid Christian behind the pulpit. It is us together. We are a team, we are a body.