In a recent post discussing God’s glory and our response to it, I referenced a sermon I recently preached at my Church. The sermon was entitled “God the Glorious Creator” and I endeavored to exposit and apply Revelation 4:11. In particular, I wanted to emphasize that because God is all that exists was created by God, He is pre-eminent over all, has all authority, and all worship is due Him. I have given the sermon below as well as the outline of my main points.
Sermon Video
Sermon Text
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
Revelation 4:11, ESV
Sermon Outline
Introduction
Explanation of Revelation 4:11
Who is being addressed? “Lord and God”
What is said? “Glory, honor, and power”
Why is it said? God created all things (past) & sustains all things (present)
How did God create and sustain? Of His own will
Further points of Biblical Theology explaining God as the Creator
One of the first attributes of God revealed in Scripture is that God is the creator of all things
God created in order to display His glory, not because He lacked anything
God re-creates fallen humanity through the Gospel of Jesus Christ
God will create a new heaven and a new earth for His elect to live and glorify Him throughout all eternity
Summary and Overarching Reality
The elders in Revelation 4:11 are worshiping God because the fact that He is the sovereign creator shows how separate and great He is above anything He created
All that exists, including you, exists because God freely chose to create it. Therefore, God is pre-eminent over all, has all authority, and all worship is due Him
Because of God’s position as the creator of all things, everything is under Him and belongs to Him
Implications
Idolatry is exceedingly sinful and you should daily fight it within your own heart
Idolatry robs God of the honor due to Him
Idolatry prefers the lesser to the greater
Your life never was and never will be your own
For the Christian, worship should be the most natural and constant thing in the world
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Previously, I discussed how the 2nd London Confession opens with a clear and unambiguous declaration that the Bible is the only sufficient standard for Christianity. But the question is which books are considered the authoritative canon? Which documents has God preserved through the ages for His Church? Confusion about the canon of Scripture is as common in the modern world as it was in the days of the authors of the 1689. In sections 1:2-1:3 of the Second London confession, the authors clearly state where Christians can find the words of God.
(1:2) Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, which are these: Of the Old Testament:
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes The Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi Of the New Testament:
Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Revelation
All of which are given by the inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.
(1:3) The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon or rule of the Scripture, and, therefore, are of no authority to the church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other human writings.
I won’t spend much time today arguing for why the books the 1689 lists are, in fact, the authoritative canon of Scripture. Other authors and theologians have written a number of excellent resources on this topic. I will list a few of them below before analyzing some other parts of this passage from the confession:
The authors of the 1689 contain a single verse in support of section 1:2 where the authoritative canon of Scripture is defined. The verse is the most well-known statement on Scripture in the whole Bible.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
2 Timothy 3:16 ESV
Now, this verse is crucial for any Christian’s understanding of Scripture. The authors likely included this text as a citation for section 1:2 because it states all Scripture has authority because it is breathed out by God. However, 2 Timothy 3:16 doesn’t directly give what books Paul has in view when he uses the phrase “all Scripture.” There are several other passages given in the Westminster Confession of Faith that help clarify this:
…and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15 ESV emphasis added
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
John 5:46-47 ESV emphasis added
But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
Luke 16:29-31 ESV emphasis added
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
Luke 24:27, 44 emphasis added
Notice that the Old Testament canon contains the sacred writings which are defined as the books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. “Moses, Prophets, and the Psalms” are the three main sections in the Hebrew Bible. Therefore, both Jesus and Paul affirm that the entire Old Testament canon is God’s word. Not only that, the Old Testament is “Christian Scripture” in the sense that it’s main emphasis was communicating truths about the coming Messiah, Jesus.
Time doesn’t permit me to go through the texts which witness to the inspiration of the New Testament Canon. Instead, I refer you to this excellent little article that contains this helpful paragraph:
And far from endorsing a heterodox blend of doctrine, the NT authors always point to one God, one Christ, one Gospel and one faith delivered to the saints. The four Gospel writers are either apostles (Matthew and John) or else close associates who relied on apostolic witness (Mark with Peter; Luke with Paul). The Apostle Paul describes his own teaching, both spoken and written, as the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:15). When he tells Timothy that the labourer deserves his wages, he is quoting the Gospel of his friend Luke as Scripture (1 Timothy 5:18; Luke 10:7). And when Peter refers to Paul’s letters (plural) as Scripture (2 Peter 3:16), he shows that even at this early stage, there was a collection of Pauline epistles circulating with scriptural authority.
Scripture (Not Human Writings) Have Authority in God’s Church
Notice that the authors of the 1689 are aware that knowing which books are authoritative canon and which books aren’t canonical has immense practical implications for Christians. Notice first that the authors clearly state the canon only contains books that are inspired by God. The implication is that any book not on this list is not inspired by God. Of the thousands upon thousands of books that have been written since the beginning of the world, only these 66 were inspired by the living God.
The authors then connect this idea of inspiration to the inherent authority of Scripture. If you read a book by a great philosopher, they might have some insightful things to say. But their words do not have authority in your life. You can choose whether to believe and apply their words or to reject them. The Bible, on the other hand, speaks with authority because it speaks the words of your all-powerful Creator. As such, you cannot pick and choose which words of Scripture you will believe and obey.
Every word from God carries the authority of God.
The authors of the 1689 then connect this idea of an inspired, authoritative canon to the topic of Church practice. Human writings or ideas do not have the final say in how God’s Church is to behave. After all, it is God’s Church. Any argument about Church doctrine, practice, or structure needs to be based on support from the authoritative canon of Scripture.
The ultimate authority of the Church rests in the authority of God’s Word to the Church.
Practical Implications
1. Spend most of your time reading the only authoritative source on life
John Wesley has a marvelous quote describing how Christians should react to the Bible.
O give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God! I have it. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri [a man of one book].”
“Of making books there is no end” the teacher in Ecclesiastes says. You could also say “of reading books there is no end.” If you spent all day every day reading from morning to night, you would not read half the books that have been written. But if you are a Christian, there is only one book you really need to read: the Bible.
But you must ask yourself the following questions:
How much time each day do you spend reading the Bible?
Do you spend more time in the Bible than you do reading great works of fiction?
Is the Bible your preferred source of wisdom over self-help books?
Do you use your spare moments to meditate on Scripture or to scroll through your social media feed?
There has never been a time in history where humans have had more ready access to information. The problem is 99.99999% of the information available to you on a daily basis is not given by God and therefore has no authority in your life. Do you want to know how to live? Then there is one place you should go: the Word of God. To live your life by any other authority is damning and to prefer any other source of information to the Bible is a waste.
Examine your information intake throughout the day. How much of it is spiritually profitable? How can you adjust your habits and schedule to get more time in Scripture?
2. The closer a book is to the teaching of Scripture, the more useful it is
One of my favorite J. C. Ryle quotes from one of my favorite J. C. Ryle books is
Value all books in proportion to the extent they agree with Scripture. Those that are nearest to it are the best, and those that are farthest from it—and most contrary to it—the worst.
“Thoughts for Young Men” by J. C. Ryle
Everyone, even unbelievers, can agree that some books are better written than others, are of higher quality than others, and more impactful than others. But the Christian must also evaluate whether one book is more spiritually beneficial than another. The question the Christian asks is how do you evaluate a book written by a sinful human being and tell whether it is profitable or dangerous? The answer is simple: ask how much of it agrees with the authoritative canon of Scripture.
Ryle’s quote applies not only to books. It applies to any form of information intake. What videos do you watch online? Which podcasts do you regularly listen to?
Any time you receive information from any source, your first question should be “can this be true based on what I know about God’s Word?”
Measure, evaluate, examine all things in light of the Bible. Error is subtle. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be dangerous. If you want to keep your mind fixed on Christ, you will have to carefully consider whether the sources of information you engage with are consistent with Scripture or not.
“The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience…” The 1689 Confession of Faith opens with this unambiguous declaration that Scripture is the only sufficient standard of truth. All things pertaining to the Christian faith are found in the canon of Scripture. No where else. The modern world has no objective standard or rule by which to live. Everyone defines their own truth, decides who they are and want to be, and have completely abandoned the idea that there is a God who defines morality and reality. In contrast to this fallen worldview, the 1689 confession summarizes clearly and concisely what Scripture teaches about itself:
The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in divers manners to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and afterward for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
Two Sources of Revelation…One Sufficient for Salvation
Notice first that the authors of the confession call out two ways God communicates who He is to humans: the Scripture and the “works of creation and providence.” In doing so, the authors are keeping with Psalm 19 and Romans 1 where the Bible says that God has revealed part of His glory and character through creation. When humans look out at the world around them, they should be able to deduce that there is a powerful, wise, and good ultimate Being who created the universe.
However, the authors are careful to distinguish between Scripture and natural revelation. The former they explicitly say is sufficient, while the latter is explicitly called out as not sufficient. In both cases, the sufficiency in view is “sufficient for salvation.” In other words, Scripture is the only sufficient standard in which you can find how to be reconciled to God. Natural revelation at the best only reveals that there is a God and He must have certain attributes.
Now, what does “sufficient” mean? It means that Scripture has in itself everything you need to be saved from your sins. It exhaustively contains the doctrines needed for being reconciled to God and then living in obedience to Him after you are reconciled. In using the word “sufficient”, the authors are making it clear that the canon of Scripture is all you need for salvation. You don’t need any supplementary or external material in order to understand and believe the Gospel. Not only that, Scripture is the sufficient standard for how Christians are to live in the world.
People can give you wise or helpful life-advice. But at the end of the day, only the Bible contains what the Lord requires of you, your family, or your Church.
Many Ways of Speaking in the Past…One Authoritative Word in the Present
The confession states that in the past God used various means to communicate His will to man. A simple read through of the Old Testament confirms this. God spoke directly to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He communicated to the nation of Israel through Moses, a mediator. When Israel forsook God’s covenant, He sent prophets who said “Thus saith the Lord.” But now, the 1689 asserts, these former ways have ceased. God spoke in many ways in the past, but now His authoritative word is contained in Scripture.
In arguing this point, the authors of the confession cite a very important verse:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Hebrews 1:1-2, ESV
The authors here see a contrast between the past and the present. In the past, God spoke at many times and in many ways. But on this side of the Cross, God has spoken His decisive word: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The confession sees in this verse an implication that the past ways that God used pre-Christ to reveal His will have ceased with the coming of God’s final word.
I think it is important to note here, however, that even when God was speaking directly through prophets, He established a standard in His Word.
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.
Deuteronomy 13:1-3a, ESV
Notice that even if a prophet made a prophecy that came true, the ultimate test of if they are a false prophet or not is if they lead you away from the Lord. Now, the question is, where would Israel have known to not follow other gods? The 10 commandments, which were God’s written commands. So even in the past, direct prophetic communication had to be examined by God’s written revelation. Therefore, in both past and present, God’s written word held the ultimate authority.
In summary, the Word of God is everything. Scripture is the sufficient standard by which you should measure everything you hear, learn, or experience.
Want to know who God is? Go to Scripture. Want to hear God speak directly to you? Go to Scripture. Want to know how to be saved? Go to Scripture. Want to know how to live your life pleasing to God? Go to Scripture.
Until you see scripture as the sufficient standard of truth, you will never be safe from subtle error.
Practical Implications
1. The Scriptures give certain truth in a confused world
The modern culture has no objective truth or standard to cling to or rely on. “Truth” is defined by the individual and any of the “standards” societies adopt are simply those expedient for them at the moment. Every day through social media and the internet, countless thoughts and opinions are offered for you to hear. What can you fall back on? What can you know for certain? The answer: anything spoken by an unchanging God.
Notice, the confession says the Scripture gives a “more sure establishment and comfort of the Church.” The Church and individual Christians find their certainty in the pages of Scripture. They don’t look to the arguments of fallen humans or whatever the current wisdom of the world is. “To the law and to the testimony!” they cry.
You will never have certainty in your life until you find it in Scripture.
All of life is uncertain except what God has declared to be so from the beginning. Cling to the only comfort you can count on: God’s inerrant, infallible, sufficient, unchanging, authoritative word.
2. Hearing from God means reading the Bible
The very last line of this section of the confession gives a not-so-subtle hint at cessationism: “those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.” What former ways are in view here? I take this to mean that God communicating directly by a prophecy given to an individual has ceased. Hearing from God does not require you to travel to hear someone speak. In fact, the only way to be sure you are hearing God’s words when you hear a human speak is if they are reading and expounding the text of Scripture.
Everyone wants to hear directly from God. Everyone wants to comfort of having a message from the all-powerful creator of the universe. The good news is that God’s words have been preserved for you. God has committed His words “wholly into writing”. Hearing from God is as easy as reading what He has recorded for you. Now, reading can be quite difficult. That is why having tools to help you understand Scripture is vital. However, you will never know God’s will any other way than working through the Bible.
This post is part of a new series walking through the 1689 2nd London Confession. For other teachings I have done in the past, click here. If you found this post helpful, please share below and subscribe. Follow The Average Churchman on Instagram to get more content.
Much has been written lately about how the world around us is getting darker. Sin is accepted and celebrated. Our culture is sowing rebellion against Scripture and is reaping the effects of rejecting God. This post, however, is focused on a different danger: the Church falling into hopelessness. Despair. A sense of cynicism or of being defeated. And the only antidote to these is reminding yourself of God’s sovereign election.
To understand this topic of hope in a dark culture, I want to go back to the Old Testament to a prophet who fell into hopelessness: Elijah. God’s answer to Elijah when he felt alone and hopeless in a godless culture is exactly the reminder the Church needs today. The main verses I want to focus on are 1 Kings 19:14 & 18.
He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
1 Kings 19:12-18, ESV emphasis added
Initial Analysis
Context of 1 & 2 Kings: The Destruction Sin Brings
The goal of 1 & 2 Kings is to present a causal relationship between Israel and their Kings failure to obey God’s covenant and the exile. Their rebellion leads to exile, in fulfillment of God’s word in Deuteronomy 28. So 1 & 2 Kings are books that focus on sin and it’s consequences. You can see this in the structure of 1 & 2 Kings:
1 Kings starts with Solomon building the Temple and other rulers coming to see Solomon’s great wealth and wisdom
2 Kings ends with the destruction of Jerusalem (including Solomons’ temple) and Judah’s King eating from the table of Babylon’s Ling
1 & 2 Kings highlights the sinfulness of sin and the destruction it brought upon the nation of Israel. In fact, each King listed in these books is evaluated by whether he broke the covenant and led Israel into sin or whether they brought about repentance in the land. But also integral to 1 & 2 Kings are “prophets”: messengers of God who pronounce judgment on Israel because of their behavior and who call for repentance. Elijah is one of those prophets and is the main prophet in 1 Kings.
Context Proceeding 1 Kings 19: From Victory to Despair
1 Kings 19 is a low point in the prophet Elijah’s life and ministry, and it comes right after one of his most memorable victories. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and God demonstrated His power over the false idols Israel was worshiping. Additionally, the false prophets of Baal are killed in judgment because God exposes them as frauds.
What happens after this amazing victory? Queen Jezebel promises to kill Elijah just like he had killed her prophets. Elijah’s reaction? 1 Kings 19:3 says Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. Some manuscripts are translated Elijah “saw” and ran for his life. In other words, the most powerful woman in the land is promising to kill Elijah and his life is in immanent danger.
This sends Elijah into despair and depression. In fact, he actually prays to the Lord that he would die.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
1 Kings 19:4, ESV
But, God answers Elijah’s request by providing food and water for him until he makes it to mount Horeb. So now Elijah is physically safe, but Jezebel has essential driven this prophet of God out of Israel and he is in complete despair. This sad state is where we find Elijah: alone, in cave, seemingly defeated
And this is when God comes to Him and asks “what are you doing here?”
Exposition
Point 1: Observe the Darkness of the God-hating Culture
In his answer, Elijah gives three summary sins that characterized Israel at that time.
Israel had broken God’s covenant
This is no small thing. You know from reading through the Pentateuch that God called Israel out of bondage and slavery to enter into a covenant with them. In this covenant, God promises Israel blessing if they obey but promises judgement and curses if they disobey.
Now if you (Israel) faithfully and obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all His commands I am giving you today, the Lord your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come and overtake you, because you obey the Lord your God
Notice this promise of blessing is build on an “if-then” statement: if Israel keeps their end of the covenant, then God will bless them. This begs the question of what will happen if Israel does not keep God’s covenant:
But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commands and statues I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you…
So, when Elijah says Israel has forsaken God’s covenant, he is putting Israel in the latter category. Israel in Elijah’s time was not obeying the commandments of the Lord. They were being unfaithful to the God who had covenanted with them and living in active, unrepentant sin. And remember: Israel was doing all this even though they had access to the truth of God’s word.
Idolatry was rampant amongst Israel at the time
Elijah describes this sin in terms of Israel throwing down God’s alters. Israel was forsaking the true worship of God and instead going to worship idols, specifically in the context of Ahab’s rule, Baal. By saying Israel was engaged in idolatry, Elijah wasn’t just listing a particular sin. He was accusing Israel of the most fundamental violation of their relationship with God.
Why is idolatry such an heinous sin in scripture? The answer lies in the attributes of God Himself. Exodus 20 says:
Do not have other gods besides me. Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me”
God is a jealous God, therefore Israel was not to worship or serve idols. This prohibition is repeated in Exodus 34 where God actually says his name is jealous.
God, as revealed in Scripture, by His very nature demands exclusive worship and glory and honor.
Therefore, idolatry is not just “a” sin: it is a rejection of God. Rather than loving and serving the true God, you create something in His place.
God’s messengers were being killed
In the Old Testament, Prophets brought the word of God to the people. They would begin their messages with “thus saith the Lord.” So, killing the prophets of God does not merely represent the sin of murder. Rather, it shows that the nation of Israel was rejecting the word of the Lord.
Jeremiah is a great example of this. Jeremiah brought convicting words to Israel, but the nation preferred to listen to false prophets who said “Peace peace” when there was no peace. And what did Israel do with Jeremiah the true prophet? They silenced him and when Jeremiah’s scroll was read to the king, the king tore it up piece by piece.
The same thing is happening here: the Israelite culture in Elijah’s time hated hearing the word of God convicting their behavior, so they silenced God’s prophets by killing them.
From a human perspective, the situation in Israel could not be more hopeless. And that is exactly what you see with Elijah’s answer to God’s question “What are you doing here?”
Point 2: Notice Elijah’s wrong perspective
Elijah is hiding on the mount of God afraid for his life
Even thought he had just seen God grant him a decisive victory against the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18, Elijah now is in a state of utter fear and despair. In the face of the sins of Israel and the active animosity towards the prophets of God, Elijah has withdrawn himself from the situation.
He left. Retreated. He is done with it all.
Elijah is faced with a culture that has completely rejected God and is actively killing those who would worship the true God. But God doesn’t just leave Elijah hanging out afraid in a cave. He comes to Elijah and asks “what are you doing here?” And here we get to hear more fully Elijah’s perspective and see the nature of his hopelessness.
Elijah is questioning the effect of his zeal for the Lord
Elijah tells God that He has been exceedingly zealous for the Lord of host and then contrasts this zeal with the culture around him. By saying “I have been zealous, but look at how bad Israel is” Elijah is expressing an attitude of “What is the point? I have been faithfully serving the Lord but what effect has it had on those around me?”
You could summarize Elijah’s attitude as ”what is the point of being exceedingly zealous for the Lord in a culture that is so adamantly against God?” This shows the depth of Elijah’s hopelessness. Every day he is suffering in a sinful culture even though he has been zealous for God.
Is this not a natural human reaction? Beneath this attitude is the assumption that if you are zealous enough, you really can make a difference in the culture and help bring it back to God. In other words, it is the assumption that God will necessarily reward your zeal with the results you want to see
But Elijah is seeing no “results” so to speak. And that leads us to the final aspect of his attitude:
Elijah views himself as completely alone
Elijah says “I alone am left”. That word means “left over.” Elijah thinks he is the one leftover prophet of God and, since Jezebel has a death sentence on his head, Elijah is sure his own life will be over soon.
I think Elijah is implying here that because he alone is left and he has a death sentence on his head, that soon all those who are faithful to God will be wiped out. If Elijah is the last true follower of God and he thinks he is going to die, then it makes sense for Elijah to think that there is about to be no one left who truly worships God.
Elijah sees himself as the last. It is him against all the forces of wickedness in Israel at the time.
So stepping back, Elijah has a completely understandable perspective from a human point of view. In light of the sinful culture around him, he has withdrawn himself, he is questioning the effectiveness of his ministry, and he is sure that there is no one left like him.
It is a very human perspective and a completely wrong perspective. How does God correct Elijah’s perspective?
Point 3: Meditate on God’s response
God does not spend any time joining in Elijah’s depression or self pity. He hears Elijah’s complaint and issues a command: Elijah is to go anoint two kings and also anoint Elisha, his successor. What is going on here? Why is God responding to Elijah’s depression and discouragement in this way?
God is promising Elijah that he will have victory in the end
God will use those Elijah is called to anoint to bring judgment on those disobedient in Israel. What I find most interesting is if you read through Kings, the promise God gives is fulfilled, but after Elijah is taken up to heaven. In the beginning chapters of 2 Kings, Elijah passes the prophetic baton to Elisha and then goes up to heaven. The in chapter 9, Jehu is anointed king and almost immediately starts destroying Ahab and Ahab’s household.
At the end of Chapter 9, Jezebel is killed and the text makes a point to call out that her death is in direct fulfillment with a prophecy Elijah made. In 2 Kings 10, Jehu kills the house of Ahab and then kills the Baal worshipers in Israel. So in the end, God is going to judge all the wickedness that we see in Elijah’s day, even if Elijah never gets to see it.
Elijah is called to labor in faith that God will fulfill His promises.
God answers Elijah’s complaints by saying He will preserve a remnant of Israel who will not fall into idolatry
“Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
What a powerful verse! God has just announced that He will judge Israel but now God announces that there is a sub-section of Israel who will not be judged. Why? Because they will be true worshipers. God uses the same root word that Elijah used when he said “I alone am left!” God says “No, I have left 7000 who have not fallen into the sins of the nation!”
By saying He has preserved 7000 as a remnant in Israel, God is not saying He has preserved everyone. God isn’t even saying He has preserved the majority of the nation. But He also hasn’t preserved a small number: 7000 is not everyone, but it also isn’t just Elijah and one or two other people.
Additionally, implicit in the text is that these 7000 are known by God even if they are not known by Elijah or anyone else. Elijah’s depression was based off of simply observing the situation around him. But God is saying to Elijah in effect “you don’t have all the information because you don’t have all the knowledge.”
God in His omniscience knows who are His and He knows that there will be a remnant of true worshipers. God graciously reveals this to Elijah to encourage him, but whether Elijah knew about these 7000 or not, God knew and preserved this remnant.
The final thing to notice here is God describes the 7000 to Elijah in teams of what they do not do. They do not bow their knee to Baal and they have not kissed Baal. Both of these are signs of allegiance and worship. God is saying that these 7000 have not allied themself with the rest of idolatrous Israel.
This remnant has not compromised. They have not rejected the Lord. They are not joining in the sins of the nation.
Is this enough to get Elijah out of his depression and fear? The answer is given in the next verse: “Elijah left there and found Elisha…” After being reminded of God’s promises and sovereign election, Elijah leaves his place of hiding and goes to obey the Lord in faith.
What a glorious response to God’s promises! And remember: from an earthly perspective nothing has changed. Jezebel still wants Elijah dead, Israel is still deep in Baal worship, and Elijah still does not have many allies around him that he knows of. So what has changed? Elijah’s mind has been renewed by the Lord and he has faith in what God has just told him.
Elijah was not told who the 7000 true worshipers were, or where they were. But was enough for Elijah to know that God was preserving a remnant.
The reminder of God’s sovereign election within the sinful culture turned Elijah’s discouragement into confident obedience. The culture didn’t change, but Elijah’s perspective changed.
In the next post in this series, I will give you some implications of this text for your life and the life of your Church.
This mini-series is based on sermon I recently preached. To read other expositions, go to the Teachings page. If you found this post helpful, share on social media and subscribe below.
This past Sunday evening, I preached a sermon on 1 Kings 19 focusing in particular on verses 14 and 18. I chose this text because of the unique encouragement it offers Christians living in cultures that have rejected the Lord. In such a context, it is easy to become discouraged or feel like you are alone. God’s response to Elijah in 1 Kings 19 is the perfect encouragement for such feelings: God is still active in sovereignly saving people for His own glory even in the darkest of cultures.
The video of the sermon is given below with the link to the audio file.
Because I only had one week to prepare this sermon on top of full time Master’s classes and caring for a 2 month old, I decided to use the Puritan Sermon structure. This structure particular shines when preaching a couple verses. In my case, because I knew I wanted to focus on two verses in 1 Kings 19, the structure was ideal. It enabled me to develop the following sermon outline in less than an hour. Then I had the rest of the week to fill out the outline.
Introduction
Initial Analysis
Context of 1 Kings
Overall Context of 1 & 2 Kings
Immediate Context of 1 Kings 19
Defining Key Terms in verses 14 & 18
Exposition
See the Darkness of the God-hating Culture
Israel had broken God’s covenant
Idolatry was rampant
God’s messengers were being killed
Wicked leadership
Notice Elijah’s Wrong Perspective
Elijah is hiding in a cave afraid for his life
He is questioning the effectiveness of his zeal for God
Elijah views himself as completely alone
Meditate on God’s Response
God promises Elijah victory in the end
The prophetic line will continue
God is preserving a remnant of true worshipers
The 7000 not a majority, but not a small number
These people not known by Elijah, but known by God
The 7000 have not fallen into the sins of the culture
Effect on Elijah: goes out in obedience
Summary of text and the reality it points to
Elijah despaired in a godless culture but God reminds Him that He has preserved a believing remnant
God’s servants should never despair because God sovereignly elects a believing remnant for Himself even in the darkest of cultures
Implications
Faith and trust in God’s sovereign election should give you indestructible hope
Labor faithfully for God in a godless culture even when you don’t see fruit in the present
God has a remnant from every tribe, tongue and nation who will believe in Christ & the Gospel
Where have you slipped into Elijah-like thinking?
Conclusion
Check out the Tools page to look through resources I use to prepare my sermons and study a passage. To listen to other sermons I have preached, head over to the Preaching page. Share and subscribe below and be sure to follow The Average Churchman on Instagram if you haven’t already.
Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He told His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus Himself had set a perfect example of what discipling others practically looks like. But what is “discipleship” at the most basic level? My goal for this post is for you to leave with discipleship defined clearly in your mind. Discipleship is a rich Biblical concept and Christians must know what it is, and what it isn’t in order to properly obey Jesus’ command.
What does the Greek word mean?
The word “disciple” in Greek means “follower.” Simple enough. If you have heard any good teaching from the Gospels, no doubt you already know this basic definition. A “disciple” is a person who follows another person. But this following is not merely a physical walking behind another person. Rather, a disciple seeks to learn from another person.
What does a disciple want to learn? Most likely a number of things: learn about the world, learn a way of life, learn about the divine. But in the New Testament, all true disciples follow one person: Jesus. The 12 apostles physically followed Jesus during His earthly ministry and disciples throughout the history of the Church have looked to Jesus as the source of truth, grace, and eternal life among other things.
Therefore, to disciple someone else is to make them a follower. But Christian discipleship is not focused on getting people to follow you per se. Rather, the goal of Christian discipleship is to call another person to “imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
If you want to disciple someone else, your goal should be helping them become a more obedient follower of the Biblical Jesus.
This is why true discipleship always points back to God’s word: it is only through studying the inspired Word of God that anyone alive today can come to know the resurrected Jesus.
What discipleship isn’t
“Helping other people better follow Christ” is a good starting definition of “discipleship”. But if we want discipleship defined, we are going to have to consider what discipleship isn’t.
First, discipleship is not focused on drawing people to yourself. Your aim in discipleship is not to amass followers for yourself or to convince people of your particular “brand” or “flavor” of Christianity. Paul critiqued this kind of discipleship when the Corinthian Church was dividing itself by people saying “I am a follower of Paul” or “I am a follower of Apollos.” Biblical discipleship, however, is primarily concerned with pointing people back to the Word of God so people can know Christ better and then obey more fully His teaching.
In a modern world full of the pursuit of fame, it is very easy to miss this point. Sin can distort your discipleship efforts so that you become more focused on the good feelings which accompany people listening to you rather than focusing on “Christ being formed” in the other person.
The only barometer of success for discipleship is the extent of which those who are listening to you are loving Christ more deeply and obeying Him more fully.
All your authority in any discipling relationship is derivative: you have no truth, no insight, no wisdom to give apart from what you can show from Scripture. This is another key point: discipleship is not focused on displaying your great insight to others. Oftentimes when people come to listen to your thoughts on Scripture or the Bible, pride can creep in and you end up using God’s truth as a way to stroke your ego rather than to display Christ. Don’t make this mistake. You have nothing to offer except what has been granted to you from God. Steward it humbly instead of using God’s good gifts as means to puff up your pride.
Finally, discipleship is not merely meeting up with other Christians. A group of Christian friends can go to coffee or watch a movie together, but this is not discipleship. It is good to have social meet ups, it is good to have friends at Church, it is good to talk about general topics like work or music or family. But for discipleship to actually occur, there must be a direct, explicit spiritual focus. That doesn’t mean that discipleship is only teaching: some of my most profitable times of discipleship have been observing other believers in action. But whether you are discipling in action or teaching explicitly, the person observing or listening to you must walk away with some greater sense of who Christ is in order for it to be “discipleship.”
Discipleship defined by way of two summary sentences
Now that I have given you the most basic definition of discipleship and gone through what discipleship is not, I want to close this post with two summary sentences defining discipleship. The first sentence is more focused on you, the discipler, while the second sentence is focused on what God is doing through you.
Discipleship is investing your time and effort into someone else’s life for their spiritual good.
The metaphor of “investing” is one of the most helpful metaphors I have found for what discipleship is. Most people in the modern world have a general understanding of what investing is. If you were to invest your money into a stock, you are giving up something in the present in hopes of gaining something in the future. This is exactly what you do on a spiritual level by discipling another person: you give up your time and energy in the present in hopes that the other person will gain a greater understanding of God’s truth.
This “investment” language makes it explicit that Biblical discipleship will almost always involve sacrifice on your part. It isn’t always easy, and just like when you give up your money to invest in a stock, you often will need to give up your time or your comfort or your schedule in order to disciple others. But the upside of this investment is tremendous; “the harvest is plentiful.” Now for the second summary definition:
Discipleship is when God uses you as a means to bring about Christlikeness in another person’s life.
Discipleship is not merely something you are doing. God is using you: in discipleship you become a tool of sanctification God uses to shape someone else. If you only focus on what you are doing in discipleship and lose sight of what God is doing, you will either become easily discouraged or worse: you will focus on drawing people to yourself rather than pointing them to Christ.
Always remember: you are the instrument, not the main goal. Worship of Christ in heart and action is the goal of discipling someone else.
As a tool, you are not important in and of yourself. But you are useful when God uses you to build up those around you.
So invest yourself in other people’s lives. Grow to love Christ more yourself and then help others to do the same. Discipleship is costly, time-consuming, exhausting, exhilarating, magnificent, joyous, astounding, humbling, and worth it.
This post is part of an ongoing series called “Becoming a Discipling Christian.” Click here if you missed a previous post. If you found this post helpful, please share on social media below and subscribe to The Average Churchman email list. Follow The Average Churchman on Instagram to get further content.
Once Jesus was resurrected, He commanded His disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations.” But what does that discipleship look like? How does one go about obeying this command practically? How would the original apostles have gone about doing this? I think the answer is clear: Jesus had spent the past several years discipling the apostles, setting an example for how discipleship is to be done. In short, the apostles would have learned their discipleship principles from Jesus. And so should you.
In this post, I want to extract practical discipleship principles from Jesus by looking at how He behaved towards His disciples. This post will look at the Gospel of Matthew in particular. There are many different ideas and methods put forward today for how to disciple someone. But the most important and foundational principles are laid down by Jesus in the Gospels. You must internalize and meditate on how Jesus interacted with His disciples in order to be effective at discipling others in obedience to the Great Commission.
1. You must initiate the discipling relationship
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he (Jesus) saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-20 ESV, emphasis added
It goes without saying, but the 12 apostles didn’t choose themselves to become Jesus disciples. Jesus initiated the relationship. Jesus called the 12 from their different areas of life and commanded them to follow Him. Furthermore, in Matthew 4 Jesus states His goal with discipling Peter and Andrew: He will make these brothers fishers of men.
“Fishers of men” is an apt metaphor for discipleship. No one goes fishing by sitting at home and waiting for the fish to swim up on land and come to them. Fishing means going out and catching the fish yourself. If you want to disciple other people, you are going to have to initiate the relationship. If you sit around waiting to be swarmed by individuals dying to glean wisdom from you, you will be waiting a long time.
Fishing for men means taking responsibility to go out and find people to disciple.
Now, unlike Jesus who has all authority, not everyone you approach with immediately follow you as Peter and Andrew did Jesus. But this discipleship principle from Jesus still holds: if you want to have a discipling relationship with someone, you are going to have to take the first steps.
2. Discipleship involves both direct teaching and setting an example with your lifestyle
The 12 apostles were around Jesus for the length of His earthly ministry. During that time, Jesus both taught the disciples directly, and set an example by His conduct. The Gospel of Matthew contains several sections recording the teaching of Jesus, including the famous section “The Sermon on the Mount.” Beyond this formal teaching, the 12 apostles received teaching not given broadly, such as Jesus interpreting parables for them.
But it would be foolish to limit Jesus’ discipleship of the apostles to His teaching ministry. The apostles also:
Witnessed Jesus’ miracles
Watched Him respond to the Pharisees
Listened as He answered questions from the crowd with wisdom
And more. Because the apostles were around Jesus constantly, they had the unique position to both hear what Jesus said and observe how Jesus acted. And this “hearing and seeing” is crucial to any discipling relationship. Certainly a good amount of time discipling others will involve teaching. But just as important is how you yourself behave and conduct yourself.
If you disciple someone, you are not only saying “listen to me.” You are also saying “imitate me as I imitate Christ.”
Just like Jesus, you need to modelin practice what you teach in precept. You oftentimes have more opportunities to display godly character in action than you do communicating godly characteristics in word.
3. Discipleship is honest about the joy of following Christ and the cost of following Christ
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV, emphasis added
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 16:24-25 ESV, emphasis added
Jesus did not sugarcoat the cost of following Him. Neither did He undersell the peace and joy He provides. Discipling involves teaching this tension. Following Jesus will lead to suffering and difficulty in this world, but Jesus is worth it. If you lose either part of this tension, you will end up obscuring the Bible’s teaching.
A major part of discipling others is displaying for them the worth and value of Jesus. Since the Gospel is at the heart of the Christian faith, you always return to it. You show how it is Jesus and Jesus alone who gives rest for people’s souls. And this rest was only made possible by His sacrifice.
But at the same time, you don’t ever want to make Jesus sound like a “ticket to heaven” or a means to material gain or someone who demands nothing of His followers. Just as Jesus called His disciples to self denial and dying to themselves, so to you will make it clear to all you are discipling that following Jesus requires leaving behind much of what people hold onto in their flesh.
4. You cannot disciple everyone at the same level
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Matthew 5:1, 10:1, 17:1 ESV, emphasis added
Jesus did not disciple every single person He came in contact with. Even amongst the 12 apostles, He chose three to disciple more intimately. Jesus on several occasions brought only Peter, James, and John with Him to witness key moments in His ministry. You can see these three “levels of discipleship” in the verses above:
Jesus had a large crowd of disciples following Him who He taught formally
The 12 apostles were specifically selected by Jesus to minister alongside Him
Of those 12 apostles, Jesus chose three in particular to devote the most of His time
What is point here? You cannot disciple every single person at the samelevel. If you have been given an opportunity to teach formally at Church, that is a form of discipleship. Whether a pastor or a teacher, you disciple the congregation by expounding the word to them. But you cannot possibly have the entire congregation over your house every week. You will have to select a subset of the congregation to prioritize when doing that kind of discipling.
But even within that subset that you prioritize, you cannot go deep with every single person. You cannot live out all aspects of a discipling relationship with that entire group of believers. Within the subset of the congregation you devote your time to, there might be a handful that you really disciple at a deep level. And that is okay.
Don’t feel like you have to disciple every person you meet at the same level of depth in order to fulfill Jesus’ command.
There is a breadth to discipleship to be sure, but there is also a depth of getting to really know a few Christians at the level where you feel comfortable sharing your struggles against sins, your doubts, your spiritual victories. Jesus discipled many people during His ministry, but not all at the same level. We would do well to take this lesson to heart when we strategically plan who to disciple.
5. Discipling others involves both asking questions and answering questions
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:13-16 ESV, emphasis added
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Matthew 24:3 ESV, emphasis added
This discipleship principle from Jesus you see throughout the gospels. Jesus is an expert question-asker. His questions get right to the heart of whatever issue or whatever person He is dealing with. Questions are tools to make the other person think and to confront someone else’s thinking. Matthew 16 gives a great example: Jesus asks a general question to frame the discussion and then asks His disciples directly “what do you think?”
If you want to disciple someone else, you will have to become good at asking questions.
It is always tempting to simply tell someone else what they should think. But the goal of asking questions is to lead the other person to see the conclusion for themselves. It takes a lot of practice but no tool is more useful in discipleship, besides prayer and Scripture, than asking good questions.
Of course, the opposite is also true: you will have to answer questions if you disciple others. This leads to another key principle: discipleship is not one-sided. You don’t get to ask all the questions; sometimes you will have to answer hard questions yourself. In Matthew 24, Jesus is asked about the end of the age and ends up teaching for some time before finally answering the question directly. Since you don’t have all knowledge like Jesus, you will often have to consult Scripture yourself as you are asked tough questions from those you are discipling.
6. Discipleship requires patient perseverance
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Matthew 16:16-17, 22-23 ESV, emphasis added
I love the juxtaposition of these verses in Matthew 16. In verses 16-17, Jesus blesses Peter because of His confession. Soon after, Jesus rebukes Peter for adopting a satanic mindset with regards to Jesus death and resurrection. Why would Peter rebuke Jesus in the latter verse when he just confessed Jesus was the Son of God in the former verse? These verses illustrate a vital reality to keep in your mind: discipleship involves both encouraging and discouraging moments.
Think of your own life: is spiritual growth for you a never ending ascent into further and further godliness? Or is it more of a “one step forward, two steps back” kind of a process? Discipleship aims at teaching others to “observe all that Christ has commanded” but when you invest your time and life into others you will be hurt and disappointed often. One moment you will feel encouraged by the other person’s spiritual growth only to weep when you hear about a besetting sin this other person fell into.
What will you do when you get the discouraging news? Give up? Resign yourself to the fact that “it must not be working?” If you learn your discipleship principles from Jesus, you will take none of these options. Jesus persevered with Peter, despite Peter’s frequent mistakes, sins, and setbacks. Discipleship takes perseverance and patience. There is no other way. People don’t change overnight and sanctification is a life-long process. Don’t be discouraged when there are setbacks and issues to deal with. Instead, these setbacks are reminders to persevere in discipling since your work is never done “until Christ is formed” in the other person.
7. Discipleship requires involving someone in your life for a period of time
Stepping back for a moment, you realize that Jesus only had a handful of years to disciple the apostles. During that time, Jesus called them, the apostles went everywhere with Jesus, and Jesus taught them. But that time of walking with Jesus ended. It didn’t end Jesus’ death since Christ conquered death. Rather, Jesus sent out His disciples after His resurrection and then ascended into heaven.
The takeaway here is if you want to disciple other people, you are going to have to involve them in your life. Discipleship is not the occasional coffee shop meet up to catch up on life. Discipling also means inviting people to your home, being willing to talk when it is inconvenient, chatting as you do dishes, coordinating your schedules so you can frequently meet, including your family in discipling interactions, and a host of other things.
Discipleship is less about scheduled occasional meet-ups and more about constant continued closeness between believers as they live their lives week by week.
But don’t think every discipling relationship is a life-long commitment. People move away. Life-circumstances change. There is change and loss. A brother who discipled me in high school I stay in contact with, but I see him only occasionally. So he cannot be my primary means of being discipled. The brother who discipled me in college moved away a year or so ago. When he visits, we talk and go deep. But I need to be discipled by someone physically close to me, someone who can be involved in my life and I in his.
Enter each discipling relationship with a “season” mindset. What I mean by this is don’t assume you have an infinite amount of time to build up this person. You don’t. Instead, start the relationship with the mindset of “in this season of life, God wants me to invest in this person.” Then embrace the season, apply these discipleship principles from Jesus, and when that season ends, find the next person God would have you disciple.
Conclusion: Imitate Jesus, the ultimate disciple-maker
There is much more to say about discipleship and how to go about discipling others. In fact, future posts will look at what other Scripture teaches on the subject. But these 7 discipleship principles from Jesus in Matthew are a helpful and necessary starting point when thinking about how best to obey the Great Commission.
Don’t feel discouraged if you don’t live up to Jesus’ example. Remember: Jesus in giving the Great Commission also promised to be with His Church as they endeavored to obey it. Trust in Jesus, the ultimate disciple-maker, and rely on His strength as you go out and teach those around you what it means to live as a Christian.
In a previous post, I laid out the theological foundation for discipleship. Christians are commanded by the resurrected Christ to make disciples of all nations for the glory of God the Father. Jesus not only commands this: He also is with His Church as they perform this task. The question is why is discipleship not always a primary focus among Christians and in Churches? I think there are 3 common barriers to discipleship that keep believers from living in obedience to Christ’s command.
These barriers to discipleship are not legitimate excuses for disobedience. Rather, they are subtle lies you and I can allow ourselves to believe that keep us from prioritizing discipleship. In this post, I want to go through each of these common barriers to discipleship and show how Scripture addresses them. You will never become a discipling Christian if you don’t fight these three lies which pull you away from prioritizing pouring your life out for the spiritual benefit of others.
“I am too busy for discipleship”
Is any excuse more common in our modern world that “I’m too busy?” I hear the excuse almost daily and, if I’m honest, I hear the phrase come out of my mouth more often than I care to count. “I’m too busy” is our society’s magic bullet for excusing ourselves from something. It is another way of saying “I am not going to do that or make time for it.” And this “I’m too busy” excuse is used to dodge the command to make disciples both within and without the Church.
The barrier of “I’m too busy for discipleship” is insufficient for a number of reasons. The first of which I already wrote about in a previous post: the command is given by the authority of Christ.
No Christian should be too busy for obedience.
Part of becoming conformed to the image of Christ is conforming your life to Scripture. That means, among other things, you let the Bible set your life’s priorities. If you feel too busy for discipling others, then the first step is to remind yourself that Jesus sets your schedule, not you.
Secondly, I have been discipled by half a dozen men throughout the course of my life and every single one of them had a busy schedule. Every single one of them could have made the excuse “I am too busy for discipleship.” They had jobs, family responsibilities, were involved at Church, had aging parents, and a host of other things I probably didn’t know about. But the reality is you can have a lot of responsibility and still make time for discipleship. It takes effort, but God will give you grace as you seek to obey His word.
Finally, God has much to say about how His people use their time. Consider the following verses:
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
..you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Colossians 4:5, James 4:14, 17 ESV
Your time is a gift from God. Today is the time God has given you to live in obedience to His will and His commission to make disciples. If you have read this post or you have read Matthew 28, you know that discipling is the right thing to do. Therefore, to say you are too busy for discipling other Christians is sin per James 4:17. What is the solution? Ask the Lord’s forgiveness and start reworking your schedule so that you aren’t “too busy” for pouring your life into others.
“Discipleship doesn’t really work”
Rarely will you hear a Christian say “discipleship doesn’t really work” outright. Instead, it is an implicit assessment you and I can easily make each week. Discipling can be draining, time consuming, and seemingly fruitless. Why? Because you are spending time investing in sinful people. When discipling gets tough, it can become easy to think “well, this is a waste of time! There has got to be more effective and easy ways to serve Christ!”
You and I live in a “quick and easy”, “non-committal” culture. If you don’t like your job, you switch as soon as possible. Marriage problems? Get a divorce and find someone who can make you really happy. Is your food taking too long to cook? Just run out and get fast-food. This is what the culture values and if you are not careful, you can start wishing God’s plan included quick, easy, low commitment, low suffering obedience.
But discipleship is none of those things. Discipling takes endurance, patience, perseverance, love, and a host of other virtues. It involves sacrifice, suffering, and will sanctify you as much as you will help others. God’s plan for the nations involves making disciples and God’s plan will succeed. You must remind yourself that it doesn’t matter if you discipling others is “working” from your perspective or if it is “effective”. All that matters is you are being obedient to God’s plan.
When you are tempted to think God might have gotten it wrong by prioritizing discipleship, remind yourself of Isaiah 55:8-9.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
Discipling takes faith: faith that God’s means by which people are brought into the Church and built up in Christ are the best means. Faith that God’s plans, God’s methods work even if you don’t fully understand them. If you find yourself doubting if discipleship “works” or wondering if it is as important as people make it out to be, the problem is most likely a lack of faith in God to accomplish what He promises in His word.
You must walk by faith not by sight if you commit to disciple others.
“I am not equipped for discipleship”
Maybe you are trying to make time for discipleship and maybe you do truly believe it is integral to God’s plan for your life. I think the most common barrier to discipleship is even simpler than these: you don’t feel equipped to disciple someone else. You don’t see yourself as the Christian who knows the most, who has the most spiritual experience, who is the wisest or as godly as other believers around you. Who are you to try to disciple a younger believer? Won’t you do more harm than good?
As I have repeated in this post, discipling others is a matter of obedience.
When you pour into others for their spiritual good, you are working in accordance with God’s plan for the world.
The question you have to ask yourself is: will God abandon you to obedience alone? Does God call you to do something that He will not equip you to do? The answer is no, of course. God, through the Holy Spirit, provides you with everything you need to disciple others.
His divine power has granted to us all thingsthat pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence
2 Peter 1:3, ESV emphasis added
You might not feel qualified or equipped. But Scripture says God has given you what you need to obey Him. More than that, if you are a Christian you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you giving you the power to obey. If you want to become a discipling Christian, you are going to have to fight feelings of inadequacy with the truth of Scripture.
Remember also the promise of Jesus in Matthew 28: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Don’t focus on yourself and the ways you feel ill-equipped to disciple others. Look instead to Jesus and who He is. Is Jesus equipped to disciple others? Does He have all knowledge and wisdom? Then remind yourself that this same Jesus is with you as you seek to pour into others. He will give you what you need.
Conclusion: There are no barriers to discipleship
These 3 common barriers to discipleship can keep you from the joy and satisfaction of living in obedience to Jesus’ plan for your life. Discipling others is not easy, it takes a lot of your time, and requires you to rely on the Lord moment by moment. But that is the point. God calls you to toil for other people’s spiritual good because it also sanctifies you.
When Jesus was teaching His disciples, they didn’t always understand. Reading the Gospels, sometimes it seems like Peter takes one step forward and then three steps back spiritually. But Jesus calls you to follow in His footsteps by patiently and lovingly laboring and teaching other people God’s truth. You aren’t doing it alone: God is empowering you and equipping you every step of the way. None of these barriers to discipleship should keep you from living out God’s will.
Discipleship isn’t complicated, but it can be difficult. If you ask a believer who knows the Bible and seeks to live it out, I am confident they will tell you how important discipleship is. But how, in your local Church week after week, do ordinary Church members prioritize discipleship? And how do you become a “discipling Christian?”
As I said, discipleship can be difficult. Sometimes, it is good to go back to the foundational text for discipleship: Matthew 28. It is here you can see the theological foundations of discipleship and can clarify your thinking about what discipleship is, and what it isn’t. I want to give you some brief observations on Matthew 28 before giving you three foundations of discipleship from the text.
Matthew 28
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.”
Matthew 28:18-20, ESV emphasis added
Let me make a few brief observations before we go deeper into what this text is saying. The first is simply this: everything Jesus says in these few verses is based on Him having all authority. All authority in heaven and on earth. There is no authority He is lacking. So, this last command, to make disciples, is based on Him having all authority.
This isn’t like your close friend suggesting you change jobs or move locations. This is the risen Christ who has more power than every human ruler combined. And this Jesus is telling His disciples what they are to do next. This command based on all authority in the entire universe is vitally important and not given lightly.
This leads to the next observation: Jesus uses all His authority specifically to tell His disciples to go and make disciples. Is that strange to you? If you had “all authority in heaven and earth,” would that be your command? To make disciples? I think most people today would use such authority to say “go therefore and solve all the world’s problems” or “go therefore and bring about justice and world peace” or “go and change the world.” But Jesus doesn’t say any of that.
Jesus does not command His disciples to solve all the worlds problems. But He also doesn’t tell His disciples to merely stay together as a group. Jesus doesn’t say “stay therefore together as one group and enjoy the fellowship and forgiveness I have bought.” Instead, He sends His followers on a mission. In order to see the greatness of the great commission, you need to think through all the things Jesus could have said, but didn’t.
So what does Jesus command? He tells his disciples to make disciples. Then Jesus clarifies specifically what this looks like: baptizing them and teaching them to obey all His words. An article in this months Tabletalk magazine describes this as “bringing them in and building them up.” That’s good. Baptism brings new believers into the Church and after that begins the lifelong process of building them up in Christ-likeness. This latter “building up” is what the Church often defines as “discipleship.”
Theological Foundations of Discipleship
Now that you have seen a couple brief textual observations from Matthew 28, I want to give three big picture theological foundations of discipleship. These three truths are crucial for you to understand if you want to become a discipling Christian. Unsurprisingly, each of these truths are centered around Jesus and God’s glory. If you don’t start with Christ and God’s glory, you will fail to understand discipleship properly and will likely become “burnt out” as you try to disciple others.
Foundation 1: Jesus is raised from dead and has all authority
As I mentioned before, Jesus commands His disciples to go and make disciples based on complete and total authority. During His time of earthly ministry, Jesus was a “man of sorrows” and had “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant.” But this command for the evangelism and discipleship of all nations comes after Christ has defeated death. After He has paid for the sins of His people. Jesus was the suffering servant; now He is the glorious, resurrected King.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name thatis above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11, ESV emphasis added
Certainly the fullness of Christ’s glory will be revealed when He returns. But now, you and I live after His resurrection. This means Jesus already has all authority; He is Lord of history and Lord of the nations. But not only does Jesus have authority after the resurrection, He also has a people, His bride: the Church.
The Church’s desire is to obey Christ, their glorious resurrected King. So, when Jesus says “go therefore and make disciples,” it is not a painful duty for the Church to perform. It should be every Christian’s delight to obey the commands of their King. Jesus has proven His love and mercy towards you by dying in your place and defeating death on your behalf.
The question is “what then should I do?” If you are saved and believe in the gospel, Matthew 28 answers that question:
No matter where you go or what you do, your mission is to make disciples of all nations.
You want to become a discipling Christian? Remember is it Jesus who has authority over your life and He commands you to make disciples.
Foundation 2: Jesus is always with His people
What is amazing about Matthew 28 is Jesus doesn’t just say “go make disciples”; He also says He will be with His Church as they go make disciples. And there isn’t an expiration date for this promise: Jesus says He will be with His disciples always, even to the end of the age.
How can Jesus say this when He is about to ascend back to heaven? If you have read through the gospels you know the answer: Jesus is not going to leave His disciples orphans. Once Jesus ascends, the Holy Spirit descends on the Church. If you read through the book of Acts, you see that the growth of the early Church was a Spirit-empowered growth.
On your own, you cannot make disciples of all nations. But Jesus never asks you to do it alone.
Don’t expect discipleship to be easy. As you seek to obey Jesus command, you will face suffering, persecution, road blocks, and every manner of difficulty. But none of these should ever hinder you as you obey Jesus commands. Why? Because unlike world rulers who issue laws from a far distance, Jesus doesn’t just issue commands. He comes alongside His people to help them accomplish His commands.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,“The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Hebrews 13:5-6, ESV emphasis added
Notice the logic of Hebrews 13: Christ will never leave or forsake the believer. He is the Christian’s sovereign, all-powerful helper. So, there is nothing to fear; nothing another human can do to you will stop God’s plan. If you are going to commit your life to obeying your King’s command in Matthew 28, you are going to need to rely on Christ and His strength. You will need to daily draw comfort from the truth that even if everyone else in the world forsakes you, Christ never will.
There is no one who can ultimately harm you when Jesus is your ever-present, ever-faithful helper.
You want to become a discipling Christian? Remember that Jesus is the source of your comfort and strength. There is no obstacle to your obedience which is too great.
Foundation 3: Discipleship is part of God’s plan for the world
The final foundation of discipleship I want to point out is discipleship is a vital component to God’s overarching plan for the world. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s goal is to gloryfy Himself among all people. It is through God getting the glory that blessing comes to us who believe. This plan was not just for one people group; from the very beginning God was going to bless the nations and save true worshipers from the nations.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-13, ESV emphasis added
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
Psalm 22:27, ESV emphasis added
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
Isaiah 2:2b-3b, ESV emphasis added
If you want even more verses, read them here. It is overwhelming the amount of times God clarifies in Scripture His end goal is His glory among all nations. That is where the whole story of Scripture ends:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes andpeoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, f“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9-10, ESV emphasis added
If your heart is not excited by these passages, I recommend you study more deeply Biblical Theology. God’s plan is astounding, rich, and almost too good to be true. If you are not gripped by God’s plan for the world, you will not prioritize discipleship nor be effective in it. In order to do something well, you must have a clear goal in mine.
The clear goal of discipleship is God’s glory among the nations.
This makes it a joy to labor to bring people into the Church and then labor to build them up in obedience to Christ. The actual day-to-day tasks of discipleship might be wearisome. But if you keep in your mind that the goal of what you are doing is so God can get glory, worship and honor, you won’t be shaken by the ups and downs along the way. Biblical discipleship aims at God’s glory among all nations. Not moral improvement. Not “practical advice.” Your focus as you go about discipling should be on eternity, when the redeemed Church of God worships Him forever.
You want to become a discipling Christian? Spend your life not on your own plans and agenda, but labor for God’s glory among all people. Only that agenda is worth your greatest effort.
Conclusion
Discipling others may be the most important thing you ever do with your life. 100 years from now, almost no one will remember what you did in your life. Even your own great-great grandchildren likely won’t remember as much as your name. In light of death and the brevity of life, what can you do that really matters? If you are a Christian, you have the answer: go and make disciples of all nations.
Jesus has all authority and commands you to do this. He also presently empowers you to live in obedience to this command. And you know your time is not wasted, because making disciples is part of God’s plan for the universe. If you want to live for God’s glory, if you want to live in obedience to Christ, if you want your life to “count”, you are going to have to prioritize discipleship. A discipling life is a life worth living.
We have come to the last post in this series on Numbers 14. I have shown you Israel’s sinful fear, their lack of faith, and their false repentance after God confronts them. But Numbers 14 also gives us a positive picture of courageous faith, God’s merciful character, and Christ’s mediation. In this final post, I want to answer the simple question: Has God rejected Israel for their disobedience? Will God keep His promises to bring them into the land and bless them?
God will still keep His promise because He is faithful
Numbers 14 ends in a depressing place. Israel attempts to enter the land by their own strength against the advice of Moses. What happens? Complete defeat. The last verse in Numbers 14 has the Israelites routed by the Amalekites and the Canannites. At this point, you might say to yourself “Israel is hopeless! How is God going to stay with them? Will God continue to be faithful when Israel is unfaithful and disobedient every single step of the way?”
Numbers 15:1-2 comes with an answer:
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you,
Numbers 15:-12, ESV emphasis added
Not if Israel comes into the land: when Israel enters it. At this point your mind should be blown. God is still going to give Israel the land He promised them. After all Israel’s rebellion, after their false repentance, after they tried to claim the land without him. What kind of God would respond in this way?
A promise-keeping God. It is who God is fundamentally.
After all that happened in Numbers 14, after all the sin Israel committed, God is still committed to keeping His promises. God is a promise-making, promise-keeping God. Even human rebellion cannot thwart God’s sovereign plans. Paul explains this truth in 2 Timothy:
If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.
2 Timothy 2:13, ESV
God cannot deny Himself. Even when His people are faithless. Why is God so faithful to you time and time again? Why is His covenant love, his steadfast love, so inexhaustible? It isn’t because Israel is great. It isn’t because you and I are great.
God’s love is great because God Himself is great.
There is of course discipline when you sin. You saw that in Numbers 14. God does not let the guilty go unpunished. But He is rich in forgiveness, in faithful love. When you are tempted to believe God will give up on you or that He will not fulfill His promises in Christ because of your unfaithfulness, remind yourself it isn’t about you. It is about how great God is.
Numbers 14 and the Gospel of Jesus
In 2 Timothy Paul says Scripture can make one wise unto salvation in Jesus Christ. So how would someone reading Numbers 14 anticipate Christ? I would say there are at least two ways.
1. The New Covenant is necessary
Israel had the law, had a mediator, had God among them, but they still rebelled. Why? Because of unbelief. Even though Israel had the law:
They didn’t have the power in themselves to keep the law
The law didn’t produce faith in God
The law was still outside of them and it didn’t bear the fruit of trust in the Lord
And if you keep reading the Old Testament, this lack of fruit and faith continues. God sends prophets again and again to call out Israel for their unbelief and disobedience. The law does not fix either problem.
That is why the promise of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31 is so amazing. God says it won’t be like the covenant He made with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt: God promises to put His law within His people, on their hearts.
In Numbers 14, Caleb and Joshua had faith in God’s promises and begged Israel to believe too. In Jeremiah 31 God says that won’t happen anymore:
“No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother saying “know the Lord””
Why? “Because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.”
Numbers 14 should cause you to ache for the New Covenant. And how is God going to bring about this new covenant?
Matthew 26 gives us the answer: “Then Jesus took a cup and after giving thanks gave it to them and said “Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood that establishes the New Covenant, it is shed for the forgiveness of sins.”
God is going to establish a New Covenant. But establishing it will be costly. The price: the blood of His own son, Jesus Christ. The New Covenant wasn’t free. If you are a believer and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, if you are set free from the curse of the law, and if you know the Lord, realize that all that came with a price.
Jesus had to bring it about. Through His blood alone.
2. Only those who believe enter God’s promised rest
Hebrews 3 and 4 looks back on Israel’s history, including Numbers 14. The author sees Numbers 14 as a warning for people who read it. The author of Hebrews saw that even though this generation of Israel was redeemed from Egypt and saw signs in the wilderness, they still rebelled. The result? God swore in His wrath, as we saw in Numbers 14, that Israel would not enter His rest. The promised rest in the promised land.
The author of Hebrews in 3:19 gives the same conclusion you saw in Numbers 14: Israel was unable to enter because unbelief. Then Hebrews turns to us and gives us a warning.
If you hear about the rest promised in Jesus Christ, the rest from having to earn your standing before God, do not harden your hearts. Don’t be like Israel who stood at the edge of the promised land yet did not enter because of unbelief.
You can hear the gospel a hundred times but if you never actually believe it, you won’t enter the rest Jesus promises.
Let me say it again because it is a crucial takeaway from Numbers 14: You can be as close to the promises of God as Israel was, but if you don’t believe them, they won’t do you any good. You can be around God’s promises, you can hear the gospel, you can even be an upstanding member in a Church but unless you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you will perish outside of God’s promises.
Conclusion: Flee from unbelief, have faith in God’s promises
So, by way of summary, let me remind you the main point from this series: Israel did not enter the promised land because of their unbelief in God. And as I just explained above: you can be as close to God as to see His miracles, and yet still perish because of your lack of faith, your rebellion, and your false repentance.
I think Hebrews 4 gives us the best ending word: “So, let us make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.” Let us pray the Holy Spirit would work in our hearts so that you and I behave like Caleb. He was loyal to the Lord and His promises. Israel was fearful of men, but Caleb feared God. And in the end, Caleb, through his faith, ended up entering the promised land.
If you missed a post in this series, click here. If you want to listen to a sermon I preached on Numbers 14, click here. Subscribe and share below. Be sure to follow The Average Churchman on Instagram so you can get more content.
