Home  ›  Audio  ›  “Making Disciples,” Rev. Melissa St. Clair, 6/15/14

“Making Disciples,” Rev. Melissa St. Clair, 6/15/14

“Making Disciples”

A sermon preached at

Heart of the Rockies Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Fort Collins, CO

by the Rev. Melissa St. Clair

Matthew 28:16-20

June 15, 2014

Each of the four gospels ends in a distinctive way. There’s Mark, who focuses on the empty tomb and the fear of the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection.  And Luke, who centers on the appearances of the risen Christ to the disciples, his ascension, and their preparation as witnesses.  Then John, wrapping up with a series of appearances of the resurrected Christ, especially to Peter.

In Matthew’s gospel, the first to appear in the canon of the New Testament, although written after Mark’s gospel, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus – now resurrected – commissions the disciples for mission.

READ MATTHEW 28:16-20

Before I moved to Fort Collins last January, I lived in a small town in Southwest Missouri, another notch on the Bible Belt.  A town that in the past decade had nearly doubled in size from a population of 8,000 to right around 15,000 at the last census.  A town with 21 churches, almost all of which had been around for a decade or more.  I’m not all that great at math, but that’s roughly…a lot of churches.

I passed at least five of these churches on my way to and from the one I served and loved dearly.  But there was one in particular that always caught my eye: the one with the lawn sign, carefully jammed into the grass like a real estate sign, except this sign was an invitation:  Monday Night // Open Bible Study // Questions Welcomed.

I was tempted to go, believe me.

I called my best friend instead.

“What do you think they mean by ‘open’?” I asked.  “I mean, if you have to describe it that way…do you think there are ‘closed’ bible studies?”

Which led to all sorts of speculation on how one could even study the Bible if it wasn’t open, and how questions were surely welcomed because they must have all the answers.

Confession:  I might be a tiny bit judgmental sometimes.

The reality is, I want to be in a place where questions are welcomed.  I want to study scripture with people who are open to different understandings and interpretations of what we call our sacred text so that my perspective can be expanded beyond my own.  I want to have a safe space to share my celebrations, my concerns, my convictions, and my doubts.

That’s the world the disciples lived in.  They’re seeing Jesus again for the first time since his death and resurrection.  The women got the word first; they ran to tell their companions, and now here they are on a mountain in Galilee, Jesus’ life having come full circle.  They worship…and they doubt.

Anne Lamott, a 21^st century apostle in my life, writes, “I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything.”  Then she remembers something her pastor friend had told her: “That the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.”[1]

The Light has returned for Jesus’ disciples.  They’ve muddled through the emptiness and the discomfort; truly, the mess of loving and following someone the empire hates.  And yet even with Jesus standing right there in front of them, there is doubt.

In case you were feeling like this is a common theme in your life, doubt, know that it familiar to Matthew’s theology too.  His gospel is steeped with a healthy understanding of the role doubt plays in our faith.  Doubt doesn’t necessarily mean being skeptical; it can also be the wavering we feel when confronted with more than one thing that seems reasonable and right.  It’s worth noting that not even resurrection, the pearl of our faith, generated perfect faith.  Not even in those who experienced it first-hand.[2]

And Jesus doesn’t seem bothered by that.  In fact, he proceeds to give the disciples their biggest responsibility to date.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. – Jesus (Matt. 28:19-20a)

Maybe it’s the high of resurrection, maybe it’s the preoccupation of impending ascension, but whatever it is, it’s given Jesus supreme confidence in his followers, to the point of handing over his world mission to them.

Rob Bell talks about a friend of his who gave him insight into a story about Jesus and his disciples.  It was a story he had heard many times before, but through his friend, it took on a whole new meaning.  In Jesus’ day, rabbis were the most honored, respected, revered people anywhere.  Jesus was a rabbi.

It was only the best of the best of the best who became rabbis. And this rabbi comes down the beach and says to you, “Come, follow me.” It’s an invitation, right?  But what’s he really saying?

What he’s really saying is, “I think you could do what I do.” He’s saying, “You can be like me.”

“All of this has huge implications for how we understand Jesus,” Rob says. “I mean, faith in Jesus is important,” he acknowledges. “But what about Jesus’ faith in us?”[3]

Have you ever asked yourself that?  What about Jesus’ faith in us?  Have you ever even entertained that notion, that Jesus has faith in you?

Jesus knows that his time with his disciples is drawing short.  And so he commissions them, leaving them with command and a promise.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:19-20)

He promises the Spirit to guide them and give them power for the mission at hand, but he leaves the future of the movement, this Jesus movement, in their hands.  Rob points out that Jesus doesn’t stick around to make sure they don’t screw it up.  He’s gone from them in the way they’ve known him.  And he trusts that they can actually do it.

God has an incredibly high view of people.  God believes that we are capable of amazing things.  Jesus believed in his disciples.  He believes in us, too.  The rabbi thinks we can be like him. [4]

So what do we do with that?

We do what he commissioned us to do.

We make disciples.

Awesome.

Except…wait, was that the end of Matthew’s gospel?! As in, no footnotes or appendices or instruction manual on how to make disciples??  Oh, Jesus.

Diana Butler Bass, a church historian who writes broadly on American culture and religion, identifies three important practices for disciple-making:

1) Invitation

2) Hospitality

3) Prayer

Most churches are really awesome at the last two, or at least are likely to think they are.  How often have you heard people describe their church as being anything less than warm and friendly, hospitable?  If so, maybe it’s time for them to find a new church.  And a big part of why church folk say they go to worship is to share joys and concerns and know that those will be lifted in prayer.  Hospitality and prayer.  Check.  Check.

But what about the first practice?  Invitation.  The practice of inviting people who aren’t already here to come to church.

Last August, we spent a day and a half with Jim Griffith, a church consultant who specializes in pastoral transitions like the one we’re experiencing. But he ended up spending the most time talking about another transition we need to make – the transition from being a welcoming church to becoming an invitational church.

The welcoming part is essential, of course, because returning to a place where you were invited but felt unwelcome doesn’t seem likely on the part of the one invited, and it certainly doesn’t seem faithful on our part either.

But with this idea of invitational ministry comes a whole deck of questions, none of them small or insignificant.

What is invitational ministry?

Who would I invite to church?

What would I say?

What would they say?

Why do I go to church?

Isn’t there a committee who could be doing this?

And as many more as there are all of you.

I don’t have all the answers, but let’s start living the questions.

Start with this one:  Why do you go to church?  Why – when you could go to the mountains to experience the beauty of God’s creation and feel close to God; go to yoga at the fitness club to breathe and become more centered, sign up on MeetUp.com to meet new people and make friends; join the Kiwanis to serve others; pray in your own home, car, cubicle – why do you come here?  Why are you part of this community?

How is your faith formed and your spirit nourished here?

Who do you care enough about to want them to be a part of it too?

The good news about this whole invitation business, and in turn this discipleship business, and in turn this gospel business is just that it isn’t business at all.  It isn’t a transaction or a thing to be bought or sold or consumed.  It’s not a matter of making the right sales pitch in hopes someone you care about will actually accept your offer and come.

It’s about a spiritual hunger, a divine thirst.  It’s about sensing God’s presence in your own life and desiring to hear from others about how God is at work in theirs.  It’s about wanting more people on the journey with you – to laugh, to learn, to cry, to question, to doubt, to discern, to listen, to pray, to worship, to serve, to share, to love, to grieve, to grow…

Discipleship isn’t about answers.  Whew, right?

It’s about a story.  It’s about our stories, and Jesus’ story and where those intersect.  It’s about creating a story larger than our own.[5]  That’s why we invite more people to see what it’s all about.  So that the story is as full as this promise – And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.