Pastor Tom’s message this Sunday focused on making Disciples. His heart and that of our Church is the making of Jesus’ disciples in keeping with His instructions. Why are we absorbed with this mission or why should we be? IT’s because we’ve GONE FROM DEATH TO LIFE, because we have found in Jesus eternal life.  Pastor Tom pointed that out clearly.  I know I SHOUTED that.  Disciples follow Jesus, because He is alive, we don’t follow politicians.  They need Him as much as we do. We pray for politicians, and God knows they need it.  

Now, to give you my thinking based on what pastor said, but know that Pastor Tom is right.  

His question surrounding Making Disciples, who will make disciples was: have we really shared Jesus with anyone, who is not already a disciple lately?

He said: and I’m paraphrasing: That there are many voices today.  But as for us, we are listening to the one who died, and has risen. He is the one, who said, just after He told us to make disciples, that then comes the:

Matthew 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (KJV)

So what am I convicted of from this message?  Pastor confessed that he falls short in this area, and I do also. We all must. 

So, what Jesus taught the disciples (including this direction for us) was that this was to be taught to others (to us first), and then we are to teach it to others. We can’t teach them anything until we actually make them a disciple. How do we get them to be disciples?  We need an ice breaker: A starting place that will let men know that we care about them. 

Pastor suggested that somewhere within that caring we ask: Do you worship Jesus anywhere?  The Holy Spirit can take it from there. 

As my friends and I discuss such things; my Friends, of a more liberal Christian persuasion seem to believe that this is all about and maybe even only about love. That is what drives the social gospel.  They tell me that we are to love everyone even our enemies, and that seems to carry with it, what has become known and preached by them to be their social gospel.  To some of them, this loving, seems to include overlooking man’s sin, because we are all sinners, and that fact flows into possibly their seeming to be overlooking the fact that these sinners in the world, unlike God’s children are without any relationship to Jesus, and therefore they are without any righteousness; because none of us are righteous without His imputed righteousness. That is what gives us relationship to the Father. 

This lack of current relationship is seen in the social gospel where they are telling them, not about Jesus’ expressed purpose for coming, but about what He taught us in terms of our relationship with our fellow man.  That relationship is necessary, but meaningless w/o first a relationship with and through Jesus and His gifted to us Counselor the Holy Spirit leading us to the Father. 

I try to ask them in different ways: if by not understanding the gospel as such, do we really love them enough.  For to engage them in this discussion over the most important living person impacting the world: their creator, and the only one who can save them from their sin, even while in their sin; then are we not totally failing. 

To those in the social gospel mindset, it would seem, that the most important thing concerning Jesus, is what He stated about relationships in the greatest as well as His new commandment:  Love your neighbor as yourself for in this and the first commandment to love God, one will find no greater commandment.  Yet He did give a new commandment on love.  Is it the keeping of these that will cause one to fulfill all the others?  Problem is, no one even those infilled with God’s own Spirit can keep these  commands.  No one can love like that. 

I fear that I fail miserably in dealing with what I believe to be wrong with their thinking concerning what Jesus was stating when He stated all that. So tomorrow, I will try again to deal with that topic.  I will share with you why it must be dealt with.  I will be incorporating those very sections of scripture in which Jesus gave us that instruction as well as the new commandment scripture.  We will deal with both as they relate to salvation, and what is becoming a very dark direction for our country, 

You will see that keeping neither commandment can save you, or will result in the salvation that Jesus came to offer us. Please don’t crucify me before you read tomorrows post.