Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

Greetings and a good morning to each of you this day!

You might remember a couple of weeks ago the sermon dealt with "Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing." What was that "main thing." The passage was Matthew 28:16-20 and in that passage we find Jesus' command to "Go and make disciples..." In the sermon we were reminded that indeed the main thing is discipleship, which as you might imagine covers a lot of ground.

You'll recall that I asked: Why didn't Jesus say "Go and make teachers, pastors, evangelists, worshippers, church administrators, preachers, missionaries, committee members, etc.?" After all, isn't that what we really need to "do church"? People who know the structure of the church and can follow the program? Not really. Jesus knew that a person first needed to become a disciple, a serious follower and learner of God's ways, in order to effectively become a pastor, teacher, missionary, etc.

We need to become more and more a disciple, or learner, of God's ways. We have already mastered the "discipleship" of my ways. What we need to do now is align our ways with God's ways even if it means forsaking some of my ways, preferences, ambitions, etc. Jesus invested time and energy with his disciples so as to instill in them his ways - he must have done something right because the church in Acts grew and muliplied as new disciples were made. It must have been tough for Jesus as he dealt with 12 different men, personalities, preferences, temperaments, cultures, and backgrounds. But in the end, we see 11 transformed disciples who are now ready to serve Christ and lead others in God's ways. But it took an investment of Jesus' time and energy.

My garden is beginning to show signs of growth. Just about all of the plants are over 6 inches high (or in length). Some time in the next several weeks I'll expect to see signs of "fruit" on each plant. And, in about a month I should be able to enjoy my first "calabacita con pollo." And, hopefully, I'll have some watermelon as dessert. As I do, I'll look back and know that the time and energy spent on the garden was worth it.

True Christian discipleship is not automatic and does not happen without investing time and energy in the process. We make ourselves available to be shaped and formed by God's word to reflect God's ways. And when we do, we will see the fruit of our labor. We'll look back and know that our time and energy invested in God's ways was eternally worth it.

By grace alone,
Pastor David