I basically had three sermons I wanted to preach this week: 1. the comparison between nurture (last week's topic) and foundation for discipleship as seen through the lens of baptism. 2. An exploration of the Deuteronomy text: heart, teach, wear as an emblem. 3. Luther's take on discipleship. It tried to do a little of each, but ended up with a sermon I did not think work very well. I left the text as it is written, but I changed off of it quite a bit. In fact, I did not use the conclusion that is found below. it felt like I should end earlier in the sermon, plus, I had not used "The Church's One Foundation" as a hymn in the worship service, so I just stopped the sermon.
“What I Need from My church: Foundation for Discipleship” I Timothy 4: 6-16; Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 SAPC, Denton; October 31, 2021; Fall, 2021 series
I Timothy 4: 6-16 If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters,[b] you will be a good servant[c] of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in godliness, 8 for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and struggle,[d] because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
11 These are the things you must insist on and teach. 12 Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture,[e] to exhorting, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.[f] 15 Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Introduction: We continue our fall preaching series on things we need from our church - not for our own self-gratification, but for us as we grow in our discipleship.
Move 1: Role of the church in developing a foundation for discipleship among its members.
a. We know from the letters to the early church that the church understood its role to be one of teaching
1. The letter we read to Timothy this morning would be an example.
2. Teaching, or giving instructions, about how to be “good servants of Christ Jesus.”
3. If Jesus was indeed the resurrected Son of God, what did it mean to follow him?
4. So many of the writings of the early church involved answering the questions of how the followers of Christ were to live their lives in light of God’s power to resurrect.
b. Although the early church grounded itself in the new reality of the resurrection of Christ, the task of God’s people to teach how to live lives of faith was not a new idea.
1. We read the passage in Deuteronomy and see how the Israelites understood their task to teach the faith so that people would understand the claim God had on their lives.
2. In Deuteronomy, we are reminded that discipleship is a matter of the heart. In other words, discipleship is not just learning techniques or memorizing beliefs, but about giving over all of who we are, keeping all that we learn and know about God in our hearts.
3. like the early church, the Israelites also understood the importance of teaching the faith.
the Israelites we exhorted to talk about God to their children when “they lie down: and “when they rise.”
We hear that and recognize the call to teach our children about following Christ and power of the God to resurrect.
4. of course, it is not just the teaching, but the living what is taught so all the world can see and be transformed. Like an emblem on our foreheads or a sign on a doorpost, our discipleship should announce God’s saving grace to the world through how we live our lives.
move 2: On this Reformation Sunday, two thoughts on discipleship from the Reformer Martin Luther.
a. First of all, Luther understood the importance of engaging people where they are, particularly with God’s Word.
1. Luther worked to have the Bible translated into the native language, in his case German, and made accessible to people.
2. Luther also began preaching in German, instead of in Latin, the language of the Catholic church, so that people could understand the sermons.
3. As on Luther scholar notes, “Before Luther helped spark the Reformation, the homes of people were filled with darkness. After Luther labored to give the people the German Bible in their own tongue—suddenly there was light in the homes of those who believed the gospel. The open Bible had replaced the relics and altars to saints that had been given to them by the Roman Catholic Church. Post tenabras lux—after darkness light!
Suddenly disciples were made through the open preaching of God’s Word in the people’s language. (9/29/17, Josh Buice, “Luther and Discipleship, https://g3min.org/luther-and-discipleship/
4. We recognize in Luther’s insistence that people be engaged by God’s Word the admonition in the 1st LEtter to Timothy to “give attention to the public reading of scripture to exhorting, to teaching.”
5. We also recognize our need to engage people to help them, to help us, grow in our discipleship in ways that connect with the lives we live.
5. in other words, helping people discover what it means in real and meaningful ways that we follow the resurrected Christ.
b. Luther’s understanding of law and grace speaks to discipleship as well.
1. Lots of theologians have written lots of words about Luther’s understanding of law and gospel.
2. I will not try and sort all that out, but I do offer a general comment.
3. Luther believed the law “reduces God uses the law to reduce sinners to nothingness and the gospel to create new beings in Christ.
4. In this light discipleship is more properly viewed as something God does to believers, rather than something that believers do for God or for the world.
5. The law/gospel approach to Christian life resists reducing discipleship to acquired techniques. Instead, it views discipleship in terms of Christians faithfully living out their vocations as baptized children of God. Through the preaching of God’s law/gospel Word believers are created and formed to live by trusting God’s promise to be God and by loving the neighbor in service of creation’s wellbeing.(Lutheran Quarterly, Vol XXVI, 2012, “Discipleship in Lutheran Perspective,” Mark Mattes, 142)
2. Accordingly, discipleship is pictured as a matter of dying to the old self and becoming a new creation, which, of course, brings us to baptism.
Move 3: Last week, the sermon topic discussed that we w
needed our church to give us nurture;
a. Like this week, the sermon was preached in the context of coming to the waters of baptism later in the service.
1. In her sermon last week, Reverend Patterson reminded us of the role the congregation takes in nurturing those in its midst.
2. She illustrated this nurture by pointing out how the congregation stands with the person being baptized.
3. a powerful image of nurture we will do again this morning.
b. to illustrate our call to provide a foundation for discipleship, however, I invite you to listen to the words we will speak about the congregation’s role in raising Ellie in the faith and teaching her about Jesus Christ so that one day the might profess Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.
1. We take those vows this morning on behalf of the church universal recognizing them as the reminder of our commitment to all the infants we baptize, to all the youth we baptize, to all the adults we baptize, to everyone who steps through the doors into this community of faith we know as St. Andrew.
2. We commit to creating Sunday School and youth programs that invite our children and youth to learn about Jesus Christ and commit their lives to following him.
we strive to provide worship in which people can come and hear God’s Word and recognize the new creations God is calling them to be.
We work to provide mission projects and other programs that allow us to share our gifts and talents with others as we serve our Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: We remember the words of the hymnist: “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord,” and we commit to helping people see how God has built that foundation in their own lives and respond to what God has done.
No comments:
Post a Comment