Share The Word

In this message, David Platt reminds us that God has given us a part to play in His mission, and it begins with sharing the Word.

Explore more content from Radical.

Chapters

• 0:00 Two Times Jesus Said “It Is Finished”
• 3:30 John 17: The Strategy Behind the Cross
• 7:45 Why Jesus Focused on a Few Disciples
• 12:40 The Global Need and Our Misplaced Confidence
• 18:20 Foundation: God’s Glory and Continuing Incarnation
• 23:30 Component One: Share the Word
• 28:40 Sovereignty Over Savvy: God Gives People, Words, Authority
• 38:00 Stories from the Field: India, East Asia, New Orleans
• 46:00 Eternal Life vs. Religious Laws
• 55:30 Fear, Weakness, and Christ’s Honor

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author, and teacher David Platt.

SPEAKER_01: 0:08

If you have a Bible, and I hope you do, let me invite you to open to the book of John. Feel free to use your table of contents if you need to. While you're turning there to the book of John, I want to ask you a question. Start off this morning with a little Bible quiz. One question. Probably pretty simple, hopefully. I want to know when and where Jesus said these words. When and where was he when he said it is finished? Anyone know? He was on the cross, okay? That's our first answer. And that is one of the places where Jesus said those words. Look at John chapter 19, verse 30. One of the times where Jesus says it is finished. This is where we often think of, immediately think, well, when Jesus said he had finished, he was done, he'd finished all that he was supposed to do. It was John chapter 19, verse 30. And he's sitting on the cross, it says, when he had finished, when he had received the drink, Jesus said, It is finished. And with that he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. But does anybody know the other time when Jesus said that he was finished? Turn back two chapters to John chapter 17. You look at John chapter 17, verse 4, Jesus uses the same word there. We kind of miss it because it's translated in some of our translations differently, but it says in verse 4, I brought you glory. This is Jesus praying to the Father, I brought you glory on earth by completing or finishing the work you gave me to do. Same word in the original language of the New Testament that we see in John 19, verse 30, is now used here in John chapter 17, verse 4. Now here's what I want us to do today. I want us to think if Jesus said, It is finished on the cross, but he also said, I've finished the work you've given me to do in John 17 before he went to the cross, then, well, this doesn't say the cross wasn't important. That was obviously a very important part of his work, but there was also another work that he was doing here. That he could say even before he went to the cross, I have finished the work you've given me to do. You've got at the top of your notes there. I wanted us to begin by thinking about the work of Jesus this morning. And I think the work, the strategy of Jesus revolved around two main aspects. One, in John chapter 19, verse 30. We'll call that a message of redemption. That was the picture on the cross. Jesus was giving his life to redeem men and women, which basically means to restore us to God. Now that was part of his work, and obviously the central part of his work, giving his life on the cross. But in John 17, before he even went to the cross, he says, Past tense, I've finished the work you've given me to do. What's he talking about there? Well, let's call that John 17, verse 4, the method of reproduction. What you've got is two aspects to Jesus' work. Yes, he went to the cross and he died on the cross to restore us to the Father. At the same time, he's showing us a picture here of how his work also involved how that message is going to be reproduced throughout the entire world. And I think that's the picture we've got in John chapter 17. He says this at the beginning of this prayer, I've finished the work you've given me to do. And then he begins to describe that work. And over the next 22 verses, what we've got a picture of, Jesus summarizing his work on earth. What's interesting, not one time does he mention a miracle that he performed. Not one time does he talk about the blind who could now see, or the person who was dead who was now alive, or the person who was poor, who had come into contact with him and been healed of their sickness. But 40 times, over 40 times, what he does is he mentions the men God had given him out of the world. He never once mentions a miracle. He never once mentions all the masses and multitudes of people that followed him, but 40 times he mentions the men God had given him out of the world. So here's what I want you to do. You've got John 17 open there. I want you to take your pencil or your pen if you're okay with marking your Bible. If you're not, then you can just abstain from this exercise. But if you're okay with marking your Bible, here's what I want you to do. We're going to read through this prayer. And every time you see the disciples mentioned, or even us as disciples of Christ 2,000 years later mentioned, then I want you to, I've got I've put a box around each word in this chapter that describes his disciples or us. You might circle it, put a square, underline it, whatever it might be, but every time you see the disciples mentioned, put a mark there in your Bible. Let's read this together. Now keep in mind, we are coming into a conversation between God the Son and God the Father right before he goes to the cross. And he prays this prayer out loud for a reason. His disciples are there in the upper room and they're listening. And here's what he says. Verse 1. He looked to heaven and he prayed. Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. Now some of you are thinking, all right, Dave, we got a long way to go to get forty plus times. Well, get your pen, pencil ready. Verse 6 I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours. You gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me, and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine, and glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them, and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction, so that Scripture would be fulfilled. I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. This is where disciples of Christ come in after that, including us. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them, and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity, to let the world know that you sent me and have loved me, loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them. Do you get the point? Over and over and over again, Jesus says at the beginning, I have finished the work you've given me to do. And then 40 plus times, he references these, the small group of men that he had poured his life into. Could it be that his work, yes, exemplified in the cross, was preceded by his work of pouring his life into a few men, i.e., making disciples. They were his life that he had poured into so that he comes to the end of his ministry. He says, everything is staked on these guys. Don't miss it. Jesus' strategy depended on a few disciples' faithfulness to advance this message of redemption through a method of reproduction. His whole work, his whole life and ministry hinged on the faithfulness of these few guys. That's the overarching truth that infiltrates, infuses every verse in John 17. And everything hinged on them reproducing the message they were going to see in the cross, just like he had done that in their life. As a result, I think John 17 gives us a pretty incredible picture of the heart of Jesus, the master disciple maker. It gives us a picture into what kind of work did Jesus do on earth? How did he do it? How did he pray for the people around him? And what it's gonna do over the next four weeks, this week, and the next three weeks, it's gonna begin to unpack what it means to make disciples, and we're gonna learn directly from the heart of Jesus Himself. Here's the urgent need that we need to see. Ladies and gentlemen, if we do not reproduce ourselves in disciple making, then we will do a pitiful job of advancing the message of redemption that has been entrusted to us. If we do not reproduce ourselves in disciple making, then the message of redemption on the cross in John 19, 30 will not be advanced in the way Jesus desires for it to be advanced. And the results are all around us. Over a billion people who have never heard the message of redemption. A sixth of the world. And not just there, but in Birmingham. How can we most effectively advance the message of redemption? You know, it's funny that in a day where we have more faculties and more resources to advance the gospel to the ends of the earth than ever before. In this day and age, with all that we have, do you realize that there are more unreached people, more people today on the earth who have never heard the name of Jesus than there were before we invented the horseless carriage? And it's at this point that some might think, well, man, we need to rise up and start taking advantage of all this technology we have when the resources, let's let's start using all of these things to begin advancing the message. And while I am wholeheartedly behind using technology and any resources we have to advance the gospel, here's the question I want to ask this morning. What if the answer is not in our technology? What if the answer is not in our resources? Ladies and gentlemen, what if this is a problem that our money can't solve? What if the main issue is not how we use our technology and our resources, but whether or not we give ourselves to the plan that Christ has outlined? What if that's the core issue? What if it's not about money or resources of technology? What if it's about people and us pouring our lives into a few? See, the urgent need at that point leads to an urgent question. And the question is this will we be faithful to obey his plan? And don't miss this. Because if this mission is dependent on us using technology and resources wisely, if us it depends on us using all the things that we have at our disposal, then that means our brothers and sisters in Africa and in East Asia, who don't have all that those resources, can't accomplish the mission without them. But what's weird is it's actually the exact opposite that's true. Those who have the least resources are seeing the gospel advance the quickest. Those who have the most resources are becoming stagnant with the gospel. Why is that? Because we can become dependent on that which God has told us not to become dependent on, and we miss out on the plan of making disciples of all nations. So, what I want us to do over the next four weeks is dive into four components of what it means to make disciples. If you were not here last week, just to bring you up to speed, the goal is that through this series, that you would be able to ask, my prayer is that we could ask anybody at the Church of Brook Hills, how do you make disciples? And we would be able to say, This is how you make disciples. I want to show you four practical components and not just be able to say we know how to do it, but we're doing it. So I want to want you to see a foundation in this prayer, and then I want to dive into the first component. So let's start with the foundation for disciple making. It's in these first five verses, and I want to read back over them one more time. And instead of circling all the they's and dems, I want you to look for a couple word, one word that's mentioned a couple of different times that really becomes the focus, the driving force behind this prayer. Listen to John 17, 1 through 5. Foundation of disciple making here. Prayer starts. Father, the time has come. Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had before you with you before the world began. Did you see one word mentioned five different times? Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you, the glory I had with you before the world began. The driving force in this prayer is the glory of God. And we see it in two different ways. First of all, God is glorified in the completion of the incarnation. What Jesus is doing is he's coming to the end of his life and his ministry here on earth. And as he comes to the end, we studied the incarnation all throughout December. We saw how the Word became flesh, dwelt among us, He lived, He died, He rose from the grave, and now we're seeing the completion of that full circle. Jesus is about to ascend to the Father after he goes to the cross, and he will be restored to his glory. This idea of glorifying yourself or glorify me basically means to clothe in splendor. So Jesus is saying, Father, I have lived to clothe you in splendor. Now glorify me, bring me to the splendor, restore me to the splendor I had with you before I came in the incarnation. So we've got the completion of this whole picture. Jesus is going back to the Father because this had been the driving passion at the heart of Jesus over and over again in the book of John. Think 17 different times we see this emphasis on glorifying the Father through Christ. Jesus driving passion. John chapter 12, verse 28, he's praying, Father, what shall I say? Save me from this hour as he prepares for the cross. And he says in verse 28, No, this is why I came. Father, glorify your name. Clothe yourself with splendor through my life. But that's not where it stops. If it stops there with Jesus going back and being the incarnation being completed, then that happened 2,000 years ago. How does that affect us today? And how does that affect these disciples then? And what we see is that God is glorified not just in the completion of the incarnation, but God is glorified in the continuation of the incarnation. The word was made flesh in Jesus 2,000 years ago. But the beauty of the gospel is that when he goes back to be with the Father, now the Word is being made flesh in who? In you and me and us. That Christ lives in us, Christ in you, Colossians 1.27 says, the hope of glory. Christ is making himself known through us. We are his hands, we are his feet, we are his mouthpieces, we are the word made flesh today. That's why he prayed over and over again for these guys. It's almost as if Jesus is saying to the Father, Father, it is best for your glory that you bring me back to you, because when you do, then I will show my show the word made flesh in each one of these guys as they go out into the world. And the incarnation will continue over and over and over again. And here we're getting to the heart of disciple making. We know, scripture's clear, that we were all created to bring glory to God. How do you do that? How do you glorify God? And the picture is you let the word become flesh in you, in your life, and you let Christ live through you and Him become a reality in and through you on a daily, on a weekly basis. And so that's the foundation. As a result, the word is at the center of disciple making. The word and the sense of the person of Christ living in us, as well as the word that we're about to read in just a second, that shows the emphasis on his actual words, his commands. So with that foundation, here's what I want us to dive into. The first component of disciple making that we're going to see here in John chapter 17. Component number one is to share the word. This is where disciple making starts. And I want us to dive into John chapter 17, verse 6 through 8 in particular. And I want you to see how Jesus began with these guys, how he began to bring them to himself and how he began to make disciples. Listen to what he says. Now, obviously it was still a little incomplete because you just hadn't gone to the cross yet, and the ramifications of the gospel had not been spelled out completely. But these guys, undoubtedly, throughout the book of John, had come to the point where they had embraced Christ and they had basically said, We trust you are who you say you are. We're going to follow you. We're with you. They had identified themselves with faith in Christ. They had come to that initial point. So Jesus had shared the word with them and they had received it. That's where disciple making starts. And we see it not just in Jesus' life with these guys, but in their response to Jesus. Flip with me back to John chapter 1. Go back to the first chapter in John with me. And I want you to see three different people that encounter Jesus. This is the introduction to Jesus in John chapter 1. And three different people encounter him. I want you to see what they do first thing as they encounter him. Some of you have studied this already this morning in your small groups. You've looked at these passages. Look at John chapter 1, verse 29. This is the introduction of Jesus, the word made flesh. And verse 29 says, The next day John, meaning John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So as soon as John sees Jesus, he proclaims, he shares the truth about Jesus. Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now look at what happens as a result. Go over to verse 40 in John chapter 1. It says, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. And the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, we have found the Messiah, that is the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. So John sees Jesus, he announces who he is. Andrew sees who he is. First thing he does is he goes and tells Simon, then look down in verse 44. Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida, Philip found Nathaniel and told him, We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and about whom the prophets also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. So three people encounter Jesus, and the first thing they do is what? They share that word, share Christ, introduce others to Christ, share Christ with people around them. This is the first component of disciple making, and it's very simple, it's natural. If we're gonna make disciples of Christ, then we have to introduce people to Christ, right? That only makes sense. And it was natural for them in John chapter 1. But I think we've missed this. I think we've missed this drastically in the church today. What we've done is we have separated. Now I'm gonna use a term here that I know has some negative stereotypes, alright? Evangelism. Okay, there, it's out there. Okay? Now this is a this is a great biblical term. It talks about sharing good news, but as soon as I say that word, you've got images of people on TV trying to get your money or asking you to come and put your hand on the screen so they can pray for you, okay? Put that aside, all right? What we've got is evangelism here. Evangelism. What we do is we come up with programs for evangelism, and then we put discipleship over here. And we say, well, you got discipleship over here and evangelism over here. And most of us are gifted. We like doing discipleship, and about two of us like doing evangelism. And so the really outgoing, kind of out there people do evangelism, and the rest of us do discipleship and clean up the mess they've made. And so that's what we do. And we separate the two together. But we've got to realize first of all, evangelism is no program in the church, and discipleship is not a program in the church. Second, there's no way we're ever gonna get world evangelism without disciple making, it's not gonna happen. How do you know? Well, look at the world, okay? You're not gonna get world evangelism without disciple making. Similarly, you cannot do discipleship apart from evangelism to focus on knowing Christ but not sharing Christ, that certainly doesn't add up nowhere in scripture. And so we've got to bring these two together. It's interesting. Even when you read books on disciple making today, many times they leave evangelism completely out of the picture. And I think unnecessarily and frankly unbiblically. And so we need to bring this together that sharing the word is a part of making disciples. Now don't tune me out, okay? Some of you have already said, okay, this is one of those evangelism sermons gonna make me feel bad, gonna give me a guilt trip, and then uh that's not the point, okay? Just stay with me, hang with me, because I think as we see this unfold in Jesus' heart and the way he interacted with his disciples, that we're gonna see some truths come out. They're gonna be really encouraging for us and hopefully change some of those stereotypes we have with that word, okay? I want you to see a few truths that arise. First of all, this first component of disciple making, share the word. Our confidence in sharing the word is grounded in God's sovereignty, not our savvy. Our confidence in sharing the word is grounded in God's sovereignty, not our savvy. Now, I want you to see how this unfolds in the verses we just read. In John 17, we'll come back there. We're going to be turning to a few different places in John, and we'll always come back to John 17 here. I want you to listen to these verses, and I want you to think about. This idea of sovereignty means control or authority or dominion, that God is sovereign. He is in control. I want you to hear these verses and ask the question as I read them to you. Who's in control here? Who's got the authority here? Who's doing the work here? Listen to this. Jesus says, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours. You gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you've given me comes from you, for I gave them the words you gave me, and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. Who's doing most of the work here? It's the Father. If we didn't know Jesus' heart and the way he loved these disciples, we would think he's a little frustrated at this point. God, you gave these guys to me. They're not they're not that sharp, but they're yours. You put me in this mess, and I gave them the words you gave me, and now I'm stuck with them. So I come to the end of my life and I finish the work, and this is this is it. The Father's sovereign behind this whole thing. He's the one who gave these these guys, he gave the words, he gave them to him, he sent him to them. God is sovereign over this whole thing. Now, some of you that's making you a little uneasy because you're starting to think, well, does God give some people and not other people? How does this whole thing work? Is God just controlling us like we're robots? Well, don't miss it. Don't miss it. When we're talking about God's sovereignty here, the goal is not for us to now get into a debate on predestination in the room. That's not the goal. Here's why. Because this passage is pretty clear to tell us that these guys had a part in this thing. They believed, they obeyed, they accepted the words. There is human responsibility over all over these things. And somehow, and I can't describe exactly how, but God's sovereignty and our responsibility don't conflict. They come together, they're all over scripture together. We can get into trouble when we begin to emphasize God's sovereignty all the time, and we miss out on the fact that we we're a part of this thing. We have responsibility. At the same time, we begin to focus on, well, I'm in control and I'm doing these things when God is in control. They go together. I want you to see in those verses what the Father gave Jesus, and the implication is what he gives us. First of all, he gives us the people. He gives us the people over and over again. Jesus says, You gave these guys to me. The whole prayer started off. You granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. This is really neat. I want you to think about this with me. The disciples, and even us, when you get to the last part of the prayer, the disciples are described as the Father's gift to the Son. And I want you to think about that with me. We're used to thinking of the Father's gift to us being Christ. John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, or one and only Son. He gave him as a gift to us. Do you realize what John is showing us here? The Holy Spirit is telling us that we are the Father's gift to the Son. Let that soak in for a second for you personally to realize that you are a gift from God the Father to God the Son. Precious and honored and valued by Him in a way that nothing in this world can compare with. So He gave the people, He gave them to Him. Not just gave us He gives us the people, but second, He gives us the words. Jesus says, You gave me these words that I gave them, gave to them. So He gives us the people and He gives us the words. And then third, He gives us the authority. Gives us the authority. We see that in the fact that Jesus, the Son, had been sent by the Father, but even way back up in verse 2, when it said, You granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those who you have given him. So Jesus had the authority to give eternal life to all those the Father had given to him. So the Father gave the people, the Father gave the words, the Father gave the authority, and Jesus' job at that point was pretty easy. Now I want you to think with me about how this affects the way we share the word. Could it be that God desires to give us the people as well? Could it be that just like he said to Paul in Acts chapter 18? You remember that story? Paul's in Corinth, he's having a really rough time, people aren't liking him, they're persecuting him, many people aren't coming to faith in Christ, he's having a real difficult time. What happens? Jesus comes to Paul in a vision, he's thinking about leaving, and Jesus says, Don't go anywhere, stay in the Corinth, because I have many people in this city. So stay here. And he did, he stayed there for a couple of years, and many people came to faith in Christ, and a great church was born. Could it be that God has people in Birmingham that he desires to bring to faith in him? That he is sovereignly drawing to himself. Could it be that when it comes to the sharing the word thing, we're not out on our own trying to do this work for God? Could it be that he is right now working all over the city to draw people to himself and he is sovereignly bringing our paths across the paths of people this week that he is drawing to himself, that we have the opportunity to simply join him in what he is doing? What an incredible truth to think that God is sovereignly working in people's lives, that you will intersect with this week. He's given us the people. And not just the people, but the words. Isn't it good to know that sharing the word is not dependent on our intellectual capacities, our ability to master and bolster this great argument for why someone should give their life to Christ? He gives us the words. Now, there's some people today who say that in our culture, 21st century culture, pretty far removed from the Bible, you really can't use the word when sharing the gospel with people. You can't use the word because people won't listen to it, they don't respect it, they don't trust it, they don't attribute much to it, and so it's not very effective. Well, I'm not in favor of us going out and just quoting all of our memory verses to a lost and dying world so they see our Bible drill skills. However, I think we are ignorant and foolish if we think that we can do God a favor by taking his word out of sharing the gospel with people around us and think that we're going to be more effective. We're not that good. We're not that sharp, and we don't have that many skills. He has promised, don't miss it. He has promised that when this word is shared, he has guaranteed that it will bear fruit. It will lead people to Christ. Guaranteed. The question is: will we share the word? He gives us the words. He gives us the people, he gives us the words, and he gives us the authority. This is why Jesus said at the very beginning of the Great Commission, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Matthew chapter 11, verse 27, Luke chapter 10, verse 22, both say that all authority has been invested in Jesus. That he has authority over every world religion, philosophical system in the world today to bring people to eternal life. Now, with that behind you, think of the confidence this gives us in making disciples. That he gives us the people, he gives us the words, and he gives us the authority. I remember the first time these truths began to come home to me in a new way. It was two years ago, almost this exact time, two years ago, when I was in India. Some of you have heard me talk about my trip to India that particular time. In a city with seven million people, most of whom had never even heard the name of Jesus. And as we would walk into the city, our job every day was to go and share Jesus with people, just to have conversations and share Jesus. These are people, when you say the name Jesus, they say, Who is that? First time they're hearing the name Jesus. We would walk everywhere we went, we were just literally surrounded by thousands of people. We would go to a park or this part of the city, thousands of people everywhere. And what began to grip me was the realization as that I walked out into that city, opened the doors and stepped out and thousands of people, the confidence that somewhere in this group of a thousand people at this park, there was somebody that God was working in their life. That I was not out there on my own. He had been working all along. And that my job was simply to find the people that he was working in their hearts, to be sensitive to that. And then once I found them, to begin to share the words that had been entrusted to me. And to give them a picture of Christ and to know, talk about the authority, to know that in that city that was filled with Hinduism and Islam, that Jesus Christ had authority over every single foreign God that was being worshipped there. And Jesus Christ had authority over every single belief and reincarnation or this or that, everything he had authority over. That's great confidence when you go out to make disciples. Think about it. He gives us the people. I remember one time when I think about that and see that truth. I remember in East Asia, a guy named Charlie, he's a professor. And Heather and I, my wife and I, are in his apartment. This is another area of the world where very few people know about Jesus. Somebody had actually given him a Bible. And so Charlie comes up to me. We're sitting in his apartment. He comes up, he sets the Bible down in front of me, and he says, I need you to tell me how I can have a meaningful life based on that book. You ever looking for like an end to share the gospel? Well, there it was. Ah, okay. Um and so we do. God gives the people, He gives us the words. When I think about that, I think about uh in New Orleans a friend of mine named Byron and I, one day walking around in the neighborhood around our church and just getting to know folks, praying with folks, and um sharing the gospel as the Lord provided opportunities. And I remember we were walking by this one guy's house, he's up on his porch and uh kind of a bohemian type guy, and uh and we start a conversation. Hey, how's it going, man? And immediately he says, I don't want it, and uh, I don't know what you're selling, but I don't want it. And we say, Well, we're actually from the church on the street, and he says, Okay, I don't want it. And uh he was just real, real standoffish, not wanting anything to do, and I'm thinking, okay, maybe we need to move on here. And he just says, you know, I appreciate what you guys, what you guys do, but I'm I'm kind of more new age, and I think just he begins to talk about how everything in the universe happens for a reason. And and I'm thinking, okay, it's time to move on. About that time, Byron, he's standing next to me, he said, Well, if that's true, then what do you think the reason is for us coming in contact with you today? I thought, man, Byron, that was pretty good. Then I started to get a little mad, kind of jealous, like, Lord, why didn't you give me that line? I mean, that was sharp. And this guy, an instant before, cold as can be, he sits up and he says, now that's a good question. And he walks out to us on the street. And he says, Well, let's think about that. And we start sharing the gospel with this guy. He gives us the words, and he gives us the authority. What I always think about at this point is the last five or six years of my life before coming here and spending week after week in the French Quarter of New Orleans with homeless men and women who were engrossed in alcoholism and other vices that this world has trapped them in the fortune card readers and tarot card readers and palm readers and the voodoo queen of New Orleans who were outright pagan, say we we are pagan in our beliefs, and to know in every single conversation that Jesus Christ has the power to overcome anything in these folks' lives, to bring an eternal life, and to see him do it. See him take the guy who grossed in alcohol, began to come to church and to get saved and to be baptized, and now to lead in homeless ministry in New Orleans at that church. He has authority. He gives us the words, he gives us the people, he gives us the authority. This is our confidence in the cycle making. It's not dependent on our salvage, but on his sovereignty. Can I let you know a little secret here? You gotta keep it in here, okay? Here's the secret. God's got this thing rigged. This whole mission is in the hands of the Father. And it cannot fail. His plan will be accomplished. The question is, are we going to get in on it? Are we going to be faithful to obey his plan and take him at his word and trust his sovereignty that he wants to give people in Birmingham? Give us the words. Your walk with Christ will rise to all kinds of new heights. And your journey and your faith in him, your dependence on him will rise to all kinds of new heights when we begin to give ourselves to his plan. Okay. That's his sovereignty, not our savvy. Does that free you up, some? It's not dependent on us. That's good news. It's good as I look across this room. We're not the sharp the sharpest group, but his sovereignty is in control. I mean that in the best way as your pastor. Okay. Second. When we share the word, when we share the word, we share eternal life, not religious laws. Okay? When we share the word, we share eternal life, not religious laws. Now I want you to see how this unfolds, because in verse 6 to 8, it's talking about how they obeyed your word and they believed in you and they trusted you and they accepted you. What's it talking about there? And we've got a clue back up in verse 3, just kind of a summary statement, along with John 20, verse 31 of the whole book of John, where it says, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So when we share the word, we share eternal life. They may know you. This is a theme all throughout the book of John. Let me show it to you. We're gonna fly through these, but I want you to see them, maybe circle them in your Bibles. Look back in John chapter 1 again. Let me take you on a quick tour, and I want to show you life, eternal life, over and over and over again, emphasized by Jesus, in the life of Jesus. Listen to this. John chapter 1, verse 4. This is the introduction to who Jesus is. Give us the picture. This is his identity. It says in John chapter 1, verse 4. I just want to show you some places where we see life and eternal life. In him, verse 4. In Jesus was life, and that life was the light of men. His very essence was life. In him is life, life is found. Now look over in John chapter 3. John chapter 3, verse 14. This is Jesus' conversation with this guy named Nicodemus. He's telling him you need to be born again. Well, what does that mean? Listen to what he says in verse 14. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have what? Eternal life. Then we know the next verse. Quote it with me if you know it. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will never perish, but will have eternal life. That's the picture here. He's giving eternal life. John chapter 4, verse 14. He's having a conversation with this Samaritan woman of the well, crossing all kinds of boundaries. And what does he say to her? He says, Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. Look over in John chapter 5. John chapter 5, verse 21. This is a great text right here that describes some of the things we've been talking about, how the Father is working. Look at verse 21. It says, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Look over in John chapter 6. Look at John chapter 6, verse 33. Jesus feeds over 5,000 people with a little bit of food. As a result, he draws a crowd. Free food. We like this guy. And so they're following him. Look at what happens in verse 33. He says, The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Not just temporary life, but life, true, eternal life. Verse 35. Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. Never. It is eternal life. Just as a side note, this chapter right here is so huge for showing us God's sovereignty because he talks about some of the things we see in John 17. I want you to hear what Jesus tells the crowd. He's got tons of crowds following him. Look at verse 53. This is what Jesus said. He says, I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Is that a little weird? If you're following Jesus, isn't it good to know? Jesus said that, and people followed him, so we are we can be confident as we share. God's working behind this thing. Keep going. John chapter 10. Look at John chapter 10. Look at verse 10. Jesus gives us a summary statement. He says, the thief comes only to steal, only to steal and kill and destroy. John 10, 10 says, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. Look over in verse 27. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. Here it is. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. Isn't that good news? Isn't it good to know that there's absolutely nothing you can do to earn your salvation as a result? There's nothing you can do to lose your salvation. God's got you in his hand. By his grace, by the finished work of Christ on the cross, we can be assured of eternal life. That's good news. Keep going over John chapter 11, verse 25. John chapter 11, verse 25. Lazarus being raised from the dead on this story, Jesus said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. One more, John chapter 14. Jesus is talking about heaven. He's talking about where he's headed. Thomas asked him, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? And Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Over and over again, we see the central purpose of Jesus, at the center of his mission, was to impart life. And so when you come to John 17, it says, eternal life is this. And the emphasis is not on the fact that it's everlasting existence. The point is that you now know the everlasting God. That you walk with the eternal God. And it says they might know, know the true God. This word is more than just intellectual knowledge. It's a word that we see all throughout scripture to describe an intimate faith, an intimate trust. Even in Genesis chapter 4, just to give you a little picture and translate Greek translation of the Old Testament, it uses this word to describe how Adam knew his wife Eve. And they had a child as a result of knowing each other. That is more than intellectual ascent in Genesis chapter 4, verse 1. It is an intimate relationship. That's the picture we're getting here of knowing God. That life is found in each and every day. From now through all of eternity. Each day exhausting more and more the infinite goodness and grace and mercy and greatness of our God. And there is no end to his goodness. There is no end to his greatness. We will never tire of this life. And it starts now. That's the picture. So when we share the word, that's what we share. And I want you to think about how we miss this. Oftentimes when we think about sharing the word, the whole evangelism thing, we begin to think about all the things that we need to know to say. Things we need to say. This is what you do. At that point, we're getting into some laws. Here's the deal: if we share laws, we need to have programs. If we share laws, then we need to have programs that tell us how to share the laws. And if we share laws, we need to memorize presentations. And we need to be well versed in the presentations we can recite in order to share the laws that are necessary to share. So we need to have programs, need to memorize presentations, and we need to organize projects. So we need to get together and come up with some projects so we can go and share these laws. If we share laws, we need to have programs, memorize presentations, and organize projects. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the contemporary picture of evangelism in the church. Programs that we participate in. Presentations that we learn and we're trained in, and projects that we now go out and do. Now, I'm not saying that any of those things are bad in and of themselves. In fact, I think some of them can be very helpful tools. But I want to free you up some. One of the reasons we think we can't be effective in sharing the word is because we haven't been through the program or don't know the presentation or don't have the assigned project. When the beauty of it is, if all if we are sharing life, then the only thing we need to know is a person. The only thing we need to know is a person. It is his life in us. Now, some of you at this point are thinking, Dave, I'm not buying it. I've tried this thing before, tried to share the gospel, and you don't just need a person, you need some help. You need to know what to say and how to move, how to say this or that, and you don't want to mess up all these things. You need you need some training. You need some training. And I'm not saying training is bad, but I am saying training is not necessary. Did any of these guys in John chapter 1 have training when they introduce these other guys? Let me bring it into our world. How many of you are grandparents in here? Anybody grandparents? Okay. Got a lot of a lot of grandparents. Okay. Those of you who are grandparents, let me ask you a question. How many of you, as grandparents, enjoy talking about your grandchildren? Any anyone? Okay, all right. That's most most everybody. Okay. All right. Well, if that's the case, then let me ask you, how many of you have been trained in how to talk about your grandchildren as a grandparent? How many of you have taken the course? Okay, just to make sure nobody's left out here. Let me ask you a question. How many of you over the last week or two have mentioned the name Nick Saban? Anybody? If you're not raising your hand, you're lying, okay? How many of you received training on how to talk about Nick Saban at the office? In the neighborhood? In the home. God help us what's on our minds and what's on our hearts comes out of our mouths. May it be so that Jesus Christ is at the center of our minds and he's at the center of our hearts so that he comes out of our mouths. And may we not be a people who come up with a list of reasons why he's not coming out of our mouths. May we be a people who share the word. Let his life flow through you. How meaningless our conversations can be when we have the message of eternal life. And this is this is good news. That we don't need these things. We have Jesus who gives us the people, the words, and the authority. Last truth that arises from John 17, verse 6 through 8, that I hope is a comfort for us is this. Sharing the Word is designed to humble us and to honor Christ. Sharing the Word is designed, the whole picture is, you know, God's got the whole thing rigged, and it's designed to humble us and to honor Christ. Now, we've seen this already in these few verses. Everything Jesus did pointed back to the Father. And he's intentional to tell us not just that I know these things came from you, but these guys know they came from you. These guys know that you sent me. These guys know that your words are coming through me. The whole thing was designed even in Jesus' own life so that the Father was exalted. So that everything would point to him, not even to himself. Now think about how that relates to us. The greatest obstacle in this room, I know the greatest obstacle in this room to sharing the word is fear. Anxiety, intimidation, whatever you want to call it, it's fear. And if you've ever felt that kind of fear, when it comes to this idea of sharing the word, I want you to be comforted by this. If you experience fear, then that's that's a confidence you can have that God designed it for you to have fear. And you may not think that's very encouraging, but it is because it's in our fear that he shows his power most clearly. And it's in our intimidation that he shows his strength. And this whole thing is designed so that our weaknesses are put on display and his strength is magnified. And people don't say, This guy did this in my life. They say, God did this in my life. Now, yes, they led me there, but here's the deal. This goes back to the whole our intellectual arguments. You can come up with a great argument, but somebody else is gonna have a better argument over here, and a better argument over here, and a better argument over here if it's based on us. However, God the Father is behind this whole thing. And the beauty of it is this is where this comfort comes in. Christ is exalted through our weakness. Christ desires to be exalted through our weakness. And not just to be exalted in our weakness. So we say, well, I was weak and he was strong, but follow up on that. Not only is Christ exalted in our weakness, but people, praise God, are saved through our witness. And we are in on the plan of God. We are in on his mission in the world. I'll never forget first person I had the opportunity to lead to faith in Christ. Sitting at a school cafeteria table and across from one of my buddies, and just the two of us, and I had a track. I don't know if you know what a track is. It's basically just a little leaflet booklet, paper presentation of the gospel. And so I thought, okay, well, I guess I should share the gospel with my buddy. And so I pull out the track and I just kind of read through it. Jesus died on a cross. And I read through the thing and I get to the end. Ask the question now, would you like to give your heart to Jesus? And I remember Scott looking at me and he said, He said, Yeah, I would. And I thought, you would. What do I do now? Pray this prayer. And I remember right there in front of me seeing my friend's life that was headed to a Christeless eternity to take an eternal turn to life everlasting. Let me tell you what I didn't walk away and say. That was an incredible presentation of the gospel. Let me tell you what I didn't walk away with. Confidence in myself. I walked away with great confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to draw people to Christ. We don't get there to that kind of confidence until we let Him show it in our lives. And this is why we don't wait to a certain point. Some of you are thinking, as we're going in this series on disciple making, you're thinking, well, I need to get some things right in my own life, and then I'll start making disciples. That's not the point. The point is, as we begin to take responsibility for the plan of Christ and give ourselves to making disciples, it causes us to shape up. It causes us to do what we have been putting off forever because now, now our spiritual life is beginning to affect the lives of others around us. And that's exactly what Christ said. Look in verse 10. You've got to see this. He comes to the end and he says the end of this part, and he says, All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And listen to this, and glory has come to me through them. Jesus says, My glory is seen in them and their lives. These guys. Eleven guys, because we see we see Judas mentioned here, eleven guys. He says, My glory comes through them. I lived for them. So that they would pour their lives into others. That's the whole picture. So the question I want to ask you this morning is this will we live so that Christ receives glory in others? Now you see why disciple making cannot be self-centered. And why it's no longer about in my life, put a box around my life and my family and my house, and we will live to glorify God. If that is what we do and we make disciples in our house, which we need to be doing, obviously, moms and dad across this room, pulling their life in their children and showing them Christ, undoubtedly. But if we stop there, then how will we ever reach an unreached world with the gospel? What happens when just like we live for those people that are closest to us, we begin to live so the glory of Christ is seen in others around us. And we live our Christian lives not for our sake, but for others' sake. So that they see Christ in us. Now you see the core of disciple making. Why it's not about us, but it's about them. That's what Paul says. You get to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 19 through 20. He's telling the church there, he says, You are my crown, you are my joy. I live for you. If you succeed with the gospel, then that is the picture in my life. I glory in you. You're my crown, you're my joy. What happens when an entire faith family of believers begins to see others in our community like that? We begin to live for others' sake. That's why. That's why I told you last week that I don't live for the institutional survival of the church at Brook Hills. My dream is not for bigger buildings and bigger programs. My dream is the lives that are represented in this room. You are. You are life. You are the life of Christ being made known throughout this community. You are my dreams. And what happens when we begin to live like that for each other? Begin to live so that Christ is receiving glory and all the people around us. Then the gospel is starting to multiply, and the message of redemption is advancing rapidly through reproduction. God, may it be so. Jesus had taken staked his whole life and ministry on these guys. The entire success of this plan depended on their faithfulness to follow his example and to begin doing that by sharing the word. So what do we do? What does this mean for us? Two questions I want to ask you very, very simply. Number one, do you know the word? Do you know the word? And I want to ask that question in the silence of this room all across to every picture. John A.12 makes it very clear that you can be stuck on church and religion all your life and never know Jesus. And so I want to ask you point like do you know eternal life? Do you know Jesus? An intimate trust and relationship with Him. Do you know the Word? And if you do, second, will you share the Word? Will you share the Word? And to this point, and I want to lead us into a time where we we pray together across this room. In just a second, we're gonna stand and Jim's gonna lead us in music and we're gonna sing together about going deeper in our knowledge of him. And I'm gonna ask some leaders from the church to be up here at the front, and I'm just gonna open up this area at the front for two main types of people. First, for those of you who are here this morning. And you don't know the word, and you've not come to a knowledge of eternal life through him. And I want to urge you not to go another second without trusting him. And there's some leaders who will be up here at the front. Their purpose in being here is to be available for you, to come down while we're seeing and others are responding in different ways, for you to come to one of them and say, How do I know the word? And for them to share with you how you can know eternal life through Jesus. God, may guards be let down, may pride be let down across this room this morning as people come to faith and the word. And second, I want to open up this area, whether it's praying with leaders or just praying if you'd like to up here at the front. If sharing the word has not been a part of your walk with Christ, and you would say this morning, I need to put a stake in the ground and say, even in my weakness, I'm going to trust him and I'm going to trust what he gives and begin to give myself to this. I want to give you an opportunity just to do business with God and to spend some time with him. You might even, if you have people in your life at work or at home in your neighborhood, that you have been praying for, you have had on your mind, even as we've been talking about this today, for you to have a time, for us to have a time where we come before the Father in this room and just call out for people that we long to see come to know eternal life through Christ. I want to give you an opportunity to do that.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:32

We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of David Platt Messages. For more resources from David Platt, we invite you to visit radical.net.