Teach the Word

In this message from John 17:13–17, David Platt urges us to rely on God’s Word to bring about spiritual transformation. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Why Disciple-Making Is Everyone’s Job
• 4:15 Teaching Beyond Classrooms
• 6:44 John 17: Jesus’ Prayer For Disciples
• 9:25 God’s Word As A Gift And Trust
• 17:15 Knowing God’s Will In Scripture
• 24:25 Joy That The Word Gives
• 27:30 Truth That Separates From The World
• 34:15 Sanctified And Protected By Truth
• 40:35 From Receiving To Reproducing The Word

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:56

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

SPEAKER_01: 1:04

If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, let me invite you to open with me to John 17 as we continue this series looking at what it means to follow Christ and make disciples of all nations. Pull out those notes from your celebration guide, and we're going to jump right in to the top there. A little review. So far, we've talked about two components that are involved in disciple making. First component we talked about two weeks ago. First component of disciple making that we've talked about is to share the word. The second component that we talked about last week is to show the word. And the third component that we're going to talk about this morning is to teach the word. Before we dive in to this text, I want to give you a picture in your mind. A few years ago, you've heard me talk about Jim Shattocks, who I've studied under in New Orleans. He and I went to a preaching conference over in Scotland. And while we're there, we had the opportunity to play golf at the old course at St. Andrews. The reason we went was for the preaching conference, but it sure was nice to be able to play golf at St. Andrews. And so uh so we were playing, got there to the first T box because there were only two of us, and we got paired up with two other people. It was a couple. And we were just making small talk there on the first T and asking them about their lives and asked the guy. We said, Well, what do you do for a living? And he said, Well, I play golf. We said, Are you like on the tour? He said, No. I said, Are you a pro, like a golf pro out here? They were from the United States living in Scotland. Are you a golf pro out here? He said, No. My wife is a uh consultant, she makes really good money, and so I just play golf. It's one of those moments where you're just disgusted with the person who is sitting in front of you. Maybe on two levels, because on one level you're like, man, this guy is living just permanent vacation playing golf while his wife takes responsibility for everything in his home. And then there's another level where you're like, maybe we could learn something from this guy. I want you to see in that picture of a guy on permanent vacation what I what I think is a picture of the average American Christian life when it comes to this disciple-making thing. I think there's a dangerous tendency for us to go on permanent coasting and vacation in this church culture. We go to worship, we we participate in the normal Christian life, we do what the normal Christian does, all the while. The primary responsibility for which we have been saved, we leave over to the side. You think about it in light of those three elements that we have seen, two, the one that we're going to see this morning, sharing the word, showing the word, teaching the word. These are elements of the Christian life that somewhere along the way we've gotten the idea that they are relegated to just a few people to do. They are responsible for that. Sharing the word, that's the preacher's job. He's the one who preaches the gospel, leads them to Christ, that's his job. He does that. Or maybe it's the job of the couple people in the church that are really outgoing and who like that sort of thing, but the rest of us, that's not for us. Showing the word, you mean I am supposed to have the responsibility to show the holiness and the majesty and the greatness and the mercy and the compassion and the patience and the kindness of God. Dave, don't you realize I'm just a work in progress? I can't do that. And then teaching the word, well, that's relegated to those who lead the Bible studies and lead the small groups. Those are the good teachers. So we relegate these things to certain Christians. What we're saying in this series is that kind of mindset is self-centered, consumer-driven, vacational Christianity. And it ignores the very purpose for which we've been saved and the mission that Christ has given us, the primary responsibility he's given us. What we're saying in this series is that God has given each of us in this room as his disciples, he's given each of us people who we can share the word with and show the word to. And today we're gonna say teach the word to. And what we're saying in this series is we're gonna stop farming this responsibility out to the super mega Christian that really doesn't exist. And we're gonna stop farming this responsibility out even to the church as an institution. And we're gonna rise up as individuals in this faith family, and we're gonna take responsibility for the primary commandment Christ has given to us before he left the earth. And in the process of doing that, we are going to impact this community for the glory of Christ. And we're gonna impact the city for the glory of Christ. And by his word, based on his word, we're gonna impact nations for the glory of Christ when we get serious about giving ourselves to making disciples. So that's what this is about, not vacational Christianity. This whole series is about us rising up and taking responsibility for what Christ has given us. God rid us of vacational Christianity. Now, we're gonna talk about teaching the word this morning. And I've got to say from the very beginning, in our mindset, whenever you hear me mention teach the word, whenever we see teaching the word mentioned here in John 17, we've got to keep our minds from thinking of teaching in just classroom style settings or lecture formats. When you think of a teacher, you think about a setting like this, or a setting even in a smaller room with one person standing in front of the others teaching the word. But what we're gonna see in Jesus' life is that was not his primary teaching method. We're talking about the kind of teaching in the Christian life that is for all of us as disciples of Christ, not just a few people in the church. So get the lecture, classroom type teaching, get that model kind of out of your mind whenever you hear the word, the us talk about teaching the word. So with that said, let's dive in. John chapter 17. We'll pick up in verse 13. We have been studying over the last couple weeks, verse 6 through 12. I want us to pick up in verse 13 and see what Jesus prays for his disciples. He says, Father, I'm 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 any more than I am 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. Now, how do you how do we teach the word to the people God has given to us? I want us to see this on a few different levels. I want us to see it overall and the main thrust that we're seeing there as it was reflected in the ministry of Christ. Then I want us to narrow it in and see a few things in these specific verses, and then I want that to lead us into okay, how does this look? And you and I making disciples of all nations. So let's start with the first, kind of a broad overview, but a picture of what Jesus is communicating here. How do we teach the word those to those God has given to us? First of all, we value the word as God's gift to us. We value the word as God's gift. Now, this is a theme that we have seen repeated at different times in John 17. It says it there in verse 14, we just read. Jesus says, I've given them your word. In other words, the word that you gave me. It's the same thing we saw up in verse 8. He said, I gave them the words you gave me. We're seeing this thing over and over again that the Father gives to Jesus, and Jesus gives to the disciples. The focus here is on the fact that he has given them his word. The Father's word has come to Jesus, and he has given it to his disciples. And the disciples knew where Jesus' words came from. They knew with certainty. It says earlier, they believed, they obeyed your word, they believed that those words came from you. They knew the author of those words, the originator of those words. They knew that these words were a gift from the Father. Over and over again, these guys and their walks with Jesus on this earth were saturated with words from the Father. There's at least 66 different times in the Gospels alone where Jesus, these are the only the ones we have recorded, where Jesus directly quotes from the Old Testament and shares the Father's Word. What does this mean for us? That's in addition, over a hundred allusions to the Old Testament and conversations with others. These guys were saturated with the word over and over again. It was a gift that was given to them. Now I want us to think about this on a couple of different levels. First of all, when they received God's word and valued it, they knew that this was revelation from the Father, God revealing Himself. And so the first thing we need to realize is that God has revealed His will to us. That's the picture that we're seeing all throughout Jesus' life and ministry with these disciples. That He was revealing the Father's will to them. That they were in almost like they were in on a secret. The revelation is at the heart of this thing. This is not just some natural possession. This is just like if you were wearing a mask and you took off the mask, you would reveal who you really are. The word that Jesus gave, the word we have in front of us, is God taking off the mask, revealing himself to us. You want to know how I think, you want to know how I work, you want to know who I am, you want to know how I work in your life. This is my revelation to you. And that's a divine thing. We see that all throughout the Gospels because Jesus would often talk, he would speak, he would teach, and there were crowds of people that had no clue what he meant. Obviously, we know that Jesus was a master teacher, a master communicator. But sometimes we have this glorified image of how the people may have responded. You know all those parables that he shares in the Gospels? That sometimes are kind of weird, kind of hard to understand. We've got this image of people just sitting back hearing a parable and giving him a nice golf clap. Wow, that was that was that was incredible. That that's not the picture that we see. You don't have to turn there. Just imagine, you're in the crowd. Listen to this. It's a parable from Mark 4. Listen to this. You're in the crowd, and Jesus said, A man scatters seed on the ground, night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows. Though he does not know how, all by itself the soil produces grain. First the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it because the harvest has come. Oh, wow. Did you hear that? Wow. No, they didn't understand that. These people had had had no clue many times what Jesus was saying. That's why Jesus, what did he do? Over and over again in the Gospels. He's he'd look at his disciples. They've got blank looks on their faces. They're clueless. He'd pull them aside and he'd say, Okay, you guys are wondering what in the world I just said. Here, here, let me let you in on this. Parable of the sower. He shares the parable. He spends three months, three times as much time explaining the parable to these guys that he did give them the parable. These guys were let in. And the revelation from the Father, this is the Father's will for you. They were not left to wander around in a fog, wondering what the Father had said, what Jesus was saying. He was giving them his words, revealing his will to us. And I want us to think about that. In light of fast-forwarding 2,000 years to today, one of the most common questions in the church, most common questions that people ask in the church, is often, well, how do I know God's will for my life? What is God's will for my life? Almost like we're wandering around in a fog thinking, God, if you just show me your will, I'd do it, but I don't know how to know your will. You ever wondered that? If you have, I want to free you up this morning. The majority of God's will for our lives has already been revealed to us. It is right here in His Word. He has given it to us. We are not in a fog. We have 66 books that we know are the revealed will of God. I'm convinced that 95% of God's will for our lives has already been revealed to us, it's right here. Now, obviously, this book doesn't tell us exactly what career decision to make, doesn't tell us exactly what family decision to make with this issue or that circumstance. However, I'm convinced that if we would give ourselves to the 95% that God has revealed to us, maybe, just maybe, he'd be faithful to show us the 5% that we don't know yet. He has revealed his will to us. We don't have to wander around in a fog. Isn't it ironic? That's one of the most common questions we ask in the church today, while all the while we are giving nominal adherence to the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. He has said, This is my will, and we've ignored that. And the most common question we ask is, What is your will for my life? It doesn't add up. What's his will for our lives? Ladies and gentlemen, we live in the most wealthy county in Alabama. His will for our lives is to sacrifice our resources for the poor and the needy. That is his will, guaranteed. We don't have to ask. It's there. We have to stop ignoring his will. And our lives, men, we don't have to ask. What his will for our lives is, his will is for us to outserve our wives, to love them in such a way, just like Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. We are supposed to do the same thing. That's his will for our lives. Give ourselves to it. The Jiang people group in the northern provinces of China. 595,000 of them, hundreds and hundreds of mosques. Not one church, not one Christian, not one missionary, no gospel, no witness, no Jesus. And we're sitting over here saying, What do you want me to do, God? Give yourselves to the will that I have shown to you. I have revealed my will to you. I wonder sometimes, particularly over the last couple of years, I've really wrestled with this. Traveling into underground house church settings in Asia, seeing believers gather together at small rooms for literally 12 hours a day, sitting on little stools like we have in our preschool classrooms, sitting on those little stools. If you get there early enough and you get a seat, you get a stool, and you sit there for 12 hours studying the word. Why are they so hungry, risking their lives to do that? Why are they so hungry that when you go to their worship service, they look at you and they say, We want you to preach. No short sermons, we want at least two hours in the Word tonight. Why is there such a hunger? As I wrestle with that, I can't help but think as I look around those rooms and I see people who have been delivered out of an atheistic philosophy that has left them to live their life on their own. Many of them animistic witch doctors in these villages, very prevalent because everybody's concerned with how we can be okay before the spirits and before the gods, so many superstitions. And they come into the knowledge of the one and only true God who has revealed his word to them. They long for it. It means something to them. They realize this is the revelation of God to us. He's revealed his will to us. That's good news. Not only has he revealed his will to us, but think about it this value in God's word is a gift, like this, value in God's word is a gift. He has entrusted his truth to us. Now, in this passage, what we see is Jesus saying, I give him your word, then he says, Your word is truth. And this is a theme we see throughout the book of John. Twenty-five different times John uses truth, refers to truth, the mouth of Jesus and other places. This is a theme that's over and over again repeated, and his word is constantly equated with truth. Remember John 8.32, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. That whole passage is framed in the fact that his word is truth, equating his word with truth. And so what he says to these guys is I've given them your words, Father. I have given them your truth. I've entrusted it to them. The implications for disciple making are huge. Jesus is saying here, don't miss it, that all the truth you have entrusted to me, I have perfectly and completely passed on to them. I've not added to it, I've not taken away from it. I haven't said, you know, Father, you should have added a few things here. Let me let me give us more help to make sure they get it. No, he said, all the truth you've given to me, I've given them your word. And that's exactly what disciple making is about. It's about us saying, folks, we have been entrusted with truth, with the very words of Almighty God. And we're going to rise up and be a people who preserve that truth and multiply that truth to the generations that come behind us. It is not going to stop with us. And it's not going to be this person's job or that person's job or the institutional church's job. It's going to be my job to make sure that truth is passed down, just as Jesus did that in others' lives. I know there's some of you who, if we've been taught, as we've been talking about disciple making, you've been a little uncomfortable. What do you mean, I'm supposed to make disciples? I'm supposed to have disciples, people that God has given to me. Some of you are, there's a rub there. It sounds kind of arrogant, a little self-centered. This is where we realize this whole disciple-making process, ladies and gentlemen, does not revolve around you passing on your opinions and your experiences and all your thoughts on a variety of issues. This whole thing called disciple-making revolves around you passing around, passing on the word of God, his truth, to those who come behind you, to the people that are around you. And that is not arrogant. The height of arrogance is to fill our conversations day in and day out with talk about business and sports and Oprah and the latest gossip. That is arrogance, meaningless conversation, and that will lead to us making disciples of us. God help us to put this word at the center of our community, at the center of our lives in such a way that it flows from us. We don't make disciples based on our experience and our opinions and our thoughts and our soapboxes. We make disciples based on the word of God. You've heard us talk about this, even as a faith family here at Brook Hills. You hear over and over again the word is at the center of what we do. And folks, if we're gonna err on one side, we're gonna err on the side of faithfully preserving and communicating and multiplying this truth. Because if we don't, where will we leave the people who come behind us? With our thoughts and our opinions? The word is the center of our community, it's the center of this mission. We have been given a great trust. God make us faithful with it. So we value God's word as a gift. This is the starting point. Now I want us to dive in specifically these three verses and see some of the effects of God's word. First of all, we value God's word as a gift. Second, we experience the effects of God's word. And I want you to see one effect in verse 13, one effect in verse 14, and another effect in verse 15 through 17. Look at verse 13. It says, I am coming to you now, but I say these things, I give you these words, I think referring mainly to what he's just said ever since John 14, all the way to John 17 here. I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. First effect of God's word is that it satisfies us in the world. We're seeing Jesus talk about the disciples compared with the world, and he says, I have said these things so that my joy would be in them, so that my satisfaction would be theirs. This is really interesting. In the verse or two before verse 13, it's kind of a bleak picture talking about how Judas was doomed to destruction, talking about how they were going to be in a world of evil. Then you get to verse 14, it says the world's gonna hate them. We'll talk about that in a second. But in verse 13, you've got this light, kind of like a mountaintop, a tip of the iceberg at the top, with darkness surrounding on both sides. What you've got is a picture. It's a great picture of the word, of joy. No matter what the world says, no matter what the world brings, I say these things that they might have my joy within them. He had emphasized this back in John 15. He said, Remain in me, and let my words remain in you, and you will have my joy, and it will be complete in you, he said. What we've got is a picture here of the fact that the disciples' joy would not have to be dependent on the sinful pleasures of the world. The disciples' joy would be based completely on the inward spiritual resources that are found in God's word. And that's good news for us. I was talking with a lady when I was flying to Oklahoma this past week. And she was she was talking about some of the ups and downs that she has had recently in her life. She talks about, she talked told me about how she had a new job. She said, I think this is gonna be the answer. I think this is gonna be the job that's gonna make everything right for me and my family. I looked at her and I said, I'm excited about your job with you, and I think that's a great thing. But what happens when something falls apart there? I was able to share with her there is a rock in Christ who supersedes any circumstance or job that may come her way. Isn't that good news for us? Isn't it good to know that this week, no matter what happens, that you and I don't know what's gonna happen this week. Isn't it good to know that no matter what happens, the inward spiritual resources of God's word will be our sustenance, will be our joy. It's why it says man does not live on bread alone, but on what? Every word that comes from the mouth of God. This is our feast. This is better than a dreamland barbecue feast. This is this is our sustenance. We live on this. And when confusion hits, when anxiety hits, when we don't know what's gonna happen next, the word satisfies us in the world. It's good. The word is good. So that's one effect. It satisfies this world, gives us joy. Second effect, the word separates us from the world. The word separates us from the world. Now I want you to see this unfold in a very interesting way. In verse 14, Jesus says, I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. Basically, what Jesus is saying here, and in the original language of the New Testament, it's pretty clear. I gave them your word, therefore the world has hated them, just like they hate me. And he emphasized this in John 15.8 all the way to 16.4. He talked over and over again about how they would be set against the world, separated from the world, how the world, and that's a strong term, but he says it pretty clearly, the world would hate them. This is another one of those themes that we see all throughout the book of John. Most often when John refers to the world, whether it's in the mouth of Jesus or someone else, it is referring to the world in rebellion against God, and rebellion against God's truth. You say, What do you mean? I thought John 3.16, we know that. God so loved the world. Exactly. That's the beauty of that whole verse. This is a picture of the world in rebellion against God, rebellion against the Father and His Word, and the God of the universe has so poured out his grace on the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him would never perish, but have eternal life. The meaning of John 3.16 is heightened there. That's what the world is. Picture of deception. Even way back in the very beginning to the introduction of Jesus, John chapter 1, talks about how he was life, he brought life and light. Talked about how the world would reject that light. Obviously, that's the picture that leads up to the crucifixion, what's about to happen in John, or rejection of the light. So what you've got is a picture here. Jesus saying, I've given them my word. And it's almost like if you could imagine you have a kingdom, and you've got the kingdom now full of rebels who are against the king. And Jesus calls out these men, and they are loyal subjects of the king. Now, if you've got a kingdom full of rebels against the king, and you've got some loyal subjects of the king, you don't have a lot of parties happening between the two. In fact, you have the rebels wanting nothing to do with those loyal subjects, ignoring them, turning off everything they said. That's the picture here. I'm not trying to paint it bleaker than it is. That is the picture that we're seeing here in John chapter 17. And in the end of the story, don't forget, it is the loyal subjects of the king who give their lives for those who rebelled against the kingdom. And I want us to fast forward to our lives today. No question that we live in a culture, and it's not new, a culture that rejects truth. We live in a culture where relativism is the cry of our day. What is true for you, okay, but it's not true for me. There is no truth. If you claim to have truth, then you are arrogant, you're narrow-minded, you're closed-minded. And I wish I could give you more comforting words this morning, but if we're gonna cling to this truth, it will separate us from the world. The disciples took this truth into their culture, penetrated the culture with this truth, and turned the world upside down. It has power, it will bear fruit when when you stand with this truth, proclaim truth with compassion, and let the truth do the work. That's what he's showing us here. Now we'll dive into this in the months ahead. This is one of the issues that is really close to my heart and studies how we can most effectively proclaim truth in our culture today. Suffice to say at this point that we cannot shirk back from this responsibility. We have the truth of Christ entrusted to us, and we will not be silent with the truth, because the truth gives life, eternal life. So just know the word satisfies us in the world, but it also separates us from the world. Third, the word sanctifies us in the world. The word sanctifies us in the world. Now that's what we see really clearly in verse 17. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. Some of you are thinking, well, what does sanctify mean? Well, it basically means to set apart or dedicate to a particular purpose, consecrate mainly to God, to showing his character, set them apart, make them holy. Now we're going to talk next week more about what this whole sanctification thing looks like. And I hope begin to see our view of sanctification transformed a little bit. But instead of focusing this morning on the meaning of sanctification, I want us to camp out on the means of sanctification, which is the word. He said, This whole thing, sanctify, it happens by your word. It is the fuel that makes us holy. It is the fuel that keeps us in the character of God. It's exactly what Jesus is praying for here. He says, keep them in your character. Protect them in your character by your word. The word is the fuel that makes being a disciple of Christ, it makes disciple making possible. In fact, it's what he said back up in verse 15. He says, My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from who? From the evil one. How do you protect them from the evil one? By your truth. And your word is truth. You protect yourself from the adversary through the word. And the disciples had seen this modeled. Remember back in Matthew chapter 4, verse 1 to 11? Jesus was tempted three times, face to face with the evil one, with the devil. He's tempted three times. Every single time he's tempted, he says the exact same thing in response. What does he say? He says, It is written. And then he quotes from the Old Testament. It is written. He quotes from the Old Testament. Now, here's the question. Think about it with me. Jesus is tempted three times. Each time he says, It is written, quotes from the Old Testament. Do you think that in those circumstances, those temptations, he had to quote Scripture in order to ward off that temptation? Do you think it was necessary for him to quote Scripture? I don't think it was. I think Jesus was the kind of guy who could say anything at that point. And it would become scripture. He had that kind of power. He says anything, and we've got red letters written in our Bible, just like that. He was that good. He could say anything at that point, it would become scripture. Did he have to quote scripture? No. I think Jesus is setting an example there for us. That in order to be pure, in order to show the character of God, in order to do this disciple-making thing, the word must be at the center of your life. It is the tool, the means by which you are sanctified. And it makes sense. And our struggles, all of us in this room, that have we all have struggles with certain sins, certain temptation. If we try to fight those struggles, come face to face with the evil one, with the adversary, and try to fight those temptations apart from the word, then we will fall flat on our face. Guaranteed. Try to do this thing on our own, in our flesh. We need the word to give us sanctification. Just like Jesus, to be able to have that word hidden in our hearts, in our minds, that when we face temptation to gossip and to begin to talk about others in this community, in this church, in a way that you know doesn't honor Christ, to have in your mind automatically, wait a minute, I'm not supposed to say. Anything that is not useful for building up others according to their needs in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 4 29, hidden in your heart, it will empower you in that temptation, enable you there. You struggle with your with with your with your tongue, with with you just kind of say things that you always regret, and you find yourself saying things, things come out of your mouth that you know don't honor Christ. When you face those temptations, you're gonna be a lot worse off if you don't know the word than if you have the word hidden in your heart, you're able to say, you know, James 3 says the tongue is a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. Kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed in heaven, tamed by man. But no man can tam the tongue as a rest of the seaful, full of tetanus poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who made in God's likeness out of the same mouth and praising, cursing my brothers. This should not be. Now, are you gonna be better off if you know that? No question you would be. The word is the fuel that God gives us. Why did He say in Psalm 119? How can the young man keep his way pure by living according to your word? Two verses later, I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not do what? Sin against you. This is the fuel that we have in becoming fully devoted followers of Christ. And in showing Christ and teaching Christ, if we try to do it apart from the word, we will fail miserably. We are foolish to think that we can live this Christian life and accomplish this mission apart from his word. His truth sanctifies us in the world. We need his word. You will not get sanctification from TV and DVDs and internet. You will not get sanctification from all those things. You will find sanctification in the word. We've got how. So we value his word as gift and we experience those effects. Now that mainly deals with how we follow Christ as disciples of Christ. We value his word. We're seeing the example of Jesus here. But how does this look now, not just in my life, but in others' lives? That's what disciple making is about, right? Not just living my Christian life for me anymore. I'm living for the sake of others. So, how do we teach the word? It's been given to us. We value it, we experience its effects, and then third, we reproduce God's word for the salvation of others. We reproduce God's word for the salvation of others. Now here's where it gets really good. All throughout this chapter, three times mainly, we have seen the word referred to as belonging to God. It comes from Him. You look in verse 8, it says, I gave them the words you gave me. In verse 14, which we just read, I have given them your word. Verse 17, sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth. Over and over again, we're seeing this picture of the word coming from God. But then look what happens. Check this out in verse 20. He says, My prayer is not for them alone, not for the disciples alone. I also pray for those who will believe in me through your message? Your word? No, it says their word. Their message. There's a shift here. Don't miss it. Over and over again, Jesus says, I have given your word to them. And now he says, There's going to be who people who believe, who trust in me through their word that comes from me, that comes from you. Are you seeing the succeeding generations of disciples that are being pictured here in John 17? The Father gives the word to Jesus. Jesus imparts the word to these disciples exactly as he had been given it. And then what do these disciples do? They lead others to accept the word, to believe the word, to trust the word, to obey the word. Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is the most incredible privilege we have to take the words of the living God and begin to pour them into others. To begin to take what Christ has entrusted to us and not just receive it from Him, but to reproduce it through us. We listen in order to teach the Word. These disciples knew that when they received these words, accepted these words, obeyed these words from Christ, they had a responsibility to pour it into others. They were not just receiving it, they were reproducing it. So we listen in order to teach the word. I want us to think about what that looks like. Let me give you two illustrations. Journey with me first to the Sudan. You walk into a mud hut, there's church leaders that are sitting around, automatically they stand up out of respect for the one who's about to teach them the word. You sing a song and then you sit down. We began to teach disciple making from the word. As we're teaching disciple making, the whole time I'm teaching, I hardly ever see their faces. Because they were sleeping, or because they had stayed up late in their mud hut the night before. Because they were daydreaming. No. Never see their faces because they're writing down every single thing you say. And they come up to you afterwards and they say, Teacher, we believe that we have a responsibility to take everything you have taught us, translate it into our tribe's language, and teach it in our tribes. When they listened, they were listening to reproduce, to teach the word. Journey with me to Honduras. First sermon I preached, I remember in Honduras, there's guys sitting on the front row. They are feverishly writing down every single thing I said. Afterwards, they come up to me and they said, David, that was a great sermon. We can't wait to reteach that to someone else. I thought, man, it must have been good. Until I realized they said that to everybody who taught them the word. They realized that the word given to them was not for them, it was for the sake of others. I want you to think about how that changes the way we listen. Because it is very easy for us to come in this room. Well, we could tune out, or we could even come in order to receive. Okay, I want to learn from the Word today. I want to walk away saying, I've learned something new today, I've got something new today, but I want to remind you that is a self-centered way to listen this morning. Because you're listening for your sake. And nowhere in Scripture are you told to listen and to receive from Christ for your sake. Over and over again, we were told to receive from Christ for others' sake, to pour his words into them, to show his glory to others. Now we're listening in a God-centered way. You realize how this flies in the face of how we listen and how we operate? How many times have we said or have we thought or heard someone else say, Well, you know, I'm not at a point right now where I can I can teach. So I just need I'm at a point where I need to receive, I need to grow, I need to learn. That is ridiculous logic. It is absurd. Say, what do you mean? I said that yesterday. What do you mean? Think about it with me. After our time today in God's Word, studying this passage of scripture, who in this room would be best equipped to go and reteach this, reproduce this in somebody else's life? I would. Why is that? Well, because I I know this stuff better than all you guys. Because I spent the time studying this in order to be able to teach it. So it's ridiculous to think that, well, I'm just gonna learn and receive and not teach. Ladies and gentlemen, those who teach are those who receive and learn the most. Does that make sense? So could it be that our knowledge of the word will stagnate? We will only go so far in our knowledge of the word if all we're gonna do is receive in our Christian lives. We are destined to live a life in the word right here. However, when we rise up and begin to take responsibility for making disciples of all nations, teaching the word, then now we've got to know the word. Now we've got to go to new depths because other people are now dependent on us to hear the word from us. And we grow to new heights as his disciples as we make disciples. Does that make sense? We listen in order to teach the word. This changes the way we listen. And it yanks us out of self-centered Christianity and thrusts us into God-centered, other-centered Christianity because we now are not just listening for us, we're listening for others. That is what disciple making is about. Think about it. What if this faith family, the 2,000 people represented even in just this service alone, were to take the word that we study on a Sunday-by-Sunday basis, and you were to translate it into your sphere of influence? Sure, you don't have a tribe, but you do have a people that I will never meet. You do have a people that you can communicate more effectively to than I ever could. What happens when the word, the seeds of the word that are thrown out all over this room this morning, now begin to be reproduced at other places in this community? Now the word is filling this community. And it promises Isaiah 55. It will bear fruit. It will sprout. It will grow. The question is, is it gonna stop with us? Is it gonna be confined to what goes on in this church building? God, may it not be so. May the word infiltrate this community. We listen in order to teach the word. Now tie this together what we've talked about in the last two weeks. We listen in order to teach the word, and then second, we look for opportunities to share the word. Some of you are thinking, well, Dave, I'm not gonna go preach a sermon to somebody this week. Not going into work and saying, if you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, and pulling them out this teaching guide, follow along with it with me. No, I'm not expecting you to do that. Only the Word does. It wasn't Jesus' primary teaching method. Don't miss it. You don't have to go preach the sermon, or you don't have to have lead a small group of Bible study. That may be one option. But what if, what if God really does have this thing rigged? And what if he is divinely going to bring people in your path this week? Your home, your neighborhood, your workplace, your school. What if he is going to bring people in your path this week that he wants to hear his word? That he has been teaching you, whether it's here in this room, whether it's in a small group, whether it's in your personal Bible study, that he wants to teach them, not through me, but ladies and gentlemen, through you. And you start to open your eyes and say, God, how can I share your word today? How can I take what you have taught me and begin to pour it into others? You see how the seeds of the word are now multiplying as opposed to being confined to what happens in an hour and a half on a Sunday morning in this room? We look for opportunities to share the word. And then third, tied in with what we talked about last week, we live in a way that shows the word. We live in a way that shows the word. Don't forget the whole foundation here is the word being made flesh, incarnation, the word in action, the word in a picture in Jesus. That when he teaches, he says, I am the way and I am the what? Truth. I am the word. See the word in me. This is good news. Isn't it comforting to know that Jesus did all that he did in his teaching, all the Father's work, and he had no PowerPoint capabilities whatsoever? I know we find that hard to believe, but he didn't. He had no fancy graphics, he had no teaching outlines. His life was his very method. His life necessitated his teaching. All the disciples had, not PowerPoint presentations, fancy graphics or teaching outlines, all the disciples had was a teacher with them who modeled before them what he wanted them to learn. His life was his method. And the word infused his relationships with them, infused his life with them. That's the picture we're going for. What happens when instead of infusing our relationships at work, at school, at home, in our neighborhood, instead of infusing those relationships with our opinions, our thoughts, talk about business, sports, opera, and the latest gossip, instead of infusing it with that, what happens when the word of life begins to infuse those conversations? What good are we to the people around us this week if we have the word of life and all we talk about is the trivial matters that so infuse all of our conversations on a week-by-week basis? What good are we? We're not that good. His word is that good. So listen to the word. Here, small groups, on your own. Listen to the word in order to reteach it, in order to pour it into others. Then look for opportunities to share that with other people. And then, in the middle of it all, live in such a way that people see the word being played out. This is disciple making at work. It's not just the responsibility of the preacher or the Bible study teacher. It is the responsibility of disciples of Christ to teach the word of Christ. So, where does that leave us? How does that look in our lives? I want to ask you some questions, just like we've asked the last couple of weeks. First of all, who can you teach the word to? Who is God given in your life that you can teach the word to? In your home? Obviously, where that starts and the relationships that are closest to us, but not just there. We don't want to confine the word to the homes that are represented in this building. I want to take the word into the community. Who has God given you in your life? Not that you can preach a sermon to, but that you can take what Christ is doing through his word and begin to let it flow through you. Second question, how can you teach them the word? Now that's where some of us are still fuzzy, and I want to draw your attention to a resource that we've had for a little while. Um, never made public that I mean in a setting like this that it was available, but we've made a bunch of copies and put them on the tables out there. What it is, it's a reteaching guide. An effort to say, okay, how can we best take the word that we receive and reproduce it? What we put together was just, okay, whether it's Sunday sermon, whether it's Bible study that we're involved in, how can we not let the word stop with us? What this is is just a day-by-day, step-by-step guide of how this word can, the word that we study, can infiltrate our lives and flow out of our lives so that we begin to be aware of the fact that whether it is our kids or our spouse, whether it's our co-worker, whether it's school classmate, whether it's the lady at Walmart that thinks I'm too young to be a pastor, whoever it is, we're looking for the fact that God is maybe working and using us to multiply his word. So that's what this is. These are available in the back. You don't have to take one, but I would encourage you if you want to begin to explore this deeper, which I hope you do, then those are available in the back when you leave. So how can I sh how can I teach them the word? Intentionally. This is not something that just happens accidentally. This is intentionally. Disciple making is not something we're gonna accidentally do, it's something we're gonna intentionally give ourselves to. And really, the ultimate question we probably need to ask is this will the word, will the word stop with me, or will the word spread through me?

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