Summer Remix Part 1: Discipleship

Join us at Salt & Light Church as Pastor Brandon preaches on discipleship. Brandon gives us a deeper look into what discipleship looks like in the Kingdom of God.

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

For them to have open hearts to be able to receive what you have for them, Lord God, and to uh for you to meet them right where they're at, as you always do. And we just thank you and we just lift all of this up in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, kids, meet me in the classroom.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Well, good morning, sunlight. How are we doing today? Good? Yeah. So I just got back from Columbia, spent seven days down in Columbia, Courtney and I did. Um that was an incredible trip. Definitely had some highlights and some lowlights in that one. When I made it to Burkata Manga, uh, my baggage didn't make it with me. Um, so that was awesome. Um I was preaching at a church the next night, so needed to go out and buy some new clothes uh because I didn't have my bag yet uh from that time. But after church, after dinner, during dinner, the airline got in contact with me and brought my bag back, so that was phenomenal. So God definitely tested me there for a minute uh uh with that one. But I had the opportunity to preach at a church, and then I was working with 160 pastors from around Columbia, training them over uh two and a half days, and that was a that was a wild time and got eaten by mosquitoes. Um ridiculously. I've never been eaten that bad before, but I got eaten by mosquitoes. And the flight on the return home, I thought I booked it for 7 p.m., booked it for 7 a.m. So when we woke up at 8 30, we'd missed our flight. Um so had to rebuy tickets for later in the afternoon to make all my connecting flights in the evening. 24 hours of travel. It was a wild ride. So I am glad to be home, you guys. Um and this morning we're gonna get into something uh we're in our summer remix series, actually. So if you've been with us for a while every year, about this time we do a remix series, which means we pick a sermon or a sermon uh from the previous year and we have the opportunity to re-preach it. Well, we're calling this one the old school remix because we're actually gonna be able to preach anything since John and Gina have been here as our senior pastors. Um we're going since 2019 all the way to 2025. Um and this morning, what I am picking is one of our sermons on discipleship. So if you know anything about me, that's what I do uh in my work, is that I help people, or I work with churches, um, consulting, training, uh, and building discipleship cultures. And so today we're actually going to talk about the relentless pursuit of God. And it's going to be on this theme of discipleship. And so it starts with this have you ever had the feeling that there has to be more than this? And I'm not talking about more money or more success or even more comfort. I mean something deeper than that. I'm talking about more life or more beauty, more purpose, more of whatever it is you know that deep down you were created for. I think every human being knows this longing. We chase achievement, experiences, relationships, security, adventure, or comfort. But underneath all of these pursuits lies the same quiet ache. There has to be more than this. And the Bible tells us that that feeling isn't an accident, it's an echo, an echo of the world that we were made for. And when we open the first pages of Genesis, before sin or shame, fear or death enters the human story, we don't simply find a beautiful garden. We find a picture of the life God intended for humanity. The garden isn't primarily about trees or rivers or paradise, it's about relationship. Human beings were created to live in joyful communion with God. Adam and Eve walked openly with him. They had nothing to hide, nothing to prove, and nothing to fear. And they didn't wake up wondering whether they mattered or questioning whether God loved them. Their identity wasn't something they had to discover or earn. It was something they received from the one who created them. Everything else flowed out of this relationship. Their whole lives were worshiped because they lived with God. Work wasn't punishment. God entrusted creation to them, invited them to help creation flourish. There was beauty, creativity, discovery, and joy. They enjoyed the world because they enjoyed the God who made it. And this is why I keep returning to this word adventure. Because life with God is the greatest adventure that any human being can experience. It's discovering who God is, who He created you to be, and what He's inviting you to do with Him. It's stepping into a future that you can't control because you trust the one who does. It's living fully alive in the presence of God. And maybe that's why so many of us feel restless. Something deep within us still recognizes that faint outline of the life that we were created for. Every time beauty takes your breath away, or forgiveness happens where it seemed impossible, or where justice stirs your heart, or you hear the whisper, there has to be more than this, you are hearing the echo of a world where humanity walked with God without fear, without shame, and without hiding. And if that's the world we were made for, why does this life not feel that way anymore? Well, Genesis doesn't leave us wondering. It's into that perfect relationship between Adam and Eve and God that the serpent appears with the simple question, did God really say? On the surface, the conversation seems to be about fruit, but underneath it is something much more dangerous. It's a question that says, Can God really be trusted? Do you need God to tell you what is good and evil, or would you be better off deciding that for yourself? And that has always been at the heart of temptation. Will I trust the author of the story, or will I try to author this story myself? And every one of us has heard that voice of temptation where it says, you know what is best. You can define success and truth. You determine what will make you happy. And we can call that freedom. But the Bible calls it rebellion. And we exchange the security of God's loving authority for the impossible burden of becoming our own God. Adam and Eve reached for the fruit, and immediately their eyes were opened. They believed that they would finally see clearly, but instead they lost sight of everything that mattered. They noticed their nakedness, covered themselves, heard the Lord God walking in the garden, and they hid. The presence that once brought them joy now filled them with fear. The God they had walked with became the God that they ran from. And isn't that what shame still does to us? It convinces us that the safest place is somewhere that God is not. So we hide behind success or busyness, humor, anger, addiction, religion, or church activity. Our hiding places can change, but the fact that we hide never does. Now there's a difference between guilt and shame. Guilt says, I did something wrong. Shame says, I am something wrong. And shame tells us that if anyone truly knew our failures, our fears, and wounds, that they would eventually walk away. So we manage appearances. We present polished versions of ourselves while quietly carrying the exhausting burden of believing that no one can be allowed to see who we really are. Genesis 3 isn't simply the story of humanity's first sin, it's the story of humanity's first hiding place. But in that place, the remarkable part isn't that Adam hid. The remarkable part is that God came looking for Adam. When God says, Where are you? he isn't asking because he doesn't know where Adam is. The creator of the universe hasn't misplaced two people in the garden. He's inviting Adam to step out of hiding and back into relationship. And that question echoes throughout the Bible. Not because God doesn't know where we are, but because he wants us to recognize where we are. Adam hid, God came looking, and that isn't simply the ending of Genesis 3. It's the beginning of the entire story of redemption. From that moment forward, Scripture tells one continuous story of the God who refuses to abandon his people. He calls Abraham, delivers Israel from slavery, and raises up judges, kings, and prophets to call his people back. Even in exile, God promises that one day he himself will come and make all things right. For centuries, God's people waited for the Messiah who would rescue them and restore them and establish God's kingdom. And then Jesus walks into an ass in a synagogue. Then Jesus walks into a synagogue in Nazareth, and he opens the scroll of Isaiah, and he reads these words. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Now, when Jesus finishes reading this, he sits down and he says to all those listening, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. So don't miss that word today. Jesus isn't simply explaining Isaiah. He is announcing that everything that God's people have been waiting for has arrived. The kingdom of God is no longer a distant hope. In Jesus, it has broken into history. The king has come. And this is more than a list of ministries that Jesus wanted to start. It's a declaration that God has begun reclaiming everything that sin has stolen. Wherever sin brings bondage, Jesus brings freedom. Wherever shame isolates people, Jesus restores relationships. Wherever brokenness leaves its mark, Jesus begins making people whole. Jesus didn't come merely to help us survive a broken world. He came to begin restoring it. And that restoration is personal, but it isn't just personal. He came to restore hearts, relationships, identities, families, communities, and ultimately all of creation. The story of the Bible isn't simply about getting people into heaven. It's about heaven breaking into earth through the reign of King Jesus until one day he makes all things new. Now the work is not yet complete. Sickness, injustice, fractured relationships, and death remain. The kingdom has come, but not yet in its fullness. We live between what Christ began and what he will one day complete. Every healing, forgiveness, transformed life, and glimpse of justice points towards a world that is coming. If you want to know what restored humanity looks like, don't look back to Adam. Look to Jesus. Jesus is humanity as God intended humanity to be. He confronted evil without becoming evil. He suffered without surrendering to despair. In Jesus, we discover not only who God is, but who humanity was created to become. A life in joyful relationship with the Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and increasingly transformed into the likeness of Christ. Now that raises a question. If Jesus came to restore humanity and nothing is impossible for him, why didn't he simply transform everyone instantly? Why spend three years with twelve ordinary men? Why long walks, shared meals, difficult conversations, repeated lessons, patient corrections, failures, and second chances? Why did he choose the long, slow path of discipleship? Jesus wasn't merely transferring information, he was forming people. Mark tells us in chapter 3, verse 14, that he appointed, that Jesus appointed the twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. So notice the order there. And that wasn't a preliminary step before the real ministry began. It was the foundation of ministry. Later in Luke, he says that the student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. He doesn't say that the student will merely know what the teacher knows. He says the student will become like the teacher. And that is the goal of discipleship. So I have defined discipleship for the last several years this way: the lifelong process of becoming like Jesus in every way and teaching others to do the same. Write this down, take a picture, get it into your brain. Okay? I go travel around the world teaching about discipleship, and the one thing I ask them is, have you defined discipleship in your church? And every pastor looks at me like, nope. So how do your people have any clue what discipleship is? You've never defined it. You continue to preach from Matthew 28, you talked about that it's something that we're all supposed to do, but you've never defined it. This is our definition. So if I ask you what discipleship is, this is what you should be able to tell me. The lifelong process of becoming like Jesus in every way and teaching others to do the same. The lifelong process, because once you say yes to Jesus, you're not done growing until you arrive with him in glory. There's no arrival point on this side of heaven where you always continue growing. There is a process to it, right? The lifelong process. So there is a movement through this. Just like anything. There's a way of building foundations, pillars, the house, decorating it, everything. There is a process to how we do discipleship. And who are you becoming like? You're becoming like Jesus. You're not becoming like me. You're not becoming like John or Gina. You're becoming like Jesus. He is the standard of which we are to become like. And in what way? Every way, right? Not just the ways that you like, not just the ways that are helpful to you. In every way is the way that we're to become like Jesus. And then we are to teach others to do the same. So it's not just good enough for you to become like Jesus. You actually have to turn around and help somebody else also become like Jesus. Discipleship is the lifelong process of becoming like Jesus in every way and teaching others to do the same. Now, underneath this, with the whole story that we've been following, there's a deeper meaning with this. Discipleship is the invitation to begin walking with God again. In the beginning, humanity walked with God. And then sin entered, and we hid. And then God came looking. And then Jesus stepped into history with this simple invitation: follow me. Walk with me. Learn from me. Trust me. Let me show you what it means to be truly human. Discipleship isn't primarily about completing a curriculum or attending another Bible study, as valuable as those things are. But it is learning to live with Jesus until over time we begin to think like him, love like him, trust the Father as He did, respond to the world as He did. It's less about mastering content and more about surrendering our whole lives to the transforming presence of Jesus. Now I've seen this transformation in the life of a friend of mine. When we first began meeting, he knew the Bible. And if someone challenged him and his beliefs, he could defend them. But as we spent time together, I slowly realized that information wasn't what he lacked. He knew a great deal about God, but he didn't know the Father. His pain, his earthly father, and unhealthy church experiences had shaped his picture of God. And deep down he believed God was always disappointed, evaluating, expecting more, and keeping score. He defended grace, but lived as though God's love had to be earned. No amount of theological information was going to heal that in him. He didn't need another argument, he needed a different experience of the Father. So we began walking together. Weeks became months, and months became years. We opened the scriptures, we had difficult conversations. Sometimes I challenged him because love tells the truth. Other times I listened, or I simply became the visible representation of the Father's love. Now, if I'm honest, there were seasons where I wondered whether anything was changing. Then, after years of walking together, we took a trip. And during that drive, we spent hours talking honestly about the places where he was still resisting God. Later that week, we hiked into the mountains. And somewhere on that mountain, something shifted within him. And it wasn't because the trip was magical, and it wasn't because I suddenly found the right words to say. Years of faithfully walking together had prepared him to encounter the Father's love in a new way. The mountain wasn't the beginning of his transformation. It was simply the place where years of transformation became visible. What changed him? Well, it wasn't the trip. And it wasn't me. Jesus changed him. I simply had the privilege of walking beside him while Jesus did what only Jesus can do. And that realization has become one of the most freeing truths in ministry. I have never transformed anyone. And I never will. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. My responsibility is to love people faithfully, to tell them the truth with grace, and to point them towards Jesus and trust that the Holy Spirit is doing far more than I can see. Discipleship requires patience because formation happens slowly. It happens through ordinary conversations, faithful presence, honest correction, shared meals, difficult seasons, answered prayers, repeated obedience, and moments that seem insignificant until we look back and realize how much has changed. And maybe that is why Jesus chose discipleship. He wasn't simply changing behavior, he was restoring relationship. He was teaching people to walk with God again. And if that's how Jesus chose to restore people, what does he ask of those who follow him to do? After his death and resurrection, Jesus gathers his disciples on a mountain in Galilee. These are the same ordinary men that he spent three years walking beside. They have experienced his grace, correction, patience, and love, and they are not the same men they were when he said to them, Follow me. And on that mountain, Jesus says this all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the end of the age. When many Christians hear the Great Commission, our minds immediately jump to evangelism, missions, or leading someone to faith in Jesus. And that instinct isn't wrong. People can't become disciples of someone that they don't know. Someone has to go and speak and proclaim that Jesus is king and that sin has been forgiven through his death and resurrection and that new life is often. But Jesus doesn't tell his followers merely to make converts, he tells them to make disciples. Conversion is the beginning of the journey, not the completion of it. Baptism marks our entrance into a new life with God, but Jesus immediately speaks about teaching people to obey everything he commanded. He is describing more than a moment of belief. He is describing a life of learning, surrendering, obeying, failing, receiving grace, and slowly becoming like the one that we follow. The invitation to follow me includes the moment when we first place our faith in Jesus, but it can't be reduced to that moment. Jesus isn't merely inviting people to agree with a message about Him. He is inviting people to entrust their entire lives to Him. Walk with me, learn from me. Let me reshape what you love, how you think, how you treat people, and how you participate in my kingdom. Someone may have introduced you to Jesus. Someone may have prayed for you, preached the gospel, brought you to church, or invited you to respond. And praise God for that person. Without their faithfulness, you may never have heard the good news. But being introduced to Jesus isn't the same thing as being discipled. Someone may have helped you begin following Jesus without showing you how to walk with him. They led you through the doorway and unintentionally left you to navigate the journey alone. Perhaps because they had never been discipled, or because the church knew how to proclaim the gospel, but not how to help people mature. Many Christians were told how to be saved, but no one taught them how to pray when God felt silent, or encounter God in Scripture, or confess sin, or receive correction, forgive, listen to the Spirit, or practice obedience. They attended church but were never intentionally taught how to become like Jesus. Many have been left to raise themselves spiritually. And just so we're clear, the responsibility doesn't rest only with the churches or leaders. Sometimes people don't want to be discipled. We want encouragement, but not correction. We want community, but not vulnerability. We want comfort, but not confrontation. We want the benefits of belonging to a church without allowing anyone close enough to question how we live. Discipleship requires humility. It asks us to admit that we don't see everything clearly and to let another person know what is actually happening inside us, and to remain open to challenge, surrender, and obedience. And that can feel threatening, especially for people who have learned how to hide. But Jesus never intended us to follow him alone. When he called the disciples, he called them to himself and to community. They witnessed one another's courage and cowardice. They witnessed each other's faith and doubt. They witnessed each other's generosity and selfishness. They misunderstood Jesus together. They failed together. They received correction together, and they were formed together. And that is why discipleship is relational. We need the Holy Spirit, the scriptures, and people, and the people of God. We need people who can encourage us when we can't see what God is doing, to challenge us when we stray, and to remind us of the truth when shame distorts our vision, and to walk beside us long enough for transformation to become visible. And this is what Paul did with Timothy. Paul didn't merely preach the gospel to him and then disappear. He invited Timothy into his life and ministry. Timothy saw how Paul handled suffering, conflict, responsibility, and sacrifice. Paul instructed, corrected, encouraged, and entrusted him with responsibility, and then told him to pass that on, to pass on what he had received to faithful people who could teach and preach. And that is how the story continues. Not simply through one person convincing another to believe something, but through disciples making disciples. It continues through people who are learning to walk with Jesus and helping other people learn how to walk with him as well. Perhaps you realize that you've been a Christian for years, but you've never truly been discipled. You believe in Jesus, you attend church, you know the Bible well, but no one has intentionally walked beside you and helped you examine whether every part of your life is being surrendered to him. And that realization isn't meant to shame you, it's an invitation. You're not too old, too experienced, or far too long to be discipled. Maturity begins when we stop pretending we no longer need anyone. Perhaps your next step is first finding someone from whom you are willing to learn from. Ask someone you trust to walk with you, to ask difficult questions, to open scripture, to pray, and to practice obedience together. Now perhaps someone helped you walk with Jesus. They stayed when formation was slow, they told you the truth, modeled repentance, and gave you room to fail without allowing you to remain where you are. If someone has walked with you in that way, what God gave you through that relationship was never meant to end with you. Now it's your turn to walk with someone else. You don't have to know everything, you don't have to possess a title, you don't have to have your order, your life in perfect order. You simply need to be faithful, walking with Jesus and willing to invite another person close enough to learn alongside you. You're not responsible for controlling their choices, you're not responsible for manufacturing their growth or becoming their Holy Spirit. Every genuine transformation is the work of God and God alone. Your responsibility is to love them well, to tell the truth with grace, to help them recognize what Jesus is saying, to encourage obedience and remain faithful even when growth is slower than you had hoped. The outcome isn't yours to control. Faithfulness is. So maybe today you've realized that you've never truly responded to Jesus' invitation. You've carried shame, tried to author your own story, and wondered why life never feels like enough. Well, here are the good news. Jesus is still saying, follow me. So step out of hiding. Lay down the burden of trying to control your own life. Trust the King and begin walking with him. And maybe you already believe in Jesus, but you've been trying to follow him alone. Let someone walk with you, become a disciple who is still willing to be discipled. And maybe you've been faithfully walking with Jesus and others for years. Ask him who he was placed near you. Someone who needs more than an invitation to attend church or another sermon. Someone who needs someone willing to open their life, walk patiently, tell the truth, and help them learn the way of Jesus. One day, every echo that we have talked about will become a reality. Every broken thing will be restored, every wound will be healed, every tear will be wiped away, and every hiding place will disappear. The relationship fractured in the garden will be fully restored, and we will walk with God again, but this time not by faith, but by sight. And until that day, may we keep responding to the invitation of Jesus. May we walk with him. May we allow others to walk with him, and may we help others learn to walk with him too. Amen. Amen. Alright, if you'll stand, let us pray. Well, Jesus, we thank you that in the garden when we messed up, when we hid, you came looking. God, you came looking for us. You walked in the cool of the garden and asked us where we were. And God, you continue to ask us today to come out of hiding. And so, Lord, may we come out of hiding. May we enter into a relationship to be discipled or to disciple someone else. Lord, where we can fully become like you in every way, where we can be challenged and where we can be encouraged. Lord, where we can live in vulnerable community, where we can be open and step fully into the light. And so, God, I pray that conviction would fall on our church, that we would be a church that would be known to make disciples who make disciples. God, it isn't about numbers, it isn't about performances, it isn't about all the flashy lights. God, it is about becoming like you over a lifetime and teaching others to do the same. And so, God, may we adopt that fully into our beings. God, may we learn to walk with you again. May we be invited into the fullness of what it means to be humanity. Lord, may we look to Jesus and see the non-anxious presence that he was, the joy that he had, Lord, the fullness of life that was present to know that that is available for us if we would only walk with you again. So, Jesus, I pray for courage in us that we may step out into that reality, Lord, no matter how messy it might get, Lord, but that we would trust you and what your Holy Spirit is doing. Lord, thank you for what you have given us and the community that we come from, Lord. We ask that you bless it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. But let me leave you with this blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you his shalom. You're dismissed.