Courageous Disciples

Text: Micah 6:8, Jeremiah 22:2-3, 13-16

Focus: Doing Justice

Function: Justice is part of discipleship

Form: Topical study

Intro: Tim Harvey, the Moderator for this year's Annual Conference gave an interesting description on Friday of what it means to be Brethren. He referred to us as: “courageous disciples.” Courageous disciples. Six years ago I did a two-year study with five other pastors on what it takes to lead churches into what is necessary to become disciple forming churches.

During that study and in all the literature we read, the words “Courage” and “Disciple” were never mentioned together. We did speak of other problems facing the Church today. We spoke of the competition we have in getting people to work at the programming of the church when they have busy schedules focused around school or sporting activities, vacation homes, and etc.

We are torn between so many commitments and sometimes the church comes up on the losing end of commitment.

Again, I am not going to lay a burden of guilt or shame upon you. I was greatly taken back by moderator Harvey's perspective when he spoke about creating courageous disciples.

And again, when we studied about making disciples, we neglected the concept of “courageous disciples.”

What is a disciple? A disciple is one who follows the lifestyle and teaching of a particular teacher. In our case that teacher is Jesus.

I preached last week that Jesus was homeless because he chose a symbolic lifestyle. Jesus is not calling us to be homeless, but He is calling us to place him above our homes. So, more than anything, however, Jesus is calling us to be courageous disciples.

How would you describe the term: courageous disciple?

Good. There aren't many ideas. Let us keep them in mind.

Do we think of courage when we think of disciple?

Generally not.

When I think of the term disciple, I think of obedience. But let us look again at this mornings Scripture.

Let me read it to you from The Message:

^1-3God's orders: "Go to the royal palace and deliver this Message. Say, 'Listen to what God says, O King of Judah, you who sit on David's throne—you and your officials and all the people who go in and out of these palace gates. This is God's Message: Attend to matters of justice. Set things right between people. Rescue victims from their exploiters. Don't take advantage of the homeless, the orphans, the widows. Stop the murdering!

^13-17"Doom to him who builds palaces but bullies people,
   who makes a fine house but destroys lives,
Who cheats his workers
   and won't pay them for their work,
Who says, 'I'll build me an elaborate mansion
   with spacious rooms and fancy windows.
I'll bring in rare and expensive woods
   and the latest in interior decor.'
So, that makes you a king—
   living in a fancy palace?
Your father got along just fine, didn't he?
   He did what was right and treated people fairly,
And things went well with him.
   He stuck up for the down-and-out,
And things went well for Judah.
   Isn't this what it means to know me?"
         God's Decree!
"But you're blind and brainless.
   All you think about is yourself,
Taking advantage of the weak,
   bulldozing your way, bullying victims."

This prophet is certainly an example of a courageous disciple. These words that he spoke placed his life in jeopardy. The scene is classic, he appears before the king of Judah, and without any compromise, he points his finger at him and tells him that his materialism is bringing him under the judgment of God.

And the prophet is smart, he knows the history of this king in the king before him, the king's father.

I love this passage of Scripture, because since when I was four years old, and I trusted Jesus to be my Savior, I have always used the expression, that now that I am a believer: “I know the Lord.”

Knowing Jesus. Do you know the Lord? I preach the family of God all the time. When I give an invitation to become a Christian, almost always I make the invitation to join God's family. When I speak of Holy Week and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I always word it that “Jesus has made the way for us to come back into God's family.” I empathise that because it speaks to the privilege of “Knowing God.” Knowing Jesus is a real joy.

I love the phrase: “Jesus knows me and I know him.” It reflects the joy of our Christian faith. When we see a beautiful sunset, or sing the words from the great hymn: How Great Thou Art, We think to ourselves: “what a privilege and joy it is to know this great God.”

What a shock it was to me about 10 years ago when during my daily devotion of reading the entire Scripture through at least once a year the words to this passage jumped out at me.

God said: “this is what it means to know me.” It shocked me because I realized that God didn't fill me up with His Holy Spirit in order to make me feel good. There is the privilege of responsibility to continue Jesus' mission when we know Him.

In this passage, God does not say that knowing Him meant simply that I had a strange warming inside of my heart. Often times, I get a strange warming in my heart, especially when I am praying, and sometimes when I am reading the Scripture, and sometimes when I'm singing hymns and praise songs, and sometimes when I'm hearing the testimonies of people like you.

There are many times when we sense the leading, moving, and empowering of the Holy Spirit. Those are wonderful times to me. It is part of Scripture, the promise of God, the seal of our salvation, that the Holy Spirit will literally live inside every one who believes in Jesus.

Ephesians 4:30

The Message (MSG)

³⁰Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is real. In 2 Corinthians 4:7 it is called “a treasure hidden in human vessels.”

The feeling is great. It is a feeling of complete love and forgiveness. That is why, for example, in contemporary worship services they can focus on one line of a chorus over and over again. The worship leader and the congregation is caught up in the ecstasy of emotion as they realize that they are in direct communion with God.

But it is important to realize that the ecstasy is not what it means to know God.

God says it right here in His Word: “knowing me means that we spend our lives ensuring justice, fairness, pleading the cause of those less fortunate as a priority.”

This prophet was bold to say that. I picture him standing before that King with his hand extended in this finger-pointing. I picture the scene of the King who cared for no one but himself fuming in anger, and I picture the King's guard ready to run this prophet through with their spears.

Not only did he condemn the King, but he made a comparison between him and his father, in which he paints his father in a better light.

The prophet was not condemning the riches and the blessing of God given to the King's father. He tells him, financially your father did well. But he was also passionate about doing justice. God does indeed bless people who serve him. The king's father made sure that the poor and the oppressed that he was charged to care for were treated justly and fairly. And when that happened, every one prospered, not just the wealthy.

I am not talking current American politics here. What I am speaking to is the courage of the prophet to speak out against the injustices that were happening in his time.

And again, about 10 years ago, when I realized what this passage was actually saying about what it means is to “know the Lord,” my heart again began to regain the passionate way that Jesus addressed the people, the rich, the poor, the powerful, the weak, the religious, and the sinners when he constantly begged them to love everyone, even their enemies, as much as they love themselves.

I am often reminded, that although God's purpose for Jesus on the cross, was and is to pay the penalty for our sins, that Jesus was nailed to the cross by people, not God. And those people nailed Jesus to the cross, not because Jesus gave his money to the poor, but because Jesus, by becoming poor, condemned their selfish lives. He didn't just give money to the poor, He became one of them. And, as we mentioned it was a symbolic gesture that proves the point that Godliness does indeed lead to contentment.

They killed Him for it. They killed him to silence his message of loving others and living for the good of others as well as themselves. Jesus died to free us from our sins, but they killed him because he confronted their selfish lives.

This king got off track. How do we know that the practices, the doctrines, and the teachings that we emphasize are on the right track?

Let us look again at our first Scripture. It is a summary of the perspectives that we need to focus on in order to be considered courageous disciples.

He has shown you, O man – or woman, what God expects from you. Three things: first something to do: Justice. Second, a way of responding to love: Mercy. And third, a way to conduct our actions, walk humbly with God.

It is a great three-point sermon. I love the fact that it begins with “do justice.” It is always easier to preach when the preacher gets the chance to give people steps with which they can take action.

God spoke to the King and Jeremiah: “doing justice proves that you know me.” We will never fail in our Christian discipleship when we take upon ourselves the prophets mantle of doing justice. That is why many of you marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That is why many of you are and were prepared to help children during times of disaster. That is why you are also generous in your giving to the churches food bank. Thank you.

Loving mercy. How do you feel when the bad guy in the movie meets a terrible end? Most often, I am relieved. Not that the violence, but at the justice. However, I constantly remind myself, that vengeance belongs to God and not me. I know that because God loves us, his justice is and will be fair, pure, and correct.

The thing about loving mercy that is so important to us as Christians is that God gave mercy to us, not because we earned it, but because he loves giving mercy. I believe that the most heroic act of Jesus, probably his most courageous statement, was his prayer for the men who murdered him, when he said: “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” The fact it is, God loves giving mercy. When we give mercy, we are true disciples. It takes courage to give mercy. It takes courage to forgive.

Walk humbly with God. Again, this goes back to knowing the Lord. When we know someone, we walk with them, we talk with them, we eat with them, we live in communion with them.

What is good and what is important for a man to do? Walk every day with God. Walk every day knowing, that the Holy Spirit is inside of you. Don't grieve him by continuing to send, and don't count him out of your life by shrinking back. And again, this takes courage.

Be courageous. Be humble when you are courageous. But be courageous. When you see injustice, speak out. You do not have to listen to filthy jokes. You do not have to laugh at racist comments. You do not have to nod your head in agreement when you hear someone gossiping about someone else.

Filthy jokes have the effect of making bad behavior seem more normal. And it takes courage to rise above that. Racist statements lead to more racism, fear and prejudice. It takes courage to rise above it and contradict it. Gossip is especially destructive. James says that the tongue is like a spark that ignites a huge forest fire. Don't listen to it. Don't repeat it.

There is a quote: “all it takes for evil men to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

Knowing God means that God's Spirit is inside of us and he will give us the power and the courage to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly, every day, hand-in-hand, with God.