By Steve Behlke

January 28, 2010

More than a few have asked me to post regarding our church’s current sermon series on the Elephants in the Church. Elephants refer to some obvious problem in the church that everyone knows is there, we’re all aware of the problem, but nobody mentions it; no one really deals with it.

Here’s are some thoughts from the first sermon.

MAKE DISCIPLES

In light of Jesus’ Great Commission to the church, His intention for us to be and make disciples, the biggest elephant in the church may well be the lack of disciples in the church today.

Where are those churches that are producing disciples?

DISCIPLES! NOT JUST BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS.  

By disciples, we mean those born again Christians, those who trust Jesus for eternal life and intentionally study to learn from Jesus, in order to obey Jesus, in order to follow Jesus Christ as a rule of life.

That’s a disciple.

DISCIPLES FOLLOW JESUS BY OBEYING HIM!

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

In John 8:30-32 Jesus mentioned to those who had newly trusted Him and thus were saved, that they must adhere to His word and so be His disciples.

“As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’” (John 8:30-32)

So not only would they be His disciples but they will experience the truth and true freedom in Christ.

DISCIPLES OBEY JESUS BY LOVING OTHERS: SAME THING.

In the Gospel of John 13:33-34, Jesus gave his disciples, those who trusted and followed him, a new command: "Love one another as I have loved you." He said this would show the world that we are His disciples. Disciples are those who obey Jesus, primarily through our love for one another.

A few big things emerge from all of this:

ONE: OBEDIENCE IS A LOVE WORD.

Yet it is a discipleship word. But obedience is a love word, not a compliance word. It is not a “ought to” word. 

God wants us to obey Him out of love. “If you love me,” Jesus says, “you will obey me.”

TWO: LOVE FLOWS FROM US AS A RESPONSE TO GOD'S LOVE FOR US.

God is the initiator. We don’t love in order to be loved. “We love because God first loved us.” Love for God, love which obeys, flows as a response to God’s love for us.

So, obedience is a love word. Love obeys. Love submits. Love sacrifices. Love serves.

So the heart of discipleship to Jesus Christ is love. 

And love flows from a heart that knows it is loved.

A disciple, one who follows and obeys Jesus, is one who first experiences, through trust and submission, God’s love in Christ.

Therefore, we must first learn to be loved by God, to submit to His love, through humility we must learn to receive God’s love. This is part of being a disciple.

THREE: DISCIPLES LOVE GOD IN THE WAYS HE EXPLAINS HE WANTS TO BE LOVED

Again, "If you love me," Jesus says, do this. Do what? “If you love me, obey me.” That’s God’s love language. Obey me.

And His supreme command, the most repeated command to those who love Him, is that we love one another as Christ has loved us.