What Is A Disciple?

If you're new to the refuge, if you're joining us online for the first time, we're in a series that we started a few weeks ago entitled Mature Audiences Only. We're talking about spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity. The notes there are on your app today. I encourage you to pull up the notes, take out your device or your Bible, take out your journal, take out a piece of paper, a pen, parchment paper, whatever it is that you have with you today.

Take some notes as we dive into part three of this series. And we're going to be here for a while. We're going to be in this series for the next several weeks. And if you've missed any of these messages so far, you can go back. They're all available on our YouTube channel.

I encourage you to go back and watch those messages, pull the notes up on the app. They're there as well. There's a term in the business world some of you have heard, and it applies not just to business. It applies to individuals, it applies to churches, it applies to other organizations. But the term is mission drift.

Mission drift. Mission drift is simply what happens when an organization or person just begins to drift away from its original purpose and vision, its original mission, if you will. And it happens often. We don't intend for it to happen. We don't wake up one morning and say, I think I'll just drift away from my original purpose in life or from the mission of the church or the mission of our business.

It just happens over time. One of the best ways I can relate is something that's happened to me before. Maybe it's happened to you, is when I've gone to the beach or been at the ocean and I decide I'm going to go out on a raft and just chill on a raft. And you walk out into the water, get on a raft. You're enjoying the movement of the waves, the sound of the waves crashing on the shoreline, the sun that's baking down on you.

And then before you realize it, you fall asleep. Anybody ever had this experience where you're just out and it just kind of lulls you into a sleep, pretty good sleep out there. And then you wake up, you don't know how long you've been asleep. Could be five minutes, could be 30 minutes. You just don't know.

All you know is you look at the beach and nothing looks familiar. You don't see your people, you don't see your umbrella. And panic sets in. And you're like, oh, man, I don't know which way I went I don't know where anybody is. And in that moment, you realize course correction is needed.

Like I am not where I put into the water. I'm not where I waded in the ocean. And the same thing happens in churches and in businesses and with people. We don't mean to. We just drift away from where we started.

And course correction is needed. We've watched that happen this week with Cracker Barrel.

Come on. Can anybody say mission drift like some course correction was needed and they've been backing it up all week long, right? Because they realize you go woke, you go broke. Come on, anybody with me?

Well, I would argue that the church, the Capital C church, has suffered from mission drift.

I believe we've drifted from the original blueprint and design that Jesus set into motion in the Book of Acts. You see, the church was always designed to be a disciple making church. Matthew 28:19, known as the Great Commission, lays it out very clear. We're to preach and we're to make disciples. And a lot of churches, especially the American church, we have focused on getting people saved.

But we've drifted from the mission of discipling them. Are you with me? Listen, in the Bible, in the New Testament, the word Christian is mentioned three times, but the word disciple is mentioned 269 times. Where do you think the emphasis lies? Well, it's obvious.

It's clear that the emphasis should be for us making disciples. And the question for you and I is, are we content to just be called a Christian or do you want to be known as a spiritually mature follower of Jesus? Listen to me. Spiritual maturity and discipleship go hand in hand. They're one and the same.

That's why we're spending several weeks in this series talking about what does it look like to be a spiritually mature believer? What are we aiming for? What's it mean to stay the course? What's it mean to be faithful and consistent in our walk with Jesus so that a year from now we don't look like we look today? And that's the question you have to answer.

Do I want to be a disciple? Do I want to be spiritually mature? Or am I content to just be called a Christian? Listen, what these young people are doing, what RDS is about, is not just a cool gap year experience. It's about disciple making.

It's about these students responding to what Scripture describes as deep calling to deep. It's about these students saying, I want my roots to go deeper. I want to give a year of my life. I don't care how hard it is or what it costs me. I want to understand what it means to really be serious about pursuing Jesus not just for nine months, but for the rest of my life.

And that's what spiritual maturity requires. It's not about us just getting hyped up for a multi week series and saying, okay, yeah, I'm all in, I'm going to go after the Lord. No, it's us saying together as the New Testament church that's alive in 2025, I'm going to consistently faithfully follow Jesus all the days of my life, no matter what it requires, no matter what it costs, I'm going to follow him. Now, I'm going to keep referring us back to the document that I put in your notes on week one, the document that our pastors created back in 2020, where we sat down for weeks, maybe months, and we ask ourselves the question, what is a disciple? How do we define that?

What's it look like for us? Because Barna research has shown that the majority of churchgoers have no clue what their church expects in terms of spiritual maturity. Most churchgoers think spiritual maturity is just following rules.

Who wants to do that? Who wants to sign up for that? And most people just check out and therefore they're repeating the same generational cycles year after year after year because they're never maturing in the things of God. Why? Because they don't know what they're aiming for.

Nobody's ever said this is what spiritual maturity looks like. Well, we've taken that document, we've made it available to you, and we're just unpacking that over the next several weeks. We're talking about what it looks like. The first thing in that document is that spiritually mature people die to self. Die to self.

Now, we know that phrase, we've read that in scripture, but what does that actually mean? What's it look like for us to die to self? And we've been talking about that the last few weeks. We said it's indicated by certain things. Number one, it's indicated by following the commands that Jesus as it relates to loving the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbor as ourself, the greatest commandment and one that's equal to it.

Jesus said he took 613 Jewish laws and wrapped them up in two statements. And a spiritually mature person dies to self and demonstrates and obeys those two commandments. Jesus laws of love. And along with that, that we learn what it means to build relationship with Sinners and unbelievers.

What else is an indication that a person is spiritually mature when it comes to dying to self? And it's what we're going to talk about today and for the next several weeks, but it's this. Living a blessed life according to the Sermon on the Mount, leads us to our text. You guys still with me?

Anybody excited about the word? Matthew, chapter seven. If you have your Bible or device, I want you to go there. I want you to stand to honor the greatest book on the planet as we read some of the words of Jesus beginning in verse 24 of Matthew 7. If you don't have your Bible or device, it's on the screen behind me.

It says this. Jesus says anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise. Like a person who built a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes and torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it's built on bedrock. Watch.

But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is what church. Come on, say it together. Is what foolish? Like a person who builds a house on sand, and when the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. And when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

Now, let's make some declarations together before you're seated. Everybody together, even those of you watching online. Here we go. Ready? I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God.

This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. And I am confident of this that he who has begun a good work in me. Come on, in Jesus name, Amen. You can be seated.

Do me a favor. Would you welcome all of our friends that are watching via the Pando app that are incarcerated in prisons all over America? Would you welcome them? Amen. God bless you.

We love you, men. We love you, ladies. Thank you for joining us today. So the words that serve as our text that we just read out of Matthew chapter seven are the last words, the last words of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount, possibly the most famous of all of Jesus teachings. And the sermon is laid out and three chapters of the gospel of Matthew, Matthew 5, Matthew 6, and Matthew 7.

And we're going to take a few weeks to talk about the Sermon on the Mount. Honestly, we could Spend an entire year on those three chapters. The Sermon on the Mount, it's going to be really difficult for us to do justice to it in a few weeks, but we're going to hit the highlights. We'll do the best we can. And really, today we're just talking about the introduction Jesus, introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, what we know as the Beatitudes.

But it all begins in chapter five, verse one. And we find these words. One day, as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and he sat down. His disciples gathered around him and he began to teach and he began to teach this amazing sermon that we call the Sermon on the Mount. We're going to dive into the first part of that, and I've asked the director of rds, my son, Cole Stewart, if he would to come help us to unpack the Beatitudes for a few minutes.

And then I'll come back in a moment. Come on, give it up for Pastor Cole again, would you?

Man, what an honor to get to preach with my dad. He's a living legend and a superhero. I mean, I don't know. Many people have biked across the country on a motorcycle, let alone an actual bicycle. And just to get to be under his covering, honestly is.

Is such a blessing. So be grateful for your pastor, because he is the real deal, let me tell you. Amen. Yeah, come on, let's give it up for him. He deserves some honor.

Just. Yeah, man. In talking through the Beatitudes, there's such an importance, I feel Jesus setting up his sermon with this introduction. And we're gonna just dive into that. I wanna talk to you about what the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to represent.

And then we're gonna break down those Beatitudes, like I said. So you find the main body, obviously, The Beatitudes, verses 3 through 16 is kind of this introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. And then the main body is chapter five, 17 through chapter seven, verse 12, where you're going to get the practical side of what Jesus is saying. Here's what a disciple should look like, and then the conclusion, what we just read about. Now here is the important step of make sure you are building the house on the rock, because if you want to stand when the storms hit, you're going to need to have that foundation in you.

The introduction is all about the counterintuitive identity of Christ followers.

The body is about righteousness. And the conclusion is about Jesus Christ calling people to make a choice about how they will respond, which is where we are going to sit under today. We have the choice of how we're going to respond to the words of Jesus we're going to hear today. And Jesus begins with what we know as the Beatitudes in verses three through ten. And the word beatitude literally means blessing or spiritual prosperity.

It also translates from a Latin word that means utmost spiritual joy. It comes from this Greek word, makarios. And makarios connotates this idea, this concept that a blessed life is one that is in relationship with God, where God views the one he is in relationship with favorably. Right? This idea God's trying to connotate, Jesus is trying to get us to grasp here is what I'm talking about.

A blessed life is going to flow out of being in relationship with God and having him view you favorably.

And the thing we have to understand is that if we miss this foundation he's trying to lay in us, everything that follows in, you know, the main body of the sermon, we're going to miss out on because we don't have the right posture, we don't have the right attitude, and it's going to become more religious activity. And that's the last thing we need.

So let's get into it, shall we? So first, and what I want to emphasize. Sorry, I just said let's get into it. And I was like, just kidding. We're not going to get into it yet.

What I want to emphasize here is all of these are meant to flow into one another, right? This is the spiritual pathway of a disciple. He's setting up. Here's how you walk out discipleship in your life so that you can live out what it looks like to be a disciple. So all of these are joined together.

They build upon each other. They're mutually inclusive of one another. So first, God blesses those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Being poor in spirit means that we recognize our spiritual need. It's not just about being sad.

It's about acknowledging our need for God's grace. And it's in that place that we are then thrust into the kingdom of God. It's in this recognition that God, I have nothing in of myself that has value. I am poor in spirit. I'm in need of someone to come and save me from my wretchedness, from my sin, from myself.

Right? We put all of our eggs in his basket because he did all the work for us. And it's in that place that we receive the kingdom of heaven. We're thrust into a life with God. And this beautiful thing starts to form in us that moves us into the Second Beatitude which says, God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

This is a deep grieving over our own sin and the brokenness of this world. Right? And once we've acknowledged our depravity, how poor we are in spirit, and I'll say that that is the only step in this process that we can really have a hand in as just acknowledging we are poor. Right? Is making confession to God that I can't do this in my own strength.

I don't have anything within me to offer you God outside of what you have already done for me. In Jesus and everything else, he paves the way for through his death and resurrection and through the life he's offering us.

So when he says blessed are those who mourn, it flows out of this place of acknowledgment that God, I'm depraved, I have nothing.

Right. That's where we are all at. And there's this deceptive mindset and ideology that says there's parts of us that are good. No, there's not. There's not.

Okay, really. That is a lie of the enemy to make you cling to your own righteousness, which the Bible tells us is like filthy rags in the sight of God.

Now he's actually given us a white garment to wear if we will trade him our filthy rags, which seems like we're getting a pretty good end of that deal. But we have to lower ourselves and say, God, there's a problem here. I'm not rich in myself. I'm very poor, in fact, I'm desperate. I have no hope without you, Lord.

In that place of mourning, because we recognize the separation of our depravity from God, God brings us comfort. That's who he is. He loves us. He wants to draw near to us. He wants to be close to us.

He wants to be reconciled to us. That's why he sent His Son in the first place, so that whoever believes in him could have that abundant life that he talks about.

Once we stand in this place of brokenness over our sin and over the sin of the world, and we find comfort in God, we then remove ourselves from self seeking authority and we move into the meekness that the Third Beatitude talks about and says, God blesses the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Now, it's important to understand meekness is not weakness. It is gentleness and humility. In other words, strength under control.

Right? Meekness is A way of saying God, I'm submitted under your authority. And I just want to camp out here for a second because we have so many self seekers here, we have so many people that are trying to build their own kingdom. And I'm Gen Z, I'm the generation of the influencer, right? Everybody's trying to be an influencer, everybody's trying to start their own brand, their own version of what is truth, what is life, what is prosperity, what is relevant.

That we're missing out on the meekness of a disciple that says, I'm going to submit under God, I'm going to be submitted to the church, I'm going to be submitted to covering because that's what God has called me to. And whenever you do that it says the promise you receive is to inherit the earth. Cause God can now look at you and say I can trust him or her because they've submitted themselves and they have no vestment in themselves. He's looking actively for people who are operating in meekness. And again, that will only take place whenever we come low and say, God, there's nothing, there's nothing here.

I depend on you, I need you for everything, even the things I feel good about in myself. That's just a delusion, right? Because the Bible says he works best in our weakness.

That ushers us into the fourth one. The fourth Beatitude says God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled, they will be satisfied. This Beatitude speaks to the deep spiritual longing to become more Christlike internally and externally. It is a longing for moral goodness in ourselves and in our world. Because God has now entrusted you authority in his kingdom.

You begin to have a heart for God's kingdom, you begin to have heart for people. You become alive to the depravity of our world and the depravity of yourself again. And it's in that place that you cry out and say, God, please come and do something about this. Please come and show yourself in this world around us that is so hurting and so broken and doesn't have a chance without you, that's following its own desires and everybody's God in their own eyes. And everybody's trying to just do whatever they think is right.

And they're missing out on what Jesus did for them on the cross.

And you know what God does is he fills those who hunger and thirst with himself. He is righteousness, he is justice. So those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are hungering and thirst for Jesus and they will be filled with what? With his Spirit. Why?

So then they can be the righteousness and justice in the world that is so broken. So then they can step into the darkness and be Jesus to those around them. And that is our call as disciples. That's what we are being looked at by God to say. I'm looking for those who I can impart my spirit to.

Not so that they can have a bunch of cool giftings and lay hands on people and see them healed, but so that they can bring my righteousness and my justice to the world around them. It's not for me solely, right? He does want to fill me with himself so that I can have more of him. But if I just hoard all of that, it's going to limit the flow of God in my life and it's going to limit what God wants to do through me. So that's why you have to be meek.

Then you can come into the hunger and thirst for righteousness. Then he can fill you with himself. And that leads us into the fifth one. God blesses the merciful, for they will be shown Mercy and mercy is the heart of the Gospel. If you haven't read it before, it is because of mercy that Jesus came and died for you on the cross.

Not because he just felt like it one day. It's because he loved you and he wanted to be with you. Luke 10, 36 and 37, which we read a couple of weeks ago. Now, which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits? Jesus asked.

The man replied, the one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said, yes, now go and do the same. We see mercy is just not just feeling sorry for someone. Oh man, I hate that for you. Well, have a good one.

Oh man, I'll be praying for you. Then you forget right after you walk away how many of us have done that. I'm right there. Mercy is active compassion, right? That is the true tell of a disciple, is someone who walks in mercy.

That is when we've been filled with God for the sake of righteousness and justice, we can't help but start to think about other people over ourselves and be moved to compassion and action on the behalf of others. We become merciful like Jesus, and that is a beautiful thing. Then the world around us begins to look like the kingdom of heaven. And that is the goal here. That's why we are the church.

That's why we're still here today. We didn't just get saved and called up to heaven, you know, and probably we would want that in some instances. But God is like, no, you are my ambassadors on the earth. You have to go. You have to be merciful so that the world can know that I've sent you and that I've come for them and that I want them to be in my kingdom as well.

And I don't know about you guys, but I want to be shown mercy. I need mercy, man. I need mercy. Mercy is the thing that whenever it comes into our lives, it renews us. It regenerates our hearts and our spirits in our minds.

It makes us clean. It's the blood of Jesus that we just sang about that is mercy, completely transforming us. And then we come into the six Beatitude. God blesses the pure in heart, for they will seek God. Purity of heart means having a single focus on loving God and serving others.

And it's only through receiving his mercy that our hearts are purified. Man, I want to see God. We should want to see God. If you're a disciple, you want to see the one who's discipling you.

And it's only through receiving his mercy. It's only through what he does for us that. That we become pure in heart, and we're aligned to his plans and we're aligned to his purposes, and we're in awe of who he is again, that then we see God and say, man, you're better than I ever dreamed. Once we have a revelation of God as He truly is and a pure heart that ushers us into the seventh Beatitude that says God blesses the peacemakers. They will be called sons of God.

And peacemakers work to bring reconciliation between God and man and between people. Jesus did not say, blessed are the peacekeepers. And there's a big difference there. Peacekeepers are usually people who don't want to rock the boat. They just want to keep everyone happy.

They just want to lighten the mood and, you know, just be friends with everybody. And, you know, the call here is much deeper than that. And in the South, I think we kind of have it ingrained into our culture a little bit to be peacekeepers and not peacemakers, because we're just really good about putting on a smile and keeping sweet and, you know, just, you know, then turning around and gossiping or saying things behind people's backs. And I don't think God's okay with that. That's not what he wants.

That's not the heart of a true disciple. The heart of a true disciple, when you've had a revelation of Jesus, is to then thrust yourself into God's kingdom being advanced here on earth by the way of peacemaking that says, hey, brother, I love you. You're missing out on the fullness of God right now because you're choosing to operate in a lesser than way of life. Hey, sister, I see you. You're operating out of insecurity today.

That's not who you are. I need you to come in line with God. We need to be reconciled to Him.

It's in that place that we're called sons of God, that we're recognized as His. I want to be recognized as His. And whenever we are recognized as his, we begin to step into the last beatitude here. And this is the culmination of spiritual maturity. God blesses those who are persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So Jesus warned his followers would face persecution. The world hates us because they hated him first and facing opposition for doing what is right. And whenever you're operating as a peacemaker, people don't really like it because you're calling them out, you're keeping them accountable to what they've said yes to. And some people respond really well to that. And you're like, praise God because I love you.

I want you to experience what God has for that. And some people don't. And they hate it. They resist it, and they get mad at you and they try to blame you. And, you know, that's for their own detriment, unfortunately.

But as gods, we're. We're saying, hey, I'm his son, so I'm going to freely offer myself how Jesus did. I'm going to put myself as a living sacrifice so that others can know Him. And the promise there is the highest thing. It says, you're going to inherit your kingdom reward.

And there is nothing that would compare to that. No amount of pain, no amount of suffering. And it's what makes Paul able to pray. I pray to know him. I pray to know Jesus and fellowship with him in his sufferings so that I experience the power that raised him from the dead.

And that is our inheritance. That is the ultimate place of spiritual maturity when we can offer ourselves and say, no one takes my life. I lay it down, I throw it down, I pour it out. Hurt me, offend me, rebuke me. I'll take it because I want you to know him and I want to receive him in the power of his resurrection.

All of that to say, man, whenever we operate in this way and we grow closer to him, we're able to find ourselves in a place where our eternal reward is secure, and that is having unending relationship with Jesus. My dad is going to come back out and close us up. So as your brother, I want to appeal to you today. Hey, let's tune in. Let's listen to the spirit of the Lord through what our pastor has to share today.

And let's respond because we need this. We need him. Amen. Amen. All right, Praise the Lord.

We're going to wrap this up, but here's the thing that is so important for all of us to recognize and understand. I love how Cole brought up the fact that the Beatitudes build on each other. And really what Jesus is doing is just giving us a pathway. He's given us a code of conduct, if you will, leading us into the body of the Sermon on the Mount. We're gonna get into that next week as we start unpacking what it means to live righteously.

But Jesus is saying this, and you gotta catch the connection here. Jesus is saying, you'll never be able to live righteously unless you get this first. And in between this, the Beatitudes and the teachings on living right, he throws in a couple of verses and he reminds those that were listening of two things. He says, you salt and your light. Let's look at that very quickly and then we're going to wrap up.

He says in Matthew 5:13, you're the salt of the earth, but what good is salt if it's lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It'll be thrown out, trampled underfoot as worthless. And then he says, you're the light of the world. Like a city on a hilltop, they cannot be hidden.

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, he says, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. In other words, these attitudes of being the Beatitudes, he's saying, get that in order and put it on full display for the people to see, for the people to understand what it means to live not a religious life, but a righteous life. Salt was used in the Hebrew scriptures as a symbol of God's long lasting covenant with Israel.

And Jesus is reminding them that they're carrying out God's relationship to its fulfillment. And when he says that you're the light of the world, he's referencing a prophecy from Isaiah and he's saying that now we're fulfilling that promise, there's an immediate blessing that's attached to the Beatitudes. That's attached to living out the code of conduct. Here's the thing for us to understand so important that those things that Cole just laid out for us, those eight things called the Beatitudes, are in stark contrast to the worldly values of power, wealth and status. Instead, Jesus is emphasizing humility, mercy and purity.

A true sign of spiritual maturity. Listen to me. This is so key. A true sign of spiritual maturity is that there is consistent dying to self and movement towards becoming like Him. The goal is not perfection.

The goal is that consistently you're moving towards Him. We're going to make mistakes, but we don't abandon the process when we do. You guys, RDs, you're going to make some mistakes this year. There's going to be times you're going to blow it. You don't abandon the process.

You don't listen to the lies of the enemy and say, well, I'll never be what I'm supposed to be. I don't deserve the mercy of God. No, you receive his forgiveness and you keep moving towards Him. It's long obedience in the same direction. It's this lifelong process.

It's not nine months and then we're done. It's not three years, five years, 10 years and then we're done. It's like whenever we accept Jesus in our hearts for the rest of our lives, the goal is to become like him, to take on his nature and his character. I love what John Mark Comer says in his book Practicing the Way, and I put it in your notes. But he says this apprenticeship to Jesus that is following Jesus is a whole life process of being with Jesus for the purpose of becoming like him and carrying on his work in the world.

It's a lifelong journey in which we gradually learn to say and do the kinds of things that Jesus said and did as we apprentice under him in every facet of our lives. Here's what I believe the Lord is saying to all of us. Here's what I believe the Lord is saying to you that are watching on the Pandawa. Here's what I believe the Lord is saying to you that are enjoying a Labor Day weekend away. I believe this is what God is saying to the capital C church.

Listen to me. I'm saying this with a heart full of love for the people that God has entrusted to me. And it's this. It is time to grow up.

It's time to stop playing the church game. We've gotten really good at that. It's time to stop hiding behind some religious mask. It's time that we stop living with secret sin. It's time that we grow up into the things of God and say, whatever it costs me, if I have to abandon some relationships, if I have to give up some activities because they don't match up with the character and the nature of Jesus, then that's what I need to do.

Because a person who loses his life finds his life. But the person who tries to hang on to his life loses his life. Jesus said. And I'm just saying to you, with as much love as I can possibly, possibly demonstrate to you, convey to you, we got to grow up. We got to grow up.

Bow your heads and close your eyes, would you? Father, thank you for the simplicity of your Word and the way that you so beautifully lay out for us a code of conduct. Not so we can fulfill some religious obligation, but so that we can become like you. And that's the goal. That's what we desire.

So, Lord, I'm praying today that we would be those who are wise, meaning we hear your Word and we put it into practice. Let us not be foolish. Let us not be those who hear the word and disregard it and never put it into practice. Cause us to be doers of the Word. Cause us to grow.

Let our roots go deep. And I pray that we would be those who respond to the Father's cry. Deep calling to deep. Deep calling, calling to deep. And I pray God that it would sound like the roar of a waterfall.

In our spirit move us. I pray God towards you in Jesus name. Would you stand to your feet all over the room?