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Good morning! Happy
Mothers’
Day! In honor of our Mothers this morning, we
have a Calvin and
Hobbes cartoon that highlights the sacrifices that many mothers make to
raise
healthy children: (Calvin and Hobbes Cartoon)
For those of you with teenagers, you know
this last part is
true: it happened ‘before you know it!’ My little baby girl just turned 8 years old
a few weeks
ago. And my little boy?
He just turned 10 years old on Tuesday:
double digits! Kids grow up. That’s
just
the way it is. But hopefully, kids
don’t only grow up physically; hopefully they grow up emotionally and
spiritually as well. Hopefully, with
God’ grace, they’ll grow up into more than oversized babies who always
demand
their own way! This morning we are talking about growing up
spiritually… growing
up into the people that God has created us to be. More
specifically, we are talking about
growing up into people who help others know Jesus and grow in Jesus. This morning, we are finishing our
four week series in
Ephesians 2:10. We read: For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them
(Ephesians God created us. We
are
his workmanship… his masterpiece.
And he created us for a purpose: to do good works. This morning, I would like to sum up the
‘good works’ in this way: helping others know Jesus and grow in Jesus. The last part of Ephesians 2:10
reads: Which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them. God created us to do good works. He prepared them beforehand.
We just need to walk in them. Notice the key word here: ‘should’ We don’t have to. God
isn’t
forcing us to. We have a
choice. How do we grow up into the people that God
has created us to
be? By making a choice to walk in the
good deeds that God has planned for us.
By choosing, day after day, to help others know Jesus and
grow in him. So how do we do this?
God has prepared in advance for us to share His love with
others. How do we walk in it? I would suggest that this process of
becoming the people that
God has called us to be…a people who share our faith… becoming this
kind of
people is similar to the process of learning to walk.
I have divided the learning-to-walk-process
into four
stages. Just as there are four stages of
learning to walk, there are four stages of learning to share our faith: The first stage is this: Want it The ‘want it’ stage.
Have you recently been around a child who doesn’t walk yet? Ever watched a baby watch you walk? I am sure they are just looking at you
thinking, “I want to do that! That
walking thing looks so cool!” Ever met a child that just didn’t want to
walk? Ever met an adult who was perfectly
capable
but just decided not to learn to walk? It never happens!
Why? Because people are
supposed
to walk. Babies are born into a world of
walking people… so they just learn to walk.
They want the freedom and mobility that comes from
learning to walk. It is the same with sharing our faith. We must go through the ‘want it’ stage. Christians are just made to share their
faith. That is what God created us to
do. Question: do we
want
it? Do we want to share our faith? Do we want to help others know Jesus and grow
in Him? Recently I have been reading in Matthew, and
one thing that
stood out to me a few days ago was Matthew 7:7.
It reads: Keep on asking, and
you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find.
Keep on
knocking, and the door will be opened. God has been challenging me recently with
the question:
Steve, what are you all about? Steve,
are you all about making disciples? Are
you all about reaching students with the gospel? And through this verse, God is asking me:
how much do you
want it? Do you want to reach students
enough that you are going to keep coming to me asking for it? I want to live and breathe “making disciples
of all students
in And wanting it is the first step. We can be assured of one thing: if we don’t
want it, it
won’t happen. And if we do want it, we will do something
about it. And that brings us to the second stage of
‘learning to
walk”: Attempt it It has been awhile since I learned to walk. It has been awhile since my own children
learned to walk. But I still remember
enough to know that most kids don’t just wake up one day and say,
“today I am
going to walk,” and then walk perfectly right away. The attempt stage is a process, whether it
is hours, days or
weeks… it is most certainly a process. Learning
to walk is not easy and it does not
just happen. The attempt stage is
characterized by lots of stumbling and falling.
It takes time and practice to
get
those legs coordinated and the muscles built up. It is the same with sharing our faith. It is the same with making disciples. It doesn’t just all of a sudden happen. We need to go through the ‘attempt’ stage. Unfortunately, I think many Christians get
stuck and never
get past the ‘attempt it’ stage because it is so uncomfortable. And there is no getting around it! Sharing our faith with our relatives, friends
and neighbors (and even strangers) is not and easy thing to do. We are not used to doing it.
Our culture does not encourage it. It
is just not ‘normal.’ So how do we break through and make it
‘normal’ to talk
about Jesus? The simple answer is this: just do it. Attempt it. A couple of years ago, if you had asked me
if I had a desire
to reach college students with the gospel, I would have said, “Sure! But I don’t know how.” A couple of years ago, if you had asked me
if I had a desire
to disciple high school and middle school students and train them and
equip
them to reach their campuses for Christ, I would have said, “Sure! But I don’t know how.” A couple of years ago, if you had asked our
own students
here at Creekside if they wanted to reach their campuses for Christ,
they
probably would have said, “Sure!
But I
don’t know how.” Well… I can tell you that today, though I
have quite a lot
of growing to do in this area, I am grateful to God that he is using me
to play
a small part in reaching the campuses here in And a number of our own students would say
the same
thing! “God is using me to reach my
campus for Christ!” So how did this come to happen?
Simply this: we started attempting to do it. We have been focusing on using a few
evangelism tools with
the purpose of discovering the spiritual interest of others. I remember the first time I went out to do
evangelism, doing
FARM surveys at But after going out a few times… and meeting
a few students
who were interested in knowing more about Jesus… I started to realize
how easy
it is! And how fun! And that brings us to the next WALK
stage: Like it After attempting to share your faith… after getting used to asking people spiritual
questions, it actually becomes quite enjoyable.
You gain confidence in yourself.
You gain confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit. You realize that you aren’t going to
die. That most people won’t hate
you. That many people actually enjoy
being cared about that much that you’d ask about something so deep. Pretty soon, you have some God stories…
experiences of God
using you to draw other people closer to him! You realize that this is indeed what life is
all about… the
abundant life is all about sharing your faith and helping others know
Jesus and
grow in Him. A few weeks ago I was at Now being a part of something like that…
isn’t that what
Life is all about? And that is what many of our students
(College students,
high school students, and middle school students) are experiencing
these
days. They are sharing their faith with
their friends at school and seeing God work. They are meeting with other students to
disciple them… to
help them grow in Christ. Our students
are training other students on campus how to share their faith! I heard something so cool this past week. I won’t name names, but there are some
teenage girls here in our own church who now have a reputation at And that is exactly what the last stage of
‘walking’ is all
about: this stage is called: Know it Webster defines the word ‘know’:
understanding and skill
gained by experience. First, you just want to share your faith. Then, you attempt it. Then, you start to really like it. Then, you KNOW it. It
just
becomes who you are. You may still go out purposely to share your
faith. But you don’t compartmentalize your
life that
way… you are just always thinking about sharing your faith. It is who you are. It
defines you. You know it. You
understand
how to do it. You have
experienced God using you to bring others closer to him.
And you would rather do nothing else. Logan and I were talking with a One of our own high school students said to
me this past
week after a discipleship meeting during which we talked about reaching
the
campus with the gospel… “Wow, I have a new purpose for going to school,
now! I get it! It
is not about school. It is about sharing
my faith!” Wow… isn’t that amazing awesome! Most of us in this room are not high
schoolers. Most of us in this room are not
college
students. Most of us in this room are
not youth pastors who have all day every day to spend doing evangelism
and
discipleship. But each of us in this room does have the
same calling to go
make disciples. And each of us in this room has the same
four stages to go
through in our WALK. Where are you? Are you in the “Want It” stage?
Do you want to be used by God to disciple
others? How much do you want it? Are you praying for it? Are
you asking? Seeking?
And knocking? Are you in the “Attempt It” stage? Are you just doing it? Are
you going out of your way to ask
spiritual questions of the people in your life?
Are you stepping out in faith and getting out of your
comfort zone so
that God can work in you and through you in new ways? Are you in the “Like It” stage?
Have you experienced the abundant life and
you are just hungering for more? Or are you in the “Know It” stage? It is just who you are more and more every
day? Whichever stage you are in, remember… It is a process.
Learning to WALK is a process.
Each of us has to go through each of these stages at some
point. The only exception is this: if you are going
to spend you
whole life doing the crawl. Sharing our faith… that
is
what God made us for. That is just
what his masterpieces do. That is what
he created us in Christ to do. That is
the life that he has prepared for us. For
we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians Yes, let us walk in them. Let us WALK. Let’s pray: Lord, Jesus.
Thank you for creating us for the joy of
helping others know you. Thank you for
calling us to WALK. Help us, Jesus, to
take the next step. Help us to continue
to grow in making disciples. Keep
working here, at Creekside; keep working in us, making us the people
you want
us to be. Keep making us into
disciplemakers. In Jesus’ name we pray,
amen. |