Disciple Making is a Spiritual Battle

Bro Koay Kheng Hin

Today I want to continue the theme of making disciples. I have titled my message "the Spiritual Battle of Disciple Making ". The emphasis is that disciple making is a spiritual battle. If you're in the cell, you'll also know disciple making is in the current series.

I want to start with some military history. There was this battle during the second world war where the Nazis were trying to establish their control in Europe and they were being attacked from all fronts. D-day came about when the alliances got together on British soil and landed on Normandy beach.

The army rangers had young recruits and they were singing all the way to Normandy Beach, very gung-ho but they didn't know what they were getting into and there was a blood bath on the beach and they panicked. They were not prepared for what was awaiting them. But along the way with many casualties, they finally took the beach.

Disciple making is a spiritual battle and we need to be prepared. I want to look at Matthew 28 and look at it from this view point.

Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Most of the time when we look at these three verses, we will think of missions and missionaries or evangelism. But if you look at it in verses 19 and 20, it is one full sentence. It's comma and not full stop. It is not go and make disciples. Full stop. Go and baptize them. Full stop. Go and teach them. Full stop. It is punctuated by commas, which means it is one process.

And it comes with this understanding from the Greek that a disciple is someone who learns from the master and it is a life long process. When we say make disciples, he does not differentiate between conversion, baptizing and teaching. Matthew sees it as one whole process.

When the gospel is being shared and we evangelize, it is just the beginning of the discipling process. It is one full process and this tells us that this verse speak not only of evangelistic purposes but a verse that speaks to the whole church.

Discipleship is more than just conversion. Whether you are called to the mission field or not you are involved in disciple making. You may be involved in the cell or worship you are still involved in disciple making. A teacher can talk a lot but some cannot talk but can do. Like Bro Hooi and me, we have gone a long way and I can talk but he can do. He has the heart and he is involved in the discipleship process. The teacher can let the people know how it's done but it's the person with a gift of mercy that actually shows how it's done.

We have our different areas but together we show how discipling is done. It's a lifelong process from the day the person becomes a believer.

In my experience in lay ministry I can say that many have not put their hands to the plough and they say they're not ready but they have been saying this for the last 20 years. Or some will just say they're tired. Or some say they've done it before and it's not a good experience and they will not do it again.

Finally there will be the very encouraging ones who has been in it for many many years and they are still vibrant and at it and you can sense that God is enabling them day to day.

What I'm saying today is for all groups. What are my intentions? For those who has not done it, I'll say 2017 will be the year to serve. For those who's tired, I'll say he will give you the strength. And for those who has stopped doing it I'll say God gives you a fresh new start. And for those who's been doing it, God says well done and I'm with you.

Disciple making had to be grounded into the person of Christ. I want to link Matthew 28 to John 15.

John 15:4-5

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

When we engage ourselves into disciple making we must understand that our work can only bear fruit if we abide in Jesus. It is spiritual work and work at the end of the day, if you look at another verse, Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

This tells us that first and foremost you have to have God working in you before God can work through you. This is where I want to emphasize about work when we put our hands to the plough. Generally they will say Monday to Friday they work for the boss and Saturday and Sunday, they work for God.

When we put our hands to the plough, it is not you working for God but God working through you. Every time you go and share the gospel you are not there to try to convince, persuade or coerce a person. You are there to proclaim the gospel and God will work through you. 

I heard someone said this last year. You owe it to me because I saved you. If you helped someone to come to Jesus and when a year later you need a favour you go back to the person and said you owe it to me because I saved you from hell. Sometimes in our language, we say I saved 10 souls and we don't really think about it.

This is where I bring the point number two that none of us has the power to make someone become a Christian. That role is the role of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts the heart, we share the gospel. You may think there's no difference, you will find there's a big difference. When we think we save the soul, we will fall into the snare of the devil and pride can enter our heart.

But if we share the gospel and see our friends not being saved we take the burden of why the person is not saved when we're to supposed to save them. Or we may end up focusing too much on methodology. I'm not saying methodology is wrong, just it's not the emphasis. I wanted to title my message as the "mystery of disciple making" but I decided to change it to spiritual battle. Disciple making is indeed a mystery.

God has his timing and God will save whomever he wants to save and God has a kairos time for the person.

Paul says he planted and Apollos watered but God is the one that gave the increase. You may be a planter. Or you may be a waterer. And these don't see the harvest and someone else may be harvesting. So the question is, is the harvester to be more rewarded than the planter or waterer? Don't go and count the number of souls you have saved because you can't save any souls. You are to just continue to be faithful in sharing the gospel.

When we talk of fruits, there is the fruit of character or the fruit of the commission. God first works in you, that's the fruit of character and then God works through you, then it's the fruit of commission. And they are both related. If you have the fruit of love in your character, then when you share the gospel, that love will bear fruit in your commission. And that transformation is what God wants to do.

I have been tired. I was once always at church loitering around because I'm free after school. I accepted the Lord in 1993. I went to the cell in 1994. I then put my hands to the plough. In 2001, I told pastor Geoffrey, I have nothing more to give. I feel like I was running on empty. I made a wise decision and I stepped down for one year. I'm not asking you to step down ya. But I told pastor Geoffrey I'll be back, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator.

Your abiding in Christ is your key to your commission. We all in different ways will abide in Christ differently. There's no one way. I've learnt that we are all different and I can only share a little bit of what I do. But it is not a formula. When it comes to the things of God, it is different to each individual.

There is no formula but there is a guideline. What have I been doing the past 17-18 years. I spend a lot of time on the word of God. I have also learnt that theological study is one thing but devotional reading is different. Theological studies may stir or excite your mind but it does not change your heart. The Epistles are good for devotional reading. You just read and you can go over it again and again but in reading the word of God you will find the spirit of God and his presence will use the agent of the word to speak to you. There are things you can personalized but the reading must have constant reflection.

You will find something deeper comes in because it is God speaking to you and at a point you will response. I call it the 3R. Read, reflect and response.

This is one approach and there are other approaches because each individual is different. However you want to work at it, you have to. People have asked before how to have the presence of God? I keep it simple. God wants to draw near to you and if you draw near to him, he'll draw near to you.

Matthew 11:28-30

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

This come across to me as to abide. Not come and go. Just ask yourself, this day are you having the rest in your soul? Think about it. The rest of the soul is our heritage as the children of God. It is a treasure that money cannot buy. And it is a sign that you are abiding in Christ.

If we do not have the rest of the soul, all else that we have in this temporal life will often mean very little. If you have a lot of money but you cannot sleep at 3 o'clock in the morning, you'll wonder if you can exchange your money for that rest. That's why God can give a peace that surpasses all understanding. It is a peace that is only for the children of God.

If someone tells you he wants to give you RM50,000 for your peace, you better think carefully. It is a blessing to just lie down and immediately go to sleep. If you have the RM50,000 and that night you cannot sleep you go back to that person he will not trade with you even for RM100,000 because he can finally sleep.

My third point is that the rest of the soul is in abiding in Christ. I want to use the word communion. It is not found in commission. You may ask wah…serve so much also cannot find rest of the soul. We think when we put our hands to the plough, that work give us meaning or power, you will find if your rest is tied to the commission it will be like a yoyo. Because ministry goes up and down. Your commission will have good and bad times. It's the communion that gives you rest. It's the communion that strengthen you to do the commission.

I seldom go to seminars. So there was one seminar on marriage and I went and picked up a truth. The preacher said, don't as husband and wife and look at your wife to seek to be blessed by your wife and wives, don't look at your husband to be blessed and fulfilled by your husband. I was thinking what is this?

He drew on the overhead projector and he drew that when God bless and fulfill you, you will look at your spouse and look at how you can bless and fulfill the other. There is some truth in this. We have been created by the Lord and we can only be fulfilled by him. We often look at our spouse for something that our spouse cannot give. It is expectations that kills a marriage.

When you abide in Christ and listen and reflect on his words, and when the rest comes upon you, you will have all you need and the commission becomes an outflow of what God has given you. Not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord.

You must remember in the spiritual battle of disciple making, it is always by the Spirit of the Lord. Through abiding in his presence comes the power of your  ministry.

I want to look at two characters. Let's look at two women. Then I will look at two men. Fair la.

Luke 10:38-42

Mary and Martha Worship and Serve

38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Martha was distracted by her work and she probably didn't look to the Lord too. She looked at Jesus and complained about Mary and it looked like a rebuke. Jesus looked at Martha and said she is worried and troubled, much like when you are doing the commission. Your communion must precede your commission. We must understand that God is our Father. Not our slave driver. He is more interested in you than what he can do through you. He knows all things. If a person spend time with him, you'll put your hands to the plough. You get the heart right and you will not have to worry about the hands. A Martha may not be a Mary but a Mary will always be a Martha.

I want to look at two men, David and Saul in the OT. What is the difference between David and Saul?

1 Samuel 13:14

But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

Saul was not a man after God's heart while David is  a man after God's heart. Look at the Psalms. Half of it is written by David. Like Psalms 23. It is actually a poem of communion. It's all about his intimate communion with God. Look at the character of David and Saul. The Bible described that Saul got jealous and angry and at the end of his reign was one of distress. Even David played the harp to calm him down. David was the one with the rest of the soul. David had a chance to kill Saul twice and yet he said he will not touch the Lord's anointed.

David is one who spent time with God. Saul did not see his kingdom as God's Kingdom. Saul had an unfulfilled commission.

We need to see God as our Father and we as his children. This is where the mystery comes in. Many of us are fathers here. When our children do something out there, we do not ask did he do the job, but rather how are you. When my daughter called and said she bang someone's car, I asked are you okay. That is a father's heart. Who cares about the car.

When we involve ourselves in the work of the ministry or disciple making in the name of the Lord Almighty, when God sees you, he sees you first before he sees your ministry.

I read the biography of Hudson Taylor and he had many missionaries under him. He was looking not at their work but whether they are they safe. God first and foremost cares and love you above the work.

However much communion you have with the Lord but you don't put your hands to the plough, you must understand God's agenda is to transform you to be like Christ. If you do not put your hands to the plough, you do not give God the opportunity to transform you.

It is a biblical understanding with psychological support that the more you give, the more your heart becomes generous. The way to grow in kindness is to start with an act of kindness and it forms a seed for God to work on and soon you will live a life of kindness.

God is a genius. He always use one stone to kill two birds. Not like us who needs two stones to kill one bird. When you put your hands to the plough what he does through you fulfill his kingdom purpose, and you will be changed by your commission. That is why if you just pray and do nothing, you will find you cannot be transformed.

I have two testimonies of two person who went through difficult times. I have grown to be a better person by walking with these people. God worked in me through the counseling and I am myself transformed.

The other is when I teach in Bible class. I always say I am most blessed after teaching. Fresh insights come when I teach.

Communion will bring about commission. But finally in all that commission God has given you, God just desires this for you just like what Peter wrote. This was when he already knew he will be martyred. I will leave you with this.

2 Peter 3:18

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.