Treasures on Earth: Family, Church, Unbelievers, and Work, Part 4

This Sermon continues a series on the four priorities for how a Christian spends the majority of their time: Family, Church, unbelievers, and Work.

Transcript: 

Transcript:

All right. Well, what a wonderful morning we've already had. And now we get to hear from the very word of God, through the scriptures, through Christ's church, into the hearts that he's given us of flesh, instead of the hearts of stone that we were born with. What a miracle he's accomplished in the lives of those who have repented and believed in him. And we praise him for that, as that song said.

Well, welcome back to our series on family, church, and work, where we're ultimately discussing the priorities of the Christian life. In other words, how should Christians be spending their time? And if you remember last week, I added unbelievers to that list. So the priorities of the Christian life are family, church, unbelievers, and work.

Now, one of the ways we've came to that conclusion is because the Bible makes it clear that our priority should be making disciples. Making disciples, that's the priority of the Christian life. And so, we desire to make disciples in our family, at our church, and of unbelievers. This is how we store up for ourselves, primarily how we store up for ourselves, treasures in heaven instead of treasures on earth.

And with this mindset, work becomes the way we fund and support the work of making disciples. So work, in a way, is a means to an end. But sadly, because of the fall, the means, work, what we do for a living, usually takes us away from making disciples.

But despite this difficulty, we recognize that making disciples was the priority of Jesus and the disciples, and we're commanded to imitate them. Paul said, "Be imitators of me just as I also am of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1. And Paul spent his entire life making disciples.

So making disciples, as I said, is the priority of Jesus, the apostles, and the early church. And if you would listen to how Luke describes the early church, he says, "And every day, every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ." Acts 5:42. Every day, Luke says, "The early church was about making disciples." Listen to Acts 14:21. It says, "And after they, the disciples, had proclaimed the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying, 'Through many afflictions, we must enter the kingdom of God.'" So, the early church was about making disciples. And now if you would listen to how Paul describes his ministry. He says, "And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." 2 Timothy 2:2. That's discipleship. That's actually disciples making disciples is what Paul is promoting there. And Colossians 1:28, which is a text that describes not only Paul's ministry, but the mission of the church universal, and in turn, the mission of every church. The verse we have on our bulletins, it says, Paul says, "Him we proclaim, Christ we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ." That's what we have on our bulletin. And it's not by accident, because the front of the bulletin says making disciples. That's what this church is about. So Paul's ministry is about making disciples by proclaiming Christ. And how does Paul carry out this mission? Verse 29, he follows it up by saying, "For this purpose, I also labor, striving according to his working which he works in me in power."

Paul is laboring and striving to make disciples. This was the purpose of Paul's life. And so we have the early church and we have Paul focused on making disciples. But where did they learn this? Where did they learn these priorities?

Listen to one of the first things Jesus tells his disciples. Jesus says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Jesus sets the tone right from the beginning. This is what we're about. This is what we're going to be doing. I'm a fisher of men and I'm going to be training you to become fishers of men. Matthew 4:19.

Jesus says, "I'm going to teach you how to make disciples." And then proceeds to spend three years with those men, day in and day out, discipling them to make disciples. See, after purchasing salvation for sinners, Jesus's ministry is defined by making disciples. Listen to John 8:31. Jesus says, "If you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 15:8, "My father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."

So Jesus's life is all about making disciples. And then he dies, rises from the dead, and guess what? He's still about making disciples after he rises from the dead. Matthew 28:19, a verse we're all familiar with, says, "Go therefore," Jesus tells his disciples after the resurrection, "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 keep all that I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

So sometime during the 40 days after he was resurrected, Jesus reminds the disciples about what their life is to be about. But he doesn't stop there. At the end of those 40 days, just prior to the ascension, Jesus says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8.

So Jesus goes up into heaven, ascends into heaven, commanding the disciples to make disciples. And this is because Jesus's life was about making disciples. And he expects our life to be about making disciples. But in order for us to make disciples, we must first be disciples of Christ, which means we must first be saved and following Christ. Jesus said, "Whoever wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and pick up his cross," means die to yourself, "and follow me." Matthew 16:24.

And we follow Christ primarily by beholding Christ. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." How do we do that? How do we run the race that is set before us? Verse two, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." So the author of Hebrews tells us that we run the race of this Christian life by fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. This is beholding Christ. This is what it is to behold Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit." And so Paul tells us that when we behold the glory of the Lord, when we behold Christ, we're transformed into the same image. In other words, we become like Christ when we behold Christ. We've said many times, you become what you behold. You behold nonsense, you behold garbage, you become nonsense, you become garbage. You behold Christ, you become like Christ.

And so ultimately, you become disciples of Christ by beholding Christ. And beholding Christ requires a significant sacrifice. A significant sacrifice. This is why Jesus said, "You must deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow me."

And the sacrifice of beholding Christ comes through the means of grace, something we've talked about many times here. See, we behold Christ by partaking of the means of grace, which are scripture, prayer, fellowship, obedience, and providence.

And some of you, there's many here who are new in the faith and have just been born again and are learning some things, but many of you are quickly finding out the sacrifice required to faithfully partake of the means of grace. Some of you are finding out what it costs to faithfully follow Christ. You're quickly finding out what Jesus meant when he said, "You need to pick up your cross and follow me."

Many of you are finding out how much sacrifice is required just to read your Bible every day. That's scripture. How much sacrifice is required to stay awake long enough to pray? That's prayer. And the two of them together make up personal worship and family worship, by the way, which we're going to talk about.

Some of you are beginning to understand how much sacrifice is required to be faithful to your church commitment. That's the church. You're realizing the sacrifice required to be obedient to what Jesus calls you to in his word. That's obedience. And finally, how hard it is to respond in a godly way to God's providence, which are the God-ordained circumstances of our life, the things that happen to us every day. It's a sacrifice. It's hard to respond to those things when they're difficult, when they're trials and tribulations, when there's when they're painful. It's hard. There's a sacrifice required to respond to those things in a godly way.

And so ultimately, it requires a significant sacrifice to partake of the means of grace, which means that the cost to behold Christ is high, which means it requires a significant sacrifice to become more like Christ. See, ultimately what Jesus says is that you're going to have to give up your life for him and for others. Listen to Jesus in Matthew 16:25, the following verse. He says, "For whoever wishes to save his life, his sinful, selfish life, whoever wishes to save that life will lose it forever in hell," is what he means. "But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

And again, John 12:25, he says, "He who loves his life, he who loves his life more than he loves me, loses it. And he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal." He who hates his life in comparison to how much we love Christ.

Ultimately, Jesus says you're going to have to give up your life to behold me. And then you're going to have to give up your life to make disciples, which is helping others behold Christ. And I want you to notice that the sacrifice Christ requires has never changed. It's never changed. The same sacrifice he required of his disciples is the same sacrifice he requires of us now.

He has always required everything. That doesn't mean he'll take everything, but he can require everything. Listen to what Peter said in Matthew 19:27. Peter said, "Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us?" Peter said that the disciples had left everything to follow Jesus.

Verse 28. And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel." And so that's his response for the 12 disciples. And to everyone else, he says, "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for my name's sake will receive 100 times as much and will inherit eternal life." He says, goes on to say, "But many who are first will be last and the last first." Many who are first in this world will be last and many who are last in this world will be first.

So there's a sacrifice required, and growing in Christ's likeness doesn't happen overnight. Far from it. It's a lifelong pursuit. And you don't have to reach a certain level to start making disciples. You just have to be saved. Because the very process of making disciples, whether it's of your wife or your children or the people in this church, proclaiming Christ, both to unbelievers and believers, is what allows you to behold Christ. And it's what makes you more like Christ.

It's a circle. The more you make disciples, the more you behold Christ. And the more you become like Christ. And the more you become like Christ, the more you're going to desire to make disciples. And the more you're going to become like Christ.

And when you don't have a desire to make disciples, it's because you're not beholding Christ. If your desire to make disciples is not growing, it's because you're not growing in Christ likeness. And if you're not growing in Christ likeness, it's because you're not beholding Christ.

And that's what we're talking about in this series. We're talking about making disciples. And we're learning that a life dedicated to making disciples is going to follow the priorities of family, church, unbelievers, and work. This is how we store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. And today, I want to look again at family. I want to look at the family again. Turn to Ephesians 5 with me if you would. Ephesians 5:22.

And if you remember last time, we showed that the family is primary because Ephesians 5 makes marriage primary. Ephesians 5:22. And here we saw that despite the fall causing wives to want to rule over their husbands, wives are supposed to submit to their husbands in everything. And in addition to biblical submission, we're just going to go over this quickly. A wife also is to bear children, love her husband, Ephesians 5:22, love her children, keep house, and be a worker at home. 1 Timothy 5:14, Titus 2:4-5.

The husband, on the other hand, verse 25, is to love his wife just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. And he does this so that he can present her, present his wife to Christ, holy and blameless on that last day. Then in verse 31, Paul begins to show the primacy of marriage from Genesis 2:24. Paul shows that not only was marriage the first relationship established by God, but one that's so primary that it requires both the husband and the wife to leave their biological families to form a new family.

And taken together, we learn that marriage, and in turn family, is the primary discipleship relationship. And then in the next verse, Ephesians 6:1, Paul keeps the focus on the family by explaining that a child's primary relationship is their parents, and by default their siblings as well. If you're living in and at home with your parents or with your siblings, they are your primary relationship. And parents have a responsibility to facilitate this priority, this priority of these children and their parents, by keeping their children's lives centered on their family, on their home, on their church for as long as possible.

And then verse four talks about how fathers, or parents is a better way to think about it, in addition to the responsibilities of marriage and parenting, which are already significant, parents are to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. And that word discipline carries the idea of providing guidance for responsible living. Providing guidance for responsible living. And the instruction involves correction, which is counsel about avoiding irresponsible living. So discipline is the idea of guidance for responsible living. Instruction is counsel about avoiding irresponsible living.

But then we wondered, what does it look like to bring our kids up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord? And that led us to Deuteronomy 6. If you would turn there with me again, Deuteronomy 6:1. And Moses starts out by saying, "Now, this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments, which Yahweh your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do it in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged." Deuteronomy 6:1 and 2. And we learned last time that fathers, and that Moses expected the fathers to teach their children how to fear Yahweh and keep his commandments. That's discipleship. Moses expected discipleship from the fathers. And Moses also expected children to teach their children, which is multigenerational discipleship, which is best accomplished again by families staying in the same church for as long as possible, for generations.

And what exactly does Moses want passed down? Verse four, he says, "Hear, O Israel. Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart." He wants the sons and the grandsons to know that Yahweh is one and that they should love Yahweh their God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their might. And as I said, that's a very broad and complex topic that affects every area of a person's life. That's something that's both caught and taught. Caught by living life on life and taught by teaching and preaching.

And it's not something that's caught and taught well when fathers are passive workaholics, when mothers are working and kids are spending much of their lives outside of their home. In other words, it's not caught and taught very well on nights and weekends. And Moses knows this. Moses knew this 3,000 years ago. This is why he says in verse 7, "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." And here Moses tells us the how, the where, and the when of discipling our children. And keep in mind, this is the responsibility of the father. Now fathers obviously can delegate some of this, and they should delegate some of this to their wife, but ultimately God will hold the father accountable.

So let's start with the how. How does Moses say fathers should disciple their children? He says you shall teach them diligently. And we've seen that that means to recite again and again, to teach it over and over and over again. A very time-consuming and many times exhausting process. A process that's made much easier by a home having a homeschooling wife. It's also made easier by a father who leads his family by having a time, place, and plan for personal worship, family worship, and parent-led discipleship. All of which we're going to talk about today. Because personal worship for a father is an example to his family, while family worship and parent-led discipleship is the expectation for his family.

So Moses has commanded fathers to teach their children diligently. That's the how of discipleship. We looked at that last time, and there's much more that was said last time if you want to look at our previous sermon. But now we want to look at where fathers are to teach their children. Where fathers are to teach their children. Let's look again at Deuteronomy 6:7. He says, "You shall teach them diligently," that's the how, "to your sons, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way." Stop there. So, where does Moses say fathers are supposed to teach their children? He says, "When you sit in the house and when you walk by the way." And that's Moses's way of saying inside and outside of your home. In other words, everywhere. Moses is saying you should be teaching your kids everywhere.

And again, what are they supposed to be teaching them? Deuteronomy 6:5. "You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." The most grand and majestic knowledge on earth. A type of knowledge that no human being can totally grasp in this life. And that's why Moses says fathers are to teach them diligently, over and over again, inside and outside the home, everywhere. This is what's supposed to be on our mind no matter where we are. This is why the mind of a saved person is constantly on eternity, on eternal things.

So let's look at this idea of teaching our kids inside and outside the home. What I call home-based discipleship and world-based discipleship. Let's start with inside our home. Home-based discipleship. First, Moses says we're to teach them when we sit in our house. This is home-based discipleship. And it takes two forms. The first is formal training in the form of family worship and parent-led discipleship. And the second is practical life-on-life training. And all of these are on your outline. It'll maybe help you if you follow along on there. It's somewhat systematic.

And as I go through these, just know that I'm offering suggestions here, because at the end of the day, fathers will be held accountable for discipling their children. And because of that, they need to be the ones who develop and implement these things, right? But let's look at the first form of home-based discipleship, which is formal training. Formal training.

And as I said, this can be further broken down into family worship and parent-led discipleship. Now, family worship should be led by the father and take place every day but Sunday. Sunday the father or the family gets to learn by experience with the rest of the congregation. And family worship should be at least 15 minutes long, but the more you do it, the longer it'll last. It's just the way it goes. At first, it'll be hard. At first, it'll be cumbersome, but the more you do it, the more you're going to love it, and the more your kids are going to love it, and they're going to have questions, and it's going to become this super sweet time around your dinner table or kitchen table or breakfast table.

And it can include hymns, scripture reading, memorization, prayer, really any spiritual activities the father thinks is best. And if life allows, personal worship, family worship, and parent-led discipleship are best done in the morning, back to back to back. But more important than the specific time is that the father has a time, a set time, place, and plan. And many times because of work, doing these things in the morning isn't possible. But again, it's something we can pray for. It's something that we can ask the Lord for.

And these things should be the expectation of the home. If people are asking, "Are we doing family worship today?" there's a problem. In the same way, if people in your home are saying, "Are we going to church this Sunday?" there's an even bigger problem. Okay? These things are expectations. And so, that's what family worship looks like. And there's a lot more that could be said one-on-one, but those are the basics. But in addition to family worship, I'd also like to encourage a time of parent-led discipleship.

Now, if you're struggling with personal worship or family worship, parent-led discipleship is something to put off until those things are consistent. But parent-led discipleship is a more systematic teaching time developed by the father, but able to be led by either the father or the mother. And again, this is every day except for Sunday. Fathers can split the days with their wives if they'd like. That's what Tara and I do. She takes three, I take three. It's a sweet thing to see what your children are learning that way.

And just like family worship, it should be at least 15 minutes. But again, that just, it just grows. And fathers can and should get help from their pastors with these things, especially at this church where we're committed to training parents how to train their children. Let me say that again. We're committed as a church to training parents how to train their children.

And so, just to be clear, personal worship and family worship are non-negotiable, should be non-negotiable. And only after that should parent discipleship become a priority. And this is how you and your wife and your kids learn the statutes and commandments inside your home. This is the formal aspect of home-based discipleship.

But then we all need, your kids need, your wife needs to apply those statutes and commandments. They need discipline and instruction as Ephesians said, which again is providing guidance for responsible living and correction for irresponsible living. This is life-on-life training. And this really comes by living life on life with one another. And the more time you spend with one another, the more opportunity you have to help your kids apply the statutes and commandments, the more time you have to help them apply God's word. And there's no better place to apply God's word than in the home. This is where the mask comes off. This is where everyone can be themselves. This is where the harsh tones and the loud voices come out. Voices and tones we would never use anywhere else. This is where everyone's sin is on full display, is in the home.

And that's why there's no better place than the home for correction and conversation and discipline. There's no better place for shepherding a child's heart than in the home. There's no better place to ask for forgiveness. All of these things are a sweet tapestry that God has prepared for the home. And now the entire world wants to get you out of your home. Just know that. Anywhere but in your home. School, work, sports, movies, whatever it takes. Bike rides around the neighborhood. Anything but in your home. The world says, because the devil knows what the home is for. It's for making disciples.

But it's not, it's not just the place that kids learn these things, but it's also the place where parents are sanctified through these things. See, the home is the ultimate place of testing for parents and for husbands and wives. The ultimate place of sanctification both in their marriage and with their children. And this is why parents many times prefer to be anywhere but at home. This is one of the main reasons that mothers work outside the home. This is one of the main reasons parents send their kids to school, because making your home the focus of your family is hard work. Really hard work. It requires sacrifice. It requires intentionality. It's going to require many countercultural decisions to make your family centered on your home.

See, many families see the home as boring. The excitement is somewhere else. But that's only because the kids have been raised poorly and the parents aren't about making disciples. If they were about making disciples, they'd quickly realize that the home is the perfect place for making disciples. But making disciples is hard. This is what Jesus said. Jesus said, "It's hard. You have to pick up your cross and follow me." And so many Christians make all kinds of decisions that focus their family outside their home, whether it's work or school or sports or recreation or entertainment or hobbies. But for those of us who are about making disciples, the home truly is where the heart is. We can't wait to be home. We love being home.

Even though our flesh sometimes craves something more exciting, we remind ourselves that nothing is more exciting than making disciples, than seeing our wives grow in Christ and our children grow in Christ. And all of this home-based discipleship, the formal training in the form of family worship and discipleship and the practical life-on-life training, all of it can happen anytime parents and children are in the home together, which if the priority is making disciples, it again seems to argue for fathers working less, mothers being workers at home, and kids being taught at home.

So, according to Moses, we're to be teaching our children everywhere. And we just looked at home-based discipleship, what discipleship looks like inside the home. And we saw that this breaks down into the formal training of family worship and parent-led discipleship and also life-on-life training for responsible living. So that's home-based discipleship. But Moses also says you should do it when you walk by the way. When you walk by the way. And that just means when you're not at home or what I call world-based discipleship.

And this is teaching out in the wild. I mean, your kids are watching you navigate this sinful world. How do you respond to certain situations? You're pointing things out to them. You're using real life teaching examples. This is what Jesus was an expert of. Wherever Jesus was, he's pointing this and he's pointing that. He's teaching based on those things. They're asking you questions. It's a wonderful thing, brothers and sisters, to be with your children in this world. And this is why I rarely go anywhere alone. I love having my kids with me. As many as I can talk into going with me, I want them with me. Sadly though, Legos have become my main competition. I can't even imagine what it'd be like if they had phones and video games and TV.

But I love having them with me. Long trips, short trips, older ones, younger ones. I love having them with me. I love their questions. I love pointing things out to them. I love trying to relate things to the Bible for them. I love to hear what they're thinking about. I want to see, they want to, I want them to see how I handle life. Sometimes I do better than others, of course.

And this can be hard for fathers because of work. Which is why I'm arguing if possible for fathers to work less, retire early, have someone else run your business. That's really actually the biggest sign of a true businessman, a true leader, is that somebody else can do, you train somebody else to do what you're doing. I think about Voddie Baucham who died a couple years ago, faithful brother, pastor. He talked all about this topic. I think his 13-year-old son was his personal assistant at like 13 years old. Would go everywhere with him. He would talk about how, you know, early on you focus on the academics and the basics of learning those things. But he said somewhere, I forget what he said, 12, 13 years old, it's world-based after that.

But while world-based discipleship may be limited for fathers, and it many times is, it's just life. A homeschooling mother has endless opportunities. Walks, grocery shopping, entrepreneurial opportunities, selling oranges, a lemonade stand, errands, playdates, field trips, serving the church, evangelism. All these things can be done if you're homeschooling. And I'm convinced that our kids will learn more from us navigating this world than they ever will in a classroom.

And of course there is a place for mom and dad to engage their kids in academics. Kids need to know the basics. But the importance of academics as they get older and older is greatly exaggerated. And one of the reasons it's exaggerated is because higher education is a trillion dollar industry, and it needs you and your kids to be totally sold on this idea that your kids need a college education.

But how effective are academics when it comes to making disciples? I mean, if people are honest, academics are really about getting a job. That's what it's about. But the reality is there are endless ways to make money, lots of money if that's your thing, that don't involve academics. And I know that there's a world of statistics that talk about that a college education gets you this percentage amount of money, more money than somebody without a college education. I'm aware of all of those statistics. But the question still comes down to, is the goal for our children to make a certain percentage more in their life taking a college education, or is it making disciples? That's the question. What is our goal?

Is it our goal to send our kids away from their family and church for four years so they can make more money on average? Are we willing to sacrifice current faithfulness to making disciples on the altar of higher wages for our kids? And what are those jobs going to require of those kids? How conducive are those jobs to making disciples of our grandkids? Alternately, I tried to find stats for the average wages of homeschooled kids without a college education. And as far as I can tell, they don't exist. Nobody's interested in that number, apparently. I'm interested. I'm very interested. Very curious what kids are doing when they're not required to spend 16 years in a classroom.

But regardless of what those stats might be, I have a feeling they'd be very interesting. Our goal for our children are not their future earnings, right? Our goal for our children is current discipleship, discipline, and instruction. And this is especially true because according to Matthew 6:19 through 34, which we looked at a few sermons ago, Jesus promises to provide whether they go to college or not. Right? Jesus promises to provide whether they go to college or not.

So why not keep them near their family in church? And so we've looked at the how of discipleship, which is teaching them diligently. If we follow that, we'll be in a better position to follow the where of discipleship by speaking of God's commandments when we sit in our house and when we walk by the way, which I've named home-based discipleship and world-based discipleship. And all of this will help us to be faithful to the overall goal of making disciples, which will require us to set our thoughts on heavenly things, which in turn will allow us to behold Christ and become more like Christ. I'm hoping you're seeing this cycle, what Christ has prepared for us, what Christ desires of us. See, brothers and sisters, Christians have their minds set on things above instead of things on the earth. Colossians 3:2. Christians look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, or earthly, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18. See, we're much more concerned about the things that are eternal.

And there's nothing more eternal than making disciples. My friend, if you're here today and making disciples has never crossed your mind, if you don't spend time being concerned about eternal things, if you don't spend time pondering things that are unseen, if you don't have much concern for the things above, listen to the words of Paul in Philippians 3:18. He says, "Many walk," talking of unbelievers, "of whom I often told you and now tell you even crying as enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their stomach and glory is in their shame, who set their thoughts on earthly things." They set their thoughts on earthly things.

See friend, Paul says that the enemies of the cross of Christ set their thoughts on earthly things. Those whose end is destruction set their thoughts on earthly things. Those whose God is their stomach, or those who allow their fleshly desires to rule their life, set their thoughts on earthly things. Those whose glory is their shame. In other words, those whose glory in their earthly accomplishments, those who glory in their earthly accomplishments, their house, their cars, their wealth, their education, athletic achievements, those accomplishments are actually their shame because they've set their thoughts on earthly things instead of heavenly things, instead of making disciples.

See, those who set their thoughts on earthly things have only destruction to look forward to according to Paul. But the good news today, friend, is that Jesus is commanding you right now to train your thoughts on heavenly things, on eternal things, on things above, on the things of God. Jesus is commanding you to look not at the things which are seen but unseen. To look to Christ who's seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. Hebrews 1:3. To look to Christ who's in heaven eager to forgive your sin. To look to Christ who's the only one who can forgive your sin.

Look to the one who was below, here on earth, seen in a manger born of a virgin. The one who caused the blind to see. The one who was lifted up for all to see only to be crucified and buried. And the one who while seen on earth rose from the dead defeating sin and death for all of eternity. The one who ascended above to the realms of the unseen. Look to Christ who one day when he returns, when he comes back to earth, when he is below, will be more visible than anyone in history. And then you will see. And if you haven't repented and believed, it will be too late.

Friend, even if you've never considered things above, I plead with you to do it right now. Look to Christ who is most lovely, most precious, most forgiving. Think about those songs that we sung about Christ. That's who he is. Look to Christ who died to save sinners. Look to Christ who offers you forgiveness of sin and eternal life with him. Please don't reject such a gracious and loving savior. Don't reject such a merciful and undeserved forgiveness. Because the penalty for rejecting such perfect love is almost unspeakable.

A penalty while hard to talk about, God has made known to us clearly. A penalty that is loving to proclaim but hateful to hide. A penalty that is described as an eternal, conscious, torturous, burning, real place called hell. That's the penalty for rejecting such a gracious and kind savior. That's the penalty for rejecting a free offer of grace and mercy. And friend, it's so loving of God to warn you of that horrible place. A place that is also unseen right now, but will be as vivid as the sun the second you're dead.

Friend, won't you turn to Christ, the only one who can save you from destruction, the only one who can give you a desire to make disciples? And brothers and sisters, we already know this savior, the one who spent his entire ministry making disciples. Let us be those who look to him, who behold him, so that we might make disciples just like he did. Those who believe Proverbs 22:6 when it says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

What a wonderful God we serve, brothers and sisters. Let me pray. Lord, um, how good are you? How kind are you? You are so high and lifted up. And yet you condescend, Lord, to us to give us your word, to tell us the truth, to warn about hell. It's when we, you owe us nothing other than judgment and wrath and punishment, and yet you pour out your mercy and grace upon us every single day whether we're believers or unbelievers. The fact that we're breathing is inexplicable mercy, and we praise you for that, Lord Jesus. We thank you for being such a wonderful savior, so eager to save, so eager to forgive. And I pray, Lord, that for those here who don't know you, Lord, that you would save them. That you would perform the same miracle in their wretched, depraved heart that you performed in my wretched, depraved heart. Please save today, Lord. And for those of us who are recipients of that grace and mercy, that saving grace, I pray, Lord, that you would show us the path. Show us how to get from where we are now to where we need to be when it comes to making disciples. I pray that that would be the desire of our life. That we would see that by multiplying ourselves, Lord, you are glorified exponentially, more than we could ever ask or think, more than we could ever do on our own. Let us be about multiplying what you've done in us for your glory. Amen.