Creekside Church Sermon of October 12, 2003 "Discipleship, Not Membership" Matthew 4:18-22	Rev. David Bibbee
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It is Friday evening at the Schofield home. The Mr. and Mrs. are relaxing watching television when the back door open. "Mom, Dad-- don't worry. Its just me." Evan Schofield is a senior pre-med major at a private college two hours from home. "This is a surprise. What are you doing home?" his mother asks. "Well, you're my parents and I'm your son and I've lived here most of my life." "Of course. Its just that you usually don't come home unannounced." "Are you on a long weekend break?" "No." "Are you here to do your laundry? Did you come for some home cooking?" "No," Evan replies.

"There's nothing wrong with you, is there?" his mother asks. "You look like you've lost weight," "I'm fine," Evan answers. "You are sick. I should have insisted that you go to the doctor while you were home at Christmas." "Mom.... I'm not sick. Nothing is wrong." "So why are you home?" his father chimes in. "Is there a problem at school? You're keeping your grades up, aren't you? You'll be starting medical school soon and...." "Chill out, Dad, my grades are fine."

His mother says, "You didn't come all the way home just to say, 'Hello.'" Evan replies, "You're right. There is something I want to tell you." "Is it about this 'Linda' person you've been seeing? Great God in heaven, Bernie-- he's getting married! Please-- say you aren't getting married. She's not right for you!" "I'm not getting married, Mom."

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I've decided to change course." "You can't change you major, now! You only have a semester until graduation! Don't tell us you're changing your major to art history." "Its nothing like that." I've decided to quit college," Evan says. "QUIT? We thought you loved college." "I do, but my priorities are shifting. A recruiter was on campus last week. He was talking with a group of us outside the Arts and Letters building. He asked me and some other students to go with him. He said it would be big adventure. He said we would change the world. He really impressed me."

"Who is this recruiter?" his father asked. "I only know his first name," Evan said. "That's all he goes by." "Who does he work for?" "I don't know." "What are his credentials? Does the guy have any references?" "I don't know. He didn't hand out any literature or anything." "Where is he from?" "He didn't say, but I'm pretty sure he's not from Indiana." "Suppose you decide to go to work with him," his father says. "What exactly are you going to do?" "I don't know." "Where are you going to do whatever it is you're going to do?" Evan replied, "I don't know that, either, but he said my pre-med work would be an asset. Look, Mom and Dad-- I know this sounds very impulsive, but I've never met anyone like this man before. He's got insight into everything. He got me to thinking about what's really important. He said if I go with him I'll learn what life is all about. He said he'll help me find my true calling. We will leave first thing Monday morning."

Mom and Dad look to each other and Evans father says, "Son, your mother and I want to get this straight. We've paid over a hundred thousand dollars for you to be a doctor and carry on the medical practice that's been in our family three generations. You are five months from graduating, you have been accepted at medical school, and you're going to quit to follow someone you don't know to where you don't know to do what you don't know because of a man who you say, 'moves you.' Is this right?" "That's right," Evan said.

"Well, son, this is YOUR choice. You're old enough to decide for yourself. Your mother and I have just one question." "Sure, what is it?" "Evan Schofield..... HAVE YOU LOST EVER-LOVING MIND!!!!!!???"

Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee. Two brothers, Simon and Andrew were fishing. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make different fishermen out of you." And they left their nets and followed him. A little later he saw two more fishermen, James and John. He gave them the same invitation, and they dropped everything to follow him. Walking down the street Jesus stopped in front of an office. The sign said, "Levi's Tax Service." He found Levi up to his eyeballs in IRS form 1040's and he said to him, "Levi, follow me." And Levi put a "CLOSED" sign on the door and never looked back.

Do you suppose the families of these men who left everything to follow this "goodness knows who Jesus" to goodness knows where said, "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MINDS!!!???" We tell ourselves that Matthew omitted material. We want to believe that a decision like this wouldn't be answered so impulsively. It would have taken careful thought and consultation.

It is the little choices which take our time. Do we vacation in the mountains or at the beach this summer? Are we going to eat Italian or Chinese tonight? Should we install beige or mauve carpeting in the sanctuary? It can take forever to make the little decisions. Its ultimate choices that are made in the blink of an eye. "Yes, I'll marry you. Yes, I'll give one of my kidneys so my friend can live. Yes, I'll let go of my career aspirations to help raise our family."

The choices that impact our lives most are those that take relatively little time. Jesus says, "Follow me," and we leave our nets, or the stack of tax forms; we quit college, we head in one direction and abruptly change course, we leave what we thought we always wanted and find ourselves in a place where God wants us.

Today I will lay the foundation for a sermon series called, "Marked for Life-- Equipped for Change: Growing the Church Through the Power of Holy Habits." I will begin by drawing a distinction between two expressions of faith-- discipleship and membership. I am not just playing with words. The difference between the two is the difference between what Jesus calls the church to be and the church as it is and has been. It is the difference between churches that are vital and growing, and churches that are cobweb cluttered religious museums. The difference between a discipleship and membership church is the difference between being outward oriented, focused upon a desired present and a preferred future, and being inwardly focused, holding on and reminiscing about the good old days.

In seven Sundays we will revisit the Christian essentials-- prayer, worship, Bible study, serving, cultivating supportive relationships, and learning the joy of giving…practices without which Christians aren't Christians and the church is not the church. My prayer is that you will help me put church membership on the shelf so we can practice intentional living in Jesus love and demonstrating it to others which is what disciples do.

Jesus never invited anyone to be a "member" of anything. He did not tell the disciples to go into the world and make "members" of all nations. He did not tell Simon, Andrew, or Levi, "Follow me and I'll make you members of a neat organization I'm starting." Lots of us are members of various organizations, some related to our professions and others related to our interests. But what does membership mean? To be a member in good standing means fulfilling the requirements of the group charter. It means attending meetings. It means paying dues and expecting certain services in return-- the rewards of belonging.

At first, organizations focus upon the services it provides. But as more people join, the focus gradually shifts from the service being rendered to caring for the members and maintaining the organization. More attention goes to balancing the books, paying the bills, fixing the leaking roof, and carpeting the meeting house. Energies go into holding on to members, meeting their needs, and making them happy, rather than upon those the organization was established to serve.

Apply this to the church and you see the problem. If our goal is keeping the church stable, filling leadership positions, finding Sunday school teachers, meeting the budget, keeping programs going and keeping conflict to a minimum, the focus isn't on ministry, its on maintenance. An invisible, impenetrable cocoon forms around the church. The Holy Spirit has a hard time cracking the casing. Decisions about ministry become based upon what the pastor wants, or what powerful individuals want, or upon what a vocal minority "doesn't want." No one asks, "What does Jesus want us to do?" We forget the last words Jesus said to his disciples: "Go and make disciples near and far; mark them by baptism; instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you.

About twelve years ago at Annual Conference the denomination discussed and debated membership classifications. At the time there were two categories of members: active and inactive. It was then changed to active and "separated members." If I remember correctly, to be classified active, one had to be present at least three Sundays per year and make a financial contribution. Back in local congregations people didn't like the term "separated." They were offended to learn that they or a family member who hadn't been in church for years was put on the separated list. Some said, "If we do this it will cause hurt feelings."

As I listened to these conversations I thought about the minimal requirements for membership. Show up twice a year, throw some money in the plate and you're active. Its a good thing Jesus didn't show while we were splitting hairs about church membership. He would have bust a gut. It is not about membership. ITS ABOUT MISSION!

We have received the invitation to rediscover what life-giving faith in Jesus is all about. Jesus didn't beg people to follow him. "Won't you follow me, pretty please?" He didn't threaten people. "Follow me, or else!" He didn't bargain with people. "Look at all the great things that will be yours if you follow me." Jesus didn't tell people, "Believe this list of ten things about me and then you can follow."/ He didn't ask people to sign on to rules, beliefs, or theological propositions. To fishermen and tax collectors, to the privileged and poor Jesus offered a simple, compelling invitation, "Follow me."

The first followers of Jesus were not called Christians. They were known as "followers of the Way." The disciple doesn't answer with her head or heart alone. SHE ANSWERS WITH HER FEET. She gets up and starts walking. Discipleship is playing follow the leader. A disciple says, "I know and believe the love Jesus has for me. I want to go where he leads. I may be hesitant. I may be scared. There will be times I will resist him, but for his sake and mine, I'm willing to go. I want to think like him. I want to act like him. I want to love like him. I want him to take up residence within me. And I want others to come to know this life I am learning."

Discipleship is learning to be like Jesus in everyday life. Its simple to say, I know. Heaven help us. Much of the time we are not very good at it. Just ask those who have earnestly tried doing it for years.

Bob Dylan wrote a song that has the refrain, "YOU'VE GOT TO SERVE SOMEBODY." The song says you may be this kind of person, or that kind of person, but regardless of who you are, "You've got to serve somebody." Everybody must serve somebody! Our need to give to our lives to Someone bigger than our desires, bigger than our imaginations, bigger than anything "information age" can give us.

This week while drawing cash out of an ATM machine at the hospital I overheard a conversation between two African-American women. They were talking about the difficulty of raising children to be Christians in today's world. One said, "I've been teaching my kids to tithe. I tell them we need to give to God because everything in the world belongs to him, not us." The other woman talked about the challenge of getting her kids out of bed on Sunday morning for church. They holler, "I don't want to go to church. Why I got to go?" She said she tells them, "Honey, you don't "got to" go to church. You "get to go" to church.

This conversation offers insight into how disciples are made. Jesus is just ahead of us, a little beyond our grasp, daily telling us, "Follow me." We keep up by the habits we form. We follow by praying and worshiping, and studying, and serving.

A Christian is not someone who has arrived. A Christian is a traveler on a journey; a follower of the Way. The church doesn't need more members. Instead of emphasizing membership, let's emphasize the Lordship of Jesus. I like the way Mike Foss puts it:

"Discipleship as a model for ministry raises the bar-- not to the level of perfection, but to the level of passionate followership."

I will draw my thoughts to a close with an insight from Dallas Willard. He asks the question: "We must ask ourselves whether, in all honesty, the information we offer and the life we live is the same as that which entered the world with Jesus and that was able, through his students, to produce the historical church and the Christian form of civilization that grew up around it. If we cannot honesty say it is, then we need to return to our sources in the gospel of Jesus and the kingdom and to discipleship and disciple making as we see it at its best in our past." Next Sunday Ginny Haney will share the first resource which creates disciples, the habit of prayer.

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