A Few Good Disciples

It is really a pleasure and an honor to get to speak today. Although you've heard that phrase as a tough act to follow. Boy, they sounded great, didn't they? I love hearing the chorale, especially at the end of the year when they reach their peak. I normally hear them. My office is down the hall, and I hear the music coming down, and it's very pleasant. But this is the first time I sat front and center and had my hair blown back a little bit. And I've got to hear them in other places. I know I was talking to Mr.

Vasquez, their class president, last week after the GCE, where they were a little up on risers and out of sorts. I said, don't worry, next week you're on your home field.

You've got home field advantage, and boy, they definitely took advantage of it. I want to start off today showing you an image you've probably seen before. So one of the most iconic images in American history. Uncle Sam, wearing his red, white, and blue with his star-spangled top hat, pointing right out at the viewer. And although this one doesn't have the words, I get another one where he says, I want you for the U.S.

Army. Of course, studying history, I realized something I didn't know when I was younger. That poster, you know, it's related back to World War I, when the United States was recruiting soldiers to go and help fight for freedom. The American's poster was based on one in Britain, which I didn't get as clear a print. This was the Secretary of State for War in the British Empire at that time, Horatio Kitchener.

So this one was saying, Lord Kitchener wants you to join your country's army. Since that time, you've probably heard that I want you parodied or copied, used in various ways. At least I know I have. I've made fun of it myself at times. But it's a theme of looking. I looked into it. In 1979, the United States Marines began a very memorable recruiting campaign. It featured the slogan that said, we're looking for a few good men.

With that in mind, I found the value of YouTube. If you want to find an old commercial or video, it's probably there. I watched some of their old ads, and one of them, I listened while they showed Marines going through their paces and boot camp and such exercises. A fellow was talking about the Marines, and he said, we're a tough club to join, a tough team to make. The message was that not just anybody could become a Marine, but for those who were able, it would be a very worthwhile accomplishment.

They went on to use the phrase where they would end by saying, the few, the proud, the Marines. Now, I assure you, I'm not here to recruit for the armed services today. But this came to mind as I was thinking about a theme that we see in Scripture. I thought of John 6 and verse 44, where Christ said, no one can come to me unless the Father draws him.

That sort of echoed the idea of, we're a tough team to make. You know, at this time in history, I would say not everyone gets to become a Christian. Once when a young man came to Jesus saying he wanted to follow him, Christ told him, well, foxes have their holes, birds of the air have their nests, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

You know, it wouldn't be easy to follow Christ and be his disciple. Of course, that does not mean that Christ didn't recruit and call out some to follow him. He was seeking the men he wanted. We know he approached Peter and Andrew while they were fishing. He told them, follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. That search for the right person, that search for a few good men, that's actually a very common theme in literature and music. It's funny how things go through your head. I was thinking of some of this, and yesterday afternoon while I was pushing a lawnmower in my backyard, I thought, you know, there have been a lot of songs.

I think a couple decades ago, you two had a song where the chorus said, I still haven't found what I'm looking for. And decades before that, Neil Young was looking for a heart of gold, and we could go on and on. I think it's a theme in God's work as well.

Even God is searching. And as we prepare to send a graduating class of ambassador college students out from us, I want to consider the instances where God's word says he's looking for some special people. And also, how do we respond to that search? We'll start. If you'll join me in the fourth chapter of John, John's Gospel, chapter 4, I'll set up telling you some of what happens before this, before I'm going to read. Jesus and his disciples were traveling north, heading back home to Galilee, and they were passing through Samaritan country.

So at one hot day, probably, about midday, they decide to stop for lunch. Jesus sits down by a well outside of town while his followers go in to buy some food. And there he engages a local woman in conversation, and surprised her quite a bit. He asks her for a drink, and she's, you know, why are you talking to me? I'm a Samaritan, and a woman at that.

But he did ask her, and as they spoke, she perceived that he was a prophet. And so, being a man of God, she asked him a question that maybe had been on her mind for a while. You know, who was right? The Jews who say that in Jerusalem is the place to worship? Or was it her people that said right there at Mount Gerizim was the place?

Christ's answer pointed to something far more important than a physical location. As we see in verse 21, he said, He's seeking such to worship Him. Father seeks. He's looking for people to worship Him. Of course, only God is worthy of worship, and for those who worship Him, He responds with love and blessings. But God seeks people to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Hopefully, He's found people to do that in us. I believe that's why we're here. We could ask the question, how? How do we worship in spirit and in truth? It's inherent in that question and in the answer that the ancient traditions of Israel, the ritual system that God gave them, that's not appropriate for Christians.

Worship of God isn't focused on rituals, and Christ in telling people that quoted Hosea when He told the Philistines that God wants mercy and not sacrifice. We can see from Scripture some of the types of Scriptures that God does want, some of the sacrifices. If you'll please turn to 1 Peter 2 and verse 5. 1 Peter 2 might take you as long to get there as me.

Peter writes to the church, You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Spiritual sacrifices. What might those be? You could jot this down. I won't turn there, but a Scripture I like to quote is in Hosea chapter 14 and verse 2. Hosea 14 and verse 2 says, Take words with you and return to the Lord.

Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, receive us graciously, for we will offer up the sacrifices of our lips. Sacrifices of our lips. Near 2 Peter here, Hebrews 13 verse 5, which I believe one of the fellows introducing the music here today quoted, Hebrews 13 verse 5 does not say what my notes say, it says. Boy, I hate it when that happens. Is it 15? Yes, it's verse 15. Hebrews 13, 15 says, Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise, that is, giving the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Words of praise are a type of spiritual sacrifice. And of course, our ambassador students offered us type of spiritual sacrifice in their praise and music. That's not the only one. We've commonly read in Psalm 51, David's great psalm of repentance. In verse 17 of that psalm he says, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. He says, A broken and a contrite heart God will not despise. Let's consider one more. If you'll turn to Romans 12 and verse 1, is the scripture that I hope many of us have committed to memory. This might be one of the most challenging sacrifices to offer.

Paul wrote, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. This means that we don't die for God. That would be relatively easy. We devote our lives to Him. We live our whole lives by God's direction, by His instruction. We become living sacrifices. We still might ask, how do we do it? What is it that He wants from us? There are a couple places where that question is raised in scripture, one of them in Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12. Deuteronomy 10 verse 12.

That question is, what does God want? Moses, in speaking to the people of Israel before they entered the Promised Land, said, now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? And then he tells them what? To fear the Lord your God. Walk in all His ways.

To love Him. To serve the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul. And to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes, which I command you this day. And he ended with those three key words, for your good. And telling us how to live, it's worth noting that God is commanding us a way that is for our good. It's our benefit, our wonderful blessing to live this way. You could jot it down if you like. Micah chapter 6 and verse 8 summarizes this in a more succinct way, where Micah said, what does the Lord require of you but to do justly?

Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God. That's not so hard to understand, but understanding doesn't make it easy to do. I think that's part of why God is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and in truth. A Christian, one called out of this world by God the Father, spends his whole life striving to do what on the surface seems simple.

Fear God. Walk in His ways. Worship Him in spirit and in truth. It's an uphill struggle, though, partly because we have an enemy. The adversary, Satan the devil. And God's word says he's deceived the whole world. So we live in a society and a culture that sometimes makes it difficult to do justly.

Love mercy and walk humbly with God. Still, we must. God is seeking such to worship Him in that way. And He chose you. He chose me, too. And all these other people sitting around us, so none of us needs to feel too special. But it is very special. God sought us out. And He called us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Now, I want to add to that. We can look and see that there are some instances, sometimes, when God will seek more from us. I want to turn to Ezekiel 22 and read verse 30. So if you'll turn with me, all, this is one I like to commit to memory, but I want to turn and read it, partly so I won't misquote it.

It gives an example of God looking for someone to do a special job. Ezekiel 22 and verse 30 says, He says, We could ponder what exactly was it God meant when He said He's looking for someone to make a wall and stand in the gap. Now, I'm pretty sure Ezekiel is using metaphor, and God inspired him of it. We're not very likely as Christians to ever come along and see a literal hole in a wall in which we have to put our bodies as a service to God. But we're being called to spiritually become part of a building, part of a wall. We already read 1 Peter 2 and verse 5, where I focused on the latter part that mentioned spiritual sacrifices. But earlier in that passage, actually, maybe it was the Scripture before. I'm going to turn there. Sorry. The ABC students are used to me doing this. I'm not going to read it. Yeah, I'll read it. Where he, well, speaking of Christ as the cornerstone.

Yes, in verse 5, we're, yes, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house. We're each part of that spiritual building, the temple of God, not one built with actual stones, but living spiritual stones. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16. I won't turn there. But Paul also referred to Christians as the temple of God, if indeed the Spirit dwells in you. That can apply to each of us individually as a housing for God's presence, His power, His essence. But certainly the Church of God as a whole is that spiritual temple.

Let us not leave gaps in the wall that we form. Let's not ever fail to fulfill our calling. I knew that'd be hard to say. Do not fail to fulfill the calling to stand in the gap. Let's consider an example. If you turn to Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 8. Isaiah 6, 8 is an example where God was looking, asking, who will do this for us?

Isaiah 6, verse 8. And I'll mention earlier in this chapter, it's clear that God gave Isaiah a vision, a rare and special vision of seeing God's throne and what was going on there, it seemed. And in verse 8 he says, also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? Who will go for us?

Who could stand in the gap, in a sense? And Isaiah said, here am I. Send me. It seems that this is describing the time when Isaiah was first called to be a prophet. And he responded to that calling. And he had a great work ahead of him. You can read there's 60 more chapters of his writing. Some of the most beautiful writing in all of the Bible.

It doesn't seem here that he knew exactly how he would serve God when he first made the reply. And that makes it all the more amazing that he said, here I am, send me. Not even knowing necessarily what God had in store for him. But maybe it's not that amazing. How many of us knew really everything that was in store for us? How many of us know what is still ahead in store for us? Maybe some difficult, tough things, but also amazing, fantastic, wonderful things.

I should admit, though, probably all of us would admit that many of us might be a little bit more like some other examples in Scripture when God called. God called Jeremiah when he was pretty young. He said, I formed you in the womb. I know I'm going to make you a prophet. And what did Jeremiah say? I'm just a kid. I can't go preach. And God told him, don't tell me you're a kid. You are going to go. That's the Frank Dunkel revised version. Paraphrased, but that's pretty much it. You know, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and said, I'm going to send you to Pharaoh and you're going to lead my people out. And Moses came up with one excuse after another. They won't believe me. Oh, I'm not a good speaker. Couldn't you please send somebody else? You know, God answered to Moses pretty much like Jeremiah. You're going to go and I'm going to make it possible for you. And that's one of the amazing things about it. He told them, I have a special job for you to do, but you're not going to be alone. God promised to be with them. And it's Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 19. I might be able to get there very quickly because I'm open to Isaiah. Jeremiah 1 and verse 19, God tells Jeremiah, they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. Why? I'm with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.

Yeah, Jeremiah, it's going to be hard. They're going to fight against you, but they won't prevail. I'm with you. Jesus Christ made a similar promise to the apostles. If you'll start turning to Matthew 28, I want to start reading in verse 18. But at the end of the passage, I want to read. Jesus tells his disciples, and I think He tells them a promise that still applies to us today. He says, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. That's significant because that promise, I think, goes to the end of the age, which we haven't quite reached yet. He gave that promise after He gave them what we often call the Great Commission. Remember, He was looking for a few good men that He could make disciples prepare to go out and do what He's going to tell them to do here. In Matthew 28, verse 18, Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, That sounds a lot like, That sounds a lot like, fulfill the commandments of your God for your good. But after He said, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you, He said, Mark 16 summarized it a little more succinctly when He said, That's something we strive to do collectively as a church, and I believe individually as we have opportunity. Preaching the Gospel is a nice, easy way to say it, but we don't want to lose sight of that direction to make disciples. One of the reasons I like to emphasize that is there's a truism that I think we all understand if we think about it, that says, before you can make a disciple, you have to be a disciple. We all are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. We're to learn His teaching. We're to live by His teaching. We're to strive to become like Jesus Christ in every way possible. And as His disciples, when we become like Him, just doing that will be preaching the Gospel, even if we do it without words. I'll read from Matthew, Chapter 5. If you're open to Matthew 28, Chapter 5 is about 23 chapters earlier, I believe. Some people know I'm not good at doing math in my head. Matthew 5, beginning in verse 14, He tells His disciples, He's telling us here today, You are the light of the world. A city that's set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Whenever our good works glorify the Father in heaven, that's standing in the gap. That is worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth.

Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? But it's not. Well, I'll bet all of you are saying, we know it's not easy. Christ told them it wouldn't be easy. A few chapters later, in Matthew 10, verse 16, this is a place where Jesus was sending His disciples out on, some people say, a training mission. They're going out to preach the gospel, gives them a lot of instructions, and then a little bit of a warning, starting in verse 16. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Boy. When I covered this in class, it was quite a while back, so I could have told the ambassador graduates, there's going to come a time in May when we're going to send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. But that's not me. This is Christ's words. Therefore, though, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, but beware of men, they will deliver you to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.

You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. It will be given to you in that hour what you should speak, for it's not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

It's funny that they're going to scourge you, put you before councils, persecute you. No wonder Moses and Jeremiah didn't particularly jump when God first called them. When God was looking for someone to send on a mission, but they did go, and God was with them, just as he told the disciples that through the Holy Spirit, he would be with them. God the Father would be with them and give them the right words to say. Even so, God will be with you through the Holy Spirit. If you need it, I believe he will give you the right words to say. When we answer the call of God to make up the wall and stand in the gap, we can't expect challenges. We should expect difficulties. The call to Christianity is not a call to withdraw. It's not to cease interacting with the world. I'm going to turn over to John 17, beginning reading in verse 15. Of course, you know, Christ gave a lot of instruction to his disciples on the last Passover he spent with them. Then he concluded in a prayer to his father that John recorded. He says something that's very important to us. Jesus said to the Father about his disciples that, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. He might have said, keep them safe from the evil one. I am not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. We're sent into the world. That's the gap we're to stand in. But we're not alone. And we need to not be of the world. As Christ said, in the world but not of the world.

When I think about that, I think that scene that's described in Isaiah chapter 6 is perhaps somewhat continuing throughout time. When God is saying, who am I going to send? Maybe in the modern era we would think, who am I going to call to be in my church? To receive my Holy Spirit and be in this world but not of the world. Who can I make a disciple? Who can I call to worship me in spirit and in truth?

There's another one of my favorite stories in the Bible that shows someone overcoming fear and danger in order to stand in that gap. You're probably all very familiar with the story of Esther. She was a somewhat ordinary, average, young Jewish woman living in the Persian capital. Well, I say ordinary and average, except that she might have been the best-looking woman in the whole city, according to the story. The story goes, I won't read all of this, but the queen upset the emperor so much so that he had her removed from being queen. In time, that set off a search for a new queen, someone to take her place. And Esther, through charm, through her poise, perhaps good looks, but maybe it wasn't that so much. I'd say certainly through God's direction and intervention, Esther became queen, without the emperor even knowing that she was Jewish. And that's key because later, when an evil minister of high rank came up with a scheme to exterminate the Jews and pulled it off, actually convincing the emperor to give him his signet so he could seal the orders, Esther was in a unique position to step in and save the people. I should have asked you to turn to Esther 4. I'm going to turn to Esther 4. I do want to read some of this. Because she was in a unique position, she could talk to the king, and she had a cousin who I always call uncle because he raised her as though she were his own child, Mordecai. She finds out that Mordecai is out there with dust and ashes and looking bad, and she doesn't know the reason because being in the harem, you don't get CNN and your Wi-Fi is not very good. So she doesn't really know what's going on out there, so Mordecai sends her back word and that he needs her to step up. Need you to go to the emperor and try to stop this. But she knows something that apparently Mordecai doesn't. So through a messenger, Esther 4 verse 10, she spoke to Hethak, gave him a command from Mordecai. This is the explanation of Mordecai. All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king who's not been called, he has but one law. Put them all to death. Accept the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter. He may live. Esther says, I myself, I haven't been called to go to the king these 30 days, and they sent word to Mordecai. Basically, she's saying, I can't, if I go in there, he's just going to have me killed. What can I do? Mordecai responds with a message that will move Esther to action. And it's a message that's moved me a number of times, and probably many of you. Starting in verse 10, not, wait a minute, starting in verse 13. Sorry, I didn't turn the page. Mordecai told them to answer Esther, do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place. But you and your father's house will perish. Yet, who knows whether you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Who knows whether this is the reason you're there? You've come to the kingdom for such a time as this? When I was a young man attending Ambassador College, we were told by our instructors to consider, perhaps we had come to Ambassador College for such a time as this. A time when the world is in upset, and it seems that we're careening towards the end of the age. The time when I was a student, it wasn't that time. But we were being prepared, perhaps being blessed with education and with opportunities so that we would be ready for such a time as this. Ready to stand in the gap. I always make a point to share that with Ambassador students today. I think they remember hearing that from me and others. But it's not just for Ambassador College students. No one comes to Jesus Christ except God the Father draws him. And that means you. All of you, including you on the other side of that camera lens. You've been called to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. He was looking for such to worship Him. He's called all of us to be ready to make disciples. He's called us to be ready to stand in the gap. Who knows but what He called us for such a time as this.

Who will stand in the gap? Who will fulfill the Father's search for people to worship Him in spirit and in truth? Who will offer the sacrifice of a broken and a contrite heart of praises to God?

Who will offer their bodies a living sacrifice?

My brethren, and especially graduates of Ambassador College, I want to urge you, I want to urge us all to answer God's call. Let there never again be a time when God will say what He did in Ezekiel 22, where it's written, I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. No! Rather than let our Creator God find no one, let's all remember that we have come to be called to the Kingdom for a time such as this. Let's be like Isaiah and say, here I am, send me. Let's be like the disciples, even though we're sent as sheep among wolves, but we know that Christ is with us, even to the end of the age. So I urge all of us, with much greater purpose than ever the U.S. Marines were looking for a few good men, to remember that God is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. God is seeking for those who will make up the wall and stand in the gap. Let's all of us stand in the gap.