Be a Disciple and Not a Scholar -- Zac Poonen -- October 11, 2020

[Music] so it's a real pleasure to meet you all after a whole year or more where i come from they don't permit public church meetings it's locked down all the time and so this is the first time i've been in a open church meeting for seven months but it hasn't been limiting the ministry in any way because [Music] i think i have spoken in more meetings in the last seven months than in any other seven month period because of zoom technology i praise the lord that god has arranged that technology at this time certainly for the sake of the church with so many believers locked down and one advantage of it is that a lot of people in lonely places have been able to participate in a church service who could not do so earlier so god works everything for good i want to turn to a passage in matthew chapter 13. here we read of seven parables that jesus spoke about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of god basically the same thing and at the end of it he said in verse 52 and jesus said to them therefore every scribe you see a scribe is a person who studies the law of god the word of god and every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old so here it speaks about the scribe having to become a disciple and the meaning for us is that this academic knowledge the knowledge of the bible that we have in our head which is like a scribe reading understanding and even knowing it so well that we can preach and teach to others he was still a scribe a scribe could teach a scribe could understand a scribe would spend hours and hours of studying the word of god but he was not necessarily a disciple and there is always a danger that we can face when we come to a church where there's so much of new teaching that is not even heard in other places and we can have our heads and minds filled with so much information and if we are intelligent we understand all that so well that we can even teach it to others and then we are scribes but the disciple is the one who has practiced all that he has understood in his daily life and the first area of discipleship is in our closest relationships not in the church relationship but in our family relationships now the scribe may have a very poor family life and he may not be very upright in his business but he's a very good scribe excellent preacher great knowledge of the word of god he can explain every doctrine and here jesus said this at the end of these parables the scribe must become a disciple of the kingdom so that's the thing we need to ask ourselves are we scribes of the new covenant or disciples of the kingdom the scribe is not particularly concerned about the condition of his heart he is only concerned about his the impression he gives to others of one who is knowledgeable in god's word and the impression he gives to others that i am a good christian whereas a disciple is not much bothered he is concerned about his public testimony sure that he should not bring dishonor to christ but he's much more concerned about his heart that's the main difference between a scribe and a disciple the scribe knows the word of god knows the teachings but is more concerned about his testimony before others in the church whereas a disciple is primarily concerned about his testimony before god and a disciple as i said is primarily in his relationships with his closest relations i say that because if you turn to luke 14 and verse 26 he spoke to a huge crowd a lot of people in israel who had heard jesus it says many times they were amazed at his teaching and i'm sure many of them understood it so well and they could even preach it but here it says he looked at this big crowd in luke 14 and verse 25 and said to them i mean if i were to paraphrase these words was you guys have heard so much of me but it's not enough just to listen to what i say and understand it if you want to be my disciple you have to hate father mother wife children brothers sisters in his own life and in matthew that's explained as love me more than that's the meaning of hate his own father you have to love me more than father mother brother sister wife children so you see discipleship begins in our closest family relationship first he's not talking about the neighbors and people in the church primarily father mother wife children brothers and sisters at home so it's in family relationships that discipleship begins so there you see in our home we don't try to impress people with our bible knowledge at least i hope not trying to impress people with bible knowledge is mostly outside our home with other people or in a church or something like that in the home we are ourselves more than any other place in the world we are completely ourselves in our home and there jesus said you must be a disciple that means you love me in your home more than anybody in that home your life is determined by your love for me in your home whether you're living with your father and mother or your wife and your children or your brothers and sisters your life must be determined by your love for me as supreme [Music] and so the disciple is not so much interested in understanding doctrine as much as in living the life when paul was writing to timothy i want you to turn to 1 timothy in chapter 4. timothy was by this time maybe about he was i think about 20 years younger than paul so he must have been about 40 years old at this time when paul wrote to him 40 to 45 years old and he'd walked with god i mean he'd been with paul for 20 years and he was one of his finest co-workers and to this man paul has to give this exhortation verse 51 timothy 4 and verse 15 take pains with these things that i am writing be absorbed in them so that your spiritual progress will become evident to others and then he says there are two things you must pay close attention to pay close attention first of all to your life and then to your teaching because he was a teacher he had to pay attention to his teaching but he says even if you're a teacher you must first pay attention to your life pay attention to your life and then to your teaching that's always the order in the new testament that's one of the fundamental things about the new covenant life first and then teaching you see the same thing in acts of the apostles chapter 1 and verse 1. the acts of the apostles was written by luke he's the only non-jewish writer in the bible all the other 64 books of the bible were written by the jewish people israelites descendants of abraham isaac and jacob luke was the only one who was a greek and he wrote two books the gospel of luke and acts of the apostles and he wrote them to a man called theophilus we don't know who he was and he refers to the gospel of luke in acts 1 verse 1. he says the first account that i composed or theophilus that's in luke's gospel he writes to theophilus also he says that account the gospel of which we call the gospel of luke if i were to put a heading for that if you asked luke give a title for the gospel of luke he would say here it is in verse 1. all that jesus began to do and teach that is luke's title for his gospel all that jesus began to do and to teach again you see life first and then teaching jesus set an example he did and then he taught he never spoke about anything which he had not done and that's a principle we must have in our life we must never speak to others about something we haven't done because that is how the pharisees were jesus told them you speak so many things but you don't do them so i switched from a follower of jesus to a follower of the pharisees very quickly if i begin to speak about things i've never done in my life and that's a very important decision and we must be concerned if that happens ever in our life where we are testifying to things which are not true in our life or speak about things which are not true in our life many parents try to impose a standard on their children which they themselves don't follow they're hypocrites very often their children go astray i know in my own life many years after i was converted i came to a point in my life where i discovered 16 years after i was converted that i was preaching a lot of things which are not true in my life it was true scripturally it was true there was no false teaching but it wasn't real in my heart it wasn't really in my home life it wasn't real in my personal life but i was preaching it and in my personal life if i failed of course i would repent and ask the lord to forgive me but i was preaching it and people got the impression that that was true in my life which i was so i was not first like jesus doing and then teaching i was teaching and not doing then i was a scribe and i never realized i was a scribe but i got so fed up of that life so nearly 50 years ago i got so fed up of it and i said lord i don't want to continue like this this is not christianity and i tell you i'm so thankful that i got so fed up that i began to seek god in prayer and fasting and weeping and crying out and saying lord i want you to meet with me i feel i need a fresh infilling of the holy spirit that's what i need not some new teaching but a fresh infilling of the holy spirit that completely reorients my life where my life becomes more important for me than what i speak and that i will never speak about i do not do and i tell you god answered my prayer about 45 years ago and i changed the complete 46 years ago nearly changed the direction of my life completely and it's six months after that that we started the first cfc church and i'm very happy that we began cfc with life more important than teaching so if if paul if luke were to give the title to the book gospel of lucas what jesus began to do and teach if you were to ask luke well what title will you give to the acts of the apostles i think he would say what jesus continued to do and teach through his spiritual body luke his gospel is what jesus began to do and teach with his physical body on earth and acts of the apostles is what jesus continued to do through his body the church on earth so it's the continuing of the same thing what jesus began to do is teach and what jesus continued to do and teach now 2000 years later we are the church the body of christ and we have to continue jesus has to continue doing and teaching through us in your home jesus has to continue living the life through you and teaching through your children they have to see the life of jesus in you first before they hear what jesus taught we are so eager to tell our children what jesus taught we must be more eager that they see in us the life that jesus lived that requires humility repentance brokenness prayer maybe fasting and prayer may be weeping but a great desire that we shall not be scribes we must not be scribes to our children we must be disciples remember what the first verse we began with the scribe must become a disciple the one who only teaches must first learn to do do and teach so that's what paul told timothy take heed first of all to your life he told him now i'm sure paul emphasized that to timothy numerous times in the 20 years they walk they travel together but again he feels the need to repeat it to timothy in his letter in 1 timothy 4 16 which we just read pay close attention what a word it is 1 timothy 4 16 pay close attention first of all to your life then to your teaching that means don't teach anything false because they didn't have a written bible those days so he was telling him remember carefully what you heard from me make sure you teach it properly but more than that pay close attention to your life and that's the thing i want to ask you is i ask myself am i paying close attention to my life i can go through the motions of christianity which is read the bible every day go to church at least on sundays and all the external things but it must begin with doing and then teaching pay close attention to your life especially with father mother brother sister wife children those are the areas where discipleship begins and that's why when john writes his letter in one john remember john was also the one who wrote revelation can you think a little bit you know sometimes we must use our imagination a little bit and think of how it was with john john was about 95 years old when he writes this letter and he had seen the development of the church for 65 years he was there on the day of pentecost when they were all waiting and praying and the holy spirit came upon them and they spoke in tongues and tons of fire appeared on them there was a rushing wind and they were filled with the spirit and he was there when he saw peter stand up and preach and with a 15-minute sermon 3 000 people were converted and were baptized on that very first day the church started with 3 000 people all of a sudden and john saw that in subsequent days he saw you read in the next chapter how peter and john saw that lame man walk and they went to different places and churches were established wonderful churches established by the apostles but then john sees now years after the day of pentecost those churches have declined their spiritual life has gone down you read that in revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 where the lord told john i want you to write these letters to these churches to one church he says and to its leader and to its elders you don't love me like you did at first when you were first converted you had such a passionate love for me that's gone and because it's gone i'm going to take away the anointing from you he says write that and tell them to another church he says you've got the teaching of bilaam there the teaching of balaam is running after money balaam was a preacher and he went to the king when the king offered him more money and he says it's sad that you guys have got preachers there who are interested in money like a lot of preachers today who are not interested in leading people to godliness but only collecting their tithes and then to another church he says you elder your wife is running your church your wife is such a strong woman she controls you and she dictates what you should preach i call her jezebel that's what the lord told john to write that was the condition of one church remember these are all churches that started with the apostles to another church in sardis he says you only have a name that you're alive you've got a great reputation like a mega church there's no life in you even in the leader and to the church in laodicea he says you're so wealthy you think you don't need anything or you've got so much money and you think money is everything but you don't realize spiritually you're wretched miserable poor blind and naked think of the condition of these churches which 50 years ago were powerful churches what i learned from that is every church declines if it does not have strong spiritual leadership that is always challenging them to the highest and i pray that all our churches will have such leadership that will challenge people to the highest with leaders who first lived that life and then teach it in all our churches that is my burden so when paul john writes his letter now to the christians of that time think now you got a picture i described to you the picture of now all christians were not like that because there were two churches in smyrna and philadelphia who were very good churches wholehearted faithful to god in fact the lord told one of them that you are so faithful i'll make you a pillar in heaven wow in the house of god so there were some who were wonderful but the majority were all backslidden and away from the lord so to such christians what does john write he does not write one word about speaking in tongues he does not write one word about healing he does not write one word about jesus will make you wealthy these are some of the most common things being preached in christendom today particularly by pentecostal charismatic people i'm not against them there are my brothers and sisters there and god bless them but i don't agree with this emphasis because i don't see that in john writing to a bachelor in conditioned church no emphasis on these external gifts and all that amazingly not even any emphasis on evangelism which is another thing a lot of people emphasize what does john emphasize to a church which is declining to protect them first of all he says you must walk in the light i believe that's one of the very first things we need to understand if a scribe must become a disciple 1 john 1 7 if we walk in the light we have fellowship with one another and what does that mean light is that which reveals everything when a man wants to commit sin he commits it in the darkness where nobody can see him a thief who's trying to steal something will be terrified if somebody shines a torchlight there so to walk in the light is very very simple you don't have to be a great spiritual man to walk in the light to walk in the light means be honest is that difficult a prostitute can be honest she can say i'm a prostitute she's coming into the light is the pharisees who refused to acknowledge their sin they were in darkness not because they were greater sinners than the others but they wouldn't acknowledge their sin so the first step to the christian life is to be honest even to an unbeliever i would say be honest i even once i was witnessing to an atheist who said he didn't believe in god i said fine we can start there can you say like this oh god i don't even know if you exist there but i don't believe in you and that's what i told him to say but if you do exist can you reveal yourself to me in some way i asked him will you pray that prayer i tell you god we meet with you if you're honest because you're being honest don't pretend that you're praying to god you don't believe there's a god there but no harm in saying it if there's no god nothing happens but if there is a god and he sees your honesty he'll come and meet with you even though you're an atheist god is not offended that you're an atheist he loves you jesus died for atheists so walking in the light is the first step be honest be honest about your failure to god walk in the light with god and when you walk in the light with god you'll be able to fellowship with other people who walk in the light with god it's very easy i find and i have found to fellowship with a person who is just himself not pretending to be spiritual it's very difficult to fellowship with the person who's pretending to be spiritual with spiritual language and all that type of stuff but if he's just his normal self i don't care what his spiritual level is i can have fellowship with him i can converse with him imagine jesus could freely converse and talk to a samaritan woman who had been divorced five times and was now sleeping around with a man who was not even her husband but jesus was i had no problem speaking to that person and when jesus confronted her with her sin she didn't cover it up no she said you're right you're a prophet what you said is right the man i'm living is not i'm not my husband so and then jesus went on to use that woman think of this a five times divorced woman sleeping around with a man who was not even her husband and just because she was honest with jesus and didn't try to pretend that it was not true and said i don't have a husband that means i'm not legally married you know that's the one truthful thing that jesus appreciated she was living with a man who was not her husband she could have pretended that that was her husband when jesus said go and call your husband he could have she could have brought that man because he didn't know jesus was a prophet but she didn't bring that man she said honestly i have not been legally married i don't have a husband that was truth i'm living with a man but he's not my husband and because of that one honest statement jesus went on to lead her and do what she she went back to the city of samaria you read in john chapter 4 and told people about jesus and through her witness hundreds of people came out to meet jesus wow what evangelism that was a woman who was divorced five times and living in such sin i'm tremendously challenged there by the fact that jesus loves honesty and i want to encourage all of you dear brothers and sisters never get rid of honesty in your life you don't have to honestly confess your sins to any other human being like they teach in the roman catholic church to go and confess your priest no you confess your sin only to god you're answerable to god of course if you sinned against another person you yelled at him or hurt him in some way then you have to ask his forgiveness so sin must be confessed in the circle in which it was committed for example if it's only in your thoughts the only person in that circle is god then you confess it only to god but if you got angry with somebody then there are two people in that circle god and that person then you have to confess to god and to that person so sin must be confessed only within the circle in which it was committed we never have to confess our sins to each other only to god walk in the light and it's a wonderful promise here that if we walk in the light we can have fellowship with god he's not asking you to be perfect he's not even asking you to have the light that that saintly man has who has walked with god for 10 years no walk in the light you have that's enough and as you walk in the light you'll get more light you know that verse in the psalms psalm 119 verse 105 a well-known verse thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path or using today's language we could say a torch in those days they had a lamp lit with oil today we have a torch thy word is like a torch but a torch gives me light only up to a certain distance so god's word is like a torch that gives me light for the next step that's all if i take that step and the torch is with me i will see the next step that's how we walk with the torch you can't see the whole way but your immediate step you can see two or three steps you take that you'll see the next two or three steps and that's how we walk and that's how walking with the lord with the word of god is god's word is like a torch that shows me the next step i should take now if you want to know what steps should i take a hundred feet from here you won't know it god won't show you god says you take the step that i'm showing you now if you move forward with the torch you'll see more so in other words you take the step god has shown you in his word something god's told you in your conscience perhaps this is what you must do you must forgive that person who hurt you you don't do it [Music] don't ask god for further guidance because he's already shown you what is the next step you have to forgive that person whom you haven't forgiven till today this is the reason why many people never get guidance in their life they haven't taken the first step god has shown them already or he may say you must go and ask forgiveness from that person whom you hurt one week ago the torch is showing you that and you refuse to move and you want to know god's guidance about something a hundred yards away or something's going to happen next week you don't get guidance you can imagine that god is speaking to you a lot of people imagine god is speaking to them and they're doing their own will so remember this principle walk in the light don't stand still in the light there's no such verse in the bible it says standing still in the light it's walking in the light and walking is not 25 steps at a time how do you walk one step at a time and that first step is what god has shown you honesty that is the for the scribe to become a disciple you begin with taking the first step of honest walking in the light and then if you continue like that it goes on to the next step which is progressive in 1 john chapter 2 verse 6 to walk in the same manner as jesus walked that's a very high standard you begin with taking the steps that god shows you the one step and then another another and then you gradually begin to say hey this is wonderful and god begins to show you the life of jesus how jesus walked and then little by little your walk becomes in the footsteps of christ and then you'll be able to say like paul said follow me as i follow christ and you may say oh brother zach i can't use such strong words i'm a young believer why not you're not saying you're a great saint think of the christian walk like climbing a very high mountain and jesus walked this path all the way to the top and here's a mountain covered with snow where you can see the footsteps of those who've gone ahead that's why i chose the example of a mountain snow covered mountain and paul saw those footsteps of christ how jesus walked and he puts his feet in those footsteps and he tells the corinthians who are very immature christians in 1 corinthians 11 verse 1 he tells them follow me as i follow christ he says that to the philippians also so the philippians and the corinthians are way behind paul maybe way down close to the foot of the mountain but he says then i was in your midst you remember you corinthians and philippians you remember how i was there in your midst for quite some time and you saw my footsteps means you saw how i lived with you you saw the language i used you saw how i always spoke respectfully to you even though many of you are much younger than me spiritually and physically i always spoke respectfully to you you saw how i spoke respectfully even to the children and you saw how i lived among you you saw how i was not at all interested in your money i was always interested in your spiritual welfare you saw some footsteps there even though i was with you for a short time put your foot in those footsteps and then you can look back at your children who are younger than you and say my dear children follow me as i follow paul who's following christ so you can also say because those are the paul is putting his footsteps in the foot steps of christ and you're putting your steps in the footsteps of paul which are the steps of christ so you can say to others to your children follow me as i follow christ and as you take more and more steps there'll be other younger believers in the church perhaps to whom you can say follow me as i follow christ that is a disciple now it's not a question of just preaching god's word or explaining a doctrine it is a life from which comes what we teach or share with others i believe if you follow this simple principle that is the principle by which god wants every christian to live we will have a very strong church imagine if everybody here decided to take that exhortation of paul to timothy seriously take take your life and yours seriously more seriously than what you speak take your life seriously and we know our life comes from our heart not from our head in our head we can have a lot of information about many many things in the bible it does not make us spiritual the pharisees could preach the old testament scriptures better than peter james and john but peter james and john had a far better life than the pharisees even though they couldn't preach like the pharisees so never be impressed by a preacher when people listen to somebody on the internet i hear a lot of people sometimes send me emails oh brother zach you should listen to this man you should listen to that man okay but i tell them i don't know how he lives i don't know how he lives with his family i don't know what his attitude to money is i don't know how he's brought up his children i don't know any of these things okay he's teaching some very clever things which teach which shows me he's a very clever man or he's a very gifted speaker i'm not interested in that i'm not interested in being more clever i'm not even interested in being a better preacher i'm interested in living a better life and i'd like to know what this man's life is he he cannot stand up in the pulpit and preach something is he telling me follow me as i follow christ i need to see that that's why i say we have to be very careful about listening [Music] to people on youtube whose lives we know nothing about because you'll be impressed by a powerful sermon and it may not lead you to life it may teach you some good practical principle i'll tell you you can go to a psychologist they will also tell you some very good practical principles a lot of things that psychology psychologist teacher very very good i was reading something the other day that a psychologist wrote a christian psychologist wrote on relationships between husband and wife at home excellent you would almost think he was a christian he was not a christian he was a nominal christian so that's what you can get from teaching but jesus did and taught did and taught and that's how the church must be also so since our life comes from our heart you know this verse turn with me to proverbs in chapter 4. proverbs 4 have you read this verse have you meditated on it believed it proverbs 4 verse 23. proverbs 4 verse 23 it's a command from god watch over your heart with all diligence because from it flow all the springs of your life and that spring can be polluted and dirty or it can be fresh and clean that depends on what condition your heart is in so watch over your heart with all diligence because it is from there that all the springs of life flow out the rivers of living water jesus said will flow out from a person's innermost being turn what turn to what jesus said in matthew 12. our conversation not our conversation when we are careful in public but our conversation when we are relaxed at home the way you speak to your family members the way you speak to your husband to your wife to your children to your parents that's where we must test our conversation not how we speak on sunday morning to each other at home matthew chapter 12 verse 34 the last part the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart if a cup overflows whether it's bitter water or sweet juice whatever is inside will overflow when you shake it what is inside will come out so if somebody comes and shakes you up really badly with his language or some action what comes out will be what is inside your heart because you shake a cup as strongly as you like if it is sweet water inside not one drop of bitter water can come out you can't say the man shaking made the sweet water bitter no the shaking only brought out from the cup what was inside so when you find angry words coming out of your mouth or words which are hurting to others or insulting to others you must face up to it and say lord you said the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart today i discovered what was in my heart and this man who hated me helped me to see it more than all my friends who spoke nice things to me you see how god can use our enemies to help us i thank god for situations in my life where i discovered what was in my heart by being provoked by people who hated me i say thank you for that person i discovered something in my heart which i can cleanse thank god i'm still alive i'm not in the grave yet i've got an opportunity to cleanse myself i don't want to discover these things after i die and stand before the judgment seat of christ and discover that my heart was like this oh god don't let that happen to me i prayed this prayer i said lord don't reveal to me anything at your judgment seat which you don't reveal to me now i don't want to discover anything at the judgment seat of christ i want to discover it now because i can cleanse myself now i can't cleanse myself in that future day i want to cleanse my walk with the lord now the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart and so jesus said in verse 33 you've got to make the tree good for the fruit to be good you can't just buy good fruit in the market and hang it up on this tree and make fool everybody that it's a tree producing good fruit i think a lot of christians are like that their heart is quite bad but when they speak to other christians they hang up these nice words we're only fooling people we're not fooling god watch over your heart with all diligence because all the springs of life come from there and the good man verse 35 from the good treasure in his heart brings forth what is good the evil man evil treasure brings forth what is evil we might we may not like the lord calling us evil it's good to humble ourselves and say lord what i spoke written right now was evil what i spoke to my wife was evil what i spoke to my husband was evil but i spoke to that neighbor of mine who irritated me was evil that tells me nothing about him it tells me something about my own heart and i want to judge myself and cleanse myself what a wonderful life our life will be if even in the remaining [Music] three months of this year october november december we pursue what we heard today you can begin the new year in a far more glorious way than all the years gone by let's pray heavenly father help us to apply to our lives the truths we have heard we pray in jesus name [Music] amen [Music] you

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

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Keywords: rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship, church, god, jesus, bible, scripture, disciple, scholar, sermon, zac, poonen

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Length: 46min 6sec (2766 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 11 2020