The month of September is discipleship month. This is the time when we at Faith Church look at who we are and how we live out our mission statement of making disciples for Jesus Christ to empower us to proclaim God’s grace. Today, we want to look at who we are as disciples. Next week, we consider the requirements of discipleship. The third week, we follow up with our mission. And the final week, we have to make a response. Let us begin today with Jesus calling his disciples, not just the first 12, but all of us, sitting here today in these pews.

Paul Borden, in his book, Hitting the Bullseye, talks about revitalizing or turning around 200 American Baptist churches in Northern California. One of the theological images of the church that he corrects is the picture of the church as a family. We in Western society 2,000 years after Christ use a different understanding of family than the people of the Mediterranean world of Jesus’ day. To be sure, says Borden, the image of family in the Bible is an excellent illustration. Scripture speaks of God as a Father to Israel, as a mother who protects her brood, as a parent who loves the children, of believers who are brothers and sisters. And while we are to maintain healthy relationships with one another in the church, the primary purpose of the church is not to be a family. According to Borden, “the primary image of the congregation is to function as an army, with Jesus Christ, our leader, who attacks the stronghold of Satan. The church is on a mission and is constantly in a battle for the souls of people.” Borden goes on to say that it is our relationship together that helps us to accomplish this mission for God; we are not a family going to a family reunion, but we are God’s family formed by Christ to transform the world from sin and evil into one of love and grace. (1)

Notice that in our scripture passage from Mark this morning the purpose for which Jesus chose his 12 disciples: first, to be with Jesus; second, to be sent out to proclaim the message of God’s grace; and third, to have authority to cast out demons. Jesus molded them into a family, or a group with close relationships, but he wasn’t forming a family reunion. He was creating disciples who would receive Christ in their hearts, who would evangelize the world by proclaiming the Good News, and who would transform our communities. Let’s look at these 3 aspects of our calling.

The first is that we are called to be with Jesus. What this means is that we are called to have a relationship with Christ. The church through the ages has called this salvation, conversion, reconciliation, grace, and a variety of other terms, but they all come down to the same thing: have you given or surrendered your life to Christ Jesus and made him your Savior and Lord? Do you belong to Christ, body, mind, heart, and soul? And does Christ rule your life? Does Christ lead you in all that you say, think, and do?

I’m going to blunt and frank right here, because I don’t want to be misunderstood and I don’t want our faith to be watered down. This point of accepting Christ as Lord and Savior is the one part that is missing in most churches and in the lives of too many people who call themselves Christian. Get this straight: we are not physically born into the Christian faith. We may have been physically born into a Christian family, but we are not Christians until each one of us accepts Christ as Lord and Savior, and that is a spiritual birth, and it is a commitment that each person is called to make individually before any of us can call ourselves Christian. Just attending worship or reading our Bibles will not do it: we must have a personal experience of salvation with Christ. In the words of Jesus, “You must be born again” (John 3:3).

Jesus called his first disciples and all other disciples afterward to be with him, to give our lives to our Lord and Master. If we don’t have this salvation experience, then not only are we not disciples of Christ, but we also don’t have the power to do Christ’s ministry in this world. Without that relationship with Christ, we are powerless to do anything for and with Christ. This lack of relationship is the reason for declining churches and ineffective ministries, and why things break down in churches. Our relationship with Christ isn’t there and therefore we can’t do anything in Christ’s name.

But when it is, then great things can happen to minister in the name of Christ Jesus. For the second aspect of our calling is to go out and proclaim the Good News of Christ’s salvation to others. Let me blunt again. Our primary purpose as a Church is not to worship, and it’s not to have Sunday School, and it’s not to have programs for our members, and it’s not to have programs out in the community. Now hear me. These are all important and what Christians do together, but they are not the primary purpose or the first and only thing that we are called to do. Our primary purpose as Christians is to proclaim the Good News of Christ’s salvation. It’s to share grace with sinners.

To use another example, we did not create FaithCentre to clothe the naked or feed the hungry or make new friends. We gratefully acknowledge what David and Darla and Judy and Bob have done with the Thrift Store and the Food Bank, but these are not what FaithCentre is all about. These are important and necessary, but they are only a means to an end. Our church created FaithCentre to proclaim the Good News of Christ to those who have not heard it. It is through our ministry there that we are supposed to take the time to pray with people and to share our faith with persons of our community so that they may experience what we claim to have received from Christ: God’s transforming love. Regardless of how much clothing we sell and how much food we distribute, FaithCentre will not be successful until we get our foundation of sharing the Gospel strong and straight. When lives are saved, then FaithCentre will have met its mission.

Nor will we be able to establish another congregation east of Zion if we don’t get our spiritual foundation right. If we plant a new church with the idea of building up our reputation, or of increasing our size, or getting control over a wider area of geography, then we shouldn’t waste our time. Our mission is proclaim Christ’s salvation and to minister to people so that they may accept God’s grace in their hearts. That’s why we dare to make such a bold move; that’s how we justify our involvement; and that’s why it will be successful. Christians who don’t share their faith haven’t spent enough time with Christ. But when we commit ourselves totally to Christ, then the power of Christ will work miracles through us and in the lives of the people around us.

Which brings us to the third aspect of Christ’s call. The final result of our work in proclaiming Christ’s salvation is the casting out of demons, or to put it another way, the transformation of our community and world. When the spiritual foundation of our lives is grounded in Christ and we share that spiritual foundation with others so that their lives are changed, guess what? They begin to share with others and more lives are changed until the community is changed, until all the people begin to live as Christ lived his life. Don’t underestimate the power of Christ. No matter what a community’s demons or problems may be, alcohol, drugs, immorality, stealing, abuse, violence, hate, murder, the root cause is not bad family life, greed, poverty, or crime; it’s the lack of a spiritual foundation. A community only experiences problems when its people don’t know Christ. When the people of a community do know Christ, miracles happen, because they share their faith, people’s lives are changed, and so the community experiences a miraculous transformation into a good place in which to live. Christians are called to live a different kind of life, and the more Christians you have in a community, the fewer problems you have, the more problems are solved in graceful and loving ways, and the spirit and atmosphere of a community will hold up the love of God and the love of our fellow human beings.

Mark my words. If FaithCentre and other ministries of our community, if just one of the churches of our community gets it all together with the right spiritual foundation and the invitation to Christ’s salvation, then the Bellefonte area will become closer to the new heaven and the new earth, to the New Jerusalem, that John wrote about in his book of Revelation. We will look like the people of God because where the people of Christian faith are, there will Christ be walking among his people.

My friends, I call us today to reexamine our relationship with Christ. If that relationship is not there, then make that commitment today, surrender your lives to him. During communion, come to the altar rail and we’ll pray with you and serve you communion here. If you have given your life to Christ, recommit it today. Offer once again to surrender yourself anew body, mind, heart and soul to serve the Son of God. Use this time of Holy Communion as we come into the very presence of Christ to be with Christ, to be sent out proclaim the Good News and to transform our community as we cast out demons.

We have to get this part right or the rest of our discipleship doesn’t work. Through this Holy Communion, let us receive Christ as Lord and Master.