Several years ago, our church was conducting a baptism at Kadena Marina. I was standing next to one of our elders, and we had just witnessed a gentleman being baptized.
The elder leaned over to me and said, “Chris, here is the million dollar question…who is going to disciple that man?”
In my mind I began to go through all the discipleship opportunities that are given to him at this church, and I even began to list some of them in response to the elder’s question.
He said… “no, that is not what I am talking about…He said, WHO will disciple HIM.”
What he meant was now that he is a baptized believer, and follower of Christ, who will step into his life and walk with him.
That question set me back a bit. I was leaning on the programs we have here, which are good!
They all accomplish the goal of discipleship, but just because I didn’t have the answer that the elder was looking for, doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have a plan for that man’s life.
The truth is, we all need discipleship. Whether you have just been redeemed or you have walked with the Lord for decades, discipleship is critical to your growth.
God’s plan includes an emphasis on His word. In fact His word is not only emphasized in the discipleship process, it is critical!
So His word gives us re-assurance, and we are thankful for the re-assurance that comes every time we open His word.
Without His word in our lives, there is not discipleship in Him.
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Psalm 119:1-16
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!
4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!
13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
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Psalm 119:1-3 says,
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!
This is essentially a re-iteration of the very first three verses in the book of Psalms.
Psalm 1:1-3 says,
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!
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Note the progression/or digression here in these opening verses of Psalms:
Walk/Stand/Sit
Sit under teaching His word.
Stand in the confidence of what you have learned.
Walk in faithfulness, carrying out His plan for you.
What is the focus on in these three verses?
Not on the man, but on the word.
What does the word do?
It grows the man who delights in it to fruitful and healthy life.
If you are here and you are a follower of Christ, you have likely experienced this.
There came a point in your life when the Lord used His word, enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to draw you to Himself.
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The only way you can walk blameless is if you are walking in Him.
The only truly lasting testimony you have is the testimony of Him.
Psalm 138:2 says,
I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.
God places a high priority on the word, because it is a very clear communication, declaring who He is.
Some time ago, I learned the term Coram Deo.
It is a latin term that means
“In the presence of God.”
When I was thinking about joining the ministry of this church, I began to think about discipleship, and that term Coram Deo.
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The three modes of discipleship
・Coram Deo (in the presence of the Lord)
・Coram Nobis (in the presence of us or groups)
・Coram Vobis (in the presence of you or individual).
In what do we disciple?
We disciple in fellowship with the Spirit using the truth of God’s word.
This is where we transition from sitting under the teaching of His word, to standing in the confidence of its truth.
You see, nothing we do in the name of the Lord is done in our strength. If it is done in our strength, then there will be a point of weakness, because our strength is nominal.
But with confidence, we can stand in His strength.
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So our text goes on to say…
4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. 5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! 6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. 8 I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!
Verse 7 says
with an upright heart we will praise Him when we learn His rules.
This is not something that He is simply commanding us to do. It is something that is demonstrated by Christ Himself.
We see an order of authority in the trinity. Have you ever thought about that? The doctrine of the trinity is that God is three persons, each person is fully God, and there is one God. It sounds confusing, and truthfully, it is, but that doesn’t mean it is not true.
In the Trinity you see an order of authority. The Son submits to the Father, even though the son is fully God, and the Spirit submits to the Son, even though the Spirit is fully God.
Jesus says in John 5:19-20:
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
He also says in John 14:25 & 26:
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
He also says in Luke 24:49:
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
In other words, we must stand in the confidence that we have in the Word empowered by the Spirit.
We have heard the word, and we stand, and we stand in the confidence in the word.
Then we walk in the Spirit.
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Psalms goes on to say:
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!
13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
Does this imply that we are standing or walking?
We walk in the word…living as He has led us through this word.
Isaiah 55:10-13 says
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
This gives me confidence and an ability to walk as He has called me to walk.
Colossians 1:24-29 says:
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
We sit under the word,
stand in the confidence of the word,
and walk in the empowerment of the word,
which is our re-assurance.
For that we are thankful!
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Discussion Questions:
- How has the word taught you of God’s faithfulness?
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- Is there a spiritual marker in your past that the word has revealed to you as evidence of God’s faithfulness?
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- Psalm 138 says that God has exalted above all things His name and His word. How Highly do you regard the word? Is there anything in your life that you place above His word?
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- Where are you in the model of Sit/Stand/Walk? Digressing (related to sin) or Progressing (related to the Word)?
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