In this session, we’ll learn how disciples multiply far and fast when they start to see where God’s Kingdom isn’t.
As humans, we think about, focus on and work for things that we can see. We call it reality. The way things are. But the kingdom grows more quickly when we focus on things we can’t see. Things that aren’t there. Or things that aren’t there, yet.
There are places all around us where God’s will is not being done on earth as it is in heaven - giant gaps where brokenness, pain, persecution, suffering and even death are a part of normal, everyday life.
Every disciple - every follower of Jesus - needs to be able to see not just where God’s Kingdom is, but where God’s kingdom isn’t. Kingdom work is about entering into those gaps and into those dark places and working to close the chasms and bring light and life during our time here on earth.
We can see where God’s Kingdom isn’t in two ways -- through people we already know and through people we haven’t yet met.
The first way is through people we already know - our ONGOING RELATIONSHIPS of friends and family, coworkers, classmates, neighbors and more. This is the way God’s Story travels FASTEST. We love and care about these people because we know them already. It’s natural.
Jesus told a story of a selfish rich man - arrogant in life and now being punished in hell. The rich man begged - “send Lazarus to my father’s home. Let him warn my five brothers, so they won’t come to this horrible place.”
Jesus showed us how even the selfish and suffering have some love and concern for those close to them.
The people we know are placed in our lives because God loves us and wants us to love them. We need to be good stewards of those relationships with love and patience and persistence. Disciples multiply when they’re concerned for the people God’s placed around them and they have a plan to do something about it.
You can help increase their care and build a simple plan to multiply in just a few steps. Here’s how - Have them write a list of 100 people they already know. Have them break that list into 3 categories.
For the followers - disciples can equip and encourage them to be more fruitful and faithful. For the non-followers - disciples can learn how to share and introduce them to a loving God. For those who they’re not sure - disciples can learn to invest their time and learn more.
There’s also a way we see where God’s Kingdom isn’t through people we haven’t met. These are people OUTSIDE OUR RELATIONSHIPS - people we don’t know, neighbors we’ve never said more than “hello” to, businessmen and women we pass on the street, strangers in every village, town or city we’ve never even visited, yet.
Jesus said - make disciples of all nations. Jesus said - you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Sharing with people we know is the way God’s Story travels FASTEST. Sharing with people we don’t know yet is the way God’s Story travels FARTHEST.
If we love and care about these people we don’t know, that’s not natural. It’s supernatural and evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. God’s favorites are the least, the last and the lost. These are the ones He pours out His heart to over and over again.
If we want to be like God, then these are the ones we have to invest our lives in. God commands us to go. And part of going is to go not just to those who are close by but also to those who live in the spiritually darkest corners of the world - people who sometimes have never even heard the name, Jesus.
God’s Word says - God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. As followers of Jesus we must give grace as He gives it - to the humble, to the desperate, and to the lost. Disciples multiply when they’re concerned for the people God’s placed in their lives. Disciples multiply even more when they’re concerned for the people God’s placed nowhere near them. But even then they still need a plan.
You can help increase a disciple’s care for others and build a simple plan to multiply by training them to look for the people God’s already prepared to hear. Jesus said - As soon as you enter a home, say, “God bless this home with peace.” If the people living there are peace-loving, your prayer for peace will bless them. But if they are not peaceloving, your prayer will return to you.”
We call someone who God has already prepared to hear a PERSON OF PEACE - someone responsive to God’s message and faithful in OBEYING and SHARING with others. In a place where we know very few, instead of sharing with our friends, families, co-workers, classmates and neighbors, we train a person of peace how to reach theirs.
But the best results always come when we focus on the faithful. Remember faithfulness is demonstrated by OBEYING what God tells us and SHARING it with others. Faithful people who obey and share are like the good soil that Jesus talked about.
Jesus said - a few seeds fell on good ground where the plants produced thirty or sixty or a hundred times as much as was scattered.
One faithful man who obeyed and shared produced many, many people who wanted to know Jesus more.
Opening our eyes to see where the Kingdom isn’t and reaching out through people we know and people we don’t know yet is how disciples multiply and God’s Kingdom grows far and fast.