2020 Vision (Sermon Revisited)- January 2020

On the first Sunday of this new year, I preached a sermon entitled “2020 Vision: A Path for Discipleship.” Whether you heard that sermon or not, I think it would helpful for us to briefly revisit the first two parts of that message and then expand upon the third part that was cut short due to time constraints.

The Gospel calls us not only to believe Jesus as our Savior, but also to submit ourselves to Him as our Lord. The latter is a call to discipleship, i.e. living as followers of Christ.  Scripture often uses the metaphor of walking to describe living a godly life: walking with God, walking by faith, walking in obedience, etc. And walking, by definition, means moving forward. It means progress. It means, in terms of living as a disciple of Jesus, growing.

So how can we grow as followers of Christ? What can we do to become more faithful disciples of Jesus? There are many important aspects of the Christian life that we need to emphasize, including worship, outreach/evangelism, service, fellowship, and stewardship. But as we begin the new year of 2020, I want us to especially focus on three essential parts of a “2020 Vision” that will help us walk/progress on the path of discipleship as followers of Jesus Christ: devotion to the Word, prayer, and holiness.

1. Devoted to the Word

Almighty God, the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, and King, has chosen to reveal Himself in Scripture, and has given us the Bible for our good (see 2 Timothy 3:15-16). If we want to grow as Christians, we need God’s Word to teach us about who He is, who we are, what He has done for us, and what He expects of us as His people. So we need to begin by reading the Bible: regularly/consistently, faithfully, prayerfully, humbly, and joyfully. We should also study God’s Word, seeking to really understand what it means, and meditate on it, thinking deeply about the truths of Scripture so that it passes from our minds to our hearts. Then we must then apply what the Bible teaches us, responding to it and putting it into practice as “doers of the word” (James 1:22). Let’s all seek to make engaging with God’s Word a priority for 2020, making full use of this indispensable means of God’s grace!

2. Devoted to prayer

We are repeatedly called to pray in Scripture, and we need to see it as both a duty and a privilege. He wants us to draw near to Him to develop our relationship with Him, and in a mysterious way He works through our prayers to bring His sovereign will to pass. So we need to pray: continually/without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17); humbly; alone and with others; for ourselves and for others; with faith; for God to be glorified and for His will to be done. When we pray, we are acknowledging our dependence on God for all things. When we neglect prayer, we are implying that we don’t need really God’s help. We certainly cannot grow as disciples of Jesus by our own strength and wisdom, so let us remember how important it is for us to strive to be people of prayer in 2020!

3. Devoted to holiness

Holiness is an aspect of the Christian life that is often misunderstood and is easy to minimize and even undermine. Maybe it’s because we’ve succumbed to the idea of “cheap grace” (a term coined by Dietrich Bonhoeffer), thinking that our salvation by grace through faith in Christ means that we can now live any way we want. But that’s clearly not what the Bible teaches (see, e.g., Romans 6:1-2). Scripture clearly calls us, as followers of Christ, to forsake our sin and to pursue holiness. This means that we are to strive to be morally blameless, separated from sin, and consecrated to God. It means to reflect the holy character of God, and to be conformed more and more to the image of Jesus Christ. This call to holiness is not an “optional” part of discipleship. It’s what God has called us to (1 Peter 1:15-16); it is His will for us (1 Thess. 4:3); it is what He has predestined us for (Romans 8:29).  Indeed, Hebrews 12:14 tells us starkly that we must “Strive…for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” We are certainly incapable of achieving perfect holiness in this life, and yet that cannot be an excuse to simply give up. If we have no desire for holiness, then we are (1) blatantly ignoring an important aspect of Christ’s call to discipleship and (2) failing to reflect the character of our Savior to the world around us. This makes us hypocrites, it undermines the message of the Gospel, and it “robs” God of glory.

So what can we actually do in order to pursue holiness? Let me expand upon some things that I said very briefly in my earlier sermon.

a. Acknowledge that it is a battle (Romans 7:15-25) – Paul described his inner conflict between his own indwelling sin and the indwelling Holy Spirit. This struggle is real for all Christians, but we do not have to resign ourselves to failure! We must, however, commit ourselves to fighting against temptation and sin, and doing what it takes to put sin to death in our lives. This must be done in humble reliance upon the Spirit’s power, because in our own strength we are bound to fail.

b. Consecrate our bodies to God (Romans 12:2) – We must remember that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and therefore we must glorify God with our bodies (1 Cor. 6:19-20). So, we must not allow ourselves to participate in unholy uses of our bodies (e.g.  sexual immorality, overindulging in food/drink, harming other people, etc.) and our lips (e.g. use of coarse language, gossip, speaking in unkind/insulting/derogatory ways about people, etc.). Instead, we must use our bodies in holy ways that will honor God.

c. Consecrate our hearts/minds to God (Philippians 4:8) – We need to deal with issues in our thought lives (e.g. hatred, lust, coveting, jealousy/envy, discontentment, critical and/or unforgiving spirit, etc.), being very discerning about the things that we allow to influence us (e.g. TV shows and movies we watch, books and magazines we read, music we listen to, websites we visit, etc.). But we also need to guard our hearts, knowing that we can easily slip into idolatry by allowing lesser things to become objects of our love which overtake God’s place in our hearts. So, we must focus our minds and hearts on things that will help us in our pursuit of holiness, not things that will be detrimental to it.

d. Intentionally develop habits of holiness (Romans 6:19) – We do not grow in holiness by accident or by being passive. We must deliberately seek to put off our old self (sinful dispositions, habits, etc.) and put on the new self (with the character and habits of holiness). Let us seek to put up safeguards to guard against temptation, and intentionally engage our hearts, minds, and bodies in things that will help us to grown in holiness.

e. Seek accountability – Find a mature, faithful, trustworthy Christian who can regularly hold you accountable for your moral life. (Scripture portrays this kind of relationship between Timothy and Paul.) It needs to be someone who is willing to ask you hard questions, who you can be completely honest with, and who will consistently point you to God’s holy standards and to His grace in Christ in the midst of your failures. Prayerfully seek out such a person, and then humbly submit to accountability for your own good.

Jesus never said that being His disciple would be easy. But He did promise that He will be with us, that His Spirit will help us, and that the eternal blessings will far outweigh anything that we have to forsake in order to follow Him. So let us devote ourselves to the Word, prayer, and holiness in 2020, relying upon the grace of God as we seek to grow as faithful disciples of Christ.

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