“Making Disciples” - 1 Peter 1: 3-9

We’ve met the Risen Christ last week. We celebrated that we are Easter People. Now what? Where do we go from here? 

While most of consider Easter to be one day out of the year, it is actually a season, like Lent of 40 days, lasting until Pentecost. It is during this time that the Risen Christ appeared to 500 or so people. Teaching them. Sharing life with them. And that is exactly what we are commissioned to do as Christ’s people - teach, share, serve. Make disciples.

1 Peter proclaims today that by his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. But I have to ask do we actually know what this new life requires of us? Often Christians rejoice that new life means that we have an eternal home, and this is true, but new life also requires something of us. It requires that we do the hard work of making disciples. 

How did you come to know yourself as Christian? How did you get the faith of the ages? And how can you pass on that faith to others? For some of us we grew up in the church. We attended every Sunday School and youth event we could be at. If the church doors were open we were there. And slowly but surely over time we learned that God’s grace is for us! Others had a dramatic conversion experience, where they knew instantaneously they had to follow Christ. Neither experience is better than the other, and they both contain the same requirement to grow in love with God and neighbor.

United Methodists believe that God’s grace is at work in our life even before we realize it. And at some point, whether it be over a period of time, like those who grew up in the church, or at a single moment, such as those who have a conversion experience, we have to decide if we are going to respond to God’s grace with a “yes” or a “no.” If we are going to say “yes” or “no” to this new birth that 1 Peter speaks of in this morning’s scripture passage. God doesn’t twist our arm, or make us respond a certain way, it is our free will to respond with either answer, but if we choose to say “yes” to the grace that is being offered and the new life in Christ Jesus we are given a vocation.

A Christian vocation to be exact. To love God and neighbor. We are given the task to respond with faith to God’s action in our lives. We are called to live a life of holiness of heart in which faith is working in love. And we are tasked with inviting people into a relationship with God.

One of the hardest things about this call is the inviting. We are afraid that people may say no - and some will. We are afraid that people will think differently of us - and some may. We are afraid that it will be hard work - and it will be. For in the words of scholar Sondar Matthaei, “It takes time and effort to prepare persons to repent of their sin and to receive God’s grace”. But I’m much more afraid of what happens when we don’t live into this call to invite. That, perhaps, when we get so caught up in our own preoccupations about inviting that we miss the opportunity to speak to what people are searching for - speak to their desire to find a deeper meaning that nothing and no one else can offer. To offer this hope, is what we have been given new life in Christ to do. 

But how? How do we share this hope? Isn’t just expecting people to show up in Church enough? Folks, the days of people just expecting people to show up in Church and thats enough are over. In fact, those were a very brief period of years in Christian history. We’ve returned to days like those in Acts where we need to look at the culture we are living in and figure out how to nurture faith in these days and times. And chances are that’s going to make us feel uncomfortable. It may mean leading a Bible study at our place of work or in a coffee shop. It may mean being in relationship with people long enough and deep enough that they can see the hope of Christ in us and ask about it. 

It will certainly mean taking Church outside of the building and being creative to meet people where they are at. 

We are the body of Church, the Church. We need to live into that in whatever way God is leading us to. Gone are the days when preaching makes disciples alone. We need to be people who live into worship, reading scripture, and building holy relationships, both inside of this building and out. We need to be people who care for each other, teach Christian education, engage in service and fellowship, not just on Sunday morning, but during other times in the week. We need to be people who pray, witness, study, and serve every change we get, inviting others to join us along the way. 

The Church, the people of God, exist to tell others about Christ. Exist to invite others to this new life, this new identity in Christ Jesus. We exist to help support each other in the call to love God and neighbor. And we exist to grow both as individuals and a community.

That is a large task, but brothers and sisters we are also promised a large reward. It is written in 1 Peter, we are given birth “into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” Inheritance is usually a tricky thing in any culture, because if you get something that means someone else doesn’t get to have it. Only one person can have a family heirloom at a time. Or a sum of money that needs to be divided four ways instead of three. Or family members fighting over an item, not because they want it to honor the memory of their loved one, but just to keep someone else from getting it. But all of the drama that goes with earthly inheritances does not exist in our heavenly inheritance, which among other things includes salvation, peace and joy. This is the type of inheritance that can only expand as we share it with others, not diminish. 

An inheritance is a heritage - and for us, as followers of Christ, that is the heritage of expanding the kingdom of God by making disciples,  but an inheritance is also a legacy. What we want to pass on to future generations. Is it more important that we pass on the faith, or that we have things the way we like them? Is it more important that we are comfortable now, or that we reach new people for Jesus Christ in new ways? What are we willing to risk for the Kingdom of God? How will we, individually and as this local body of Christ, reach out to share the hope of Christ? What is God calling you and us to do to share the message of Jesus Christ? Amen.