Make Disciples

"And make disciples of all nations..." - Matthew 28:19

Over the last couple of years, I've been on a quest to find out what it looks like to "make a disciple". Oh, I've definitely seen my share of discipleship programs and initiatives. Most of them have contained good ideas, but I always felt like there was something missing. Some of these programs are basically intellectual exercises where you "learn" how to be a better disciple... sort of like a home study course. Many look like a younger person meeting with an older person once a week so the older person can tell the younger person all the stuff they know. Some use a basic strategy while others look like a graduate level theology course. Some people simply read the rest of verse 19 and 20 where it mentions baptizing and teaching and say "That's it. Discipleship is baptizing and teaching". The only problem is there are tons of people running around who have been baptized and taught lots of stuff, but they still don't look much like Jesus. We all know them. In fact, most of us have been them.

I remember sitting in my office one day, thinking and praying about discipleship. Frustrated that what I'd been taught didn't seem to play out in the real world. Then a thought came to mind... "How did Jesus do it?". I knew it was the H.S. talking. I felt like an idiot for not starting from the start. Didn't Jesus invent discipleship? Shouldn't we start by looking at his process? Not rocket science. I am slow.

How did Jesus do it?

In Matthew 4:18-22 we read an account of Jesus calling his first disciples:

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

This is probably one of the best known scriptures in the church. As a small child, I remember hearing it in Sunday School, accompanied by a baby blue felt board and cut out disciples, boats, and fish. All very colorful. But nobody ever asks the question...

Then what?

Okay, they ditched their dad in the boat. What happened next?

As we read Matthew, we see that Jesus did something most church leaders would never do. He took his brand new very green disciples and they immediately began to do ministry together...

they were there at the sermon on the mount...

he taught them the reason why he came...

how to deal with anger and lust...

to love their enemies and care for the poor...

to invest their lives wisely...

the golden rule and how to build their lives on him...

that being a disciple may very well cost them everything...

then he calmed their anxieties by calming the storm.

Then you know what he did? He turned to them and said, "Now it's your turn. Go and do what you've seen me do. Don't be afraid, because I'll be with you... and you'll have my authority... but you have to go." 

Then it suddenly became crystal clear. Jesus didn't just baptize. He didn't just teach. He gave his life to his disciples... and he didn't wait until the crucifixion. It started in Matthew 4.

Who are you giving your life to?

?

GO.

"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..." - Matthew 28:18-19 ESV


The statement above represents the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples before he physically left them. For the past three years they had heard him teach, but more than that, they had lived life together...  blood, sweat, and tears. They were the first people since Adam and Eve to exist in true physical community with Christ at the center of their lives individually and corporately. And now, in a moment, life as they have known it would end. This was the last time they'd hear the passionate voice of their Messiah. This was the last time they would see his face weathered and look into his eyes that were like windows into the essence of life and love. This was the last time they would feel the warmth of his embrace and smell the outdoors in his homespun cloak. The past three years had been like a musical score, building to this. This moment on this mountian. The crescendo.


What would their Messiah say to them in this unforgettable moment? What final words could he gift them with? What would transition them into the next chapter of this incredible journey?


GO.


Why "Go"? 
Simply put, because we want to stay. Throughout history mankind has had a desire to stay right were they are... where it's comfortable. With people who look like them, think like them, and talk like them. We see this early in our history with the men of Babel in Genesis 11.  God told mankind to go an fill the earth, but they chose to stay and build a monument to their own greatness. 4000 years later, we see the same thing. Some of us tend to call our towers churches.


Why "Go"?

Because to stay is to live life on our own terms, finding fulfillment in what we've built or acquired... stuff, relationships, anything that isn't the real thing. Just like the Jews in Number 21:8-9 and 2 Kings 18:4 we take the blessings in our lives which are simply the products of God's grace and mercy to his children, and we turn them into our own personal idols. We begin to receive meaning and self-worth from what we have and who we have... instead of who has us.


Why "Go"? 

Because not only was that Christ's mandate, it was the pattern of his life. Jesus Christ is our missional example. His life is what we aspire to, but not only that, his missional life is available to us today. Christ is still on the move, just as he was 2000 years ago. If Christ is our life, we must also go.


"Set your minds on things above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." - Colossians 3:2-3 ESV


Next: "MAKE DISCIPLES".

You Cannot Live In Sin

by Neil Carter

Did you know that you cannot live in sin? Well that's exactly what Paul says in the first two verses of chapter six! He anticipates the objection that grace encourages people to sin in order to get more grace. Apparently, some had accused Paul of encouraging sin in just this way (Rom.3:8), and he replies with a claim that will knock your socks off! He asks, ''How shall we who died to sin still live in it?''(6:2). Do not attempt to dilute this radical statement with theological qualifications. He said you can't live in sin. I know exactly what your response is (so did he), but hold on and let him finish this entire section of the letter (chapter 6-8). But before we move on to what Paul says next, let John reinforce this truth in his own incredible words. 

First of all, John says of Christ, ''in Him there is no sin'' (1 John 3:5). But we are ''in Him.'' Doesn't that mean there is no sin in us, either? Keep reading. ''No one who lives in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him'' (v.6). If this is not enough, read this one last arresting statement: ''No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed lives in him; indeed he cannot sin, because he is born of God'' (v.9). How does that declaration strike you? 

What we are beginning to see is that we are merely vessels, either of wrath or of mercy (Rom.9:22-23). Just as a branch can only produce the fruit of whatever tree it belongs to, so a vessel does not have an identity of its own. It receives its identity and purpose from whatever it contains. Because we are vessels, we have always received our identity from someone else. But sin has deceived us into thinking that we have an independent identity which we constitute by our actions. This is the great lie, and it continues to deceive both unbelievers and believers to this day. For the rest of chapter six (vv. 12-23), Paul uses the metaphor of slavery to describe our condition. A slave has no life of his own, but must do whatever his master tells him. That is all we have ever been! But sin deceived us into thinking we were free men (and women) while all along we were ''slaves to sin'' (vv.17,20). This deepens our problem because, now that we are believers, we still believe we are free men and thus capable of going back under sin's mastery. Therefore, whenever we act like sinners we are sinners, and we've gone back to our old selves. But what we do not see is that we are now slaves of righteousness! 

Redefining Church

Disciples Church is about more than just starting another church. It's not about simply making more of the types of churches we already have. In a very real sense, DC is about redefining "church". By that, I mean changing the perception many pre-disciples have of what church is all about. Polls show that many pre-disciples have a very negative view of the church institution. Rather than just reading what books say about this, I encourage you to conduct your own "poll". Talk to the pre-disciples you do life with every day. Ask then what they think of when they think of church. If they share negative experiences, simply say "I'm so sorry that happened to you. What do you think church should be about?" Their answers will probably be eye opening and insightful. Shouldn't we care what pre-disciples think about us? Shouldn't we ask about what's important to them?