Discipleship
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him,
"If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you
will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." – John 8:31-32
We all
love the idea of a cuddly little baby. But within a few short years, these
babies grow up into room wrecking, mess makers! And then they develop this
strange idea that they should be allowed to drive!
Jesus
told us that we are to go out and make disciples[1]. Sometimes we get on our
Tuesday-night-door-to-door visitation or our mass evangelization kicks and
forget that the Great Commission went on to say that we were to not only get
them converted, but also baptized, taught and obedient.
We must fight
the 'independent' attitude today in which we let everyone learn by himself. Can
a child raise himself? Perhaps, but what kind of person will he or she be? How
many handicaps could they have avoided if they had a loving, caring adult
guiding them to maturity?
We need to
think through where we want our spiritual children to be in areas of giving,
discipling, evangelizing, family care, loving of neighbors, etc. We can not
just assume that people know the right thing to do.
Some people
think that discipleship takes place automatically with church attendance. But
the average service is usually too general in its approach and not specifically
targeted to the needs of a new Christian.
Some people
think that discipleship will simply just happen. But Jesus’ teachings are too counter-cultural
and contradictory to the innate sin nature to spontaneously be learned without
work. And learning is a constant process. Discipleship is not merely for new
Christians. We never outgrow the need to grow!
Discipleship
is far more than a twelve-week program. Discipleship is a lifestyle. It’s like
a diet. If you go off your diet and back to your old ways, you’ll start
reverting to your old shape too! Like parenting, discipling or mentoring never
ends.
I wish someone
had taken me aside when I was a young Christian and guided me in what I should
do, how I should live and how to study the Bible. It would have made a
tremendous difference in my Christian life. I blundered about. Fortunately, God
slowly weaned me through this process. As a church elder, I’m trying to save
you from a lot of the mistakes that I made so that you may someday surpass me
in your spiritual walk.
That’s what
discipleship is. It’s not enough to bear Christ children. You also need to do
your part in raising them so that one day they can surpass you. That was the
Master’s attitude. He said, "I
assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he
will do even greater works than these[2]”