Discipleship. A word that I never used to use or never used to know what it even meant has almost become a cliche word for me this month. I’ve probably referenced this idea over 100 times here in Malawi. Why has this word gone from obscurity to overuse in such a short span? I think I may have finally gotten a glimpse to the importance of one of the most crucial teachings in the Bible.
Two thousand years ago, a pretty important fellow gave us the format for how discipleship should go down. When you are lead by the Spirit and are in tune with what the Father is telling you, you turn around and pour out to people around you.
When Jesus decided that it was time to start His ministry, He realized how important His ministry was to this world and He knew that He needed some pretty awesome guys to back Him up. When He decided this, He headed straight for the synagogues and institutions to find the most educated, biblically sound men He could find in all of Israel …. wait, that’s not right. Yeah, we know the story. He had the audacity to walk down to the local fishery and grab a handful of knuckleheads. These hardheaded, uneducated men were the ones that were going to walk in His footsteps and learn from the Master. Good luck changing the world with guys that can barely make a living fishing, Jesus!
Well, through His example we can see the importance and the effectiveness of discipleship. In His time on this planet, Jesus was determined to spend as much time with His “best buddies” as possible. If there was ever a crowd He didn’t want to preach to, He would retreat and just spend time with His disciples. Whenever He taught something that went over everybody’s head (He never did that did He?), He would take His disciples to the side and ask them if they understood what He was teaching. If not, He would tell them that they should have, then proceed to teach them more in depth. These lucky guys got a behind the scenes pass to the four gospels. What’s even crazier is the amount of fellowship and teachings He had for one man… Peter.
Peter, Peter, Peter… If someone were to take bets on a man that was going to change the world, Peter would have been given some pretty horrible odds. One of the most hardheaded, quick to speak, slow to learn men that has ever walked this planet. Just think of the things that Jesus did to get His message through to Peter. Jesus allowed him to see the transfiguration, allowed him to walk on water (then fail, then get back up and walk again back to the boat), allowed him to pray with Him in the garden (fail), etc. The list would go on forever if we knew the totality of all of Jesus’ actions while He was here on earth. Yet, with all of these opportunities to learn, what happens when Jesus gets taken from the disciples? Peter stands up and takes on His burden and begins preaching the gospel during Jesus’ trials … nope, wrong story again. The guy that Jesus had spent countless hours with during His ministry years decides to deny the man that loved him with all of His heart. I guess all of those teachings were really paying off. We know the story though, after the resurrection, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His followers. He said that the Spirit would come shortly after He was gone. Once Peter received the Holy Spirit, he decided it was time to put all of Jesus’ teachings and wisdom into practice. Three years before, Peter spent all of his time fishing trying to make a living, now, he was one of a very select few that was given the task of spreading one of the most radical messages that has ever been on this planet. I guess you can say that he did a pretty good job of it. Thanks to the disciples’ faithfulness and obedience to the calling, the gospel has spread nearly all over the world. If they would have taken the Spirit and kept Him to themselves, nobody would have ever heard the Good News. In three years time, Jesus had transformed the minds and souls of these once ordinary men. Now, they were walking the planet with the authority of the Father, and doing the “greater things” that Jesus said that they would do (John 14:12). The whole book of Acts could almost be retitled, “Rewards of Discipleship.” Jesus’ buddies are the reason that we know about the Gospel. If He would not have taken these men aside and constantly urged them further and further into His wisdom, they would not have done with the Spirit what they did.
Yeah, great story about Jesus and how His ministry in turn changed the world … duh! Well, the good news is that your ministry can be just as effective as His. What? My mind must not be with it this morning! No, you read that correctly. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus speaks power and authority over His disciples. The cool thing is that those exact things that He spoke over them, He is speaking over you at this very moment. Read John 17, and see how you feel about yourself after reading it. That whole chapter is one of the most amazing prayers that Jesus prays over His believers. Take heart in the fact that, if He has called you, He has equipped you. What do we do with this Good News and the power of the Father and Spirit? We find people to share it with!
The awesome thing is that this sharing doesn’t require you to awkwardly approach a new stranger everyday in hopes that this is the lucky day that you find somebody ready to “accept” Christ. Instead, Jesus commands us to make disciples (not believers) of all nations. A disciple is one that is willing to dive into the message of his leader and give up what he is asked to sacrifice. A believer is someone that believes in the message, but the message doesn’t really change the believer. I’m a believer of many things, but these things that I believe are true really don’t effect my life. I believe that chocolate is delicious, golf is the best sport in the world, and The Dark Knight is one of the best movies of all time. Do these things radically change the way I live my life? Not at all! I am, however, a disciple of Christ. I do not claim to know everything that He has taught, nor do I walk in the authority that He has placed over me…yet. However, I am walking towards that person. I am pursuing it everyday. May we become disciples of Jesus instead of believers. It is a hard line to cross, but He calls you to cross it, and He gives you protection and love once you do cross it.
But don’t stop by simply crossing the line. Once you become His disciple, begin answering the Great Commission. Begin doing what our Savior did during His time on earth. Find a handful of knuckleheads that you have faith in. These people are the ones that you will pour yourself out into. These are the people that you are going to usher deeper and deeper into the “narrow way.” Jesus believed and practiced discipleship. John the Baptist had his own set of disciples. Paul had a group of disciples. That’s a pretty good list of people to follow their ministry plan.
I encourage you to find some people to start building that kind of relationship. Their is a two prong attack to be continually going deeper and deeper into the will of God. You need 2 different people in your life at all times. The first person you need is a Paul. Your Paul will continually pour wisdom into you, continually check up on you, and if this is a good Paul, will probably continually tick you off. This is the person that will become your spiritual elder. You will grow to respect and admire this person for the faithfulness that they have in the Lord. The second person you need is a Timothy. This is the person that you are constantly pouring out to. Your heart breaks for even the smallest things in their life. You are willing to give up anything in order to see him go further into the will of the Lord.
Well I know that that was very long and had nothing to do with our ministry or what has been going on here in Malawi, but it is a good lesson for any Christian at any point in their walk with the Lord. I just so happened to learn about the importance of this concept while on the race.
