"Go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey my commands and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the age."
We are all probably pretty familiar with this verse. Infact I wouldn't doubt if most of the people who have ever talked about or written about discipleship pull this verse out at some point. In fact people use this verse to talk about missions, small group bible studies, baptisms, the trintiy and a flurry of other things. They were the last words of Jesus that Mathew recorded. They are important. Its kinda like the Post Script on the letter of the life of Jesus. It's the important closing statement, the words that are left echoing on the ears of all those present. I wonder how long it took for them to begin speaking again. I wonder how long before they put those words into action into their own lives
And yet, so often when we read this verse or even recite it from memory, it gets the same un-impassioned reading that we often give to John 3:16. You know the one I'm talking about. Slightly monotone, slightly annoyed, with all the excitement and passion of a rock. Yuck. I once heard a guy say that familiarity breeds un-familiarity. What I mean is this: we are often so aware of the notion that we disciples of chirst and that one of our jobs on earth is to make disciples of other people, that we often don't even ask ourselves if we really know what discipleship is, and if we are really involed in discipleship.
"Follow me"
Just two simple words spoken as a command. Jesus would meet these cast out guys, fishermen, tax collectors, and the like, and then he would say "follow me" and they would go. Now Rob BellA has an amazing description of what it meant to be a disciple in the 1st century, but the jist of it is this: disciples were expected to be so close, and so involved in the life of the person they were following that they became like them, doing the same things that the rabbi did. Peter steps out of the boat not because he belives in Jesus, but because Jesus belived in Peter, that Peter could become like his Rabbi.
Our first and formost responsibilty is to answer the call of Jesus on our life. It is not enough to have mere intelectual assent to a set of doctrines or a standard of conduct. We must be actively pursuing and following in the steps of Jesus. This is a reminder and awake up call. If you picked this up to read it, I am assuming that you are a christian and probably some sort of leader as well. Something Ive learned as of late is what I call the "me first" rule. When God speaks, when something jumps of the page of His Word, or when I hear sermons and messages, its all for me first. Simply put, I am not a channel of information from God to the people around me, I am a follower of God. I noticed this first in my quiet times, where I would read and say things like so-and-so needs to hear this and this person would totally be blessed by this. I would listen to sermons and hope that certain people in the audience were listening up. But I was just pushing away the things that God wanted to pour into my own life so that I wasn't giving others something I had read, but rather some thing that was a part of my own life. Then comes the next part.
"Follow me like I follow Christ"
Pauls call is the model for our discipleship to day. What it looks like is this. I follow Jesus; he changes and shapes my life, teaches me things and grows me up. Then God brings along someone else who needs what we got, teaching, encouragement, admonishment. A warning and an ecouragement: our disciples will become like us, for good and for bad. I've seen amazing replication of amazing people in their diciples, who have a passion for the lost, a hunger for the word and a longing for God. I've also seen those same people pick up nervous habits of the one who disciples.
I could give you this perfect picture of what discipleship should look like. You spend 15 minutes discussing personal struggles and joy, then 25 minutes discussing the book or scripture that you read durring the week, and then 10 minutes praying for one another. But true discipleship is messy. Its getting involved in peoples lives to such an extent, that you can look across a crowded room and know what a person is stuggling with. I know. Ive been called out like that. Discipleship is loving a person so much that you cant bear to see them stay as they are. Its invasive and uncomfortable sometimes. Especially for us, because we see so many kids perishing that it can be overwhelming to have 50 kids that you are responsible for, right? But in our group down in Lake Elsinore I have seen one man's investment in a handfil of guys change our youth group. Because he replicated the heart and passion that he had for God and for students into these guys, and now they come and serve on Sunday nights and througout the week and they are now discipling others. But it wasn't a one month investment, or 6 months or a year. They are going on three years. And this guy has commited to them for life. Its true that these guys don't need as much guidence as they once did. They've learned to go to the sorce for guidence and for teaching and to hear from God. But he is still there to pray and support and encourage. He wants to see them grow up to be mighty men of God, who allow God and not the world to influence and change them.
This is where we should all want to be because lets get honest for a moment. Two hours on Sunday morning and two hours of youth group are not enough. Not enough to get inside the lives and heads and hearts of the kids that you are ministering to. Now Im not discounting the miraculus working of God in our youth groups, but there is only so much growth that can happen in four hours a week. It takes us getting involved in our kids lives. Its more that just meeting once a week. Its going to games, seeing shows, reading the bible with them, late night phone calls, seeing their rooms, and chating with them on myspace. Its picking them up in your car and running errends, and letting them see the way that you and your wife handle arguments, and opening the doors of your house to be a sanctuary from the world. Its all that and more because discipleship is not something we do. It's a way of living.
I want to live my life in such a way that my radical enthusiasm becomes their radical enthusiam.
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