I think when we talk about discipleship, we often focus on being disciples: who is investing into me, who is connecting with me, who is helping me in my walk. All important stuff, of course. I think we need to be disciples. We need to find people further along in their journey and be challenged, encouraged, and shaped by them. We need to find people willing to journey with us for the long haul. We need to be open to the challenge, to the direction, and to the wisdom of a person who walks with us.
But a funny thing happens when we talk about discipling. No one knows what to do about it. We want to be discipled, but we are too afraid, too timid, feel too unworthy to disciple another. But that is exactly what we are called to.
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.
So, it is not just a question of what does it mean to disciple, it is also a question of who and how. We need to be so bold as to say, like Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." The Greek word, mathetes, comes from the verb manthano, which means "to learn".
Conversely, to disciple, then, means that we are willing to take the posture of a teacher, to show the example, to lead the way. We are teaching others to live for Christ, love like Christ, serve like Christ. We humbly take on the responsibility that we have been called to: to make disciples and to teach them how to live for Christ. HUGE responsibility, but one we have been called to nonetheless.
A grade 7 student pointed this out to me the other day. It is something I have been thinking on a great deal lately, and he simply said, "we need to be discipling others, that's what we're supposed to do." Yup. So true.
I think we need to break through the insecurities of not feeling good enough to "make disciples", or feeling inadequate in who we are, or not feeling spiritual enough, or being too busy, or not feeling knowledgeable enough - we all need to tuck away our excuses and confront this thing called discipleship.
You want to be discipled? It doesn't have to be a crazy revelatory moment when you ask a wise elder to teach you their ways. It can be simple. Finding someone you know, trust, respect, and whose journey with Christ you know is a few paces further on than your own. And ask them questions. Tell them your story. Do life with them. Learn from them. Be open and honest with them. Ask them to pray for you. Be open handed with them about your struggles and failures, joys and accomplishments.
But, I would say this, if you want to be discipled (which I hope you do!), you should also be willing to disciple. When you are being invested into, you should also be willing to invest into others. Ask them life questions. Ask them tough questions. Have light chats. Have heavy conversations. Have Godversations. Have fun. Cry a little. Laugh a lot.
This is the body of Christ.
Brothers and sisters at various places in their journey, loving, supporting, and challenging one another in their walk. Making disciples, bringing new people to Christ, pushing those who already have a relationship with Him further along, and doing these things for the kingdom. Even if we all committed to discipling one or two other people, what a cool kingdom win we would see in that chain reaction.
So, let's do it. Let's answer the call of Christ to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey the commands he has given to us. We were created for this.
1 comment:
Great reminder that too often we focus to much on being discipled, on what we get. We definitely need to keep an awareness and commitment to pouring into the lives of other followers of Jesus. Great post!
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