Making Disciples
"You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." 2 Timothy 2:1-2
This morning at Green Street Baptist Church pastor Brandon Ware talked about this passage in his sermon series on how we are sent to make disciples. He stated that the agenda for the church "involves multiplication of disciples." Paul was encouraging this in the above passage in 2 Timothy when he told Timothy to entrust what he had heard to other reliable people. It is the process of multiplication by each disciple in turn discipling others.
I do believe that it is one of the premises of scripture that we are to share what God says to us. It is not meant to be something that we keep to ourselves. This profits both us and others. It helps us to solidify in our hearts and minds what we have learned by sharing it with others. It also helps others to grow by learning from us. We become a bigger part of kingdom growth when we do this. This is best done not in a classroom, but one to one, during our daily lives as we get opportunities.
I'm not knocking Sunday School or other formal classes. I just wondered as I sat in church if the church would look any different from a program perspective or even from the viewpoint of how the church operates day in and day out if we really believed that one to one discipleship was the best means for disciples to be made. I've been a believer for 31 years and I can't remember too many times that one person discipled me in a one to one manner. It seems to me that we have institutionalize the church to the extent that we believe only the people up at the front have a right to make disciples or to teach others.
Perhaps this has to do with the idea of the separation between clergy and laity that has been such a strong part of the church over the last 1,500 years. Because the subtle message of sitting in a congregation is that God is moving up there and we are all spectators. If we truly believe that discipleship best happens when one person sits down with one person and mentors and disciples them then why does the church look so much like a spectator sport instead of a discussion?
Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20, NIV
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
From this we can see that Jesus told his disciples to go and make disciples. The word disciple is a follower or learner. It is someone who sits at the feet of and then goes and shares what he or she has learned. The disciples ate with Jesus and were with him 24/7. They saw how he handled stressful people and situations. They saw his mercy and his patience firsthand. They watched how the gospel is to be lived out. He invested 3 years of his earthly life to them and spent an awful lot of time with them. So much so, that John said that all the world would probably not be able to hold all the books if all of it were written down.
This seems to confirm for me that the act of making disciples is not an act that can be caught and multipled in a classroom setting alone. Young believers need other more mature believers to help them to learn how this thing called the christian life is to be lived out. It seems like the "how to" of the christian faith is more caught that taught. Or maybe it is taught by how it is absorbed by watching someone more mature live out their faith. This is harder than teaching a scripture passage in a classroom because it demands for the older believer to live out what he or she says and to be a good example.
I think this may give many people pause about taking up the act of discipling another person. Because they realize that if someone were to witness the way they live they would see the flaws in it. The times when we do not always do what we say. The times when we do not rise up to the occasion. So, instead of sharing what we know, we don't do anything. We hesitate because guilt or shame at some things in the past keep us from doing what we know. I think this is a mistake because we also grow as believer in the process of mentoring someone else. I think that shame or sense of "not being good enough" keeps a lot of believers from doing what God wants to do. Let's leave it up to the big guys with the degrees. Instead of truly believing the great commission was written to you and me as well and to those who pastor churches or lead evangelistic missions.
This morning at Green Street Baptist Church pastor Brandon Ware talked about this passage in his sermon series on how we are sent to make disciples. He stated that the agenda for the church "involves multiplication of disciples." Paul was encouraging this in the above passage in 2 Timothy when he told Timothy to entrust what he had heard to other reliable people. It is the process of multiplication by each disciple in turn discipling others.
I do believe that it is one of the premises of scripture that we are to share what God says to us. It is not meant to be something that we keep to ourselves. This profits both us and others. It helps us to solidify in our hearts and minds what we have learned by sharing it with others. It also helps others to grow by learning from us. We become a bigger part of kingdom growth when we do this. This is best done not in a classroom, but one to one, during our daily lives as we get opportunities.
I'm not knocking Sunday School or other formal classes. I just wondered as I sat in church if the church would look any different from a program perspective or even from the viewpoint of how the church operates day in and day out if we really believed that one to one discipleship was the best means for disciples to be made. I've been a believer for 31 years and I can't remember too many times that one person discipled me in a one to one manner. It seems to me that we have institutionalize the church to the extent that we believe only the people up at the front have a right to make disciples or to teach others.
Perhaps this has to do with the idea of the separation between clergy and laity that has been such a strong part of the church over the last 1,500 years. Because the subtle message of sitting in a congregation is that God is moving up there and we are all spectators. If we truly believe that discipleship best happens when one person sits down with one person and mentors and disciples them then why does the church look so much like a spectator sport instead of a discussion?
Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20, NIV
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
From this we can see that Jesus told his disciples to go and make disciples. The word disciple is a follower or learner. It is someone who sits at the feet of and then goes and shares what he or she has learned. The disciples ate with Jesus and were with him 24/7. They saw how he handled stressful people and situations. They saw his mercy and his patience firsthand. They watched how the gospel is to be lived out. He invested 3 years of his earthly life to them and spent an awful lot of time with them. So much so, that John said that all the world would probably not be able to hold all the books if all of it were written down.
This seems to confirm for me that the act of making disciples is not an act that can be caught and multipled in a classroom setting alone. Young believers need other more mature believers to help them to learn how this thing called the christian life is to be lived out. It seems like the "how to" of the christian faith is more caught that taught. Or maybe it is taught by how it is absorbed by watching someone more mature live out their faith. This is harder than teaching a scripture passage in a classroom because it demands for the older believer to live out what he or she says and to be a good example.
I think this may give many people pause about taking up the act of discipling another person. Because they realize that if someone were to witness the way they live they would see the flaws in it. The times when we do not always do what we say. The times when we do not rise up to the occasion. So, instead of sharing what we know, we don't do anything. We hesitate because guilt or shame at some things in the past keep us from doing what we know. I think this is a mistake because we also grow as believer in the process of mentoring someone else. I think that shame or sense of "not being good enough" keeps a lot of believers from doing what God wants to do. Let's leave it up to the big guys with the degrees. Instead of truly believing the great commission was written to you and me as well and to those who pastor churches or lead evangelistic missions.
