Among the final words of Christ our Lord are these, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19 - 20.
To make disciples is the objective Christ has left us, His church. Funny how we make a mess of this and confuse this primary mission with many other misguided (though well intended) objectives these days. I have seen missions of churches that want to “make Jesus famous,” while others just want to “provide a safe place for your families.” Yet others (some of the larger more notable churches) seem bent on making us happier in this life by assuring us that we can have our best now.
I think I know why this is. The change in focus, I mean, from Jesus' primary command to the periphery issues. You see, it seems to me, that the periphery (happiness, safety, and fame) are all relatively easy when compared to the prospect of disciple-making. We seem to be very good at the former. We pretty much have the pursuit of those things down to a science. The latter, disciple-making, however, is not only difficult work, but we find that it is messy, untidy, and imminently difficult to gauge with modern measurements. Afterall, I can gauge my happiness by how I feel, but what is the gauge that checks my disciple-making pulse? Do I have a long list of converts following me around? Or is it that I have, when given opportunity, loved my neigbhor as myself? Perhaps it is because I tithe 10% of my income to the local church and then give other resources away to charities and agencies of compassion in my community?
While those are, no doubt, indications of a strong belief system, if we spend too much time there, disciple-making deteriorates into a ritualistic exercise of checking the boxes everyday day, week, or month. At that point, we have created a kind of hybrid disciple-making enterprise. While it is certainly not anti-Christian neither is it fully Christian.
No, disciple-making comes down to this: Seeing Christ for who He is and responding to that reality with all of our life! Notice the disciples in Luke 19 as Jesus makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. They are the ones among the crowds and throngs of people who see Christ for who is really is. They recognize Him as Lord and because they recognize Him as Lord they respond by shouting, “Hosanna in the Highest!” Funny thing. You see, the disciples were the leaders of the crowd that day. Because they saw Christ for who He was and responded with their whole life (as expressed in their praise and ultimately in their own deaths for His cause) the others around them responded, too. Yes, they made an impact on those around them by simply being a disciple.
I think that you and I need to get back to this single truth upon which disciple-making is built: We see Him as Lord and follow Him with our life! Once this happens those other focuses and false missions become decidedly less important and ultimately we will see them as interference. Join me this weekend at WCC as we take a look at who He really His and how we should respond.
Grace and Peace!
Biz
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