Reason #4 Failure to Make Disciples
Our mandate from the Lord is pretty simple and straight forward:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20)
Our job, under the authority of the King, is to make disciples. The rest of these instructions tell us how to do that. However, most of us come from the culture of Christendom which isn’t very good at making actual disciples of Jesus, but is quite good at turning people into ineffective cultural Christians. Consequently, our tendency is to bring this same ineffectual behavior into simple churches, which turns new Christians into converts and church attendees, instead of disciples of Jesus. I’d like to point out four issues in making disciples of Jesus.
They are Jesus’ Disciples, Not Ours
We should never try to make someone our disciple. They are Jesus’ disciples, not ours. They are Jesus disciples, not members of a certain congregation, theological persuasion or denomination. They are Jesus’ disciples not “simple church Christians.” Our only goal should be to help them connect to Jesus and become his disciple. Jesus’ disciples obey him. They do not do this in some legalistic or vague way; they hear his specific commands and they obey. That’s what disciples do.
Disciples Listen and Teach Others to Do the Same
Many of us, who have come from an evangelical background, struggle having an actual, experiential relationship with Jesus. We know how to study our Bible, we pray or at least go through the motions, but the truth is we don’t actually know how to relate to the Jesus who lives in our souls. We don’t know how to have a two way conversation with the Jesus who speaks to our hearts and minds (Heb. 8:10). We don’t actually know how to be in a new covenant relationship with him. We can’t be a disciple of someone we can’t hear. Do you know how to discern his voice? Can you distinguish it from the voices of the world, the flesh and the devil? Do you listen for his specific commands to you? Do you obey them?
Disciples Obey and Teach Others to Do the Same
To be an actual disciple means we obey, not merely “know about.” That’s why Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (Jn. 14:15) This is not a statement of legalism (merely obey my written rules); it is a statement coming from covenant relationship (obey what I specifically say to you). His sheep hear his voice, those who are truly his disciples obey (Jn. 10:27).
When I disciple a newly planted church, I teach them five obedience skills.[1] When they show me they can follow Jesus in these skills, they have become his disciples. The five obedience skills are these:
- Read the Bible as a personal conversation with Jesus. Obey what he tells you to do.
- Pray as a personal conversation with Jesus. Obey what he tells you to do.
- As a group, pray, listen, obey.
- As a group invite the Spirit of Jesus to lead. Obey what he tells you to do (see: Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church).
- Pray for those who need Jesus. If Jesus tells you to talk with someone, obey.
Only Disciples Can Make Disciples
If we are to teach others to be disciples of Jesus, we must be disciples ourselves. We can only teach what we actually live ourselves. If our discipleship of others isn’t coming from actual life experience, it isn’t discipleship at all; it is just passing along information; or worse, abusing power. Perhaps that is what we learned when others tried to disciple us, but true discipleship is much more; it is helping people learn to obey Jesus their Lord.
For more posts on Jesus centered discipleship see: Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church, Starting on the Wrong Foot, Integrity and Ministry with Jesus as Lord.
- Are you an actual disciple of Jesus, or just someone who has lots of Bible information?
- How can we become more faithful disciples of Jesus?
- When we actually see others become disciples of Jesus, what is our next step?
[1] This is what Jesus has given me. The power comes from Jesus, not a technique. If Jesus wants you to use this, go ahead. But you should obey Jesus, not some technique.
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Nice thoughts…so how do we actually can make disciples?
Keep writing!
Hi Philippines,
I’ll keep writing, but Jesus is going to have your specific answers. They’ll come through prayer and getting around people who are good at listening and discerning (prophets). Find them, spend time with them, listen together and let Jesus tell you all what to do. Think of prophets as antenna and the apostolic people as receivers. They need to be connected to work properly. One tends to receive the information, the other, in the power of the Spirit knows what to do with it. But those are not hard and fast rules. My closest prophetic partner likes to tell me the more he is around me the more apostolic he is. The more I’m around him, the better I hear. See: Building on the Right Foundation, the post from July 6, 2010.
Ross
It is quite interesting that my KJV Bible does not use the word “disciple” in these verses. It uses the more straight forward “teach all nations” and then clarifies the meaning by adding, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”.
Since what we have is a family relationship, with mothers and fathers to nurture the young, and brothers and sisters in relationship, we can go to the simplicity of how a family operates in “teaching” all nations. All peoples understand how family relates.
The siblings care for each other. Once they have heard the will of the father, they are usually sure to remind their siblings of what he said to them. They enjoy being together in the presence of the father. And older siblings appropriately carry a responsibility for the welfare of the younger. But each one knows the accounability they share, older or younger.
Its only when one comes between the sibling and the father, speaking for the father rather than with Him, hindering the sibling from hearing the father and demanding obedience to his or her own words instead, that an institution arises. And man again loses sight of God. Making disciples is not hard at all, and every simple church can do it!
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for your insight. I think your comments on the family aspect are good. We don’t want to act like an older sibling who “speaks for the father” instead of a responsible siblings who care for each other. When I train on discipleship I actually do a little role play. I walk through various scenarios. 1) I step between the person playing Jesus and the person playing the “new Christian” taking them by the hand and forcing them to follow me. I then say “This is not discipleship.” 2) I put my arm around the shoulder of the “new Christian,” we walk together towards Jesus. I then say even this isn’t discipleship. 3) I get behind the “new Christian” pointing towards the person playing Jesus and say “There he is, go find him.” Then I give them a little shove in the direction of Jesus. This is discipleship. Finally I say, “Never step between Jesus and a disciple.”
I did look up the word translated “make disciple” or “teach” out of curiosity. “Make disciples” is a better translation but the way the KJV rendered it as “teach” is OK, just not particularly a full idea. Making disciples is more than “teaching.” Teaching, at least in our culture, implies “information download.” Discipleship is much more than that and often much different than that. Also, making disciples starts with introducing people to Jesus. It isn’t merely teaching them about Jesus once they are Christians. They need to know him so they can experience salvation. One of my frustrations with Christianity, as we currently experience it in the West, is that there is quite a bit of information download but not a lot of experience with Jesus himself. Making disciples is about helping people experience and obey Jesus himself.
By the way, my particular favorite definition of discipleship is “helping someone take one step closer to Jesus.” If we see discipleship like this, we can disciple everyone we come in contact with. It doesn’t need to be a formal “discipleship relationship.” And, much of our discipleship can be tacit, without the other person having to understand and agree with a particular idea, nor does it have to come to a definite conclusion. We are just helping them take a step on a journey, not trying to get them to the end of the journey right away.
Ross
“If we are to teach others to be disciples of Jesus, we must be disciples ourselves. We can only teach what we actually live ourselves. If our discipleship of others isn’t coming from actual life experience, it isn’t discipleship at all; it is just passing along information; or worse, abusing power.”
It’s the “passing along information” bit that’s so jabbing. I find it easy to fall into the trap of simply passing on Bible knowledge or training someone to do a certain ministry task. However, the heart of the quest–as you state–is helping people become disciples of HIM.
I’m actually about to embark on a discipleship journey with about 8 eager men (most of whom are young in the Lord) and I’m looking forward to implementing some of the ideas of connecting people to Jesus that you’ve listed in this post.
Thanks!