"make disciples of all nations." Matt 28:19
The instructions Jesus gave us were explicit and direct. The purpose of the Christian faith is discipleship. It's a tall order, and frankly we might not be very good at it, even after two thousand years. We are very good at putting together impressive Sunday worship services. No one quite does it like the 21st century church. We can put on a show like the best Broadway production can offer. Nothing wrong there, but frankly that wasn't our direct assignment. Jesus is more interested in 12 disciples than 12,000 fair-weather friends. Disciples change the world because they're in it for the long haul--through the good, the bad and the ugly. Disciple-making is no easy task--it takes time, commitment and personal dedication. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: "I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending you Timothy . . ." (1 Cor. 4:16-17). Paul was so confident in his discipleship of Timothy, he could send him as a representative of himself and say, "You can learn everything about me by watching him." To put it simply, discipleship is about replication. It's teaching others who can teach others who can teach others. The process isn't complete until the person I am discipling can do what I am doing--and then he actually does it. The reason this was important to Jesus is probably obvious: he was about to leave. If his disciples didn't learn to replicate the process he began, the whole mission would have ended in Galilee. No doubt there were times when it looked that way! But Jesus didn't give up. Eventually they got it, and the world has never been the same. Someday this process will extend to every nation, tribe and language. When it does, we will be able to trace back the steps to those men in Galilee two thousand years ago. They said Yes to Jesus and unleashed a movement that has gone to the ends of the earth.
Heavenly Father, grant me a willing heart to invest my life in others as you have in me.
#eternalinvesting
The instructions Jesus gave us were explicit and direct. The purpose of the Christian faith is discipleship. It's a tall order, and frankly we might not be very good at it, even after two thousand years. We are very good at putting together impressive Sunday worship services. No one quite does it like the 21st century church. We can put on a show like the best Broadway production can offer. Nothing wrong there, but frankly that wasn't our direct assignment. Jesus is more interested in 12 disciples than 12,000 fair-weather friends. Disciples change the world because they're in it for the long haul--through the good, the bad and the ugly. Disciple-making is no easy task--it takes time, commitment and personal dedication. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: "I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending you Timothy . . ." (1 Cor. 4:16-17). Paul was so confident in his discipleship of Timothy, he could send him as a representative of himself and say, "You can learn everything about me by watching him." To put it simply, discipleship is about replication. It's teaching others who can teach others who can teach others. The process isn't complete until the person I am discipling can do what I am doing--and then he actually does it. The reason this was important to Jesus is probably obvious: he was about to leave. If his disciples didn't learn to replicate the process he began, the whole mission would have ended in Galilee. No doubt there were times when it looked that way! But Jesus didn't give up. Eventually they got it, and the world has never been the same. Someday this process will extend to every nation, tribe and language. When it does, we will be able to trace back the steps to those men in Galilee two thousand years ago. They said Yes to Jesus and unleashed a movement that has gone to the ends of the earth.
Heavenly Father, grant me a willing heart to invest my life in others as you have in me.
#eternalinvesting