Making Disciples Life to Life

“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”

‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2:22-26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

All my adult life I've been about making disciples of Jesus.  Over the years I've discovered that for many who have been Christians a long time, making disciples is a big mystery.  No one has actually taught them to do it, even though "make disciples" was the last command of Jesus' earthly ministry.  Most frequently, the default mode for those seeking to obey this command is, "I've got to quit my job and go to 'the mission field.' "  Or, "I need to go to seminary."  While one or the other of these responses - or both - are certainly right for some people, vocational ministry is not what Jesus has in mind for most of His followers.  But He still wants us to make disciples.

OK, many people, discerning that they are not called to vocational ministry, then assume that this command is not for them at all.  This is incorrect.  ALL Jesus' followers are commanded to make disciples.  A Jesus-follower is a disciple.  And according to Matthew 28:18-20, one of the commands for disciples is - make disciples! So what are we to do?  Many go from one new Christian book to another, forming a reading group and talking about what they've read.  They may even study the Bible together.  These things can be good, but they do not necessarily make disciples of Jesus.

Basically, making disciples is a whole lot like raising kids.

Whether we are discipling others or raising children, it is critical that we begin with the end in mind, and then stay on task.  It is so easy to simply follow some vague notion that we are to impart knowledge to another, and so look for the latest, greatest spiritual “product” to help us do that.  When we do this we open our disciplemaking to the influence of the current "climate," or the teaching of the current Christian poster-child.  Or, we become liable to get sidetracked focusing on political events or matters more or less interesting but mostly irrelevant to the goal of helping men and women - or our children - become faithful followers and representatives of Jesus.

I was talking with one disciple the other day who was getting besieged by others who wanted to engage him about the President’s decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.  Of course, this matter is a political hot potato, and folks wanted to know his opinion - or argue with it - because they knew him to be a Christian.  But, frankly, this issue really doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things - over which God is sovereign, and Who is bringing all history to its ultimate conclusion, which we know from scripture will involve Jerusalem.  Whether men call it the capital or not, God is going to accomplish His plan.  Unless we are going to seriously study eschatology, I sure wouldn't allow my disciple making - or even child-rearing - to get sidetracked on an issue like that one.

My view it it’s better to engage people with discussions that matter - like the gospel and their response to it.  Or like how what Jesus death, burial and resurrection relates to what they personally are dealing with today.  The fact is, according to the passage above, people practically serve God or Satan, knowingly or unknowingly.  Paul says in I Timothy 1:5 that our goal should be “love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith,” as Paul says.  To that end we teach wisdom
and character, not just knowledge; faith, not just skills.  And those things are best passed on life-to-life, right where we are, in the middle of life's circumstances - not in classrooms.  They are best passed along by a mutual commitment to "do life together" as friends, as families.  And we need to watch getting sidetracked by anything less.