The Purpose-full Church: In Disciplemaking
(NTC4T-6)
I. Defining the Purposes of the Church
B. Disciplemaking
1. A definition
2. The real commission
3. 5 Principles of disciplemaking
a) Intentionality
b) Attachment
c) Extension
d) Transference
e) Perpetuity
Introduction
It’s been eight weeks since the last message in our series: The New Testament Church for Today. Before the holidays, I introduced you to the five purposes of the Church. For a quick review to help us get back up to speed, let me remind you a little about our last message which dealt with the first purpose of the Church, namely, Worship. I defined worship very broadly as “celebrating God’s presence and honoring Him with our lifestyles.” Jesus stated that the greatest commandment is “to love the Lord your God.” I pointed out that it is my contention that the primary purpose or mission of the Church is to glorify God and I went on to make a case for my argument. Then I spent the rest of our time together dissecting my definition of worship into the key aspects of celebrating and honoring and drew some practical implications.
This morning we will be moving on to consider the second purpose of the Church: Disciplemaking. In preparing for this message, I was challenged about my personal beliefs and convictions on the subject of disciplemaking. Like most of us, for a number of years, I have held a picture or snapshot in my mind that captured what I think disciplemaking should look like and what it is all about. These beliefs, in turn, have influenced my attitudes and actions: they told me how to go about the process of fulfilling God’s command to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). If you would have asked me, “What is disciplemaking?” I could have given you a definition that would have sounded pretty good.
But as I studied the subject anew in preparation for this sermon, I found that some of my ideas were inadequate when compared with God’s ideal. For example, if you can remember back to the November message where I gave you an overview of the five purposes of the Church, I used the term discipleship rather than disciplemaking. I know it may sound like a subtle difference or a just matter of semantics, but the importance conveyed in this term change is nothing short of revolutionary (and it’s more biblically accurate). So fasten your seatbelts, and get ready for what may prove to be an “epiphany.”
Disciplemaking
A Definition
I want to begin our investigation this morning by giving you a working definition of disciplemaking. I can assure you that I would not have defined it quite this way prior to preparing for this message. I’ll warn you that it’s a little lengthy and perhaps cumbersome, but I think that it encapsulates the larger intent of the word: Disciplemaking is educating and training God’s people for kingdom living through a directed course of Bible study and an incarnational demonstration of His truth in the context of an intentional relationship. [Repeat]
You may remember from our overview of the five purposes of the Church that we extracted this purpose from the phrase teaching them to obey as it is found in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:20a). One commentator points out, “disciples were understood to be individuals committed to a particular person so as to learn that person’s teaching or way of life and then to follow a particular pattern of life, whether by living in a certain way, passing on the teaching to others or engaging in political or religious activities” (CBEC-WS).
The Real Commission
Let me take a “time out” right here. I know I’ve said a whole lot in just a few sentences. I also realize that I have had more time to digest these things and some of you may be feeling like your going into “information overload” right now and you’d like me to slow down. But what may seem like information overload may actually be a moment when you’re experiencing a “clash of realities.” What I mean is, in our heads we agree with what has been said, but our familiarity with these things is lacking: we can give assent to the truth of the words, but we haven’t seen the truth fleshed out before us.
I believe, by and large, that the Church in our generation has not done a very good job of disciplemaking. We can boast about the number of converts that have been made throughout the world in the past few years, but how many disciples have resulted from our efforts? We can get people to wade in the shallow end of the pool of salvation, but how many have been equipped and trained to swim in the deep end? Why is it that we usually fail to fulfill our real call? I believe that there are a number of reasons, but for our purposes let me quickly mention four of the more prominent ones (they all begin with the letter “i”):
1. Inadequate interpretation of the Great Commission— I agree with Dr. David E. Schroeder’s, president of Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary understanding of the Church: “The church’s job is not to win converts, but to make disciples!” (Follow Me, p. 10). All too often we have taken Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19, “make disciples,” and reduced them to refer only to the act of evangelism. We assume that we’ve done our job—fulfilled our commission—if we can get people to “pray a prayer of salvation” (wade in the shallow end of the pool of salvation). Since we believe that entrance into a relationship with Christ is all that is necessary, consequently, it’s usually all that is done for the new convert. Sadly, it’s the experience of many of us in this room today. Because our inadequate definition of disciplemaking—equating it with evangelism—it has led to these other reasons why we fail to fulfill our real call; when you start out wrong, it is likely that you will finish wrong.
2. Inferior disciplemaking ministries—the truth of the matter is that there are only a handful of people within any given church who have been developed into authentic disciples of Christ. I realize I’m making a bold statement, but I believe that the evidence in support of my position is abundant. If I were to ask for a show of hands of people who feel as though they have been discipled to the extent that they are confidently prepared to disciple someone else, the response would be meager at best. Or if I were to ask how many are currently in a discipling relationship, I don’t believe the response would fare any better. Very few churches go about making disciples as I have defined it: educating and training God’s people for kingdom living through a directed course of Bible study and an incarnational demonstration of His truth in the context of an intentional relationship.
3. Inconvenient—I think that D.L. Moody summed it up well this way: “It is better to train ten people than to do the work of ten people. But it is harder.” The truth is, disciplemaking is hard, costly work and, generally speaking, we don’t want to give ourselves to the process of disciplemaking. We are too caught up in the zeitgeist or spirit of this age which tells us that the only truly worthy pursuit in life is the pursuit of personal happiness. What does our nation’s Declaration of Independence state? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (emphasis mine). Our culture tells us, “It’s about me.” Our Lord tells us, “Make disciples.”
4. Indifference toward the radical call of Christ to becoming a disciple—it’s like the cartoon depicting a typical day in the life of a pastor in which the church secretary is relaying the following phone inquiry: “It’s Monty Williams. He wants to know if he can audit your discipleship class on ‘Total Commitment’” (Cartoonist Rob Suggs in Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 3). Christ’s call to discipleship is one that requires us to forsake all other things and follow Him. He said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). But we’ve watered-down His call of radical and absolute allegiance to Him and His kingdom to the point that it is simply viewed as a suggestion or an option for those who are given over to fanaticism. We aren’t committed and we don’t call anyone else to commit either.
5 Principles of Disciplemaking
I’ve described what our current condition in disciplemaking looks like. It’s not a very encouraging picture; it’s just an honest one. But the good news is this does not have to be the final word on disciplemaking in our church. God has commissioned us to make disciples—it’s something that He is passionate about—and He has provided us with everything that we need to make it a living reality. I want share five principles of disciplemaking that will change the way we look at this purpose of the Church and the way we go about fulfilling it. These five principles are all demon-strated in the life of Jesus in the way that went about the process of disciplemaking.
Intentionality
The first principle of disciplemaking is intentionality. By intentionality I simply mean that disciplemaking is done by design and on purpose. Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 4:18-22 (p. 719).
When Jesus called the first disciples to follow Him, it wasn’t by accident. Jesus didn’t just happen to be walking along shore of Galilee one day, when all of a sudden He was hit with the idea, “I wonder what it would be like to have some guys follow Me around and be My disciples?” No, Jesus was on a mission that day: He was looking for men to make into His disciples. As David Schroeder states, “There is no doubt that, other than dying on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins, the highest priority of Jesus was the training of his disciples” (Follow Me Manual, p. 8). Jesus intentionally set out to call these men to follow Him and commit their lives to His way of living.
If we are going to be successful at (better yet, if we are going to be obedient to our Lord’s command to be about the business of) disciplemaking, then we are going to have to set out to do it by design. Disciplemaking doesn’t just happen; disciplemaking happens because we set out to make disciples. We’ve got to view it as a top priority of our existence, not just something we hope occurs. We need to be intentional about making disciples.
Attachment
The second principle of disciplemaking is attachment. We see this illustrated by Christ in Mark 3:13-14a (p. 745). The key words are that they might be with him.
I found this great description of Jesus’ method of making disciples in one of my pastoral resources: “When Christ found a person who was willing to commit his life to God—totally commit his life—Christ attached Himself to that person. Christ began to mold and make that person into His image. The word attach is the key word. It is probably the word that best describes [disciplemaking]” (MPH-WS).
Let’s contrast Jesus’ method of disciplemaking with our normal way of doing it. “On a practical level, [disciplemaking] is commonly understood within the Christian community to be a particular program of learning rather than a holistic way of life” (CBEC-WS). As I have pointed out at other times, we have bought into the world’s system of curing all that ails us: “All we need is more education. If we just give them the right information, everything is bound to work out right.” So we fill the new converts’ heads with all the knowledge that we can possibly give them. We encourage them to show up for Sunday school or the like and then proceed to tell them what they ought to believe. After all, knowledge is power, right? If we give them the “right stuff,” then they’re sure to turn out right, right?
I’m not down on Sunday school or holding Bible studies, but, in and of themselves, they do not constitute disciplemaking. As Oswald Chambers once said, “There is a difference between devotion to principles and devotion to a person. Hundreds of people today are devoting themselves to phases of truth, to causes. Jesus Christ never asks us to devote ourselves to a cause or a creed; he asks us to devote ourselves to him.” But much of what we pass off as being disciplemaking is really nothing more than teaching people to be devoted to principles of or facts about Christ. And sometimes (notice I said “sometimes”) the instructors themselves are not devoted to Christ, just to principles, because they themselves have been trained to believe that’s what it means to be a disciple. No one ever made a personal investment in their lives—no one ever attached themselves to them.
Quoting Schroeder once again, “Being with a discipler is a prerequisite to becoming a disciple. No novice airplane pilot studies the flight manual and begins to ‘solo’ immediately. He or she spends a certain number of hours soaring through the clouds and landing in all kinds of situations with an instructor before taking flight alone” (Follow Me, p. 11). And yet, in our disciplemaking efforts we rarely have our disciples-in-training sit in the “co-pilot” seat to be with us and observe us before sending them down the “runway of life.” We just hand them a Bible, point out a few key verses in case they get into any “turbulence,” and send them on their way. Then we scratch our heads and wonder why they crash and burn before they ever even get off the ground.
Things have got to change. If we are going to be about the genuine business of making disciples, then we are going to have to be willing to make the investment of attaching ourselves to those whom we are trying to disciple.
Extension
The third principle of disciplemaking is extension. I hope you still have your Bibles open to Mark 3:14b-15. Look at what it says: Jesus attached Himself to these disciples in order that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.
“Christ envisioned something beyond Himself and beyond His day and time. He envisioned an extension of Himself, an extension of His very being, and an extension of His mission and method. The way He chose to extend Himself was [through disciplemaking]” (MPH-WS). He did not view His relationship with these men as merely an opportunity to indoctrinate them. Rather He saw them as the means through which He could broaden His scope of ministry. Through disciplemaking, Jesus could multiply Himself to the world.
Our disciplemaking efforts must also keep this perspective of extension in mind. We need to help our disciples-in-the-making to recognize that they are in the process of becoming Christ to the world around them. He is extending Himself through their very lives. Their feet are His feet. Their hands are His hands. Their words are His words. Christ is in them and touching the world as they reach out in His name.
Transference
The fourth principle of disciplemaking is transference. Please turn your Bibles to John 13:15 (p. 802). Jesus spoke these words after washing His disciples’ feet. He wanted to reinforce what He had been teaching them all along: being a disciple is more than knowing the right stuff; it is a matter of doing and being the right stuff. He drew attention to the way that He conducted His own life among them as an example of the way that they, too, should live their lives.
“Christ made disciples of men by attaching Himself to them, and through that personal attachment, they were able to observe His life and conversation. In seeing and hearing Him, they began to absorb and assimilate His very character and behavior. They began to follow Him and to serve Him more closely” (MPH-WS).
David Schroeder writes: “Jesus taught character transformation…. He told [His disciples] what to be like, not what to do. For example, the disciples wanted to learn to pray. Jesus gave them a pattern for prayer, and taught them a character quality: dependency. Although many Christians today know how to pray, few live dependently on the Lord.” Then Schroeder draws this analogy: “A parrot can learn how to pray, but learning to live dependently on God—eliminating anxiety, materialistic craving, and status seeking—is a far different story” (Follow Me, p. 12).
This principle of transference is illustrated by Paul in several of his letters. In 1 Corinthians 11:1 he writes, Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. In Philippians 3:17 he admonishes the believers with these words, Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. And in 2 Thessalonians 3:7 he reminds this church, For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you. The basic idea behind the principle of transference is that you allow the person you are discipling to “observe you day by day as much as possible and absorb Christ in you” (MPH-WS).
Before we move on to the next principle of disciplemaking, I think it is wise that I convey this important word of caution from W.H. Griffith Thomas: “As water never rises above its level so what we do never rises above what we are...We shall never take people one hair’s breadth beyond our own spiritual attainment. We may point to higher things, but we shall only take them as far as we ourselves have gone.” Robert Schmidgall puts it this way: “We teach what we know; we reproduce what we are” (Leadership, Vol. 6, no. 2). Those whom we are discipling will al-most certainly become what we are. If we are fully committed followers of Christ, it is likely that that same passion for Christ will transfer over to those we are discipling. By the same token, if we are not fully committed followers of Christ, it is highly unlikely that those who are being discipled by us will ever attain to that measure. The principle of transference speaks to our need to be what we ought, not just know the right stuff.
Perpetuity
The fifth principle of disciplemaking is perpetuity. Quickly turn to Matthew 28:19 (p. 743). Jesus expected that His disciples would do exactly what He had done—make disciples. And that is what the record of Acts tells us. When true disciplemaking takes places, it becomes a self-perpetuating reality.
The Minister’s Personal Handbook describes how the principle of perpetuity played out in the first century: Jesus’ disciples “in turn attached themselves to others and discipled them. They, too, expected their disciples to make disciples of others who were willing to commit their lives to Christ. This was the way the glorious message of Christ was to march down through the centuries” (MPH-WS). A true disciple of Christ is one who not only recognizes his/her personal need to follow Jesus, but also senses Christ’s call to be actively engaged in disciplemaking. A true disciple of Christ is a person who is struck with the overwhelming reality that he/she is not fully-devoted disciple unless he/she is involved in a discipling relationship.
Some of Paul’s last recorded words are these instructions which he gave to Timothy: And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2). Paul wanted to make sure that his disciple, Timothy, understood that disciplemaking was not just an optional activity—it is the very essence of being a disciple.
I doubt that any of us would question the successfulness and effectiveness of Paul’s ministry in impacting his world for Christ. His success is largely due to the fact that he invested a great deal of time in making disciples. Peter Drucker has said, “The successful leaders are those who know their job is to build an effective team that will outlast them” (Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 2). Paul is one of those successful leaders who instilled within his disciples’ the vital importance of making disciples who make disciples.
Conclusion
Senate Chaplain Lloyd John Ogilvie once said, “There’s nothing more exciting than helping another person become a Christian—except helping that person into an exhilarating experience of discipleship” (Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 3). It is to this “exhilarating experience” that each of us who claim to be followers of Christ has been called—an experience of being personally transformed by the living Christ within us resulting in helping others to be transformed by Christ as well.
While it’s important to talk about disciplemaking (to become knowledgeable), it’s more critical that we get involved in disciplemaking. Everyone who hears my voice and claims to be a follower of Christ has an obligation to respond in one of two ways. Perhaps this message has caused you to realize that you need someone to attach himself/herself to you and disciple you. We have a number of qualified disciplemakers in this church and I’d be glad to connect you with one of them. On the other hand, maybe the Holy Spirit has spoken to you about your need to be making a disciple of someone. I also invite you to come and talk to me so that I can assist you in starting that relationship. I challenge you not to leave this morning and be guilty of always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth (2 Timothy 3:7).
