by Dr. Jeff Mathis
“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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
– Matthew 28:19-20
Ah. So, we’re supposed to be making disciples.
This reminds me of the assignment a fifth-grade teacher once gave her students. The handout the teacher placed on the desk directed the students to read everything carefully before beginning the work. The instructions were long and complicated. But the very last instruction was the most important. It read, “Put your name on the page, circle it, and return it to the teacher without completing any previous directions.” Surprising no one, the students began their work without first reading all the instructions and were left with egg on their faces.
The takeaway? Read to the end and follow directions.
Jesus directs the Church to make disciples, not observers, not worship attendees, not committee members, not Christian consumers, not Biblical experts.
Disciples.
A disciple is a student who is to grow into the likeness of the teacher.
Is that what we are making in our churches today? Disciples? If so, how many of us look like our teacher, Jesus?
Over the last centuries, the church was designed to make believers. Wisely emphasizing the ever-familiar John 3:16, the revivalist tradition from which we started aimed to persuade listeners to claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior. No doubt, this is a good starting place. And yet, sadly, we’ve learned that baptism signals both the beginning and the ending of one’s faith journey with Jesus.
If making believers is our goal, we’ve done pretty well over the years. Discipleship, however, is a far different aim. Discipleship begins by saying yes to Jesus and then doubles down on obedience to the One we’ve claimed as God’s Son.
Becoming like Jesus is not for the faint of heart. As Jesus himself tells us, discipleship is hard work. Disciples must be willing to change their ways, sacrifice what is most dear to them, and commit to leaving one’s life behind—taking up their cross—to follow Jesus.
In a few hours, we’ll be gathering in the Mission and Fellowship Center for our inaugural Sylva First Wednesday potluck event on September 7. At 6:00 PM, after we’ve asked for God’s blessing on our food offering at 5:30 PM, we’ll pick up where we left off in our cinematic journey with Jesus and his disciples.
The Chosen does a masterful job of illustrating discipleship in the Gospels. Tonight’s episode highlights the cost of following Jesus and the joys and sacrifices accompanying discipleship with the Son of God. Unlike how we might think about discipleship, the Gospels tell the story of Jesus’s followers learning on the job with their teacher. For sure, discipleship is a bumpy road. The disciples experience great triumphs and devastating sorrows. But their lives are shaped because of their proximity to Jesus. Because they are walking alongside Him, their capacity to hear and follow his directions increases over time. Their apprentice-like relationship with Jesus changes them from simple believers to disciples. And then ultimately, Jesus calls his disciples his friends.
For many of us, Jesus’s concept of discipleship is at odds with our life experience and the church. It can be startling to learn that Jesus wants far more from us than our belief in Him and occasional engagement in ‘church life.’
But of course, we’d know that if we’d read to the end and followed Jesus’s directions.