Being Christ’s Disciples (Learners) in Word and Deed

I ran across a book I’ve had in my office for some time, titled, “Disciples Are Made, NOT (emphasis mine) Born” and again was reminded of the reality of that, and the realities related to that truth. Christ’s permanent charge to the church, His body, is to “Go and make disciples…..” Matthew 28:19,20. This was the mission He set out to do while on earth, (make disciples)  and it is the mission He passed on to His body to carry out in His bodily absence here on earth in these days. That’s a part of what Jesus meant when He said in His prayer you find in John 17, “even as the Father has sent Me, even so, send I You.” Our task, both corporately and individually is to make disciples. It’s my prayer that we do not make it any more difficult than is really is. This is what it takes: A heart desire for a real, and growing relationship to Jesus Christ yourself, a commitment to do what you already know, and a willingness to make some time to pass on what you’ve already learned to someone younger in the faith, whether that be a sibling, a parent, a brother or sister, or someone totally unrelated who needs Jesus. Let’s revisit that book title for just s moment to see the realities related to that truth that Disciples are made, not born. What the author is meaning to communicate, which is true, is that no believer is born a ‘ready-made’ disciple. Scripture says we are born as a sinner. David admitted under God’s inspiration, (Psalm 51:5) Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” In speaking to the followers of Christ at Ephesus, and about the changes Christ had brought to them, Paul said (Eph. 2:3-5) “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we WERE by nature objects of [God’s] wrath. But because of His great love for us, God who IS rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we WERE dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” What an awesome God!!! Once our spiritual eyes are opened and Christ is real to us, God wants us to be committed to growing in our faith and share it….pass it on. And Paul continues with defining God’s mission to his pastor ‘son in the faith,’ Timothy, this way. He tells Timothy: “All the things (spiritual truths) you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” The “good news” of faith in Jesus Christ as man’s only means of heaven is communicated across 4 generations in that one verse. This is God’s plan to multiply the benefits of His grace throughout our world today. By every believer actively participating in ‘making disciples.’ As I said, that isn’t difficult, as long as we are set on  following God’s plan to multiply spiritual birth throughout the church’s ministry. In the light of our success at this, what Jesus told His DISCIPLES in John 14:12, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. (could that include discipleship?) He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” See those words in the context of the Promise of the Holy Spirit, who is God in the present tense making Christians like Jesus. Could the doing greater things be the cumulative results of disciple-making occurring in God’s Kingdom? Jesus was one person with 12 disciples; when the body of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit are all involved in making disciples, God’s plan of multiplication is occurring. “Lord, help us, rather than be satisfied with adding to the church, Your spiritual Kingdom, to take those life-transforming truths that assure us of heaven as our eternal home, and the abundant life here and now…..help us to pass them on to others who need You and how they, too, can experience a real, growing, personal relationship with You.” Amen