We’re All Being Discipled. The question is: Who is Discipling you?
Citizen House Creed — Part 2
This is part 2 of a 5 part series on the Citizen House Creed. VIEW PART 1
We’re all being formed into something. It’s nice to think that each of us is on our own islands and self-determining the type of person we want to become…but it’s just not the case. There are always external factors shaping us.
Our cell phones may be the greatest force shaping us in the 21st century. There’s been a lot of research lately on how technology is changing the way that we think, our relationships, and our habits. If your phone buzzes most of us have to immediately check it. If we see a beautiful sunset our first inclination is to get our phone out to take a picture. We’re anxious if we’re not in proximity to our devices. Millennials and GenZers are also increasingly isolated, lonely, and lacking basic interpersonal and communication skills.
I bring this up, not because I hate technology or think it’s all evil (obviously, we’re using it right now). It’s just a clear example of how most of us are being formed.
Jesus followers have a word for the process of shaping someone into something — “Discipleship”. All of us are being discipled. Most of us are being discipled by our devices.
The question isn’t “Am I being discipled?” The question is “Who is discipling me and what am I being discipled into?”
Last month, I wrote about Jesus being LORD. God’s plan from the beginning was to fill the earth with people who give their full allegiance to King Jesus. Discipleship is how God accomplished that mission. It’s the strategy.
To better understand what this means, we need to answer a few basic questions:
What is a Disciple?
“Disciple” isn’t a word used much in our culture. Even if you asked people in the church what a “disciple” is you’d likely get a variety of answers. It may be helpful to liken a disciple to an apprentice. It’s someone who follows another person with the intention of becoming like them in their craft.
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17 ESV)
A disciple is first someone who follows Jesus (“Follow me”).
The original disciples literally followed Jesus. They walked around from town to town for 3 years. Jesus primarily teaches them as they’re traveling or in a side conversation after he performs a miracle or teaches a crowd. They spent considerable time with him.
It’s the same thing today. Disciples of Jesus spend time with him so that He’s their primary influence. They read scripture to hear his words. They pray and spend time in silence to hear him. They also spend time with other disciples because that’s the Body of Jesus.
A disciple is also being changed by Jesus (“I will make you become”).
All of us become like the people we hang out with. The goal of discipleship is to be formed into the image of Jesus. This means that the things that we love, the things we long for, our character, our burdens, and our passions increasingly look just like Jesus.
Finally, a disciple is a person who does what Jesus does (“fishers of men”).
What did Jesus do? He left the comfort of heaven and served the poor. He healed the sick. He cast our demons. He built relationships with the lonely and outcasts in society. He used the little he had to bless others. He was completely obedient to the Father, even when it cost his life. And he did all of this so that we could be saved. And he made disciples. He created mini-mes of himself that would continue the things that he did.
Who Makes Disciples?
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16–20 ESV)
When we read The Great Commission in Matthew 28, we normally start with “All authority…” or “Go therefore…” But look at verse 16–17. It’s said that the disciples showed up, they worshipped Jesus…and some doubted. That means that these disciples weren’t super Christians. They didn’t have all their questions answered and they were likely scared.
Jesus gives these ordinary, doubting followers a job to do. He doesn’t tell them to go back and study more theology and get everything straightened out first. He commands them to make disciples. Not only does disciple-making propagate more disciples of Jesus, but it also helps the disciple-maker become more like Jesus. We learn and grow while teaching others.
No one is off the hook. We’re all called to make disciples.
How Do We Make Disciples?
In greek, the only command or imperative in the verse is “make disciples.” “Go”, “baptizing”, and “teaching” are participles. They explain how the disciples are made.
We make disciples by going.
This means we’re going to have to be intentional. Unlike other Rabbi’s, Jesus pursued those he wanted to disciple. We must do the same.
We make disciples by baptizing people.
Baptism is the act of immersing someone under the water to show the world that that person’s old self died with Jesus and a new person has been born because Jesus rose again.
But there is another aspect to baptism that doesn’t get a lot of press. When a baby is born we celebrate new life. But that baby is also automatically born into a family. Baptism does the same thing. It celebrates a new life in Jesus AND it incorporates them into the family of God — the church.
We do not become like Jesus by ourselves. We become like Jesus in community.
If every area of my life is supposed to be conformed to the image of Jesus, then I need other people close enough to me to show me the areas that fall short. Relationships are like the tracks that our lives run on as we move towards Christlikeness. We must invite others into transparent relationships to become the people that God is forming us into.
We make disciples by teaching others to obey Jesus.
In the Hebrew culture, right doing leads to right thinking. So “teaching” was much more about modeling and showing, than it was about communicating information.
Discipling someone isn’t about having all the right answers or communicating eloquently. It’s inviting someone to watch you implement the things that you do know. People learn how to follow Jesus by practicing the ways of Jesus.
Our Creed
The second statement in the Citizen House Creed is:
Discipleship: We disciple and are discipled in community.
This is one of the reasons why we make smaller groups the primary environment of the church. We want to create a culture in our micro-churches in which everyone is becoming like Jesus in the context of genuine relationships. Everyone is also being challenged to help someone else follow and become like Christ.
A practical way to start making disciples is by meeting with 2–3 others a few times each month and ask each other: How are following Jesus? How are you being changed by him? What do you need to do before we meet again? (ID Group)
Following Jesus isn’t easy. We need each other to stay on track, become like him, and together, do what he does.
This is part 2 of a 5 part series on the Citizen House Creed. VIEW PART 3
