Throughout the New Testament in the Bible we see rather plainly that the primary means of growing the church is through individual members doing the work of evangelism and discipleship. This means that each person of the church in the New Testament was doing their part of the ministry in caring for others spiritually and physically, not just pastors and deacons. One of the great travesties of the American church in the 20th and 21st centuries is the failure of the individual mandate to make disciples. In Matthew chapter 28 Jesus plainly directed his followers to go, making disciples and teaching them to obey all that Jesus had taught them, and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This passage, normally referred to as the Great Commission gives all followers of Christ the personal responsibility and individual mandate the be going, making disciples. Consider, Jesus did not look to Peter and say “you make disciples and everyone else can just sort of meet a couple times a month with you.” Jesus plainly said to all of his followers “Go to the ends of the Earth, making disciples.” So this leaves us in the present church with a bit of a conundrum. Sitting where you are now, reading this article, are you able to boldly and confidently say you are making disciples? If I were to wager, I would guess more than half of the people reading this online are not doing the Great Commission as Jesus commanded, and that disheartens me greatly! We, as the blood-bought church of Christ have the greatest motivation to care for others and building each other up, and yet look at us! Many churches today are like the Church in Hebrews, constantly going back and laying the foundation again and again (Hebrews (5:11) when instead they should be moving on from the spiritual milk onto deeper more rewarding things (Hebrews 5:11-14). If then, many in the church today are not doing the work of discipleship, let us ask why that is. Pages could be written about the finer details concerning the why and how of the churches lacking in discipleship, but it is a plain and simple answer.
Mark Dever once said in his book Discipling “The motive for discipling others begins in the love of God and nothing less. He has loved us in Christ, and so we love him. And we do this in part by loving those he has placed around us.” Or, as the Apostle Paul once said, we love because he first loved us. Discipleship is simple. Dwell on the Love God has for you and the grace he has poured out for you and allow that to naturally spur you on towards loving others. Discipleship is often doing what you normally do (not including sin), taking someone along with you, and having meaningful conversations with them about Jesus. How do you make disciples?
This is a question that seems to be at the forefront of my mind and those in small churches all across America. How do we make disciples? The scripture that has continued to come up in response to this question is the agricultural parables Jesus regularly spoke of. I think particularly of Matthew 13 and the parable of the sower and the parable of the weeds. There is a great reason Jesus used the metaphor of farming. Yes, it was a great way to communicate to his listeners with something relevant to them. Imagine if he tried to explain something using automobiles or airplanes! On a deeper level, I think there is a greater theological truth in these farming parables of Jesus’. While the parable of the sower illustrates that not all seeds will grow to maturity and bear fruit, the greater implication is that the sower is not the one bringing the growth. He plants the seeds, cares for the field and weeds the crops as a good farmer does, but the very one thing he cannot do is forcibly cause the plants to grow and bear fruit. Someone else must do that. Remember what Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit said in 1 Corinthians 3. In dealing with divisions in the church and some following different pastors, he gives us the key to proper growth in discipleship. “What then is Apollos? What then is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” This gives such great hope for the work of evangelism and discipleship! It takes the burden of results and puts it squarely in God’s hands and frees us to joyfully sow seeds and water the garden! In keeping with the farming metaphor, sowing seeds as Paul did and we do; we share the good news of salvation through Christ. We spread the message of hope to a dying world that we may be faithful laborers in God’s kingdom. In watering, we help other disciples grow to maturity that they will bear fruit and multiply! Is this not the goal of the church, that we would sow seeds, care for plants that are growing, and help bring in the harvest? In some of his final words before his ascension to heaven, Jesus gave his followers a single task: go making disciples. In doing that, we share the Gospel (sowing seeds) and we foster young believers into spiritual maturity (water the plants). I will finish with one final thought. As people who are in union with Christ Jesus, who are saved by grace through faith, it is our obligation and responsibility to go sharing the Gospel and helping each other grow. Evidence of this is throughout the entire New Testament, in fact there are entire letters about it! But it is not our responsibility to bring the growth. Christ came and shed his own blood to redeem sinful people to himself, and he will not fail in saving a people for himself for eternity. Therefore, let us go joyfully knowing that God will save and we will share in this great treasure set before us. |
Pastor MorganMorgan has been writing since middle school and worked for a year writing professionally as a news journalist for the Daily Tribune in Gallipolis. This blog is a chance for him to express his love for the Lord and all church related things through writing. Archives
December 2019
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