D17 P10: Never Not a Chance

Jesus and His disciples are in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee, rowing (not leisurely motoring) their way across. There was no Igloo cooler on the boat, and there was no drive-through McDonald's waiting for them on the other side. You will eat if and only if you bring your own food. Except that they didn't. With no apparent gluten allergy, it was bread they were missing. (Mark 8:14-21)

WWJD? What will Jesus do? Will He tell a parable about ten virgins, of whom five were not prepared with oil in their lamps? Will He turn crumbs into a feast, with leftovers? Will He quote Isaiah's teaching on the value of fasting? Nope, nope, and nope.

"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees!" What? What in the world does that mean? What's that have to do with anything we've been talking about for the last two years? And most importantly ... does this mean we're not getting any bread???

Jesus took this moment of a not-so-serious problem to explain something about the Kingdom of God. For the Master Discipler, every moment was a discipleship opportunity, which is our 10th of 17 truths about discipleship (the "D17"):

Every moment is a discipleship opportunity.*

What this doesn't mean: We become annoying busybodies always trying to drive the conversation to the "deep" stuff. Most of discipleship doesn't happen in the rarefied air of lofty theological monologues. Rather, most of it happens in the daily rhythms of life, when you're talking about baseball and gardening and children's shoes and sock-eating clothes dryers. It happens seated next to each other on the bleachers at the kids' game or while changing the brakes.

What this does mean: Our radar is always on. The radar is good for recognizing those sudden opportunities to drive down to the deep stuff. But the radar is also good for being constantly aware that the person I'm sitting next to at the game or talking with about kids' shoes is someone I can influence to follow Jesus more in some way. Not necessarily taking them from 0 to 100 in 5 minutes, but offering a new idea, an attitude, an offer to pray, or just unconditional love. Always.

Recall our first truth of the D17: Discipleship is moving from unbelief to belief in every area of life in light of the Gospel. Based on that definition, considering every moment a discipleship opportunity means that every minute of every day is a chance that I might encourage someone to move away from unbelief toward belief is one area of life.

That means every moment of your life has the potential to see Jesus followed more faithfully. That makes every moment important.

* This idea is based on writings by Caesar Kalinowski.

D17 Part 9: Bye Bye Syllabi

I was that guy - that guy in college who on the first day of class took the syllabus from each class and within hours had a spreadsheet for the entire semester of what homework needed to be started by what day so that it would be ready not just on the due date, but before the due date. You know ... just in case. I carefully figured in load balancing, too, so that I was not trying to do too much homework at the same time (which of course meant that some projects had to be done well before the due date). Mock me if you will, but it worked swimmingly well. And I had no sympathy for those who had to crunch for their homework in full stress mode because they realized too late something was due tomorrow!!! Slackers. Schedulophobic syllabi-peasants.

I am that guy - that guy that if it's not on my calendar or to-do list, it won't get done. In fact, if it's not on either of those two electronic lists, it flat out doesn't exist. You and I could talk about it for 20 minutes, but if it doesn't make the calendar or to-do list, our conversation never happened.

Which is why I'm so challenged by the 9th entry in our "17 Truths About Discipleship" ("D17").

Jesus’ kind of discipleship is mostly unscheduled but very intentional.

In other words, the primary way Jesus discipled others was "Off Calendar, but On Purpose."

A typical example is in Mark 8:27, "... on the way, He asked His disciples..." On the way ... as they were going about their daily rhythms, traveling, working on a project, eating dinner, going to the market, fishing in a boat. The disciples' "classroom" was just about any place, inside or outside, but rarely was it a room we would typically label a "classroom." While they were busy doing disciple-y things was the most common time that Jesus taught discipleship.

He asked His disciples ... unscheduled didn't mean unintentional. He was very intentional. He had a purpose - there were specific things He wanted His disciples to learn. He frequently asked them questions in order to most effectively drive to that purpose. He was no slacker.

Jesus observed His surroundings and the circumstances, with the attitude that He was never not discipling. Then He seized those moments, teaching far more often during the unscheduled times.

Many of us like our schedules, and in fact find it hard to function without scheduling. I like to think it's because I'm so busy and important and necessary and valuable and indispensable and worthwhile. It's more the case that my schedule can be a way to avoid an attitude of never not discipling. Being too scheduled to disciple others is both safe and pious.

Scheduled times for discipleship are not bad. The danger is that we might limit discipling to certain blocks of time, and miss out on the richest environments that Jesus used to disciple others.

Recall that in our missional marching orders, Jesus said, "As you go, make disciples..." (Matt 28:19). Don't segregate disciplemaking to only certain venues, certain times, and certain methods. Adopt an attitude of never not discipling. Remain alert for the richest opportunities to orient someone more toward Jesus, especially when you're nowhere near a classroom.

D17 Part 8: Stop telling me what to do ... and just show me

Then Jesus began talking about pouring water into the basin as He showed a PowerPoint picture of a basin on the screen, and then He began to colorfully describe washing the disciples’ feet, gesturing with His hands in the air. He then surprised them by pulling out a towel as an illustration, which He then put on the pulpit so people could see it as He spoke. 

So He walked over to Simon Peter, who was seated in the 3rd row. Peter interrupted the monologue and said to Him, “Lord, do You talk about washing my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I have been talking about, you do not realize now, but you will understand when you stream the video of this later.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You talk about washing my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not talk about washing you, you totally ruin the wordpicture.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then not only talk about washing my feet, but also talk about washing my hands and my head.”

Jesus said to him, “He who has studied all about bathing needs only to talk about his feet, but has pretty much talked about being clean in general. And you talk a lot about being clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was thinking really hard about betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you talk about being clean.”

So when He had finished talking about washing their feet, and put away His lesson props and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have illustrated for you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, talked about washing your feet, you also ought to talk about washing one another’s feet.”

On the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, knowing He had so very little time left to teach His disciples, He takes all the time necessary to wash 12 pairs of filthy feet. Why? It takes less than a 10 seconds to say, “You should serve one another with the same kind of humility as it takes to wash a bunch of dirty feet.” Boom. Done. Lesson over, discipleship accomplished (right?). Instead, He just washes their feet, and then talks about it.

His entire ministry is filled with doing all the things He would later expect the disciples to do. He even had them do some of those things while He observed and then gave them feedback on it. That was how Jesus discipled them. Like the washing of the feet, Jesus showed them how to disciple one another by discipling them as He expected us to imitate.

Our 8th truth of discipleship of the Seventeen Truths of Discipleship (the "D17") is:

Discipleship has to be modeled and experienced.

We are called to disciple one another, and to do so as Jesus discipled the Twelve. We can assume that Jesus demonstrated for us not only the what but the how. Disciples are learners, but they learn primarily by doing. That's how Jesus discipled them. We are too much in the habit of trying to disciple one another by talking only.

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. (James 1:22)

Let's drop any expectation that any disciple will learn anything significant about the life of a disciple unless they see it modeled and experience it firsthand. Don't expect disciples to learn how to pray without prayer being modeled (by the way, the Lord's Prayer is nothing except Jesus modeling prayer rather than lecturing about prayer). Don't expect disciples to learn how to read the Bible devotionally until it's modeled for them. Or talking about their faith, or being generous, or serving those in need, or using his or her talents to bring human flourishing in others, or anything else about the genuine Christian life. And especially, don't expect disciples to learn how to disciple others without experiencing being discipled.

Model for others what you want them to learn about following Christ. Seek out those who can model for you what you want to learn about following Christ. Talk about discipleship ... but wait until after actually doing something disciples do.

D17 Part 7: Frequent and Long-term

Form a picture in your mind. I'm going to write one word, and I want you to picture a scene that best depicts that word in action. Here's the word: discipleship. Before you read any further, spend a minute just painting that picture in your mind - the people, the setting, the sights and sounds, location, furniture. What's in your hands, if anything? What is in front of you? Who else is with you? How long will you be there? What do you do after this scene?

Go ahead ... picture that scene. Then continue reading...

For quite some time, the scene that would pop into my head would be two people of the same gender at a table, with Bibles, pens, and a notebook or workbook. Maybe an extra book. Definitely coffee. So, we're either at coffee shop or in someone's home. We meet at a certain time on the same day of the week, and we end at a certain time, because we've got other things to do. It may be the only 90 minutes or so that I see that person during that week.

My first experience of "being discipled" took place in a dorm room. My friend and I would play racquetball for an hour, then go back to the dorms, sit at a desk with our Bibles, pens, and notebooks. It was an extremely formative time. But we also hung out together several times during the week. We didn't have a workbook, so the first time I saw discipleship workbooks, I wondered if perhaps we had been doing discipleship the wrong way.

As formative as that time was, I can tell you only two things in particular that I learned during that time. One was a historical fact, and the other was a piece of advice that applies only to relatively rare situations. It was formative, and I learned some great habits, but what I learned largely has become part of my swirl of Christian knowledge without any ability to attribute who taught me what.

I remember another situation that I never would have called "discipleship" (until recently), but was as impacting to my Christian life as was the time spent with my racquetball friend. In Austin, I used to help take food donated by groceries stores, make sandwiches, and then hand them out to the homeless downtown. Week after week, I worked side by side with a guy about 10 years my senior. Like me, he had a job during the day and family at home. As we made sandwiches and handed them out, we talked. And he discipled me - without a table, a pen, a book, or even a Bible. I remember specific things that he said that have stayed with me. Practical, daily, fully Christian ways of looking at life and doing life.

Both were examples of discipleship, neither had a prepared curriculum, and together they help illustrate the seventh of 17 Truths of Discipleship ("D17"):

Discipleship needs to be frequent and long-term.*

Not just once in a while, and ideally, not just once a week. Not just for 12 weeks, finish the workbook, and then you're done, but month after month, and year after year. That's how these guys discipled me - as we were doing life, more than just a formal "discipleship time," related to real life. Sometimes, I learned specific lessons that I still remember. Other times, the lessons just became part of who I am. Both were formative.

When we picture "discipleship," the image that should come to mind should somehow resemble how Jesus discipled His disciples. Frequent contact, not just formal "discipleship" settings. As they were doing life, busy with the rhythms of life. And long-term - Jesus spent three years in near-constant contact with them. If you add up all the hours Jesus spent with them, and then tried to accumulate that many hours at just one hour per week, it would take over 3 decades!

In John 15:26-27, Jesus emphasizes the importance of all the number of hours the disciples spent with Him, and how that impacts them as His disciples:

26  “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

27  and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

When you think discipleship, think less about workbooks and coffee shops, and think more about racquetball and making sandwiches with someone who's traveled the journey longer than you.

* This aspect of discipleship comes from the teachings of Caesar Kalinowski.

D17 Part 6: Discipleship of the Whole Person

Perhaps your introduction to "discipleship" was like mine - basically equated with the "spiritual disciplines" (daily Scripture reading, prayer, simplicity, fasting, etc.). How do you disciple someone? Teach them the spiritual disciplines! How am I doing as a disciple? Well, my spiritual disciplines are going well, so I'm doing well as a disciple!

I am in no way diminishing the importance of the spiritual disciplines and how they relate to discipleship. They are crucial, and disciples simply don't grow much at all without them. But they aren't the same thing as discipleship. We need them, but they aren't sufficient. They facilitate spiritual formation, but there's far more to spiritual formation.

Consider the following:

• Jesus tells the experts in the Law that disciples love the Lord their God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:28-31). Not just spiritually, but physically, emotionally, and mentally. Not just a half-hour every morning, but every bit of every part of you. Being a disciple involves every part of your life, including loving your neighbor as yourself (v. 31).
• Jesus tells the Pharisees that discipleship is far more than just the religious duties, like tithing. Rather, following Jesus involves pursuing justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt 23:23). There's a societal element to following Jesus. Disciples are disciples in part by seeking out the societal good.
• James says that real religion is to minister to the vulnerable, such as widows and orphans (James 1:27). This is another example of societal mercy, but focuses on a heart for individuals in their distress. Following hard after Jesus cannot be accomplished while ignoring one's neighbor, especially the ones in need. In the next chapter, James chastises any religious man who would ignore those without adequate clothing and food (James 2:15-16).

That brings us to the sixth of seventeen truths of discipleship (the "D17"):

Discipleship must be holistic.*

Discipleship is not just about one's spiritual health! It's about our minds, our hearts, and even every ounce of strength. It's about our role in society, adding value to our neighborhood, working for justice, meeting the needs of those in want. If we are to love the Lord our God with all our strength, then discipleship includes things like diet and exercise! How you treat your neighbor is part of following Jesus. Holistic.

You've likely heard the Hebrew word Shalom. Often translated as "peace," it means so much more than that. Shalom includes wellness, health, sufficiency, relationships, and so on. It's holistic. There's "peace" with society, with finances, at one's borders, in each corner of life. Discipleship pursues every aspect of Shalom. Holistic.

I just heard a friend talk about the "edge." The "edge" is where Shalom and chaos are at war. Chaos in its various forms is the opposite of Shalom. Where we feel distress is at the "edge," where these two concepts do battle in the war theater of our lives. We experience chaos and then crave Shalom.

That is why discipleship must be holistic.

* This statement about discipleship is taken from the teachings of Caesar Kalinowski.