D17 P16: I really don't care what you do...

Throughout this series on the "D17" (17 truths about discipleship), we have explored several things we ought to do. Discipling is something we do, and through discipling, we teach others things they ought to do (especially to do all that Jesus commands, as He taught in the key text of the missional conversation, the Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20). In fact, one of the main thrusts of discipling is to get people off the bench and into the game, to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.

The 16th truth of discipleship may sound like a total contradiction to all of that.

Discipleship is not about works performed, but about becoming like the Redeemer.

Discipling is indeed about doing - taking up our crosses and following Him. But discipleship is not about the works we perform. It sounds like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth at once.

Think of it this way: a game of football is not about hiking and passing and blocking and running. It's not the goal of the game to hike the ball. Hiking the ball is what you do in order to achieve the goal (scoring more points than your opponent). Hiking is necessary and essential. It requires training and practice. It must be done well. But football is not about that.

Works are what we do as disciples, but that's not the goal of discipleship. What we do is necessary and essential, and may required training and practice. But if Person A does more works than Person B, that doesn't necessarily mean he's accomplished the goal. The goal is not to "hike the ball," but to become like the one who redeems us.

In Matt 7:22-23, Jesus warns His listeners that just because people did things "in His name," they weren't guaranteed entrance into the Kingdom. "Depart from me," He tells them, "I never knew you." The accumulation of your works is not what matters.

Paul says in Rom 8:29 and John says in 1 Jn 3:1-3 that the destiny of those in Christ is that they will continually be made more and more like Him, the Redeemer, and eventually will be exactly like Him. That's the goal. That's the work that Jesus is doing in His followers, and therefore the work that followers should be doing with each other. In other words, discipleship.

Everything, and I mean everything, we do as followers should be for the purpose of us becoming more like Christ. It is not about accumulating good works, although it's certainly the case that good works can make us more like Christ. Again, hiking the ball compared to winning the game.

This also means that everything God does in our lives will be to the same end - to make us more like Christ. Everything He allows in our lives, everything He puts before us, every way that He answers our prayer - everything, and I mean everything, He does in our lives is carrying out His promise to make us more like His Son.