I Would Never Do That

There is one thing for sure that God tells us to do that He would never do Himself.

That just sounds wrong, but it's true. We criticize parents, for example, who do the very things they tell their kids not to do, like swear or lose one's temper. "Do as I say, not as I do" is widely criticized as a terrible way to lead. Instead, many leadership books today remind leaders that they must lead by example or they won't lead effectively. And yet, there's at least one thing God tell us to do that He absolutely will never do.

Any guesses? Maybe it's something like, "worship God." However, Jesus demonstrated worshipfulness by example many times while on earth. Related things like "glorify God" are certainly things the incarnate Jesus did. Maybe it's something that God would never, ever do, like "sin." But God would never command us to do that. How about something very human, like "get married"? That's a possible answer, but I'm not sure that's something the incarnate Jesus could not have done. Contrary to all these, the whole idea of following Jesus means to do what He did and be as He is. That's generally how discipleship works. How can He tell us to do something He'd never do?

God has two kinds of attributes. The first kind is called His communicable attributes, which are those attributes that we can and should have, such as mercy, compassion, love, boldness, truthtelling, generosity, etc. The second kind is called His incommunicable attributes - those attributes that we cannot have and should not strive for, such as sovereignty, autonomous glory, eternality, and so on. It was precisely the sin of Adam and Eve to seek the attributes of God that they were not supposed to have.

One thing for certain that God commands us to do, but He Himself will never do (indeed cannot ever do) is to change. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will not change. He cannot change. He is perfectly perfect, so He cannot become smarter, faster, stronger, more merciful, or more experienced. He cannot become less in any way, either. He is outside of time, and therefore cannot change (since change requires time). Changelessness is one of his incommunicable attributes - He is as much God as God will ever be.

Change. He can't; we must. We are less than, we are imperfect, we are unlike Christ in many ways. But our destiny in Christ is to become like Him. We are commanded to change, and in fact, the whole idea of discipleship is change - changes in our beliefs, actions, attitudes, hopes, and worldview - all toward more and more Christlikeness.

Therefore, we should never settle for where we are in our faith, our habits, our relationships, our knowledge, or our character. We should persistently pursue change, rather than rest on "good enough, better than most." Change stands out as one thing we're absolutely commanded and expected to do, but something that our God will never do.

In this one way, technically speaking, we can't follow Jesus' example - but it's what we must do in order to follow Him more.

Discipleship ala IBM vs. Google

When I worked at IBM as a software developer in the late 80s and early 90s, we created rock solid software by following a rigorous process. We had to step through every line of code (down at the assembly level) in a debugger to demonstrate that every possible code path was successfully executed. We had a punishing series of data boundary tests, power interruption tests, error recovery tests, speed tests, and so on. Only after passing all of those tests perfectly did we hand the code over to the professional testers, who we had to personally reward if they found any bugs. We would have been ashamed to ship any software that was shown to be immature in any way.

The result was bulletproof, fully mature software. We had extremely few customer calls and spent very little on support. We didn't go out the door without what we thought to be perfect and full-featured. But it was also true that we were slow to market. The industry was fleet afoot, but we were plodding and slow. The perfect tortoise had trouble competing with the imperfect hares (our competitors). Being perfect didn't matter if you weren't available in the marketplace.

The Google model is different. They don't skimp on quality - they produce good code, but code that doesn't yet have all the features. They are famous for some programs being in the "Beta" stage for years. They have "labs" for a lot of their programs - experimental features without guarantees of quality for the users to play with (and report any bugs) long before they include those features in the official product. For example, I've used Google Docs for years, from the earliest days when it had only the most basic features. Over time, that software has matured into a product with a rich set of features. They are unashamed to show their software before it is fully mature. The result is (usually) good quality software but much quicker to market - software that is already in the game as it matures.

With respect for both companies, this comparison illustrates two approaches to discipleship. The first approach is the one many of us are familiar with. Don't "get in the game" of ministry and disciplemaking until after you feel fully mature, developed, and even tested. The expectation is to enter the "marketplace" nearly bulletproof, but the result is that we are very slow getting to market. Some never get to market at all, because they don't feel sufficiently mature.

The second approach to discipleship is to get to market quickly, not by skimping on quality, but getting in the game with just the basics and then maturing along the way over the years. Don't expect to have a full set of features early on, and even experiment with some ideas to see if they are fruitful. If not, stick with what you know works. Get into the game as soon as possible and grow there.

The twin dangers of the first approach are never getting in the game and the temptation to put on a false front of being a better, more complete disciple than you really are. We're supposed to reach bulletproof level, so we pretend to be more bulletproof than is true - we're ashamed to be seen as less than sufficiently mature.

Rather, we are works in progress, and can be in the game long before we have matured in the faith. We should not be ashamed for others to see that we don't have it all together, but are still being transformed by Christ. I suspect people are more impressed with Christ by watching followers mature right before their eyes rather than never really getting to know them until they are already far down the path.

I Don't Know How to Make a Disciple

We've talked a lot about "discipleship." So much so that some might be tired of the topic, or even just the word. One of the reasons we've talked so much about it is because of a conviction that we've talked too little about it for far too long. Perhaps we're overcorrecting a bit, but given that discipling others is the thing Jesus told us to be about, it would be disobedient for us to not keep this as our primary activity.

Despite all the talk about discipleship, we still have a nagging question, "But how do I do it?" Where's the step-by-step guide? What does it look like? I agree I should be about it, but I'm not sure what it is I should be about.

The definition of "discipleship" that I like the most is: moving from unbelief to belief in every area of life in light of the Gospel.(1) This definition allows for important ideas: that discipleship begins before someone is born from above, that everyone can be discipled, and that even after believing in Christ there are still areas of unbelief that need to move toward belief. This definition is an ongoing process, not something that we finish after a 12-week study.

Given this definition, it's easy to see why we haven't presented a "how to" manual. The possibilities are endless on how we can help one another move from unbelief to belief in an area of life. It can be a Bible study, it can be working side by side for some cause, it can be while grieving over the loss of a loved one. It can be formal or informal, planned or unplanned, face-to-face or side-by-side. How do we help one another identify our areas of unbelief, and then without judgment, encourage one another to move toward belief?

Therefore, "making disciples" (I prefer "discipling") is not like making widgets. There is a set way to make a widget, and once you've made a widget, it's done. It's a widget or it's not. When we look at making disciples this way, we naturally begin to reduce disciplemaking down to things like doctrine, spiritual disciplines, and behavior. Just get those three things down, and boom ... you're a widget. Agree to the right doctrinal statement, be able to check off your list daily that you read and prayed, and stop doing bad stuff. This is not a "disciple"!!!

The word disciple means student or apprentice. Those words aren't like widgets. They are postures. One is a student if she has the posture of learning. One is an apprentice if he has an ongoing learning-by-example relationship with a journeyman. A disciple is defined by an orientation toward Jesus, not an accumulation of knowledge and behaviors.

Therefore, making a disciple is not like producing a product. Rather, it is helping someone assume certain posture toward Christ. It's not about giving them all the information, but helping them orient toward the Teacher for all things. It's not about learning spiritual disciplines, but adopting habits that orient us toward the Teacher. It's not about better behavior, but living a life of learning how to live from the Teacher. How do you make a student? By helping them adopt the posture of a student, not by grading pop quizzes.

I recently asked some middle school kids if they were able to disciple one another. They all said no. Then I asked them if they could help one another move from unbelief to belief in some areas of life. They all said yes. They certainly can disciple one another! (Just don't call it that.)

Can we help one another maintain a student posture? Can we help one another develop an apprentice relationship with Jesus? Certainly. Just do that. You'll learn better and better ways as we all move forward in this journey together, but just do that. Just encourage one another to move from unbelief to belief in specific areas of our lives. That, of course, requires authentic relationships.

(1) Caesar Kalinowski

I Don't Have Time for This!

This Sunday is the last in our series on how Jesus redefines everything in our lives as disciples, pulling our thoughts mostly out of 1 and 2 Corinthians. To review, this is where we've been:

1. I am a Disciple (the "tree") 
2. I am on Mission (the "fruit") 
3. I am Being Transformed (the "roots")
4. I Worship the Risen Christ (the "trunk")
5. I Belong to a Community (the "branches") 
6. I am a Disciple who Makes Disciples (but what kind?) 
7. I am Missionary (learning to think like a missionary right here)
8. I am a Consumer (we can become consumers of church, rather than disciples)
9. I have a Vocation (our 3 callings)

This Sunday's message will be "I don't have time for this!" from 1 Cor 9:19-27.

And we don't really have time for all this ... do we??? I simply can't add all those things to my life, because I'm already hovering around the "overwhelmed" status. Quite frankly, I just end up feeling guilty about all this, which is worse than before.

We must be honest enough to admit whatever feelings like this we have, and we must be brave enough to explore those questions.

I'm not going to explore here what we're going to explore Sunday morning, but I did want to create a simple list of the series so we can see the big picture of where we've been. I also wanted to put the question about time in your mind in advance to get you thinking about it so that we gather together with fresh, real questions and ideas.

Let me prime the pump with the following:

• Does God ever give us too little time for what He desires for us?
• Are we foisting our idea of "time" onto God's plan? If so, how?
• What are we not fully believing that then leads us to think we don't have enough time?
• Are there things I'm not yet willing to give up in order to live life "on mission" according to a list like this? If so, how should I respond?

D17 Review

For the last 17 weeks, we've been discussing the "D17" - Seventeen Truths of Discipleship. There are more than 17 truths, and one could generate a completely legitimate list that differs from this one. Rather than trying to be the definitive list on discipleship, we would rather just focus on how a list like this can stimulate us to think about discipleship differently and seriously.

Discipling is the thing Jesus told the Church to do as the Church. His commission to us is not, "Get to heaven" or "Keep your nose clean" or "Pursue the American Dream with a Christian twist," but "be about the business of discipling all people groups" (my paraphrase). Therefore, we absolutely must have strong and clear convictions about the thing Jesus commissioned us to do.

Below is the list of 17 all together in one place. I encourage you to copy or print this list, keep it in front you, and spend some serious time reading, contemplating, processing, and reacting to it. What ideas about discipleship challenge you? What life changes are needed to be more serious about discipling others?

The impact of a list like this should be lifelong changes in convictions and habits. This will only happen by intentionality on your part. That's it ... no good intentions, no haranguing on my part, no feelings of being convicted will change a thing. Only your decision and action to be intentional. This is what Christ gave for His Church to do. Do I take that from Him slightly or seriously? Will we take this seriously as a family? Will we take this seriously as a church?

1. Discipleship is the process of moving from unbelief to belief in every area of your life in light of the Gospel (Mk 9:21-24)
2. Discipleship must be Spirit-led, because only He can reveal spiritual truth (Jn 16:8-11; 1 Cor 2:9-16)
3. Discipleship must be Gospel-saturated (1 Cor 15:1-11)
4. Discipleship must be community-based (Phm 1-3; 1 Thess 1:1; Lk 10:1)
5. Discipleship must be individually-tailored, based in one’s identity in Christ (Jn 21:21-22)
6. Discipleship must be holistic (Mk 12:28-31; Mt 23:23; Jms 1:27; 2:15-16)
7. Discipleship needs to be frequent and long-term (Jn 15:26-27)
8. Discipleship has to be modeled and experienced (Jn 13:12-17)
9. Jesus’ kind of discipleship is mostly unscheduled but very intentional (both organized and organic) (Mk 8:27)
10. Every moment is a discipleship opportunity (Mk 8:14-21)
11. Discipleship is going to be others-focused, especially the least of these (Mt 25:40; Lk 7:18-22)
12. We would never raise kids the way that most churches try to raise disciples (1 Tim 3:4-5)
13. Discipleship begins before conversion (Jn 6; 20:24-28)
14. Discipleship is obedience-driven (Mt 28:20; Jn 8:31-32; 15:10)
15. Discipleship is costly (Lk 9:57-62; 14:26-35; Mt 10:37-39)
16. Discipleship is not about works performed, but about becoming like the Redeemer (Mt 7:22-23; Rom 8:29; 1 Jn 3:1-3)
17. Discipleship requires humility (Jn 13:12-17; Mk 10:42-45)

See this blog for discussions on each of these. So much more can be written, but enough writing for now. There is enough here in just this one list to occupy us for the rest of our lives.

D17 P17: I Like the Entire List ... Except this One

For the last 17 weeks, we've looked at the "D17" - 17 truths about discipleship. We will list them all together next week, but this entry is about the last one. And it's probably the one I like the least, because it's the only one on the list that I don't personally aspire to. Perhaps the same is true for you, too.

Discipleship requires humility.

Why? Because Jesus. (To use the grammatically incorrect but common phrasing.) Because this is exactly how Jesus made disciples, and He expects us to make disciples the same way as He did. Consider two key events in Jesus discipling His followers. The more compelling of the two happened on the night He was betrayed as He shared the Passover meal with His disciples.

So when he had washed their feet and taken his outer clothing and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, for I am. If then I—your Lord and Teacher—wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that just as I have done for you, you also do. Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:12–17)

This is His key example for His disciples - the lasting image before the Cross. They will continue His ministry of making disciples who make disciples with the humble attitude of a servant washing someone else's dirty feet. The Jews considered this task too demeaning even for Jewish slaves - only foreign slaves would be made to do this. Jesus says that His model of disciplemaking is something so humble that it's lower in stature than something they considered too demeaning for a slave.

He finishes by saying that if we do this voluntarily, we are blessed. How crazy upside-down is that? No matter how you turn this and twist this, you can't escape that the Jesus way of making disciples requires humility.

The second example is a teaching He gave to His disciples:

And Jesus called them to himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their people in high positions exercise authority over them. But it is not like this among you! But whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be most prominent among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42–45)

The key phrase for me here is "It is not like this among you!" He didn't say that it shouldn't be or that we should avoid it. He said that it is not that way. Our "system" or manner of making disciples will not be making disciples if it's not like this - like servanthood. Not even Jesus came to be served but to be a servant to others.

Making a disciple is serving them with such a humble attitude of service that it is more humble than that of a slave. We cannot make disciples the Jesus way if we have an attitude of superiority, as if we're better than the one we disciple, or that we're their spiritual "hero." The Jesus way of making disciples requires humility.

For those who refuse to intentionally make disciples because they don't feel qualified or good enough, there's good news! You've got a lot of the humility required already! Now, that sense of inadequacy comes from a model of discipleship that expects the discipler to be the superior one, the "expert." But it is not that way with you. Now, all you have to do is turn that humility into the attitude of a servant with respect to someone else's discipleship. Every follower of Jesus can be a discipler of others, and the ones who think themselves pretty special are the least qualified.

If we don't grab onto this last truth of the D17, then the entire 16 truths before this one will not be effective. Humility is non-optional. We cannot make disciples with pride, arrogance, or even a sense of superiority. We can only make authentic disciples of Jesus by being more humble than First Century Jewish slaves.

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.

D17 P15: If you hahve to ahsk...

When the menu has food I can't pronounce and doesn't list the price of anything, I know I'm in the wrong restaurant. I won't like the food any better than a Gates burnt ends sandwich, and I won't be able to pay for it. "If you hahve to ahsk, you cahn't afforhd it."

The Gospel is offered to us freely. There is no price tag on it that tells us how much we must pay in order to acquire it. But it is a gross misunderstanding of the Gospel to then conclude that the Gospel doesn't cost us anything. A lack of a price tag doesn't mean it doesn't have a price. The lack of a price tag merely says, "You can't afford it."

"Free" doesn't mean "without personal cost."

"Free" means that the price to bring you into the Kingdom of God is so large that it must be given to you as a gift by the only one who can actually afford it. But following Christ still costs you everything. Following Christ means forsaking all other gods, giving up living for yourself, surrendering your security in mere things, and being willing to let go of everything, even of your own life, if that's what it takes to follow Christ more completely.

Furthermore, "free" doesn't mean "of little value."

The value is determined not by what you would pay to acquire (which you can't afford any way). Rather, the value is determined by the price that Jesus paid to offer it to you freely - which was His life, His unbroken relationship with the Father, and the penalty of sin. If the Gospel didn't cost anyone anything in any way, how valuable would it be? A free gift of gold is more precious than a free gift of tissue paper - it's still free, but the value is determined by the cost paid by the giver.

The 15th entry in our series of the 17 truths of discipleship ("D17") is this:

Discipleship is costly (Luke 9:57-62; 14:26-35; Matt 10:37-39).

It is offered to us freely (we can't pay for it, let alone afford it). But it cost Jesus the greatest costs ever paid, and receiving that gift means it costs us every reliance on worldly ways and every attempt to find in things that which can only be fully found in God through Christ.

How can the Gospel cost us nothing and yet cost us everything? No analogy is perfect, but consider the difference between purchasing something and ridding yourself of valueless things in order to make room for what's truly valuable. Purchasing means I give an equivalently valuable thing in order to get something in return - I deserve the thing because I paid its worth. "Making room" is ridding yourself of all things that occupy the spaces designed to be filled uniquely by God.

Those spaces are not confined to Sunday mornings or to mere behaviors. Rather, they are the very spaces of what it means to be human: my sense of personal identity, the satisfaction of my soul, my security, the purpose I live for, the ways I choose to respond to challenges and stresses - everything about being human. The Gospel costs us every false way of filling those spaces so that they can be filled by God alone.

The Gospel costs us everything related to being human so that we can finally be truly human.

To disciple someone else will also cost you - time, effort, money, and emotional energy. You will enter into the messiness of someone else's imperfect life, and you will give up the facade covering the messiness of your own. It will cost you tears. It will create some heartbreak. You will suffer some disappointment. And it's worth every bit of it!

And we if share the Gospel without also telling people that it will cost them everything, we sell the Gospel short and lie about its true nature. People must know that the Gospel is free but is also worth giving up everything. Jesus did not shy away from telling others what following Him would cost:

Luke 9:57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”

58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”

60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”

61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”

62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,

30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?

35 “It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Matthew 10:37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

39 “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

D17 P14: What must non-legalists do?

Grace is the most scandalous aspect of the Gospel, the hardest pill to swallow, and ironically, one of the biggest barriers to embracing the Gospel. Grace says you can't earn or deserve any favor from God, no matter what you do. But we love to earn and deserve. Just when we begin to come to terms with grace, we begin to lose perspective on the do part of the Gospel. We are not legalists, who teach you must do in order to garner His favor. But ... what must non-legalists do?

The discipleship mindset is anchored in the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20), where Jesus tells His disciples to make disciples of all nations. Included in this commission is the command to "teach them to obey everything I commanded you." Discipling someone includes teaching him what to do.

Prior to giving the Great Commission, Jesus consistently did exactly this - teach people to obey His commands. For example, in John 8:31-32, He says, "If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples." Discipleship is marked by doing. Again in John 15:10, he says, "If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and remain in His love." Not only is our discipleship marked by doing, Jesus' own relationship with His Father is marked by doing.

But we're not legalists!!!

The 14th entry in our series on the 17 Truths of Discipleship ("D17") is:

Discipleship is obedience-driven.

Jesus was not merely a philosopher, teaching us only to have a particular worldview. The Gospel affects not only our theology, our philosophy, and our worldview; the Gospel transforms what we do. The Gospel is not about just getting your entry ticket to heaven, but living now in God's Kingdom according to the nature of God's Kingdom. We get to live this way!!!

Disciples are followers, which means far more than merely "following Jesus' teachings" by agreeing with the good stuff He says. It means following Him - following a Person by doing as He does, speaking as He speaks, thinking as He thinks, and following the path that He blazes.

We're not legalists - we don't teach that you gain merit or favor by what you do. We're practitioners of Grace, those who practice (do) what Grace is. We are followers of the One who merited all of the Father's favor on our behalf. Following cannot exclude doing and still be considered "following."

As we disciple one another, we teach and encourage ourselves to do all that Jesus tells us to do as a matter of following, not as a matter of earning. As one author put it, "Stop trying to be a 'good Christian' and just do what Jesus says."

D17 P13 - We got the heart before the course

I was always taught this order: evangelism, conversion, discipleship, service. That's the order of how things happen, and pretty clean lines in between them. Maybe a person is involved in service while he is being discipled, but the norm is that Christian service comes largely after the bulk of discipleship. Never mind that little nagging voice that says, "But, when is anything in the Christian life this tidy?"

There are some other questions that challenge this tidy order:

• Scripture calls some people disciples of Jesus before they convert (e.g. John 6).
• Scripture calls other people disciples of people like John - no conversion involved. 
• The word disciple just means "student" or "follower."
• Jesus taught people to serve as part of discipling them, not after (and ... gasp ... perhaps even before they converted).
• Paul talks about evangelizing the Roman believers (Rom 1:15) - people who already converted and are being discipled. Evangelizing the converted???
• Jesus tells His disciples in the "Great Commission" (Matt 28:18-20) to disciple people from all nations, not specifically to evangelize them.
• Every believer is told to disciple, but not every believer is equipped to do what we've typically labeled "discipleship." Something has to give, and perhaps it's our narrowed view of what it means to disciple someone.

Not only does the Christian life not fit into a nice, tidy progression, the New Testament doesn't fit into it, either.

Instead of any semblance of an inviolable order, what we see in Scripture and in our lives tends to be more like:

• Discipling someone is the process of orienting them more and more toward Jesus, no matter where they are spiritually. To recall our very first definition of discipleship: "Discipleship" is the process of moving from unbelief to belief in every area of life in light of the Gospel." That's something that everyone can do at any point of spiritual development.
• All of these activities are acts of discipling someone. Evangelizing someone is discipling her. Someone's conversion is a milestone is the larger process of discipling. Service is something learned as part of the discipling process, and in fact, every act of service is part of one's discipleship. Everything is part of the larger concept of discipling.
• Evangelizing is something that can be done after conversion, too. Therefore, evangelizing someone is more than just the words that guide him to conversion.

This is a completely different model than I was taught (and perhaps a number of you, too). But it certainly squares better with our observations of Scripture and life.

This is our 13th entry in the "D17" (the 17 truths of discipleship):

Discipleship begins before conversion.

The incremental process of growing ever more complete as a follower of Jesus is discipleship, which starts before conversion and continues after conversion. Once someone converts, that doesn't mean she stops moving from unbelief to belief in every area of her life in light of the Gospel.

This also means that conversion is really the job of God the Holy Spirit, not us. Our commission is to disciple, not convert, because we can't convert anyone. Disciple them, and God will do the converting. Teach them about conversion, pray for it, encourage it, but since you can't make it happen, don't try. Cultivate a rich environment for conversion to occur by discipling, but expect the power for conversion to come from God, not from your words or magnetic presence.

With this understanding of discipling, it is now something we can do with anyone. Any influence to move from unbelief to belief is an act of discipling, and that's the very thing Jesus commanded us to do.

D17 P12: It's Family, Stupid

As we have journeyed through the "D17" (the 17 truths about discipleship), you have perhaps noticed I refer frequently to author and speaker Caesar Kalinowski (see http://caesarkalinowski.com/). I have read a few of his books and heard him speak a number of times, and I appreciate his fresh way of clarifying ideas that are sometimes elusive. It was at a small conference in KC with about 30 other pastors where he was teaching that I got the idea for this D17 list. Many of the items on this list came from that talk.

There was one thing he said in that conference that stopped me dead in my tracks, which is our 12th entry in the D17 list:

We would never raise kids the way that most churches try to raise disciples.

Wow.

His point is best illustrated by trying to envision what this would look like:

Yeah, we're intentional about raising our kids. Of course, we are. We get together about once a week for a couple of hours (sometimes less). That's the only time I see most of them. For the first part, we separate off into different rooms based on age or what topic we're interested in. We've got these convenient booklets that tell us what we're supposed to learn, and if we fill in all the blanks right, then we're going GREAT. But then we all come together. And I, being the dad, set up my chair at the front of the room, and the rest of the family forms a few semicircle rows to face me and listen quietly while I talk.

Sometimes, a few of our family members get together at a time other than Sunday morning ... if there's no soccer game. It's a hassle, because my wife has to get the house all clean first - wouldn't want the kids to know how we normally live. There's nothing they can learn from us based on how we really live - we want them to learn how to do the Christian life from those snippets of our presentable lives we allow them to see. The last thing we want them to see is how normal family members live normal life ... what could they possibly learn from that?

We don't ever expect our kids to walk in a manner consistent with our family name. We really want them to. We complain if they don't. But we don't really expect them to. Otherwise, we would be having difficult-but-real conversations about bearing the family name together. More importantly, we would be lovingly showing them how the Gospel applies to everyday life and that our real issue is not behavior but faith.

Yeah, we're super-intentional about how we raise our kids.

We would never expect our kids to grow up as healthy people with this kind of family rhythm. Why should we expect disciples to grow into greater health and maturity this way?

The premise for Kalinowski's point is from 1 Tim 3:4-5, where Paul tells Timothy that one of the desired traits of a church elder is that he be a good dad discipling his own kids, because discipling the church family should look a lot like discipling your own family members. Because ... church is a family.

We are aghast watching the increasing institutionalization of raising children in our society. We should be equally concerned wherever we see it happening in our churches for disciplemaking.

Here's perhaps a simpler way to think about it: Treat one another like family, including discipling one another. However we ought to disciple our sons, daughters, siblings, spouse, and even parents is how we ought to disciple our church family.

Just two chapters later, Paul tells Timothy (1 Tim 5.1-2):

Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as a father, younger men as brothers, 

older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.

Like family. Not like a Model T on the assembly line.

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.