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 P11: All the way to the least

Last Saturday, we attended the fundraiser for Bridge of Hope Church in the urban core of KCK. Many of you are very familiar with BoH and Pastor Luther - I would love to introduce the rest of you to them sometime.

Luther asked me that while I was acknowledging their partners if I would be willing to share some thoughts about why we support their ministry. For me, it's a Gospel question, expressed in three statements:

1. You don’t get the Gospel until you extend it to the “least of these.”
2. You don’t get the Gospel until you put the “least of these” first.
3. You don’t get the Gospel until you surrender to the reality that we really are equal in Christ.

First, until you are personally extending the Gospel to those who don't rank high in the world's twisted value system, you don't fully comprehend the reach of the Gospel. You don't personally experience in the marrow of your bones how far the Gospel goes until your bones are being used to bring the Gospel to society's marginalized and forgotten. If you think the Gospel stops short of anyone (or live like the Gospel stops short of anyone), you don't get it fully, yet. If the Gospel extends to the "least," then it extends to everyone.

Second, until you put these "least ones" first, you don't see how completely the Gospel reverses the human condition. On a few occasions, people asked Jesus to distinguish who was greatest among them, and he responded with the enigmatic, "In the Kingdom of God, the first shall be last, and the last, first; he who is greatest among you shall be the servant of all." If that's what the Kingdom of God is like, then I don't get it or the Gospel (the Good News of the Kingdom of God) until I live it, until I personally put the last first and become the servant of all.

Third, until you give into the idea in Gal 3:28 that in Christ no one is above another, you don't get this Gospel. Speaking into a society with strict categories elevating one group over another, the Gospel demanded that those with privilege surrender to the equality with all others in Christ. When we personally throw up our hands in total surrender that we have no spiritual advantage over anyone in Christ, then we comprehend a key aspect of the Gospel.

That is why we are involved with Bridge of Hope, who specializes in ministry to the "least" - those who are my equals in Christ.

From this, we derive the 11th truth about discipleship in our "D17" series (17 truths about discipleship):

Discipleship is going to be others-focused, especially the least of these.

To be disciplemakers is to be focused on the spiritual growth of others. That's the orientation of disciplemaking. But in order to really get the Gospel, we must pay particular attention to those who don't rank high in the world's twisted value system. That's the reach of disciplemaking. We must point in the right direction and reach to the fullest extend in order to "get" the Gospel and personally experience the richness of being one of Jesus' disciplemakers.

Who in your neighborhood or place of employment is considered by the group to be the "least"? What would be communicated about the Gospel of Jesus Christ if you paid particular attention to that one, with a heart to influence him or her even a little in the direction of the Kingdom of God?

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.