markphilipfcagayat:

 The Heart of Discipleship

by Jonathan Parnell

Discipleship is about values. This could not be clearer in the Gospels. Jesus’ call is for a double action: leave and follow. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” he first said to Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4:19. And “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Then to James and John. And “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” Whether nets or family, the call to follow Jesus is the call to walk away from something else. It is the call to this, not that. Here, not there.

The disciples knew this. They knew they were forsaking one thing for another. And they knew pleasure was at the root. That’s why Peter asked what he did in Matthew 19:27. To be sure, he was still putting the pieces together, but he tipped his hand here. He was waiting for the pay off. Jesus had just taught on riches, which I imagine seemed out of the ballpark to Peter. Riches? Psssssst! (He had even walked away from his meager livelihood.) Ayhem, Jesus? Great lesson on riches, and about that, we, you know, we, uh, we left everything. So when do we get to cash the check?

Maybe more astonishing than Peter asking the question is that Jesus answers him.

Forsake the lesser pursuit in order to gain the greater pleasure. That’s why a man sells everything to buy a field (Matthew 13:44) or why the merchant considers all his goods mere commerce compared to one pearl (Matthew 13:45). There is something better out there and discipleship is the great calling to lay hold of it.

The human is a deep creature: “not just a body, but a soul. Not just a soul, but a soul with a passion and a desire. Not just a desire for being liked or for playing softball or collecting shells.” And Jesus says, “Follow me.” His call harmonizes with our inherent depth. Look, here’s the treasure. It’s me. Then we are awakened, muddy hands and all, wallowing in the slums this whole time but now testifying of a “desire for something infinitely great and beautiful and valuable and satisfying — the name and the glory of God” (Boasting Only in the Cross). So we leave and we follow. Goodbye broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13), hello my exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

We follow Jesus into a new world, not as pedagogy, but as fellowship. We come not as pupils, but as rebellious creatures made alive for the first time — rebellious creatures now reconciled to God by the death of his Son. Discipleship — following Jesus — is to live before God’s face, to dwell in his presence, to be satisfied in all that he is. We follow as creatures of grace, entering into the fellowship of the triune God in whose presence there is fullness of joy, at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

From: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-heart-of-discipleship

part 2: The Spark

Last week I wrote about looking around to see if people were pouring their lives out for others, who in turn would pour their life into someone else.  The answer, sadly, was no.  Or better put, not yet.  What I see when I look around me is a people ready to burn white hot for the Lord, and the Holy Spirit ready to blow a fresh wind across the face of the church and fan the flame.  All we need is a spark.  I believe that spark is a discipleship vision.

What would happen if believers across the country and around the world would read the gospels … check that… . read the whole Bible with one question in mind: what am I commanded to do?  What should I do in response to what I have read?  Of course we could start with Matthew 28:18-20 … but that’s only one of many.  Take a few minutes and look at these verses:

gollyallison:

“Nondiscipleship cuts you off from abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, a faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, a hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, a power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, nondiscipleship costs you exactly the abundance of life that Jesus said he came to bring.”

-Dallas Willard, The Great Omission

I have been thinking about why we do discipleship.  I know there are plenty of answers, the most correct and most import one being BECAUSE JESUS TOLD US TO.  But I am thinking in more pragmatic terms.  I am asking myself, “What is the desired outcome?”  Do I want them to be more like Jesus?  Of course!  Do I want the person I am pouring into to be more Biblically literate?  Absolutely!  What about being a better dad, a better husband, a better worker?  All good things, so yes … I want those things too.  But none of those are really the win I am looking for.  I want the person I disciple to disciple someone else.  That’s when I know it has taken hold.

In Genesis 12:1-3 we see that God tells Abram that he is going to bless him so that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  We often refer to that as “blessed to be a blessing.”  I think the same principal applies to discipleship: discipled to be a discipler.  So when I look around my church, my community, and my sphere of influence, do I see hundreds of men and women who have had someone pour into them who are now pouring into others?  The honest answer is, “No.”  But maybe a better answer is actually, “Not yet.”  I think the tinder is dry and just needs a spark.  The Holy Spirit will provide the wind to fan the flame into a huge fire of reproducing disciples. 

So what is the spark?  Next week.

by Michael Smith

Community Pastor, Fellowship Bible Church of NWA

mismith@fellowshipnwa.org