I've always wanted a brutal punch to the gut! I'm so thankful that week three of Multiply was able to provide that for me! This week's lesson talks all about the heart of the disciple maker--you and me. Admittedly, I've never really looked at discipleship from this point-of-view; I should have. So far, this lesson was the most eye opening for me. A disciple maker is one that has a heart to make disciples. In other words, they are a fully committed child of God whose love for Christ supersedes all other loves in their life.
There are some churches that, unfortunately, look at numbers instead of looking at people. Economics tell us to look at numbers. Numbers equal "physical" sustainability. The difference between numbers and discipleship is that discipleship isn't about numbers; it's about eternal sustainability. It doesn't matter if you are praying for and discipling one person or 100. It actually doesn't matter if you're discipling one person if your heart isn't in it. I've counseled a lot of people over the years and the one thing that I always start off with is that they can't fix their problem until they fix themselves. To put it in discipleship terms--you have to love God and have Him number one in your life before you can help others come to know who He is. Does that make sense?
I've always used the analogy that our job as Christ followers is to make Christ followers. Our boss is Jesus Christ, our employee manual is the Bible, and our job description is Matthew 28:19-20. After studying this third chapter of Multiply, that description may not be the best use of that particular analogy. For some people, their job is mundane, repetitive, and, at times, downright boring. Discipleship is (should be) an amazing, fun, satisfying, and wonderful part of your daily life.
Walk the walk. Practice what you preach. Do as I say, not as I do. Have you heard these sayings before? You may have even said them before. For this particular lesson, these quotes are much more relevant. Again, if we don't have God as our number one, then we aren't living our life the way we are teaching others to live theirs. It all goes back to our love for Christ. Putting Him as our first priority is the most important aspect of discipleship--nothing and no one can come before Him, not even us or our desires (John 3:30). Galatians 2:20 puts it this way:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Do you see what we're being told here? The second you accept Christ as your Savior, you no longer live for yourself; instead, you live fully and willfully for the One who saved you. Christ did something miraculous for us--He died on the cross for us--you and me. The unconditional love that Jesus showed us is what we must reciprocate to Him every day. Discipleship starts, first and foremost, with loving Christ. Just as Francis Chan talked about in this chapter, we must not be a disciple for any other reason other than our love for Jesus. If we aren't prepared to "practice what we preach" then we aren't prepared to be an effective disciple. In fact, I'm not sure if we could even consider ourselves worthy to be Jesus' disciple unless we are doing it for all the right reasons.
Remember, discipleship isn't about numbers--it's about loving God. We can get caught up in the many cogs of a ministry that sometimes we are just going through the motions and doing what we know is right, but perhaps our heart isn't really in it. For the sake of transparency, I've been there. I've discipled people in the past because I know that God tells me, through His word, that I am supposed to do it; however, it was only me doing what I'm told--my heart wasn't necessarily in it. We have to be courageous enough to recognize that particular season in our life and ask God, our pastors, friends, accountability partner(s), etc., for help. That type of discipleship isn't only ineffective, it can be dangerous.
Commit with me today that you will put God first and disciple others based on your love for God and nothing else.
In Christ,
Pastor Jeremy Meier