At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, the final thing that Jesus
says to his gathered followers is “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have
commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”(Matthew
28 vs 18 – 20). This has to be one of the most mis-used passages of scripture. You
do not want to know the number of times that I have heard it suggested that
this is a call to evangelism – when it clearly isn’t – this is a call to
discipleship. It even goes into detail on what this means – for those who are
being charged by Jesus are to make disciples by passing on what they themselves
have received in the time that they spent with him – not by embellishing or
adding to this, but simply by teaching the next generation what it was that
Jesus had taught them – nothing more, nothing less.
It is fairly widely accepted that within the 12 disciples
that Jesus chose there were some who were related to him (his brother, and
maybe his nephew), people who had known him for a while, and people who
literally gave up everything to follow him simply because he called them. We
very much view these early disciples as his “inner circle”, the people that he
shared his deepest thoughts with, and the ones that were there with him at the
key moments in his ministry. Many of these disciples were so close to Jesus
that we know their names almost as well as we know Jesus’ own name, Simon
Peter, James and John, but then there were others who are less well known, or
only known for a particular role that they had. Andrew only even gets mentioned
when he is bringing people to Jesus, and others such as Thaddaeus (sometimes
referred to as Judas the Son of James) are only names.
The disciples also came from a wide cross section of positions
in society; fishermen, tax collectors, and maybe another carpenter. However,
one thing is certain, their response to Jesus was complete and total – they
gave up everything and followed him. The other thing that we can recognise that
they all had in common was that they were all changed drastically by their
experience. Leaving out Judas, for obvious reasons, we only have to look at the
disciples before and after the day of Pentecost to see how drastic some of these
changes were, but this was only the latest in a series of changes that had been
happening all the while that they were with Jesus.
When we talk about discipleship we are drawing links between
our journey with the risen Christ and the journey of those early disciples –
literally we are trying to learn and put into practice all the things that
those first disciples learnt in their time with Jesus. We are trying to learn
from them what they learnt from Jesus.
The Time to Talk material this week includes a quote “The term ‘discipleship’ designates the whole
life response of Christians to Jesus Christ. Everything a Christian believes
and does is an aspect of discipleship: the goal of discipleship is to grow ever
more Christ-like in every aspect of life” (Time to talk of God pp19), for
in the same way that those early disciples were changed by their encounter and
journey with Jesus, so are we.
One of the great failings of churches in general, and part
of why I was keen that we should undertake “The Way Ahead” together, relates to
another comment from the material, it says “much
of church culture fails to make the connections between the gospel and our life
in the world explicit, people whose primary energies are expended in their
working lives, in businesses, public service, schools or the local community
can feel that they do not have a ministry or a vocation.”
The material wants to challenge this and frankly so do I –
for Jesus and his disciples did not live out their lives in a biblical bubble
but instead they lived in the real world, facing the real issues of living in
an occupied land with a violent and unpredictable oppressor in their midst.
Those original disciples learnt about what God is all about by being with Jesus
in real life situations. If we are to grow in our discipleship then what we learn
from Jesus must be relevant to our everyday lives beyond the confines of the
church, and if we are truly living as disciples, then hopefully others will see
that there is something different about the way that we live our lives and will
want to ask questions.
In putting together the material, it’s writers produced a
paragraph that pulled together what they saw as a consensus of opinions
regarding discipleship - before we get into the questions, see what you think “We agreed there was a sense of call – a disciple feels called and
chooses to respond. The call is to a two-way relationship, where God keeps us company and we keep company with
God. There has to be a willingness to follow
– the disciple is on a lifelong journey of faith as a follower of Jesus and
must be willing to ‘go for God’. The journey is not straightforward, but can include moving towards and drifting
away from closeness to God. The aim is to become more Christ-like, being like Jesus and doing like Jesus.
Discipleship is a discipline that can involve pain and cost; in some choices we make, the gospel asks us to be counter-cultural – how should we live,
where do we place ourselves, who or what do we really serve? It also involves discipline; we are committed to learn,
to pray, and show our faith in action. In our love of God we will also love our neighbour as ourselves. And in
order to go on growing, disciples must be vulnerable, curious, able to live
with questions, and full of desire to
learn. How can the Church help us to be like this?”(Time to Talk of God pp
20)
So, can I invite you to think about this quote for a while –
is this how you understood discipleship, and is this how you understood the
journey that you are personally on?
In the sessions this week we will be looking at three questions
to get us started:
1.
Which of the following quotes about discipleship
can you identify with? Which do you disagree with?
a.
A disciple is an active, intentional learner
b.
A disciple is an apprentice and a practitioner –
not just a student of the Word but a doer of it
c.
A disciple is a follower of a particular teacher
d.
A disciple is accountable to someone who knows
them and helps them to learn and grow and live
e.
A disciple is outwardly orientated, focused on
helping others learn what it means to be a disciple.
2.
What would your own definition of a disciple be?
3.
Think about your own life, and us the following
exercises as a basis for conversation:
a.
Draw a “life-line” to represent your life so
far, and mark on it the points that are crucial in your development as a Christian
disciple, or
b.
Draw a large tree shape, with trunk, roots and
branches. If the trunk represents your life as a disciple, think about and
write in what you see as the important ‘roots’ of your discipleship. Mark on
the ‘branches’ where your life reaches out to, and then put in what you believe
or hope are some of the fruits.
Feel free to share your thoughts here, as we will be sharing
them in the groups.
OK, something light to start with........
ReplyDeleteI've not had time to think about all the questions fully but the initial statements brought back a question I had yesterday. I'm not sure I agree with the first statement you make. I would suggest that the context of Matthew 28 18-20 is a call to evangelism. It does not say go out and be disciples but go out and make disciples. If you look at the definition of a disciple, it is a follower or learner. You see a shift at the start of Matthew 10 where from verse 1 to verse 2 you have his (Jesus') twelve disciples becoming the twelve apostles. By definition, someone who is sent forth.
I would suggest that the discipleship is the inward focus of learning, understanding (sometimes), and conviction of required response. Apostleship is action or response to that conviction, to go out and encourage others to learn (become disciples). Whether this is by direct communication, by our actions, or ......... is dependent on the person.
Hi Phil,
ReplyDeleteI probably should have included a fuller explanation of my point - forgive me. Matthew's Gospel is understood to be a Gospel that is all about what it means to be a disciple. It contains within it five different sections of teaching on what it means to live in the Kingdom (the first of these is the sermon on the mount - as per the current lectionary - but the others include the parables of the kingdom and end up with the section on the second coming bringing in the fulfillment of the Kingdom). The point that you mention in chapter 10 is the beginning of a section that is often called "The Ambassadors of the Kingdom" - hence the emphasis that you mention. Therefore, the suggestion is that the way that you become a disciple is to journey through all that Matthew's Gospel contains, and then when you reach the end of it, Jesus charges you with the command to "go and make disciples, teaching them all I have commanded you" - basically to go and repeat the cycle that you have just been through. This is why Matthew's Gospel is often referred to as cyclic, because then intention is that when you get to the end, you then teach the next generation what you yourself have learnt. There is loads more you could say on this, not least all the stuff on how when Jesus in Matthew refers to himself as the Son of Man, he is always suggesting that he is an example for us to follow, but this is where my argument was coming from. NOW, you might argue, that part of being a disciple is evangelism - and I might want to agree with you, but this is why I said what I did. I guess my question would be whether you can be a disciple, and not engage in some sort of evangelism. Hope this makes sense. God Bless, Ian
I guess this depends on when you become a disciple. By implication that Matthew's gosple is cyclic then 'yes' you can be a disciple without some sort of evangelism - up to a point. You need to go through the learning process before you can pass it on. I would suggest that discipleship and evangelist are two characteristics of the Christian. I think they are separate but intertwined. I would think that as you go through the development as a disciple there would be a natural move into evangelism in one form or another.
ReplyDeleteOh I completely agree. I think that also there is something in here about recognising the different ways that different people do this. I will still wave a flag for my member from Royston who delivered the church magazine to someone who fell out with the church for 20 years!! - knowing that it went in the bin, but praying that one day they would read it. 20 years later they did and they are now members of the church again. There is also the evangelism of a life lived in a Christian way - which can be as effective (or more effective) that people who are explicit in sharing their faith. But all of these actions come out of our discipleship, and responding to what God has done for us. An interesting question is how we grow as disciples - is it through study, or through the experience of living the Christian life, or through the testimony of others, or all three. One of the things we were discussing yesterday morning is how easily we can assume that characters in the Bible must have had great insights and knowledge, when actually the almost certainly did not. Abraham for example probably knew that there was one God and that was it to begin with, likewise the disciples only knew some of what God was doing, even after the resurrection. We can think that we need more knowledge, or more skill, or more "something" before we can share our faith and "be a disciple" when actually maybe all we need is faith and trust in God.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting start to the discussion. I really identified with the points you raised Phil. I think how we grow as disciples depends very much on the individual and changes over time. For me its generally doing.
ReplyDeleteSo, I suppose the simple definition of disciple is learner, it all boils down to what we mean by learner. When I was a teacher, the very best students were those who questioned what I taught - they didn't just blindly accept everything at face value. They even had their own opinions, which sometimes, when they were brave enough, differed from mine. But then, I was a very different teacher than Jesus! My knowledge is imperfect and incomplete. If Jesus is who he claims to be, and I believe he is, then his knowledge is perfect and complete. It would, therefore, be right and appropriate to follow him blindly, accepting all without question. (By this, I mean genuine stuff from him, not human interpretation of stuff!). So, how do we determine what is genuine and we what is not? By becoming a disciple! I think there are three aspects to consider: first, we must know him. We must devote our time to building a relationship with him. Some of this will be private - bible study, prayer, etc. Some will be public - church, conferences, discussions, blogs, etc. One way or another, that relationship can't fail to change us (and go on changing us - the relationship is never static, we learn for life). Secondly, as the relationship builds, we follow. As any new relationship develops, you notice aspects in the other that you'd like to see reflected in you. As Jesus is perfection, the ultimate aspiration is to be the perfect reflection of him. Thirdly, to quote the one and only (lovely!) Gary Barlow "if you found God and he gave you hope, would you tell the world or save your soul?" When teaching, on the very rare occasion that one of my lessons was brilliant, my students left with a real buzz in the air, the lesson didn't end as the bell rang - the discussion, the learning and the sharing continued long after. If we know Jesus, we want to follow him. As we follow him, we want to share him. So, to summarise my witterings, I think I'm saying: to be a disciple is: to learn, to follow and to evangelise.
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