This past week my focus pertained to discipleship, one of those biblical words that contains so much meaning and yet at the same time has lost so much truth. In the Protestant Church of North America, it's become a popular term to talk about and even a more popular term to live out, which is inspiring to me because discipleship, real discipleship, is so of Jesus that it contains potential to change people's lives.
As inspiring as it is to see my generation living out this concept, it's easy for it to stray from it's original intent. Even if it's just for myself, shared truth and Gospel-reminders are always a good thing.
At this point we should probably outline some definitions just in case you're completely in the dark about what I mean. Discipleship has a variety of definitions, but Abby Perry, a woman of the Faith who did a guest post for my recent pastor Matt Morton puts it well:
'Discipleship is a fundamental, organic quality of an active life in Christ, and while our pursuit of it may take various forms in changing seasons, God will be faithful to use it to foster great joy, growth and unity in the members of the body, honoring our obedience of Him and blessing our acknowledgement of His plan for us'.Okay, so that definition is fairly dense (read the whole post here), but if we analyze it and couple it with the biblical text, then I think we will be able to shed some light on the topic that is discipleship.
In Abby's words, discipleship is a quality, or in other words, it is a fruit bore of a Spirit-led life, a truth vital to grasp because what this means is that discipleship is not an end, not a goal. Discipleship is an end product, and remaining in the side of God is the goal. Discipleship is what naturally happens when a life is dependent on the Holy Spirit.
A lot of Christians, myself included, easily fall captive to the idea that works matter, and they do, in some sense, but they matter secondarily to what comes first: faith.
When a life is living in faith, then that faith will manifest itself in the form of good works. Faith produces works-not the other way around. So even though discipleship is important, it is secondary to my faith, which takes the primary position of importance in the life of any believer. My goal as a Christian should not be discipleship. My goal should be to know Christ more, and as this happens His love will motivate me to love others, which is what will bring people to Him. We draw people to Christ not through teaching bible studies, having coffee dates, journaling prayers, seeking mentorship, or loudly declaring their beliefs to be right or wrong. We draw people to Christ by allowing His love to work in our lives, by asking the Spirit to love people as Jesus has loved us. Disciples can be made in the middle of a bible study, in the midst of a conversation over a cup of coffee, or through a mentor-relationship. However, these are merely forms discipleship can take. It's not about these acts-it's about the love done out of faith that is harmoniously causing these happenings to work together for the glory of God.
I love, love, love coffee dates, but sometimes I need to be reminded that they are empty if not happening out of a servant's heart.
Discipleship is growing together in Christ, by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ.
In his book Life Together Deitrich Bonheoffer speaks of community in this way, a concept that can help us glean much in regards to discipleship:
‘Christian community is not an ideal we have to realize, but rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our community is in Jesus Christ alone, the more calmly we will learn to think about our community and pray and hope for it.’Community and discipleship are incredibly intertwined, attached at the hip I'd say. I love the idea of community being something to participate in rather than something to realize, and I think the same is true of discipleship. When we view both of these happenings as events in which to be a part of rather than events in which we ourselves bring into causation, then we realize that it is in fact God who is orchestrating the events at all.
Discipleship happens because of the Spirit working in our lives, and we only have the Spirit because of what Jesus has done in justifying us by grace through faith in Him.
When I grasp these truths, I no longer strive to 'make discipleship happen', because the truth is, I am absolutely unable. Humbled and at the mercy of my Savior, I am forced to work out my salvation with 'fear and trembling', and this is true of all of us who have answered the call to pick up our crosses and follow Him.
Knowing that discipleship is about Jesus, for Jesus, and by His Spirit alters my mentality to be able to use my life to serve rather than produce; my mindset is serving others with my life, not producing disciples because it's commanded or because it looks good to other people. The life of a servant will produce discipleship. The life of a disciple-maker will be fruitless.
When I think of discipleship what comes to mind is this idea of knowing Jesus more and more, and in that I become like Jesus more and more. I am a lot of things: a daughter, a sister, a painter, a student, a teacher, but first and foremost I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, a follower of Him, a redeemed child of wrath turned child of light.
The redeemed are called to share that redemption, this much is true. Christ-followers are commanded to 'go and make disciples of all nations', so in this discipleship is both a quality and a command. However, we must remember that it is a quality produced through metaphysical means. I don't make disciples because I am a disciple-maker. I make disciples because God is working through me to bring others to Him.
I'm a servant, a mere medium in which the Spirit is working.
Trends overwhelm our society, especially in the college years, and I think oftentimes discipleship becomes just another trend within the Christian culture. My generation is a zealous one, seeking to live out Christ's calls and passionately spreading His truth, and all of this is beautiful and inspiring and encouraging to say the least.
We all need reminders though, that Christianity isn't merely a trend. For those of us that believe it, that have taken on the name of Jesus, we must remember that it's a way of life. Discipleship doesn't have to mean meeting for coffee at the coolest shop in town for spiritual mentorship. Indeed it can mean this, but it doesn't have to. Discipleship can mean simply doing life together and learning about Jesus along the way. Discipleship happens when the Church comes together to know more about Jesus Christ.
I'm not saying discipleship doesn't need to be intentional, because it does. Love is nothing if not intentional. However, it doesn't have to follow a formula, it doesn't have to fit into a small little box labeled 'proper rules of discipleship'.
When we put God in a box, He will explode it from the inside out.
Which, really, is what we should pray happens, that God comes inside the boxes of our lives, absolutely ruins them, and overflows our flesh with His Spirit-from the inside out.
In this we grow with one another, being shaped together by His Spirit into people of God. This is the purest definition of discipleship: becoming like Jesus, together.
For further reading, check out The Cost of Discipleship by Deitrich Bonhoeffer, this awesome post by Sarah Bessey, and the video below produced by Jennie Allen and others from IF, a women's gathering and non-profit in the process of becoming in order to unite women for the sake of the Gospel.
