Discipleship Letters 41-42

Discipleship Letter 41                                                May 10, 2009

“And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s” (1 Cor. 11:1).

“But it is essential not to confuse the person who introduced us to Christ, or helped us deepen our walk with him, with Christ himself. Without realizing what is happening, we can allow Christianity to be defined by a person—whereas in fact all that they did was to introduce Christ to us.” [Alister McGrath, Knowing Christ (New York: Galilee, 2002), p. 196.]

How do we introduce Christ to those who are mature or immature in Christ? Do we introduce Christ to others without commitment? Do we introduce Christ to others without moral conviction? Do we introduce Christ to others without consistency and honesty?

Often time we say that we aren’t good enough to introduce Christ to others. Accept it or not, we are inevitably introducing Christ to others. It’s not about doing, but being.

“But as for you, promote the kind of living that reflects right teaching…And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God” (Titus 2:1, 12).

We introduce Christ to others with godly and right living.

Discipleship Letter 42                                                May 17, 2009

There are at least six steps in Jesus’ discipleship training. [Bill Hull, The Disciple-Making Pastor: Leading Others on the Journey of Faith. Revised and Expanded Edition (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007), pp. 243-244.]

“Tell them what.”

“Tell them why.”

“Show them how.”

“Do it with them.”

“Let them do it.”

“Deploy them.”

Jesus taught his disciples about the kingdom message and ethics. Jesus taught them the kingdom content and the kingdom reason. God cannot use us to make disciples if we do not know about the what and the why.

Jesus told his disciples the what and the why, and then he helped them put the teaching into practice. It’s always a challenge to show them how. “Show them how” and “Do it with them” make us alert how much the what and the why become part of us, not external to us. Knowing about is pointless; knowing is the point.

“Let them do it”—“Too often multiplication falls apart here, because people are given too much too soon. There must be final testing, fine-tuning, and solid instructions to insure the integrity of what is multiplied.” (p. 254) I struggle at this stage.