Making Disciples

On the surface, making disciples would appear to be a simple objective; once one has opened his heart to faith and obedience, believing in his heart and confessing with his mouth that Christ is Lord, it’s only a matter of guiding this person along on their path of discipleship.
But then what will the disciple’s first step be? He will say, “Teach me.” He will want to understand scripture, and he will want to know, to borrow from Francis C. Shaeffer’s book, “How Shall We Then Live?”
Let’s not be so foolish or shallow to think that the only learning that the disciple receives is from the Bible. He will also observe (and naturally) imitate the behaviors of those believers around him whom he perceives as devoted to the faith. What does the Bible say about wine? (He will be watching to see who has a glass at weddings, before and after meals, etc.) What about entertainment? (He will be interested in the kind of movies and literature that his mentor enjoys.) What about anger? (He will see when it’s okay to be angry in righteous indignation and when it’s something that should be repented of). What about respecting others? (He will be watching to see which authorities are worthy of respect, and which are the corrupt officials and degenerates who are not worthy of Christian respect).
So you see what we have here. It doesn’t take long before we have transferred our thoughts from belief in Christ’s atonement of sin to what I would call critical thinking. The disciple is now seeking the path that his God has prepared for him, and trusting God through his sojourn in God’s kingdom.
Jesus told his first disciples to go and make disciples; as someone has pointed out, the first two letters in “gospel” are “go”. This is true in English, of course. In Aramaic, perhaps the idea wouldn’t be quite as catchy.
Do all roads lead to the same place for the Christian? No one has convinced me pro or con. I am told that no one shall snatch me away from my omnipotent Lord’s grasp, whilst at the same time I am to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. These verses belong to all Christians, but what comes of these verses is hardly consistent from one disciple to another.
Jesus’ lordship is always forefront to the disciples’ confession, to be sure. This is the litmus test of Christianity, the ‘Apostles’ Creed’, an edict of the way to believe across all Christian faith. Once we have met the approval of Christianity’s pardon, we have satisfied its unconditional requirement – one God, one faith, one baptism.
It is when this doctrine is brought to implementation that diverse ideas begin to formulate.
With Roman Catholicism, disciples have become all things to all men that by all means they might win some. This explains to me why we have shrines in Latin America, temples in India placed by Roman Catholics. In this case we have a ‘chameleon’ Christianity that blends with the dominant society, sending a message of Christ’s limitless compassion upon all of humanity.
With Pentecostals and their ‘shirt-tailer’ denominations, disciples understand that it is only a resilient, faith-overcoming-mind headset that can realize God’s kingdom come, his will be done. By grace alone will a man find salvation, but taking on God’s tasks will certainly give a boost to the realization of God's glory. Anything secularism might do, spirit-filled Christians can do bigger, better, and with spirit-filled panache’ (call it ‘anointing’, if you like).
Southern Baptists realize their sanctification by every word that proceeds from God’s mouth, their personal deeds to little effect. Bloated and constipated on a staple diet of scriptures for salvation,they see only through the prism of pre-determinism and Dispensationalist belief. They are the Lord’s, and their deeds have been relegated to the Lord. They well-know the color of the horse that the king of kings and lord of lords will be riding, and place an unrelenting trust that they cannot be beguiled. They will stand in the judgment, as is decreed, and everyone else will simply go to hell.
Then come the para-church and interdenominational faith ministries, bringing a refreshing change to the stunted doctrines of the major Christian denominations. Thriving on the best elements of all the afore-mentioned Christian doctrines, they shun traditions as they create their own, sexing up testimonies and rushing headlong for celebrity on the “cutting edge” of Christianity.
Indeed, how shall we then live? What have the disciples learned, and what has the mind of Christ brought to critical thinking?
I am only a writer, a pro-pounder with the written word; perhaps I am struggling with matters too great for me. Certainly the readers will see my fault.
If I am an agent in the great falling away, whereby men’s hearts grow cold and lawlessness abounds, it appears there is little I can do about that, according to the Southern Baptists. To the Pentecostals and the proponents of the afterglow, if I am indeed a chosen and compliant vessel, there’s a good chance that the glory of God will encompass me all about, as it did the priests at the unveiling of the new temple in Jerusalem. To the Roman Catholics, if I’m a devout soul, confessing my sins and doing penance for every known transgression, then perhaps God will have mercy upon me.
If I thrust these aside and meet God in the inter-denominational river of life, then perhaps I will inevitably go wherever it is that he leads me; perhaps I’ve already been there, and didn’t take enough notice!
If I am a disciple of Christ, however, I am right to wonder what he thinks. I am obliged to think about two roads he mentioned, obliged to recall that the narrow one is the one that I had better take. I should think about the way he reacted to the religious conventions of his country, and I should remember how vocal he was when the most obvious things about him were taken amiss. When I realize how far my mind has strayed from the way I should be thinking, I rejoice in God, because he adjures me, “Come let us reason together; though your sins are as scarlet, I will cleanse them with hyssop and make them white as snow.”