What We're All About

I'm cheating a little bit today.  This might be familiar if you've been reading since we started, or if you browse the oldest posts here.  I was feeling the need to re-post some of the first real post we had here.  To repeat and reintroduce the ideas of what M28 is all about.

It's about living the Great Commission.  In our everyday lives.


The Commission

There is a physicality and movement to the command “go.”  There is nothing sedentary about it.  The command is simple.  Matthew 28:18-20  (NASB)

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Go.  Make.  Baptize.  Teach.

Verbs.  Actions.  Jesus’ last words to his disciples, his students, were a call to action.  Some were still struggling with belief of what had happened after his death.  Yet he tells them to go out.  They have believed, in faith.  Now they were to teach, in faith.

I’ve heard it said that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else.

Jesus’ students are told to go into the rest of the world and told to; wash, rinse, repeat.

Step 1:

Go, move, leave where you are to be somewhere else.  Next door, or around the world.

Step 2:

Make students.  People who will grasp things that are separate.  Like Sin and Grace.

Step 3:

Baptize them in the name of God:  The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Step 4:

Teach them to obey, follow, adhere to, the commands Jesus gave.  Including, Go.

Step 5:

Repeat.  Because 11 people didn’t make disciples of all nations on the first go.

This isn’t meant to be a formula or code to follow.  I’m just breaking down the verbs of the Commission. 

Discipleship

Discipleship is not a 3 week class held on Sunday mornings for 30 to 45 minutes.  It’s not a book with a clever plan on “how to.”  As a disciple of Jesus we never stop learning or growing.  There is no graduation or achievement levels.  There is no standardized testing, with multiple choice and No. 2 pencils.

Discipleship is a way of living.  It is continual learning and growing in our relationship with Jesus, and others whether they share the same faith or not.

There are many books and teachings about how to disciple.  I won’t really recommend one over another partially because I haven’t read enough of them to offer opinions on the methods.

What I will tell you is this, discipleship is both simple and complex.  The way to do discipleship can be very simple and uncomplicated.  But there will be complex conversations and questions.  And the very nature of what is being taught is complicated.

Jesus was our example of how to teach disciples.  He pulled it off with out a single youtube video, powerpoint presentation, sporting arena, or even a megaphone.  He taught from his heart what he knew the Father wanted us to know.  It’s all laid out for us in scripture.

Making a disciple requires very few physical things.  A teacher, a student and a Bible.  It can be that simple.  There also needs to be a desire to learn and grow in both parties, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It’s the Spirit that makes the growth happen.  It’s the Spirit that opens up the complexities and mysteries of the Word to the hearts of both teacher and student.

Teach the Word.  Not traditions.  As one teaching, you must be as deep or deeper in the Word than the one being taught.  Dive in.  Breathe deep the fragrance of life that springs from it’s pages.  Teach others to be like Jesus by living the way Jesus lived.

You must first be a disciple if you want to make a disciple.

To be a disciple of Jesus is to take hold of the grace and promises of God and join them to what is separate from them, our sinful nature, our hearts, minds and souls.  This is only possible because of what Jesus accomplished for us through his death and resurrection.

Jesus didn’t wait for humanity to come to Heaven.  He left everything he was took on the pain and suffering of being human so he could be with us.  He wanted to be with us so he could teach us how to live, and love, and serve the Father.

He came to us.

And so those who follow him, must also go, make, baptize, teach…repeat.


grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

Size Matters Not

In my favorite movie of the Star Wars Saga, The Empire Strikes Back, the hero Luke is on a swamp planet training to be a Jedi Knight.  It is here that he meets the great Jedi master, Yoda.  Yoda is this little green creature with big pointy ears.  Not what Luke (or the original audience was expecting.)

During a bit of training Yoda is teaching Luke to use the Force to lift his crashed ship out of the swap.  After struggling Luke gives up and says, "I can't. It's too big."  Then Yoda says this,

Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not.

Yoda, who was hardly as tall as Luke's knee proceeds to lift the ship out of the swamp on to dry(er) land.  Luke, astonished say, "I don't believe it."  Yoda replies, sadly, "That is why you fail."

Ok, keep that in mind cause I'm gonna diverge a bit here.  I recently saw a magazine for church leaders with a cover article along the lines of "Is Small Church the Next Big Thing?"  Now I wasn't able to read the article to see what they were saying.  So I'm passing no opinion of the actual material.  But one thing is very clear to me.

Size Matters Not.

Yoda was able to lift something much larger than himself because he believed.  Luke, by all appearances was more capable.  Looks are deceiving.

What I'm getting at is not that small churches are better than big churches.  What really matters is the hearts of the people gathering.  Small churches may be more like what happened in Acts.  I personally don't like attending mega-churches.  I've had a hard time keeping my attitude toward them in check.  But God kinda smacked me in the back of the head recently (like a loving father) and I realize that the size of the church is wholly, utterly, completely irrelevant.

A small group of 20 that meets on Sunday just to listen to a person lead a discussion or message, sing songs with out a worship team, and go through their week not living out what they discussed is no different than a mega-church that has 4,000 people, two worship teams, and a parking lot to embarrass a football stadium where the people don't live out during the week.

The revolution that followers of Jesus need to see is not about the size of the church they are in.  It is how we live our life between the services and sermons.

We can't wait for our pastors or whatever title you like to tell us to go to our neighbor with a 3 step plan of conversion.  There doesn't have to be a massive event to bring Jesus into the life of your co-workers.  Invite them into your home, into your life.  Make the time.  Skip a church event or 2 and go get to know these people.  Listen to them.  And don't jump right into your church no matter how wonderful it is.

Show them Jesus in YOUR life.

Size matters not.  The size of the congregation doesn't matter to Jesus.  He left us a few specific instructions.  Go into all the world, baptizing, and making disciples of all people.

So let's go.  You and me.  Out into the world.  Away from the pews and couches and live life along side others. 

Jesus is out there, lets go take him a drink of water.

grace, peace + hope
-Bear