LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Written Assignment 1: Christ in Discipleship
Submitted to Dr. Rodney
Dempsey, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the
completion of the course
DSMN 500 – D01
Discipleship Ministries
by
Robert Ortiz Jr.
Submitted: August 6, 2014
It seems the focus of the church
today is to gather as many people as it can into it and have them take part in
“speed saving,” (a play on speed dating). The idea is to introduce these folks
to Christ, then give them the basic “Christianity” run down, i.e., attend
church services, teach them to tithe, and then shuffle them into ministries
they can get involved with if they want to, ministries the leaders wants to
grow on purpose for its own benefit not necessarily for the glory of Christ the
Lord. Is this an ugly picture of the church? Yes it is (although, not all
churches operate this way thank God); nevertheless, the focus of the church in
the twenty-first century is certainly not on discipleship as much as it is on
seeker friendliness and political correctness – there is no longer a radical
Christianity with radical obedience and “heartbroken boldness” as Dave Earley
writes (which is a command of Christ).[1]
Of course, this stems from a lack
of continuity with the Word of God. Beginning with leaders and working its way
down to the lay person, the single-mindedness of following Christ in total and
utter obedience and focusing on the call to discipleship and disciple making is
simply not a priority, not even a desire most times. Earley writes that for
Christ there were a set of assumptions in play when he commanded his disciples
to go and make disciples, “He was assuming they were already living as disciples,” and when he commanded they obey
all he demanded of them “He was assuming they were already obeying everything
he had commanded.”[2]
The idea then is that Christ was seeking from his disciples complete obedience
and steadfast assertiveness to get the job of making disciples done, clearly
the undertone here is that one cannot make a disciple if one is not a disciple.
And herein is the problem – a great
majority of Christians are not making disciples because a great majority of
Christians are not disciples. The church has become sedentary. It has lost its
first love. And it shows. The church has become satisfied with going through
the motions of rote Sunday service and a lack of expectation of obedience to
every Word of Christ on the part of its congregants. Earley ponders a very
poignant question, “if I really believed, read, studied, memorized, and obeyed
everything Jesus commanded everyday, would my life look any different?”[3] Now there is a question to
chew on. Of course the life of a believer would be different, markedly
different because he is obedient.
Obedience is the engine that drives the
disciple toward accomplishing the goal of making other disciples. Obedience to
Christ and his commands are paramount if the disciple is to truly live out his
life according to the blueprint laid out by Jesus; he modeled obedience and
fully expected his disciples to follow suit. Why else would he dictate some
five hundred commands in the whole of the NT? Obedience is far more than simply
following orders for the sake of a task, for the disciple, obedience means self
denial, a release of oneself and a total and utter attachment to Jesus Christ.
Oswald Chambers writes, “Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person—
our Lord Jesus Christ.”[4] Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross daily and follow me.”[5]
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer writes, “Discipleship is commitment to Christ.”[6] This
commitment to Christ requires submission of self. The first step states
Bonhoeffer, is to separate oneself from their previous life; the call of Christ
“immediately creates a new situation.”[7] A
disciple of Christ called by him cannot stay the same person; every person who
responds to Christ truly is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Bonhoeffer points out
that there is really only one option to following Christ as his true disciple
and that is to leave everything and everyone and attach himself completely to
Jesus.[8] Another
aspect of the disciple’s life that must come into submission to Christ is
pride. Too often Christians want, and with good intentions most times, to serve
God so badly they lose focus of Christ; it is then the service to God that he
begins to worship and not God himself. It is easy to get caught up in ministry
opportunities or your own desires for life. Christ is seeking total submission
and commitment to him if his child is to be a true disciple.
According
to Earley there are three distinct stages in the life of a true disciple:
·
Stage one:
declaration
·
Stage two:
development
·
Stage three:
deployment[9]
These stages combine to
create the ideal situation for a Christ centered disciple to live her life
according to his commands in utter obedience, and therefore have the ability to
go and make disciples which is ultimately the goal of discipleship.Stage one is
about making a declaration of faith in Jesus as Lord after having taken some
time to look into who Christ is as a person. Repentance follows. Stage two is
about developing as a disciple by fully connecting with Christ in a devoted,
submissive, and passionate relationship. In this stage there is a period of
apprenticeship with Christ where a disciple learns to model Christ in his
dealing with humanity.
Paul Tanner writes,
Jesus masterfully worked with the original twelve
disciples, calling them from their rather mundane way of life to transform them
into fearless leaders who would lay the foundation of the church in the first
century. He knew when to encourage them, when to instruct them, and even when
to rebuke and correct them. He was the master teacher, while they were the ever
wayward students in his classroom of faith.[10]
What
Christ did with the twelve he will do with believers today, their experience
can be had except that it is done by obedience, studying God’s word, prayer,
fasting, and ministry, which is the next stage. Stage three is all about
deployment, the “go” part of discipleship. Christ’s mission was to announce the
kingdom of heaven is near and to partake in a divine plan to save mankind from
his sins and offer the opportunity to be reconciled with the creator of all
things. It then becomes the mission of Christ’s disciple to go and proclaim the
good news, lead others to him in faith and repentance, teach them to model
Christ, and finally have them go and do the same; disciples making disciples
who make disciples.
The three
stages create a wonderful result when Christ calls and disciples follow. All
three work together quite cohesively to make up the whole of a soul winning,
disciple making powerhouse of a believer who is submitted and committed to
Christ. An important outflow of that progression leads to building community.
God does not desire a disciple go it alone, this is evident in Christ calling
the twelve. God operates within a community – God the Father, God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit. Earley writes that the “‘Great Three-in-one’ is an eternal
manifestation of intimate community and glorious interdependence.”[11] For believers then, we
need each other if we are to successfully achieve the goal of discipleship –
making more disciples.
Earley
cites Charles Spurgeon as stating, “Every Christian is either a missionary or
an imposter.”[12]
Earley goes on to write, “Disciples do not live as mere church members.”[13] A disciple would be hard
pressed to not go and obey the call
of Christ to reach out and make disciples of the entire world. A true disciple,
after going through stage one: declaration, and stage two: development, will
almost instinctually want to share his knowledge of Christ with others. The
best way to guide another person to that end is to first help them see Christ
for who he really is. This is can be accomplished most effectively by modeling
the life of a true disciple; be that person you hope another to be – serve
others, care for them, pray for them, and be available whenever someone needs
you. Like Jesus modeled it for the twelve and they modeled it for their
disciples and so forth, disciples today should and can, do the same.
There is a
great sense of joy, peace, and love for a true disciple. Knowing that Christ
the Lord will be there for them as he was for the twelve in preparing them to
live a submitted and committed life of love and service to God Almighty is
wonderful and intimidating. There is a heavy price to pay for being a disciple
of Christ; he expects everything from a disciple – complete and utter devotion
above all and everyone else. There is no room for half heartedness with Jesus;
it really is all or nothing. But, there are many marvelous benefits to living
life surrendered to Christ; the most important one is freedom. Bonhoeffer
writes,
When holy
scripture speaks of following Jesus, it proclaims that people are free from all
human rules, from everything which pressures, burdens, or causes worry and
torment of conscience. In following Jesus, people are released from the hard
yoke of their own laws to be under the gentle yoke of Jesus Christ.[14]
What a fantastic fact to know, that
Jesus will take care of every aspect of a true disciples life if only she would
declare Christ as Lord, develop under his tutelage, and be ready for deployment
into a lost and desperate world which frankly is eager and ready to hear the
good news of Jesus Christ.
[1] Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple
Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence,
(Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 54.
[2] Ibid., 49.
[3] Ibid.,
47.
[4] Oswald
Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest:
Daily Devotions by Oswald Chambers, http://utmost.org/the-conditions-of-discipleship, (accessed
July 11, 2014).
[5] Luke
9:23 (NIV).
[6] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, Geffrey B. Kelly and John
D. Godsey, eds. And Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, trans., (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 2001), 59.
[7] Ibid.,
61 – 62.
[8] Ibid.,
62.
[9] Earley,
58.
[10] Paul Tanner, “The Cost of Discipleship: Losing One’s Life for Jesus’ Sake.” Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society56, no. 1 (03, 2013): 43-61,
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1353301300?accountid=12085.
[11] Earley,
71.
[12] Ibid.,
77.
[13] Ibid.
[14]
Bonhoeffer, 39.
Bibliography
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Discipleship. Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey, eds. and Barbara
Green and Reinhard Krauss, trans. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.
Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest: Daily Devotions by Oswald Chambers.
http://utmost.org/the-conditions-of-discipleship. Accessed July 11, 2014.
Earley, Dave, Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013.
Tanner, Paul. “The Cost of Discipleship: Losing One’s Life for Jesus’ Sake.” Journal of the
Evangelical Theological Society56, no. 1 (03, 2013): 43-61.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1353301300?accountid=12085.
