Just yesterday, noticed in our backyard how flowers started blooming, which means Spring is right around the corner!
As the season change, outside is starting to look more green as the grass looks more healthy, animals are coming out from hibernation, yet I noticed there were dead spots in our yard. Happened to google what I had to do to get rid of the dead spots, I came across a product that is called “Lawn Paint” to literally paint the dead grass green! It surely gave an impression from a far that is was green, however that really didn’t fix the problem. The grass was not healthy and alive, it needed life; it needs fertilizer and water that brought true life itself!
We often look at the field that God has given us within our flock that we are accountable for shepherding, there are dead spots, marriage that are falling apart, people living lives in a way that are not impacting others, temptation for us is to paint the dead spot, to cover up the death with paint and really not go through the heart of discipleship.
We have to get rid of these bad habits ours. To face the reality of the problematic habits of discipleship. When it comes to discipleship, we need to understand the bad definitions that persist in order to propose a better way.
1. Discipleship is NOT Information Transaction
It is not knowledge transfer! We have made it information, subject or topics, theological principles that people know. Discipleship must be rooted in truth but it just never be quarantined to a library. Discipleship is not about that, we will begin to recognize Discipleship is, “Matthew 28:19-20” we are supposed to make disciples who make disciples! We are supposed to do that, Judah Iscariot knew a whole lot about Christ but he wasn’t a disciple.
2. Discipleship is NOT Behavior Modification
We look at the field and we want to paint the yard, we live a life that is apart from the Spirit of God giving life. If we only seek to make people moral then we reduce God to an impersonal being that only wants robotic followers. People begin to live in a lie and soon the lie comes to the surface, “Plasticized Spirituality”.
3. Discipleship IS Transformation
We invite people to the personhood of Jesus, to simply live and love like Jesus by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit!
For all the disciples, Jesus used one simple phrase to call them: “Come Follow Me,” It wasn’t a calling to an occupation, to a place or a task. It was a calling to a person, and each of them had to make a decision to follow. To the best of my ability I’m following Christ. You may think there’s some sort of occupation we are supposed to have, but I’m convinced there’s a certain person I’m supposed to follow, and where He leads me, that’s where I’m supposed to go.
No longer living fake lives, but sharing the truth of how we’ve been brutalized by sin and redeemed by Christ by the transforming power of Christ! Scripture teaches us that our hearts are wicked and in need of transformation.
So now what?
As church leaders, we must be on the offense, not on defense, in our approach to discipleship. A defensive approach to discipleship implies that the hearts of the people in your congregation are pure and in need of protection. This is a faulty idea! We protect the pure heart of the people. We monitor carefully and they are in need of protection. This teaches very differently.
In order to see transformation in our churches, we must aggressively and offensively go after the hearts of our churches.