Would you agree that being a Christian means being a disciple of Christ? I do. Let’s talk about that.
My mentor Charlie Jones had a formula he tried to live by: SIBKIS: See it big keep it simple. This was no trite business success formula, it was a reminder about what we tend to do with everything. Our nature is to see it small and complicated. If we don’t guard against that, we will never see things as big as they need to be seen and will complicate simple truths to the point that we lose the very truth we are trying to understand.
The Pharisees saw it small and made it complicated. They made it small in that they reduced a relationship with God based on grace to one based on religion. They made it complicated by making it a long set of rules with rules for following the rules. Grace was replaced with rewards and punishments and truth was replaced with opinion and expectation.
The Pharisees didn’t do that because they were Pharisees, they did it because they were fallen people like us. It is our nature to make the big small and the simple complicated.
Jesus saw it big and kept it simple. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself (the Great Commandment, Matthew 22:37-40). He saw it big, it was all of life. It was simple, you love God and love your neighbor, and neighbor has no small print (see the parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37).
I think we have a similar problem with understanding what being a disciple of Jesus means today.
Popular Christianity has reduced discipleship to knowing Scripture, attending, church, and taking part in activities. It has complicated what it means to be a disciple by creating expectations and levels that need to be achieved before certain things can happen.
- I’m not qualified.
- I’m too busy.
- I don’t know my bible well enough.
- I’m not comfortable sharing my faith.
- I have way too many problems.
- I’m not a teacher.
- I don’t have the gift of evangelism.
- I don’t know anybody.
All these questions imply that we have made discipleship small and complicated.
Small: it is something you have to have time to do, it is optional, it only happens at certain times.
Complicated: you need have attained a high degree of knowledge, you need certain gifts, you need to have it all together.
We need Jesus’ answer just as much today as the Pharisees did. Love God, love others, help others do the same.
Being a Christian means following the Great Commandment and Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).
- Love God.
- Love others.
- Make disciples.
Loving God leads to loving others. Love flows outward. If we are not loving others we can trace that back to a problem loving God. Loving others is expressed in helping them love God and love others. Following the Great Commandment leads to living the Great Commission. To live the Great Commission you need to be living the Great Commandment.
How did Jesus teach His disciples how to love God and love others? He lived with them. It was life on life. It was not done in a classroom. It was not a program or a series of lectures. They travelled together. Fished together. Went to weddings together. Helped the poor together. When Jesus said a new commandment I give you: love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34-35) they had a clear idea of what He meant. He had been showing them. Christianity is relational at the core. It is about being in right relationship with God and in right relationship with one another. Discipleship is learning Jesus’ way of life to become like Him. But it doesn’t stop there. Discipleship is helping others learn His way of life so they can also become like Him. Discipleship is both, not one or the other.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 