Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you (Philippians 4:9, NIV).
As I said a few weeks ago, the Church is not in the greatest shape. There is pretty much universal agreement on that point. I know some have been trying to spin the research on this so that it doesn’t look so bad. Some blame this on the government, or the economy, or on the rise secularism. That is nothing more than pointing the finger, sorry I don’t buy it. Others think is it a shortage of sound teaching, biblical preaching, your garden variety biblical ignorance, or a matter of not providing the right set of programs and services to entice people to come to church. I don’t think any of those things get to the heart of the issue.
John Kimball, the Director of Church Development for the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (aka the CCCC or 4C’s), I think hit the nail on the head when he said, “I fear we’ve raised a generation of professional bible students: ever learning and clarifying but never practicing what they’ve been taught.” We do really well with encouraging illumination (loving God), we talk about the importance of incarnation (loving others), but we don’t spend much time on impartation (making and maturing disciples). While we may nod our heads in agreement that Christians should make disciples, the reality is that most Christians leave that work to pastors and missionaries…to the “professionals.”
This thinking that the youth pastor is primarily responsible for teaching the faith to our kids, and that the pastors, missionaries, and those who have the “spiritual gift” of evangelism are primarily responsible for having and making disciples is not biblical. It is the result of taking the Great Commission and making it small and complicated instead of seeing it as big as Jesus meant it to be seen and as simple as Jesus meant it to be understood.
We keep asking, “What do we need to do and offer so that people come back to church?” That is the wrong question. The problem is not “how do we get people to come to church?” but “how do we get the church to go out to the people?”
The only difference between Paul and us is that Paul was called to plant churches and he was given the responsibility to write 13 letters that would become part of Scripture. But as far as Jesus is concerned we are no less responsible to impart Jesus’ yoke and way of life to others than he was. We have the same the same Spirit that he had. Jesus is no less with us as He was with him. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20, NIV). When it comes to imparting Jesus’ yoke and way of life, we are just as obligated, commissioned, and empowered as the original disciples were.
Impartation is an essential part of the Christian life. Without it, you cannot really life the Christian life well. It is one of the main reasons so many Christians struggle with depression, anxiety, fear of failure, guilt, and shame. If we don’t work on impartation, there is going to be a real struggle with incarnation. Why? Because the main duty of the Christian is being in right relationship with God and neighbor. It is about love. It is a way of life, a way of living, living for God through Christ, not simply assent to a creed or practicing religion. Hearing about it is not enough. Fénelon wisely reminds us that,
We can listen to endless sermons [or read endless posts] about Christian growth, and become perfectly familiar with the language, and yet be as far from its attainment as ever…
…But be careful about your motives in this eager chase after knowledge…You already have more knowledge than you can use. You would do better to put into practice what you already know. Oh how we deceive ourselves when we suppose that we are growing in grace because our vain curiosity is being gratified by the enlightenment of our intellect!—Francis Fénelon, “Letter 8,” Let Go (New Kensington: Whitaker House, 1973).
We need to realize that there is an organic, essential relationship between the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Jesus says in John 14:21 (NIV) Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. His commands are summed up in loving God, loving others, and making disciples. If we don’t love others, it means we aren’t loving God well and won’t bother making disciples. If we don’t make disciples, it shows that we are not loving God or loving others well. If we don’t love God, we are not going to love anybody as we love ourselves or make disciples.
On the other hand, if we do love God, it is going to show in loving others and in making disciples. The more we are learning to love others as we love ourselves, the more we will find ourselves growing deeper in our loving God and the better we will be at making disciples. The more time we spend making disciples, the more we will grow in our love for God and others. What makes a Christian healthy, vital, and attractive is when illumination, incarnation, and impartation present, encouraged, and cultivated in his or her life.
What makes a church healthy, vital, and attractive is when these are all present, encouraged, and cultivated. While it is true that having more people come through the door on a Sunday morning is no sure sign that a congregation is spiritually healthy, it is also true that any church that is spiritually healthy is going to have more people coming through the doors; because illumination leads to incarnation which naturally leads to impartation. If the church is healthy it will not only be growing and maturing in love for God (illumination), and loving one another (incarnation), they are going to be making new disciples and bringing people into God’s kingdom (impartation). If that isn’t going on something is wrong, and if it not corrected that church is going to find itself struggling.
Each of us came into the kingdom of God because someone shared the Gospel with us. Yes, God opened the door and brought you in, but He used someone as His agent to show you the door! Are we doing that with anybody? Someone imparted that knowledge to you. Each of us who has grown and matured in our walk with Christ have done so because we had the benefit of other Christians walking with us. Are we doing that with anybody?
My mentor and spiritual father Charlie Jones was famous for saying you will be the same person you are today five years from now except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read.
That is true.
I think it is also true to say this: Your love for God will be the same as it is today five years from now unless you give yourself to two things: learning to love others as yourself and learning to make disciples.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 