Discipleship Requires Grace

My posts this week are focused on Matthew 28:16-20 (NIV). While many of us are very familiar with verses 18-20, what is often referred to as the Great Commission, we often pass over verse 17 where Matthew says but some doubted. We are not told who doubted or what they doubted—just that some of the disciples did. I think the reason Matthew includes this in his gospel is to show us how Jesus responded to those who were doubting. He responded in two ways:

1. In humility (which we looked at yesterday).
2. And with grace (which we will look at today).

Discipling people requires grace. I think the reason that Matthew 28:17 is so disturbing, especially if it refers to some of the eleven disciples, is because we want to see the disciples as worthy of Jesus’ call and worthy of our admiration. We want to see them as titans of faith and holiness. This verse throws a big wrench into that interpretation. We don’t want to think that they were that weak after three years of walking with Jesus.

But the disciples were not chosen because they were the best and the brightest. They were the people who did not make the cut. They were the people left behind. They were all of them broken men who were chosen by grace.

Am I saying they did not change and grow in love for God and one another? Of course not! They most certainly did. But this verse reminds us that their calling and commission and authority was based solely in grace and not as a reward for their own accomplishments.

Jesus shows grace in three ways:

We see His grace in His patience with them. Their doubt does not dilute His love for them or His commitment to them. He was willing to abide their doubts. We need to do the same for those we are discipling. We need to be patient and willing to walk with people when they are not where we are and don’t see how to get there, or even want to get there. If there is anything I have been learning when it comes to discipleship, it is that patience is not an option. Things don’t often go the way you think they will, problems come up that you did not anticipate, and you can’t control the rate at which people grow.

We see His grace in His forgiveness of them. He does not hold their doubts against them. He loves them anyway. He commits Himself to them anyway. He says, I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20). There are no conditions for this commitment. He died for them and took their sins with Him to the grave. They do not stand in the way of His commitment.

Likewise, if we are going to disciple people we need to be ready and quick with forgiveness. Discipleship is relational, it is about teaching and modeling love. It is about helping people figure out how to live in the love of Christ both in the everyday as well as in the painful and heart-wrenching times of life. People are going to disappoint. You are going to get hurt. That is part of life. It is part of learning to love like Jesus. Because it is, you need to be able to forgive with Jesus. We need to keep committed to people because of who they are in Christ. Like Jesus’ commitment to us is irrevocable because of His forgiveness, our commitment to one another must be firmly planted in that same grace.

And last we see Jesus’ grace in His affirmation of them. Instead of rebuking them for their doubts, He reaffirms that they are His disciples, that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him, and in that authority He had chosen them. It was as if He was saying to them, “I understand that some of you have doubts, questions, and fears, but I am commissioning you anyway. I am committed to you. I am empowering you. I am going to be with you the whole time. I have not made a mistake. You can do this, because I will be doing it with you, in you, and through you.”

As you disciple people there will be times when people feel overwhelmed. It will seem too much, that there is no way out, the road too long and hard, the expectations too high. Doubts will come on them, questions will haunt them, and they will start to wonder how God could use them, and even why He would want to. One of the most powerful things we can do to help people overcome doubts and questions and fears is by graciously affirming their identity in Christ, in reminding them that while it is true that they are not enough, in Christ, through Christ, and with Christ they will always have enough.

Discipleship requires grace.

In tomorrow’s post we will talk about how God grows the fruits of humility and grace in us and what we can do to encourage the practice of them.