Followers of Jesus must shift from thinking of themselves as having to be LEARNED to make disciples, and instead think of themselves as having being a LEARNER who makes disciples.
You may not have even thought about it before. But I actually hear it a good bit from people when we stress that each and everyone of us as followers of Jesus should “make disciples” as we are going among both neighbors and nations. I hear this very significant excuse:
“…but I can’t do that because i don’t know enough.”
I recognize that it is a valid excuse, but only because it is a real fear for people. But I would suggest that although it is a valid excuse due to fear, it is an invalid excuse due the meaning of the word “disciple.”
The word “disciple” does NOT mean “I know a whole lot, so much in fact that I can teach you all the ways of King Jesus so you should come sit in a classroom and listen to me teach and also grow to know enough one day so that you can go and teach in front of a classroom.”
I am by no means discounting the importance of teaching in discipling, even teaching in a classroom. It is one of two key words in Matthew 28:18-20 – “to teach all that I have commanded you.” But we need to be cautious of only thinking about teaching His ways in classes with curriculums under florescent lights to people in uncomfortable chairs. Instead, we must look to Jesus and how He taught the ways of the Kingdom under the light of the sun and the moon through everyday conversations and in everyday rhythms.
The word “disciple” also does NOT mean “I don’t have to learn anymore because I have earned my Jesus PhD and have my not-gonna-go-to-hell tenure and actually don’t have to work hard anymore at teaching His ways to others.”
The roots of the word “disciple” actually imply a meaning more like this one –
I am a learner and will always be a learner, more like an apprentice, who learns from a Master and then invites others along with me to learn from the Master everyday.
Consider this: the Truth is Jesus (John 14:6). Therefore, the Truth is beyond that of which I can become learned. Therefore, learning the Truth will never end. Therefore, I am a disciple of the Truth that Jesus came close enough to embody and explain (John 1:14-18).
Therefore, not knowing enough, then, is not a valid excuse, if we understand the word “disciple” and the nature of learning Truth.
What if we moved from being a “teacher” to being a “learner?” What if that actually is teaching – when learning happens? What if we prioritized learning the ways of Jesus with others who are also learning His ways along with those who have not found their way in Christ yet?
What if we defined who we are as the church in these terms:
…a people who learn and live the ways of Jesus together, helping each other to believe His Gospel, declaring and demonstrating His Gospel in everyday rhythms, and inviting others along to learn the Gospel of Jesus (Truth) with us, in hopes that they will then go and do the same.
I don’t have to be LEARNED to make disciples. But I do have to never quit being a LEARNER who goes and learns Jesus with others.
Jesus then is the Rabbi, the teacher, rather than me. That’s always gonna work out better.
Hopefully it encourages many of you to move beyond what you see as a limitation (I don’t know enough to teach) toward what is actually an opportunity – to learn and live the ways of the Kingdom within community together in the midst of a world longing for “on earth as it is in heaven.”
Lord Jesus, reFUNCTION us as your church to be learners of You.
reFUNCTIONation 