Don’t Try This at Home!
We often see that famous warning, “Trained professionals, don’t try this at home!” The clear instruction is that mere mortals should not attempt this seemingly easy, but amazingly dangerous task. We are told to ‘hire a professional’ when dealing with finance, medicine, law, plumbing, auto repair, air travel and many other areas of our lives. Often there is good reason to listen to such advice. Ignoring it can be harmful to you and your loved ones.
Because we live in a society with so many specialists, we have fallen into the ‘let the hired professional do it’ mentality even when it comes to the church. We take the attitude that only those trained in special schools can “correctly handle the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 When exhorted to ‘make disciples’, we look at the offending pastor and think, “Wait, that’s what we pay you for.”
But is it?
The last words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew can be boiled down to one command, “Make Disciples!” How? Make Disciples as you go. Make Disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Make Disciples by teaching them to obey all that I (Jesus) have commanded you.
Many of us hear this command and subconsciously begin evaluating our hired professionals on their ability to generate better performance through bigger crowds, greater income and more ‘professions of faith’. Yet we fail to see that this command was aimed at every single follower of Christ. Jesus told every one of His followers to make disciples.
In short, Jesus was telling his followers to reproduce. Fill the earth with My Likeness. Fill the earth with people who love Me and walk with Me in faith. Fill the earth with people who love Me enough to obey my commands. Fill the earth with people who see their opportunity and responsibility to reproduce in others that same faith, love and obedience to Me.
In other words, God has “reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18
So how are you doing on this command? Have you been allowing the professionals to do it for you for so long that you have concluded that “God has not called or gifted me” to reproduce your faith in others. Have you been faithful to the church, done all the programs and studies, yet somehow not learned to reproduce? Are new to this whole faith thing and not sure what you are supposed to do? Are you a ‘professional’ who in an honest moment would admit that you really don’t know how to make a disciple?
If you would like to obey this last command of Christ and become reproductive in your faith but are not sure you know how, let me encourage you. You can do it. You can “try this at home.” You can learn to make disciples.
Over the next few blogs, I will give you some tips and resources to help you to begin to experience the joy of becoming a disciple maker. But let me get you started with this. Ask God to lead you to someone whom you can disciple. Yes definitely, “Try this at home!”
Prayer Requests:
- Praise God - Jim successfully completed check-out in the Cessna 310
- Praise God - God has moved several to join us with significant gifts
- God will continue to provide partners to pray and give to reach the Arctic Northwest Territories
- God will give wisdom concerning upcoming move to Ft McPherson
- God will open the hearts of the people in our target communities to receive the Good News