Americans generally have a narrow view of what discipleship really is. To us it usually means “INFORMATION TRANSFER.” That is, the more information you learn, the more of a disciple you are. This is really very shallow. (And they think they’re deep).
More information DOES NOT equal more maturity. There are too many believers who are over-informed, yet are under-activated.
Biblical Discipleship:
In the Bible, a disciple was one who was a STUDENT of his RABBI. A disciple doesn't just want to KNOW what the rabbi knows. A disciple wants to BE LIKE his rabbi; he wants to DO what the rabbi DOES.
Therefore, to be a disciple of JESUS CHRIST you have to grow beyond informational teaching; you have to BECOME LIKE HIM. We want to DO what our rabbi DOES.
What was Jesus like?
- He was an evangelist who came to seek and save the lost
- He was a foot washer
- He came to serve, not be served
- He taught the deep truths of God in simple, plain language that people understood
- He spoke Aramaic, the common street language of His day
- He fed the hungry
- He received sinners
- He disliked the organized religion of His day
- He ministered to the felt-needs that people had
- He offered non-judgmental love to unbelievers
- He challenged everyone He taught
- He held children in His arms
- He cooked breakfast for His disciples
- He helped a father whose son had seizures
- He helped a group of fishermen catch a boat-load of fish
- He went into people’s homes, had dinner with them, and liked to hang out
- He was in-touch with common people
- And He said “follow Me.” (in other words, “be LIKE Me”)
You don’t become a disciple by soaking it up, year after year. You become a disciple by DOING what your rabbi DOES.
To be a disciple, start DOING what Jesus does:
- Develop a love for the lost
- Start witnessing, and bring unbelievers to church
- Drape a towel over your arm and serve somewhere (for Pete’s sake!)
- Feed the hungry
- Sign up for the children’s ministry
- Serve others, and quit expecting to be served so much!
- Help people where they hurt
- Cook breakfast for someone (He did)
- Hang out with the local riff-raff in our community, and risk your carefully cultivated reputation to do it. Who knows, people might call you the same thing they called Him, “The friend of sinners.”
- Get in touch with common people
You get the idea.
The aim of PCC is to produce disciples who do stuff, not disciples who only know stuff.