[Church and Discipleship] The Modern Dilemma [5/13]

In light of all this I’m relatively confident that the following is what discipleship is not– it’s not a twelve week program of bible study and scripture memory that may be accessed online. It’s not a sermon series centered around Matthew 28. It’s not the latest book on “Five Ways to be a Better Disciple”. I can see the hackles rising already. But seriously, consider the Pharisees. They were, by design, experts in the Law and Scripture. They were required to know every word, often by memory, of volumes of the written Law. But Jesus referred to them as “whitewashed tombs” who knew the Law and “practiced it” consistently but who did not know God. Correct me if I’m wrong, but what I believe he is saying here is that knowledge of God does not make a relationship with him implicit. Again, please don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m not saying that scripture memory is bad or knowledge of the scriptures is bad or that doctrinal understanding is bad. What I am saying is that I think it’s fair for us to evaluate the approach that we have been observing the Western Church use as a discipleship model for the past many decades and ask if it’s working. We have churches half-full (on a good week) of people who show up every week expecting great teaching so that they can “grow in their faith”. However, it appears to me that there are some key ingredients missing. Remember the three instructions that Jesus left for us? Do these people love God? Well, are they meeting with him everyday, reading his Word and praying? Do they worship him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength? Are they being discipled by someone who is pouring their life into them? Do they love people? Are they making efforts to become better acquainted with their neighbors or co-workers? Are they making disciples? Are they pouring their lives into someone who God has placed in their world? Well, are they? Since there is little/no evidence that true discipleship is happening in most churches inAmerica on a regular basis, then I think it’s fair that we should consider an alternative. (And if you are in disagreement with this conclusion, please just look around for the fruit and get back to me.)