Genuine Imitation
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The Discipleship’s Poor Relative
by Michel Larribeau, December 2016
Jesus said “A disciple is not above his teacher, but a disciple who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Lk.6: 40). Whatever else Christians want to be in life, their ultimate and highest aim and main concern is and should be, to become like Christ (Ep.4:13). Everything else will fall into place if this is being pursued and achieved.
Jesus was in the business of making disciples, of enabling people to become like him and Matthew in his gospel relates, in chapter 28 verses 16 to 20, how He made it the Church’s business before he left.
Although one of several of Jesus’ commissioning [see also Mk.16:14-19, Lk.24:45-49, Jn.21:15-19, Act.1:4-9] before his ascension, the Matthew verses are the best known one and has been differentiated by being given a title, ‘the Great Commission’.
This unusual commission takes the form of a challenge to be put in action by 4 verbs.
The main instruction and action is in verse 19 and is ‘to make disciples’ which is just one word in Greek ‘mathetuo’ and could also be translated ‘to disciple’. J. MacArthur says that this word contains both the ideas of believing and learning .
The 3 other verbs in verses 19 and 20, which in the original text are present participles, Greek experts tell us that they can be taken as imperatives and are qualifying the main action = going (as you go), baptising and teaching.
There is a great deal to learn about discipleship from Matthew’s report of this event. It is a simple ingenious summary and over the centuries has been a great source of inspiration for many books, articles, studies and sermons. For the purpose of this article we will limit ourselves to make 3 statements about making disciples, commenting briefly on the first two and expand in more detail on the third one.
It is quite clear that it was Matthew’s intention to put across the message to his readers that
1. making disciples is extremely important, even if it was for the plain and simple reason that it is a definite command of Jesus and Matthew makes it the very last thing in his book.
2. making disciples is wide ranging and that in at least 2 ways: geographically as it extends to ‘all nations’, all ethnic groups in the world (see Revelation 7:9-10) and historically, Jesus promising his presence until the end of the age, hinting that it might take more than one generation to achieve it, which it has.
3. making disciples is specific.
Although He could have stopped in the middle of verse 19 and the disciples then would have no doubt understood what He meant, Jesus makes sure that we, through all generations, also understand by adding 3 specifications.
i. making disciples requires going (having gone), taken with ‘of all nations’.
Jesus’ main strategy to reach all the ethnic groups in the world with the gospel is by asking His already existing disciples to ignore any differences and break down any barriers that might exist between various nations. Sometimes God desires particular people to intentionally go to a certain location; using invitation, vocation, prohibition and vision as seen in Acts 11:25, 13:2 and 16:6-10.
Other times God forces things, allowing persecutions to disperse Christians to other countries and nations other than their own. Clear examples of that are recorded several times in the book of Acts such as following the persecutions of the Christians in Jerusalem at the time of Stephen’s martyrdom both in chapters 8 verses 4 to 8 and 11 verses 19 to 30.
It could be said of Christians today, compared to the disciples Jesus was speaking to in Matthew 28 who came from Galilee and Judea, that we are all in a default position of ‘having gone’ already as we live in different nations from them. We are all in a position to contribute to making disciples wherever we are.
ii. making disciples requires provoking a commitment of faith which is behind the word ‘baptising’ in the second part of verse 19.
We know that is not a question of forcing people to be baptised against their will but bringing them to a position of belief and commitment to Jesus as they hear and believe the good news that is announced to them as seen in Mk.16:15-16. This process is exemplified and illustrated a number of times in the book of Acts; see 2:14-41, 3:11 to 4:4, 8:26-40, 16:11-15.
iii. making disciples requires communicating obedient learning as clearly indicated in verse 20.
Making disciples Jesus’ way is not just about the very important aspect of evangelism and baptism but also about the element of ‘teaching’. Unfortunately this aspect has been missed out, neglected or ignored to various degrees in various Christians circles and at various times.
Even when it has been noticed and included, the mistake has been to make the teaching mostly about all the many good and important subjects and doctrines that are come across in the examining of the Bible at the expense of what is so fundamental and crucial.
As it is clearly pointed out by Matthew in verse 20, Jesus has not left it open to the first eleven disciples nor to future Christians teachers to discover and to decide but He has specified what to teach. It is specifically teaching them ‘to obey everything he has commanded them’.
Jesus expects obedience from all his disciples; obedience is not something that belongs just to the Old Testament. This concept is also found throughout the New Testament and repeated in many various forms. In Luke 6 verses 46 Jesus talks about it in terms of ‘doing what He tells to do’. In John 14 verse 23 Jesus says ‘If anyone loves me he will obey my teaching’. Paul calls the whole experience of Christian life ‘the obedience of faith’ (Rom.1:5). Peter in his first letter encourages Christians to ‘prepare your minds for action’ (1 Pet.1:13). In the Message it says ‘roll up your sleeves; put your mind in gear’. James put forward in his letter (James 1 from verse 22) the blessing of not forgetting what has been heard but doing it. Finally John in his first epistle underlines and repeats the importance of ‘keeping his commandments’.
Whatever excuses are put forward that diminish or nullify the notion of obedience for Christians is not from God.
It is important to carefully note and communicate that obedience is ultimately to Jesus and His commandments and not to a human institution, organisation, local church or leadership; Paul could say ‘follow me as I follow Jesus’ (1 Cor.11:1).
One more small detail in Mat.28:20 for this aspect of discipleship concerning the commandments of Jesus is, in some versions, the word ‘ALL’, which is a small word that is easily missed. If we are serious about making disciples in the manner Jesus commissioned, it must be about not just some of His commandments but a serious endeavour to teach on all of them and how to put them all in practice. These commandments can be traced in a direct fashion in the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels and in an indirect way throughout the rest of the New Testament writings, inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was not and is not ignorant that taken together, even without repetition, all these instructions form a very long list (more than 300), that the teaching of putting them all into practice is an enormous task and that some would be tempted to give up even before starting.
It will therefore require, if wanting to make disciples Jesus’ way and if this deliberate target defined by Jesus is to be achieved, an intentional strategy with that precise aim as well as determination and perseverance.
It is crucial that those responsible for teaching and training disciples in whatever capacity come to that realisation and provide the means for it. It is indispensable to make it a priority and to allow sufficient time for it in any Christian activity and teaching program. It seems that is what Barnabas and Paul did in the new church in Antioch as seen in Acts 11:25-26 and that is what Paul did in Ephesus (Acts 20:17-38; note verse 27, ‘proclaimed to you the whole will of God’).
Of course it is also the responsibility of each Christian to expose themselves to such teaching as did the disciples in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42) and through personal reading and examining of the Scriptures (Acts 17:11 & 2 Tim.3:16).
It is worth noting that the word ‘disciple’ is last used in Acts 21:16 (replaced after with ‘brothers’, ‘believers’, ‘saints’) but this aspect of the discipleship process is expressed in different ways in the rest of the New Testament and followed or surrounded with a number of instructions to Christians; i.e.; Rom.12:1-2 - Eph.4:17, 22-24 - Col.1:9-11 - Heb.12:1 - 1 Pet.1:13-16.
It is with this much overlooked aspect of discipleship in mind that the ministry of Genuine Imitation was launched. It is a unique, simple and practical Christian teaching program intended to be a tool for Individuals, Discussion groups, Preachers / Teachers.
Our vision is to contribute to the making of disciples of all nations enabling them to become like Him, HIS GENUINE IMITATION (Luke 6:40).
To achieve that, our mission is to put together, present, promote and propagate a series of courses for discipleship of various lengths that deal exclusively with the instructions found in the New Testament and that endeavour to equip Christians to put them into practice.
Several courses are now available free of charge in various formats that can be used by Christians on their own, one to one, in small discussion groups, in teaching congregations, in leaders training programs and for people of all ages. Samples can be viewed on our website on www.genuineimitation.org.uk or requested from michel@genuineimitation.org.uk
Genuine Imitation is being developed by Michel Larribeau, who has had many years experience of Bible teaching and practical international training in both church and college contexts. Parts of the program have been tried, tested and appreciated in these different
situations.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for any clarification and / or requesting any of the courses on michel@genuineimitation.org.uk or check www.genuineimitation.org.uk