Impact - noun
1. influence; effect
2. the force exerted by a new idea, concept, technology, or ideology
Impact - verb
1. to collide with; strike forcefully
2. to have an impact or effect on; influence; alter
Like God's chosen nation Israel in the old testament, God has chosen His church to be the means by which He reaches hearts and lives in this age. As individual believers are transformed by truth applied by the Holy Spirit, they can corporately become local expressions of Christ to their world. It is the cumulative impact of Christ-followers who have exchanged their lives for His and who live out the love of Christ (both within and outside the doors of the church) that draws men to the Lord.
At the core of the Great Commission is disciple-making. But what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? I think we can better grasp the idea by substituting a more modern word, "apprentice". In Matthew 28:19, Jesus is calling us to become His apprentices.
Apprenticeship involves "on the job training", learning a set of skills or a practice from a previous generation. This was the process that would be set in motion once He gave the Great Commission to the apostles - His first apprentices.
They had left their families and homes, abandoned the security of their careers, set aside their ambitions and dreams to follow Christ. They traveled with Him, lived with Him, listened to His teachings, questioned Him, saw His miracles and served under His direction. For most of those three and half years they thought they were training to serve in a new kingdom that Jesus would set up in Jerusalem after he defeated the Romans. And then - they watched Him die.
But now he had come back to them victorious over death. Now they knew without any doubt that He was the Son of God. They knew the highest and best use of their lives would be to invest the remainder of their lives in the service of an eternal kingdom. Here He was giving them their orders, "Make Disciples". But something was missing. Jesus had been with them through it all and now He said He was leaving. "Hey John. What was that about another Comforter?"
The Holy Spirit
The apostle John records one of the most intimate conversations Jesus ever had with his "Disciples" in chapters 13 through 17 of his gospel. You remember the passage, it's Jesus in the upper room with his disciples the night before his arrest in the Garden. Here He teaches them (and us) the very core of discipleship in the things He says and does that night.
In chapter 13, He begins by washing their feet, teaching them about The Servants Heart. He gives them The New Commandment to love one another as He loved them. (In the next day they would really learn just how much he loved them).
In chapter 14, He once tells them that He would be leaving them but He reassures them of his love for them and His desire to be with them. Here He also introduces them to the Holy Spirit who would be with them forever, residing in them and causing them to reside in Him. It would be the Holy Spirit who would bring them to understand His teaching. As they left that upper room crossing the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives, Jesus continues teaching them about discipleship.
In chapter 15, He illustrates this process using grape vines and branches. He teaches them about "abiding" in Him, about the Father's care for their productivity and the grooming that He would do to insure they grow as healthy branches and bear much fruit. Here again Jesus confirms that He would be with them through the Holy Spirit who would help them to bear witness about Him.
In chapter 16, Jesus again teaches them about the coming Holy Spirit, telling them it is to their advantage that He departs from them so that the Helper could come. He impresses on them that it is the Holy Spirit who would convict the world. The Holy Spirit would proceed from Jesus who was sent by the Father. They Holy Spirit would take care of them, turning their sorrow to joy.
In chapter 17, Jesus prays to the Father for his disciples. It is one of the most amazing passages in Scripture. Here Jesus prays that His disciples would understand the Father's plan to send the Son. He prays that the Father would guard and keep them. He prays they would be unified and that they would know real joy. He prays they would be sanctified (set apart to holiness) in the truth.
What is truly amazing is that Jesus prayed that night for you and I. He prays specifically for those who would be future disciples as a result of these disciples lives and teaching. He prays that we would be in the Father and the Son, that we would know Their love for us and that we would love Them.
I think it is very clear that Jesus wanted us to understand that the key to discipleship is abiding in Him, in His truth, in His life by means of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If we allow the Holy Spirit to produce Christ's life in us, it will be a life "disciplined" by the Holy Spirit to resemble Christ's life. This is the heart of discipleship.
More Than Evangelism
This is also the heart of the Great Commission ... that we make disciples. To make disciples requires more than just evangelism. It means that we help people grow into Christ-likeness. It encompasses the disciplines necessary to renew our thinking and become Christ from the inside out. Paul in Ephesians suggests this is the very purpose of the church, namely, that we grow into maturity in our understanding of Christ and that maturity produces in us, the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Making disciples is our task. We are to carry on the work of Christ assigned that night to the Apostles and entrusted to the Church until Christ returns. Next time you go to church, remember it's more than a gathering of nice people. It's more than your religious club. It's a place to grow into Christ. It's a place to be transformed by Truth and the Holy Spirit. Won't you take up the challenge to be come a Disciple of Christ?
Next: IMITATE Living THE LIFE - Walking THE PATH
