Mind My Business

I was talking with Julie today... We got on the topic of discipleship.... I pictured a cross with two people working together to hold it up.. what was interesting about this was, I never thought of discipleship this way....

I envisioned a cross with two people standing on each side. One is the disciple the other is the teacher... both are holding it up, sustaining it firm and fully erected... If one of the two isn't there the cross is weakened.... Either the disciple isn't being disciplined in biblical teachings and is doing his or her own thing or the teacher isn't walking in obedience with the command Jesus gave regarding baptizing and making disciples in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.....(keep in mind this is your cross representing that of which Jesus speaks of in Matthew 10) The weakness comes from the absence of the other... Again, because there is only one person holding the cross it's weakened, it leans, it can easily lose it's balance inevitably falling and skew the true meaning of who we are called to be in Christ...

The weakness comes from the absence of the other...

The picture I got from this is; If there is one of the two absent, the cross essentially sways back and forth, one direction and then another, faltering and presenting a distorted depiction of the full purpose of becoming part the kingdom of God . Even if the person has good in their heart, they are still damaging the full presentation of what Christ established... There is only one cross that stands alone in full perfectness and we are called to imitate it.

An example is given in Ephesians 4:14, "Then they will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming."

There is only one cross that stands alone in full perfectness and we are called to imitate it.

Some of the common things we can do to create a skewed depiction of Christ is what we read as Christians. If we are not getting to know our bible and rely more on earthy books we can easily find ourselves drifting away from the power of God, lacking in spiritual discernment. We replace the spirit with hot air that eventually deflates away. There are a lot of writers writing books... Some of these books are written with the intent to compliment scripture, and some of them do. But there are others that don't. In fact, there are a lot of books out there that fail completely and are simply junk.. If a young (not in age) follower of Christ gets an early start, consuming literature that fails to be biblically sound, they won't notice they are hearing the words of a very crafty enemy and will devolve off coarse presenting a false Jesus and a false doctrine. The biblically uneducated, undisciplined Christian will not discern the difference.

Today the perfect example of this is the Emerging Church. It is full of young people, just like myself, in all sincerity fired up about Jesus but strongly lacking in both biblical and Godly character. Too many sheep trying to be shepherds. They are like a bunch of untamed stallions. Beautiful and strong in every sense but have no value to a rider and will actually kill them, robbing them of their purpose. They create their own paths, walk in their own authority and when challenged they form a stampede and radically trample any opposition. They look upon older horses with respect but treat them as inferiors and see no added value to their herd. They want to lead, but consistently abandon tradition and the trails created before them. But in every way young riders don't heed the warnings and flock to the appealing appearance of the black stallion, revering it's trends. A stallion horse rejects it's purpose to be ridden until it is tamed and disciplined.

They create their own paths, walk in their own authority...

Without discipleship we damage the meaning of the cross, the blood of the lamb, and ultimately quench the Holy Spirit. An undisciplined follower of Christ might mean well, but without the guidance of a mature teacher who is biblically sound and bares fruits of Godly character, they will without a doubt misrepresent what Jesus established the day he rose from the dead.

So with that, If the young (not in age) follower has someone to help hold their cross and teach them the ways towards Godly character which bears the full and pure presentation of a fully stable balanced cross. They will be walking in the design Christ established....

Now, you can go even further. We all have a cross to carry... And when we have arrived to a place where we are able to stand firm, we can then also enter into a locality of Godly community. We do this by coming along side brothers and sisters that are like-minded in the spirit and produce Godly fruits. We are all capable of helping hold each-others cross. As a community putting God on display to the multitudes. Picture a cross between the hands of the people, creating a never ending line side by side, going both directions... Community strengthens one another and if one falls, we are all exposed to the hardship. But through discipline, accountability and grace we bring our brother or sister in Christ Jesus back to their purpose and plan, through the simple but always challenging edicts of God's great word.