Pastor Archer’s Blog

In today’s religious economy, where many claim to be “Christian”, from all of our political candidates to many of those who only attend church on Easter and Christmas, it begs the question, what is a Christian? What is a Disciple?

After reading an article from Christianity Today, referencing a sermon by Stuart Briscoe, I am challenged to ask again, “Am I satisfied being a Christian or am I following Christ by being a Disciple?”

What’s the difference? Are we just talking about semantics? Is being a disciple just being a more committed Christian than the “average” church attender? Why do I need to even think about this?

First I think we need to address what the definition of a disciple is…and is not.

According to some, a disciple is a learner. The idea of being a disciple means that we are in the process of taking in information and adding that information to our daily lives.

Some define a disciple as someone who has a teacher. That you are sitting at someone else’s feet listening to what they have to say and applying their teachings to your life.

Also, some say that a disciple is one who emulates another. You are learning to act like another who is ahead of you in…whatever it is they are ahead of you at.

Some think that being a Disciple is being a Christian…on steroids (wait that is not a good thing now-a-days), being a disciple is, according to the article, someone “who has come through a course where you get up at some unearthly hour in the morning and go talk with somebody over interminable cups of coffee” (not that coffee is a bad thing). But, being a disciple is something you don’t need to worry about if you just want to be a Christian.

Well, much of the above is true. They all contain aspects of what being a disciple involves. According to this article, being a disciple includes; “Sitting at Christ’s feet, hearing His Word, discovering His truth, identifying with Him…personally, applying His principles, and gladly sharing these things [with others] and disseminating them.”

How are you doing at being a disciple…rather than merely just a Christian? How are you doing at becoming a more fully devoted follow of Jesus Christ?

Let’s look at Mark 8:27-38. (Below is an excerpt from the article I have been referencing, with permission)

Disciples Confront the Issues Jesus Raised

In Mark 8, the Lord Jesus outlines a basic job description for being a disciple. There are three things I want you to notice. First, Jesus’ disciples were prepared to confront the issues he raised. For instance, in verse 35, Jesus says, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” The issue is this: What on earth are you doing with your life? It’s hard to imagine a bigger issue than that.

Then he identifies two possibilities: You can invest your life, or you can waste your life. Jesus is basically saying, “What determines whether your life is wasted or invested is your attitude toward me. If you want to hang onto your life for yourself, you’ll waste it. But if you want to hand over your life to me, you will invest it for eternity.”

Disciples Confirm Christ’s Claims

Second, disciples of Jesus Christ confirm the claims he made. Christianity does not stand or fall on whether the Spanish Inquisition was right, or the Reformation or the Crusades. Christianity stands or falls on whether Jesus Christ was who he said he was—or not. And disciples of Jesus Christ are ready to carefully evaluate the claims he made, and then confirm that those claims are true. If disciples of Jesus Christ can’t do that—if they cannot build their lives on the absolute bedrock certainty that Jesus Christ is Lord—then it’s only a matter of time until they’ll collapse. Christianity stands or falls on the validity of Jesus Christ.

Talking to his disciples Jesus said, “Who do people say that I am?” They all had their answers ready. They’d been out polling the people at Jerusalem Airport. But what they didn’t expect was the next question: “Now who do you say I am?” That’s what disciples of Jesus Christ are ready for.

Disciples Conform to Christ’s Pattern

There’s a third thing about Jesus’ disciples: they conform to the pattern he outlined. Let me read to you some challenging words: “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” There are four things here that will show whether a person is conforming to the pattern of discipleship that Christ outlined: they come after him, they deny themselves, they take up their cross, and they keep on following him.

Some of you are going to go out tomorrow morning and say, “Look out! Here comes another disciple of Jesus Christ skillfully disguised as a stock broker.” And somebody else is going to say, “Look out, neighborhood. Here’s a busy disciple of Jesus Christ disguised as a homemaker.” If you’re disciples of Jesus Christ, that will be the predominant thought. So the question is, are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? You say, “I’m not sure about that. Why can’t I just be a good Christian?” The Lord Jesus came looking for disciples, and at the end of his ministry told the church to do one thing: make disciples.

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—Stuart Briscoe; adapted from the sermon “Ordinary Folks Make Great Disciples” on www.PreachingToday.com, © 2008 by Christianity Today International.

“We are the Borg.  You will be assimilated.  Resistance is futile.” 

These are the ominous, fear invoking words of the cyborg people found in some of the later series of Star Trek.  A very mechanical, unfeeling, forcefull conglomeration of people who have been “assimilated” into the hive.  “Assimilated,” in this context, means the forcefull stripping of self (self decisions, self choices, self thoughts, self desires, individuality, creativeness, a stripping of personality, etc. and the forcing of the “collective” thought and look and function and ‘personality’ on each individual).  Not a very pleasant thing to have happen.  Though, once assimilated, they don’t remember or care that they had a life before.  They lose everything that made them…well…them.

We use the term “assimilation” in the church as well.  And, while this is not to be confused with the Borg’s assimilation process, it is a great term.  When someone is assimilated into a group, they are being “taken in and incorporated as one’s own” according to Mr Dictionary.  To be assimilated into a church is to be welcomed in, warmly, lovingly, acceptingly, without judgement, without prejudice, without hoops.

To be assimilated into the church looks kinda like the story of Jesus with “the woman caught in adultery” (Not to be confused with Mary Magdalene); the woman who the “Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees” brought to Jesus to try to trap him with the situational ethics. 

They were throwing this woman at him, the compassionate one, the self-acclaimed “teacher”, the bringer of spiritual revolution, the lover of people and yet the righteous one.  What did they want done?  They either wanted Jesus to agree with stoning her, and thereby declaring they were right with their interpretation of scripture and in their authority to oversee the sins of the people and thus prove their superiority over even him, or, show Jesus as a fraud and as a person worthy of stoning himself for refusing to obey the Law.

What did Jesus do?  He wrote in the dirt…and waited.  WHAT???

We are not told what he wrote.  It is speculated that he was writing out the sins that the individual Pharisees and Teachers had committed.  But, only speculation.  Hmmm…

What did he say to them, eventually, after being barraged with more questions?  “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And, then, he continued to write on the ground.  Hmmm…

I find it interesting that each one of them dropped their stones and left…the older first to the youngest, till no accuser was left. 

Only Jesus and the woman. 

The one without sin and the one “caught” in sin. 

The one who had all right to throw the stone and the one who had all reason to be stoned. 

The righteous with the unrighteous.

Jesus then straightened up, looked at the woman, and asked, “Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you? … “Then neither do I condemn you … Go now and leave your life of sin.”

What do you think were her thoughts and feeling right then?  Relief?  Bewilderment at escaping judgement?  Love from “The Teacher”?  A willingness to consider changing?  Wonderment at a second chance?  And then after this event, which probably shook her to the core, she heard Jesus say, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  The light of life. 

The light of life.

And later He said to the Pharisees, “You judge by human standards; I pass judgement on no one.”  I believe indicating that that’s the Father’s prerogative.

How do you think she felt toward this man, Jesus?  Do you think she was intrigued?  Do you think she would consider hearing more of what he had to say?  Do you think she would feel safe in his presence?  Do you think she would like to get to know him better…hang around him a little longer?  Become a part of what he was doing?  Be willing to be influenced by him and his teachings?

Become “assimilated” into his sphere of life?

We have the opportunity every day to enable people to be assimilated into our lives…to be taken in and incorporated as our own.  When we refrain from passing judgement on someone…especially when even they know that they deserve it, and, instead, we show them the love Jesus showed the woman in the story, we show them that they are safe around us.  We show them that they can be themselves around us…with whatever their hangups are.  Whatever their habits are.  Whatever their hurts are.  We are not going to judge them.  That is up to the Father to do.  It’s our job to love them.  To show them the light of Christ.  To teach with our lives and our words what Jesus wants them to know.

To assimilate them.

How are we treating people who come to “our” church?  How are we treating each other?  Are we assimilating?  Or, are we judging…assessing, condemning, discriminating, punishing, …. 

How are people feeling when they enter our sphere…our home and our church?  Are they neglected?  Left out?  Over-looked?  Ignored?  Intentionally or unintentionally?

“We are the Church.  We want to enfold you, we want to take you in and call you our own.”  “We want to be iressistable to you.”  “We want you to know that it is futile to live without Jesus, the light of life.”

“We want you to know that you are welcome here, because you are all we are about, because we, together, are all Jesus is about.”

“Welcome to Faith Baptist Church, is there any way I may help you?”

I just read an interesting interview of Becky Pippert. She is one of those people who has been gifted and doing evangelism for many, many years now. She has written “Out of the Saltshaker” and leads seminars around the world. She touched on, I believe, the core of our issues regarding our fear of evangelism. She was asked by Lindy Lowry of Christianity Today:

“In the past year, you’ve led your Salt Shaker evangelism training conferences not only in the United States, but overseas as well. What one commonality surfaces everywhere you go?”

Becky’s answer, “That everyone has the same sense of inadequacy and the same fears about sharing Christ. I gave Salt Shaker (saltshaker.org) conferences last summer in America, England and Malaysia—and believers from all three countries felt the same thing. They think they’re required to answer every question, never reveal a flaw and have perfect communication skills. They fear everything is up to them.”

The interview went on:

So how do you deal with these very real fears and insecurities?

The first thing we do is look at the incarnation of Christ. By exploring how God related to us through Christ, we learn what it means to be human. I believe understanding the incarnation is foundational to effective evangelism.
The biggest reason people give for not witnessing is their sense of inadequacy. But the incarnation reveals that our inadequacy isn’t the problem. Jesus depended on His Father without embarrassment or shame. I tell people, “Facing our inadequacy is critical, because it leads us to depend on the Spirit’s power.”
The incarnation also reveals how the Church is to relate to the world. I always hear: How can I befriend someone whose life is a mess without compromising my own walk? Again, Jesus is the model. His involvement with people was radically identified in love, while being radically different in holiness.
Or how many times do we hear believers say, I would witness, but what if they ask me a question I can’t answer? Again, we look to Jesus. When Jesus was asked a question He couldn’t answer, He wasn’t embarrassed that He didn’t know the answer. Think about Matt. 24:36. When the disciples asked Jesus when He would return again, He said, “No one knows when that day or hour will come. … Only the Father knows.” If He didn’t feel inadequate when He didn’t know the answer, neither should we.
I’ve been amazed to see how understanding the incarnation frees believers from their fears of sharing Christ. They finally understand that God doesn’t require perfection to be able to use us. In fact, His power is glorified through our weakness.

Your strategy is to first give personal evangelism training. Then you offer small group evangelism training through seeker Bible studies. Why in that order?

Because it’s important to get people trained first in a relational, incarnational approach to evangelism. Moreover, they need to understand the process that’s involved in evangelism—how to arouse curiosity, how to share the Gospel, how to lead a person to Christ. That’s why understanding the incarnation is so important. It helps believers see that God can use them just as they are.

Any questions? Please feel free to post a response or ask a question.

For training in this type of evangelism, prepare to attend “Becoming A Contagious Christian” class during our Adult Discovery Hour at 9:30AM Sundays, starting March 1st, 2008

In Him,
Pastor Archer

There was much more to this article. If you are interested in reading the rest, go to www.ChristianityToday.com and look up “Incarnational Evangelism”

I am impressed more and more that in North America we have no idea what Spiritual Formation is, nor do we even understand it’s importance.

What is Spiritual Formation? Spiritual Formation is Discipleship, Spiritual Disciplines, and the outworking of the Holy Spirit through us because we have been transformed spiritually.

I have just read an article by Keri Wyatt Kent from Willow Creek entitled, “Rediscovering Spiritual Formation” after talking with Pastor Dave about Spiritual Development yesterday. I am, again, more and more feeling the need for our church(es) to move back toward PRACTICING the spiritual disciplines of discipleship instead of, mostly, just learning about them.

In Keri’s artical she noted that we must not ignore the outward expression of the inner transfomation that we cultivate.

She quotes Scot McKnight, a NewTestament scholar, as saying, “A spiritually formed person loves God and loves others, but love is not just a feeling. It is doing things that are showing God’s love in the World.”

Basically, “What is the Gospel?”

If it is “merely that Jesus came to die for our sins, so that if we can believe in him we and go to heaven some day, then there’s no need for spiritual formation. We’re all just waiting.

BUT, what if the Gospel is the work of God to transform human beings into people who love God and love others? What if it’s big enough to change people, so that they begin to act in ways that give witness to that gospel?”

Wow! Imagine that!

While spiritual formation is a deeply personal thing, spiritual formation needs to move out of the individual realm and into the context of community for the transformation of character and behavior.

As teachers know that they learn more than their students as they prepare to teach, so it is with the believer’s growth. We grow more when we are pouring ourselves out for others with what has been poured into us.

Keri ends her article with, “When people begin to realize that acting as Jesus would forms you as much (or more) than just thinking or talking about Jesus, that’s a huge shift.”

Are we ready for that shift? Are YOU ready for that kind of shift in your life? The shift of Spiritual Formation, or better yet, Spiritual Transformation?