On Discipleship

All Christians are disciples.

All people are disciples because everyone follows someone.

Discipleship is following Christ, because disciples follow their Lord. So how best to think about Christian discipleship? I think there are two words that capture it, mystery, and exposure.

Discipleship is all about exposure, Christian growth is all about exposure. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 teaches us this. We all with unveiled face are being change as we look on the glory of God in the face of Christ. That verses teaches us the goal of discipleship, change, and the route to that goal, beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ. Christians become what they behold, we really are what we eat. If the goal of discipleship is change, incremental, lifelong, change, then the mechanics of discipleship must involve getting people to look at Jesus.

This must happen individually. We can wander round aimlessly hoping that God will speak through a song, or a sunset, or a waterfall, or we can open the Bible and actually listen to Him! And see His glory in the face of His Son, and be changed. If Christianity really is a relationship, then this is where the relationship happens. We speak to God in prayer, He speaks to us, and changes us through His Word.

This must also happen corporately. When the church is gathered the Word must be preached, or whatever just happened wasn't church. The word must be preached and sung, and eaten and drunk. Meetings doesn't equal discipleship, but discipleship happens in meetings.

If you really want to be disciple, you must be looking at Jesus, and looking at Him so hard and so long that eventually you see the whole world through Him. And if we want people to be disciple, we must be setting up these encounters.

And discipleship is a mystery. We can't just 'do it.' It doesn't just happen, mostly. Jesus tells Nicodemus that the wind blows wherever it wishes, and we hear it's sound, but we do not know where it comes from, or where it goes. So it is with everyone who has been born of the Spirit. We don't see the Holy Spirit, but we see His effects. John 3:8 is a death knell to anyone who believes that discipleship can be programmed, it can't be. As we're exposed we expect to see growth, but it doesn't always follow.

The mystery is sometimes this growth is incremental. It's slow, and you see it over a number of years. And if we accept that discipleship is for life, we're ok with this. Incremental growth won't please those who are looking for the thunder and lightening, for the microwave effect, but this is how it happens most of the time. You look over a course of two years, and see you've changed, but there was no lightbulb moment, it just happened.

Sometimes it happens in a flash, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all, because the Holy Spirit blows where He wishes.

We need to be exposed. We need to be looking at the light. And as we're exposed, we need to trust in that gradual, lifelong growth. We need to trust that results will come as the Spirit has His way. This is counter cultural, because it's slow. But it's Biblical, and it should be happening in our churches.