2014 Spring Series: Discipleship is more than a fad…it’s a battle cry!
A friend of mine who is a pastor posted the following on his Facebook page:
In my opinion the most tragic and dangerous belief system today is not atheism. Rather it is what Sociologist Christian Smith calls "moral therapeutic deism". It's follower's believe the following five things...
1. "A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth."
2. "God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions."
3. "The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself."
4. "God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve problem."
5. "Good people go to heaven when they die."Sadly, while many people call this belief system "Christianity", it looks absolutely nothing like what the God of the Bible actually teaches. A god we create in our own image is no God at all.
Unfortunately Christian doctrine and discipleship has
been watered down to not create "confrontation"/"ripples"
in our Christian culture. There is a verse I always use throughout the year
when teaching....
"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophies based on this world rather than on Christ" -Colossians 2:8.
Our worldview shapes our values,
and our values shape our behavior. Even though the Gospel is open to
everyone, it is confrontational in its message...look at the young rich ruler (Luke
18:18-30). One must decide to confront the sin...then ask Christ to forgive
them of their sins and allow him to be the Lord of their lives. This becomes
confrontational to a culture where there are no absolutes and everyone is
wanting to go to heaven, yet not willing to live up to the meaning of being a
disciple of Christ. In an interview with Kirk Cameron Ravi Zacharias said the
following,
“It is time for the church to prepare its young people to meet this onslaught (atheism) or we will fail them. We will send them in the hot bed of arenas where they will be attacked in all the fundamentals of their beliefs and if our young people are to survive the first 90 days on campus, the church had better realize what is happening today in the world of literature and hostile anti-theistic thinking.”
If we are to become a body of believers in
Christ, who is separate from all other faiths and ideas, with discipleship
being our battle cry, the time is now.
No other time in recent history has discipleship been so important. What a great opportunity God has brought before
us.
Discipleship has been thrown around as a fad word for the last few
years, but what does it actually mean?
We have heard the word many of times, yet see the decline of Christian believers
fall into “deceptive and hollow philosophies”.
In the last couple of months I have seen friends and acquaintances
profess this idea of moral therapeutic deism.
Terms such as, “…the bible is just a book. It's just you and god. You don’t
need a book to tell you how to live your life.”
“I have my own special
relationship with God that is all based on love.” “The church is evolving, while some may choose
to stay in the old ways…” “Just because "society" tells you that
Christians have to live by the bible don’t make it so, there are a lot of us
out here that will proudly claim to be a follower of Christ and yet hate
organized religion, I being a prime example.” “Right-Fit
Spirituality: You can have a spiritual practice that is rooted, creative,
and authentically yours.” “I believe you
can write your own creed.” “I believe
you deserve a spirituality that fits. One that is authentic to who you are
today, rooted in the best parts of your heritage, and creative enough to grow
with you.”
The Greek word used for “disciple” is mathetes from the root word mathano, which means to learn. This is where we get the word math. In Greek the root math__, indicated thought accompanied by endeavor. Hence it denotes one who follows one’s teaching.[1]
A disciple was not only a pupil, but an adherent (v. [to serve] follow, be devoted to, practice; [to stick to] attach, cling, hold fast; Webster’s Dictionary); hence they are spoken of as imitators of their teacher, John 15:5-7
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.
This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
So what
made a disciple? There were three things.
The first was community. Second
Scripture, and the third was an invitation. Our “2014 Spring Series: Discipleship is more than a fad…it’s a battle
cry!” will take a look at these three
areas as we define what it means to be a disciple of Christ in a culture where
absolutes are thrown out the window of reason and logic. If we do not know, from whence we come, we sub
come to others to define it for us. Discipleship
is more than saying, I know Christ as my Savior.
It is acknowledging him as my Rabbi, one whom I will follow and be like...no matter what culture says or does.
His call. His gift
to you. Your purpose. Irrevocable.
[1] W.E. Vine, “Expository
Dictionary of New Testament Words”,
(Fleming H. Revell Company, New Jersey, 1966) pg. 316
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