Movement of Discipleship Key 5: Become a Disciple Before You Try Making Disciples
By Ps Mervin Chia, Bethel Assembly of God
Becoming a disciple starts with encountering the gospel again. Ps Mervin Chia shows us how.
Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)
18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
In the Great Commission, Christ called the Apostles to the making of disciples. What this tells us is that we must first be a disciple of Christ, and it is from being a disciple of Christ that we derive our missional identity to extend ourselves to disciple others and the world, to represent Christ in initiating and incorporating them into His Body, and to teach from a place of observation and imitation of Christ and obedience to His command. Furthermore, Jesus promises His presence to His disciples and therefore the Great Commission is not just a command, but with a command with a promise. A promise of Christ’s presence.
Being Attentive
Assemblies of God theologian, Dr Simon Chan contrasts Matthew with the other Gospels of Luke and John where Jesus gives the Holy Spirit, to one that sees our reception and empowerment of the Spirit through our fellowship and participation with the person of Jesus the Immanuel, ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23).[1] Being a disciple of Christ, we must be attentive to Christ’s presence in His Word, speaking to us afresh. Christ is calling us at every moment through His Word, and by His Spirit to participate in His faithful obedience to the Father.
This participation in Christ’s obedience is not unique but akin to the Pauline use of being ‘in Christ’. Our discipleship to others is an organic response to Christ and His Word to us, an invitation to “Follow me” and to “come and see” (John 1:39, 43, 46), we observe that Jesus called Philip, and Philip to Nathanael, as well as Andrew having followed and seen Jesus, went to tell Simon Peter that He has found the Messiah.
Being a disciple of Christ, we must be attentive to Christ’s presence in His Word, speaking to us afresh. Christ is calling us at every moment through His Word, and by His Spirit to participate in His faithful obedience to the Father.
Encounter the Gospel
My concern today has less to do with Biblical illiteracy, than an over-intellectualization of the faith. I had a conversation with a youth who found the gospel difficult to understand, my response was not to see the gospel as a concept to understand but the gospel is an encounter with the person of Jesus. When we encounter the Word, we respond to Him with all our God-given faculties, our heart, mind, soul and strength (Matthew 22:37-39).
As a second-generation Christian and pastor, my concern is that while there is a revitalized enthusiasm toward evangelization (which is great!), it may just be an intellectual assent to gospel concepts. If the gospel is depersonalized and parochialized to a concept to accept in order to be saved, it makes whatever I do after I have said the Sinner’s prayer, as ‘works’ and this could go either of two ways,
(1) ‘works’ is unnecessary since we are saved by Grace.
It evinces an inadvertent espousal of a ‘Once Saved, Always Saved’ theology, that though we might not actually profess it, we practice it.
(2) The flipside might be to embrace legalism because it validates our ‘works’. Though we may not outwardly compare, we might think, “I have done so much for Jesus, how about you?”
When we encounter the Word, we respond to Him with all our God-given faculties, our heart, mind, soul and strength (Matthew 22:37-39).
Come Back to First Love
Our treatment of the gospel reflectively communicates our treatment of our congregants. If Christ is dehumanized by our conception of the gospel, it may be reflected to our congregants by way of counting numbers and their tithes, and our pastoral care ensures that they do not dwindle. This is not tangential, but central to our reflection as whether we are shaped and discipled by Christ, the Gospel. This calls us to be attentive and examine our theology and if it is dissonant with our praxis. When we read the Minor Prophet Malachi, we observe that it is replete with God saying, “you have …”, the people respond, “how have we..?, and God replies, “you have done . . .”. Our actions are dialogical, they communicate to God and people what the Gospel means to us. Therefore, Paul warns Timothy to pay attention to himself and his teaching as that impacts both him and his hearers. (1 Timothy 4:16).
Christ is calling us to repent and to return to an encounter with Him. The Great Commission is enlivened to one where Christ speaks to us, His disciples, “Go . . ., I am with you”. Our discipleship begins from being discipled and loved by Jesus. Note that the issue with the Church of Ephesus is not about what they have done, Jesus says they have done a lot but they have left their first love, Jesus (Revelation 2:4). Christ initiates His love to us, extends Himself generously to us, invites us to be in communion with Himself, calls us to obedience, and empowers us to reciprocate our love to Him and to others, as well as to participate in what He is doing.
Our discipleship begins from being discipled and loved by Jesus.
Ps Mervin Chia is part of the English Region pastoral team, primarily focusing on the adult congregation. Having grown up in Bethel, he has served in the Royal Rangers, Worship, Bethel Children Ministry and has led a Young Adult cell. Passionate about connecting people in an intergenerational community, Ps Mervin believes that everyone has something to learn and give. In addition to his interests in traveling, photography and health and fitness, Ps Mervin also finds enjoyment in reading and engaging in discussions about the Bible and theology.
[1] Simon Chan, Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition, repr, Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series 21 (Sheffield: Sheffield Acad. Press, 2003), 46–47.
