The Impossible Journey
David Wildman
Director of Family and Discipleship at The Rock Community Church. Spending my life helping make disciples who make disciples.
"There is nothing impossible to him who will try." - Alexander the Great
Indeed, Alexander the Great overcame many impossible tasks to achieve such a name. Whether those things were humane or decent, is a question for another day, blog, or article. What I want to help us focus on today is why people find it impossible to make disciples who make disciples aka discipleship.
Recently Matt Dabbs posted an article on Five Honest Reasons We Don't Disciple People (And What To Do About It).
Matt's Bonus Reason - We Like To Be Comfortable - I believe this is the driving force behind why we don't disciple people. I will without a doubt raise my hand to this. I can't tell you how many times I've been convicted of being too comfortable.
Here are Matt's final thoughts:
Making disciples can be messy. You might find yourself getting into someone’s life on a level you would have never dreamed of. You might fear messing this person up. Remember, Jesus is the one doing the discipling…we are following His lead! Hang in there with people and let them have a safe place to work through their issues. Make them comfortable even when you are not. I am not saying condone everything. I am saying give them the space to be transparent.
Question: If I told you that God wants you and every Christian to make disciples… what would you think is required of you to do that?
Go on... take a few minutes and write out what you think is required to do that. Be honest and write down what comes to mind.
In a documentary - The Impossible Route Death Valley - two guys set out to ride 740 miles and climb 47,000 ft. in 7 days. At the beginning of the video, Jeremiah Bishop says, "It's not the unknown that you're scared of but your thoughts of the unknown."
Pair this with the quote from Alexander the Great and you find why most people feel it is impossible to even try. Our thoughts keep us captive from trying.
How true is the statement when we apply it to discipleship? It's not the unknown that we're scared of but our thoughts of the unknown. Our thoughts of discipleship are holding us hostage from being disciples, discipling others, and ultimately presenting one another mature and fully assured in the will of God (Col. 4:12 aka disciple who makes disciples).
How do we overcome our thoughts?
"For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." 1 Corinthians 2:11
"The fear of the?Lord?is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise." Psalm 111:10
In Scripture, wisdom is not mainly the human capacity to maneuver successfully in the world but the godly character to maneuver rightly in diverse situations guided by God’s truth.
"Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here." Colossians 3:2
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Why do we need the Spirit of God? Can't we just will ourselves to overcome being scared of our thoughts?
"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh." Romans 7:18
Do you believe? Is the Spirit of God residing in you?
If you answered yes to these questions then you're on the first step toward overcoming the thoughts that hold you captive. We encourage that you walk with a mature believer so they can help you grow your faith and you'll get to see them as they disciple. The more you see it happen the easier it is to try.
Do you still have questions about believing? Would you like to talk to someone? I encourage you to message us. We would love to sit and get to know you more. Here your questions. Here your hesitations. Just sit and listen and chat.
Not ready to chat yet?
We encourage you to read Psalm 111:5-10
To tie this up in a nice bow... here are 3 pieces of scripture to encourage us and help us:
Don't forget to discuss:
How am I following Jesus? Read Colossians 3:1-17
How am I being changed by Jesus? Read Deuteronomy 11 and Psalm 34
How am I committing to the mission of Jesus? Read 1 Chronicles 28:9-10, 20
For His glory!
David Wildman