“Spiritual formation into Christlikeness involves an intentional public, personal, and communal commitment to living as Jesus’ disciples who are being transformed into His image in all aspects of our lives as we learn to obey His commands.” [1]
Have you ever received a phone call that dramatically, unimaginably, and positively changed your life?
I’m not talking about a call that interrupted your shopping plans or caused you to change your entire schedule for a day or even your vacation plans.
I’m referring to a call that redirected your life trajectory in such a way that it affected how you would spend your time for years to come, the countless new people you would meet, the countries to which you would travel, and the satisfaction you would feel as a result of focusing your life on the primary responsibility God has authorized every one of his children to accomplish: developing disciple-makers!
In September 2014, I was upstairs in my home office, and my cell phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID. I saw eight letters. They spelled out “Bill Hull.” During the 22 years I pastored in the local church; Bill had been a mentor and teacher in the area of discipleship. His books were the center of my doctoral dissertation research on outfitting disciples for the journey of a lifetime.
One evening in early 2012, I was reading his challenging book, Choose The Life: Exploring a Faith That Embraces Discipleship. On page 115, I read these words,
“Not long ago, I made a decision to follow my heart, to take a risk, to try a new way in the quest to return the church to its disciple-making roots. God had been stirring in me for over a year to make the change.”
God had also been stirring my heart for over a year to become intentional about making disciples at the church I was pastoring. I concluded that I had drifted into becoming a CEO of a religious organization instead of deliberately creating a disciple-making culture and modeling what Christ has authorized all his followers to be and do – make disciples! After reading a few more paragraphs, I turned to the back of the book to see where Bill lived. Long Beach, California. Interesting.
Then I did something contrary to my introverted personality. Since my wife and I had a daughter who lived in Los Angeles, I decided to email Bill to see if we could have lunch while visiting her in a few weeks. To my surprise, Bill quickly responded with a date, time, and location. As I recall, we spent over two hours discussing what God had been stirring in our hearts. I revealed to him that I couldn’t continue pastoring a church without intentionally discipling some of the men God had recently put on my radar and in my path.
Later in November of 2012, I invited Bill to join me and a group of forty men on a weekend retreat to dig deep into one of his books, Christlike. It was a weekend that most of us would never forget, and ten years later, the ripples from our experience together are still splashing and affecting how we live.
One of the common threads woven through the words and experiences I have written above is the concept of intentionality. One of Bill’s favorite lines is, “People ask me how I have time to write so many books. The answer is simple. I schedule it!” If Bill hadn’t been intentional about writing books on the biblical mandate of the Great Commission and making disciples, countless men and women around the globe who love Jesus and are compelled to follow him would not be as effective as they are at this very moment! In his book, The Disciple Making Pastor, Bill declares,
“Determined dedication to the Great Commission lies at the heart of Christ’s command. Of course we must also ask ‘What qualifies as obedience to the Great Commission?’ The bare bones of obedience is the intentional effort to define a disciple, then to produce disciples through various vehicles of the church. This book will show various ways to get the job done. But a nonnegotiable is the intentional effort.” [2]
I wonder if anything of actual value and long-lasting worth is accomplished without intentionality. Just pause for a few moments and reflect upon your day’s actions. How many of your experiences were achieved from the moment you awoke until now because you were deliberately intentional about it?
Did your bed get made by itself? Probably not! Did you enjoy a meal or two by simply sitting down at a table? If so, someone else was intentional about serving you! I have a hunch that you were intentional about getting ready to face the day from when your feet hit the floor this morning! The majority of our ordinary everyday responsibilities are accomplished by being intentional! And if this is a reality, how much more should we be intentional about making disciples of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation?
Sisters and Brothers, please listen –
Disciples Don’t Drift Into Becoming Disciple-Makers!
Just as no one can drift into physical fitness and maturity, we certainly don’t drift into spiritual fitness and maturity! Listen closely to a sampling of intentional action words used to describe the life of disciples in the New Testament:
- Acts 20:24 – Finishing the Course (Curriculum, Mission, Task)
- 1 Corinthians 9:24 – Running the Race to Win; 9:25 – Every athlete who competes exercises self-control, strict/disciplined training; 9:26 – running hard for the finish line; Boxing; 9:27 – Discipline my body, make it my slave, keep it under control, in top condition
- Galatians 5:7 – Running well, progressing in spiritual maturity
- Ephesians 6:12 – Struggle, Wrestling
- Philippians 2:16 – Run, Hold Fast, Toil
- Philippians 3:13 – Straining, Reaching Forward; 3:14 – Press on
- Colossians 1:29 – For this purpose I labor, striving according to His power.
- Colossians 4:12 – Laboring earnestly for you in his prayer.
- 1 Timothy 4:7b-8 – Discipline, Train, Exercise;
- 1 Timothy 6:11 – Pursue righteousness, godliness, 6:12 – Fight the good fight of faith
- 2 Timothy 1:14 – Guard the good deposit entrusted to you
- 2 Timothy 2:2 – Entrust to faithful ones who will be able to teach others also.
- 2 Timothy 2:3-4 – Soldier (Sacrifice, Commitment, Discipline, & Training
- 2 Timothy 2:5,6 – Athletes (Discipline & Training); Farmers (Hard Working, Laboring)
- 2 Timothy 2:15 – A worker rightly handling the word of truth
- 2 Timothy 2:22 – Flee, Run, Pursue
- 2 Timothy 4:2 – Preach, Be Ready, Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort
- 2 Timothy 4:5 – Always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
- 2 Timothy 4:7 – I have fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith.
- Hebrews 12:1 – Lay Aside any Hindrances, Run the Race with Endurance
- James 1:12 – Persevering
- 2 Peter 1:5-8 – Applying All Diligence…
- Jude 3 – contend earnestly for the faith (fight hard for, defend, exert strenuous intense effort, to agonize)
- Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21 – All who are victorious (conquer, overcome, prevail)
Could these verbs be used to describe your intentionality of following Jesus? Disciples don’t drift into this kind of intensity and devotion to follow Jesus and obedience to the sacred Scriptures. It takes high-octane grace and intentionality! Dallas Willard reminded us years ago God’s grace is the fuel that enables disciples to accomplish all that God requires of us.
“Grace is not opposed to effort; Grace is opposed to earning.
Earning is an attitude; Effort is an action.”
That phone call I received in 2014 from Bill Hull was a personal invitation to join Bill and a small group of men and women whom God was already stirring to become intentional about making disciples. If Bill wasn’t intentional about writing his books throughout the years, and if I didn’t make it a priority to ask to meet with Bill, you wouldn’t be reading these words today!
I want to close out this topic of intentionality with a story of a treasured friend of mine who is a vivid example of a disciple following Jesus with an intensity that illustrates the verbs mentioned in the above Scriptures. Matt is a Doctor of Pharmacy who works in a VA Hospital in North Central Florida. After walking through The Bonhoeffer Project experience with me in 2015, Matt designed a ten-month discipleship process that intentionally engages a small group of ten to twelve men to develop into disciple-making leaders.
Each month, these men would meet together as a group with Matt and his friend Steve to learn the basics of following Jesus as his disciple. During the rest of the month, these men would meet one-on-one with one another for encouragement and support two-to-three times in the weeks between group meetings, alternating with different men of the group each month. What has been the result?
Over the last eight years, Matt and Steve have challenged hundreds of men to get honest about following Jesus and being restored to their true identity and purpose. Each of these men is the beneficiary of the intentionality of one man who awakened to make Jesus’ Great Commission a priority of his life. Therefore, their discipleship experience is named The Reinstatement Project, and I have had the sacred privilege of being an eyewitness to the profound transformation these men have experienced.
So, let me ask you, how are YOU intentionally living out your God-given purpose of making disciples? Please hear me. If you don’t prioritize the Great Commission, you will ultimately drift off course!
Let me give the last words to the man who dialed my number years ago.
“Obedience to the Great Commission hinges on the three qualifiers: an intentional plan that defines and trains disciples, a commitment to reproduction by training in evangelism with accountability, and a commitment to multiplication by special training in order to produce disciple-making leaders. These are the bare bones of obedience to the Great Commission; anything less is sin.” [3]
[1] Alan Andrews and Christopher Morton, eds., “The Journey of TACT,” in The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual Formation (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2010), 19.
[2] Bill Hull, The Disciple-Making Pastor: Leading Others on the Journey of Faith (Revised and Expanded Edition.; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007), 71.
[3] Bill Hull, The Disciple-Making Pastor: Leading Others on the Journey of Faith (Revised and Expanded Edition.; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007), 71.
This post originally appeared at: Disciples Don’t Drift Into Becoming Disciple Makers! — The Bonhoeffer Project