What We Believe: Making Disciples

8 September 2019

Jeremiah 18:1-11; Philemon 6-17; Luke 14:25-33

“You have nothing to do but to save souls.  Therefore, spend and be spent in this work.”  John Wesley, 12 Rules for Helpers (lay preachers)

Although John Wesley instructed his lay preachers to be entirely about saving souls, our Shepherd and Lord charged His Church in a different way: “make disciples … baptize them … and teach them” (Matthew 28:19-20).  It seems a far cry from “saving souls”, but that may have more to do with the language we choose; that “being saved” is much more worthy of our time than “being disciples”, always “going on to perfection” (Hebrews 6:1), always learning to “be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

To fulfill this charge, it becomes necessary for the Church to so order – or perhaps reorder - its life – and perhaps language - to the missional end to “make disciples”; we must “spend and be spent” to no other task.  Before this can happen, though, we must first learn to listen. 

What is perhaps even more shocking than Jesus declaring His own flesh and blood as “real food and real drink” (John 6:55) is His declaration that if we do not “hate” those closest to us, we can never be His disciples.  Just as the “real food and drink” teaching caused many to walk away as it is written, we can easily imagine at least an equal number turning away from Jesus at this point in His ministry.

Language matters, so the idea of hating anyone, let alone those we love the most, is not well received no matter who it comes from.  When we say we hate someone or something, we know what we mean.  These persons or things have earned our disdain by violating our lives in some way, and we don’t want to be anywhere near them.  We protect ourselves and those we love by keeping what we “hate” at a safe distance.

So when Jesus admonishes us to “hate” our own blood, rather than try to change the meaning of the word itself, that word which disturbs us most, it becomes necessary for us to engage more carefully.  We cannot write it off as an ancient lesson for an ancient people no longer relevant to us.  If Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” as it is written in the Letter to the Hebrews (13:8), what He meant then, He means now.

In one of my classes a few years ago, we were each invited to give an introduction; where we come from, how we came to understand our calling, etc.  There was this one guy telling his story, and in the course of his story which went into very great detail, I heard him declare multiple times each moment when he was “saved”.  I don’t mean he was emphasizing that he was saved.  By the way he was telling his story, he was “saved” several different times.

So at a time when I thought I was getting a handle on what people mean when they declare their salvation, I became even more confused because by the end of his story, I had no idea what he meant even though I’m sure he did.  Within the broader context of his story, as best I can recall, I wonder if he was telling how he was “called”; and in each subsequent instance, his calling was being affirmed.

It can happen, then, that if we are not careful to try and understand what is written in the Scriptures or hear from the pulpit, not only do others fail to understand what we mean, but we can take something which is priceless and carelessly toss it into the dollar bin.  Like the Holy Name itself, if we are not careful about speaking the Holy Name reverently and with as much respect and awe as possible, it becomes just another word; cheap, easy, and culturally subjective.

It is easy to imagine many who walked away from Jesus at this point because they not only failed to understand what He meant in suggesting we must “hate” our families in order to be disciples; it could well be they didn’t bother trying to understand what He meant.  And it is very likely we don’t try any harder, choosing instead to suggest that’s not what He meant … and then walking away – but still calling ourselves “believers”.

Making disciples should not be confused with striving to be a “relevant” church, which seems to be all the rage today.  As one writer shared, it is much more important that the Church be “repentant” rather than “relevant”.  That is, before we can expect others to “get right with God”, we must first make sure we are working to that end ourselves.  Being “saved” comes near to suggesting we are done.  We have arrived.  We are safe, no longer in any danger, and in no need of further instruction. 

Making disciples is not a numbers game, as when King David ordered a census and was punished by The Lord (2 Samuel 24).  The desire for numbers can be likened to a source of pride which precedes a fall (Proverbs 16:18), it can lead to a false sense of achievement, or, perhaps in David’s case, a false sense of security, trusting in human metrics rather than in Divine Providence. 

Making disciples involves sharing and telling the Truth, no matter how unpleasant or “irrelevant” it may seem to our setting, our chosen narrative.  We cannot possibly share what we refuse to embrace ourselves.  The Church is not a club for like-minded people; it is the community where we gather, where we pray, where we hear and study the Word, where we receive the Sacraments, where we offer our gifts and our hearts to our Father and to one another, where we are being challenged and transformed rather than merely being comforted.

We all need to be comforted from time to time, but our greater need is to grow in Christ, not to stand “just as I am”.  What our Shepherd is expressing in Luke’s passage is not only for new persons seeking a relationship with Him for the first time; it is a continuing challenge especially for those of us who have become perhaps complacent.  That is, if all is well with “me”, then all must be well period. 

However, the vitality of the Church is measured precisely by Whom we love and how we go about expressing that Love.  If we are to “make disciples”, we must first be willing to live as disciples.  But as our Lord Jesus teaches, we have to know what the true cost will be.  He Himself needs us to know.  And as we understand that our families are our own lives, our own blood, what we are hearing Jesus teach is that if we are unwilling to love The Lord with our whole heart and full self, holding nothing back, we can never really love those closest to us, let alone a strange “neighbor” whom we do not particularly care for.

The passage is not about “hating”; it is about what we love first and fully and the price of that Love which was first offered to us.  It is that which we are called to share without encumbrances – because that is how it was shared with us.  Amen.