Rad GC -- Teaching

The Great Commission gives us a plan as well as a purpose.  We have not been left to our own devices to reach the goal of discipling the nations.  The only hope for fulfilling the Great Commission in our generation is to do it Jesus' way, not the way that seems best to us.  In the book Radical, author and pastor David Platt helps us better understand what Jesus' way is.  Having looked at going and baptizing, today we consider the step of teaching.

Platt corrects a couple of misconceptions we have about what Jesus meant by teaching.  First of all, Jesus was not thinking about our modern method of classroom instruction.  Platt writes, "Classrooms and lectures have their place, but this is not the predominant kind of teaching we see in Jesus' relationship with His disciples."  The disciples enjoyed a constant dialogue with Jesus whenever they wished and wherever they were.  It was the natural, conversational flow of a relationship.  Secondly, because of this casual style, anyone and everyone can be a teacher.  Platt explains:  "Scripture clearly speaks of a spiritual gift of teaching and identifies specific leadership roles in the church that are tied to the teaching of God's Word.  Therefore, we assume that teaching is a task relegated to only a few.  But while we should certainly acknowledge and affirm gifted teachers given by God to the church, Jesus' command for us to make disciples envisions a teaching role for all of us."  As He did with the plan of salvation, when God wants something for everyone, He makes it simple enough that anyone can do it.

The kind of teaching Jesus had in mind was more like how a parent teaches his or her children.  As life presents various situations, the parent explains the ideas or coaches the skills that the child needs.  Values are modeled as well as taught.  Outside the home, teaching in New Testament times typically followed the apprenticeship model.  In MasterLife Avery Willis described the apprentice model of teaching as consisting of the following steps:  I do it; I do it and you watch; we do it together; you do it and I watch; then you do it on your own.  A more recent form of this approach uses the acrostic MAWL to state the teacher's actions: Model, Assist, Watch, Leave.

It is important to note that Jesus' method focuses on behaviors.  He didn't say merely to teach them all things; He said to teach them to observe (keep, obey) all things.  Behavior reveals belief.  Everything we do is based on some idea or value we hold.  We may also affirm a lot of other ideas, but what we truly believe, we do.  As Jesus' disciples, we must practice what we preach.  In Jesus' parable about the wise and foolish builders, both types heard the word, but only the wise put it into practice (Matthew 7:24-27).

David Platt points out a further advantage of using the relational, dialogue, apprenticeship method: the disciple maker also benefits.  He writes, "This raises the bar in our own Christianity.  In order to teach someone how to pray, we need to know how to pray.  In order to help someone else learn how to study the Bible, we need to be active in studying the Bible.  But this is the beauty of making disciples.  When we take responsibility for helping others grow in Christ, it automatically takes our own relationship with Christ to a new level."  Any Bible teacher knows that he learns far more than the students he teaches.  So will any follower of Christ who is willing to be a reproducer and not just a receiver.

Let's ask the Lord to use us today to pass to someone else what He has taught and is teaching us.  Let's continue to do that until we reach the nations with the gospel.

Rad GC -- Baptizing

In Radical, David Platt analyzes the Great Commission for its implications with regard to modern missions.  Today, we consider his understanding of the importance of "baptizing" in the way missions should be done.  Although he sees baptism as "the clear, public, symbolic picture of the new life we have in Christ," he puts more emphasis on how baptism "pictures our identification with one another in the church."  He writes, "Baptism unites us as brothers and sisters who share the life of Christ with one another."  The part baptism plays in disciple making is that new believers are brought into the body of Christ and see the life of Christ in action.  As they see the love of Christ shared before their eyes, they absorb this new way of life and make it their own.  Christianity is more caught than taught.

This lesson repeats the emphasis of yesterday.  The relational element is crucial.  Jesus ate, slept, traveled, worked, and laughed with twelve men every day for at least three years.  They saw not only His actions, but also His reactions.  They remembered His words and reproduced His ways.  If Jesus the Master Teacher made disciples this way, what makes us think we can achieve the same results with much less investment?  A few classes meeting a couple of hours a week won't approach the level of commitment and results that are needed.  People need a model.  The old saying goes, "What you do speaks so loud that I can't hear what you say."  Our children do what we show them, not what we tell them.

When Avery Willis taught the principles of discipleship in MasterLife, he demonstrated the power of multiplication in the number of disciples that could be made by doubling every year.  Two becomes four, four becomes eight, and so on until it becomes possible to disciple the population of the entire world in 33 years.  As he said, "Anyone can count the number of apples on an apple tree, but no one can count the number of apple trees in an apple."  But he also showed what happens when our disciple-making is half-hearted.  One-half doubled becomes one-fourth, one-fourth becomes one-eighth, and so on with continuing decline in each succeeding iteration.

I heard an evangelist say once that he liked to be around new Christians because their zeal renewed him.  He also said, "Most new believers have to backslide for six months before they can fit in to the average church."

What kind of environment do our churches offer new believers?  Let us pray that as they are baptized and brought into the body that they will find all they need to attain "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).  Let's pray that they will see modeled in us a passion to take the gospel to the nations.

Radical Great Commission

According to David Platt in Radical, Jesus gave His disciples a plan as well as a purpose.  He not only told them what to do but how to do it.  His plan makes it possible for any follower to impact the world.  Perhaps our failure to do so stems from our failure to do things His way.

Here is how Platt describes our approach:  "If we were left to ourselves with the task of taking the gospel to the world, we would immediately begin planning innovative strategies and plotting elaborate schemes.  We would organize conventions, develop programs, and create foundations.  We would get the biggest names to draw the biggest crowds to the biggest events.  We would start megachurches and host megaconferences.  We would do ... well, we would do what we are doing today."  Our "contemporary strategies" revolve around "performances, places, programs, and professionals."  Jesus' strategy relies on ordinary people who will think, love, see, teach, and serve like He did.

Platt shares, "The more I read the Gospels, the more I marvel at the simple genius of what Jesus was doing with His disciples.  My mind tends to wander toward grandiose dreams and intricate strategies, and I'm struck when I see Jesus simply, intentionally, systematically, patiently walking alongside twelve men.  Jesus reminds me that disciples are not mass-produced.  Disciples of Jesus--genuine, committed, self-sacrificing followers of Christ--are not made overnight.  Making disciples is not an easy process.  It is trying.  It is messy.  It is slow, tedious, even painful at times.  It is all these things because it is relational."

While I was serving in South America, we were seeing many professions of faith to our preaching.  However,  numerical church growth was hampered by the high percentage of those who "fell away" in spite of the fact that most churches required a series of classes before baptism and church membership (some for as long as six months).  My mission agency did a continent-wide study to figure out a way to "shut the back door."  They concluded that our follow-up plans were ineffective because they were too "academic."  We needed an approach that was more relational.  I guess it had not occurred to us to do it Jesus' way.

One heart revolutionized by Christ can start a worldwide revolution by touching one heart at a time.  If we are contagious, we spread the disease to others who also spread the disease.  Let's pray that we will spread a good infection.