Discipleship

(for tomorrow...story of Jake, his baptism & pics of him with Scott B., husband of the sweet Christian who inspired Jake to commit his life to Christ.)

We're (church leaders) going to be talking more & more about discipleship this year...Matt 28:19-20 says to make disciples, so what does a disciple look like? We're relatively good with how a disciple is "born" (baptism into Christ), but how does a disciple grow, and what fruit should be on the tree as it matures? Are we (me / you) growing in discipleship?

From Matthew 8...
18When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
20Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Jesus' reply to the teacher puzzles me. Here's a responses I might have guessed:
"Thank you. It's a worldwide revolution I'm after, so I can use all the help I can get. That's great, it means a lot to me that you're joining the team."

But Jesus is wiser than me. (to state the obvious)

There's something to the fact that #1, Jesus knew this guy's heart. As a teacher of the law, perhaps Jesus knew this man's propensity to get "it" all right, but to miss the heart of the teaching. Perhaps Jesus knew his tendency to obey in superficial matters, but to draw the line there. I think the guy has honest intent, but Jesus was trying to tell him, you think you know what it means to follow me. To join my crusade. (It had to have appeared prestigious to join with Jesus to many law teachers, since Jesus always drew a crowd, and since his hearers always felt he taught with authority.)

But Jesus was actually giving the guy something to think about...He didn't say, "No, don't follow me because you can't hack it." He just said, look, this is how it is, if you're still in, come on.

Let's allow this Scripture to speak to us and shed light on our view of discipleship, and let's allow Jesus to redefine it for us, and challenge us mightily in the process. Are you ready for the challenge?