The Cost of Christian Leadership

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Pastor Foley

Part III of our series on Making Disciples

When it comes to discipleship, what is seldom noted is the amazingly high cost of this philanthropy to the teacher. In the Old Testament model – which Jesus himself embodied as we discovered in our last two posts – it is the students who receive the benefits as the teachers self-empty completely into them.

Paul is quite emphatic about this in his passionate letter to the Corinthian church.

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings—and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you!

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.

We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!

To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.

Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. (1 Corinthians 4:8–13)

It’s very touching when you see the personal cost paid by the teacher in the Work of Mercy of making disciples.

Teachers who grow to fullness in Christ empty themselves fully into their students, and that’s how students come to understand the graciousness of God and the trustworthiness of his love. And students are called to respond by going and doing likewise, at the cost of their own lives, just like Elijah did in passing on the prophet’s mantle to Elisha.

There’s a deep, moving loyalty here. Check out 2 Kings 2:1-14, our story to learn for the week:

Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.  

And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

So they went down to Bethel.  And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?”

And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?”

And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.”

And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.”

And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.”

And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.

Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” And when he had struck the water,(R) the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

The disciple becomes the disciple-maker as the LORD, the God of Elijah, becomes to the next generation the LORD, the God of Elisha.

For whom will the LORD be your God?  Are you passing on to others what has been passed on to you?  If so, how are you training them to do the same?

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How to Make Disciples in Three Steps

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Pastor Foley

Part II of our series on Making Disciples

It was just before the Passover Feast.

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. (John 13:1–15)

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you

Imitation is the mother of discipleship. Christians are to imitate their teachers as their teachers imitate the self-emptying of Christ into his students.

Students, in turn, are focused not on their own discipleship but on mirroring the self-emptying of their teachers for the benefit of still other disciples. Paul says it like this in 1 Thessalonians 1:6–7:

You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

You see, the teacher never disciples the student only but is always discipling the student on how to disciple other students. Which Paul says like this in 2 Timothy 2:2:

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.

You can see this three step process (teacher to student to student’s student) in Jesus’ own work.

First there is his practice of the Works of Mercy, in Luke 8:1:

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.

Then, in Luke 9:1–2, Jesus teaches his closest disciples to practice the Works of Mercy. It says:

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Then, in Luke 10:1, the circle widens, with the success of the Twelve as the platform for the expansion of the discipleship mission. Luke writes:

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.

What is the first item of ministry for the expanded circle of discipleship? The expanded circle of disciples themselves undertaking further expansion of the circle, as Jesus urges them to do prayerfully in Luke 10:2:

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

The apostle Paul mirrors the same strategy:

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. (Acts 19:8–10)

There is far more to study here, however, than a viral strategy of discipleship. What is seldom noted is the amazingly high cost of this philanthropy to the teacher.  But for more on that you’ll have to…you guessed it…tune into the next post.

For now, share your thoughts: is this teacher to student to student discipleship being well practiced today?  What next step do you or your church need to take to move to this model?

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Elijah and Elisha: Where Jesus Learnt Discipleship

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Pastor Foley

Part I of our series on Making Disciples

When you hear the word “discipleship” what do you think of?

Many go  right to Jesus and his calling of twelve men to serve as his disciples.  We tend to think of Jesus as the pioneer of discipleship.

Surprisingly, however, Jesus is continuing a model already fully developed in the Old Testament.  This is best observed in the relationship between Elijah and Elisha, the great prophets of Israel.

So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. (1 Kings 19:19–21)

Spangler and Tverberg write a lot about this in their book, Sitting at the Feet of the Rabbi Jesus. They point out that Jesus uses “the plow of Elisha” in Luke 9:61-62 as the model for how he expects his own disciples to abandon everything to follow him:

Still another [disciple] said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”

Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Here’s a great quote from the Spangler and Tverberg book:

Several aspects of Elisha’s life exemplified discipleship in Jesus’ time. First of all, Elisha went to live with Elijah, spending year after year with him. That made sense in light of the fact that the goal wasn’t just academic learning but personal transformation. As the Jewish historian Shmuel Safrai explains it, a disciple ‘did not grasp the full significance of his teacher’s learning in all its nuances except through prolonged intimacy with his teacher, through close association with his rich and profound mind.’ To that end, the disciple would accompany the rabbi on all of his daily rounds: going to court, helping the poor, burying the dead, redeeming slaves, and so on. The disciple sought to be a humble and caring companion doing personal acts of service and helping the teacher in all things.

So the teacher/disciple relationship is hierarchical.

But don’t get the idea that the teacher gets treated like God and the disciple gets treated like trash. The leader is still the leader, but the leader is now, in the imitation of Christ, voluntarily the slave of the slave. This was certainly the case in Jesus’ relationship with his own disciples, too, as noted by Spangler and Tverberg:

The Gospels make it clear that Jesus’ disciples also served him. They went into town to buy food (John 4:8), and they arranged for the Passover celebration according to his directions (Luke 22:8). Disciples were expected to take turns preparing the common meal and serving the needs of the group.

In that sense, Jesus wasn’t doing anything new.  

But what is new is Jesus’ mirroring to his disciples a fundamentally different character of relationship between the teacher and his students…which we’ll look at in our next post!

In the meantime, take a moment to answer the question we began with: when you hear the word “discipleship” what comes to mind for you and why?

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