Hey everybody welcome back to the practitioners podcast where we're applying Jesus style disciple making to everyday life. This episode and all of our episodes are powered by Navigators Church Ministries which focus on helping churches make disciples who can make disciples. For more information or to get connected go to navigatorschurchministries.org.  Justin welcome to part two of our two part series historical context for Jesus's way of disciple making in 30 seconds or less. Give us a review of last week's episode. Oh man the review 30 seconds or less is that Jesus discipled within a specific culture and context for what disciple making was.

 

And so we talked about the different. Levels of Jewish in education rather that the  little boys and girls all Jewish kids went through the first level was the house of the book that say for  from about five to 12 the next level 12 to 15 was the bait town mood the house of learning. And then the final level was this level of the towel Medina or what we would know as disciple making where someone would follow the rabbi.

 

And their goal was to become just like the rabbi. And so as we talked last time we cannot separate  disciple making today from the context in which it was birthed in and still say it's Jesus style disciple making.  Absolutely right. So this idea about the  The way that Jesus made disciples is so important because there are so many implications for today's church and today's believer right?

 

And kind of what we're going to kind of explore today is this idea that  common context creates common movement which creates common culture. Let me say it again for the people in the back. Common context creates common movement which creates common culture.  Yeah that is. 100 percent right. And what we are suggesting in this episode is that if we don't root disciple making in the context in which it was birthed in in terms of the Jewish system and has evolved as Jesus did what he did as he discipled and it moved into Christianity after his We want  life death and resurrection.

 

So if we don't root there then really we are doing anchorless disciple making and we are redefining what it means and we're redefining it however we want to suit our needs and our preferences and our whims. And when we do that there's nowhere for us to to hold commonality in a way that.  goes deeper than preferences.

 

And that can be a real problem when we're trying not only to create a culture in a church but also to impact a culture at large that doesn't know Jesus so that we can have a movement of disciple making.  Yeah one of the things that's really interesting about this is that if you look at  church history like North American church history there were a lot of things that were called disciple making that never really were.

 

I think about  in the South there was the bus ministry. Maybe you heard about that where somebody would go along and pick up kids in buses and bring them to church and they would call that discipleship. They would call that disciple making. I think the middle schoolers today would call that they would say that's busing.

 

No that's not right. That's not the accurate use of that word.

 

I know but here's the thing right? If if and you and I talk about this all the time if everything is disciple making then nothing is disciple making. Yes. Yep. And if we are redefining it then it's almost like we're just picking things out and calling it that. Right. And we're slapping meaning on things that don't have that meaning within.

 

So here's here's a silly illustration.  when I was in college my friends and I sometimes we'd go to church sometimes wouldn't. But we would always say we went to church. And the way we did it was we just named our bed the church.  No. Yeah we did. And so they'd be like hey were you in church? I was in church this morning.

 

So long. I was there for like. Four hours in the morning.  It reminds me of that bar in Colbus Ohio called the library. I was at the library all night. There you go. Working hard right? This is my context matters so much because if we don't drill down on context we never really know what people mean.  And also if we are not true to context if we throw it out the window then not only do we not know what others mean others don't know what we mean and we live in a place where we can't really communicate honestly or with precision with one another.

 

And so you know we see it all the time Tony when we talk to pastors and churches when we talk to everyday  disciple makers sometimes they will say that they're discipling people that Really doesn't align with what you and I would consider disciple making as we look at some of the essentials that Jesus style disciple making had and so  another example of that is when Disciple making let's say a lead pastor gets a heart for disciple making in the church and starts to talk about it with his staff  The staff sometimes move through all the things that are already on their job to do list and things that they used to define as you know shepherding small group leaders.

 

Things like that they just you know start to define it as to oh yeah I'm discipling them now right? Because now I have some new language but I haven't rooted it in anything. And so they they put it on things to please the person that they feel like is calling for this new action without a actually changing it.

 

So it's like slapping a label on a bottle.  that doesn't change the inside of the contents of that bottle but it just changes the label of it.  Yeah. One of the things that I appreciate is is that when you begin to follow Jesus in order to become just like Jesus it really changes your motivation. It changes the context.

 

And so we we want to tie this back to the historical context because when we think about the rabbi disciple relationship that really becomes the context. Of disciple making it becomes the context of discipleship right? It becomes the the way that it connects and changes everything. So when everyone's rooted in the same historical context then we we begin to grow and connect in a different kind of way that connects things and and it really  prevents things from becoming disconnected so that everything all of a sudden isn't slapped with that label of discipleship.

 

Yeah that's right. And so some of the things that I observed from studying the life and ministry of Jesus from learning about what disciple making was in his culture in his time in his context  really prevents me from labeling things to disciple making today that don't hold to some of those really clear things that were happening.

 

All the time in that context. So let me give you some examples. I've I thought it is five right? So  disciple making in the Jewish culture never happened outside of an explicit invitation.  There was an explicit invitation from the rabbi to the disciple into this type of relationship. Disciple making not only didn't happen outside that invitation  it didn't happen outside of a confirmation or a response from the person who is going to be like the rabbi  to say yeah I'll do that.

 

I'm in.  It never happened outside of a destination. There was a clear destination where they were trying to get to and that destination was the rabbi would become holistically speaking as hanly possible as it could be just like the rabbi. And it didn't happen outside of a direction. Right? There was a purpose.

 

Well why are we doing this? Well we're doing this because it is important that we become holy so that we can bring others into the kingdom which gets to that next part of reproduction. Now I see this over and over and over again in our culture where people are labeling things disciple making that there was never an invitation.

 

There was never a response or confirmation of that. The mission of reproduction is unclear. And if we can't reproduce then  then it's it's a it's not what disciple making was meant to be about. Right? So there are some of these things that I think not only does it clarify like we said at the front of this episode that The common context is going to create that common language right?

 

There's clarifying happening which is going to create that common culture. But the clarification also makes it so that I understand hey it is important  for me to invest in people. I don't need to invite them to invest in them. I don't need them to respond to invest in them. But if I want to use the word disciple making and I'm trying to say that I'm doing it in Jesus's style I'm doing it in his way then I can't do that outside of the obvious ways that were required out required in his context.

 

Yeah. And that requirement really speaks to the motivation of why you're doing it.  Right. And so we use that word required and we don't want to be legalistic about it.  Your why will determine your how so often.  And so when you begin to understand the idea of that deep connection the why you're doing it the why it matters then all of those  clarifying nuances right?

 

The destination the mission of reproduction the invitation the confirmation all those things they become more and more clear right? So that idea that Hey I know why I'm doing this. I'm doing this so that I can live out the great commission so that I can fulfill the great commandment. When that motivation becomes clear then everything the context becomes clear.

 

If think about it like this if you were drawing a treasure map.  The process of context determines what the path is laid on. And that's really what we're trying to establish in this kind of context of discipleship as it pertains to how Jesus do it how Jesus did it and how we can do it today.  Now I'm I'm just imagining maybe a listener out there that's thinking okay yeah all this sounds fine you know rude in context et cetera et cetera.

 

Sounds great guys.  There's also things that we are ignoring about the context  that we're not including when we disciple in our current culture and day and time right? So we are discipling people that haven't been through they haven't memorized the first five books of the Old Testament.  They haven't memorized most of the Old Testament but we're using the word we're saying that we're discipling them we're inviting them into a disciple making relationship.

 

So why is it okay or how would we even process the fact that there are a lot of things that we leave on the sideline?  in terms of the context in which Jesus did it  and yet we're still saying we're doing Jesus style disciple making. How how do we process all of that? How do we help think through that?

 

I think one of the things that we have to consider right is  the way Jesus did ministry. Right. And we understand that   in the scriptures it doesn't talk a ton about what the disciples did before they met Jesus. As a matter of fact the only thing that we know for sure is that they were fishermen.

 

And from my vantage point that was somewhat intentional by the authors of the gospel right? Jesus chose really normal men to do extraordinary things. And I think part of that is to kind of  as it says at the end of the gospels right? To to kind of rip through the curtain temple and open up the availability of discipleship to everyone and not just to the elite.

 

So when Jesus died for our sins something changed right? The context changed. We're living in a post resurrection Jesus kind of world. We see this as the.  The disciples then go out into the world and begin to take the gospel to the all parts. Well that had never happened before then. And so I think post Jesus resurrection changes everything.

 

What what are your thoughts?  Yeah I think that's right. Right. We were certainly in a different context. We're in a different culture. And so  you know even today the question. That I wrestle with and Tony I know that you wrestle with is well How can we get as close to what Jesus did as as we possibly can  right now?

 

Some people might ask that question of themselves and come to different  Different conclusions that I would come to right. I have a family Wife four kids. I don't think I can  Stand before God with my convictions and say well I'm gonna leave them and go travel  be itinerant the way that Jesus was sleep somewhere different every week every night whatever  and have the guys I'm discipling with me 24 7 now there's somebody else that might say well boy that that time with him is so important.

 

I think I think that's essential.  And for me this is where the conversation happens right? So I wouldn't I wouldn't look at them and say well no the with him time is not important at all. I don't need to do that. I can say I'm discipling people and not have any time with them.  Right? And so for me the discussion happens.

 

In the weeds of the details of like all right well clearly with him time is important. Clearly that incarnational life on life is important.  Now how we work that out is going to be different depending upon our life situation the culture that we're in right? Whether you're in you know I've lived in different cultures and Asian cultures and American culture now.

 

And so. The way that I get time with people in American culture looks very different than the way that I could do it in the culture. I lived in in Asia. And so there's some cultural factors that we have to consider. But to me all of it goes back to how do we unearth and pull out the principles of Jesus style disciple making so that we can apply it in our context as purely me.

 

As we're able to as we stand before God and say Hey I'm really doing my best to do this here. The way that I see the example of Jesus in the scriptures. Oh the other part to this is that we can only go off of the information that we have right? So if if you spend your time  connecting with the scriptures through the power of the Holy Spirit if you spend your time following Jesus.

 

Trying to find and spend more time with him you're going to get pretty close  like like you're going to get you're going to figure some of that out. Now   I think the further we get away from the scriptures the further we get away from Jesus's life the more that we get into. To social constructs or even church constructs and even not the historical church but more of the more  local church like the current church  constructs right?

 

Like I wouldn't say that there's any evidence of the historical church that would suggest that we have to do three songs at the beginning of the worship. We have to have a 30 minute message and then two songs at the end right? That's a that's a current church construct. That's a church context. Yeah we don't see that in scriptures.

 

We don't see that in the historic church. And so there's some tension there that you have to kind of  walk towards and and live into and understand. And you and I are part of conversations all the time with church leaders about this kind of stuff. What's the right context. What's the right move.

 

What's it mean. And  and I think we just try to go off the.  The scripture is the best we can and and acknowledge that we're not perfect  Yeah exactly. And I think the motivation there and the attitude at which we're we're pursuing disciple making Will prevent us and others from just slapping a label on something they're already doing And saying well yeah I'm gonna call that disciple making now right because our goal is to remain as true to what jesus did as we are able to do In our current culture and context and so I think that's one of the big messages of this episode is that you know we have to take it seriously.

 

The example that Jesus left us. I really believe that God sent him specifically into our world at that time into a culture that had the disciple making context. And had those regular norms to teach us the way that we should carry our faith forward and pass it on to others. And so when we untangle all that and look into all that it should impact the way that we move forward in our lives and our ministries and the way that we disciple others.

 

Well friends I'm sure that we gave you so much to think about in this episode episode one and episode two of this historical context of Jesus Child disciple making. Here's the takeaway. Common context creates common movement. Which creates common culture common context creates common movement which creates common culture.

 

The action step  evaluate the context of your disciple making relationships. I would even suggest that you run it through the lens of those indicators that Justin referenced as far as the rabbi disciple relationship that's a really good place to start.  More than anything we hope and pray that you're actively following Jesus and all of your disciple making.

 

And as always we're incredibly easy to find. If you have any questions or you need to get ahold of us we we really deeply appreciate your feedback.  So guys thank you so much. And we look forward to connecting with you and another episode of the practitioners podcast  real soon.