October 2020 — pg. 33
Have you ever been frustrated
because someone misinterpreted
what you said?
Bugs Bunny, in the classic animated cartoon “Forward
March Hare,” is a prime example. “I want every one of them
chickens cleaned and dressed for the officers’ dinner dance
tonight,” says the sergeant, to which Bugs replies with a
salute, “Aye aye, sir!” Cut to the next scene where Bugs enters
the sergeant’s office and proudly proclaims, “The chickens is
ready, your honor. All cleaned and dressed for dinner, sir.”
Now wait for it. The shot expands to reveal an entire yard
full of chickens elegantly clad in tuxedos and top hats.
The sergeant did say to dress them for dinner, right?
Jesus said, “go and make disciples of all nations”
(Matthew 28:19a), yet we’ve put tuxedos and top hats on
many a chicken in our response. We think we know what
Jesus meant, but there really is only one example to follow,
and that is how Jesus discipled the twelve. What Jesus did
with twelve ordinary men was miraculous. Well, actually it
was normal in discipleship standards. Consider that, as the
twelve heard Jesus tell them to go and make disciples, they
would have had only one method by which to base their
obedience: their own discipleship.
Let’s put ourselves in the three-year discipleship plan of
the original twelve and consider what ministry looked like
for them as a result. They were drawn into the miraculous.
Almost immediately they began to witness miracles and
then were sent to perform them. Friends, if the miraculous
was the thread running through the three-year plan of
discipleship for the twelve, how would they have viewed
discipleship any differently for those they discipled?
Somewhere along the way we veered off the path of the
miraculous restoration of broken people, healing of the sick,
providing sight for the blind, and opening the ears of the
deaf for educational and fellowship experiences that revolve
around a culture of church gathering. Somehow we began
to see miracles as a benefit of membership for those in the
church rather than a splashing of heaven on the landscape
of a broken earth.
Where there is much brokenness, there is much
opportunity. Disciples see this and hunger for restoration
and reconciliation to replace decay and division. Disciples
set aside their own comfort for the peace of others, wear
the chains of prison for the freedom of others, and endure
scorn for the glory of Christ Jesus. Let’s consider three
things to lay down — things that are likely barriers to our
full participation as disciples of Jesus that mirror the lives
and actions of the twelve — and three things to take up –
redefinitions of what Jesus meant discipleship to be.
Lay down your life. Be willing and open. Remember
that you are a living sacrifice. Confess that your life is not
your own, that you were bought with a price (1 Corinthians
6:20). Present yourself to God as an instrument to be used
in the ways of God’s choosing.
Lay down your needs. Seeking miraculous solutions for
our own needs is often the shackle that restrains us from
ministering to others. Pray for the Lord to use you to heal
others even if your healing never comes. Pray to let miracles
flow through you even if your own doesn’t manifest.
Lay down your church status. Positions are nothing
compared to being a servant. Put away your trophies and
titles in exchange for a servant’s heart. Ask the Lord to make
you a servant of all even as He was a servant of all.
Take up the role of a miracle worker. Be a follower of
Jesus. Read the gospels and place yourself in the stories.
Walk with the disciples into the spaces where miracles
happened and ask God to be a disciple as He intended.
Take up the cross of the miraculous. Miracles earned
Jesus more disdain than accolades and so it was for the
twelve. There is a cross of death hidden in the resurrection
of the miraculous. Tell the Lord you are ready and willing to
take it up and take it on.
Take up the “loss” of heavenly gain. He must increase;
I must decrease (John 3:30). Tell the Lord you are ready to
experience loss for the sake of heaven’s gain.
Imagine the Lord’s voice teaching you to pray, “Your
kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
(Matthew 6:10). Now picture yourself in the home of a
stranger, doing what Jesus asked of you as you heal a sick
person with Christ’s power and authority, explaining that
the kingdom of God has come to that house. The dots
connect. “This is what it means for heaven to come to earth!
This is why we’re supposed to pray in this way! This is what
it means for us to be fishers of people — salt and light — a
city on a hill,” you ponder with great mysterious delight.
What do you think Jesus said about miracles? About
discipleship? About what He really asks of you and me as
His representatives on earth?
His viewpoint is the only one we need. +
Brett Heintzman is the publisher of LIGHT + LIFE
through his role as the communications director of the
Free Methodist Church – USA, which he also serves as
the co-director of the National Prayer Ministry. Visit
freemethodistbooks.com to order his books “Becoming
a Person of Prayer,” “Holy People” (Volume 1 of the
“Vital” series), “Jericho: Your Journey to Deliverance
and Freedom” and “The Crossroads: Asking for the
Ancient Paths.”
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