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Why Restore Discipleship?
Brian Mashburn
April 9, 2006
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The Restoration of Discipleship
Have you ever heard anyone say longingly, "I just want it to be the way it was before"? Maybe it was about their family, or their job situation, or some particular relationship or group. Sometimes we want life to be "how it used to be" in some area, because we judge that the way it used to be, was better or best.
This is why we as a church of Christ must restore Christ's call for discipleship.
I believe Christ has looked at us and said longingly, "I just want Christianity to be the way it was before." Be careful now, or you might think he's talking about 5 years ago, or 10, or 25, or 50. But he is not. He's talking about what it looked like 2000 years ago when he was here.
Jesus came to earth, took on human form, and modeled exactly what he meant by the Christian life. And the whole Bible was given to us to get us to Him. The Old Testament points to Jesus. The Gospels contain the story of the life of Jesus. Acts is a history of the first disciples imitating Jesus. The letters are instructions, affirmations, and reminders to the first groups of disciples (churches) to follow Jesus. Revelation shows the eternal results of disciples faithfully imitating Jesus.
And so, when we, the church, conform our lives to Christ's commission to "go and make disciples," we successfully play our part in fulfilling Jesus' wish for things to "be like it was before." We engage in the "Restoration of Discipleship".