The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

The Movement:  Extending the Reign of Jesus, Part Three

          ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…’ (28:19)

The noun form of the word ‘disciple’ means ‘a learner,’ so the verb form ‘disciple’ basically means ‘to teach.’  When Jesus called his first followers, they were called his ‘disciples’ because he was teaching them, or discipling them.  Here’s some of my story involving one of the four major disciplers in my life.  I committed my life to Jesus towards the end of my junior year of high school.  My parents had just started arguing about divorce, so that really made me feel unstable.  I also began to ask fairly deep questions about my purpose in life and what values I really believed in.  I really wanted to understand the Bible.  By the time I started my freshman year at Stanford, I was really confused.  Not only that, but life was getting hard for me emotionally.  I prayed that God would send someone to mentor me.  When I got back to campus after Christmas break, a guy named David Miyahara knocked at my door.  He was a grad student in the Asian American fellowship that I had visited (this fellowship had undergrad and grads together).  He was doing his doctorate in sociology.  But his real passion, he said, was developing and discipling others.  My ears perked up.  ‘Hey, could you disciple me?  I want to learn more about the Bible,’ I asked.  He and I began meeting once a week, and I loved it.  He also came from a broken home, and he walked me through how he dealt with things.  I learned more about being Asian American, and he helped me put words to experiences that I had that I hadn’t been able to talk about before.  I enjoyed his sense of humor, and how he related to people.  He gave great advice, not just to me, but to a lot of others.  He helped me through my leadership roles in the fellowship.  And he answered or tried to answer all these burning bible questions I had.  We would sit and talk for 3 or 4 hours at a time; I was so hungry for an older spiritual brother to disciple me.  During our first five months together, David walked me through Matthew 5 – 7.  During my sophomore year, we studied Romans.  During my junior year, we studied Daniel.  During my senior year, we brought three other guys together and read a book on inner healing and Christian counseling. 

Sometime during our second year together, David said to me that he hoped I was being prepared to disciple others in the future.  He was clear about that on several occasions, because he recognized that Christian discipleship is meant to be reproduced.  Since then, I’ve had the privilege of discipling younger men and women in the very same material I was taught, and it’s been a great experience.  I learn at least as much as they do.

I think it is very important to have mentors and mentees, in essence, to have discipleship happening all around you.  Just to set your minds on fire:  Suppose there are 40 of you in a fellowship or church.  Suppose each of you were to help 1 person come to faith in Christ this year.  Suppose each of you were equipped to and meet with him or her for 2 years, teaching, mentoring, and discipling them.  Then, there would be 80 of you.  Suppose the 80 of you each help 1 person come to faith, and then for 2 years, disciple them.  Then there would be 160 of you.  Ten years from now, there would be 1,280 of you.  Twenty years from now, there would be 40,960.  Thirty years from now, there would be 1,310,720!  Now, mentoring younger believers doesn’t have to happen in a one-on-one setting.  It can and should be more communal, since we are all Jesus’ disciples, not Joe’s disciples, or Jane’s.  But a basic tool for helping people meet Jesus and for discipling younger believers could be really handy.  Matthew provides that, and we’ll explore that next.

          For now, think through what has been invested in you through sermons, bible studies, godly wisdom, advice, ministry skills, mentors, role models, etc.  How else would you like to grow?  How can you take that knowledge, package it so it’s reproducible, and invest it into other people?  Which people?