Blog 8: Can We Hold the Pastor Responsible To Disciple His Flock?

However, before we do this, we must determine who is the real "Master" of the students God has determined to "disciple" his Church!

Contents:

• The Problem

• The Call

• The Response

• Imitation

• Call to Action

What we will need to understand:

• Responsibility

• Equipping

• Accountability

The Problem.

As I am studying John Mark Comer’s book, Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become like Jesus, Do as he did, a problem is brought out that he has experienced (and I am sure many Christians may echo as well), as to

Who is responisble in the church to disciple believers?

Who is the true "Master" for all disciples?

How does he determine discipleship is to be done?

Comer says,

"People have come to me actually bitter because their former pastor’s 'did not disciple' them. What they actually mean is that these pastors didn’t spend one-on-one time with them. While I’m all for pastors giving their time to foster people’s growth in Jesus, I would argue that you can’t 'disciple' somebody any more than you can 'Christian' them, 'believer-er' them, or 'follower-er' them."[1]

Did you catch what Comer said? “You can’t ‘disciple’ somebody any more than you can....” Comer goes on to say, Here’s why:

"If disciple is something that is done to you (a verb), then that puts the onus of responsibility for your spiritual formation on someone else, like your pastor, church, or mentor. But if disciple is a noun – if it’s someone you are or are not – then no one can 'disciple' you but Rabbi Jesus himself."[2]

The Call.

Jesus, with “all authority” given to him (Matt 28:18), is responsible for transforming you through the work of the sanctifying Holy Spirit (2 Cor 3:18) as you apprentice yourself under the Master teacher, Jesus.

            “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40, ESV)

Jesus is the only one who gives the call to become his disciple,

            And he said to them, “Follow me...” (Matt 4:19, ESV).

The Response.

As in Comer’s title of the book, he says the disciple’s “life was organized around three driving goals:

1.     To be with your rabbi

2.     To become like your rabbi

3.     To do as your rabbi did”[3]

Comer goes on to say,

“One way to paraphrase Jesus’ invitation to ‘follow me’ is to say, ‘Adopt my overall way of life to experience the life I have on offer.” It is “about a lifestyle that is conducive to life with God.”[4]

Discipleship and it’s resulting growth is only found in an active relationship between Christ and his disciples (that’s you!) – See John Chatper 15: it is about “being” and it is about “abiding.” Now do not get me wrong, there is a place for disciplines and distinctives for spiritual formation, but it all must have its foundation “rooted” in Christ resulting from a surrendered, yielded, dead to self, relationship in him (See Col 2:6; 2 Cor 5:15; Gal 2:20; Luke 9:23; 14:33). It is not about filling tasks and checking off the boxes of “doing discipleship study,” but of a sanctified walk of consecration and transformation (1 John 2:6; Gal 5:16, 17-25; 2 Pet 1:3-11). Comer adds, "...no matter how well you know your Bible, how many books you read, how many insights you amass, or how many practices you build into your Rule of Life, you’re not on track” (to being like Jesus if you do not first have that "abiding" relationship).[5] If disciples are not careful, their “Rule of Life” can become a legalistic (set of rules/do’s and don’ts) – an external change in the flesh without the necessary internal change only by the Holy Spirit.

Paul David Tripp, in helping married couples understand the grace in Christ that we as disciples should operate under, says,

"I had a principle-istic view of Scripture that caused me to bring a law economy into my marriage. The central focus of the Bible is not a set of practical-life principles. No, the central theme of the Bible is a person, Christ. If all you and I had needed was a knowledge and understanding of a certain set of God-revealed principles for living, Jesus would not have needed to come.”[6]

Oswald Chambers makes an excellent point for concluding this section, saying,

"The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself."[7]

Imitation.

Hopefully, you are getting it: First and foremost, being Christ’s disciple is about a relationship with Jesus. We are “new creations” (2 Cor 5:17), as being “his “workmanship” (Eph 2:10). Paul the apostle, being sent not only to the Jews, but having a major call to the Gentiles, says, I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some” (1 Cor 9:22). It wasn’t to make “mini-Paul’s” through discipleship, but his responsibility was to model an expected response from all disciples:

         “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1, ESV), and

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph 5:1-2, ESV).

Now, to bring this back around to where we began:

• To be a disciple of Christ is to be made in his image (Rom 28-30).

• Disciple-making is simply being in a transformational relationship with Christ as the Holy Spirit is making you daily more progressively sanctified in the image of Jesus (2 Cor 3:18; See also John Chapter 17).

• Yes, the Bible, biblical principles, and methods (spiritual disciplines and distinctives) do have their necessary place, but relationships are what Jesus instituted for disciples to develop within the local church/the Church (his body, Col 1:18) as spiritual kingdom citizens (See Eph 4:1-16); note here the relationships with all their intermingled involvement.

Call to Action.

Disciples are to imitate Christ.

Disciples imitate their leaders who imitate Christ.

These leaders can be anyone who are in a mentoring role regardless of whether they are pastor/elders, teachers, small group leaders, your Sunday school teacher, etc. (See Titus 2:1-15).

For a deeper study on this, see:

• 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

• Ephesians 4:11-12 (context, v. 11-16)

• Hebrews 13:7, 17

As for accountability, Disciples are to grow up in maturity with every disciple doing his and her part (above verses). This enables the "equippers" (leaders) to continue to do their part of equipping "others for ministry" (church members, i.e., "disciples"), giving them the time to work alongside others in a hand's-on relationship (those 20% of devoted disciples), without the grief, vexation, and nasty church politics. There will always be some "sideline" Christians (those 10%) who create drama to stir up this strife against their leaders while not taking active part themselves! They create the friction that keeps the rest of the "seated in indecision" disciples (70%) in the bondage of non-commital action to will wait and see who has the stronger will that wins out before they will take a side.

One could believe by the context that all we are to be responsible for is our little local church, since these verses speak of the necessary work that is done for equipping for ministry within each local church context. However, we must remember the bigger picture: Jesus has a kingdom call.... “Go” for me (Matthw 28:18-20) into all the world, to all people groups, and fulfill the Great Commission. This is the

• “Greater works” in geographic scope that Jesus spoke of as disciples enter into the mission field of the world around them and beyond (John 14:12).

• This gospel is to be taken out “until the end of the age” (Matt 28:20), and “then the end will come” (Matt 24:14), the glorious expectation of when Christ comes for his own (See Heb 9:26-28; Phil 3:20-21).

Where to go to find the extra help you need:

Comer, John Mark. Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become like Jesus, Do as he did. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook, 2024.

Please review the other blog entries and “tools” in the form of PDF downloads available on discipleshipwithjeffbennett.com.

*I quoted extensively from this book because of Comer’s impressive way of laying truth out there that is simple, biblical, and accurate. I highly recommend this become, not only part of your library, but taken to heart and acted on as a disciple who becomes a disciple-maker!

I will continue to add a variety of resources available for use for spiritual formation of disciples and their churches.

Every believer – a disciple of Christ!

[1] John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become like Jesus, Do as he did (Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook, 2024), 12.

[2] Comer, Practicing the Way, 13.

[3] Ibid., 9.

[4] Ibid., 25.

[5] Ibid., 77.

[6] Paul David Trip, Marriage: 6 Gospel Commitments Every Couple Needs to Make (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 69.

[7] Oswald Chambers, My Upmost for His Highest, Updated Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers, 1992), November 2.