True Discipleship

Recently, I spent the weekend sleeping in the back of a suburban at lake livingston state park and on a deflated "air" mattress on the floor of a friends house.  I was given the opportunity to speak about discipleship and that my sleeping arrangements were the price of admission for me.  I am encouraged from my time seeking the Lord and His word about what is the essence of discipleship, because it has helped me come away with more clear answers than I started with.  In the same way the rain washed away our campsites, "glad I was in the back of the suburban", the complexity of discipleship was swept away.  Notice I didn't say difficulty, I said complexity.

I was challenged to define the essentials of discipleship.  What would you say are the essential elements of discipleship.  These were what I thought would be effective goals for all discipleship relationships:

• Learn how to walk in intimacy with Christ in the everyday part of life.
• Learn to love and appreciate the goodness and beauty of God
• Grow in humility and dependance as a sinful man before a holy and gracious God.

It was also very interesting some of the reasons we don't disciple others that were shared as feedback from the group.  Here are some of the responses:

• I have too much pridefulness to help others grow in humility.
• I am not consistent enough in my walk to help someone else.
• I don't know who I should disciple.
• I don't know where to begin or how to get started.

In all of the responses, it was interesting to see the more we looked to ourselves the more it moved us away from discipling others.  It was restated as the more that I struggle with pridefulness the less that pridefulness allows me to help others grow in humility.  In all of this it became clear that Christ desires to shine through our struggles and failures in real and transparent ways.  That the one discipling others would grow in humility the greatest amount.  For it would be humbling to have to share sinful failures with someone whom we were discipling.  It is a different thought that discipleship was intended to help the discipler to grow in humility as much as the one whom they were discipling. 

I am reminded of 1John 1:9     If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.