Day 29 - What Comes Next?

“‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.’” - Luke 14:21b-23

As we evaluate our readiness to share the gospel, our obedience to His lead will frequently take us to inconvenient and uncomfortable places as we encounter people who may not look, live, or act like us. Are we prepared to love like Him when we find ourselves embracing the addict, kneeling in the dirt with the homeless, opening our home to the foster child, or praying with the contagiously ill in their hospital beds?

Jesus’ command isn’t culminated by merely getting people to attend a weekly church service. The Great Commission isn’t achieved by conversion, it is fulfilled when disciples are made.

For far too long, we’ve tried to separate evangelism from discipleship for the sake of convenience, siloing our essential responsibilities as the Body of Christ so that it’s easier to control and replicate. Sadly, many have been victims of these “hit and run” evangelism efforts where the gospel is presented to them without any follow up by the person who led them to Christ.

Discipleship was modeled by Christ, as “Come follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19). Read the Gospels, all four of them. Watch Jesus’ way of raising disciples: He lived, ate, traveled, and ministered alongside them. With Him as our example, we can only use Jesus as a reference point for what our fulfillment of the Great Commission should look like. The kind of discipleship modeled through Jesus’ life is virtually absent in much of our modern day church culture. Just like repeating a prayer doesn’t ensure sincerity, discipleship isn’t fulfilled by merely joining a class.

So, are we ready? We are about to be inconvenienced in two ways- in where we go and in how we live. Where we go may be momentarily uncomfortable, but how we live out making disciples will be a long term detriment to our flesh; in fact, it must become a new way of life. This looks like:

- Getting coffee with the person you prayed with during street evangelism to talk further about Jesus

- Investing time into the new believer who was led to Christ at their doorstep, walking through the Word with them regularly

- Not just inviting someone to church but calling them throughout the week to pray for their continued needs

- Bringing new believers with you on your outreaches

- Opening your dinner table up to fellowship with those you are discipling

The Great Commission isn’t a short term thing. It’s our whole lives surrendered to the will of Another.

Challenge: Are we ready? Let’s be intentional to allow the Lord to reduce the everyday distance between what we say we believe and how we actually live our lives.