This guest post is from Spence Shelton, one of the pastors at the Summit—and soon to be one of our newest church planters in Charlotte, NC! (Read more about that here.) Sending out dear friends like Spence is always a bittersweet experience for us, testing whether we really believe it’s better for the kingdom to send out our best. But while we will be sad to no longer have him around, we are excited to see what God will do through him as he takes the gospel to a pivotal and largely unreached city.
Most of us are familiar with the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples,” Jesus says, “and remember that I’ll be with you the whole time.” It’s pretty clear that God intends to bring all peoples to himself through us, his church. And we are promised that the presence of God will go with us as we obey that command to make disciples. That’s an incredible truth.
But here’s my question: why don’t we do it?
If we really believe God has called us to this task, if we believe he is with us, if we believe he wants to use us for his mission, then why aren’t we making disciples?
I’m not implying that none of us are making disciples. Some of you reading this could probably teach me a lot about disciple-making. But we need to be honest with ourselves: leading people to Christ, teaching them to follow Jesus, and equipping them to lead others…this isn’t the average experience of most Christians I know.
So what keeps us from making disciples? Here are two big obstacles:
1. Unrepentant Sin
A disciple is one who is intimately dependent on God. What makes sin so serious is that it drives a wedge between God and us. If we don’t deal with sin, it can wrap itself so tightly around our heart that it becomes easy to ignore the voice of God. So when God calls us to make disciples, our response is, “I’m not too interested in that. No thanks.”
When we willfully disobey God’s command to make disciples and don’t feel convicted about it, we’re in a dangerous spot. If we treat the commands of Christ like suggestions, we aren’t acting in our own power. We’re being deceived and ruled by sin.
The answer isn’t simply to stop sinning. (Good luck!) We’re all sinners, and will continue to be until the day we meet Jesus. What matters here is the heart, whether we’re pursuing Christ or ignoring him. If we aren’t concerned with knowing Christ better, how can we expect to “make” others who are?
The good news is that God is eager to forgive the most rebellious heart. Our first step in making disciples likely begins on our knees in confession to God.
2. Fear
Most people don’t fear tedious and unimportant tasks. So on a certain level, having some fear reveals that we think the entire “making disciples” process is significant. It also reveals that we don’t think we’re up to the task. Both of those are reasonable beliefs. But our fear also reveals a false belief—that God isn’t going to provide for us.
Like everyone else, I certainly don’t want to fail. That’s why it took my wife and me so long to go public with the idea of planting a church. Deep down, I was afraid it was going to flop! What will I do, I thought, once I relocate my family, leave all of the security of my current position, see zero people get saved, have an entire community make fun of me, and then have to live under a bridge with stray dogs as my only friends? (I have an active imagination.)
Then I remembered what Jesus told his disciples: “I will be with you.” If Christ didn’t abandon me when he hung on the cross, he won’t abandon me as I go to make disciples. Christ’s presence provides an antidote for fear that nothing else can. Even if everything blows up in my face, he’s enough for me. Any “success” I see is gravy, because I’ve got an intimacy with the only one whose opinion really matters.
But something else about the gospel drives out fear, too. Christ’s presence with me reminds me of what God has done in me. The biggest miracle I’ve ever seen stares me in the face every morning. I was hopeless, beyond any possibility of salvation. But God is so big that he saved me anyway. The most effective disciple makers are the ones who never forget the absurdity of their own salvation.
As a church, we have an impossible task powered by a God with whom nothing is impossible.
So will you join me in dreaming big things for the sake of the gospel? For your family, your small group, your church, your city? God may surprise some of you as you step out in faith. You’ll find that God is still saving people, and he can even use us to do it.
