We began a seasonal series last Sunday morning on the subject of life to life, not limited to (or disconnected from) our small group ministry, but especially concerning the purpose of our ministry: to present every man complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28). As we labor toward that end, we must get to know Christ better and get to know one another better. We are growing in Christ’s life and at least part of the plan involves life with life for sake of forming Christ’s life in all of us. If we rephrased Ephesians 4:16, “when each life is working properly, [it] makes the body life grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Today we’re going to consider where that mindset comes from and a general strategy for developing the life of Christ among us. This is the work of shepherding, it is the work of disciple-making.

It’s Not Business, It’s Personal

When Jesus commanded His disciples to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), what shape do you think that disciple-making project took in the disciples’ minds? It most certainly is NOT what we’re doing in the 21st century church, though, that’s not entirely a bad thing.

For obvious historical and technological reasons, the 1st century disciples could not have imagined the world-wide-web that enables almost instantaneous and global transmission of the gospel. Church web sites, Christian blogs and tweets, free sermon mp3 downloads and podcasts to carry in one’s pocket, live-cast conference videos and DVD sets, any one of those things would have blown their minds. The book wasn’t even printed for another 1500 years after the apostles, and radio broadcasts were another 400 years after that. While Israelite men travelled to Jerusalem every year for the Passover conference, making disciples could not have involved flying in prominent pastors or flying to hear said speakers gathered for national Bible-centered conferences.

The disciples could not have imagined 2000 years worth of accumulated commentaries and devotional helps that fill the library shelves of laymen, let alone seminary trained book nerds. No doubt they would covet (an allowable Christian practice) our ability to travel with relative ease to all nations, to communicate so broadly and so quickly, even while we’re sleeping, and to learn about Christ with a completed canon, let alone to stand on generations of study-ers and writers, and hear sermons in our comfortable corporate gathering spots for Lord’s day services.

They would say we have it good for making disciples. I think they would also say we’re not doing very good/well at making disciples. The primary reason is because: making disciples is personal.

The Great Commission

Think about the personal implications of the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Going in Person. “Go” or “going” is different than writing or calling or publishing. The “feet of those who preach the good news” are beautiful (Romans 10:15) because the the feet go along with mouth that belong to the person that brings the gospel.

The Practice of μαθητεύω. The disciples would have thought about making disciples as they thought about being disciples. A disciple was “one who was constantly associated with someone who had a particular set of views” (μαθητής, BAGD). A disciple listened to the master or teacher and learned from him because he was there with him. They had been following a Person for three years when He gave them this assignment.

The Ordinance of Baptism. Forget for a moment what baptism pictures (identifying with the Person of Christ and with the persons of His Body), just consider the act itself. A book can’t baptize anybody, a pulpit or sermon CD can’t either. It takes at least two persons: one to dunk and the other to be dunked. There are no remote or online baptisms, nor is it part of a person’s quiet time.

Teaching to Obey. In the discipleship process, the object of teaching is only learning to the degree that the learning leads to living. In knowledge terms, the demons know theology more accurately than we do and they haven’t read Calvin’s Institutes. A podcast may describe, in a general way, what you should do, but it cannot demonstrate for you what obedience looks like in the wild. A website cannot watch to see if you obeyed, or provide suggestions for next time, or confront you on disobedience.

The disciples learned what discipleship looked like from their Discipler. When Jesus “called to Him those whom He desired…He appointed twelve so that they might be with Him and he might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:13-14). He appointed them to hang out with Himself. Yes, He taught and ministered to the masses. But by far, most of His time and attention was personally invested in 12 ordinary men.

Paul’s Ministry

The apostle Paul, author of the majority of the New Testament, also understood and practiced teaching “in public and from house to house” (Acts 20:20).

Acts 20:17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Paul was committed to “the gospel of the grace of God” (v.24). He “did not shrink from declaring…the whole counsel of God” (v.27). He commended the Ephesians “to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build…up and give…an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (v.32). He loved him some truth. He loved him the Bible; he was writing (some of) it!

So, why bother going to be with them? Why bother living “among” them (v.18)? Why live with them so long, for three years (v.31)? Why work “night and day” (v.31)? Why was he crying over them (v.31)? Because, while it is important to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2), and while God may make large group preaching effective, making disciples is personal. How would Paul know if his declaration was “profitable” (v.20)? Why was teaching “house to house” necessary? Because each house had individual needs, whether they knew that they needed (let alone wanted) help or not.

Air War and Ground War

Spurgeon once wrote that “Illustrations, like windows, let light into the chambers of the mind.” That is very true. Windows are also easier to throw bricks through, so I’m aware that this illustration will break at certain pressure points.

Perhaps the best analogy I’ve heard for distinguishing between public and personal elements of making disciples, while also recognizing the benefits of both, is to think about it in terms of the air war and the ground war. [Note: I first heard the illustration from Mark Driscoll. He’s talked about it a few times but, as far as I could research, it’s only published in his book, Vintage Church (see the actual pages at Google Books or read this blog post by another pastor at Mars Hill). I don’t like everything Driscoll says or does, but this analogy is perfect.] From Acts 20:20, ministry that is public and from house to house.

The air war, or air campaign, illustrates large scale efforts, both with remote launching of explosives and blanket distributing of provisions. Corporate services, books, and websites can cover a lot of people. Preachers fire gospel missiles from the pulpit that target sin. They also drop spiritual food and medication for hurting souls. As I said earlier, our air war arsenal is far more abundant than the disciples could ask or imagine.

But the air war, by definition, can only be so effective; it can only get so close.

The ground war or ground campaign represents more small scale, careful and incisive movement. Again, this includes both close-range gospel offense and personal gospel care. A sermon might demolish one house of sin and leave the neighbor’s house standing. A door-to-door deployment is harder to avoid, and a face-to-face question is a harder bullet to dodge. You can, but it’s more difficult at close range. Likewise, having a first-aid kit is great, unless you can’t get to it or don’t know what to do with it. Troops on the ground carry out disciple-making objectives in close quarters. An air war could not establish government or better living conditions. It can destroy and it can supply, but it isn’t capable of thorough penetration or building.

Which one is better?

For sake of making disciples, is the air campaign or the ground campaign more important? We shouldn’t need to ask the question. If both were available and coordinated toward the same objective, would we really ask which is better? Why choose one if you can have both? Do you want cake or ice cream? Yes!

The two approaches compliment each other. This isn’t a competition; we’re on the same side (or at least we should be). There’s certainly room for, and benefits of, both. Can you imagine why a pilot would be threatened by a foot soldier wearing the same colors, or visa versa?

The two should work together, each appreciating the benefits the other provides. I’m more confident when I’m on the ground knowing that I’ve got air support. When I’m in the air I’m more hopeful knowing that someone is following-up (cleaning up) on the ground.

Which is harder?

I think the air war is more expensive; it takes more equipment to get it off the ground. It is also more visible. That’s the public, large-scale nature of it.

But the ground war is much harder, much slower, more time and energy consuming, and not always easy to measure. It requires less equipment but many more troops. Working with a difficult person is harder than working with a difficult text. One keeps moving, the other doesn’t.

Advancing the word on the ground isn’t just bold exhortations from a distance, it’s looking someone in the eye, and still imploring them to be reconciled to God. It isn’t just plopping a pallet full of bandages in their front yard, it’s going inside, seeing their wounds, and wrapping the bandage.

If I had to choose, I would rather encourage more face-to-face than air to land. I would be sad if the Internet crashed forever or if the government outlawed large group meetings. My soul benefits from reading and downloading, and it’s a privileged part of my calling to address groups of people. But even though my disciple-making takes advantages of air war tactics, it isn’t defined by the air war. Most discipleship isn’t.

Maybe it would be helpful to distinguish discipleship from discipleship proper, just as we distinguish between theology and theology proper. Theology involves the study of things related to God; theology proper involves the nature of God Himself. So, discipleship is any activity that helps people follow Christ, and discipleship proper is one person helping another person follow Christ.

I have never heard a message on personal discipleship at any Shepherds’ Conference. I’ve never found a book on personal discipleship by any of my theological heroes: Augustine, Tyndale, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Spurgeon, MacArthur, or Piper. Actually, there are precious few resources on the process period. You can find books on leadership, books on church, books on missions, but not many on making disciples proper.

Churches with world-class air campaigns often fail miserably on the ground. I think our camp of evangelicalism has been sending most of our funding and training efforts to the air force. That has had an unfortunate consequence of making others think that the truly spiritual are the Bible teachers. Though our books don’t define disciple-making as such, we have very few examples of bayonet fighters (like General Chamberlain) and first-responders.

Conclusion

We are in a worship war. We are called to fight against all false and lukewarm worship. We are in a righteousness battle, calling men everywhere to submit to the reign of the Lord until they obey in Him all things as His disciples. We are up against false gods, wrong thinking, weak affections, and unfaithfulness. We must bring the gospel that powerfully wrecks sinners and powerfully restores the wounded.

We’ve raised the issue of personal discipleship by briefly considering what the apostles would have thought about the Great Commission, Paul’s ministry in public and from house to house, as well as a (pragmatic) analogy for the sake of raising our appreciation for ground work. To reach “every man,” to shepherd case by case, we’ve got to equip and divide the labor. As a practical note, that’s why we’ve added a leaders’ meeting each month and part of the reason why each elder has committed to a particular group for a year.

In other words, a little leaven, leavens the whole loaf…if you knead it in. Just sprinkling some on top from far above will make a lopsided loaf.