Untited to Discipleship

Have you ever been to an event or at a function that seemed like it was completely rudderless? During these times there is a sense of what I like to call hopeful awkwardness.

What I mean by that is everyone seems to have an idea of why they are there...and they want to participate but they are hoping for someone else to step up and take the reins. I was in one of these events recently.

I showed up at an event that I had a part in recently where it became obvious that no one was really “leading” the event. There was a plan put together prior to the event. Everyone knew their part there was just a need for someone to implement the plan.

Everyone was hanging back looking at every person that walked up as a potential leader but no one was willing to lead until someone came up to me and asked are you leading this event since you have the first part?

Knowing that the event was really only minutes away and sensing the desire for some sort of leadership I accepted the invite to lead….in that moment everyone exhaled and listened to the order of service and no-one who attended knew the difference.

Not becuase I am such a great leader but becuase I was willing and everyone else was willing to let me lead.

Even when everyone knows the plan it still requires someone willing to lead and participants willing to let them lead to implement the plan.

Paul wants to unpack God’s Mysterious plan in this passage but instead he spends a lot of time convincing them that he himself is in fact the one God has called to initiate…

One of the realities of our current age is that everyone has an idea on the mission of God…but very few are willing to implement the plans God has unveiled and even fewer are willing to follow the one God has called.

Maybe this is for good reason…I know that some high profile Church leaders have failed in tremendous ways and this makes it hard to trust anyone when they claim a position of spiritual leadership.

Yet the words of scripture point out time and time again that God still uses called people to teach those things that seem mysterious to us.

Discipleship is the result of allowing God to lead us through people that have something different to say to us. This leads us to fulling God’s mission for the world…instead of reassuring us that we already know all there is to know.

Ephesians 3:1-10 NLT

1 When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles …

First Paul reminds them that he is in prison for Jesus…He is committed

2 assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles.

Paul was called by God and given the responsibility to initiate God’s plan among the Gentiles he was speaking with.

3 As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. 4 As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. 5 God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.

6 And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. 7 By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.

Paul had already outlined the plan and pointed out that God had not revealed it to anyone until now…God by the Spirit has revealed this plan that the Kingdom of God is for both Gentiles and Jews equally to the Apostles and Prophets of which Paul is one.

Paul’s desire here is pure. Paul does not want to lead to subjugate people or to elevate himself…it is to lead and explain to the Ephesians God’s wonderful plan of salvation to the world.

8 Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.

9 I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. 10 God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Paul was walking a fine line of humility and leadership here. Paul knew that he was called by God and he knew what he was called by God to do. It was vital that the Ephesians accept Pauls leadership.

Why? Becuase

God had revealed things to Paul and the other Apostles and Prophets that God had not reveal to the Ephesians as a whole.

God still Chooses humble spiritual leaders to initiate and explain the mission God has for this world through the Church of Jesus Christ.

This is important…I think we have confused spiritual leadership with worldly leadership in this regard. Many times we look for Big Charismatic and dynamic personalities to lead our Churches...

If they have a loud voice and good stories and can read a P and L sheet we see them as leaders…but if these attributes are not mixed in with humility we have the potential for ego to take the place of the Holy Spirit when we are being led.

They begin to believe they are the only one allowed to have a say and they are the only one who truly knows what God wants…so they dominate meetings and fain interest in what others say knowing they are going to do their own thing.

Whenever someone sets themselves up as this kind of leader we have a word for that…Fascist …Paul is not setting himself up as this kind of leader and we should be wary of anyone that is not humble in their calling as a spiritual leader.

Paul did not set himself up as The Apostle, or The Prophet, but an apostle...one of several that God had unveiled this mystery.

Paul was not suggesting that he was the only leader in fact he wanted to impart What God had revealed to him so the Church itself could begin to live into the wonderful news that Jesus died for both Jew and gentile…

When a community of faith grants authority to spiritual leaders it allows the Church to function together in order display God’s wisdom to the rest of the world. It also shines light on the way each individual member or attender of a Church/Community of faith are called to lead.

Every Church as people called to leas as an Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, or Teacher…in a couple of weeks we are going to focus on these roles from Chapter four

You and I need to be more dependent on each other not less in order to progress in our faith.

It is in our submission to God and those God has called to lead that we learn how we are supposed to engage the world through the Church.

Discipleship is Living life together, learning from each other, and mentoring seekers.

When we engage in discipling and being discipled we find out what role we are called to fill in a local community or in the Church universal…and we are able to let others whom God has given a role to lead us.

If a group of believers engage in true discipleship becomes they will lead the world to a greater trust of God and the Church…

Think about being part of a community of believers that flip the script of pop Christianity by becoming a missional community instead of a consumeristic community.

PRACTICE: So this week try to submit to people that are called to something different from you…learn from them so that you can in turn teach someone else.

Communion Liturgy