Discipleship: A common word that might not be so common
Key Verse
“…there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord…” (Judges 2:10-13)
The importance of discipleship is emphasized in the key verse. Discipleship is a very common word in church and other various Christian circles. But I would like to point out that Discipleship might not be very common at all.
In our study of the book of Acts, Pastor mentioned a word that has different implications when used in certain contexts. That word is the Greek word, Koinos, which is the Greek word for common. In Acts 2:44 and in Acts 4:32, the word is used to imply that the early Church considered themselves as one big family.
“By the power of this Spirit, therefore, we behold the first Christians not only in a state of active fellowship, but also internally changed: the narrow views of the natural man are broken through; they have their possessions in common, and they regard themselves as one family” (Commentary: Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
The word is also used in Acts 10:14, 28. In this context, it is used to describe something that is common/worldly/unclean.
So, how can a word be used to imply “family” and “worldly/unclean” at the same time? The Greek word Koinos is basically defined as general use. It is understood that anything in my house can be used by my family without special permission, or a special event. Likewise, common/popular programming on cable and the common/popular night life activities in Pittsburgh is probably not something that I would automatically engage in. The most popular night life activity is to go drinking, during happy hour on Fridays. This would definitely be an activity that I would label as “unclean.”
Let’s take a look at how this topic on Koinos, relates to discipleship. I always relate discipleship to mentoring someone. Mentoring is a fantastic picture of not just teaching, but dedicating a lot of One-On-One time with someone. In order to get the buy-in (by “buy-in”, I mean someone trusts what you are saying is truth) I think we need to touch people’s hearts by giving them access to everything that we have. Once people feel that we just do not want you to be a part of our faith, but to be a part of our family too, I think people will open up their hearts to us, and let us touch their hearts by the awesome, supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
I would argue that being an authentic Christian is the product of Koinos. Once we give sacrificially everything that we are and everything that we have in the name of Christ Jesus, people will start believing that what lifestyle they see is truly authentic and not some cheap imitation.
The last point I want to make is that we should Koinos with people who might have lifestyles that we would label as unclean. Everyone wants to evangelize the very nice neighbor with well behave kids, someone who we really can relate to, even though they are not Christian. I think God wants to lead us to people who are so “unclean” that they are even rejected by society. What you will find out that these types of people are the ones whose hearts are wide open to accept Jesus Christ.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matt. 9:10-13)
TJ Bloom on March 29th, 2009
Thankful for our new Faith Family here at the Ridge and what a challenge to allow God to use our lives to reach the “unclean” …