Elders 3

I hope I am closing this topic by sharing what I believe is the solution to the whole thing.

And I will start by asking a simple question.

Why do some people fall in situations others glide through or become powerful witnesses?

Foundations.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7: 24 – 27)

I will introduce another dynamic to the elder, discipleship, and later, mentorship.

A discipled person will not need an elder to stand or continue being focused on Christ because their foundation is firm.

A year of proper discipleship is better than fifty years of lessons and programs.

Jesus spent three years with His disciples and they were able to turn the world upside down amidst the pressures and resistance of the Roman empire, among many other opponents.

I love discipleship and can write tons about it, especially because it is what makes me who I am. I am also sure I have written a lot about it in my many messages. I have even published discipleship books that are being used all over.

But for now, I will say in the simplest way what discipleship is to someone who has never encountered it.

Discipleship is what happens when a mature believer takes a younger (in faith) believer under his wing and allows them into his life as they grow through a study of the scriptures.

In this way, the faith of the discipler is gradually transferred to the disciple.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

You might also remember during Christ’s trial that the characters around Peter identified him with Jesus from the way he talked.

Allow me to summarize discipleship by distilling it into the lowest common denominator.

Discipleship is the process that transforms a believer into a minister totally and completely controlled by the word and revelation of God.

Look at this common verse.

And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, (Mark 3:14)

You realise that Jesus did not get His disciples into training programs or discipleship classes. He did not open a university or theological college.

He simply called them to Himself to walk with Him as He fulfilled His Father’s agenda.

It is as they interacted with Him that the passion for His assignment rubbed off them to the point that the source of Peter’s speech could be traced to Jesus however vehemently he denied it.

His time with Christ was so complete that no pressure could dislodge Christ’s nature from him. He could not disengage from that interaction even when he wanted the most to do so.

That for me is what discipleship is in a nutshell.

A person who has grown through this method is able to withstand the pressure of the whole world and still smell Christ, especially at his most crushed.

This is because he catches his faith from someone with a deeper one through a close and intimate relationship. And by intimate I do not mean what the world may imply. I simply mean that nthe disciple and discipler become so close that the mannerisms and gestures of the discipler catches on the disciple since they are together through many phases of their lives.

The closest thing to it is apprenticeship where an apprentice will catch on the skills (and incidentally, the ‘spirit’) of his master.

That is why many pastors are scared of discipleship. Because they are scared of reproducing themselves, since that is what discipleship does.

A questionable character will reproduce what he is. A dishonest character will reproduce that. An honest character will also reproduce honesty.

Discipleship therefore goes beyond that Bible Study to sharing life together with the disciple.

Though it is difficult to spend 24/7 time with our disciples like Jesus did, it is important to realise that the more time we spend with them doing the things we do will be proportional to how much of us they will be infected with.

They will not be able to catch our passion for evangelism if we do not allow them to join in our evangelism. They will not catch our determination to live according to the word if we do not allow them to see us in our vulnerabilities. They will not be able to pick our attachment to the scriptures if we do not allow them to see us preaching and debating with our critics and opponents.

At best, a class can produce a teacher who can regurgitate everything he has been taught.

Only iron rubbing on iron can produce a disciple.

It is not surprising that in the first church believers were called disciples. It is also not surprising what the diet of those first believers was.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2: 42 – 47)

Allow me to highlight the basics for the purposes of this post in our generation. And not because the rest are not important.

First, they grew through the scriptures

Second, they were doing the same in fellowship, meaning they were growing together

Third, they were eating together, and not the small wafer we call communion.

Fourth, they were growing together in prayers. This means they were uniting in raising their needs to God and of course receiving the answers for the same.

That is what led to the results we can see in the following verses because nobody was left out in that growth.

That is what should be happening in a discipleship process.

A person who has grown through that process does not need any supervision in serving or standing for God.

This is the elder the Bible is talking about; a person who grew through the discipleship process, served God faithfully and finally retired to serve God as an elder.

Any other elder is just an old man because he does not have the stamina required for the heavy-duty task of offering oversight to the church of Christ.

That is because among the key responsibilities of the elder is correcting and even rebuking spiritual leadership and it is impossible to rebuke a leadership you do not even understand, let alone can empathize with. And that leadership must have enough respect for you and sour spiritual status to be able to comfortably and easily listen to you.

I do not mean we cannot have elders who were not in ministry.

What I mean is that for the most part the leadership will not have any problems dealing with their flock. They can comfortably and authoritatively rebuke and correct them without much fuss.

But they are also human and can and do also fall. And as I have explained in an earlier post their ego is on another level.

It is therefore not just any old man who can handle that ego.

The believer can do with that other elder. But the minister (pastor, evangelist, bishop, etc.) will not listen to that elder. They can only listen to someone who is in their eyes worthy of their respect.

Only an elder of John’s stature can deal with the spiritual leader like Diotrephes.

I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. (3John 9, 10)

Allow me to stop here so that in the next post I will deal with mentorship.