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For you can have 10,000 instructors in Christ, but you can't have many fathers. Now I have fathered you in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me. This is why I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church. - 1 Corinthians 4:15-17 HCSB

The Master gave us in the Great Commission not only a raison d'être but the requisite method. “Go,” He said, “and make disciples…baptizing them…teaching them to observe everything I have commanded.”[1]

Paul exemplified this system. He went out and led people to Christ but went much, much further than the average Christian evangelist. He urged them to imitate his righteous behavior and then worked out a way for them to continue in this process even when he could not be there personally. He sent another young disciple, Timothy, who would faithfully reproduce Christ in these young Corinthian believers.[2]

Today’s evangelical approach is that the “decision” is all there is. It’s as if Christians think that being “saved” is enough. It is not. If you are satisfied with just barely sliding into heaven without wanting to totally dedicate yourself to the imitation of Christ, then, my friend, you need to carefully check your salvation. “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless you fail the test.”[3]

This type of scrutiny should not only be practiced on ourselves but on those we lead to the Lord in discipleship. “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”[4] Our problem is that in our twisted desire to get as many people notched on our belt as possible, we have neglected to note that our Master does not seek converts, but disciples.

Part of the problem is this uniquely goyish fascination with competition and numbers. The other problem is our inherent yetzer hara (sin nature). If we say, as Paul did, “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ”[5], then we must dedicate ourselves to a daily attempt at godliness and holiness. This is difficult and we often fail.[6] It is horrifyingly humbling to have to confess our sins to one another when we fail.[7] The standards that we set for ourselves must be higher than what the world would claim would be our “rights”.[8] The vast majority of us are simply too spiritually lazy to make the effort.

We must teach by being. To do otherwise would be to exhibit our belief in “cheap grace”. We need to count the cost of discipleship and decide once and for all whether to follow the One Who has the words of life or the siren call of a lesser way.

[1] Matthew 28:19-20

[2] Compare that to Philippians 3:17;

[3] 2 Corinthians 13:5

[4] 1 John 4:1

[5] 1 Corinthians 11:1 cp Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:6

[6] 1 John 1:8

[7] James 5:16

[8] 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9

"'Christ in You...'" from Dale Krebbs

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