In
Matthew 9:37-38, Jesus in a highly memorable moment for all future
Christians, said: “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest
truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his
harvest.” From these verses we can see that from the very beginning
of Jesus' ministry the problem has not so much been with people ready to
receive the gospel, but has been with finding laborers for the
long-term work. To any missionary on the field the goal should be to help raise up mature Christians who are able to depend on God rather than us. How
then can we find laborers? The answer to this question I am still
learning here in the Japanese setting as I have been closely vested
in a few men, however there are broad principles that can be applied
anywhere. Namely, as given in the classic book MasterPlan of Evangelism, three important attributes are needed for a good disciple:
faithfulness,
availability,
and teach-ability.
Clearly, after someone has become a born-again Christian through
whatever way we reach them we want to try to help them along in their
walk by investing in them as opposed to just letting them go free to
fend for themselves. ( Unfortunately, not everyone wants to be
invested into, nor will they want to learn more. ) Even Jesus was
very careful about who he spent most of his time. So with a
discerning eye, He carefully spent His time on a select few to really
disciple in the short period of time that he would be on earth. As a
missionary we do not know how long we will be allowed into a country
or how long we will be alive, so it is equally important to invest
carefully into lives. What was a dividing attribute that these men had? One was
certainly Faithfulness. Later in 1 Corinthians 4:2 Paul clearly
states, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found
faithful.” In any ministry setting we do not want to just choose
any random person to invest our time in, but we must be careful to
seek God's leading on the matter. If a person demonstrates
faithfulness in their daily life, chances are they will be faithful with
the things of God that they learn. However, faithfulness is not the
only needed element for a good disciple.
One
of the challenges in the modern world is that of availability. In
this fast-paced world with everything vying for our time from the
technology world, to the entertainment world, to the work world -- modern man has to carefully prioritize his life. Unfortunately, few
even prioritize their spiritual growth as anything of significance in
their lives. Here in Japan life is prioritized with everything
revolving around work. With the expectation of late hours being the
norm it is not uncommon for people to come home after ten at night
each night! This really makes availability to do the things of God
increasingly difficult for the average person. Yet, if a man is
faithful He will find a way to trust God and make the time to invest
in spiritual growth. Throughout the scriptures men of God from
Abraham to Moses to Isaiah (here I am Lord) and beyond have made
themselves available to God's leading. Therefore, availability is
crucial. Availability and faithfulness are key components in a
disciple, however without teach-ability they become meaningless.
Think
about the type of men that Christ chose to disciple: every day men
without high pedigree. These men may have been difficult at times to
teach, but they were teachable nonetheless. They were willing to
learn from their mistakes and take correction from the master. Peter
was even called Satan, yet he continued on! Teach-ability is
therefore important, for without it the first two components are
useless. Jesus with his inner three disciples, twelve total close
disciples, and 70 other disciples essentially transformed the world
by entrusting his time with a few trustworthy men. This was certainly
the opposite of the church growth models today for it was built on
time and faith rather than statistics and popular understanding.
Fortunately, here in Japan by nature of the culture the people place
teachers in high regard and in general tend to be highly dedicated
though they be few in number as Christians. A slow steady work with
few, while planting many seeds to many seems to be the order of the
day!
I
will never forget reading a missionary story about a missionary to
Vietnam during the Vietnam war period. He learned an important lesson in his
ministry about where to invest his time in. Vietnam was a difficult
field, so he was only able to lead a few people to the Lord and
closely disciple one man. He thought that he needed to have a large
building to attract people in the city to hear about the gospel, so
he set about his energies establishing a building. He finally
established the building, only to have to later flee the country as
the Communists took over in 1975. He later found out that the
Communists took over the building and used it as a propaganda center
for the community! He had spent all of that energy, only to have it
be used by an enemy of God. However, what he did not account for was
his one disciple. The man that he had discipled became a pastor,
moved to a rural area of Vietnam, and ended up establishing many
village churches which led many to the Lord! This is a good lesson
for all of us to learn: where are we placing our priorities? On the
things of the earth or on the things of God? Are we sharing what God has given us or hiding it?
