Making Disciples – Model Behavior
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Heb 13:7
“Show me how.” How many times over your life have you said those words? I’ve said them plenty. Someone can tell me how to do something over and over, but for me to really learn properly, they’ll just have to show me. Baiting a hook. Making a bed. Using woodshop tools. Cleaning a rifle. I learned those and a thousand other things by watching someone else do them first.
It’s no different when we’re talking about discipleship: we can learn only so much from a teacher telling us information. At some point, they will need to show us. That’s how Jesus taught His disciples. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He not only instructed them about prayer, but also said a model prayer for them (Luke 11:1-13). When Jesus was teaching the disciples about servanthood, He washed their feet and also instructed them in regards to serving one another (John 13:12-15). Before Jesus sent out the apostles to preach that the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Matt 10:7), they had plenty of opportunity to hear Him preach the same thing (Mark 1:15). Jesus cast out evil spirits (Mark 1:23-26), setting the example before He sent out the 72 disciples who also cast out demons (Luke 10:17).
More importantly, Jesus modeled what we might call the Christian life. He humbled Himself (Phil 2:8), prayed often (Luke 5:16), studied Scripture (Luke 2:46-47), fed the hungry (Matt 14:13-21), and so forth. As the disciples spent time with Him, they learned not just from His verbal teaching, but maybe more so from His model behavior.
What would that look like today? The exact methods are almost endless, but it would include a disciple (or team of disciples) watching their teacher(s) in action. Consider this scenario. A church delivers meals to a low-income housing area. Three-person teams take a meal to each home and not only deliver the meal, but offer to pray for each family. On the team is one person who is experienced in the ministry and two who aren’t. The two learn—by watching their leader—how to express kindness and compassion, as well as how to pray appropriately. Christ-like behavior is modeled.
I could go on with example after example, but you get the point. Whether it’s practicing a spiritual discipline, learning apologetics, studying different forms of evangelism, or a dozen other topics of discipleship, we need experienced teachers to model the behavior. It’s something we just can’t get from reading a book, listening to a lecture, or relying on our own understanding.
And how do we progress in discipleship when someone has instructed us and modeled a Christian behavior for us? We apprentice under a teacher, which is the subject of my next article.