So one of the things that I walked away from the Ecclesia Church Planter weekend was rethinking discipleship. One of the things that was said several times during the conference was “if you focus on planting a church you may or may not get disciples. But if you focus on making disciples you will always get the church.”
The two main questions that were brought up time and time again in regards to what it means a disciple boiled down to “What is God telling you? What are you going to do about it?”
Church planting and discerning God’s will sound like something we sit back and let experts or professional Christians or those who are “really serious” about their faith do that. However, what we talked about this weekend was a tool so simple that anyone who can draw a circle can also disciple someone. No special degree needed.
So the first step is to simply draw a circle. At the top of that circle go ahead and put an X. Next to that X go ahead and write Mark 1:14-15 which reads ” 14After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15″The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
4 Words are important for working with this circle.
Time/Kingdom/Repent/Believe
There are two words for our word time in the Greek. The first is “chronos” which deals with sequential time. Whenever you peer down at your watch while someone is droning on or you are checking the date when signing a check you are observing “chronos” time. This, however, is not the word that is used here. The Greek word used in “kairos“. This is a word used for the moments that take your breath away whether good or bad. These are the moments where it seems like someone has hit the pause button. Maybe a promotion or loss of job. Maybe a moment of success or failure. It could be a recent conversation or revelation about yourself or someone else. These are moments drenched with meaning.
Jesus arrival was not just a sequential moment (chronos) in time but his arrival was drenched with significance (kairos).
Why?
The kingdom has arrived.
The kingdom is an eschatological reality. It is God’s future promised to his people. A future without pain, sickness, suffering, sin, sorrow or satan. There is no shortage of abundance with the kingdom. And Jesus declares that in some way that the kingdom, God’s future, is here. It is close enough that we can reach out into God’s inrushing future and experience it on earth.
That’s a kairos moment. The kingdom is here and now I have to choose what to respond to it. A promotion or job loss is big. A success or failure is big. But the kingdom of God arriving and within reach is the ultimate kairos moment.
So how does one respond to the Kairos moments in our lives. Well, Jesus says to repent and believe.
Repent and Believe
These words have some baggage to them. However, to repent means not just having a good cry but a call to turning around and a call to shift your allegiance. The kingdom is a message of grace that says we can come home again but it is also a message that says that all of your priorities have shifted from yourself to the kingdom.
Belief isn’t just about believing in your heart of hearts that someone exists. In the ancient world you wouldn’t say I believe that Caesar is Lord in the sense that I know that in my heart of hearts that he exists. No, to say Caesar is Lord demands that you respond by bowing the knee, offering allegiance, paying taxes. Belief is very real. To say that you have belief in Jesus isn’t just to believe certain propositional truths but to let your whole overflow of life be a response to the new inner reality of repentance.
So how does one Repent and Believe in Response to Kairos Moments and align them with the Kingdom of God?
Well think of Repentance as being the right half of the circle with 3 moves.
Repentance is in the perfect present in every location that is mentioned. It isn’t a past event. It is a continuing process. It is a lifestyle. The word that captures it the best is mettanoi which means an inner change that manifests itself in an outer reality. In your heart, inner being, something has happened. There is a change of our inner life and inner being.
Movement 1 of Repentance is Observation:
What happened and how did you react/feel? What was the kairos moment that got your attention this week? I think if your eyes are open you probably have a dozen pivitol things happen each week. Run the scenario through your mind.
Movement 2 of Repentance is Reflection:
On your observations. Why did you feel the way you did? What does that say about you? Is there a pattern?What might God be saying through this event. A word of correction? A word regarding priorities? A word about the direction or new stage of life you are entering? Hold your kairos moment up to the lens of the scriptures and the kingdom and ask what might be the kingdom framework for this kairos moment.
Movement 3 of Repentance is to Discuss:
Seek the wisdom of others. Do your observations and reflections make sense? Do you discern an opportunity for growth? This is where you bring others into the conversation. Instead of saying that “God said this or that to me” you gather others around you say, “I think God is saying to me…” What do you think of the situation?
So hopefully in these three moves you have discerned the Kairos moment. You have taken this incident and you have held it up the light of the kingdom of God with others to discern what is going on. You have repented. You know that grace is there for you and you want to reach into the kingdom, God’s future reality and offer your allegiance to it.
Now you act. You believe. You want your inward change to be evidenced by outward actions. You want to have an active transformation. It means a certainty that has developed within that has become intentional activity without.
Go ahead and put Believe on the left side of the circle.
Movement 4 of Belief is Plan:
How are things going to change financially? How are you going to change in your behavior regarding the opposite sex? How are you going to respond differently to anger next time? In light of grace and allegiance to the kingdom what is the next step that you are going to take?
Movement 5 of Belief is Accountability:
Accountability isn’t finding someone who’ll listen to you so you feel like you can get something off your chest. Accountability is challenge and support. Accountability is about tranceparency. It is about the inward life of repentance taking on flesh and blood in your actions. Accountability is about having others who will help you take and be faithful to your plan of action.
Movement 6 of Belief is Action:
Jesus talks about someone who builds his house on a rock and someone who builds his house on the sand. When the rain comes the house built on a rock stands while the same storm demolishes the house built on sand. Both people heard the teachings of Jesus. Hearing the teaching of Jesus wasn’t the deciding factor as to whether the house stood or fell. The deciding factor was whether the person put the teaching of Jesus into practice.
The discipleship circle boils down to asking the question again and again, “What is God saying to you (kairos moments) and what are you going to do about it (repentance and belief)?”
This is something that anyone can do at any stage of their walk with Jesus. Spiritual maturity is defined as the length of time it takes to respond to what God tells/shows them. You don’t need a bible degree or years of experience (although they can add wisdom) to do that.
Here is an example of a Kairos moment regarding one’s mounting credit card bill:
Then the cicle might go (Observation) what I am buying each month? do I need all this stuff? has this been going on long? (Reflection) what does this say about my sense of identity? why do I feel the need to buy this stuff? (Discussion) “hi Joe, I’m feeling that money has a bit of a hold over me – can I get your thoughts?” (Plan) need to cancel all but one card and limit myself to 400 per month spend (Accountability) “hey Joe, can you ask me whether I am under my 400 limit every month?” (Action) cut up the credit cards!
Future Shapes to be discussed:
