Discipleship is not an Option Part 1
The Sin of Omission Should not be Discipleship
Generals do not go into battle, but there are no generals in the Church Ekklesia (Gathering) of Jesus Christ. The foundation of the Church is the Apostles and Prophets. "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone" (Ephesians 2:19-20).
The Apostle Paul always took his responsibility to serve the individual rather than just preaching to the crowds very seriously. So seriously, he wrote two letters to a disciple named Timothy that became part of God's Word. His opening words in his first letter to Timothy are, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior..." The command to which he refers is, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations... teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).
Herarchy Instead of Family Supports The Sin of Omission
Paul is writing to a man he refers to as "To Timothy, [my] true child in [the] faith..." It would appear by the term used by Paul that Timothy's faith was the direct result of Paul's Discipleship and personal involvement with his rebirth into the kingdom of God and development to maturity in the faith.
A father is not someone who only participates in the reproduction process but also in the care, nurturing, instruction, welfare, and protection that must follow. We can understand all the instructions given to Timothy in his first letter through the lens of leadership and assume, as men do, that this is a pastoral epistle. There is enough in the letter for us to think so. However, what if we use a different lens of family? Paul begins with a command that can and should be considered for all if we don't see the Church as a hierarchy but as an Ekklesia/gathering of a family.
For decades, the Gathering of believers did not need leaders because the Church was filled as it was meant to be by the Holy Spirit of God, who enabled it to evangelize and disciple thousands of new believers. When persecution came, the believers were scattered, and as the ranks became separated, the more mature believers may not be able to do what they would do naturally within a family, which is to be responsible parents.
Unbelief in God's Spirit Supports the Sin of Omission
When writing to the Ephesian believers, he emphasized the reality of body unity by using the word "one" about all aspects of body life. "[There is] one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all" Ephesians 4:4-6.
In the total context, we are being instructed regarding the totality of believing members as in verse sixteen, "from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies..." Of course, the one holding the body together, empowering, and bringing unity is the Holy Spirit, God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. When God's presence is a present reality, all things are possible, and the responsibility to mature in the faith and disciple as God commands is also present for and in all.
Every responsible parent assumes the task of caring for their children. Parenting should be no less a reality with the Church—Ekklesia—where the Gathering of the family is understood as against a hierarchy of leaders. Where hierarchy replaces family, the sin of omission will undoubtedly be prevalent. The number cannot be counted of men and women who fall short of studying their Bibles with full intent of teaching, encouraging, and comforting others in the faith so that they may mature and be able to do the same also. Go on the web and see the statistics of professing Christians who hardly open a Bible. Why? In the mind of most Bible knowledge is for professional pastors, that is why they get paid. Paul said he had the right to be paid as the rest but he chose to work as a tent maker and not become a stumbling block to believers. Do you think Paul was wrong?
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