The Bible teaches and leads to several significant occasions on the importance of discipleship: Moses and Joshua, the ministry of Jesus with His disciples, Jesus' final command to make disciples in Matthew 28, Paul's words to the church in Thessalonica on sharing his life with them, and many more. Discipleship is integral and difficult and just as black coffee will sprout hair on your chest, discipleship will sprout character in you. 

Though I am still learning and do not consider myself an expert in discipleship, I have come across two conclusions: I am passionate about discipling younger men so they may surrender everything in pursuit of Christ and I am learning to do the same. 

I thought about 3 concepts or learning curves that I've experienced in discipling others. All of these points can be lengthy so we will split this up into a 3-part blog over the next few weeks. I hope you find them helpful and that they would help you to see the fruit of discipleship particularly when it's not the most convenient.

COMPASSION: TO SUFFER WITH

I wish to begin by saying that discipleship happens in the context of life and not always or simply at a coffee shop once a week for an hour. If that tends to be your only strategy, then you'll have two results: those you're discipling will think they know everything and you will limit their experience in the proclamation and practice of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Moving forward, if discipleship happens in the context of life (and not just my own), then compassion is one of our primary roles. And I've learned that compassion is not only a time to suffer alongside of someone or others, but it is not convenient. Ever. 

Mark 6:33 records "People ran there by land from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. So as He [Jesus] stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then He began to teach them many things." 

To  give you the context of what's happening, Jesus and his disciples are tired. They've been traveling, teaching, and prior to this John the Baptist was beheaded. The people in this story recognize that it was Jesus on a boat, rush to him and the disciples, and are looking to be taught, healed, prayed over, and led. 

The disciples, later, suggest that everyone go back to their homes to rest, but Jesus decides to spend His time with the people right at that moment despite being tired and hungry. He recognized and served them at their most desperate time of need. 

Discipleship and compassion beautifully go together. It is serving during a great time of need and will be inconvenient because it will force you to inject yourself into their life in order to care for them. Compassion will call out when you're getting ready for an important event and your friend's hand gets smashed under his car because it was a tire change gone wrong; or you'll receive a call that your friend's son has just been in a horrifying and fatal accident; or in a time of confession where so many tears are built up that words and emotions will not allow the proper communication. 

Compassion is to suffer alongside of others in their desperate need for Jesus and He has called you to display the same compassion He had towards others in Mark 6. 

As you begin to disciple others, ask yourself these questions: 
• Are you compassionate?
• Where has Jesus displayed compassion in my life? 
• Is your focus so narrow that you're more concerned with the exegesis of a passage at Starbucks rather than hearing the cry of one's heart for change and need in Jesus? 

*Spoken Word performed at Logos Community Church | Worship Night

 

G R A C E

An Ill-deserving living sacrificial favor from our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Grace is the favor we receive on the treachery we commit despite already been forgiven.

Grace fuels forgiveness; enables compassion; consumes love; and furthers the Kingdom.

It is by grace, through faith that we have been saved; a gift not a paycheck; purposefully not pitifully.

 

W O R S H I P

Could it be that as a people we have summarized and culturized Worship into music alone?  

I look through the lens of my life and ask the question that no one including myself wants to ask, do I worship God? Is my identity in the working of the church or in the working of my job or is it in the person and work of Jesus alone? 

You see, I will worship what I am passionate about and I can tell you that my time in worship of my Lord is a struggle.

I, like you, whether you like it or not, can plainly see through all His things; evidences of His work; the soundtrack of the gospel in His people; blind people seeing; dead people living.

And I think about what I see and ask if I really see; the gospel is true. 

 

F I N A L L Y

We are receiving a kingdom that is unshakeable; a kingdom of His creation, but are we shakeable? 

The power and majesty of His voice has spoken; the power of His kingdom cannot be shaken; it will not be shaken; there will be no other dispensation; are we shakeable? 

Jesus speaks through this writers telling us the canon of scripture is now perfected, the Spirit of prophecy has ceased, the mystery of God is finished, He has put his last hand to it. 

The church may continue to grow, the church may continue to be more prosperous, but it shall not be altered for another exemption; those who perish under the gospel perish without remedy.

It is through His work on the cross that we see him intricately at work in the lives of His creation; the fear of the Lord; reverence and awe like mary who used her hair like a wash rag to wash the feet of Jesus; giving up so much for this Jesus; could it be that her reverence was a sign that she had seen this Nazarene as the Christ? 

Our God in Christ deals with us graciously and kindly, but is a consuming fire; faithful and true; just and righteous; the sacrifice for our sin; the beauty of justice beyond what was seen when the law was given. 

May we taste his goodness and kindness; a kindness that leads us to repentance; for there will be a day where it will be too late; my friends repent and by grace let us worship God.

“Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may.”

— Sam Houston

I wish to begin with a wonderful quote from the film, Selena where Abraham Quintanilla (played by Edward James Olmos) says, 

“Listen, being Mexican American is tough. Anglos jump all over if you don’t speak English perfectly. Mexicans jump all over you if you don’t speak Spanish perfectly. We’ve got to be twice as perfect as anybody else. Our family has been here four centuries, yet they treat us as if we just swam across the Rio Grande. I mean we got to know about John Wayne and Pedro Infante. Anglo food is too bland; yet when we go to Mexico we get the runs. Ours [homeland] is right next door – right over there. And we got to prove to the Mexicans how Mexican we are; we got to prove to the Americans how American we are. It is exhausting! Man, nobody knows how tough it is to be Mexican American!”

THE TENSION

The question of "the hyphen" is of great tension in the United States. It is one that cripples some and confuses others. It is a paradox that questions a sense of belonging and relationship. But I want to be clear and concise: the issue is not primarily social injustice, but identity. Identity is the golden ticket because it gives people value and worth. The problem is that we are constantly looking for value and worth in things that will constantly fail us, most notably ourselves. 

Edward James Olmos' words in Selena are spot on, however. Personally, the tension I feel in being a Mexican-American is that I've either sold out to be successful or pursue further educational opportunities or that I want to be like the white man in my success. People can be jerks. All of the sudden, I don't know anything about the barrios because I have a degree, yet any success is because I'm a minority or as I was once told, "ethnic." English doesn't mean "better than you," raza. And gringos, English is not the official language of the United States not to mention there's no such thing as the language "Mexican." You need a Joya after you get off of the horse you bought from my cousin. 

The tension inside of the hyphen is one of identity, not success. We need to understand this clearly and quite frankly unapologetically. Diana Cardenas writes on the assimilation and acculturation: assimilation is the process of losing one's identity, worth, value, and culture for the sake of another while acculturation is the act of maintaining one's culture and learning and adopting principles from another in order to learn and grow. Regardless on whether you agree or disagree (I actually agree), the purpose of her thought process is one of identity. 

Yes, it is out of my identity as a Mexican that I love carne asadas and Negro Modelo with banda bumping in the background. And yes, it is out of my identity as an American that I enjoy coffee shops, education, and pallet wood decorations.

If the question and tension within the hyphen is one of identity and clearly our cultures (despite success and pride) are failing, then where do we go to have closure on who we are? 

OUR ANSWER

Jesus.

Jesus was an outsider; among his own people. Jesus experienced rejection, was a social rebel, didn't always play by the rules, loved the people, and then we murdered Him. The Catholic church has it right: the bloody portrayal of the crucifixion. The Protestant church understood it: we cannot save ourselves and therefore are in need of a Savior. This means that a part from Jesus Christ, we will only cause further tension to the lack of countless identities.

The entire Biblia is about a people who are unfaithful to a Savior who constantly demonstrates his faithfulness to them. Yeah, that's us, menzos.

Jesus, rather, gives us a new identity; one that despite where we come from or how we were raised is based on who He is. 

REAL ENCOURAGEMENT

Gringos, you need to learn to have parties. Everyone agrees. The language, "Mexican" doesn't exist and this isn't your country, but ours. And social injustice is real, not just something poor people do to get attention. Dia de los Muertos is very real, not an excuse to look cute with vibrant colors. People died, yo. 

Raza, you need to learn to shut up sometimes. You're not fooling anyone when you drink coffee from Starbucks but scream that you're from La Balboa. I would much rather you embrace your low-rider, bumpin' 2-Pac while proudly sipping on your black coffee with 8 sugars. Ya. Callate. 

At the end of the day, amigos, let us turn to Jesus where there is reconciliation and restoration for our cultures and differences. The joy that is found in Jesus is that we're different. It is out of the person and work of Christ that we have identity and our differences are actually what make up the church (a people)! Let us not be ignorant to one another, but burden for one another for the sake of bringing more glory to our Savior; the real immigrant. 

At the end of the movie, The Replacements, Gene Hackman says that the men on the football team go to live what every athlete dreams for: a second chance. I don't know any dude who isn't looking for a second chance. There's a reason high school "glory days" exist, many wish they could do it all over again- differently. 

For the most part, men have endless pursuits or love the TV a little too much because they either don’t want to make the same mistake twice so others don’t think wrongly of them or have simply given up. To many, it’s never enough while others will settle for the Star Wars bed sheets. But what if we had the opportunity to start new?

What would you do if you were given that opportunity? 

REDEMPTION

The Bible gives one of the most impactful messages to men: redemption. Redemption is a beautiful second chance, the kind with no strings attached. It’s the kind of chance that doesn’t remind you of what you did or didn’t do the last time, but an opportunity to be redeemed; to no longer exist in the mistakes you committed; to no longer be driven by a motivation that has an underlying foundation of fear; to exist as what you were created for: worship.  

In redemption, we are new not because of what we did or haven’t done, but because of the person and work of Christ Jesus. We are Christ’s workmanship which means that when He created us, we were given purpose; clear and intentional purpose (Ephesians 2:10). Redemption gives you identity.

Men, in our pursuit of Christ, redemption is the second chance. And the first thing you’re given with that second chance is an identity, a clear understanding of who you are because of who Christ is.REDEMPTION