Passing the Torch: Why Discipleship is Crucial for Every Generation
"but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith” Romans 16:26
Our Lord commissioned the first disciples and early followers to go and make disciples in all nations of the world. For approximately 2,000 years Jesus followers have been actively doing what Jesus commissioned them to do.
Dr. Arnold Cook, the former president of The Alliance Canada, used to say: "God has no grandchildren."
By this he meant that every generation needs be reached with the Gospel solution for every generation of sinful people. Moms and dads, who are Jesus followers, cannot automatically bestow saving faith on their offspring.
If current Jesus followers ever decide to cease sharing their faith and discipling new believers it will only take one generation for there to be no Jesus followers at all. As a strategy for reaching all of humanity I don't think many of us would have supported the plan that Jesus initiated. It seems very risky to rely on each generation of believers to do the job of reaching the next generation or the whole plan falls apart. Nevertheless, this was the plan, and it has succeeded quite well for millennia.
This got me thinking about what an enemy would do to try and stop the spread of the Good News to all people. I came up with two strategies that could be deployed:
Encourage the current Jesus followers to become complacent and not be concerned for those who do not yet believe.
Initiate a plan that provides young people with many enticing opportunities to pursue the pleasures of life in this world and ignore eternal life.
Jesus initiated a plan and commissioned his disciples to implement it so all people everywhere would hear the good news and become his disciples. There are few things more exciting and fulfilling for Jesus followers than to lead another person to embrace a relationship with Jesus and become his disciple. This rewarding experience often follows a period of hard work and an investment of time and energy. But the real work starts when the new believer needs to be discipled. Engaging with people who are being transformed by the Gospel becomes a huge motivating factor to do it again and again.
