Not Just For Sundays Anymore Series

For all my growing up and young adult years we equated the idea of discipleship with one thing: Sunday School. That meant that people came together on Sunday mornings, sat in classes mostly segregated by age groups, and learned about the Bible. Like we said a few weeks back, it was a Sunday thing. And you did discipleship (Sunday things) on Sunday. But not the rest of the week.

OJ, It’s Not Just for Breakfast Anymore video

There was quite some time within the Western/American church where we bought the idea that this country was a “Christian” nation and things were pretty good. If you believed that before you can surely see by now it’s not so. For some that realization engenders a feeling of hopeless frustration. But instead, maybe we should see it as a course correction and an opportunity.

While we’ve by and large been treating discipleship as a Sunday morning activity, the church as well as the world around us has disengaged from activities like Sunday School en masse. Many still plug along at it, hoping against hope that if we do it, they will come. But they don’t. And there’s a reason.

Discipleship isn’t just for Sundays.

What if we began to take a new perspective on following Jesus? What if, instead of seeing it as something Christians do in the privacy of a church building, at designated times every week, we began to see discipleship as the logical extension of our faith into every part of our lives?

The apostle Paul uses the third chapter of Colossians to give us instructions for living our new lives in Jesus. I want you to notice that these instructions have nothing to do with Sunday worship; he speaks first to home life, then to our interactions in the community. Discipleship isn’t just for Sunday anymore.

Colossians 3:22-25

What motivates people? At school, at work, at home, at play. What motivates your average person?

Success. Power. Attention. Money. Pleasure. Love. Approval. Loyalty. Courage. It’s all context-dependent. Some motivations are good. Others are bad. They might be neutral depending on the situation.

At the beginning of that chapter we just read from, Paul proposes that, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ,” there is now a new motivation for the disciple. In 2 Corinthians he’d say we’re different people than we once were, so I guess we ought to be motivated by different things.

Colossians 3:16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.

Disciple’s Life Pie

In other words, he’s saying Jesus, and what he’s done in us, ought to permeate every part of who we are.

I think of it like this: When I make an apple pie, I don’t just put apples on one side, or over on the edge. No! I want apples in the whole thing! That’s what makes it an apple pie.

If I’m a follower of Jesus, a Christian, Jesus should be in the whole thing. I’m not just a disciple on Sunday, or at youth group. He’s in every part of my life. That’s what makes me a Christian, a disciple of Jesus!

Our interaction in the community – work, school, neighbors – is one of the most likely places for Jesus to get left out of our pie. But Paul, speaking about work says, “Work willingly…as though you were working for the Lord…”

A friend of mine recently told the story of one of his first “real” jobs in a factory in Central Illinois. He got the job because of a Christian friend who was a machinist, and he was excited for the opportunity. On one of his first days his friend was showing him around until just before the start of their shift, when he disappeared. Bill rounded the corner to find him praying over his station and the machinery there.

Bill asked him what was up and his friend replied that he was praying that nothing would break down and that he’d be very productive and skilled as a machinist for the company today. Bill was surprised until his friend reminded him of this verse and said, “They know I’m a Christian and I want to make sure I’m doing my best.”

What does that have to do with being a disciple? Our approach to those in our community directly impacts our witness and credibility as a disciple.

Ephesians 5:1-2

A man is being tailgated by a woman who is in a hurry. He comes to an intersection, and when the light turns yellow, he hits the brakes. The woman behind him goes ballistic. She honks her horn at him; she yells her frustration in no uncertain terms; she rants and gestures.

While she is in mid-rant, someone taps on her window. She looks up and sees a policeman. He invites her out of her car and takes her to the station where she is searched and fingerprinted and put in a cell. After a couple of hours, she is released, and the arresting officer gives her her personal effects, saying, “I’m very sorry for the mistake, ma’am. I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, using bad gestures and bad language. I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ window sign, the Christian fish emblem on your trunk, and I naturally assumed you had stolen the car.”