I. Introduction
Bojana Danilovic, 28, sees everything upside down because of an abnormal connection in the way her brain processes images. Danilovic has to have a special upside down computer screen and keyboard and reads papers from the bottom up. At home, she watches one TV balanced on its top while the rest of the family watch another. “It may look incredible to other people but to me it’s completely normal," Danilovic said. "I was born that way. It’s just the way I see the world." Neurological experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University say she is suffering from a condition called ’spatial orientation phenomenon.’
Can you imagine seeing everything upside down? What about backwards? Now I certainly realize that Dyslexia isn't a disease but rather a condition. However, it does address the idea of seeing things backwards. I want to submit to you that there is a a condition in most of our lives that is similar to these natural diseases. Jesus made it clear as to why He came to this planet. He said in Luke 19:10 that He came to seek and save the lost. He states it again in Mark 2:17 when he says, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
This mission statement became a way of life that led Him to seek out the lost in the homes of the religious leaders, at a well, in the street where an adulterous woman was thrown, in a cemetery where a demon possessed man hung out. This mandate on His life led Him off the beaten path and into unexpected and even unaccepted places to fulfill the call on His life. This same mission statement ultimately led Him to a hill under the weight of a cross that He would die on. The interesting thing is that Jesus' mission was one that He shared with His followers. He didn't just share His presence with them, but also His purpose. He calls His followers to engage in the same calling He has embraced. In Matthew 4:19, He says "follow me and I will make you fishers of men." So, the followers are expected to participate in the purpose of the One they follow. So in Jesus’ mind disciples will disciple. They won’t just gain access into the kingdom and sit down. They wouldn’t soak and sour. They weren't allowed to take a "we are saved so we are safe or us 4 and no more." They wouldn’t sit around and become nostalgic about Jesus’ life and ministry but would replicate it!
So, Jesus being a great leader doesn't expect His followers to fulfill this call without some explanation and some training. We find this information in Luke 10.
Luke 10:1-9
Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge: “What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands. “On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You’re like lambs in a wolf pack. “Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage.
“Don’t loiter and make small talk with everyone you meet along the way. “When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace.’ If your greeting is received, then it’s a good place to stay. But if it’s not received, take it back and get out. Don’t impose yourself. “Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town. "When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!’
Very specific instructions on how to carry out the mission. However, this is where we discover that most of us have an RTD called Discipleship Dyslexia. We have been given the same mandate the original followers of Christ had. We are called in Matthew 28 and Mark 16 to go into all the world and make disciples. We know this. Some of us have even attempted to try to do this. Much teaching and revision has taken place to the plan that Jesus gave the disciples on how to accomplish this and so much of it contaminated by Discipleship Dyslexia. Let's look at Jesus' plan and compare it to how we try to fulfill the mission.
Jesus' plan for effective discipleship is as follows:
1. Find a friend
Go into a city greet someone. Then based on their response you can determine if you can move to the next step. Could it be that the reason God has and is placing people in your path is more than just to hang out with? Could it be that the person you have found as a friend is also an assignment?
2. Build Relationship
Stay with them and eat repeated meals together. Don't move around. This speaks to longevity. This speaks to consistency. This speaks to moving beyond surface. The reason some of us aren't effective in carrying out the plan is because we are so guarded that we won't allow anyone to break through our shell. Jesus says go in find a friend, invest time, share life, share meals develop a relationship!
3. Meet a need
After you have spent time with them you recognize/diagnose their need and heal the sick. How many of us are even aware of the needs around us? We have become so consumed with our own plight that we don't take account for or of the needs around us. Too often we don't see ourselves as the one sent into a person's life to meet the need. The reason He equipped us with gifts, power, authority isn't for good church services. It is for service - meeting the needs of those we do life with! You have been mobilized for the traumatized. You are anointed for those in agony. Become sensitive to the need you see so that you can meet that need!
4. Preach the Gospel.
Jesus is saying the most effective way to be heard is to preach after the other three things have been accomplished.
But we have Discipleship Dyslexia. We do it backwards. We think we can make disciples in the exact opposite manner.
We want to preach the Gospel before we have ever met a need, built a relationship or found a friend and what we discover is that people are unwilling to listen. Jesus says the harvest is plentiful so why then aren't we seeing multitudes saved and brought into the kingdom of God? Could it be because we are trying to fulfill the mandate backwards.
So what does discipleship dyslexia look like practically? It means we take the Easter Tickets or Sermon Series Invites and after church on Sunday we eat somewhere and leave one for the waitress that we undertipped. We slip one into the locker of a coworker we have never spoken to in the past. We hang one on a bulletin board hoping people will see it and want to join us. We will spend thousands of dollars, board planes, cross the globe for 2 weeks share the gospel with people that we can’t effectively communicate with and who we will never see again, plane up, pat ourselves on back and never even speak to folks who we have been living next door to for 20 years or who we have worked with for a decade who we know everything about. We have got to get cured of this disease! If we want to see the results that Jesus and the disciples got in making disciples we must go back to the formula Jesus gave us and do it exactly as He did it.
Who are you friends with? Who do you spend time talking to? Those are the lost people that are candidates for discipleship. If you have worked to establish a relationship, then those are the folks who are ready - meet their needs and preach the gospel. We know you are suffering from Discipleship Dyslexia when we begin to talk about evangelism and you say, "I'm too shy. I'm too timid. I'm too ___________." The most effective mode of evangelism breaks down any excuses or deficiencies. It should be with people you are friends with first! It should become a natural part of life!
How many of us are trying to make disciples of people before we are even their friends? Why would they want to know what you know if you know nothing about them? Why was Paul so effective? He would go somewhere and get to know people for years and then win them. Why did Andrew have the ability to bring Peter to Christ? He followed the plan.
We are trying to preach before we reach!
There a multiplicity or reasons we are here but those reasons don’t have become excuses for staying here. We can make up our minds to follow the plan and we will discover that Jesus was not only right about the effectiveness of the plan but also about the condition of the harvest! It is plentiful!
