Waha Disciple Making ChallengeSample

What the Disciple Making Challenge is all about

Caring about what Jesus cared about

Let's start our journey with Jesus, the one who began it all. Read what Jesus said about living with God in Matthew 22:36-40:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40

Take a moment to consider these questions:

• What does it look like to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind?
• In what ways is the second command (Love your neighbor as you love yourself) like the first?
• Why might loving God with every part of you and loving your neighbor as yourself be crucial to understanding all the law and the prophets?

The Lord is One

Jesus’ Hebrew audience would have known immediately what He was referencing in the verses above because he was quoting one of the most foundational verses from the Old Testament.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Imagine living in ancient Babylon or Greece. In these places, people believed in many gods and had idols dedicated to different deities. This meant you had to live differently depending on where you were in a given moment. For example, you might have to please the god of the harvest to ensure your family's food supply but then switch your behavior to please the god of good fortune to protect your family from illness.

The Hebrews of the Old Testament, however, had a different approach. They believed there was only one God who desired complete devotion in every aspect of life.

The sacred and the secular

Just like God is One, we should live the same way everywhere, whether we're at church, home, walking, or with our kids. That’s actually what the rest of our verse from Deuteronomy is all about. God is alive and present at all times in our lives, and we should live in this reality. This is what it means to be a disciple. The problem is that it’s tough for humans to learn to live this way in a world filled with false gods, whether they are the many deities of ancient polytheism or the many idols of modern-day consumerism. We need a model. That’s why Jesus came.

“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

John 20:21

Jesus showed us how to love God and others. We should copy him in everything we do. We must learn to imitate Him in all parts of our lives. So it’s important to ask ourselves what sort of things did Jesus do when He walked the Earth…

• He taught people about the Kingdom of God.
• He healed the sick.
• He proclaimed the good news.

Action step

The above list is in no way exhaustive. Jesus’ disciple, John, said He did enough things to fill so many books that the entire world wouldn’t have room to contain them. (John 21:25)

To put into practice what you are learning today, continue the list above by writing down as many things as you can think of that describe what Jesus did and how He lived. Take note of how many of them are focused on reaching others and helping them to become disciples themselves. Could it be that loving the Lord your God and loving others as you love yourself are much more intertwined than we once thought?