Matthew 28:19-20 - Teaching
As we continue to pray and fast today (12th November) regarding God’s vision for His church here at CBC let’s spend one more week thinking about Jesus’ words at the end of Matthew’s gospel.
We’re asking God to guide us and show us who He wants us to be and what He wants us to be doing. The call in The Great Commission is to go and make disciples - and a part of this involves ‘teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you’.
Teaching in the first century certainly involved the discipline and structure associated with the learning of Old Testament scriptures off by heart, but when it came to disciples and their rabbi / teacher it was very much a case of learning by example. The disciple followed the rabbi as closely as possible and learned through watching and listening. The disciple would learn by watching their teacher in action, listening to what they taught and how they answered questions… Whether it’s an urban myth or has any basis in fact there is the reported saying amongst disciples about ‘being covered in the dust of your rabbi’s feet’ - where within a first century context, the closer you follow your rabbi the dustier you are going to get.
Discipleship will mean learning a new way of life - particularly for those who have had little or no previous church contact. Some of this comes through traditional learning contexts - we might think of sermons or Bible studies or reading books - but much will also come through sharing life together with those who are already on this journey.
As we pray and think about the kind of people God wants us to be and what God wants us to be doing, how and where are we being those who teach and learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus?
