But making disciples is a difficult business – even if its importance in the “Great Commission” has been written about seemingly more so in recent years. The persuasive arguments for churches determining a God-focused purpose like disciple-making have reached the top of the bestseller lists. And yet the mega-church pastors who authored those books are finding that the gimmicks for getting people through the door don’t necessarily turn them into disciples for Jesus Christ.

Making disciples, according to Jesus, is as simple as inviting fishermen to hear God’s call and is as difficult as the life-changing things that he asks his spiritual protégées to do. In this passage, I can tell you, he rocks my disciple-ship! I can’t imagine following this plan, and yet, it’s in there. There’s an uncomfortable tension for me in that, under this rubric, few of us are fit to say we are following Jesus. He pushes the envelope. He asks for total obedience. He calls his disciples to break the back of institutional religiosity and live into the very fibers of his being, really God’s being.

So what makes this chapter of scripture so discomforting? What exactly does Jesus say to stir up a storm and rock our disciple-ship? Looking at the outline of the text, I see five mandates Jesus puts forth for disciples on a mission.

1) Disciples exercise discipline.

They are the boundary setters - which is particularly exhausting work. If you want to know how exhausting, ask someone who has successfully raised a “spirited” child. It’s constant attention to often monotonous details. Jesus calls upon these disciples to make judgments about what’s hurting the community and then call the people who are engaging in such hurtful behaviors to task. He calls it “casting out.” Disciples cast out unclean spirits, and they cast out demons. That means that Jesus calls upon his disciples to reset the moral compass when it goes out of kilter. As part of this discipline, they also are charged with doing some pretty powerful things – healing, raising the dead, making the unclean clean. A loving community of faith is healing, enlivening, and inclusive. These are the kinds of communitie s that disciples bring about. By naming the things that others don’t want to be brought to light, they set people free to live changed lives. But they also get into a great deal of hot water from those who would rather not change. This hard work is not done to create a shiny, happy band of tee-totaling Christians, but to put forth the kind of honest grace that allows people to live together in joy and peace.

2) Disciples go local and travel light.

It’s hard for me to imagine Jesus saying stay with your own kind. But he does say, “Don’t go to the Gentiles and Samaritans. Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” I don’t know if this is supposed to be easier or harder to do. What it does say is that it may not be our job as disciples to bring those of other faith traditions to our own point of view. Too much bloodshed has happened over that already. But what he does say convicts me too. It says that it is my responsibility, our responsibility to do the work of making disciples in our own backyard. It isn’t always easy to speak to someone about God’s work in your life at work or at Rotary or at book club. Jesus doesn’t want the lost to stay lost. He charges his disciples to bring the lost home to God. We do that when we remember to tell the lost sheep of our own ho use that the news is good. God is good.

Jesus is also insistent that his disciples live simply and travel light in this world. Don’t you just hate that he tells his disciples to be dependent when they go to other peoples’ homes to share their news! Let people feed you. Let them take you in and offer you a place to sleep. Just don’t stay long enough to wear out your welcome. And, by the way, don’t carry so much stuff that it will be a burden to you. People are much more important than things. That alone can take a lifetime to learn.

3) Disciples don’t waste their energy on things that don’t work.

Shake the dust off your sandals. There’s little more burdensome than the heavy bureaucracy of the Presbyterian Church. We love the thought that we can control the Spirit, but we can’t. The truth is that sometimes what we say or do will fall on deaf ears. These words from Jesus’ own lips tell us that’s OK. We can’t always be the perfect messengers. We can let it go when someone is not absolutely charmed by our fellowship. The problem occurs though when we don’t consider that it may be us who have lost our hearing. We carry on traditions that no longer have purpose or meaning because we might offend someone if we were to stop. Here’s the irony folks! We persist because we worry about whom we might offend, but Jesus is giving us full permission to be OFFENSIVE. Shak e the dust off your sandals. This gesture is not full of kindness and light. It’s the kind of gesture one makes when someone cuts you off on Pelissippi Parkway. When you have given your best discipleship moves, but the person whom you have shown counsel is not able to receive the gifts of the spirit, move on, move over, move out of the way, but keep on moving. Remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

4) Disciples are fearless, even in the face of persecution.

If we thought our bureaucracy was bad, fear, FEAR is the one thing that binds our hearts and minds even more. Jesus reminds us that in following him, we will face all kinds of new enemies even in our own households. Our own mother, or father, or brother, or sister may not be able to physically stomach our choices. There will be those who will want to kill or destroy us for loving the name of Jesus. We have a tough time with this one. It seems archaic and outdated. Who persecutes Christians these days? True believers always are. Jesus fought those who were considered righteous, perfect, maybe even above the law. Jesus fought power, and triumphed with weakness. Jesus was not a peacemaker. At times he was a troublemaker. Disciples learn to surpass incredible odds and they develop very thick skins.

5) Disciples die for their cause.

“Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Enough said.

“Whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple – truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” Disciples don’t become disciples for the reward – they do it because they can do nothing else. Jesus rocks my disciple-ship. There are things on this list that, on my best days, seem impossible to do. But Jesus was right, they absolutely are the very things that make regular human beings into disciples. Sure, prayer and Bible study help – but disciples are made by exercising discipline; working in one’s own community; following where the needs are greatest; sharing the pain of human existence; and dying to self in order to know God better. When Jesus says, “Go. Make disciples of all nations.” Wow. I just don’t know if we can. But I do know that we will be more fai thful as God’s church by making disciples than by paying our light bill or knowing chapter and verse of the Book of Order. It’s just a whole lot harder than those things happen to be. God be with us!

Amen