Religion vs Relationship

Religion Vs Relationship

Although, Jesus used this type of Discipleship but His style is a little bit unique and different from the conventional as we shall see.
One major difference between other religious leaders and Jesus is that these leaders die but Jesus is alive. This is a huge game changer.

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When these leaders die, they are no longer capable of personally and directly raising disciples. However, they still continue to have disciples and followers even many hundreds of years. Their lieutenants and chief disciples continue the task of bringing converts and raising them as disciples for the master.

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This is where it gets tricky, since the master is dead, the disciplers teach the new converts and followers to follow the master's teaching, not the master, obviously he has died, and they can't follow him to the grave.

Mohamed, Buddha, and so on can no longer personally call people to follow them because they are dead. However, in the case of Jesus, He's not dead - He is alive, and because He is alive, He can call people personally and directly by Himself, just as He did wit the early disciples early church members in the beginning. He can also directly (without relying on "disciplers") make those whom He called to become disciples just as He did in the past.

In Jesus' discipleship, there are no DISCIPLERS, i.e. those who call people for Jesus and raise them as disciples for Jesus.

It is worthy to note that of all the "masters" and religious leaders that ever lived in history till date, Jesus is the only "Master" who is alive. This claim is not based on what the followers of the masters say, but on what the maters said with their mouth before they died.

Jesus is the only 'master" that says He is the way, the truth and the life, no one gets to the Father except through Him
Jesus is the only 'master" that says He and the Father are one.
Jesus is the only masters that prophesied His own death and resurrection and it was so. Others (like Muhammed) prophesied their death and resurrection but they never resurrected till today.
Jesus is the only master that says He Himself is the way to God, others said they know the way - there is a huge difference between these two claims.

These - and many more are the reasons Christianity is not a religion. Religion follows a dead master's teaching (you can see this in many religions of the world today like Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and even in Christians sects like JW, Mormons, and so on.

Christianity is not a religion because the master is not dead, it is a relationship that can be experienced. If you do not have this personal, one on one relationship with Jesus, it means you are following Christian religion and not Christ. We are not to follow Jesus' teaching - there is no need for that, we are to follow Him since He is alive. That is what the early disciples did, that is what He called them into and that is what He calls us into also. Same man, same system, except we believe He is dead. The last time I checked, He is alive.

Jesus is calling people as He called the disciples. He is training people just as He trained the disciples. He is making people disciples just as He made them disciples. He is turning people to fishers of men just as He did - He is alive and we can follow Him! We can only follow someone who is alive, otherwise we can only follow the person's teaching.

If you follow someone's teaching (including Jesus' reaching), it is religion.
If you follow the church or denomination, it is religion.
If you follow a person, it is relationship.
If you follow Jesus, it is discipleship.

Jesus is calling people into relationship with Him so that they can become His disciples, the church is calling people into activities for Him, so that they can become their members.

If Jesus is alive and He is calling people as He did before, it means He is calling them so that He can disciple them. He is not calling people so that others can disciple them. This is the trait of masters or religious leaders who are dead. He's alive and he can do disciple them. He does not need Middle commonly called "disciplers."

Called To Be

There is a grave danger in the word people refer to as "Disciplers" in today's discipleship movement. Many of these sincere people try to raise disciple for Jesus in obedience to the Great Commission in Matthew 24: "go into all the world and make disciple of all nations..."

There is a grave error in the understanding of this command. But the first thing we must understand is that we cannot make disciple of anyone, we cannot even make disciple of ourselves. It never happened and it will never happen. None of the disciples became disciple on or of their own. I'm sure we all agree that they were all called to be.

If we are not called to be disciples, we cannot be one. If someone is not called to be a disciples, we cannot make him a disciple. In many of Paul's letter, he always say of himself that he was, "called to be apostle" (Rom 1:1, 1Cor 1:1, 1Cor 15:9). It is worthy of note that we are also "called to be saints." Nobody can be anything except he is called to be.

The question then is who calls to be? We know the answer is, it is God. Paul says, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Php 2:13).

Some people might argue that i is Jesus. That is well said, but let's see what Jesus Himself says about this:

"...no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father (Jn 6:65).
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (Joh 6:44).
"My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day" (Joh 6:39).

One of the many problems [of Christianity] is providing a safe landing for people through the benevolent, all merciful and all forgiving Jesus while avoiding the terrible God. Christianity has made Christ an escape route for sinners to avoid God, hence the preaching of repentance to God emphasized by Paul and all the apostles have been abandoned for "sinners' prayers" to Jesus. But which one is more important when Jesus Himself says, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (Joh 6:44).
"My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." It is God that calls but it is Jesus that leads the man that heard the voice of God to God.

It is God that brings men to Christ and Christ's duty is to keep them till the last day by giving them the Spirit of the Father whom He promised to give when He was leaving. The souls belong to God. God sent Jesus to bring them back to Him and we must acknowledge God not abandon Him for Jesus. We are God's children ultimately, not Jesus' children and our responsibility is to God through Jesus who is our Savior and kinsman redeemer.

The Encounter

Another major problem in Christendom today and why the discipler system thrives is that many believers have not yet had an encounter with Jesus; this is called the Damascus experience. If you don't have this, you can not have a personal relationship with Jesus. There must be an encounter before relationship. If there is no encounter you cannot be discipled. You cannot have friendship, let alone relationship with someone you have never met. You must meet Him first and then learn to walk with Him. Disciplers are like middle men who are not necessary in teh beginning of any relationship but no longer in any working relationship.

Before you WALK with Him, you must come to Him. While the encounter is one time, the relationship is forever, just like in normal relationship, "till death do us part," and that is the reason the church is called "the bride of Christ," and what God has joined together, let no man put asunder."

Every disciple first had an encounter with Jesus before an on-going relationship with Him. Paul used to mention his encounter on the way to Damascus almost every time he had the opportunity to speak. If this encounter is not real to us or we have not experienced it; if it is not fresh to us or we can't remember vividly how it happened, it might perhaps be because we never had the encounter. Nobody can meet Jesus and forget the incidence. Without this encounter, there is no relationship, it is mere religion< and that is what is very common today.

Everywhere Paul went, he always mentioned his encounter with Jesus. That was the day of his spiritual birth. Can any one forget his date of birth?

It is true that Paul met Jesus on the way to Damascus but he was told to go to the house of one Ananias and would be told what to do (Acts 10:6). This man, Ananias qualify as the "discipler" but his role was limited as we will see.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

We should not assume that Ananias was Paul's discipler in the context of the word today. God used him to point Paul in the right direction and to midwife his coming into the gathering, but he was not his discipler. This is what Paul said; "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." (Gal 1:11-12). Jesus was Paul's discipler just like He was the disciples' discipler.

You could see that although Ananias indeed played a very important role in the early life of Paul's conversion, but He did not "disciple" Paul. if you read further, you would read where Paul said God called him by grace and he did not go to Jerusalem to see any of the apostles to receive any teaching from any of them. In his own words, he said, "Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother" (Gal 1:18-19).

It is interesting that despite Paul did not meet some of the apostles face to face until after several years of his conversion, yet he wrote more than half of the New Testament. And when he went up to Jerusalem to compare notes, the apostles were stunned with what Paul wrote down and Paul was also encouraged when he discovered that his revelation that he received privately from Jesus through the Holy Spirit was not at variance with those of the disciples.

Paul did not meet Jesus physically but he was discipled by Jesus in no less way than the earlier Apostles who were physically with Jesus for three and a half years. He told the church: "For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" - this is discipleshp. Everything we learn must be "by the revelation of Jesus Christ," not by the explanation or eschatology of our discipler.

The most interesting part of the whole of Paul's revelation was that he got more revelation than those who were with Jesus physically for three and a half years. As a matter of fact, he became the most powerful voice and the icon of the New Testament Christianity. He is said to be the founder of the modern Christianity. Several times, he corrected the senior apostles and brought them into accountability and responsibility publicly (Gal 2). This is what happens when Jesus disciples us directly by Himself without any middle man. This has sadly been eroded today.

While I am not saying that we all must have the experience of Paul, my point is that we need to be discipled and directly by Jesus Himself through His spirit in us. Paul went to Arabia. The only thing he had with Him was the Holy Spirit who taught Him all things, and even many things Jesus could not teach His disciples when He was physically with them because they were "dull of hearing" (Mat 13:15).

David was also a man in the Old Testament who received directly from God. He did many things that confounded the institution of his days, like eating the shew bread which was meant only for the priests, like instituting the Davidic order of priesthood and also worship. At the end he said, "I know more than my teachers," because it was God that taught him directly.

This is what happened to Paul; he was taught by the revelation of Jesus Christ. It was only Him that God revealed the revelation of the Church to. Several times in his epistles, he called the revelation of the church a "mystery" that was revealed ONLY to him. He called this "according to my gospel: (Rom 2:16, 16:25, 1Tim 1:11, 2Tim 2:8). Paul became the icon of the Church, even giving instructions and directions to other Apostles he met in the faith. When we are directly discipled by the Holy Spirit, we receive divine revelation that God wants to reveal to people and not to system, organization, denomination, or movement.

So, every of Paul's knowledge and teaching did not come from any discipler, not even from Ananias or Barnabas who were the early disciples Jesus sent to him to lead and guide him into the new faith, but his discipleship was from Jesus directly. He said he did not "confer with flesh and blood." To cap it all he said, "Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not." (Gal 1:20).

The Comforter

How awesome would it be if we allow ourselves to be directly discipled by the Lord Jesus! We will not learn the doctrine of our denominations first, the idea of our pastor, and the bias of our discipler, we will not be influenced by the culture, tradition, or tenets of faith of the church where our discipler is from. We don not need our discipler's conviction or teaching, we need the teaching from the Holy Spirit and the Bible alone. Let God be true and every man a liar.

What we need is the Holy Spirit. He is our disicpler. What does man know? Apostle John said, "the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” (1Jn 2:27).

Jesus Himself said,"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26).

So we see that teaching and relationship (discipleship) is DIRECTLY from Jesus through His Spirit. This is the reason we MUST receive the Holy Spirit when we believe. That is why Paul was led to Ananias in order to be laid hands upon so that he would receive the Holy Spirit. When you receive the Holy Spirit, He will teach you ALL THINGS "And ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”

The Comforter

Those whom we call disciplers today are only the likes of Ananias. They are to provide direction and safe landing into the Christian fold. They are like middle men to midwife us into the assembly of the saints, but unfortunately, many midwife new believers into a denomination.

Every new believer needs an Ananias and a Barnabas.Ananias was instrumental to Paul receiving the Holy Spirit, Barnabas was instrumental to bringing Paul into the gathering or the Assembly of the saints.

Paul was also like Ananias to Timothy and Peter was like Ananias to Cornelius. Paul charged Timothy to study to show himself a workman that needeth not ashamed and ready to divide the word of God."

We cannot be Holy Spirit to people but we can be an instrument for them to receive the Holy Spirit, just like Ananias was to Paul and Peter was to Cornelius. But we must recognize the boundary of our calling to them so that we do not continue to occupy or usurp the position of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We did not hear of Ananias role in the life of Paul after this. I'm sure he was a good brother and Paul respected him so. I'm sure Ananias would encourage him anytime they saw subsequently, same with Cornelius. These people did not become "father in the Lord" to them as it is common today.

We can only do what God asked us to do for a believer and not more. Again I say, we must not occupy the place of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people for God is a jealous God. The people are His, not ours. If He gives us specific assignment in the life of a new convert or new believer, we must be careful not to go beyond. We must realise that we are brothers to these people and not fathers. Fathers are in the Catholic and they are not Christians, they are Catholics. Let these words of Jesus guide you:

"But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant" (Mat 23:8-11)

This is what changes the definition of Discipleship of Jesus from the ordinary to extra ordinary.

The Disciplers
By now the difference between the Ananias and the disciplers should be obvious to us. Are there Ananias again today? The answer is Yes, and you are probably one.

First, Ananias was described as "a certain disciple at Damascus." He was a disciple, not a pastor, bishop, prophet, or apostle. He was in Damascus, the place of encounter of Paul.

Doesn't it interest you as it does to me that God did not send any big name apostle like Peter or any other to Paul. He located "a certain disciple" right where Paul was. God has preserved a certain disciple right at the place of our encounter with Jesus, if we truly have an encounter with Him. As God told Paul to look to Ananias, he also told Ananias to look for Paul. For everything God is doing, he always confirms it with two or three witnesses. He did this also with Peter and Cornelius in the next chapter (Acts 10). God is so concerned and passionate about any soul that repents that He personally arrange for an Ananias for them. This is the next chapter in the life of any new believer.

God had told Ananias, “Arise and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”

As if its a pattern to everyone God called, they are always reluctant. This is what Ananias reply to God's command to him: "Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name."

Does that sounds familiar to you? Read Peter's reply when God asked him to go be an Ananias to Cornelius: "But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean" And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. (Act 10:14-15).

It took God to personally intervene and compel (for want of a better word) Ananias and Peter to do the task on the new converts. How ironic this is with today. People are looking for sons in the Lord who would carry their Bible, pour water on their feet and give them their tithe and offering in exchange for mentoring, prophetic mantle, and pastoral training. Remember, be ye not called Rabbi or masters... for they have greater condemnation.

it appears that those who have genuine call of God are always reluctant. God calls those without any capability; those who are first unwilling, not the microphone and pulpit happy people today. there are more of those who call themselves or called by a man of God to mentor or those called by situation, circumstances, ambition and greed than those called by God. Remember Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, and so on in the Old Testament.

There was a man whom Jesus called but was reluctant to follow Jesus. He gave excuse of wanting to go bury his father, but Jesus compelled him saying, let the dead bury their dead. But there was another title-happy guy that ran to Jesus and wanted to follow Him everywhere as a disciple but Jesus refused him (Mat 8:20-22).

Be careful; run away from anyone who wants to compel you to be their son in the Lord. And as a disciple, be careful not to lay hands suddenly on any man. Jesus calls us to specific people and individuals, not a crowd of people to disciple. Don't be hasty to be a master. This is what Jesus said to His disciples: "But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mat 20:25-28).

Will you be discipled?

Having said all this, I will like to remind you again these words of Apostle John: "the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” (1Jn 2:27).

Becoming a disciple means it is with you and the Holy Spirit. What people like me can do is to be Ananias to lay hands on you so that you can receive the Holy Spirit and receive spiritual sight to see, and also to lead you into the true assembly of the saints (like Barnabas did Paul) and not a den of thieves called church where mammon is celebrated in the name and place of God as we see all around us.

No man is your father or discipler; we are all brethren. Although some have come in the faith earlier and by this they have been taught by the Lord through the Holy Spirit to be disciples. They are in your life for specific purpose and you must recognize, realise, and take advantage of this. More importantly, God might send someone directly to you in like Ananias was sent to Saul and Peter was sent to Cornelius. you must realise who this person is with the witness of the Holy Spirit in you and in the person.

We may not all have this experience where God specifically tell both Ananias and Saul and also Peter and Cornelius who is to give them direction in the next chapter of their Christian faith, but God always gives a knowing and a witness in the heart of the new believer and the disciple to give direction. Great if you have this witness and the person also does, but if you dont and the person does not, look for something that resonate within you with such person. I have personally experienced this in my life. God told me about someone but the person did not come until several years after and I did not go up and meet him to say this is what God told me. Somehow later, God said the same to the person and he came to tell me and I told him I knew about 3 or 4 years before but God said ti was not time.

Let no man act in the position of the Holy Spirit of Jesus in your life both in word and life. The Bible says study to show yourself approved of God. Being a christian requires your personal action to study the word. You can ask questions and fellowship but do not receive doctrines from people but directly from Jesus through His Spirit in you as you read His word. It is as you read His word that this happens. It is His love letter to you. This is where relationship is developed wit hthe Holy Spirit who will guide you into all truths, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things.

I am not your disicpler, Jesus is, through the Holy Spirit in you" (Act 9:13). I cannot take the place of Holy Spirit in your life but I can be in the position of Ananias in this discipleship class.

Ananias laid hands on Paul to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter laid hands of Cornelius to receive the Holy Spirit, I can lay hands on you to receive the Holy Spirit but I cannot enter a relationship with you to be a disciple. To be a disciple of Jesus, you must enter into relationship with Jesus. This begins with an encounter with Him.

Have you had an encounter with Jesus yet?

THE CALL

The encounter is the call. When Paul was on his way to Damascus to kill Christians, he got a call from heaven saying, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me...?" He responded directly to that call by asking questions: "who are you, Lord?... What would you want me to do?

Saul was in the company of several people but only him heard the voice. You may be with your friend, family member, spouse, children, relative and so on, but God's call is personal, although He does save with our household. Your spouse, children, parent, friend may not have the call when you do, so be prepared to walk this path alone. Be prepared to respond to Jesus even if no one hears what you heard. Also remember that there is time for everyone in God's call (Read Mat 20:11-16, 1Cor 15:23).

Jesus may not appear to you in the same ways and manner He appeared to Paul or Cornelius. He may not call you as He called any of the disciples, but if you are sincere, you will hear His call in the deep place of your heart, calling you to come to Him.

When I say call, I do not mean call to ministry. God call the disciples first that they may be with Him. Ministry is secondary and may not be necessary. He calls you to abide in Him (Jn 15:4,7). As you abide, He knows what to do. If He needs you for ministry, He will call you and also give the assembly where you are at the witness. If it is only you that received the call and there are no witnesses in your gathering, it means it's not yet time. When the fullness of time comes, He will give witness to the eldership in your local gathering just as He did with Paul in the gathering at Jerusalem saying, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13:2).

Notice that after the church received this witness (which Paul and Barnabas knew before but did not act or impose on the church but waited for confirmation if it is the same spirit), the church still went to fast and pray before they laid hands on them and sent them forth. The church sent them; they did not go on their own. Never go out on a supposed mission on your own or without been sent. If you are not sent, God never called you. If you went on your own, God never called you. Everything God is doing is in the church. He died for the church, He is coming back for the church, if you are not a member, He is not coming for you, yet I do not mean the man man-led church all around us. They are not the church of Jesus but the organized and commercial churches of man.

Basically as believers, we cannot do anything without the witness of the Holy Spirit within our local gathering. That is why the leaders must be spiritual people. The local gathering is important. Again, I do not mean a denomination where one man is the head, owner, founder, and pastor. This is not consistent with the true assembly. The true assembly consists of brethren yet recognition is given to certain brothers within the gathering who posses the grace in certain ministry like pastoring, teaching, evangelism, apostleship and prophetic. These are not titles but functions and the people who posses these graces may be recognised as elders along with those who simply desire to be in leadership who may not function in the five fold ministry but posses all the qualifications in 1Tim 3:1-13, Titus 1:3-10.

So we see that our experiences in coming to the Lord may vary but the call is the same. I can share my own experience if you want to hear it, but the most important thing is that you have an encounter that breaks you and causes you to turn 180 degrees. An encounter that makes you realise that it is the Lord.

Paul was broken, all the disciples were; are you? Paul said he suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung to win Christ. God told Ananias that he has shown Paul how much he would suffer for Him.

Discipleship is a call into the life of suffering. This doesn't necessarily mean earthly suffering of lack or hunger, it may be, but this literarily means a life of sacrifice and self denial; that you will decrease and He increase in you.

Are you ready for this?

Are you ready for a relationship with Jesus, no third party, no pastor, no system, no me - only you and Jesus through His Spirit in you. I or anyone else may be your Ananias at the first, but as long as we are in the picture, you do not have a relationship yet. You are a babe but when a full relationship begins, it must be you and the Holy Spirit in you. Are you ready this?