Vineyard Church | Weekly Update March 20, 2024

Monkey See, Monkey Do… the cycle of discipleship that replicates as seers become seen, but also a cycle that has no end on this side of the resurrection, as a seen monkey never loses the responsibility to see other monkeys. You might need to re-read that (I did three times), but the point is that the example we have from scripture for becoming more like Jesus is cyclical rather than linear. After receiving Jesus as Savior, being justified by his grace, we enter into a process of discipleship that requires a community of disciples at different points on the circle learning together what it means to follow Jesus, do the stuff that he did, and love sacrificially and defiantly. No monkey will ever be finished seeing, and no monkey will ever be finished doing. Monkey see, monkey do.

Discerning how we as a church talk about and walk out discipleship is vital for the life and health of the community. Jay Pathak, the Vineyard USA National Director, recently gave this illustration of discipleship.… Consider going swimming for exercise. You go to the pool, stretch out, and jump into an empty lane and begin swimming. As you swim, you notice someone standing on the pool deck, yelling.… Soon, you realize that they are yelling at you. “Keep your head down!” “Finish at your hips!” “Kick!!!” This dude is standing on the deck, yelling at you to improve your stroke.

This would be an odd experience, having someone intently watching you, scrutinizing your performance, and hollering unsolicited advice as you tried to work out. Even if the advice is sound, it is difficult to accept because of the etiquette breach of this behavior. Certainly not effective discipleship as the two monkeys are not submitted to each other in relationship, the seeing and the doing are overpowered by the lack of permission and submission to be in the training cycle together.

Similarly, but far different, is the intentional choice to join a swim team. There is an expectation on this team to be coached, to be trained, to be pushed. There are designed workouts that lead to intentional improvement. There are feedback, accountability, and encouragement--all of this within the boundaries of expectations between swimmer, swim team, and swim coach. This also works most effectively when accomplished through mutuality rather than hierarchy, the swimmer, the team, and the coach united through mutual submission and accountability, allowing each to function in their given role for the good of the whole.

A third example, one that does not replicate the example of discipleship from scripture but does seem to look like cultural consumption Christianity, takes us to a pool with bleachers. People come to the pool one day a week or so, sit in the bleachers and watch a swimmer perform. They watch the swimmer, judge how well the swimmer swam, decide if the swim was lacking or perhaps this week the swim was particularly inspirational, and with that inspiration, leave the bleachers to return to life. Unfortunately, this is an all too common paradigm of something, but something that is not discipleship.

Forming and maintaining a Biblical example of discipleship is the work of the church, a work that requires mutuality rather than hierarchy, submission, and accountability as the cyclical nature of discipleship continues to form and replicate. J. Heinrich Arnold once said that discipleship is not a question of our own doing, but it is a matter of making room for God so that he can live in us. I like this quote because it exemplifies our individual submission, making room for God’s will in place of our own so he can live in us, plural, a community of believers and followers of Jesus.

This sounds like a model built on the pillars of scripture; two ready examples would be the Great Commission of Matthew 28 and the words of Jesus in Mark 8:34-35:

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.

Adam Greenwell
Pastor | Billings Vineyard Church
www.BillingsVineyard.org