Are You Too Busy For Discipleship?
“I’m too busy for all of that!” We hear this opposition to discipleship as a lifestyle more than any other. And as crazy as it sounds, Churches say the same thing.
In this episode, Caesar asks the question: Are you too busy for discipleship? If you are honest, you may not be happy with your answer. Fear not! You’ll get some help to get started, or re-started, regardless of where you’re at today.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- The true issue behind all of our perceived busyness.
- How discipleship is moving from “additional” to “intentional”.
- The importance of growing in gospel-intentionality.
- Free discipleship training that fits your life and schedule.
From this episode:
“Sometimes we say we’re too busy for discipleship or meaningful relationships in community, but then truth be known if we look at our calendar, we’re spending way more time hanging out watching Netflix, watching sports, playing sports… Fill in the blank, all kinds of stuff. And we’re not really that busy. It really is a motivational issue. It’s a heart issue and a priority issue.”
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Free Download of the Big 3 For Episode #339
Everyday Disciple Challenge – Register now FREE
Transcript
How about your neighbors and People of Peace in your life.
Caesar:Those people that are really leaning towards you.
Caesar:Relationship.
Caesar:Do you know your neighbors?
Caesar:Do you know their stories well enough to know what their barriers to the gospel might be, where they're living with unbelief or false belief about God.
Caesar:And what he says is true about them.
Caesar:Do your neighbors know that.
Caesar:story of God and the God of that story, or are you too busy for that?
Caesar:You see, sometimes we say we're too busy for discipleship or meaningful relationships and community, but then truth be known.
Caesar:If we looked at our calendar, we're spending way more time.
Caesar:Hanging out watching Netflix, watching sports, playing sports, fill in the blank, all kinds of stuff.
Caesar:And we're not really that busy.
Caesar:It really is a motivational issue.
Caesar:It's a heart issue and a priority.
Announcer:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple podcast where you learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Announcer:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Announcer:This is the stuff your parents, pastors, and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Announcer:And now here's your host Caesar Kalinowski.
Caesar:Hey, Hey, how you doing?
Caesar:How's your day going?
Caesar:I don't know when you're listening to this episode, if it's right away when I'm releasing it, it is summer and it is glorious.
Caesar:And what a beautiful, busy and blessed weekend we had in team K.
Caesar:Uh, it was.
Caesar:And our daughter Justine she's our youngest child got married this weekend.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Whoo.
Caesar:She married a guy named Ben wonderful guy, also Polish, right.
Caesar:And last name with a ski.
Caesar:Can't love that more than.
Caesar:The wedding was down on his family's little farm, kind of a farmette, just beautiful and really landscaped and gorgeous.
Caesar:And we had a blast and it was the gospel in action and beautiful.
Caesar:And she looked beautiful and she's happy and we couldn't be more excited.
Caesar:About the life they have ahead of them.
Caesar:It's wonderful.
Caesar:Oh, anyway, I just had to share that because my heart is still full from that.
Caesar:It was just fun and gospel and beautiful.
Caesar:All of it.
Caesar:Like it should be right.
Caesar:A marriage, a life coming together.
Caesar:Oh, thank you, Lord.
Caesar:Hey, would you join us over on Facebook?
Caesar:If you've not joined the Facebook group yet?
Caesar:I would love to be able to stay in touch that way.
Caesar:We have the episodes posted there and free resources.
Caesar:And I'm in there with videos and we chat up about mission and discipleship and all that.
Caesar:If you've not joined us in the Facebook group, would you just tab over with your thumb here real quick or whatever, if you're listening where you're doing and go over and find the Everyday Disciple Podcast group, or you can type in Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash Facebook, and it'll take you.
Caesar:And don't join the group and, uh, we'd love to get going.
Caesar:Hey, I'm also very excited about something that's coming up real soon.
Caesar:We're doing the Everyday Disciple challenge again.
Caesar:Maybe you've heard me talk about that in the past.
Caesar:It's been a while since we've done that, we are doing the challenge this time, the Everyday Disciple challenge, making disciples of Jesus in everyday life.
Caesar:And it's the embracing the new normal.
Caesar:edition.
Caesar:Aha.
Caesar:So maybe you've heard me talk about this before.
Caesar:Maybe you even joined me in the past.
Caesar:These are foundational.
Caesar:Discipleship tools, thinking work, shop stuff, homework, all that stuff, but all of it, all of it in light of how we're now embracing this new normal that the church that's you and me find ourselves in.
Caesar:So there's nothing to fear.
Caesar:Let's embrace what God's already we're doing in our neighborhoods and cities.
Caesar:And I want to give you that free training.
Caesar:It's four days, it's free.
Caesar:There's about 40 to 45 minutes a day.
Caesar:So it's not going to take up a whole lot of your world.
Caesar:And this thing gets started on Monday, August 16th.
Caesar:2021.
Caesar:It's just coming up here and that'll be at 11:00 AM Pacific time.
Caesar:And we'll do that for, like I said, about 40, 45 minutes.
Caesar:There'll be live training every day.
Caesar:There'll be worksheets to download and work through a little bit of homework.
Caesar:I'm giving away prizes just to motivate you and keep you excited.
Caesar:And I will walk you through exactly how we do everyday discipleship and how the church is now embracing the new normal.
Caesar:So I hope you'll join me for that.
Caesar:You can go to Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge right now to register for free.
Caesar:And I want to encourage you to invite the folks from your small group or your Missional Community or your church.
Caesar:To join you in this.
Caesar:Why not let this free training help you move the ball forward and unite your hearts around a common mission?
Caesar:The little bit of homework that is going to happen every day is going to really convince people, Hey, we can make disciples in everyday life.
Caesar:This is not hard.
Caesar:We're just learning some new ways of thinking and doing so.
Caesar:I hope you'll join me for that.
Caesar:Again.
Caesar:Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge to register for free.
Caesar:All right today, I'm asking a pretty simple question.
Caesar:You're going to have to do all the work.
Caesar:I'm asking the questions today.
Caesar:Here's the question.
Caesar:Are you too busy for discipleship?
Caesar:And I want to break this down into a few categories that look inward at our own growth and maturity in Christ, and also begin to help us look outward toward others in our lives.
Caesar:And those around us answering this question.
Caesar:Is really important.
Caesar:It really is.
Caesar:But even more important is what we do going forward.
Caesar:If we're not that excited about our answers.
Caesar:Remember last time on the podcast just a week or so back, I shared that when I was working at the giant mega church as a pastor, I realized I had zero relationships with not yet believers there just wasn't time.
Caesar:So I understand that feeling of being really busy, doing.
Caesar:Quote, unquote ministry.
Caesar:And then coming to the realization that I was not actually making new disciples, which is the only mission and real ministry Jesus has called us to empowered us for.
Caesar:I was too busy doing ministry to make disciples of Jesus.
Caesar:Let me just listen to that statement.
Caesar:Yikes.
Caesar:Too busy with weekly programs or rehearsals staff meetings.
Caesar:Volunteer recruitment to those programs and meetings.
Caesar:And then of course we had to pull off three highly produced weekend service.
Caesar:There was no time to be discipled or truly help disciple others to a faith and life with Jesus that touched every area of their lives.
Caesar:And so kind of with that in mind, that brings me to the first category of discipleship.
Caesar:I want to ask you about, are you too busy to engage in being discipled and growing in the gospel in your own life?
Caesar:It happens.
Caesar:I've been there.
Caesar:I get so busy with quote unquote important stuff and ministry stuff, and all of that in life that I'm actually giving no attention or time to my own growth, my own discipleship, my own walking deeper and deeper with Jesus.
Caesar:Are you finding community and giving yourself to others throughout your week and allowing the gospel to saturate more and more of your life?
Caesar:Or maybe you're resting on what you learned years ago, maybe earlier in your life.
Caesar:You learned a lot about God and the Bible and stuff.
Caesar:And maybe now that's just propped up by a somewhat obligatory quiet time when you can fit that in a little church attendance, or maybe watching a live stream of your church service is that what's going on?.
Caesar:You so busy, that's what it's kind of boiled down to.
Caesar:Or if you're a pastor, are you thinking that your message prep that's really your discipleship.
Caesar:That's where you go deep and get sanded on by the gospel in community.
Caesar:Even though you're doing that message prep alone in a room by yourself and usually delivered as a monlogue.
Caesar:Oh, come on.
Caesar:That's not discipleship.
Caesar:That's not going to keep you growing and fresh.
Caesar:It's it's that life on life.
Caesar:That's where it happens is becoming more like Jesus and experiencing greater spiritual freedom and relational peace, still the highest priority in your life.
Caesar:Or have other things crowded that out.
Caesar:I know this is hard.
Caesar:This is hard to ask and harder to answer.
Caesar:But I think it's important, especially now, especially these days when the world is watching and sort of turned upside down and longing for life and community and newness and freshness, it was in so are.
Caesar:We, so am i, how about your own family, your kids, if you have them in your spouse, if you're married.
Caesar:Is your lifestyle as a family, such that others could hang out with you and learn how to walk in the ways of Jesus, because it's such a regular part of your life and in the gospels, dripping from your lips and your stories will your own kids know how to live out their Christian faith and believe in the gospel in the world.
Caesar:They're entering it.
Caesar:Which is different than the one we grew up in.
Caesar:Certainly.
Caesar:Are you just too busy for that?
Caesar:It takes a lot of intentionality, doesn't it?
Caesar:Yeah, it really does.
Caesar:I hope that these hard questions are stirring up some thoughts, some.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:All right.
Caesar:Maybe it's time sort of thing.
Caesar:How about your neighbors and people of peace in your life, those people that are really leaning towards you and relationship.
Caesar:Do you know your neighbors?
Caesar:Remember?
Caesar:I shared, I, I didn't know any of my neighbors.
Caesar:I was too busy.
Caesar:I had no relationships other than the kind of wave and Hey, how's it going, man?
Caesar:Good.
Caesar:The lines looking good or whatever.
Caesar:Do you know your neighbors?
Caesar:Do you know their stories?
Caesar:Well enough to know what their barriers to the gospel of John.
Caesar:Where they're living with unbelief or false belief about God.
Caesar:And what he says is true about them.
Caesar:Have you even identified the people of peace in your life, so you can be integrating more and more of your time extending invitation and access to your life.
Caesar:They're out there.
Caesar:I promise you they are.
Caesar:And do your neighbors know the story of God and the God of that story?
Caesar:Or are you too busy for that?
Caesar:You see, sometimes we say we're too busy for discipleship or meaningful relationships in community, but then truth be known.
Caesar:If we looked at our calendar, we're spending way more time hanging out, watching Netflix, watching sports, playing sports, fill in the blank, all kinds of stuff.
Caesar:And we're not really that busy.
Caesar:It really is a motivational issue.
Caesar:It's a heart issue and a priority issue.
Caesar:I hope I'm not bumming you out, but I hope I am maybe, oh, picking at something a little.
Caesar:What about other Christians in your life too busy for them?
Caesar:Most Christians have never been discipled.
Caesar:I hope you understand.
Caesar:I believe this.
Caesar:Will we go another generation another 30 years or more where Christians are taught sin management and behavioral modification primarily, or at least that's what they take from it.
Caesar:Well, we continue to teach them loads of Bible literacy facts about the Bible and stuff, but not help them grow in.
Caesar:As we modeled gospel fluency for them, where they also learned to speak and experience and enjoy the good news of the gospel in all of life, will we live that life and speak that way out in front of them and with other Christians in Everyday life.
Caesar:Or are we going to stay too busy for that?
Caesar:And there are leaders in your church that are wanting, needing to disciple others in their lives, too.
Caesar:How will they learn to make disciples who make disciples?
Caesar:If they're not first discipled and then given a framework and tools to in turn disciple others, it's not going to happen accidentally.
Caesar:And it certainly won't happen sitting in rows on a Sunday.
Caesar:Or live streaming with a million distractions in the background.
Caesar:And if not us helping them discipling them, who will don't discount the discipling of the saints.
Caesar:You've heard me say it before.
Caesar:Are you equipping leaders who know how to make disciples to make disciples who build out disciples in community and multiply?
Caesar:Most of us think that living life in a gospel centered community on mission and making disciples as a lifestyle is a big add on to our already jam packed lives and schedules.
Caesar:I know I used to, and that there was a huge problem at the beginning there because I thought it was my schedule to begin with, and then I would fill it and then wonder, however, possibly would discipleship fit in there.
Caesar:Let me suggest we need to move.
Caesar:From a mindset of additional to intentional.
Caesar:We need to move from thinking that discipleship's gotta be bolted on and I am busy.
Caesar:You don't understand.
Caesar:I am that busy.
Caesar:We need to move from thinking, okay, it's something additional that has to be added and we need to move to intentional thinking.
Caesar:And what if God has already given us something that would make all of life?
Caesar:One big opportunity for mission.
Caesar:For discipleship for the gospel being experienced while he has the rhythm of life that he has placed each of us in.
Caesar:That's how it really works.
Caesar:See discipleship is not a set of activities or classes we need to add to our lives.
Caesar:God has created the world, our lives, and everyone around us with a set of common rhythms that are full of opportunities for discipleship and mission.
Caesar:And it's already baked into our lives and everyone else's do, you know, and live in those rhythms with growing gospel intentionality.
Caesar:You can let me say if life on mission, if a life of discipleship is hard or it seems impossible for you because you're just too busy, it's time to choose a different rhythm . Yeah, it really is.
Caesar:Something needs to change and I'd love to help you with that.
Caesar:That's why at the beginning here, I was inviting you to join me for the upcoming Everyday Disciple challenge.
Caesar:Yeah, that's a very easy step on point to some new thoughts, some new ideas, some new tools and practices, some new rhythms of life.
Caesar:And I could show you how your life is already full of opportunities.
Caesar:In fact, I will, if you'll join me for the challenge, remember, it's just, it's four days in about 40 minutes a day with a little bit of homework.
Caesar:Starting on October 16th.
Caesar:So I want you to join me for that.
Caesar:I really do carve that time out and just make that happen.
Caesar:And by the way, if you do register for that and you have to miss a session or something like that, we'll work out, getting you replaced for all that.
Caesar:So either way, sign up, get the training.
Caesar:It, we've done this with thousands of people.
Caesar:Let me tell you just a little bit about it, so you can see why I was asking all these questions today and how it kind of flows right into this challenge.
Caesar:That's coming up the first day of the challenge.
Caesar:We're going to talk about what is discipleship, and I'm going to share with you a practical working, understanding, and framework of discipleship.
Caesar:That'll change the way you make disciples of Jesus.
Caesar:It really will.
Caesar:It'll it'll switch everything around to a whole new perspective.
Caesar:On the second day, we're going to look at our gospel identity.
Caesar:Because understanding how our true identity that flows from God, that that changes all of our motivations.
Caesar:And that sends us out on mission.
Caesar:That's key to making disciples in everyday life for us.
Caesar:And for those that we're discipling and leading and trying them out.
Caesar:Day three.
Caesar:We're going to really look at those rhythms of life, those natural ordinary rhythms of life, that I was just talking about how the gods perfectly created them for natural daily discipleship.
Caesar:And it fits your schedule.
Caesar:I promise you, it does give me the opportunity to show you and prove it to you.
Caesar:And then day four, we're going to look at finding a Missional balance because life is busy and I'll show you how Jesus balanced his time and his intentions.
Caesar:As he moved his disciples from being tire kickers to mature disciples.
Caesar:And that'll really start to answer the, how do we start doing this question?
Caesar:And again, all of this will be framed in light of how we're now embracing the new normal that the church has found ourselves in.
Caesar:Nothing to fear.
Caesar:It's all going to be good.
Caesar:Actually.
Caesar:I think it's an exciting time.
Caesar:So please join me for that.
Caesar:Go to Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge.
Caesar:Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge and register right now for free and invite everybody to know there again, it's free.
Caesar:Let them do it with you.
Caesar:You can hop online afterwards and discuss it all that.
Caesar:Well.
Caesar:Now I want to get to the big three and in a few minutes, I'll share a new something to think about segment with you.
Caesar:But first as always, I want to leave you with the big three takeaways from today's topic.
Caesar:And you can get a printable PDF of this week's big three as a free download by going to Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash big three.
Caesar:. Okay, here we go.
Caesar:Here's the big three for this week.
Caesar:Don't miss.
Caesar:These first discipleship is meant to be in all of life activity
Caesar:a lifestyle and without intentional effort to both be discipled and to live with and disciple others, there's no way to really make mature disciples that look more and more like Jesus.
Caesar:The discipleship model that Jesus practiced with his disciples is the same one.
Caesar:He calls us to today.
Caesar:It's life on life, life in community and life on mission.
Caesar:And God has designed this world for you and me to be able to live that way today, too.
Caesar:Here's the second thing, God loves you.
Caesar:Just where you're at.
Caesar:Remember that it's okay.
Caesar:God loves you.
Caesar:We're right where you're at, whatever your discipleship intentions have been.
Caesar:But our loving father did not send his son Jesus, just to get us into it.
Caesar:He came that we might have a full life, an adventure with him of being disciples and making more disciples, filling the world with his glory, starting first with our own family, our own church, and then moving outwards to include many others.
Caesar:Let the gospel change your schedule and priorities so that you can more fully live the life that Jesus died to give us.
Caesar:And third.
Caesar:Be humble enough to start where you're at and begin again, where needed.
Caesar:So, okay.
Caesar:Get the training and encouragement.
Caesar:You need to get started with new discipleship rhythms for yourself and with others.
Caesar:You see it's far too easy to hear a talk like this.
Caesar:Get asked these hard questions and then give mental assent to these things.
Caesar:Nodding in agreement with good intentions, but never really get started with new meaningful practices.
Caesar:Now is the time to get started or restarted.
Caesar:All right.
Caesar:I know that's strong language today.
Caesar:That's sort of a, a bit of a shove as it were, but I hope you'll receive that and think and pray about that.
Caesar:And what's next for you there.
Caesar:Now, let me leave you with something to think about.
Caesar:Have you heard the phrase be in the world, but not of the word?
Caesar:Well, it may surprise you, but that phrase is not anywhere found in the Bible as much as you may think.
Caesar:It's in quote, maybe from the sermon on the Mount or another verse.
Caesar:It's not there, but parts of the sentiment are however, and they're expressed in various places in scripture.
Caesar:One thought comes to mind, John 15, 19.
Caesar:He says, if you were to give your allegiance to the world, they would love and welcome you as one of their own.
Caesar:But because you won't align yourself with the values of this world, they'll hate you.
Caesar:I've chosen you and taking you out of the world to be mine.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:That's Jesus talking to his disciples.
Caesar:He's taken us out of the world to be mine, but he's not actually saying he took us out of the world.
Caesar:Really?
Caesar:That's not what he's saying.
Caesar:He's it's, he's taken our hearts out.
Caesar:Look here what Paul says in Romans 12.
Caesar:Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God's marvelous mercy.
Caesar:The gospel to surrender yourselves to God, to be his sacred living sacrifices and live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart for this becomes your genuine expression of worship.
Caesar:Wow.
Caesar:Let me pause there.
Caesar:See, he's saying our lives lived for his glory.
Caesar:Lives of holiness will give us a life that experiences everything that delights God's heart.
Caesar:And that is actually our genuine expression of work.
Caesar:It's not sitting in rows and singing camp songs.
Caesar:It goes on in verse two here.
Caesar:It says, stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the holy spirit through a total reformation of how you think this will empower you to discern God's will.
Caesar:As you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.
Caesar:Wow.
Caesar:That's powerful.
Caesar:But you see that's all happening in the culture, but it's a different heart.
Caesar:That's what Jesus is talking about.
Caesar:He has transformed our hearts, taken our hearts out of that world system.
Caesar:That do to be.
Caesar:Muck that we live in.
Caesar:So you won't find that word for word phrase in your Bible, but next time you hear someone say, be in the world, but not of it, ask yourself, am I out there mixing it up with people of all kinds, living differently as a living sacrifice, experiencing the life that God created me for and experiencing all that delights his heart.
Caesar:Now we get till it that way.
Caesar:That's something to think about.
Caesar:All right, one last time.
Caesar:I just want to remind you, please join me for the Everyday Disciple challenge.
Caesar:That's coming up starting August 16th.
Caesar:Go to Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge.
Caesar:And you can register right now.
Caesar:Well, that's it for today, but you're going to want to join me next week for the podcast.
Caesar:As I talk about the steps the church needs to take today and many already.
Caesar:To embrace the circumstances that we're finding ourselves in life and church and our church services and attendance and disciple-making and everything has changed forever, but we can not only accept, but welcome this shift.
Caesar:And if you can't already tell, I'm pretty excited for what we're starting to see right now.
Caesar:And I want to talk about it.
Caesar:You're not to want to miss it.
Caesar:I'll talk to you soon.
Announcer:Thanks for joining us today.
Announcer:For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit Everyday Disciple dot com.