Discipleship is Gardening

Jesus said that Christians are supposed to "make disciples of all nations."  I've thought a lot about what this means, to make disciples, and I think it goes far beyond just sharing the gospel or sharing our testimony.

In Mathew 13 Jesus told a parable of someone throwing seeds around on the ground.  He said that some fell on a sidewalk and the birds pecked up the seeds.  He said some seeds fell on some rocks where some dirt had gathered, and the seeds took root right away, but because there was no real soil and the plants died as soon as the hot sun hit them.  He said some fell in side a patch of thorns and as soon as the plants grew, the thorns crowded around and choked them to death.  Finally, he said that some fell on good ground and that seed made a crop that gave back a massive amount of food.

The disciples, Jesus' disciples, didn't understand what he was talking about.  To be honest, even after hearing Jesus' explanation, I didn't understand what he was talking about.

He went on to explain it by saying that the person who hears the gospel and doesn't understand it is like the seed that fell on the sidewalk - Satan comes along and snatches it away before anything can really happen.  The seed that falls on the shallow soil on the rock is like the person who gets excited and all fired up when they hear the gospel, but because they have no depth to their understanding, fall away as soon as it gets hot out.  The seed that falls in the thorn patch is someone who hears the gospel and tries to grow, but because of the cares of the world and worries that they have, let the Truth be choked out.  Finally, the seed that has depth and good soil and no weeds or rocks are like someone who receives the gospel and produces fruit because of it.

For the longest time, I thought this meant "well, you win some and you lose some, but share the gospel with everyone.  It might not stick to everyone, but that's the way the seeds fall."  To some extent this might be true, but I think it was overemphasized with me because of my history in street evangelism and open air preaching.

Sharing the gospel is throwing the seed, but discipleship is gardening.  Gardening starts long before the seeds are planted.  Gardening loosens up the soil and gets those rocks out.  Gardening is guarding against birds that snatch seeds.  Gardening is pulling those thorns out.  All of this is so that when that seed is planted it lands in good soil.

Discipleship begins long before the seed of the gospel takes root, because discipleship is preparing the ground.  Don't ignore the important and messy part of the gospel that prepares people's hearts.