Temple:  
Pretty.
(Clean, Sterile, Nice)
Discipleship system:  
Not pretty.
(Messy, Bloody Human, Alive)
 Pretty.        Not pretty.
Mat 16:24  Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man
would come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me.  25  For whoever would save
his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my
sake will find it.  26  For what will it profit a man, if he
gains the whole world and forfeits his life?
Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

Mat 10:24  "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a
servant above his master; 25  it is enough
for the disciple to be like his teacher,
and the servant like his master.

1 Cor 12:27  Now you are the body of Christ and
individually members of it.

Mark 13:1  And as he came out of the temple, one of his
disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what wonderful
stones and what wonderful buildings!"  
2  And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great
buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon
another, that will not be thrown down."

John 2:19  Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up." 20  The Jews then
said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,
and will you raise it up in three days?"  
21  But he spoke of the temple of his body.
22  When therefore he was raised from the dead, his
disciples remembered that he had said this; and they
believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had
spoken.
The church with an institutional worldview fails to
thrive because it is more focused on rebuilding the
temple, an unchanging institution, than on providing
the spiritual nurture necessary to make disciples who
make disciples who make disciples.

This nurture requires personal sacrifice.  The
transition to spiritual nurturing involves moving from
an exciting but shallow ministry with many people to
calm, deeply nurturing relationships with just a few
people who have names.

These people who have names are called disciples.

Jesus indicated in John 2:19-22 his intention to
replace the temple, an institution, with the body of
Christ, a relational disciple-making network.
The potential threat to the institutional temple is the
motivation for his  execution.

--- Seminar One, www.disciplewalk.com/resources
Shell photo by Ed Bierman
Crab photo by Vanessa Pike Russell
Temple photo by James Emery
Cross photo by Bob AuBuchon
Snail photo by Joann Edmonds-Rogers
Permission via Creative Commons License

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