“I want you to bring something back to give to someone else.” I can’t count the times I have shared some iteration of that sentiment with students. Before embarking on a trip to a conference or camp, I would often say to students and their leaders that our purpose was “to bring back what we glean” I came by this honestly as I have heard the same refrain spoken from leaders to myself. “Go to this conference and bring something back for all of us.” The sentiment is pure. It even seems to fit with Christ’s command to “Go and make disciples.” However, regardless of noble intentions, the statement is wrong and can move people away from deepening their walk with Christ rather than compel them closer. 

My previous viewpoint was in error because I viewed discipleship as a relay race instead of an orchestra. In a relay race, the coach provides the lineup, runs the practices, instructs on how runners should make an exchange, and then sets the team loose to run the race set before them. The coach then watches the event and provides feedback to the team and individual runners after. This seems to align with Christ’s commissioning of His disciples and fits with any sport where I competed. The coach instructs and releases the athlete to perform. The fans then see the result. However, the visual misses a key element.

Apostle Paul shares that some water, some plant, yet God gives the increase (1 Cor 3:6), and Luke shares that the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit before the disciple-making journey began (Acts 2:4.) Still not seeing the error in my thinking? The reality is that God never intended to coach, release and then review. He is the one that does the work. Our salvation and the salvation of others is not of works lest anyone, including the discipler, should boast. We can go to a conference that ministers to us and certainly hope and pray that the Lord uses what He filled us with, but I can do nothing (neither can you) on my own. My willpower, zeal, or intellect will not make a single disciple. My model needed adjustment.

If the relay race is the wrong image, what is the right one? What the Lord ministered to me on the way back from taking students to a youth conference forever changed my approach. The visual is that God’s people are His orchestra, of which He is both the composer and conductor. You may ask, “How is that different from the relay race?” Aren’t the musicians also playing for the crowd? Isn’t the conductor releasing the musicians to perform? The answer at first glance is yes to both questions. However, the configuration is different. The coach is almost exclusively out of the equation in a relay race. However, in an orchestra, the first ear that the musician plays to is that of the conductor.

The conductor is responsible for the musicians' tempo, sound, and synchronization. The musicians play to the conductor, who fine-tunes their performance for the audience. Do you see what is happening? The conductor is serving both the orchestra and those who are listening. The conductor is in the middle, and the orchestra is playing for him. Such it is in our discipleship efforts. Our growth does not happen from the Lord releasing us to minister to others. Rather, our growth (and the development of others) depends on the Lord refining us as we serve Him. We play for Him, and He takes our feeble efforts and conducts a masterpiece. This masterpiece will draw some and leave others disinterested. In the final assessment, no one can declare that they didn’t hear the orchestra, aka His disciples, or see the conductor, Christ the King. Some will recognize the conductor as a member of the orchestra, while others will bow from the crowd. In either case, no one will question the supremacy of the conductor. 

What then should be the natural expectation of the orchestra members? It is to remain in contact with the conductor, to know what pleases Him, and to refine their craft towards being well-pleasing to the ear of the conductor. How do we do this? We do this through the diligent practice of the habits of grace - the vehicles the Lord gives us to know Him. Where an orchestra member will learn with finite detail how to read the music the conductor provides, the Christian will seek to know Christ through the power of His word with equal detail. Where the orchestra member will labor to practice for hours upon hours, the Christian will learn how to pray without ceasing and meditate continually upon the Lord's Word (1 Th 5:16, Ps 1:2). Where the orchestra member will learn how to engage with fellow orchestra members, the Christian will seek to engage with the Body of Christ towards the end of glorifying the One who has brought us together (Eph 4:15,16). Where the orchestra member will understand and desire to play for an audience, the Christian will also seek to be well-pleasing to the Lord so that the Lord can use the efforts to minister to others (Col 1:10). 

There will be an acute understanding that the conductor’s work through the orchestra will create a desire for someone in the crowd to one day join the orchestra itself. Isn’t it amazing that in any symphony, the audience will have varying degrees of interest - some will be bored while others will have a spark ignited that propels them to one day be a member. What a mystery that the same music has such a different effect. Likewise, the Lord’s work as we play for Him will illuminate some to become a citizen of the Kingdom, while others will dismiss the masterpiece. In any case, however, the orchestra must play, for they know not who will receive or who will reject. Similarly, Christians are faithful to our duties as we know not how the Lord will use the work with a dying world or also for a fellow orchestra member who needs the encouragement of a faithfully played song for the audience of our King.

Not only is Christ the conductor the one for which the Kingdom citizen plays, but Christ is also the composer of the symphony. He is the author and finisher of the masterpiece (Heb 12:1). So Christian - let us play. Let us not become distracted in our well-doing (Gal. 6:9). Let us not become distracted by the size of our crowd as we realize that we play for the King, and He will choose to do with His orchestra and symphony that which He desires. Let us continually remember the privilege of being a part of the most significant of symphonies and how God’s grace - only God’s grace - enables us to perform.