Book Report: Disciple by Juan Carlos Ortiz (DJ Kim) > 제자학교

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Juan Carlos Ortiz's Disciple is a challenging and convicting book that calls the church back to the radical, costly discipleship that Jesus modeled and commanded. Drawing from his experience as a pastor in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ortiz confronts comfortable Christianity and calls believers to a life fully surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. Throughout the book, several themes stood out to me: Christ-motivated mission, the call to love sacrificially, unity in the body of Christ, community and social justice, and total surrender to the Holy Spirit.

One of the most striking points Ortiz makes is the distinction between Christ-motivated and need-motivated service. He writes: "We went not for Jesus' sake, but for lost souls' sake. That may look nice, but it's wrong, because everything must be Christ-motivated. We do not preach to lost souls because they are lost. We go to extend the Kingdom of God because God says so, and He is the Lord." This passage reminded me of why I preach the gospel - the first step is to have the heart of God, because Christ is my Lord. The motivation behind our service matters just as much as the service itself. Ortiz further challenges our understanding of what it means to be sent by God: "What makes a person a true apostle, a missionary? His experience and the gift of God within him which enables him to plan the strategy for a whole region, to train workers, to plant living orchards everywhere." A true missionary, then, is not simply someone who goes to another culture, but someone experienced and gifted by God to plan and execute a strategy for planting living orchards everywhere. I pray that I will be trained to take on such a mission from God.

Ortiz also offers a simple yet profound reminder: "He gave the commandment for you and me. We have to make time for loving." This convicts me to prioritize loving my family, church members, coworkers, and neighbors over my own comfort and preferences. He also challenges us to examine our daily speech: "We must check ourselves to see if we are speaking the wrong language. If we speak the language of the Kingdom of God, we will be praising the Lord every day all through the year, and fully understanding what we're saying." This is a helpful reminder to be intentional about acknowledging God and praising Him in all circumstances - to let my everyday words reflect the works of God in my life and in those around me.

Ortiz presents a bold vision for the church that cuts against the denominational divisions we see today. He writes: "He sees the different pastors of the city as all co-pastors of His one church. If they are co-pastors, they should meet together, have fellowship, love one another. They should almost live together as the twelve pastors of the Jerusalem church did. They are the presbytery of the city, the elders in charge of God's flock." I believe this is what God desires, and it makes me wonder why so many denominations and separate churches exist within the same area. I pray that we can learn to work together in unity to make disciples of all nations. At the same time, Ortiz warns about the danger of traditions replacing the Spirit's work: "And we will oust people from the church if they don't line up with the tradition in every respect. Traditions and structures are so strong! Sometimes I almost wonder if they don't have an evil spirit behind them." I have witnessed this firsthand, and I pray that my heart would be renewed to discern God's will in these difficult situations.

Ortiz refuses to let the church spiritualize away its responsibility to care for one another materially. He writes: "We should start where our own word is heard and obeyed. Let us start with the people with the Bibles under their arms. They must carry out social justice before anyone. It's incredible to think that one brother in a congregation can have two TVs while another has no bed. It's incredible that one has two or more cars while another has to walk twenty blocks and wait for buses an hour every day." These words are piercing. I sometimes wrestle with whether financial giving can be detrimental to spiritual growth, but then I remember that Jesus Himself fed thousands at no cost by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish. I pray for both the courage to share generously and the wisdom to do so under God's guidance.

Ortiz's approach to teaching the Word is also radically different from most churches: "We don't give a new lesson each week. One lesson usually lasts for two or even three months. Why? Because we don't go on to a new one until we are practicing the old one. Doesn't the Bible tell us to be doers, not just hearers? Ours is a generation of hearers." This conviction is powerful. A person who practices a single lesson has truly learned, while someone who merely hears dozens of lessons has not. I pray that I will obey God's Word as a doer, not just a hearer.

Finally, Ortiz uses a beautiful image of a river to describe total surrender: "The river of God takes us out because it goes where God goes. Today we are directing the Spirit in many ways. This is because we are still touching bottom — so we can go where we want to. But when we are floating, the river takes us where it wants us to go. The river is the New Covenant. In the Bible there is only one promise — the Promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit." I pray that I will not rely on my own strength but will truly let go and be carried wherever the Holy Spirit leads me.

Ortiz's Disciple has challenged me deeply. It exposes the comfortable, consumer-oriented American Christianity that so many of us have settled into and calls us back to radical obedience, sacrificial community, and full surrender to the Holy Spirit. This book has made me examine my own motivations for service, my willingness to love sacrificially, and my openness to being carried wherever God's river flows. I pray that the lessons from this book will not remain words I have merely heard, but truths I will live out as a doer of God's Word.