Disciples Who Make Disciples: Defining Discipleship

 

The last words Jesus gave to His followers were

18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 NLT

These words were the continuation of the first words that He had spoken to the men He called to be His disciples: And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Mark 1:17  ESV Jesus spent three years of His earthly life discipling His followers to be fishers of men. Following His commission, they went into all the world and made disciples, who made disciples, who made disciples, and the process continues today. And it will continue into the future, as we who are His followers now obey His command and make disciples of all nations. 

What is a disciple? 

According to Bobby Harrington at discipleship.org, there are three primary characteristics of a disciple. 

• He/she follows Jesus
• He/she is being changed by Jesus
• He/she is committed to the mission of Jesus

Discipleship.org uses the diagram at the beginning of this post is a visual way of showing how people grow as disciples:

• Head – in the mind the decision to follow Jesus has been made (now he/she needs to connect in discipling relationships)
• Heart – in discipling relationships we are changed by the Spirit to be more and more like Jesus (now he/she needs to minister to others)
• Hand – by our actions we actively committed to the mission of Jesus (now he/she needs to share the gospel and disciple others)

Being a disciple of Jesus is a "full-body" commitment. He demands nothing less than the all of us. Are you a disciple? 

Read the full article from disciplship.org here. 

Parade of Nations

PyeongChang 2018

And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 (NLT)

After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10

Watching the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChange, South Korea and can't help but be moved by the pageantry of the ceremony. South Koreans have been preparing for the Olympics for over 2 1/2 years, and the opening ceremony sets the tone for the rest of the games. 

For me, the highlight of the opening ceremony is the Parade of Nations where the Olympic athletes from every nation and territory march into the Olympic stadium under their country's flag. Nearly 3,000 athletes from 92 nations will march in the Parade of Nations. The United States will have the largest contingent with 242 athletes, while several nations will be represented by only one athlete. This year's winter Olympics will be the largest in history in terms of the number of athletes. 

Watching the Parade of Nations, my mind went to the passage in Revelation where John writes about seeing a crowd too large to count, standing before the throne of God, praising the Lord. In that crowd are people from every nation tribe and tongue. It will be something glorious to behold, but a question that bothers me is, how many from each nation tribe and tongue? Surely there will be many North Americans, as we have been saturated with the gospel. But what about those nations and people groups that have little-to-no access to the gospel? According to the Joshua Project, out of the 7.48 billion people in the world, 3.14 billion are considered unreached, meaning there is little or no access to the gospel. Of the 16,956 known people groups, 7,035 are unreached. 

Jesus promises in Matthew 24:14, that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all nations, but there is a long way to go. In America, 268 million people identify as Christian; it's unrealistic, but what if every American who identified as a Christian, led one lost person to the Lord and discipled that person over a year, so that the new Christian could then lead another person to Christ, and disciple them? If that happened, the gospel would reach every person in the world in less than six years. 

Again, that is an unrealistic expectation, but what if we gave it a try in our church? What if the 50-60 adults and youth that attend Grace Point each week, led one person to Christ and discipled them for this year? Next year there would be 100-120 disciples of Christ, and the following year, 200-240. And as the number of disciples grow, we send them out to plant churches, or help revitalize dying churches by making disciples who make disciples. We may not be able to reach every nation, tribe and tongue ourselves, but we might be part of a great movement of God that would see the gospel preached throughout the world... and then the end would come, and we would be part of that great Parade of Nations worshiping before the throne of the God... and what a glorious day it will be!!!

Spiritually Alive or Religiously Dead?

You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. 

2 Timothy 2:2 NLT

The Dead Sea, Israel

A few years ago I had the great privilege of visiting Israel, the land of the Bible. The tour group I was with spent the first few days visiting sites around one of Israel's major bodies of water, the Sea of Galilee. Galilee is a beautiful region; the land around the lake is lush and green.  We spent one afternoon on a boat ride on the Sea and learned about the various fish species in the lake and the fishing industry. There are about 18 species of fish found in the lake. Life is abundant in and around the water. 

Lake Kinneret, as it is called by Israelis, is fed by springs as well tributaries from Mt. Hermon in the north. At the southern end of the lake, water flows out through the Jordan River, Israel's most famous stream. The word Jordan means "down-rusher" which described the descent from Galilee to Israel's other significant inland body of water, the Dead Sea. Between the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee and the entrance to the Dead Sea, a distance of about 65 miles in a straight line, the Jordan drops over 600 ft. The Dead Sea is over 1300 feet below sea level. 

The Dead Sea and surrounding area is the opposite of the Sea of Galilee; the landscape is dry desert, and the Dead Sea contains no fish. The mineral elements in the water are so thick that the lake cannot sustain life. The Dead Sea is "dead" because water flows in but there is no outlet for water to flow out. As the water evaporates in the desert heat, salt minerals are left behind and forbid the existence of life. While it is an interesting experience to float in the Dead Sea, the minerals in the water can be toxic even for humans. 

For a body of water to be healthy and sustain life, it must have tributaries or springs that feed it, and it must have outlets for water to flow from it. Without both, the water would dry up, become stagnant and toxic. 

There is a spiritual lesson in these two bodies of water. In order for a follower of Christ to be healthy spiritually, he or she needs tributaries, others who are feeding into them, helping to nourish them spiritually. But they also need outlets, people in whom they can invest what they have learned in following Christ. Without an outlet for our spiritual life, our faith begins to weaken and dry up. We end up becoming spiritually stagnant and even spiritually toxic. Some of the most miserable "Christians" I have known were those who have spent their lives in the church having someone (usually the pastor or Sunday School teacher) pour into them, but never finding other people to pour into themselves. Many times they become bitter, controlling, and even toxic to those around them. 

Paul teaches Timothy this truth about healthy spiritual life in the above Scripture. Paul poured into Timothy ("You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses") and then instructed Timothy to pour into others ("Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people ") who would then pass the instructions on to even more ("who will be able to pass them on to others.") This is the "secret" to a healthy spiritual life - having someone (or someones) to invest in your life, and having other people in whom you are investing. This is the difference between a living faith and dead religious life. 

 Who are you learning from and who are you pouring into? Who is discipling you, and who are you discipling? (And are you helping them disciple others?) Are you spiritually alive or religiously dead?

It Takes Discipline to Be A Disciple

D.A. Carson once wrote: “People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience .. to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

It takes discipline to be a disciple, because spiritual growth is intentional not automatic. If left to ourselves, we tend to move away from God and His glory. Just as our bodies atrophy without exercise and our minds weaken without challenge, so our spiritual life withers without, as Carson says, "grace-driven effort."

Jesus is committed to our spiritual growth. He is not content to allow us to wallow in spiritual immaturity. The Bible, in Ephesians 4:15 says, "...we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church." (NLT) Jesus loves you the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you the way you are. He's committed to enabling you to grow spiritually so that you become more and more like Him in every way.

That's why uncommitted Christians are spiritually miserable. They go to church, but get nothing from it. They sporadically read the Scriptures for their devotion, but see no application to their daily lives. Prayers are occasional, mostly before meals, but spoken from childhood memory rather than heartfelt devotion. They have a form of godliness (basically good people), but deny the power of it. They sense something is missing, but can't quite put their finger on what it is. Often, their solution is to withdraw and put the empty feeling on the back-burner of their lives. Because it is easier to ignore the problem than to practice the discipline needed to grow spiritually.

But it takes discipline to be a disciple. The apostle Paul wrote: Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. 1 Cor 9:24-27 (NLT)

Paul had a plan for spiritual growth:

1. He knew what the goal was - Paul knew the goal of spiritual maturity (Christ-likeness) and he went for it

2. He trained himself in godliness - Paul practiced the spiritual disciplines of prayer, study, obedience and others.

3. He lived with purpose to his life - Paul's goal in life was to glorify God in everything He did.

4. He mastered his fleshly desires - Paul made his body subject to his spiritual nature. Many times I've heard it quoted (and said it myself), "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt 26:41), but I'm afraid that verse often becomes the excuse for failing to discipline ourselves in godliness.

It takes discipline to be a disciple, because spiritual growth is intentional, not automatic.

Monday Thankfulness

Just a few things I'm thankful for this Monday evening. They're not in any particular order -

1. I'm thankful for a great Sunday at Magna View. The powerful presence of God's Holy Spirit has been obvious in our worship services and I am thankful to be there and experience it.
2. For a wonderful family - I had a great week/weekend with my family. My oldest daughter got her official drivers license, and we learned she made a good grade on her ACT. We spent Saturday in Corbin, KY for my youngest daughter's 12th birthday. Her choice was to go to the Original Kentucky Fried Chicken Sanders Cafe. It was a neat experience. We spent the afternoon walking around an indoor flea market looking for "treasures" we couldn't live without. On Sunday my middle daughter was called upon to lead a worship song in the worship service - she did awesome. I'm so proud to see how God is using her. I have a great group of girls.
3. Small Group was incredible Sunday night. I attended the "seniors" group and I was blown away again at how God is building His Body @ Magna View. We have some great Seniors who have a heart for the Lord and the desire to share their experiences with others. I learn something new about our church family every time we get together in small group. Our time of sharing about what our parents "handed-down" to us was powerful!
4. For the opportunity to teach college students the word of God. I have a great group of students in my Religion 101 Old Testament class at Carson-Newman College. They stayed with me through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy tonight.
5. For getting preached to today at the Nolachucky Baptist Association Pastor's Conference this morning. Don Pierson, prayer specialist from the TBC preached the pure word of God to us pastors today - it was both encouraging and challenging (and a little painful as well).
6. For the opportunity to start my day in prayer and in the presence of my Savior and in the word of God.
7. For Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor executed by the Nazi's at the end of WWII - for the writing he left behind, The Cost of Discipleship - grace is free, but it is not cheap. It cost Jesus His life, but I cheapen it when I fail to live completely committed to Jesus.

Never stop cultivating a heart of thankfulness.

The Big IF

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. Mark 8:34 (NLT)

Someone once said that the biggest word in the English language is the the word "if". The word "if" implies possibilities, it implies chance and it implies choice. In the context of the above verse, there is the possibility of following Christ; the offer is made. There is the chance that a person will follow Christ; but in order for that to happen, a choice must be made.

It is incredible to me, that in spite of His great love for me, despite what He has done to show that love by dying on the cross for my sins, Jesus still gives me the choice of whether I will follow Him or not. He still leaves it up to me to choose my way or His way. I decide who and what I will live my life for, and my ultimate choice is made by the small daily choices I make.

It is not a one time choice to follow Christ, but a daily choice. John of the Cross, a 16th Century Spanish spiritualist, put it this way:

"Determine in your heart that you want to reach the highest place in God... And once you have set your heart on this upward path, you will have to choose it every day, and many times during each day. For indeed your desire to rise to higher places in spirit will face many obstacles." (Living Flame of Love:Stanza I, quoted in You Set My Spirit Free)

Who do you choose to live for? Your choice will be reflected in the choices you make each day.