Discipleship

Four Reasons You Should Read and Preach the Old Testament

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

ot“Long ago, at many time and in many ways,
God spoke to our father by the prophets,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he appointed the heir of all things,
through who also he created the world.
He is the radiance of the glory of God
and the exact imprint of his nature,
and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
After making purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
having become as much superior to angels
as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
— Hebrews 1:1–3 —

If it is true that in these last days, God has spoken by his Son as Hebrews 1 says, why should pastors preach from the Old Testament? If we have the full revelation of God in the substance of Christ, what interest should New Testament Christians have with Old Testament shadows? Surely, it is good to know history and to learn lessons from the past, but do we really need lengthy sermon series of Exodus or to read 1–2 Kings and 1–2 Chronicles?

Without committing the Marcion heresy of denying the inspiration and authority of the Old Testament, some self-identified “New Testament” preachers have stressed the New Testament so much they have lead their flocks to miss (or deemphasize) more than two-thirds of the Bible. In the language of Galatians 3:8, they miss the gospel preached beforehand and hence minimize the full riches of the gospel contained in both testaments.

If you have heard or imbibed such thinking, you might ask whether regular portions of the Old Testament are necessary for reading and preaching for New Testament discipleship. I believe it is, for at least four reasons. Continue reading →

Spotting Counterfeit Gospels

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

gospelThis week, I discussed “counterfeit gospels” with a couple guys I am meeting with for discipleship. After unpacking the horizontal gospel and vertical gospel for the last three months (those are my terms for what Matt Chandler has called the “gospel in the air” and the “gospel on the ground”), things began to crystalize as we considered ways in which evangelicals misunderstand the gospel.

To that end—understanding and recognizing our deviations from the gospel—Trevin Wax’s book Counterfeit Gospels is a great aid. In three sections, he outlines the gospel in terms of story (creation, fall, redemption, and new creation), announcement (God sent his son to die in the place of sinners; he raised him to life on the third day for the justification of sinners; and any and all who trust on Christ for the forgiveness of their sins will be saved), and community (the people of God are formed by the gospel and are called to announce the gospel).

In each section, Trevin explains in detail what the gospel is, but then he devotes two chapters in each section to tackle what the gospel isn’t. And better than any book I’ve read on the gospel, his book exposes the false gospels of our day. What Counterfeit Gospels does so well is, borrowing the language of J. I. Packer, to show how half-truths masquerading as whole truths become damnable untruths—okay, so  I might have added the anathema. But the point remains.

A Modern Evangelical Problem

As is too often the case, Christians who (I think) believe in the gospel fail to communicate the gospel. Instead of articulating the gospel in Scriptural terms, they dress it up in psychological language, reduce the weight of God’s judgment, and replace evangelistic witnessing with social action as the mission of the church. And these deviations does not include the false teachers who outright reject the true gospel or intentionally declare a false gospel.

Concerning the unintentional misrepresentation of the gospel, I heard a pastor recently preach a gospel-less Good Friday message. Yet, when I spoke with him about it later and asked him what the gospel was, he clearly articulated it’s meaning. What is going on? Continue reading →

Five Questions on Discipleship: (4) How Do You Make Disciples?

/ davidsschrock

As a sophomore in college, I was introduced to a little book called The Master Plan of Evangelism. After an eight week study with our Campus Crusade leadership team, I was convinced that Jesus’ pattern of disciple-making and spiritual multiplication is the way to do ministry.  More than ten years later I am still convinced.

In his book, Robert Coleman outlines eight steps for making disciples: Selection, Associatin, Consecration, Impartation, Demonstration, Delegation, Supervision, and Reproduction).  If you have not read Coleman’s insightful little book, get it today.  All the hype about The Trellis and The Vine a few years ago was simply a helpful reformulation of The Master Plan of Evangelism.

And Coleman is not alone in looking to Jesus for methods of disciple-making.  More than one-hundred years ago Scottish pastor and professor A.B. Bruce wrote the lengthy treatment The Training of the Twelve, in which he scoured the pages of Scripture to see how Jesus trained his disciples and this is what he had to say,

These twelve . . . were to be something more than travelling companions or menial servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were to be . . . students of Christian doctrine, and occasional fellow-laborers in the work of the kingdom, and eventually Christ’s chosen trained agents for propagating the faith after He Himself had left the earth.  From the time of their being chosen . . . they were to learn, in the privacy of intimated daily fellowship with their Master, what they should be, do, believe, and teach, as His training of these men was to be a constant and prominent part of Christ’s personal work (p. 30).

Following in the footsteps of Jesus, how should we make disciples? Let me suggest three commitments that are required for being a disciple-maker.

FIRST, MAKE A DECISION

You cannot invest in everyone, so you need categories for making decisions on how you will use your precious, limited time. While you should never reject anyone in need, when it comes to making disciples, you should prioritize those who Faithful, Available, Teachable–otherwise known as FAT people.

Faithful.  Paul instructed his faithful disciple to find faithful disciples.  In 2 Tim 2:2, Paul said, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  With great wisdom, Paul did not say, “Go chase down the sheep that are running away.”  He told Timothy to invest his life in “faithful men” who are able to reproduce themselves.  As you focus on the faithful, the fleeing will be found.

So too Jesus was selective in his disciple relationships (Mark 3:13-19). While we should love everyone, we should be strategic in the way we reach out to others.  If you are making disciples, you will have closer relationships with some and not others.  Look for the faithful ones!  Be a faithful one.

Available.  There are lots of sincere people who have good intentions to know God, but when push comes to shove, there are very few who are available.  Many start off strong, but the weeds of the world enslave them.  Busyness erodes faithfulness, and their schedules limit availability.  But a good disciple is one who is not enslaved to sports, family, work, school, hobbies, or sleep.  They may be deeply invested in these things–and should be–but they are carving out time and making themselves available.

Focus on those who available more than those who are able.  Take a lesson from Jesus.  He did not choose the powerful, well-off, or important people.  He invested in those who heeded his call.  He discipled those who would follow him.  One way to test this is to call people to hard tasks.  Don’t lower the bar on discipleship.  Like Jesus, make the call challenging and see who is left.  These are the ones to disciple.

Teachable.  In Matthew 7, Jesus warns us of throwing pearls before pigs.  This strange statement is essential for understanding disciple-making.  You have a short span of life.  Use it well.  Invest your time and energy well.  Don’t throw your energy at those who are unwilling to be taught.  Focuse on those who are submissive to God’s word.  Christopher Adsit, founder of Disciple-Makers International, is helpful: “Most of us are poverty-stricken when it comes to time. It’s a foolish extravagance to squander precious time teaching a person something he will never apply or pass on! It’s pearls before swine.”

SECOND, DISCIPLE WITH TIME, TRUTH, AND TRAINING

There is no substitution for just getting out and doing the work, but as you disciple be sure to include three key elements.

Time.  Discipleship is not complicated.  It is time-consuming, but not complicated.  Do life with other, younger believers in Christ.  Invite them into your home, into your families.  And as you walk through life talk about Christ.  Ask questions about God.  Read the Bible.  Pray.  Discuss a book together.  Serve together.

Truth.   Discipleship is only Christian in as much as the gospel is present.  Christians spending time together is not discipleship.  It must have intentionality, and more than that it must be infused with biblical truth.  It can look like a regimented Bible study, a weekly time of Bible reading and discussion, or bi-monthly commitment to do evangelism.  It can also be less formal.  But whatever it is, it must center around Jesus Christ.

This is what Jesus did.  With a band of disciples, he preached, ministered, and made his way in and order Palestine all the while teaching his disciples about what he was doing.  Paul did the same thing.  Everywhere he went, he was taking Timothy, Titus, Silas, or other young men.  He gave them a model to follow and truth to learn.

Johnny Hunt is right when he says that every Christian needs a Paul, Timothy, and a Barnaba—a Paul to disciple us, a Timothy to disciple, and a Barnabas to encourage us. Personally, I consider it a failure, if I am doing ministry by myself.  I want to do everything with someone else, because I want to pass what I have learned to others.

Training.  Truth revolves around the gospel.  Training revolves around practical applications of ministry.  In church contexts, this means older men and women teaching younger men and women, respectively, the skills of ministry.  This could look like learning how to drive the bus route, preparing a funeral meal, teaching a Sunday School lesson, sharing the gospel, or planning a mission trip.

Every person in a ministry position should be looking and preparing there replacement.  Passing the baton is a necessary part of ministry.  The alternative is a latent self-centeredness that places all the weight of ministry on an individual.  When that individual leaves, dies, or moves, the work of that ministry goes with them.  By contrast, leader who trains another generation prolongs the work of the Lord for the edification of the local body of believers.

But this raises a serious question: Are you worthy of imitation? Paul constantly pointed to himself as a one who sought Christ, and he said, as he followed Christ, you could follow him.  Can you say the same thing?  Disciple-makers must first be genuine and growing disciples.  If you cannot call someone to imitate you why not?  What would it take to become a model disciple?  What is keeping you from growing in that way?

Do not be Charles Barkley Christian, who denied his role as a role model. If you are a Christian, you are a role model.  If you have taken the name of Jesus Christ, you are now one of his witnesses.  Witness him well.

Help those who come behind you by giving time, truth, and training.

THIRD, MODEL BEFORE AND MEASURE AFTERWARD

Modeled Demonstration.  When Jesus called the twelve, he called them to be with him.  Long before sending them out, he called them simply to follow, listen, learn.  They observed their Master in action, and when it was their time to lead they had years of experience to learn from.  Jesus was the model.  So too commanding others to do something, you should show them how.  And not just once–many times.

I was in conversation the other day with a family who after their conversion was immediately thrown into ministry.  Sadly, today they are having to pull back from ministry to retool their personal lives. Why?  They were too hastily thrown into ministry.  We need to be slower to commission, and quicker to model.  As church leaders we need to avoid the gap theory, where we see a gap and find a guy or gal to fill it.  Instead, we need to be people oriented, putting good people in places, instead of simply finding a warm body to fill a need.

Measured Delegation.  Following demonstration, Jesus’s disciples were called to action.  In his presence, the disciples were enlisted to baptize, they were sent out two-by-two, they were given errands.  In Jesus presence, the disciples tried and failed.  He gave them tasks and missions, that he could then use to teach and correct them.  This is wise strategy for parenting, pastoring, and for disciple-making.

It requires more than barking orders.  It requires that you know those whom you are giving spiritual leadership—their gifts, passions, abilities, and readiness.  It also means that we should be modeling for others everything we expect them to do.  Too often we move straight from instruction to delegation, without demonstration and supervised evaluation.

The result of activity without evaluation is a generation of workers who do more harm than good.  Imagine a surgical doctor given all the tools of the trade without years of residency.  The same is true with soul doctors, disciples, who are called to encourage and edify other Christians.  Just as doctors need training and correction in their surgical techniques, so disciples need the loving, hope-giving, correction of older Christians to help them grow into Sunday School teachers, small group leaders, outreach coordinators, and deacons.

All in all, the Great Commission is a vision for church ministry that never grows old.  It calls us to simply make disciples.  This is goal worthy of our entire attention, and it is a process that takes years to develop.  May we consider some of these priorities listed above, and go forward looking to find disciples who are FAT, with whom we can share life and the gospel, and who are willing to observe and receive correction as they become disciple-makers themselves.

May God give us great aid as we seek to make disciples, dss

Five Questions on Discipleship: (3) Who Makes Disciples?

/ davidsschrock / 2 Comments

Yesterday we considered what a disciple is, today we answer the question: Who Makes Disciples?  And I would suggest that there are two ways to answer that question.  First, churches make disciples; second, mature believers make disciples.  Let’s consider.

Churches Make Disciples

At the institutional level, God has created the church to be a disciple-making community.  This is not to say that parachurches, camps, publishing houses, or Christian radio cannot be involved in the process, but in his wisdom, the church is the ordained means of defending the gospel, proclaiming salvation, and making disciples (Eph 3).

Accordingly, churches would be served by asking: If Jesus came today and evaluated our church, on what would he evaluate?  What are his expectations?  I think the answer and expectation is simple.  Jesus would inquire “What are you doing to make disciples?”  I don’t think he is very impressed with all sorts of activities, fellowships, and programs that make us busy but fail to make disciples.  He has not called us to be active, but to be active in making disciples.  Since Christ is in the business of making disciples, that is what he expects of us.

God’s word on this is clear.  As the body of Christ, we are to be the hands, feet, mouthpieces of our Lord.  Accordingly, if God is going to make disciples in this age, it is through the church, by his Spirit.  If his greatest passion is to see the lost converted into disciples, then he expects that his body would be about the same work.  The Great Commission is the explicit statement of this truth. “Go into all the world and make disciples.”   Churches that excel in ministry but do not excel in making gospel-centered, word-saturated disciples who are able to reproduce themselves are not excelling as much as their numbers might indicate.

Big or small, churches are called to make disciples.  That is the first level.

Mature Believers

At the individual level, it is mature believers that make disciples. As in life, mature adults have babies, so adult Christians “give birth” (or rather, serve as attending nurses to the birth from above) to new Christians.  While young Christians, infants in the Lord, can and do witness with great zeal and effectiveness, it is mature believers who are in a position to “disciple” newborn Christians.

The Great Commission includes a call to teach all that the Lord has instructed.  New believers rarely know all there is in Scripture, or how to apply it.  This is why Scripture repeatedly demonstrates older believers mentoring or discipling younger believers (think of Paul with Timothy, Titus, and Silas, or Barnabas with Paul or John Mark).  Titus 2 gives clear instruction that older women are to teach younger women, and older men are to be models for younger men.

Thus, all disciples should strive for maturity such that they can disciple others.  This is not an optional calling, this is part and parcel of being a growing disciple.  Sadly, as Hebrews 5 laments, many who should be teachers are in need of learning the elementary truths again.

As a way of evaluation, we can say that mature believers are those who exhibit Christlike character and who are able and actually discipling younger believers.  Discipling others shows Christian love, an understanding of God’s purposes in the world, and a self-sacrificing, others-centeredness that behooves a mature believer.  By contrast, maturity should not be measured by the number of years a person has gone to church or even by how many studies they have led, how many committees they have chaired, or even by the number of Bible certificates or degrees they hold. Maturity is measured by ones personal Christlikeness and their reproduction.

May God continue to raise up disciple-makers in this generation, that more and more disciples would be born, raised, and sent out.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Five Questions on Discipleship: (2) What Is a Disciple?

/ davidsschrock

Answering the question “What is a disciple?” is not as easy as it might first appear.

First, there is a shift in the meaning of the term disciple from the gospels to the book of Acts.  For instance, in John 6, many of Jesus’ “disciples” leave him.  These are the ones who follow him to hear his teaching and to eat his bread, but when he calls them to eat his flesh and drink his blood, they can go no further.  In this situation, disciples are simply those who followed and learned from him, but were not saved by him.  Likewise, you could say of Judas, that he was a disciple in one sense (he followed and learned from Jesus), but not a disciple in another sense (he failed to follow Christ until the end and he betrayed his master).  Thus, in the Scriptures themselves, there is some ambiguity in the term.

Why does this matter?  Well, the other day, I heard a radio preacher stating that the disciples in the Bible are just like us.  Yes and no.  There is much similarity between the followers of Jesus in his day, and in genuine believers today.  However, there is dissimilarity too.  Few are called to leave their fishing nets behind to become Christ’s disciples and none are called to to follow a wandering Nazarene through the hills of Israel.  Likewise, at a more doctrinal level, many of the followers of Jesus did not abide in him, and thus were not saved (cf John 6:66).  But this reality should not form the basis of our doctrine of discipleship.  True disciples today are those who are born again, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and will not fall away because through the Spirit and the Word, God will preserve them even as they persevere in faith.

That is the first qualification, but there is another. In popular Christianity, there interpretations of discipleship.  Perhaps two of the most helpful explanations of discipleship today to explicate these differences are Michael Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship and Jonathan Lunde, Following Jesus The Servant King: A Biblical Theology of Covenantal Discipleship.  Gleaning from their observations, I would posit a few ways that disciples are defined today.

(1) Disciples are COMMITTED believers.  Salvation is one thing, discipleship is another.  There are Christians and then there are disciples.  This posits a two-tiered system in the Christian life–with the saved and the sanctified.  The problem with this is that it rips apart the unified work of salvation, and it does not fit with biblical language.  In Acts 4:32, the church is described as a band of believers; but Acts 6:2 describes the church as “the full number of disciples.”  Disciples are believers; believers are disciple.  No tiers!

(2) Disciples are ministers.  Like the twelve, disciples are called to a special ministry of service.  This results in a view where churches  have clergy and laity, disciples and congregants.  This separation is often found in special dress for the clergy, or unhealthy veneration of church leaders.  By contrast, the Great Commission calls all people to discipleship and to disciple others.  Church work is for everyone.  Disciples are ministers, but if I am reading Ephesians 4 correctly, we are all called to various roles of ministry in the church.  Christianity is not a spectator sport.  Jesus calls us to join him in the work.

(3) Disciples are Christians.  Christians are disciples.  While we are at different phases in our journey with Christ, Christianity is not two-tiered, any more than your families are two-tiered.  While wisdom cautions against young disciples leading, there is no two-stage approach.  Rather, as in any family, there are babes, children, young adults, and mature adults.  The same is true in the church, and every age are called disciples.

A Definition of Discipleship

In light of these previous observations, here is an attempt at a definition: A disciple is a man or woman who is a new creation in Christ that no longer lives for self, but who has (a) believed on Christ for the forgiveness of sins, (b) possesses eternal life, and (c) lives to learn, follow, and imitate Christ in all areas of life.

To say it another way, if we take our cues from the Great Commission: (a) Disciples identify themselves with Jesus Christ in baptism; (b) Disciples learn AND practice all the words of God has given us; and (c) Disciples serve our Lord, going into the world to herald the message of Christ and to reproduce disciples.  This is the Great Commission.  This is what the twelve did, this is what Paul did (Acts 14:21), and this is what Paul called his followers to do (2 Tim 2:2).

Another place to get our bearings for defining a disciple is Mark 3:13-19.  There we find that discipleship goes all the way back to Jesus, and that three things stand out.  Those whom he calls to be disciples (and apostles– a calling that makes the twelves position different than our own), he gives three requirements:  First, the twelve are to be with him so that they might learn from Jesus, copying him, imitating him;  Second, the twelve are sent to preach.  So they are not passive learners but active servants.  Third, the twelve were given authority to cast out demons as is witnessed in the Gospels and Acts.

Now, on this last point, we may think that this is only for them, after all we do not cast out demons.  But I would suggest, that the calling we have to win souls and to nurture them in the grace and truth of the gospel is even greater than the commission given in Mark 3.  Just listen to John 20:23:  “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”  In the gospel, we have been given authority to declare forgiveness and eternal life.  We are not simply casting out demons, we are calling men to eternal life, and by God’s design, the effectual call that converts a man is conveyed through the general call of God’s human witnesses.

Thus, according to Mark 3–if we can use this text in any sort of prescriptive way–Scripture shows that disciples are those who are with Jesus, who serve at Jesus commission, and who are involved in Christ’s ministry of making other disciples. Certainly, more can and should be said, but this is a start.

Tomorrow, we will consider in more detail who is able to make disciples.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Five Questions on Discipleship: (1) What Did Jesus Do?

/ davidsschrock

A number of years ago, I followed the Christian crowd and wore the trendy WWJD bracelet.  For those who have forgotten (or never heard), the letters stood for “What would Jesus do?”  Developed from the book In His Steps, by Charles Sheldon, a book that favored a social gospel and promoted a man-centered kind of Christian imitation, the bracelet asked an important question:  How should we live our lives in a manner that would please our Lord?  The question was meant to stimulate obedience and lifestyles that reflected the kind of things true believers should do.  While missing the beautiful, objective work of Christ for us, it did helpfully ask how we ought to live for Christ.

That is what we are after this week too: How do we adhere to the Great Commission imperative to “make disciples”?  What is a disciple?  How should we go about making disciples?  And why should we do it?  Those are the questions we will consider this week, but instead of asking “What would Jesus do?” which orients the Christian life around subjective obedience of Christ’s followers, our inquiry begins with the better question: “What did Jesus do?”

Putting Christ at the center, instead of our Christian obedience, we will be able to see how central disciple-making is to our Lord and then from their to see how we might follow him in the work.  Therefore, today as we consider what Jesus did (past tense), we will look at a number of purposes statements spoken by Jesus that explain why Jesus became a man (Cur Deus Homo?), and how each of these purpose statements relate to disciple-making.

Here are five reasons why Christ came to earth.

First, Jesus came to preach the gospel

The first thing to note is that Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Mark 1:38 records Jesus’ words, “And he said to them, “Let us go to the next town, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came.”  When we are introduced to Christ, in the Synoptic gospels, the first act of his ministry is to go out into the regions surrounding Galilee preaching the gospel and calling sinners to repent and believe (Mark 1:14-15).  What was his purpose?  The answer is surely pluriform, but it at least involved the calling and creation of disciples.

Second, Jesus came to fulfill the law

Not only did Jesus come to preach the gospel, he came to fulfill the law—to keep covenant with God, so that he could establish a new covenant, not based on works of the flesh, but faith in the Spirit.  So he says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law of the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”  In fulfilling all righteousness, Jesus made it possible for his disciples to one day be clothed with his righteousness (Isa 61:10). Likewise, he provided a perfect example of love and service to God that disciples are called to imitate (cf. John 13).

Third, Jesus came to provide salvation

In Luke 19, Jesus seeks out Zacchaeus, a hated tax collector, for the singular purpose of making this unlikely sinner a son of Abraham. Verse 10 gives a larger explanation of Jesus’ ministry: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”  Clearly, Jesus the lost, so to make them his disciples.  The same thing can be gleaned from Matthew 9:13, which states, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Here, Jesus explains that his target audience is not religious professionals, or even good people, but those who weary and heavy-laden with sin.  Jesus life, death, and resurrection served the purpose of making disciples.

Which leads to a question:  How can a righteous God who cannot stand the sight of sin or sinners (Ps 5:5; 11:5; Hab 1:13), extend blessings to sinners?  Again, the life of ministry and his biographical purpose statements explain.  In Mark 10:45, Jesus says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  The many harkens back to Isaiah 53:11-12, but it also bespeaks of the many disciples that Jesus is purchasing with his blood.

Fourth, Jesus came to judge the world

Jesus came not only to save a people for his own possession; he also came to judge the world, to cleanse the world from those who stand opposed to God.  In John 9:39, Jesus debates with the Pharisees concerning the healing of a blind man, and he says, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

Likewise, with greater graphic illustration, Jesus states in Luke 12:49, “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!”   The fire is that of judgment.  While John can say that Jesus did not come to bring judgment; in another sense he did.  He is preparing the way for his return when he will call all men to account.

Even the demons recognize this, though they did not know how it was going to work out.  In Mark 1:24, Jesus heals a man suffering from a demon, and they reply “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?

Jesus is not directly making disciples with these judgments, but in another way he is. By judging the world, Jesus is creating a place for his people to abide with him.  Today, we do not yet see all things in subjection to Christ.  The new creation is not yet here in its geographic form.  However, Christ is saving me and women.  These are his new creations, disciples who are learning how to live in his kingdom–the kingdom that they will inherit at the end of the age (Matt 25:34).  Thus, Jesus purpose statements about judgment promise that all those who have become his disciples will escape his coming judgment, and will instead be protected by his sword.  This leads to a final point.

Fifth, Jesus came to create a new community of disciples

The final answer to the question of what Jesus came to do is this: Jesus came to call a new community of disciples.  Now indeed all the previous purposes are related to this.  (1) He preached the gospel to call people to faith; (2) he fulfilled the law and died on the cross so that he could remove the sin of his followers and clothe them with righteousness; (3) He announced his kingdom authority and his right to judge in order to assert the kingdom he was going to establish—a world free from sin, evil, Satan, and death.  Jesus came to create a new humanity.  He came to make disciples.

Significantly, this is what we find  then in Matthew 10:34-35.  In a context where Jesus has sent his disciples out to proclaim the message of the kingdom, Jesus explains his purposes after there return: “Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Everything Jesus did, he did for the purpose of making disciples.  His life, ministry, death, and resurrection, and heavenly session are all aimed at bringing in the sheep of his fold.  While acquiring many names in he gospels (sheep, children, given ones, friends), Jesus did everything for the purpose of making disciples.  So should we.

In the days, ahead we will answer four more questions on discipleship, as we consider this central feature of our Lord’s work.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss


A Growing Disciple: The Eighth Mark of a Healthy Church Member

/ davidsschrock

The essence of being a Christian is to be a disciple. 

“Disciple” and “discipleship” are not words that get much “air time” today, and when they are used in secular parlance, it often conjures up thoughts of cults or sects.  However, in the pages of the New Testament, God’s Word speaks of discipleship with great frequency (over 260 times).  So what does it mean to be a disciple? 

The best way to answer that is to simply look at the lives of Peter, Andrew, James, John and the other apostles–because these men exemplify discipleship.  They were those who left their fishing nets, tax collecting booths, and families to follow Christ; they worshipped Jesus, learned from Jesus, proclaimed the gospel of Jesus’ kingdom, and went to their own bloody deaths for his sake.  As disciples, however, they did not simply imitate Jesus, they also trusted in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for eternal life and justification on the last day.  In short, as disciples, the followers of Christ found every area of their life transformed by the one whose name and cross they now identified.  And so do Christ’s disciples today.

In What is a Healthy Church Member?, Thabiti Anyabwile marks growing discipleship” as the eighth characteristic of a healthy church member.  From our study at Calvary Baptist Church in Seymour, Indiana, here are five points of application for growing as a disciple:

1. Baptism & Church Membership.  The first thing Jesus said after giving his Great Commission to “Make Disciples” was to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Therefore, if you have made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior–that is that he has made you a new creation in Christ.  The first thing you should do is to be baptized by a local church who believes the gospel and teaches the Word of God.  Concurrent with this baptism should be your request for church membership.  Hopefully, your church has an informative/instructive process where new members are instructed in the history, doctrine, and practices of the church.  This would be a first step as a growing disciple.  For an excellent and brief treatment of this subject, with a funny cover, see Bill James revision of  Erroll Hulse’s Baptist and Church Membership.

2. Abide in the Word of God.  Next, as a growing disciple, it is imperative that you grow.  The second thing Jesus said to his would-be disciple(maker)s is to “teach them to obey all that I have instructed you.”  In other words, in the Christian life, knowing the Bible matters.  In fact, Spiritual growth DOES NOT HAPPEN WITHOUT IT.  Consider John 15:7-8, “If you abide in me, and my word abides in you, ask for whatever you want, and it will be given unto you.  By this is my Father glorified, and so you prove to be my disciples.”  The core of discipleship is an abiding relationship with Jesus founded on and mediated by the Word of God.  Moreover, discipleship is proven by this.  So the second step in growing as a strong disciple is to abide in the Word of God.

3. Pursue Older Discipleship.  Since discipleship is not an individual effort, it is important to learn from older, wiser, more mature believers in Christ.  Titus 2 frames this well.  It begins, “Teach what accords with sound doctrine…” and then instead of moving into a systematic theology, a lecture on doctrine, it focuses on relationships.  It says for older men to train younger men and older women to instruct younger women.  This is not an accident or a backup plan.  This is the very wisdom of God.  As Paul tells the Corinthians, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (11:1).  This is not an optional component of the Christian life.  Too many believers remain immature because they have never had anyone model for them a godly example.  If you don’t have anyone like this in your life, pray that God would bring someone into your life.  At the same time, ask God to shape you to be faithful, available, and teachable, so that such a disciplers’ example might not be lost on you.

4. Pursue Younger Discipleship.  Whether you have had a mentor/discipler in your life or not, if you have walked with Christ in obedience to his Word for any amount of time, you should begin looking for ways to share that with others.  Again let me challenge you– “The Christian life is not an isolated/individualized/introverted event.”  It is a lifetime of abiding in God’s word and being sharpened by others who are seeking Christ with you–ahead of you and behind you.  If you have the opportunity to share your life with a younger believer and to help show them how to walk more closely with our Savior, why wouldn’t you do it?  Honestly, is there anything better?  Doing life together should be the motto of the Christian life and is required for growth as a healthy disciple.  For an excellent resource on discipleship, see Robert Coleman’s The Master Plan of Evangelism and Michael Card’s The Walk.

5. Make Disciples.  Finally, the Great Commission impels us to go outside the church and to call others to Christ, to literally take the Word of God seriously and to make disciples.  God calls us to do something that in truth, we cannot do.  He is asking us to see to it that converts/new creations/kingdom citizens are made.  We cannot do that!  But his Word and His Spirit can, and as we carry forth the message of the gospel, he promises to bear fruit and draw many into the kingdom.  Thus if we are to truly know Christ, to walk with him, and to grow up in him, sharing the gospel and living to make-disciples must be a regular part of our lives.

None of these things are novel, but all of them are easily overlooked and undercooked.  May we strive to pick up our respective crosses and to press on towards Christ-like conformity as Baptized, Word-saturated, Maturing Disciples of Christ who love to share the gospel with others.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Intimate Allies (pt. 3): A Call for Christian Maturity

/ davidsschrock

Discipleship: Maturation Through Marriage

In addition to bolstering evangelism, Dan Allender and Tremper Longman posit the integral role that marriage has in discipleship.  Consider their words:

The purposes of our marriages are to create life and to shape life to maturity.  A marriage is no better than the vision we have for one another and the willingness we have to sacrifice for each other, to suffer to see growth occur.  Many marriages survive by merely providing a partner for activities–a resource to counter occasional biological and personal needs.  But God’s intention for marriage is to grow or subdue each partner in relation to the other in order to draw each–and eventually marriage itself–to reflect the character of his Son.  The high calling of God is to create life and then to shape it in his image.  Our marriages are not only the context for evangelism but also the soil for discipleship.  And to what end?  Ultimately, our marriages are the foundation for the kingdom of God to grow on earth in anticipation of its full realization in the new heavens and new earth (Intimate Allies, 83-84).

Just as marriage opens doors for evangelism, it also creates environments for sanctification and discipleship.  Incredibly challenging is the notion that marriage is not just a relationship for recreation, “providing a partner for activities.”  Instead, it is a licensed endeavor to procreate God’s love, to picture divine grace, and to proclaim the mystery of Christ and the church.  This does not mean that your marriage has to be perfect to convey such a message, it just has to be honest, intentional, and gospel-rich.  The Good News has always been that Jesus came to set captives free and to heal the sick.  Therefore, Christian marriages that fail to give verbal credit to Jesus Christ, verge on cosmic plagarism because they do not footnote their source.  Similarly, those that do not admit their frailty, while testifying of Christ’s overcoming sufficiency, miss out on the life-giving joy of telling others of the power and kindness of God.  In other words, maturation occurs in an individual and in a marriage, when the gospel is believed and shared.

This idea of maturation that Allender and Longman highlight is vitally important.  If we have been born again (cf. John 1:12; 3:3-8) and are growing into the image and likeness of our savior, marriage serves as an opportune environment for Christian maturation.  Evangelism and discipleship are requisites of the Christian faith, and marriage is designed to improve these, not impoverish them.  However, too often marriage and Christian maturity are set at odds.  A hidden assumption is that the serious Christian must take on monastic commitments if they are too be holy.  (Gary Thomas addresses this in his book Sacred Marriage).  Some may claim, “the kids keep me from my quiet times,” or “being the bread-winner disallows me from church service.”  Yet, it does not have to be so.  In fact, it must not be so.  The Christian marriage, filled with children (if the Lord permits), should be a vehicle driving us to a greater need for the gospel and propelling us to share the love of God with others.  In this way, marriage enhances our discipleship, as we press towards our spouse in gospel-empowered love, taking on the yoke of self-denying discipleship (cf. Matt. 11:29-30; Luke 14:25-33).

May we pray to that end, that God may be most glorified in our marriages as we are daily conformed into the image of Christ.  May we evangelize and be discipled through one of God’s most precious gifts–marriage.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss