Why are we making disciples?
Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples. (Mt 28:19)
The Apostle Paul was an expert at making disciples of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 3:10a "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder ............." NIV
How did he do it? A study of what Paul focused on reveals he was an expert at building others in three areas; Knowing God, Christian Character and Ministry.
Other types of experts are mentioned in Scripture as well but they did not make quality disciples of Jesus.
Luke 11:46 "Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them." NIV
Luke 11:52 ""Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering." NIV
Matthew 23:15 ""Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." NIV
We too can miss the mark and become an expert in things that do not make quality disciples of Jesus in our day - things such as an expert on End Times or an expert in the Old Covenant or an expert in the modern nation of Israel, or an expert in Church history or Prosperity, Faith, Prophecy, an expert in a particular issue of the day, so forth and so on.
The expertise that we desire to gain, discuss and share with each other is in Making Disciples of Jesus. This goal is reposted below in the first blog a few months ago. Please join in and add your comments to the blog.
The Goal of Disciple Making
The Goal of Disciple Making“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20 NASB
Jesus desires that people of all nations will be made into his disciples. A disciple is not born as one but rather made into one and therefore Jesus commanded his servants to do the hard work necessary to make people into disciples of Jesus. When referring to a disciple of Jesus this word disciple simple means a learner, student and follower of Jesus and we know there is a goal and destiny for such a student and follower of Jesus. A good disciple maker will keep that goal in mind until it is reached.
The goal is found in Ephesians 4:11-13:“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” NASB
We can consolidate this into three main areas which will be our goal in making a disciple:
1. Knowing God – “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God;”
2. Christian Character - “to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ;”
3. Ministry – “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service.”
A disciple of Jesus is one who is learning to: Know God, be like Jesus in Character and Minister to others.
A disciple maker is teaching the disciple those three things and making sure the disciple grows and reaches the goal of maturity in those three things.“As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Ephesians 4:14-16
Why do we see so much corruption, lack of love and lack of maturity in the Christian Church of our day?
One reason is clear, we no longer make disciples as we ought even though we do make many believers, seminary students, pastors and even build many church buildings. We must keep in mind a believer in Jesus is not a disciple of Jesus by merely being a believer nor is a seminary graduate a disciple of Jesus by merely being a graduate of religion, nor is a pastor a disciple of Jesus by merely preaching every Sunday and finally the size and luxury of a church building has nothing whatsoever to do with being or making disciples of Jesus; all of which may shock those who are not disciples. A disciple is distinctly different for Jesus did not say “Go and make believers, seminary graduates, pastors and build wonderful church buildings” but rather he said “go and make disciples”.
May the Lord Jesus make you into His Disciple today,
Disciple Maker
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I believe you have nailed it on this. Is there any question why many have left their churches to seek the truth. If we would all just sit down and commit to finding the truth in His word instead of wait until someone comes along and tells us what we should think we would all be many miles closer to the Lord Jesus. It is up to us to find our own truth in His word. We must encourage the reading of the Bible and prayer for discernment.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add one more verse that helps to discribe a disciple. It also helps to explain why there are fewer disciples than Christians.
ReplyDeleteMatthew 16:24, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.""
Hhmmmm...live a life to God and not to self?? Oh, but what freedom this will bring, amen!