Why Discipleship? (2009)
Matthew 28:18-20 (Audio Only)
This week (June 2009) was our 8-year anniversary here at Calvary Chapel Nuevo, and I really feel like we're just getting started with God's real purpose for us here. We've always considered ourselves a Teaching and a Disciple-Making church, but maybe you've heard that old adage “Give a man a fish - feed him for a day, teach a man to fish - feed him for life.”
Unfortunately, I think in my love for teaching the Word I've spent far too much time giving you fish, and far too little time teaching you how to fish. But the Great Commission is not about giving you a fish each Sunday. The Great Commission is about teaching you how to fish, thereby feeding you for life.
The Great Commission
Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
If you’ve been a Christian for a while, you know that Jesus commissioned us to “Go and make disciples.” Here's a good definition of a Disciple: A disciple is a student or a learner, one who walks so closely with his master that he becomes like him in his thinking and behavior. This is what Jesus commissioned us to do, to help someone walk so closely with Him that their lives are actually transformed into HIS image.
Honestly, we think we've been doing that, but there is a classic "rut" that churches in our culture easily fall into, and unfortunately (to some extent) we've fallen into that rut. That rut is having a "Running the Church" mentality, meaning if the church is "running" then we must be doing ok. But the Great Commission actually stands against a “Running the Church” mentality. The command from Jesus was singular, go and MAKE DISCIPLES, and so the question can never be, "Is the church running?" Instead, the question must always be “Are we MAKING DISCIPLES?” And I promise you "Running the church" and "Making Disciples" are not necessarily one and the same.
On Jan 25th of 2009, we made a radical announcement that we were 'dismantling' all ministries except Disciple-Making. That doesn’t mean we aren’t ministering in those other areas, it just means our formal focus has been re-directed to doing what Jesus actually commanded us to do, MAKE DISCIPLES!
Here's a definition of discipleship from Doug Morrell of CORE Discipleship Ministry; Jesus called disciples to be in a transformational learning relationship with Him, characterized by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in them, which brought about genuine change in their lives and empowered them to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Jesus calls us to be in a transforming learning relationship with Him, characterized by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, resulting in genuine change in our lives and empowering us to spread the Good News. THAT is a good definition of what a disciple's relationship with Jesus Christ should be moving toward.
So, the only question is; are we (as a church) really helping YOU develop that kind of transforming relationship with Jesus Christ?
Patrick Morley (Man in the mirror) writes; As a whole, the church is not making disciples . . . But that's not the real problem. The real problem is - we think we are. So most [people] only know enough about God to be disappointed with him. They listen to the sermons, they try to do the right things, they have it in their hearts to be faithful Christians, but they don't have much joy, and certainly lack victory over sinful habits . . . That's because they have never actually been educated about what it means to “BE” a Christian. They are not disciples.”
I know you come to church because you desire to know God. You hunger and thirst for Him. You desire to be transformed by Jesus Christ, to become a new creation, a truly changed person. And that is exactly what we are called to help you do! But maybe too often the church implies that there's a quick fix, a microwave transformation, and when that doesn't happen people get easily disillusioned. They've tried out Jesus and didn’t really get the immediate fix, so they generally start looking other places for that same fix, and nobody ever tells them that the only TRUE answer lies in an ever-increasing relationship with Jesus Christ, and in an ever-growing spiritual maturity. The answer really is knowing Jesus more and more.
In Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul says,
Philippians 3:10 (ESV)
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
The Greek word for KNOW is “GINOSKO,” it means an ever-increasing, experiential knowledge. Paul says he has willingly suffered the loss of ALL things that he may have that ever-increasing, experiential knowledge of Christ, that he may KNOW Him more and more, becoming more and more like Him. That is discipleship and that is exactly how Jesus' own disciples were radically transformed.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (ESV)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
This is what we are called to. To be transformed into His image by the power of the Spirit. And as we spend time in His presence, beholding his glory, His Spirit WILL TRANSFORM US. I promise you, THAT is the true, abundant life, and that is what God desires for all believers!
Look at what Paul says in Colossians 1.
Colossians 1:28-29 (ESV)
28 Him (Jesus) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Paul says he toils, and he struggles, with all the power of God, to present every person mature in Christ.
Notice Paul doesn’t say ‘To get everyone to go to HEAVEN,’ because as Christians, heaven is not our goal. Heaven is not what we are "striving" for. If you're saved today, Heaven is your guaranteed destination, you are already a citizen there.
Our goal here, as Christians, is;
to have Christ Fully Formed in us - Galatians 4:19
to be Conformed to His image - Romans 8:29
to be Transformed by the Renewing of our Mind - Romans 12:2
to Live as His Workmanship (Poem) - Ephesians 2:10
to Put Off the Old man, Be Renewed by the Spirit, and Put On the new man - Ephesians 4 & Colossians 3
Our goal as Christians is to become more and more like Jesus. And as we do, we live more and more of the abundant life He promises. But what we must know is; This life transformation in the Bible is always done through discipleship. Remember, a Disciple is; One who follows Jesus so close that he becomes like Him in his thoughts and behavior, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The way we come to live the abundant transformed life is by becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.
The other thing we see in the Bible is; The transformed life always occurs in community, it always happens in what we call “one-anothering.” As we edify and equip one another. As we bear one another's burdens. As we fellowship with and serve one another. As we confess our sins and pray for one another. As we encourage, exhort, and admonish one another. And, most importantly, as we love one another, because Jesus said by this all people will know that we are His disciples.
Discipleship is always done with one another, we see that clearly modeled throughout the Bible;
Moses & Joshua
Elijah & Elisha
Eli & Samuel
David & Jonathon
Jesus & the Disciples
Barnabus & Paul
Paul & Timothy (and many others)
All these men, and many women also, learned to follow Jesus “in community,” with one another. Discipleship is done with one another. And the goal of discipleship is having our lives truly transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
WHY is the transformation of our lives the GOAL of discipleship? Because the power of the gospel is shown in the transformation of our lives. The true power of the gospel is not shown in how many hands are raised at the end of an emotional presentation. Biblically, that is never shown as the true power of the gospel. The true power of the gospel is always shown in individual radically transformed lives. In fact, Jesus Christ mostly avoided large numeric responses, instead, He sought out small groups and individuals to be transformed by Him pouring His life into them, and then, with the power of The Holy Spirit, those few individuals changed the world forever.
Oswald Chambers says; One life wholly devoted to God is of more value to God than one hundred lives simply awakened by His Spirit.
And guys, the Devil knows that!
John Wesley wrote this; “I am more and more convinced that the devil himself desires nothing more than this, that the people of any place should be half-awakened and then left to themselves to fall asleep again.”
There may be nothing more exciting than to see hands raised all over the room signaling faith in Christ, but the well-known truth is most of the people connected to those hands never actually even begin to follow Christ. We tend to think the need is so great, we need to get the gospel to many thousands and have thousands respond. But if that were true, why did Jesus primarily avoid large crowds?
Was it because He didn’t have a rockin’ sound system and the Newsboys to open the big show for Him? Or was it possibly because He had a better approach?
Jesus had an inner core of three, to which was added nine, making up the Twelve Disciples, and then He also sent out the seventy. So that's a total of eighty-two disciples commissioned and sent out by Jesus Christ. Poor Jesus, He never really had a successful church according to our standards, but it seems like, in the long run, His approach has worked pretty well, doesn’t it?
Our culture has actually been saturated with the Gospel message, to the extent that research groups claim that well over 80% of all people in America claim to be Christians. But I think it's safe to say that eighty percent of our country is not actually following Jesus as Lord, wouldn’t you?
When John Wesley realized this was happening in his ministry, he wrote that he would not strike one evangelistic stroke where he could not follow that blow with small group encouragement, accountability, and training. He wrote that in Pembrokeshire [England], where he had once preached with apparently great success, “nine in ten of the once-awakened are now faster asleep than ever” and John Wesley committed to never do that again. And guys, the evangelistic crusade ministries in our country acknowledge that over ninety percent of the people who respond at their crusades never actually follow Jesus as their Lord for any length of time.
Salvation really does occur in an instant, in the very moment of faith, and then the transformation into the image of Christ occurs over a lifetime. When someone receives Jesus as their Lord, that is the beginning of an incredible journey of following Christ, but the raising of the hand can never be seen as the "end goal" because it is only the very beginning of following Christ.
Discipleship is; Following Jesus close enough and long enough, that your life is actually transformed by the power of His life in you.
And so, what does a mature disciple actually look like, according to the Bible? Here are eight characteristics of a disciple taken from Doug Morrell's CORE Discipleship Manual:
A disciple RESTS IN GOD
A disciple WORSHIPS GOD
A disciple OBEYS JESUS
A disciple PRAYS
A disciple SERVES
A disciple GIVES
A disciple LOVES
A disciple MAKES DISCIPLES
If you desire to; Rest in God. Worship God. Obey Jesus. Pray. Serve. Give. Love. And make other disciples . . .Then you must become a Disciple! One who walks so closely with his master that he becomes like him in his thinking and behavior.
Until we become Disciples and learn to make Disciples, we cannot say we are part of The Great Commission. And for us, fulfilling the Great Commission begins right here - right now!
It begins by us learning how to actually make disciples and then teaching those disciples to go and make more disciples. That is fulfilling the Great Commission, and it is something we should be thrilled to be part of!
The church's job is to equip you for the work of the ministry, to build you up as the body of Christ, until we all can walk together in the unity of the faith, in the knowledge of the Son of God, in maturity to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13 (ESV)
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
The Biblical way to do that is through Discipleship!
Unfortunately, I think in my love for teaching the Word I've spent far too much time giving you fish, and far too little time teaching you how to fish. But the Great Commission is not about giving you a fish each Sunday. The Great Commission is about teaching you how to fish, thereby feeding you for life.
The Great Commission
Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
If you’ve been a Christian for a while, you know that Jesus commissioned us to “Go and make disciples.” Here's a good definition of a Disciple: A disciple is a student or a learner, one who walks so closely with his master that he becomes like him in his thinking and behavior. This is what Jesus commissioned us to do, to help someone walk so closely with Him that their lives are actually transformed into HIS image.
Honestly, we think we've been doing that, but there is a classic "rut" that churches in our culture easily fall into, and unfortunately (to some extent) we've fallen into that rut. That rut is having a "Running the Church" mentality, meaning if the church is "running" then we must be doing ok. But the Great Commission actually stands against a “Running the Church” mentality. The command from Jesus was singular, go and MAKE DISCIPLES, and so the question can never be, "Is the church running?" Instead, the question must always be “Are we MAKING DISCIPLES?” And I promise you "Running the church" and "Making Disciples" are not necessarily one and the same.
On Jan 25th of 2009, we made a radical announcement that we were 'dismantling' all ministries except Disciple-Making. That doesn’t mean we aren’t ministering in those other areas, it just means our formal focus has been re-directed to doing what Jesus actually commanded us to do, MAKE DISCIPLES!
Here's a definition of discipleship from Doug Morrell of CORE Discipleship Ministry; Jesus called disciples to be in a transformational learning relationship with Him, characterized by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in them, which brought about genuine change in their lives and empowered them to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Jesus calls us to be in a transforming learning relationship with Him, characterized by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, resulting in genuine change in our lives and empowering us to spread the Good News. THAT is a good definition of what a disciple's relationship with Jesus Christ should be moving toward.
So, the only question is; are we (as a church) really helping YOU develop that kind of transforming relationship with Jesus Christ?
Patrick Morley (Man in the mirror) writes; As a whole, the church is not making disciples . . . But that's not the real problem. The real problem is - we think we are. So most [people] only know enough about God to be disappointed with him. They listen to the sermons, they try to do the right things, they have it in their hearts to be faithful Christians, but they don't have much joy, and certainly lack victory over sinful habits . . . That's because they have never actually been educated about what it means to “BE” a Christian. They are not disciples.”
I know you come to church because you desire to know God. You hunger and thirst for Him. You desire to be transformed by Jesus Christ, to become a new creation, a truly changed person. And that is exactly what we are called to help you do! But maybe too often the church implies that there's a quick fix, a microwave transformation, and when that doesn't happen people get easily disillusioned. They've tried out Jesus and didn’t really get the immediate fix, so they generally start looking other places for that same fix, and nobody ever tells them that the only TRUE answer lies in an ever-increasing relationship with Jesus Christ, and in an ever-growing spiritual maturity. The answer really is knowing Jesus more and more.
In Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul says,
Philippians 3:10 (ESV)
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
The Greek word for KNOW is “GINOSKO,” it means an ever-increasing, experiential knowledge. Paul says he has willingly suffered the loss of ALL things that he may have that ever-increasing, experiential knowledge of Christ, that he may KNOW Him more and more, becoming more and more like Him. That is discipleship and that is exactly how Jesus' own disciples were radically transformed.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (ESV)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
This is what we are called to. To be transformed into His image by the power of the Spirit. And as we spend time in His presence, beholding his glory, His Spirit WILL TRANSFORM US. I promise you, THAT is the true, abundant life, and that is what God desires for all believers!
Look at what Paul says in Colossians 1.
Colossians 1:28-29 (ESV)
28 Him (Jesus) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Paul says he toils, and he struggles, with all the power of God, to present every person mature in Christ.
Notice Paul doesn’t say ‘To get everyone to go to HEAVEN,’ because as Christians, heaven is not our goal. Heaven is not what we are "striving" for. If you're saved today, Heaven is your guaranteed destination, you are already a citizen there.
Our goal here, as Christians, is;
to have Christ Fully Formed in us - Galatians 4:19
to be Conformed to His image - Romans 8:29
to be Transformed by the Renewing of our Mind - Romans 12:2
to Live as His Workmanship (Poem) - Ephesians 2:10
to Put Off the Old man, Be Renewed by the Spirit, and Put On the new man - Ephesians 4 & Colossians 3
Our goal as Christians is to become more and more like Jesus. And as we do, we live more and more of the abundant life He promises. But what we must know is; This life transformation in the Bible is always done through discipleship. Remember, a Disciple is; One who follows Jesus so close that he becomes like Him in his thoughts and behavior, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The way we come to live the abundant transformed life is by becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.
The other thing we see in the Bible is; The transformed life always occurs in community, it always happens in what we call “one-anothering.” As we edify and equip one another. As we bear one another's burdens. As we fellowship with and serve one another. As we confess our sins and pray for one another. As we encourage, exhort, and admonish one another. And, most importantly, as we love one another, because Jesus said by this all people will know that we are His disciples.
Discipleship is always done with one another, we see that clearly modeled throughout the Bible;
Moses & Joshua
Elijah & Elisha
Eli & Samuel
David & Jonathon
Jesus & the Disciples
Barnabus & Paul
Paul & Timothy (and many others)
All these men, and many women also, learned to follow Jesus “in community,” with one another. Discipleship is done with one another. And the goal of discipleship is having our lives truly transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
WHY is the transformation of our lives the GOAL of discipleship? Because the power of the gospel is shown in the transformation of our lives. The true power of the gospel is not shown in how many hands are raised at the end of an emotional presentation. Biblically, that is never shown as the true power of the gospel. The true power of the gospel is always shown in individual radically transformed lives. In fact, Jesus Christ mostly avoided large numeric responses, instead, He sought out small groups and individuals to be transformed by Him pouring His life into them, and then, with the power of The Holy Spirit, those few individuals changed the world forever.
Oswald Chambers says; One life wholly devoted to God is of more value to God than one hundred lives simply awakened by His Spirit.
And guys, the Devil knows that!
John Wesley wrote this; “I am more and more convinced that the devil himself desires nothing more than this, that the people of any place should be half-awakened and then left to themselves to fall asleep again.”
There may be nothing more exciting than to see hands raised all over the room signaling faith in Christ, but the well-known truth is most of the people connected to those hands never actually even begin to follow Christ. We tend to think the need is so great, we need to get the gospel to many thousands and have thousands respond. But if that were true, why did Jesus primarily avoid large crowds?
Was it because He didn’t have a rockin’ sound system and the Newsboys to open the big show for Him? Or was it possibly because He had a better approach?
Jesus had an inner core of three, to which was added nine, making up the Twelve Disciples, and then He also sent out the seventy. So that's a total of eighty-two disciples commissioned and sent out by Jesus Christ. Poor Jesus, He never really had a successful church according to our standards, but it seems like, in the long run, His approach has worked pretty well, doesn’t it?
Our culture has actually been saturated with the Gospel message, to the extent that research groups claim that well over 80% of all people in America claim to be Christians. But I think it's safe to say that eighty percent of our country is not actually following Jesus as Lord, wouldn’t you?
When John Wesley realized this was happening in his ministry, he wrote that he would not strike one evangelistic stroke where he could not follow that blow with small group encouragement, accountability, and training. He wrote that in Pembrokeshire [England], where he had once preached with apparently great success, “nine in ten of the once-awakened are now faster asleep than ever” and John Wesley committed to never do that again. And guys, the evangelistic crusade ministries in our country acknowledge that over ninety percent of the people who respond at their crusades never actually follow Jesus as their Lord for any length of time.
Salvation really does occur in an instant, in the very moment of faith, and then the transformation into the image of Christ occurs over a lifetime. When someone receives Jesus as their Lord, that is the beginning of an incredible journey of following Christ, but the raising of the hand can never be seen as the "end goal" because it is only the very beginning of following Christ.
Discipleship is; Following Jesus close enough and long enough, that your life is actually transformed by the power of His life in you.
And so, what does a mature disciple actually look like, according to the Bible? Here are eight characteristics of a disciple taken from Doug Morrell's CORE Discipleship Manual:
A disciple RESTS IN GOD
A disciple WORSHIPS GOD
A disciple OBEYS JESUS
A disciple PRAYS
A disciple SERVES
A disciple GIVES
A disciple LOVES
A disciple MAKES DISCIPLES
If you desire to; Rest in God. Worship God. Obey Jesus. Pray. Serve. Give. Love. And make other disciples . . .Then you must become a Disciple! One who walks so closely with his master that he becomes like him in his thinking and behavior.
Until we become Disciples and learn to make Disciples, we cannot say we are part of The Great Commission. And for us, fulfilling the Great Commission begins right here - right now!
It begins by us learning how to actually make disciples and then teaching those disciples to go and make more disciples. That is fulfilling the Great Commission, and it is something we should be thrilled to be part of!
The church's job is to equip you for the work of the ministry, to build you up as the body of Christ, until we all can walk together in the unity of the faith, in the knowledge of the Son of God, in maturity to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13 (ESV)
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
The Biblical way to do that is through Discipleship!