Skip to main content

Discipleship, "What Is It?"

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-19 ESV


In a nutshell, discipleship is...

·         REPRODUCTION!! – “LIFE giving LIFE”

·         learning and teaching “Life Principles of the Kingdom”

·         the empowering of others as God has empowered us

The disciple is a learner, open and teachable. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”. Proverbs 9:9-10 The disciple seeks to be proficient* in his walk with the Lord, it’s not at all about perfection—for we are made perfect only in Christ but a disciple does need to strive to do his best for the Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:22-24

* Proficiency comes from trying to do everything well through commitment to excellence. God has equipped each of us with skills and He gives us gifts for the complete accomplishment of His will, in us and in the world. The only hindrance to proficiency is ones level of commitment to excellence—we MUST find out what God’s will is for us and be about His business! For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Ephesians 5:8-11

A great deal of what discipleship is… is learning to view life through the eyes of God. A disciple will find it extremely hard to be successful in the walk of faith without proper “Perspective & Vision”.

-         perspective - the aspect in which things or circumstances are mentally or naturally viewed

-         vision - the aspect in which things or circumstances are viewed otherwise than by ordinary sight

For the disciple of Jesus Christ, it’s not a matter of either/or but a healthy blend of the two aspects for viewing life—God created us with the capacity to see in the natural, but He wants us to come and gain His perspective, “God-vision”, for walking through what we see in the natural (the stuff & circumstances of life). Unfortunately, good clear perspective mixed with “God-vision” are rare commodities among Christians, we tend to get stuck in the here and now—our immediate circumstances and situations…we must decide to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…” Proverbs 3:5

Wag

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Change - Dreaded or Embraced?

He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” Luke 5:36-39 ESV   There has been a lot of discussion about “Change” lately, especially during the resent presidential campaign and upcoming presidency. A recent Twitterer asked the following   question – “ What is your opinion about change? ” and I quickly answered, “ Change is a necessary element to fullness of life, without it we grow stagnant... ”. As I was pondering my response I decided to see what God would have to say about this discussion.   Here is my conclusion: Change is an absolute! With out it, we will in...
1 comment
Read more

God Is Excited About You And Your Future!

I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 We have all read or heard stories about those who have chosen to die for the glory of God and we think to ourselves “Wow! I wonder if I could stand even in the face of death”. But what about “continuing on” in the face of tragedy or out-of-our-control circumstances? What about trusting God in all things - even when they make not one bit of sense to us? I believe it is easier to choose immediate death for the glory of God than to keep the faith in the wake of life’s turmoil. Remember Todd Beamer, the hero who helped over-through the hijackers during the 9/11 attacks? Many have marveled at his wife Lisa, whose strength and ability to carry on after the tragic loss of her husband, was quite inspiring to say the least. Through it all she has adamantly given all the credit to God for her strength and peace. Several years ago - Lisa ...
2 comments
Read more

For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free!

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 ESV   To give a little backdrop to this post… Yesterday during our gathering, the question was asked – “If we are free in Christ, does that mean we can do whatever we want…won’t people take advantage of this?” Well let me tell you, this opened up a conversation that lasted the rest of service, it was great! I pondered this topic the rest of the day and on into the evening. In fact, I woke up this morning with the subject still fresh in my thoughts. So I figured it would make a good post…   To you, what does it mean to be free in Christ? We use this term constantly but is using the term enough? Are we living in “freedom” as the Bible means or are we living as we want? There is a difference.   The world would define freedom something like this; to be really free and able to do exactly what ever you want, when ever you want, how ever you want and...
Post a Comment
Read more