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Page Everyone Makes Disciples
In the Gospels
we read the accounts of the discipling relationship Jesus maintained with
those who chose to walk with him. The twelve men he named Apostles and the
other men and women who were with him during those days were given an
incredible opportunity to have a unique face-to-face experience with the
master. Each of them was able to see and experience Jesus first hand. They
were given the opportunity to learn directly from him and to begin to model
their lives after his life so that in their own way; to the best of their
abilities; they could become just like him. It would be easy to be very
jealous of what these man and women were given. Today, our
desire is to follow him also, just like others did during the days when he
walked among us. In the same manner as the twelve and the others, we want to
be like him to the best of our growth and ability. We want to follow his will
and please him. We have read and have some level of understanding of his
great commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Our stage of growth as Christians and
our individual levels of understanding of his command present a problem for
many. It is the problem of his command to make disciples. It is
understandable to say, “I am not that strong in my Christian walk. I know
Jesus implored us to make disciples as we are going, just like he did. I know
he said he would help us in our efforts to make disciples but I have never
been a good teacher. The task is too difficult. Too much of an investment is
required and it is just too hard for me to do.” However, there is a simple fact we
need to realize. If we have any
influence at all, we all make disciples at some level. Let’s look
deeper into this statement and what it means by examining examples of worldly
discipling in society today: It is not
a stretch of fact to say that many in today’s society disciple themselves to
celebrities, social activists, political figures, sports figures, business
gurus and other influential people. One only
has to pick up the Wall Street Journal or one of the other business journals
to see the press time given to successful business leaders such as
real-estate tycoon Donald Trump, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, and
investment guru Warren Buffett. It is a fact that many in the business world
have discipled themselves to the practices and philosophy of these business
leaders and others like them. The hope of these disciples is to be successful
in their business endeavors by mirroring all of their business actions to
what they see their chosen guru doing. If getting ahead in business is the
goal, this discipling of business and investment thought to a Warren Buffett
or Donald Trump type of philosophy might be smart practice. As another
discipling example, many (especially younger) people faithfully follow every
cosmetic, fashion, or social nuance their favorite actor, actress or singer
exhibits. Their desire seems to be to look, smell, think and act, as much as
possible, exactly the same as the celebrity they admire. In their mind, they
have found the perfect role model in one of the people who work in the flashy
world of entertainment. Others are
equally devoted to mimicking the philosophy and actions of social activists
and political figures. There are many other equally good examples of
subclasses of society who have acquired a following of committed disciples. Disciples and Discipling: There are
disciples and there are disciplers, because at the most basic level,
discipling is a relational process. In fact, discipling is all about
relationships. Those who choose to be disciples are learners, followers and
adherents of someone else or some belief or teaching. When we disciple
someone (as a discipler), we can disciple them to ourselves (if we are full
of ourselves, with a strong ego driven personality) or we can disciple people
to someone or something else. The success of the discipling process is almost
fully dependant on the relationship that is formed between the discipler and
the disciple and how well it continues. Man is a relational
being and a social creature. We desire to have and develop relationships.
Most of us actively seek fellowship. Our intent is to influence those around
us. In fact, that is how God wired us. It is a
fact that: -
Parents disciple their children. -
Children
disciple their parents. -
We disciple our
friends. -
We seek out
discipling opportunities in business, social and personal relationships. -
What we
disciple others to, depends on what priorities we have on our hearts. -
If you ever
learn anything by intent or by incident or by accident from anyone else, that
person has discipled you. Since a
disciple is “one who learns,” in some measure, all human beings are disciples
of anyone who teaches them anything. We seem to
be happiest when we are discipling others to the things that make us happiest
and give us the most gratification. For those who know Christ as their
savior, the desire to disciple others to him is how God wired us. Discipling People to Christ The
obvious intent of this study is to look at discipling people to Jesus Christ.
He commanded us to make disciples of all nations. That is what the rest of
this study will emphasize. I am to disciple The World? … Was Jesus Serious? The
biblical basis for making disciples, what we know as Christ’s Great Commission,
is recorded five times in the New Testament. It occurs in all four of the
Gospel Accounts and in the book of Acts -
Matthew 28: 18-20 contains the most definitive statement of what Jesus expects us to do, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on
earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all 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 NIV) -
Mark 16:15-16 provides the most concise wording of what Jesus expects us to do. "Go into all the world and
preach the good news to all creation.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not
will be condemned." (Mark 16:15-16
NIV) -
Luke 24: 47 contains the most direct statement of what Jesus expects us to do, "And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be
preached in his name to all nations, beginning at -
John 20: 21 contains
the most simple statement
of what Jesus expects us to do. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with
you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20: 21 NIV) -
Acts 1: 8 contains the most expansive statement of what Jesus expects us to do. "But you will receive power, when the Holy Spirit
comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Making Disciples: In
addition to many other things, the New Testament is an incredible primer on
the "how-to’s" of discipling. Let’s look at a few scriptural
examples of discipling. A very obvious scriptural example of one who
discipled and had disciples may be found in the son of Zechariah and
Elizabeth; the man we know as John the Baptist. John the Baptist We know
from what is recorded in the scriptures that John the Baptist made disciples. 3The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. (John 1:35
NIV) In his
Gospel accounting, Luke carefully chose his words to show us that John’s
disciples trusted him and followed his wishes: 1This news about Jesus spread throughout Luke
continues in his accounting of John and his relationship with those he
encountered, showing us that even Jesus acknowledged John’s discipling. The
Master knew John as a "messenger", who "will prepare your way
before you". After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the
crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed
swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine
clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in
palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more
than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: 'I will send my
messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' I tell you,
among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who
is least in the (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard
Jesus' words, acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been
baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's
purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.) (Luke 7:
18-30 NIV) Jesus was
never a disciple of John. In the truest sense, Jesus was a disciple of his
father, God. However, Jesus himself went to John in the wilderness at the At that time Jesus came from In his
Gospel the Apostle John tells us that John the Baptist knew there were people
who had discipled themselves to him, but that God had bigger plans for
humanity than anything he or those who followed him would accomplish. He knew he was only a messenger (“A voice
in the wilderness”) and that the way and the truth lay not in following him,
but in following “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”. In fact,
he was so certain that his testimony to those who had discipled themselves to
him caused at least two of them (Andrew and probably John the son of Zebedee)
to leave him in order to disciple themselves to Jesus. The account in John’s
Gospel is long, but full of the testimony, wisdom and willingness of John the
Baptist to be used by God. The
following is from the NIV Translation of John’s Gospel. Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem
sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess,
but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ." They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you
Elijah?" Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to
take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am
the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'
" Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him,
"Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the
Prophet?" "I baptize with water," John replied, "but
among you stands one you do not know. He is the one
who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to
untie." This all happened at The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the
one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because
he was before me.' I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing
with water was that he might be revealed to Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come
down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him,
except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on
whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the
Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." The next day John was there again with two of his
disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of
God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed
Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you
want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher),
"where are you staying?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that
day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard
what John had said and who had followed Jesus. (John 1: 19-40 NIV) The Apostle Paul Was a Disciple,
Even Before He Met Jesus: In the
same manner as Andrew and John were disciples of John the Baptist, Saul of
Tarsus (the Apostle Paul) was a disciple of someone else before he met Jesus. Many Jews
discipled themselves to scholars and rabbis in order to learn from them and
to grow in their knowledge. This is in keeping with the definition of a
disciple as a learner, who studies under the teaching of a learned person. In
this respect, Saul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul) was a disciple of the Jewish
teacher and Pharisee, Gamaliel. "Then Paul said: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of
Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained
in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are
today." (Acts 22:3 NIV) Obviously, Jesus Made Disciples: As
accounted in Matthew - As Jesus was walking beside the From
Mark’s Gospel - Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd
came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son
of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me,"
Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. (Mark 2: 13-14 NIV) From the
Gospel of John - The next day John was there again with two of his
disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed
Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you
want?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see."
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that
day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard
what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was
to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah"
(that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of
John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when
translated, is Peter). Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael The next day Jesus decided to leave for Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of " "Come and see," said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him,
"Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under
the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of
God; you are the King of Israel." Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you
under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then
added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels
of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." (John 1: 35-50 NIV) The Apostles: One of the
versions of Jesus, selecting the Apostles from those who had discipled
themselves to him – from Luke’s Gospel. (The names of the Apostles are also
recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Acts) One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray,
and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his
disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:
Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip,
Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the
Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. (Luke
6: 12-16 NIV) Others: There are
other accounts in the New Testament of others who made disciples and the
discipling process: So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in (Speaking of Paul and Barnabas) The next day he and
Barnabas left for Derbe. They preached the good news in that city and won a
large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a
native of Paul to Timothy And the things you have heard me say in the presence of
many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach
others. (2 Timothy 2:2 NIV) What happens when we make
disciples? When we
disciple another person, we give a part of ourselves to that person. This is
gift of love - our love for Jesus, exhibited in our love for others. As we do
this we quickly recognize that discipling is a very personal commitment. It
requires a great investment of personal time and effort. Looking at
the NIV translation of 2Timothy 2:2, we see Paul telling Timothy to “entrust”
the things Paul has invested into (Timothy) into “reliable” men. The
KJV uses the word “commit” instead of entrust and the word “faithful”
in place of reliable. These discipling words are unusual (as if anything from
God could be categorized as unusual!) in that they are predominately banker’s
terms, normally used in reference to investments. What do I
mean with this talk of bankers? We commit and entrust to reliable/faithful men (and women),
expecting a return on the investment. Everyone, with any influence,
Disciples. Like
bankers, we commit and invest. Why? Like bankers, we expect a return on our
investment. WE DO IT
FOR HIS KINGDOM – FOR THE WORLD Look at Paul and Timothy And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many
witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.
(2 Timothy 2:2 NIV) What an
investment discipling is! So, what is the expected return from this
investment? Only God
knows what level of return is possible if the heart of the discipler is in
the right place and the discipling effort is invested in reliable men! What should our desire be when we
disciple others to Jesus? When we
disciple others, our desire should be to leave the disciple, the way Jesus
left the twelve. We should desire to leave the disciple the way Paul, left
Luke and Titus. We should hope to leave the disciple the way Paul left
Timothy, Jesus
said, “When the process is completed, the disciple will be like
his teacher” (Luke 6:40 NIV) The product of discipling is
predictable, The outcome of discipling is
inevitable. However,
when we commit to the intentional process of discipling others to Christ, we
must ask a sober question: “Is my life worth copying?” There is
another way to put this question: “What kind of work would Christ’s work be, If every other
Christian were just like me?” The
implications of these two questions are staggering! -
Those we disciple are molded by our Bible study. -
They are shaped
by our prayer life (prayerfulness or prayerlessness). -
They become
pictures of our attitude toward worship. -
Their
faithfulness to God's Word becomes an example of our faithfulness to His
Word. -
Their interest
in discipling others mirrors our commitment to the process. -
Their desire to
impact the world for Jesus will be a picture of our desire to impact the
world. If we have
no interest in building disciples who will be reproducing generations of
disciples far out into the future, they will look no farther than their
relationship with us. If our vision
for discipling looks no farther than our Sunday School Class, or Church
group, ignoring Jerusalem (our neighborhood), Judea (people with similar
interests like Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, Chicago and Detroit)
Samaria (people who do not necessarily like us) and the ends of the earth
(North, Central and South America, India, France, Spain, Vietnam, the Sudan,
China, Japan, Zambia, etc). Their vision will be similarly near sighted. Why do our attitudes affect those
we are given to disciple? Because
(in Luke 6:40) Jesus said those we disciple emerge looking like us. Here is another group of tough
questions: -
How would we like it if ten generations from now large numbers of
people were just like us? -
How extensive
would God’s work be? -
How strategic
would God’s work be? -
How relational
would God’s work be? -
How obedient
would those people be? Is this a reason to not disciple? IN BIG LETTERS THE ANSWER IS NO! Do Not Despair. There is Good News
Here Also The Great
Commission of Christ, as recorded in Matthew begins with incredible words of
assurance, where Jesus says: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on
earth." There are
only two places we need to be concerned with at this time and forever. They
are here on earth and in heaven. Jesus has been given "ALL
AUTHORITY" in those two places. He doesn't have 2/3rds authority. He
doesn't have morning and midday authority. He doesn't have authority for dark
haired men only. He has all authority. So, how
will he exercise this authority? He says
that if we "go" (the Greek words of the original text in Matthew's
Gospel actually translate much better in the form "as you are
going", or "since you are going anyway") and "make
disciples", he "will be with us always, even to the ends of the
earth." That is the
good news. We have the help we need to make disciples. If we give the work to
the Holy Spirit, and try as hard as possible to keep it from becoming a
"Me Thing" we already have all of the help we will ever need. This
help will come straight from Jesus, the one who gave the ultimate price for
us and has made us the centerpiece of his plan to spread the Gospel. Two things
are required: -
We need to attempt to lead lives worthy of our calling as disciples of Christ. -
We need to make
disciples for him as we are going. One of the
foundational works of discipling is the book The Master Plan of Evangelism
by Dr. Robert E. Coleman. In his incredible work, Dr. Coleman tells a story
that I would like to loosely quote: After
his ascension, Christ was met by legions of angels in Heaven. They praised and praised him and then one
of them asked what plan he had put into place to assure his vision would
continue across the world and time, as God had desired. Jesus looked toward the
brilliance of God's throne and then told the angels, "I have left a
small band of laymen, mostly fishermen, who will take over my vision and
deliver my message to the world. I have made these laymen "fishers of
men." They will be responsible for teaching my vision to other faithful
believers, who will carry on in the same manner until the end of time." The legions of angels all
looked at our Lord with wonder. Finally, one of them spoke. “What an
incredible vision! … What if they fail?” Jesus replied, “This is my
vision. I have no other plan." As Coleman
tells us, Jesus has no other plan for spreading the good news of salvation
from our sin. He has placed the responsibility with us. None of the disciples
were pastors. They were not theological professors at nationally renowned
seminaries. At best, they were common men, just like you and me. We are his
plan for spreading the Gospel of Good News to all nations, across the entire
world. Everyone, with any influence at all, makes disciples. The question is
what kind of disciples do we make? Copyright © 2005 - ToBeLikeHim Ministries |