Disciple Making
Notes
Transcript
Introduction - My discipling story… Get 3 or 4 other discipling stories.
What are the three main ingredients to each of these stories?
Conversion
Discipleship
The Holy Spirit
I am going to use Matt 13:1-9
1 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.
2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;
4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
5 “Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.
6 “But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 “Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
8 “And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
9 “He who has ears, let him hear.”
Mostly this is used as an evangelism example. We sow seeds and hope they sprout and produce fruit. But I am going to look at it from a slightly different point of view. Not as one randomly throwing seeds like an evangelist but as one who is intentional about caring for the seeds.
Before we get started let’s define two things
What is conversion?
What is discipleship?
What is conversion? Conversion is: to bring over from one belief, view, or party to another/to bring about a religious conversion
in other words to bring from darkness into light or death to life.
So, conversion is the turning of a sinner to God. In a general sense the heathen are said to be "converted" when they abandon heathenism and embrace the Christian faith; and in a more special sense men are converted when, by the influence of divine grace in their souls, their whole life is changed, old things pass away, and all things become new. Conversion is a single point in time.
What is discipleship? Discipleship is a journey of intentional decisions leading to maturity in your relationship with Jesus so that you become more like Him in your attitudes, focus and ultimately behavior.
So, conversion requires a decision which brings about change at a specific time; while discipleship requires a continuous string of decisions for a life time.
What do these two definitions have to do with the Great Commission? Matt 28:19-20
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Well - if we are going to make disciples we have to make converts. Which are people who have experienced that change of belief, that of going from spiritual death to life. Then, we need to teach them to observe all that He commanded of us which is that process of discipleship.
This is where our parable comes into to story in its true sense. We sow seeds. Some fall on the hard ground, some spring up in the rocks, others are choked by weeds and some grow to produce much fruit. Let me tell you an example of spreading many seeds.
Billy Graham - people coming forward - (describe the video)
They are now converts, but what happens after this moment in time? The evil one will take some of the seeds and destroy them, the cares of the world will over whelm them, some will just wither away, but some will bear fruit. The one big difference between them will be discipleship.
Discipleship is a journey of intentional decisions leading to maturity in your relationship with Jesus so that you become more like Him in your attitudes, focus and ultimately behavior. It requires a commitment from the potential disciple and the disciple-makers. It’s not something that happens by accident or overnight, and it can’t be completed in a six-week class. This is a lifelong commitment to follow God with your whole self and to both learn from and eventually teach others about how to follow Him.
The big difference that happens between each of those converts is what happens to the soil after the seed is sown. Discipleship is that lifelong commitment that produces the fruit.
In using terms of the parable: if the seeds that fall on the hard soil are left alone they will be eaten by the birds, but if the farmer - the disciple-maker comes along and breaks up the soil the seeds have a better chance. If the stones are removed and the weeds are pulled the convert has a better chance of bearing fruit. That’s the big difference between Billy Graham or some other evangelist and a disciple-maker. Disciple-makers plant the seeds and then take the time to tend the newly planted seeds. Disciple-makers are farmers taking the time to prepare the soil, plant the seeds and then tend the plants. An evangelist on the other hand just swoops in scatters some seeds and leaves them as they fell.
Which one are you? Are you a disciple-maker taking the time ensure the freshly planted seeds bear fruit or do you just scatter seeds and let others do the nurturing.
The crazy thing is they are both biblical. The parable of the sower says nothing about taking care of the seeds after they are thrown on the ground and Luke 14:23 says:
23 “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
Bring people into the Kingdom of God - scatter seeds, be an evangelist, make disciples. On the other hand is Matt 28:19-20 which says:
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Do you see that wonderful word in verse 20? Teaching them. It takes time to teach, it takes time to Go, and make disciples. Like I just said this can’t be completed in a six week Sunday School class. It is a life time commitment for both the disciple and the disciple-maker.
So, now that you know that little bit of information are you a disciple who just wants to learn all the time or are you a disciple who is working to make disciples? If any of you are not making disciples the big question would be why? Why aren’t you doing something to make disciples? Here’s a few possible answers for you - I don’t know how, I don’t know enough, I don’t know anyone, I’m too shy, I’m too busy: how many more can you come up with. I’m going to call all of these what they are - lies.
If you can talk, you know how; if you know your own story, you know enough; if you know anybody, you know someone; if you are busy then you make it a part of what you are doing every day. Everyone of us should be making disciples in some way. I’m going to illustrate this with one scripture Mt 10:25a
Matthew 10:25 (NASB95)
25 “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master.
The disciple should become like his teacher. The disciple-maker is the teacher and the disciple is the student. If you are already walking with Christ and at least know how the Holy Spirit worked in your life to change you then you can help someone else come to Christ. If you have some learning behind you then you can teach someone else what you have learned. All you have to do is make a disciple like you to be a disciple-maker. The greatest thing we can do to make disciples is to be present in the life of the on who is learning. Presence provides opportunities to be an example, to provide a pattern of living that goes beyond words; it’s a matter of walking the walking not just telling someone else how to live.
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.
Here’s an illustration about that. (Describe the video - Cambodian man)
But what happens next? What happens after the disciple has grown up to you or even beyond you? Well, Pass the disciple off to someone who is farther along then you are. That is why the church works together as a team. You don’t have to worry about what happens next - just teach them what you know. There are others here who can bring them up a bit farther.
Now with all of that said the next question should be, why do we make disciples? Col 1:28
28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.
Right here is the answer. To present every man complete in Christ. Another way to say it is to be spiritually mature. Which is the mission of the church, the body of Christ.
We do not know how much time we have on this earth. The time that we do have should be used wisely and for the glory of God. He wants all men to come to a saving knowledge of His Son Christ Jesus. The lost come to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus through discipleship. First through conversion and then through a continuous relationship with the children of God who teach all that He commanded us.
There is no required amount of learning to begin discipling others. Our presence in someones life will be an example to the change that takes place in someone when the Holy Spirit begins His work in a new convert. We can disciple others on a one to one basis as we lead them to Christ or help them understand this new faith they have accepted. As each person grows others of the faith can help bring that person to maturity. Disciple-making takes a church, the whole body of Christ.
Remember the parable. Many seeds are sown. You can be the sower who simply throws the seeds and leaves them to be eaten, to sprout in the rocks and wither, to get chocked out by the cares of the world or to grow and produce fruit. Or you can be the farmer who tends the ground first to ensure the soil is good and fertile. You can break up the hard ground, remove the rocks, kill the weeds and then plant the seeds instead of just throwing them out there. Once you have planted the seeds then you can tend the seeds as they sprout to ensure they have everything they need to grow up to produce much fruit. But wait we have left out one very important key to the entire process of conversion and discipleship. The Holy Spirit!
It’s in this process of discipleship that the Holy Spirit works. He moves about like the wind bringing about the increase. We may work and toil with someone to create an acceptable environment for growth but if the Holy Spirit doesn’t show up there will be no increase.
We must be born of the Spirit. Do you remember the stories of conversion and discipleship at the beginning of the message.
Repeat a few things about the stories.
They all had three things in common, Conversion, Discipleship and the Holy Spirit. Without the work of the Holy Spirit in the whole process we toil in vain. However, that doesn’t give us permission to not be a part of the process. Without our work preparing the soil and tending the plants after sprouting the Spirit’s work might be in vain too. Discipleship is a partnership between the Holy Spirit and those who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.
Never give up hope for those you are discipling and never cease doing good. Because the Holy spirit moves in mysterious ways you never know how the Lord will use you in His redemptive plan. Matt 28:19-20
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”