Acts the Story Continues (10)

Discipleship

Last week we talked about evangelizing. We discussed what that looked like and how Peter reached those he was speaking to through his sermon. It amazes me sometimes how simple the bible is and how complex we Christians seem to make it. While drawing closer to God I realized that deeper doesn’t mean harder. There aren’t complex equations to figure out. The amazing attribute of God is His

Simplicity

For someone who is all and created all He made the path to Him simple-Hard, but simple. Please don’t confuse simple tasks with a level of ease. You want to see just how hard something easy is ask you kid to take the trash out. All of a sudden they can’t figure out how to bend their arms. The Road to salvation is easy. It’s a clear path to hard decisions.

I feel as Christians we make discipleship harder than it has to be as well. So this morning we are going to tackle two ideas

How to be a Disciple

How to disciple

You can’t Disciple someone if you first haven’t been discipled. The reason is because it takes a level of maturity to disciple someone.

The first thing we need to understand this isn’t

Blind Leading the Blind

The Bible is very clear about not doing this. It’s why one must mature before they can help someone else mature.

The other things we must first understand is discipleship isn’t salvation. A baby Christian can lead someone to Christ. In fact I find most new Christians are more passionate about sharing their faith than mature Christians.

What is Discipleship?

Discipleship is leading someone into mature relationship with Christ. They already started the relationship and now they want to grow. In today’s culture we call it

Coaching

Everyone now a days seems to have a coach. There is a life coach, a job coach, a relationship coach and the list goes on, but the most important is the Spiritual Coach.

So how do we make ourselves coachable?

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

A Coachable person is

Teachable

Proverbs 12:1 ESV

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

This is a Mic drop statement. There is nothing more to add or subtract. Understand discipline isn’t bad it’s instruction. It’s learning.

1 Peter 5:5 ESV

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

The term younger isn’t necessarily boxed into age. Paul often uses the growth patterns of people as symbolic references to our Spiritual Maturity level. He calls new Christians infants many times. One who is willing to receive help is wiser than the fool who kicks it away.

Here’s the issue. Many Christians haven’t matured because we are too busy trying to reinvent the wheel. If someone has gone through what you have gone through heed their advice and avoid their mistakes. There is no shame in asking for help, there is shame in failing alone.

Fellowship

We are going to get more into biblical socialism next week so stay tuned, but fellowship in this context doesn’t mean eating together. Fellowship is:

Joint Participation

It’s a level of intimacy with one another. It’s help each other out and the only way to help each other is spend time with each other. A person who is coachable must be willing to spend time with their coach. A good coach is also going to bring their student into their social gatherings.

I heard this statement a while back

You are Who you Hang Out With

I was told this as a kid numerous times. Usually to explain why I would amount to nothing, but when I figures out what it truly meant and tweeked the statement a little I was able to grow to whole new levels.

If you want to grow don’t hang around people who are in the same situation you are in; find people who are where you want to be and make friends.

When you get around people like you they want to keep you where you are, but when you get around people who been where you have been and are now succeeding where you want to succeed those people will desire to bring you up to where they are.

Breaking of Bread

There is nothing more intimate than eating together. That is for those who aren’t married to each other. But this term deepens a normal meal. Communion wasn’t always a wafer and juice. Communion could be sponatious and at the end of meal. Often times communion was done as a large feast. It was taking time to recognize and be thankful for Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. It was discussing what God was doing in your life and how he was shaping and molding you.

Prayers

A coachable person is

Connected to God

We can recite scripture all we want, but if there isn’t a connection to God and the dwelling of the Holy Spirit inside of us, than we aren’t able to take our coachable moments and transform them into Spiritual growth.

The Spirit helps us to pray

Grows us in holiness

gives us strength and endurance, guards our salvation, brings conviction and the list goes on.

You can be coached by a person which is profitable, good, and biblically sound, but you also have to be connected to God which takes external information and helps to bring internal changes.

And for those of you who wonder

How do you become a coach?

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

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

Teach them to observe all that God has commanded.

You will notice a common thread and will probably get tired of hearing

People learn through observation—and observing those who are already saved. You want to know why Christianity has taken a downhill turn—it’s because those we have emulated have let lose the biblical moral code.

People will learn how to act as a Christ follower by watching other Christ followers.

I love that I’ve been watching you.

a little kid swears when he spills his drink-His dad asks where he heard it his response—I’ve been watching you.

Later that night the same kid prays and talks with God just as he was talking with a friend. The dad asks where he learned it—I’ve been watching you.

People watch you weather you know it or not and people will learn more about who they think Christ is through your actions.

You disciple people everyday and you don’t even know it, but the question is:

Who are you following?

Paul states

1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.