At the Table - Discipling
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Introduction
Introduction
Read: The Great Commission
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.”
Recap of Pulpit, Table, Square
A pastor and author once wrote that he discovered something that concerned him greatly. He would visit all of these local churches and guest preach there or simply attend on an off Sunday and he discovered that for some reason, it seemed to be rare or at least not the norm to find someone attending a church who was a growing Christian. It was definitely not the majority of people. This should concern us too. Why is it that so many people go to church every Sunday and yet show no growth in their spiritual lives. Why is it that we feel like it’s okay for someone to continually attend a church and remain motionless in the process of sanctification. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating that we toss people out of church for not growing. Actually, kind of the opposite. I’m placing before you that we as a church must be active in the area of discipleship in our own lives and the lives of those around us in this room. I’d say the same for many churches.
The author I mentioned moments ago says:
“A healthy church has a pervasive concern with church growth–not simply growing in numbers but growing members. A church full of growing Christians is the kind of church growth I want as a pastor. Some today seem to think that one can be a “baby Christian” for a whole lifetime. Growth is seen to be an optional extra for particularly zealous disciples. But be very careful about taking that line of thought. Growth is a sign of life. Growing trees are living trees, and growing animals are living animals. When something stops growing it dies.”
In his foundational book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Mark Dever wrote,
“Growth may not mean that you negotiate this rapid in half the time you negotiated the last; it may simply mean that you are able to continue in the right direction as a Christian, regardless of the adverse circumstances. Remember, it is only the things that are alive that swim upstream; the dead things all float along with the current.” - Mark Dever
Last week we looked at the Great Commission and revisited our mission as a church to make disciples. Today we continue in this..
As of a Barna study in May of 2018 - 51% of church goers claim they have not heard of the Great Commission. These are people who attend church. 76% have either not heard or don't know what it means. 6 percent don't know what you're talking about. WE seem to have a problem with not knowing what we are supposed to be about.
Two parts - What is a disciple and what is discipling in relation to being a growing Christian. Next week we will cover Biblical reason for us to be disciple makers.
A lot of churches would say that they make disciples. But here is the question to ask: Have you been intentionally, systematically, and regularly been invested in by another man or another woman... more than just hanging out and talking about life.
Word Christian - in the NT used 3 times
Word Disciple - used 269 times in NT, 238 in the Gospels
There are not two classes of Christians: basic and disciple or advanced and beginner… Discipling is for all believers.
I. What is a disciple?
I. What is a disciple?
A disciple is:
A learner - meaning of disciple. It is a dynamic term. Mode of action to it.
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Disciple
Someone who follows another person or another way of life and who submits himself to the discipline (teaching) of that leader or way.
Disciple Making is an overarching banner for both discipleship evangelism. Inviting to Christ and then investing in them.
I shouldn't be the only evangelist or the only disciple maker in the church - pastor should not be the only one.
A. Marks of a disciple
A. Marks of a disciple
We are going to rifle through several scriptures and there are even more than I am going to get to but for further study, I have created a graphic for the Facebook page with the references and these main points so you can pray over them in your personal worship time this week.
1. Response to God’s initial call.
1. Response to God’s initial call.
16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
2. Desire to know what God has said.
2. Desire to know what God has said.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
16 Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
3. A break from the world’s standards.
3. A break from the world’s standards.
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
4. Self-discipline.
4. Self-discipline.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”
25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
5. Desire to seek and encourage other disciples
5. Desire to seek and encourage other disciples
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
6. Passion for Evangelism
6. Passion for Evangelism
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
7. Perseverance.
7. Perseverance.
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
II. What is the larger context for discipling? - The Local Church
II. What is the larger context for discipling? - The Local Church
A. What is discipling?
A. What is discipling?
1. Biblical discipling is intentional and deliberate.
1. Biblical discipling is intentional and deliberate.
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.”
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
2. Biblical discipling is relational.
2. Biblical discipling is relational.
3. Biblical discipling is loving.
3. Biblical discipling is loving.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
4. Biblical discipling involves training in God’s Word.
4. Biblical discipling involves training in God’s Word.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
B. Biblical discipling is a pipeline.
B. Biblical discipling is a pipeline.
7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
C. Biblical discipling is a process, not a program.
C. Biblical discipling is a process, not a program.
Conclusion and Invitation to Respond
Conclusion and Invitation to Respond