Why Disciple?

Discipling in the Church  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  47:48
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Introduction

Why would you want to disciple someone? Because you have to, i.e. you feel it is an obligation? Because you want to, i.e. because you have found some form of motivation that makes you want to do it?
Last week, we said that every Christian is called to a ministry of discipleship, whether it is you being discipled by a more mature believer, or you discipling someone younger in the faith, or both.
Before we begin this ministry of discipleship, we want to understand the biblical underpinnings for a Christian’s motivation to make disciples. Today we are going to consider two reasons why you should disciple.

Reason #1: Why Disciple? For your Joy!

It may strike some folks as odd to say that a primary motive for our discipling of others is the joy that we receive from disicpling. Sounds selfish, doesn’t it?
But while there may be many ways that we could potentially pursue this joy wrongly, the fact remains that Scripture presents our joy as a legitimate motivator for Christians disciplers.
Listen to these verses (select folks to read them out lout beforehand):
Philippians 1:3–5 KJV
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, 5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Philippians 2:1–2 KJV
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Philippians 4:1 KJV
1 Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
Romans 16:19 KJV
19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
2 Corinthians 7:4 KJV
4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
2 Corinthians 7:13–16 KJV
13 Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all. 14 For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth. 15 And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him. 16 I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.
1 Thessalonians 2:19–20 KJV
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? 20 For ye are our glory and joy.
2 John 4 KJV
4 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
Question – In all these verses, what was Paul and John’s basis for rejoicing? Can you pick up any common themes in these verses that explain their motivation for discipling?
Response – They wrote about their own joy. God intends to produce joy in you when you are used to help others prosper and grow.
Explanation – From these texts we see that Paul and John are taking special encouragement from the knowledge that THEY were personally used by God to help build up the Christians to whom they wrote. Does this at all surprise you? This is a biblical reason that we should not be ashamed to cultivate.
Christians can very naturally find great pleasure in seeing other believers grow and prosper. Paul would often refer to his hearers as his “children in the Lord” and he seemed to take appropriate pleasure in seeing them prosper through the fruit of his ministry and the ongoing work of others. Paul’s joy is that his children are walking in the truth.
Question – So is this sort of joy selfish? Does a joy in personally helping to mature disciples lead us to be man-centered or is this a good thing?
Response – If this was the sum total of what Paul and John (and others) took pleasure in then yes it could lead to a wrong dependence. But that’s not the picture that we get.
They were delighting to see themselves as the means used in Christian discipleship specifically because it then brought glory to the God they supremely loved.
Question – Does it lead to pride?
Response – The fact that you can do something badly is not an argument against doing it well.
Summation:
Christians rejoice in seeing other believers grow, and they take special joy in seeing that growth occur as a result of their involvement.
This pleasure of laboring to see other people prosper spiritually through your involvement in their lives is one of the most foundational joys in the heart of a true Christian disciple.
Watching believers grow as a fruit of your ministry is a part of your glory and reward before Christ. Far from being wrong-headed, I would even say that if you do not take real pleasure in being used by God to encourage and build up other believers, then there is something off with your understanding.
Our pleasure in seeing God use us to encourage and build up other believers is an important and biblical motivation, but it is not the ultimate motivation.

Reason #2: Why Disciple? For God’s glory!

We learn from God’s word that the result of discipling is greater fruit from our lives that leads to God’s glory. To consider this idea carefully, we are going to spend the next few minutes looking at a section of Scripture that explains this concept in wonderful detail—John chapter 15, verses 1 through 17.
Read John 15:1-8. Here Jesus teaches his followers saying:
John 15:1–8 KJV
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
In the next few weeks we will have time to think more about what it means to remain in Christ as an avenue to fruitfulness. But right now I want us to look more at the final idea in this section.
Question – What is it that Christ describes in the life of the believer that will bring glory to the Father?
Response – Our bearing much fruit. We will discuss what that fruit is in a moment.
Question – And what will that fruitfulness demonstrate to a watching world?
Response – That we are true disciples of Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.
Question – So then, what is this fruit that Jesus is speaking about?
Response – The text is not specific about what this means precisely, or if it is even meant to be only one thing, or perhaps many things are intended here.
However, we can get some pretty good insights into what meaning is intended by simply continuing to read verses 9 through 17.
Here we see examples of the kind of fruit that Jesus has in mind, the fruit that should naturally flow from our being “in Christ” and how that fruit brings great glory to the Father.
Read verses John 15:9-17.
John 15:9–17 KJV
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Clearly John chapter 15 is focused on the need to abide in Christ and on the love he has shown for us.
But there is also a plain command for us in this passage too…we are told that we should love each other as Christ has loved us.
So, it seems obvious that at least part of the fruit that is implied here is Love, i.e. a love for God that shows itself in love for each other.
But let’s think about how Christ has loved us and how that may give us clues to the particular kind of “fruitful love” that we are called to display.

Jesus Laid Down His Life For Us

First, in verses 12-13 we read that Christ loved us by laying down his life for us. He commands us (followers of Christ) to do likewise—love for us is defined by us imitating Christ, i.e., loving fellow believers by laying down our life on their behalf.
Last week we said that we cannot lay down our lives for another with the saving effect that Christ alone could accomplish. Christ is the only begotten Son of God and his death accomplished a great atoning work that we can only marvel at, but never even mimic.
Still it does seem that Christ would have us expend our lives for others in something of the same way that he did as well. So let’s think more specifically about what laying down our life could look like.
Question: With regard to doing good for humanity, what was the primary object of Jesus laying down his life for us? What was he accomplishing for those he had chosen by laying down His life?
Responses – To bring us to Father.
So that the we may share in the joy that Christ enjoys with the Father
So that we can bear fruit
So that our joy will be complete
So that our enmity toward God would be replaced by a loving relationship.
So it should be with us! We should lay down our lives for others with the deliberate intent of making ourselves a means that God may use to do these good things in the lives of others.
Most of us will never be called on to die for other Christians. Only a select few are called to pour out their lives as a drink offering on the altar of martyrdom.
But the rest of us are also called to pour out their lives as well, one drop at a time. Day by day, pouring out our time, our energy to do real, eternal good for the believers that Jesus has placed around us.
As Jesus lay down his life to do eternal good for those he loved, we should pour out our lives for others, not simply to help them in some earthly sense, but to try to help them eternally. Our fruit should be fruit that will last forever.

Jesus Made Known to Us All That He had Learned From His Father

Second, we read that another mark of Christ’s love for His disciples is that he made known to them what he learned from the Father. He opened up the truth and purposes of God to them. He shared with them the knowledge that came from the Father.
It is tragic that in our arrogant and individualistic culture many have lost the Biblical understanding that teaching is not essentially autocratic or rude. Far from being arrogant, to lovingly teach another person about truths from Scripture is a supreme sign that you really love them and consider them your friend.
We, who have learned some things from God, should love others by sharing the truth of the Word with them as Christ has done so graciously for us.
So a second way we imitated Christ and show love for our brethren is by willingly sharing with others the truth you have learned from God’s Word.
This does not mean you need to be an expert in the Bible, like a seminary professor. Every Christian in this room has been given God’s truth, whether it is from your own personal study of the Word, or from the good public teaching with get in this church, or from good spiritual conversations you have with friends, or from the great reading.
You have a responsibility to show love to others by not hoarding that truth. You are called on to be a conduit of truth—to pass along to others what you have been taught by God.
Summation:
If you set out to deliberately relate to another Christian, with the intent of doing them good spiritually, you are loving them by laying down your life for them and by willingly passing on to them truths from God’s Word.

Conclusion

1) To be fruitful in discipling, we should focus on the fundamental motivation for discipling—our joy in God’s glory.

2) Desiring to see others grow is normative for Christians.

THINGS TO DO:
Meditate on the way discipling brings you joy, builds up the church, and brings God great glory.
If you find that you are still not motivated to spend time encouraging other believers to grow then take some time this week to contemplate, turn over, “soak in” the reasons for discipling that we have set out in today.
As you consider biblical reasons, I hope you will find that the Word begins to motivate you heart.
Determine today to cultivate a taste for the joy of being a means God uses to encourage others.
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