Simply put, Discipleship is Family!
We have all heard the Great Commission from Matthew 28:19. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
“But what does that actually mean? And how do we apply it to our lives?”
When you look at the New Testament, Paul gives us a shining example of discipleship. Paul had a spiritual son, Timothy, and a friend who encouraged him, Barnabas.
Following this example, I believe that everyone needs a Paul investing in them, a Barnabas that you are running with, and a Timothy that you are investing into.
“What is needed to disciple others?”
I have been discipling young men and women for over 20 years, and what I learned from God’s Word and from these years of experience is that there are two major keys to discipleship: Unconditional selfless love and consistent correction. A family without love or discipline won’t work.
“What does love look like?”
The Word of God is all about His love. 1 John 4 says that God is love. That means everything He says or does is from love. Knowing this, you need to know what love consists of because it consists of much more than the definitions we’ve grown accustomed to. We might say, “I love my dog” or “I love pizza”, but what does it actually mean?
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
So what is love? Love is the power to transform. Without love, discipleship is reduced to a dead religion. To love people is to believe in them. To believe in them is to empower them. To empower them is to watch them grow!
“What does correction look like?”
Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it."
Throughout many years of discipleship, I have noticed that a massive piece of transformation comes through confrontations. What do I mean by confrontation? I mean to speak the truth in love for the betterment of an individual!
The goal of discipleship is that one would come to look more and more like Jesus. With that in mind, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. If I claim to love you and I let you continue in a self-destructive habit without saying anything, then how much am I actually showing love for you? To let someone drown based on fear of upsetting them is inconsistent with the heart of God.
“My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His rebuke, For whom the LORD loves He disciplines, Just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.” - Proverbs 3:11-12 NASB
This passage is very eye-opening to most of us because people tend to shy away from the scriptures that don’t “feel” good. It also shows us a good father’s perspective on correction.
To the child about to touch the stove or the person wandering down the path of sin, your confrontation might be uncomfortable for them in the moment, but your goal is to save them from the hurt and pain of where their actions will lead. This is our Father’s heart behind correction, and we should choose to do it because we love.
To learn more, read my book: “The Lost Art of Discipleship” or get access to my Online Course below.
An Abundance of Grace,
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