Living Out Discipleship

What is discipleship?

What is discipleship? I am so glad you asked. Discipleship is learning how to live and follow Jesus Christ and accepting Him as your Lord and Savior. It is how we grow the church, not just in numbers but in our hearts. We then pray for others and teach them how to disciple others, teaching them how to do what we have already done and this forms duplication and multiplication which in turn grows the church.

Why do I need to disciple others? Isn't that the pastor's job? I don't have time for that, I am too busy with work to disciple others, or what if I don't like someone? How am I supposed to disciple them? I don't need to do that, let someone else do it, I am a good enough person so I am sure I will get into Heaven.... We all have our own excuses like this in one form or another. Well, if you knew the cure for cancer, would you keep it to yourself? Or would you share it with the world saving countless lives?

Don't take my word for it, Read Matthew 28:16-20, verse 19 says 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. This is not just a commandment for pastors, this is a commandment for everyone. Why is it so vitally important for us all to go out and make disciples? Does that mean the pastor we listen to once a week is not effectively preaching or doing a good enough job?

Certainly, the pastor is doing a great job, but it's been said countless times by several pastors, the Church is not the building that we all meet in once a week, that is just the training ground, that is where we are supposed to fellowship and build each other up, not tear each other down. WE are the Church, the Church is a community of believers discipling each other both inside and outside the congregation.

Okay, so I get that we all need to make time in our busy lives to disciple one another but what does that actually look like? How am I supposed to live that out? Another excellent question, I am SO glad that you asked. We now know what discipleship is and why it is so vitally important but now to live it out diligently and abundantly is a whole different ball game.

God does not want us to disciple others half hearted, we need to be doing it boldly, with diligence. It is all too easy to attend a church service, fall asleep during the sermon, go up to the pastor afterwards and say, "good sermon today pastor, I will see you next week." Then you leave and don't know what the sermon was about or how to apply it to your own life, you didn't fellowship with anyone after the service, you are just going to go back to work Monday like normal. That is how a lot of Christians sadly live their lives.

Here is the good news about living out discipleship, you don't need a college degree, nor do you need to be a Bible Scholar to do it. Discipleship does not require an ordination, anyone with half a brain can do it. My friend Tom is living proof of that, he was beaten badly and when he fell backwards he hit his head on the pavement causing a brain bleed which gave him really bad headaches. The surgeon had to remove half of his brain and his parents were told he would never walk or talk again but he would live.

A few weeks go by and his parents take him to church in his wheelchair, they sat in the front row. The pastor comes out on the stage after the worship and said "All rise." Tom stood up, the man with half a brain who his parents were told would never walk or talk again, stood up. The pastor ran down and hugged him, Tom is now walking, talking, going to college and is engaged to be married. He is going all around the world sharing his testimony, his story and praying for others who are going through that similar situation.

Discipleship is sharing your testimony with people, praying with them over their situation, if they have an addiction, they need an accountability partner, someone who will keep them accountable and will help them beat their addiction. Discipleship is teaching them about the love of Jesus Christ and helping them to make that decision to accept Him as their Lord and Savior, teaching them how to effectively and exegetically study their Bible. Discipleship is calling people and checking up on them once or twice a week seeing if they need prayer for anything, meeting up with them, taking them to lunch and discussing last week's sermon with them and if they need help understanding how to apply it to their own lives.

The difference between discipleship and fellowship is that the word Disciple literally means Learner following and focusing on becoming like a teacher while fellowship shares life, connection and community with one another, the Greek word for fellowship is Koinonia meaning Love, mutual support for each other and encouragement. A perfect example of this is serving the homeless and praying over them, I have done this several times and will continue to do it until my last breath. Both are vitally important in building His Church, not just in numbers, but in our hearts as well.

Some people are afraid to disciple others because there is a cost involved in true full blown discipleship. In Luke 14, Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship. We know that we need to, but to take up your cross and die to yourself, that means whatever you focus on more than God, that is what you need to give up, and replace that time you spend on that thing with making more time with God. For some this may be sports, it could be social media, work, an addiction you are dealing with, whatever the case may be, the Holy Spirit will show you that thing you need to give up if you ask through prayer.