LESSON 1
Discipleship
As we grow in the things
of God, He does not dump everything on us at once. He begins teaching us one principle or truth
and then another. He builds on those
truths and principles with more truths and principles. Piece by piece, truth by truth, He teaches us
how to be transformed into the image of Christ.
There is an unfortunate
side effect to the vast availability of teachings through television and conferences. Many Christians dive in and get so much
information that they become overloaded.
When we get overloaded with information we
become ‘overstuffed’, our spirits find it hard to digest and we lose some of
the benefits.
Isa. 28:9,10 Whom
shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to
understand doctrine? [them that are] weaned from
the milk, [and] drawn from the breasts.
For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon
precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little.
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God will teach knowledge
and understanding to those who are weaned from the milk.
Precept
upon precept, line upon line.
Here a little, there a little.
Just as with a building,
we must first build a solid foundation.
Then on top of that foundation, we lay precept upon precept, line upon
line. Step by step we are to be built by
the principles of God.
We are going to begin
with the first principle of discipleship as found in the following verse.
Matt. 5:1,2 And seeing
the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples
came unto Him, and He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying.
An important key to
understanding the Bible when studying, is ‘The Law of
First Mention’. This law states that the
first time a word or principle appears in scripture, it sets the stream for
future references to that word or principle.
In the New Testament,
this is the first time the word disciples is
used. It is important to note here, that
Jesus is teaching His disciples.
He spends the next three chapters teaching them. Teaching is what discipling
is all about.
The disciples came
unto Him.... Note that it was the disciples who pursued Jesus, not the
other way around.
Jesus then taught the
disciples the principles of the
Most people think the
great commission is about winning souls and preaching the gospel. This is not true. Jesus commanded us to go and teach all
nations to observe all the things He has commanded us.
In Mark 16:15 we are
told to preach the gospel, but we must remember the law of first mention. The first time the Great Commission is found
is in Matthew.
Matt. 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake
unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,
[even] unto the end of the world. Amen.
Jesus never gives you a
commission without giving you clarity.
Teaching them is far more than just telling them about Jesus. Jesus was being very specific.
The Great Commission has
clarity. It is not just getting people
to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
It is also to teach them. Verse
20 gives us clarity to what we are to teach.
We have not fulfilled
the Great Commission until we have taught men all things pertaining to Christ.
Matt. 28:20 Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and,
lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the
world. Amen.
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The word
teach comes from the Greek word, Matheteuo. It means to disciple. It comes from the root word which is
translated to teach or to disciple in other parts of the Bible.
Therefore, what He is
saying here, is to go and disciple all nations, discipling
them to observe all things. This is what
we have been commissioned to do. We are
to make disciples, not converts.
Unfortunately most
people have never truly been discipled. This is why so much of the body of Christ is
weak and anemic. We need to be discipled.
Definition of a
DISCIPLE: -
A disciple is one who
sits on the edge of their seat intensely listening to every word the teacher is
teaching, and
then immediately puts into practice what they have learned.
A disciple is one who is
actively engaged in learning, then takes what they have learned and immediately
puts it into practice.
Change vs. Comfort
Jam. 1:22 But be ye
doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
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This is the principle of
the disciple. James says you are
deceived if you hear the Word and do not put it into practice.
You must be a doer of
the word and not only a hearer. If you
don't put into practice what you have been taught, you are self deceived.
THE PURPOSE OF DISCIPLESHIP IS TO CAUSE CHANGE
TO COME ABOUT IN OUR LIVES.
We must first be discipled so that we can then disciple others. The reason we are not reaching the world is
because we are not discipling and being discipled.
We have been making
babies and then telling those babies to go make babies. Whenever a baby makes a baby there is always
a problem. Babies can not take care of
babies.
CHANGE ISN'T COMFORTABLE
WHY?...CHANGE REQUIRES
DISPLACEMENT
Something has to be
displaced in order for something new to come.
This is the process of change.
As a plant grows it
sends down roots and
displaces soil. We see
this when a tree grows and its roots displace the sidewalk or streets.
In order for you to grow
as a Christian, things in your life are going to have to be displaced. If you are going to grow in Christ, the old
things in your life are going to have to be displaced in order for the new
things of God to come in. That which is
not of Christ is going to have to be pushed out. This will require
confrontation.
Change always requires confrontation.
Comfort is the curse of a compromised Gospel, because true change only
comes by confrontation.
If you are in a church
where you are always comfortable and are not being challenged to grow, you are
not being changed. Because change
requires displacement it is not always going to feel good, or be comfortable.
The Force of the Word
Prov. 16:2 All the ways of a man [are] clean in his own eyes;
but the LORD weigheth the spirits.
Everybody is full of
self deception. Deception is believing something that is not true.
If all our ways were
truly clean, then we would all be walking around like Jesus.
Rom. 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous,
no, not one:
Every person believes
they are fine. Even if they know what
they are doing is wrong, they justify it by blaming it on society or something
else. By doing this, they deceive
themselves into thinking they are not responsible and are therefore clean. They think if it is not their fault then they
cannot be judged for doing wrong. It is
all self deception.
Most people will never
discover by themselves, where they are self deceived. That is the very nature of self
deception. It is very challenging and
very rare for a person to step outside of their self deception and see it
objectively because they are deceived.
In order to come out of
self deception you must be confronted by an external force.
That force is the
Word of God
Heb. 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any twoedged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
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When the word confronts
us it pierces. The very nature of the
word is to pierce and divide.
Piercing can be painful!
There is pain involved
when the Word pierces our hearts. That
is why we don’t want it. Our natural man
just wants to be comforted, not pierced.
The Word always
divides. There is a false understanding
of unity. There will be no unity except
unity in Christ.
Those who say our
preaching can’t be confrontational and are worried about being politically
correct are wrong. The Word of God by
its very nature pierces and divides. It
divides truth from lies.
The Word of God also
discerns, or judges, the thoughts and intents of the heart. It judges our motives, not just our actions.
It is said that we judge
ourselves by our intentions and we judge others by their actions. We say, “I meant well.” God sees if we really meant well. If we did, then we did it according to His
Word.
When you are engaged in
true discipleship sometimes the words you need to hear will hurt. The Word will divide that which is of the
world and that which is of God.
The Word judges the thoughts and intents of your
heart.
Heb. 5:12-14 For when for the time ye ought to be
teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles
of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of
strong meat. For every one that useth milk [is] unskillful in the word of
righteousness: for he is a babe. But
strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,
[even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil.
He is saying they should
be mature enough to disciple others, yet they need to be discipled
and taught themselves.
The word unskillful here
means... Inexperienced.
The reason the Hebrews were still babes in the Lord is because they failed
to consistently use the Word of God. As
a result they were without understanding.
We have to grow up and
change. The only way we are going to
change is to allow the Word of God to confront our issues, to pierce our
hearts, challenge us, and then act on it.
Isa. 28:9 Whom
will He teach knowledge? And whom will He make to
understand the message? Them that are weaned from the
milk, and drawn from the breasts.
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The purpose of
discipleship is to bring about change.
Comfort is the curse of
a compromised Gospel, because true change only comes by confrontation.
The reason we are here
is that we have been predestined by God to become like Christ.
Rom. 8:29 For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate
[to be] conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren.
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If you are not growing,
you are stagnant. The only way you will
come out of stagnation and grow is to be confronted by the Word of God.
Most people search the
Word of God to prove themselves right or to discover blessings, not to discover
where they are wrong. People do not like
being wrong.
There is a level of maturity
that comes into a Christian’s life when they begin to search the Word of God
for the sake of finding truth, not to substantiate their opinions.
We are to search the
Word to discover truth.
John
It is not just truth
that will make you free. It is the truth
you know that will set you free.
In Review:
1. Who
does God teach knowledge and understanding to ?
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2. What
is the law of first mention?
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3.
Explain the meaning of the scripture Matthew 28:20 according to the
original Greek.
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4.
Define a disciple.
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5. What
is the purpose of discipleship? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6.
Explain why we aren’t reaching the world?
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7. What
does change require?
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8. What
is the curse that leads to a compromised gospel?
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9. Who
is filled with self deception?
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10. How
do you come out of self deception?
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11. What
does unskillful mean?
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12. What
is the only way for someone to come out of stagnation and grow in Christ?
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13. Are
you studying the Word of God adequately?
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If not, how can you change your schedule to
make time to feed on the Word adequately in order to be a disciple?
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