Hebrews 5:12-14 (NKJV)
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
A friend asked the other day, “What is and what is not biblical discipleship?” I thought that was a good question to address here.
Discipleship is following Jesus’ words in Mark 12:28-31 where He tells each of us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Most Christians understand the love-with-all-our-heart part pretty well. Discipleship certainly involves showing God’s love to our fellow man. But, how about loving God with our minds? When we share Christ or disciple one another, shouldn’t we be accurate in what we say or teach?
If we don’t know why we believe our faith is true, we are in danger of straying. We run the risk of misinforming or misleading others. Paul warns us in 2 Cor. 11:3-4 that there is another Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel. A little later in the same book, he tells us to examine ourselves to make sure we are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). How does a disciple know if he’s in or outside the faith if he doesn’t know what the faith is to begin with and why he should believe it?
Jude 3-4 says, we are to earnestly contend for the faith against those who would pervert it. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:14-15 that we’re supposed to have answers for what we believe. It seems a disciple should be able to readily share and defend the faith (2 Tim. 4:1-6).
I’m not trying to discourage believers from sharing. Personal testimony of how a life was changed by the blood of Christ is an effective way to witness. My experience, however, has been that questions arise, people misunderstand the gospel, false beliefs need to be corrected (2 Tim 3:16-17). To be able to address those issues, we need a better understanding.
The instructions and warnings in Scripture aren’t directed solely at the leadership of the church either. They were given to the rank and file as well. Leaders aren’t filled with the Spirit and able to share their faith after they become leaders. They become leaders because they are first filled with the Spirit and able to share their faith (1 Tim. 3:1-7). A disciple should be able to do that if he’s known Christ for any length of time. It’s not a blind faith. It’s true, and we should act like it.
It’s Easter time, and we’re all being encouraged to invite our friends and neighbors to church to hear the Gospel. That’s a great thing to do, a good way to introduce people to Christ, and we will certainly see people come to know the Lord. People need to hear the story of how Jesus, once pronounced dead, rose again to show His power over sin.
Is discipleship just leading people to church, though, or is it leading them to Christ? Have our churches given up on us sharing the truth with our friends and settled for having us invite them to church?
We are the church, not that building down on Main Street. Christ Himself sent us into the world to preach the gospel, but not only that, we are to make disciples. How do we make disciples if our own discipleship lacks a full understanding of what the Bible teaches? My pastor said it well when he asked, “Are we coworkers with Christ or just customers sitting in church?”
Are all Christians disciples? Discipleship is not passive. It is dynamic. It is to love God, to be filled with His Spirit, and to follow the commands and instructions He gives us in Scripture. Then we are to share that with others, both believers and non-believers. God is the Object of our praise and love, but He should also be the source of instruction in our lives. A well informed Christian is an effective witness.
We have the truth. The world is gaining on us not because it’s right, but because the church is less informed and less willing and able to defend what it believes than the world. Let’s fight back! Let’s make an effort to know what we believe and why we believe it well enough to stand against the flaming darts of the evil one and take the offensive Sword in hand (Eph 6:13-18). Let’s put on the full armor of God, the full armor of discipleship. Let’s go into all the world and preach the gospel by being and making disciples.
If you need help becoming a better disciple, seek out someone you see in the church who can help you. If you’re already confident and well informed in your faith, seek out someone to invest your time in. It will help you and them become better disciples.
Mark 12:28-31 (ESV)
28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (ESV)
3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
Jude 1:3-4 (ESV)
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 3:14-15 (ESV)
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV)
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
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.
1 Timothy 3:1-7 (ESV)
1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,
5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)
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.”
Ephesians 6:13-18 (ESV)
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Believers Armed and Dangerous 