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- Herausgeber: IVP Bible Studies
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Serie: The Essentials Set
- Sprache: Englisch
Over 300,000 Copies Sold! The Essential Workbook for Spiritual Growth We grow in Christ as we seek him together. Jesus' own pattern of disciple-making was to be intimately involved with others and allow life to rub against life. By gathering in twos or threes to study the Bible and encourage one another, we most closely follow Jesus' example with the twelve disciples. Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden is a tool designed to help you follow this pattern. In each week, you'll find: - a core truth presented in a question-and-answer format - a memory verse and accompanying study - a field-tested inductive Bible study - a reading on the theme for the week - questions to draw out key principles in the readingIdeally designed for groups of three, Discipleship Essentials can also be read as an individual study program, a one-on-one discipling tool, or a small group curriculum. This expanded and completely updated edition also includes a new leader's guide. Jesus had a big enough vision to think small. Focusing on a few disciples did not limit his influence; rather, it expanded it. Discipleship Essentials is designed to help you influence others as Jesus did—by investing deeply in a few.
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A Guide to Building Your Life in CHRIST
TO ERIC
a dear brother who in his dyingradiated the presence of the living Christ.
Contents
A Word from the Author
It is personally gratifying to see the release of a new edition on the twentieth anniversary of Discipleship Essentials. The extent to which this tool has met a need nationally and internationally (currently in sixteen languages) was not even a consideration when InterVarsity Press agreed to publish it. I was just pleased that someone thought this work could be of benefit on a broad scale.
At this juncture it might be of interest to you to know what motivated the creation of Discipleship Essentials, the relational environment in which this tool best flourishes and how it addresses the fundamental need for intentional relational disciplemaking.
I was a frustrated disciple maker. Early in my Christian walk I was fortunate to have someone who modeled the importance of personal investment. At a very formative time during my sophomore year in college, I had a man who spent one-on-one time with me. He opened the Scriptures before me and shared how his life was being impacted by God’s Word. This personal model was enhanced during my seminary years as I was exposed to a church-based ministry that centered on intentional relational disciplemaking. I caught the value and vision that if I was going to have a transformative impact, I needed to walk intimately alongside others over time. I needed to follow Jesus’ model with the Twelve.
My problem was that I was not seeing results. I would meet with men one-on-one, usually weekly, attempting to cover the basic teachings of our Christian faith, some of the practices related to daily growth, such as personal Bible study, prayer, fellowship and sharing our faith with others, etc. We would explore together how living as a disciple influenced our homes, marriages, parenting, work, leisure activities, service, etc. But frankly I was making it up as I went. I had no plan. There was no obvious curriculum that covered the waterfront. I was constantly cobbling together resources on a just-in-time basis. The ultimate frustration was that I was not seeing those with whom I was meeting replicating this kind of relationship with others.
Two epiphanies occurred within close proximity. One afternoon I was jogging around a high school track when I felt like I ran under a divine arrow from the sky that sliced right through my body. One moment my mind was elsewhere, the next moment, in a flash, I had the format in my mind of what would later become Discipleship Essentials. I knew I must put together a comprehensive, cohesive approach to making disciples. Within a year, I had pilot curriculum. I needed some guinea pigs to try it out. It just so happened that this fledgling curriculum coincided with the completion of my Doctor of Ministry degree. As a final project, I agreed with my academic adviser to test the curriculum in three settings: (1) the traditional one-on-one discipling setting (which at the time I assumed was the very definition of discipling), (2) a group of three and (3) a group of ten.
I was immediately taken by the dynamics of the group of three that I then called a triad. The first thing that struck me was the heightened degree of energy we experienced together, in contrast to the one-on-one approach I had been used to. Regularly I would leave our small gathering with a joy that simply said, “That was fun!” The discoveries of the value of this size of a group would keep on coming.
Over the past thirty-plus years of living in these groups I have found that threes (triads) or fours (quads) keep the same dynamic. They allow everyone to contribute equally, develop transparent trust and care deeply about the details of each other’s life, etc. Combining the triads and quads, I now simply use the catchall “micro groups” to distinguish what we do from one-on-one or the traditional small group of six to twelve.
I refer to “micro groups” as “hothouses” of the Holy Spirit. A hothouse or greenhouse is a controlled environment where the conditions are just right for accelerated growth. When people commit themselves to meet weekly around a biblical content where everyone is equally invested, the by-product is a deep rootedness in the foundations of our faith.
In addition, “micro groups” are also the means to multiply disciples. Simply through the experience of being in a group for approximately a year with multiple opportunities to share the leadership, each person discovers how profoundly simple it is to replicate the process with others (see the Leader’s Guide). No longer was I frustrated with a lack of replication, because people experienced a profoundly simple way that the average person could duplicate this experience. It has been a joy to see the average layperson turn the corner in their self-perception and move from consumer to multiplier. Over a period of just a few years a church can become a disciplemaking congregation, growing fruitful disciples thirty, sixty and one hundred-fold.
The hope for your journey ahead is that the picture of what it means to be a follower of Jesus will take shape. I believe that most of us have not assembled a coherent understanding of what the Christian life is all about. It is like having disconnected puzzle pieces randomly sitting in a box. The puzzle pieces are the bits of truth we have accumulated along the way. We hear a sermon that speaks to us, we toss that puzzle piece in our box; read an insightful devotional thought, another puzzle piece; a friend shares a memorable truth, add that puzzle piece. Over time we have accumulated quite a collection. Discipleship Essentials was written to give an overview of the foundations of the faith so that you can put those puzzle pieces together into a coherent picture of the Christian life.
May you join thousands of others who have walked through this curriculum with intimate partners to become all you can be in Christ.
Getting the Most fromDiscipleship Essentials
What would happen to the church of Jesus Christ if a majority of those who claim to follow Christ were nurtured to maturity through intimate, accountable relationships centered on the essentials of God’s Word? What would happen if these same followers were equipped to multiply themselves by becoming disciple makers? Self-initiating, reproducing disciples of Jesus would be the result.
Discipleship Essentials is specifically designed to implement small, reproducible discipleship units. The vision that stands behind this tool is an ever-expanding, multigenerational discipling network. This tool brings together three elements which create the climate for the Holy Spirit to bring about accelerated growth.
The first element is the unchanging truth of God’s Word. We have moved into a post-Christian era in the Western world. Previously, when Christendom reigned, it was generally assumed that there was such a thing as a “revealed” truth or at least scientific, objective truth that was true for all. But now in these post-Christian times relativism prevails, especially in the realm of morals and lifestyles. “Live and let live” is the byword that reflects today’s highest value—tolerance. It is assumed that all lifestyles and moral convictions are equal, because all truth is personal. In the midst of this morass of relativism, each of these twenty-five chapters is built around a “core truth” that is true for all, because the source of this truth is a God who is the same for all.
For many, the Christian life seems like a mishmash of disconnected tiles. We have pieces of truth collected from sermons, private study, the wisdom of fellow believers, insightful books and so on. Yet we have not put them together so that they together tell a coherent story. One person who used this material in a discipleship group said it was like seeing the empty spaces of a mosaic being filled in, so that she could now see the complete picture of the Christian life and message. The lessons are sequentially laid out so that there is logical flow and tiles are connected.
Yet for the truth of God’s Word to be released in its transforming power, it must be pursued in the context of trusting, intimate and lasting relationships.
The second element in the Holy Spirit’s laboratory is transparent relationships. The individual has replaced the family or community as the basic unit of our society. Serial and discarded relationships mark our era. The prevailing philosophy is personal fulfillment based upon what feels good or right for me now. Many have not even witnessed the health of long-term, loving commitment. At the core of every human being is the desire for deep and satisfying relationships because we are created in the image of God. God made us for relationship with himself and with one another. A small discipleship group is a place to learn how to be intimate and self-revealing in a safe place over time. What we will ultimately have when all is said and done is the people we love.
Transformation occurs when we grapple with the truth of God’s Word in the context of transparent relationships. It is a biblical axiom that the Holy Spirit will have free sway in our lives to the extent to which we open ourselves up to one another. Honesty with God is not sufficient. We give God permission to reshape our lives when we risk self-revelation and confession to others. We can’t grow in Christ by ourselves. We are people made for community.
There is a third element that creates the climate for transformation—life-change accountability. Accountability is taking the relational context of discipleship to another level. Accountability means giving your discipling partners authority to call you to keep the commitments you have made to one another. You will convene your discipling relationship around a mutual covenant (here). A covenant is a shared agreement whereby you clearly state your reciprocal expectations. In so doing you are giving each other permission to hold you to your agreement.
In summary, when the truth of God’s Word is at the heart of self-revealing, intimate relationships rooted in life-change accountability, you have the ingredients for Spirit-motivated transformation. This tool provides the structure for these three elements to come together. Add to this discipling unit a vision for equipping followers of Jesus to pass on the faith from one generation to the next, and you have the components to renew a ministry from the bottom up.
CONTEXTS FOR DISCIPLING
Discipling in the minds of many has become associated with a one-on-one, teacher-student relationship. In writing Discipleship Essentials I experimented with this material in a number of contexts. Up to that point my discipling paradigm had also been one-on-one. In addition to this traditional approach I led a group of three, a triad, and a discipleship group of ten. I was startled by the difference in dynamics. I have come to see groups of three or four as the optimum setting for making disciples.
Why do I believe that a triad or quad, known as “micro groups,” is superior to one-on-one? (1) The one-on-one sets up a teacher-student dynamic. The pressure is upon the discipler to be the answer person or the fountain of all wisdom and insight. When a third person is added, the dynamic shifts to a group process. The discipler can more naturally make his or her contribution in the dynamic of group interchange. (2) Micro groups shift the model from hierarchical to relational. The greatest factor inhibiting those who are being discipled to disciple others (multiplication) is the dependency fostered by one-on-one relationships. The triad/quad, on the other hand, views discipleship as a come-alongside relationship of mutual journey toward maturity in Christ. The hierarchical dimension is minimized. (3) The most startling difference between one-on-one and threes or fours is the sense of “groupness.” The sense of the Holy Spirit’s being present in our midst occurred much more often in the group versus the one-on-one. (4) There is wisdom in numbers. The group approach multiplies the perspectives on Scripture and application to life issues, whereas one-on-one limits the models and experience. By adding at least a third person there is another perspective brought to the learning process. The group members serve as teachers of one another. (5) Finally, and not to be minimized, by adding a third or fourth person who is being equipped to disciple others, the multiplication process is geometrically increased.
You might ask, if three is better than two, why isn’t ten better than three? The larger the group, the more you water down the essential elements that make for transformation. (1) Truth—Learning occurs in direct proportion to the ability to interact with the truth, which becomes more difficult with an increased number of voices contributing. It also becomes increasingly difficult to tailor the rate of learning to the individual, the larger the size of the group. (2) Transparent relationships—Self-disclosure is integral to transformation, and openness becomes increasingly difficult in direct proportion to the size of the group. If we are not free to divulge our struggles, then the Spirit will not be able to use the group members to effectively minister at the point of need. (3) Life-change accountability—The larger the group, the easier it is to hide. Accountability requires the ability to check to see if assignments were completed, or commitments to obedience were maintained. Greater numbers decrease access to a person’s life.
ROLE OF THE DISCIPLER
Discipleship Essentials can be used in a number of contexts (personal study, one-on-one, one-with-two or a discipleship group of ten), but whatever the context the key person is the discipler. Tools don’t make disciples. God works through disciples to model life in Christ for those who desire maturity. Simply covering the content violates the intent of this tool. The tool is a vehicle which helps create the context and provide content for disciplers who want to invest themselves in love and commitment to growing disciples. The tool raises the issues of discipleship, but the discipler embodies the principles in life patterns and convictions. Modeling will be where the real instruction occurs. Remember Jesus’ words, “Every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40 RSV).
The most recent studies in secular education reveal that modeling is still the most significant learning dynamic. Neither coercion nor rewards shape human behavior as much as a “motivated attempt to resemble a specific person.”1 The lowest level of learning is compliance when one individual has control over another. The second level is identification. Influence is maintained because of a desire to remain in a satisfying relationship. Internalization is the third and highest step, for the desired behavior has become intrinsically rewarding. Modeling creates an atmosphere that affects values, attitudes and behavior.
Some of the specific roles a discipler will carry out are as follows:
1. The first and key role of the discipler is to issue an “invitation to accountable relationship.” The commitment is described and the covenant is signed (see “A Disciple’s Covenant”). The discipler becomes the “keeper of the covenant.” The discipling process should not commence until the invited disciple has prayed over and signed the covenant of commitment. Without the covenant there are no mutually agreed-upon standards for accountability.
The action pages in Discipleship Essentials are the tools for facilitating this accountability role. After lessons 8 (here) and 16 (here) you are asked to review the original covenant and recovenant together. An action page after lesson 20 (here) asks you to prayerfully consider who will be your discipleship partners for the next leg of journey in order to continue the discipleship chain.
2. Initially, the discipler is the group convener and guide. The lessons are laid out in such a way that the discipler simply walks the partners through the discussion format. But as soon as possible, the members should rotate the task of guiding the weekly format as a way to equip and prepare for leadership at the conclusion of this group.
3. The discipler prepares the assignments of Discipleship Essentials just as the disciples do. Even though the discipling appointment will be guided by questions asked by the discipler, the guide shares his or her own responses to the discovery questions in the natural flow of conversation.
4. The discipler models transparency by sharing personal struggles, prayer concerns and confession of sin. The discipler does not need to have all the answers to biblical and theological questions. Feel free to say, “I don’t know, but I’ll try to find the answer or let’s research this together.” The power of modeling is not dependent upon a false perfectionism. The discipler will gain as much insight into Scripture and the Christian life as those who are being discipled for the first time.
SUGGESTED STUDY FORMAT
Though Discipleship Essentials is twenty-five sessions, I would not expect that you could cover the assignment in twenty-five weeks. The relationship is always primary. Just plowing through the lessons would violate the spirit of this type of group. Every group will vary in length according to your style of learning, the depth of personal matters you are sharing at any given time and the detours you take to pursue issues raised by the study. Remember that the idea behind a small, tailored discipleship group is to proceed at the pace that is comfortable for the participants. Don’t feel obligated to cover every question, but use this book as a menu from which to select, especially if some of the material is familiar and already incorporated in your life.
The assignments are to be completed individually in their entirety prior to the discipling appointment. Each lesson contains discussion guides specifically designed for each of the following elements:
Core Truth—The core truth serves as the nugget around which each lesson is built. The rest of the chapter is designed to further clarify the central focus. Begin each lesson with a review of the core truth’s question and answer.
Memory Verse—When we commit the Bible to memory, God’s viewpoint on life slowly becomes ours. The psalmist writes, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). This discipline helps us grow to be more like Christ as we are grounded in his truth, encourage other believers with God’s Word, and share our faith with others. These verses should be reviewed approximately every sixth lesson.
Inductive Bible Study—The place to discover reality from the only perspective that counts is the Bible. We are not interested in stowing away truth as if we were simply trying to acquire more knowledge. The object of this Bible study is to encounter reality and then through God’s power bring our lives in line with it. Larry Richards has summarized well the reality structure of God’s Word: “That is, in the Word of God the Spirit of God has revealed the true nature of the world we live in, the true nature of man and of God, the ultimate consummation of history, the pattern of relationships, and response to God and to life which corresponds with ‘the way things really are.’”2
Reading—Each lesson concludes with a teaching printed in the guide. This reading is intended to provide a contemporary discussion of the eternal core truth that will challenge our lifestyle and stimulate our thinking. The follow-up questions will help make the learning concrete.
Weave prayer through all that you do. Begin by acknowledging Christ’s presence through the Holy Spirit, and open your life to what he may desire to do in you. As you deepen your life together through personal sharing, prayer is a response to the burdens you unload or the blessings God gives. Finally, intercede for one another that you can make the changes in thought, word and deed that the Lord has brought to your attention.
A DISCIPLE’S COVENANT
In order to grow toward maturity in Christ and complete Discipleship Essentials, I commit myself to the following standards:
1. Complete all assignments on a weekly basis prior to my discipleship appointment in order to contribute fully (see “Suggested Study Format”).
2. Meet weekly with my discipleship partners for approximately one and one-half hours to dialogue over the content of the assignments.
3. Offer myself fully to the Lord with the anticipation that I am entering a time of accelerated transformation during this discipleship period.
4. Contribute to a climate of honesty and personal vulnerability in a spirit of mutual up-building, and maintain strict confidentiality in order to foster trust.
5. Give serious consideration to continuing the discipling chain by committing myself to invest in at least two other people for the year following the initial completion of Discipleship Essentials.
Signed ______________________
Dated ______________
The above commitments are the minimum standards of accountability, which are reviewed and renewed after lessons 8 and 16. Feel free to add any other elements to your covenant.
Welcome to a relational discipleship journey that promises a time of accelerated spiritual growth. This intimate, highly invested experience brings together three ingredients that the Holy Spirit will use to form Christ in you: vulnerability, truth and accountability. Vulnerability happens when you open your life in a self-revealing way to other believers, giving permission for the Spirit to work in you. The more honest and transparent you are with others, the more you are entrusting your life to the Lord. The truth of Scripture serves as the cutting edge for growth. Since the material in this study is laid out in a sequential and systematic way, you will enjoy seeing the truth take shape before your eyes. Finally, accountability involves entering into a mutual covenant with others in which you are giving each other authority to hold one another to your commitments. The combination of these three elements serves as the mold that God uses to give his shape to your life.
Making disciples is the theme of chapter one. Solid foundations will be laid in your life, and a part of spiritual maturity is the desire to pass on that faith to others. May God so take hold of you that you are equipped to invest in others and to make it a commitment for life.
Being a disciple (chapter two) is serious business. The only way to be molded into the person God wants you to be is to abandon self in obedience to Christ.
Chapters three through six introduce the “spiritual disciplines”—practices God uses in our life to keep us rooted in Christ. Chapters three to six focus on the disciplines of faith, what God uses in our lives to help us grow up into Christlikeness. The word discipline sometimes carries with it a certain heaviness or weightiness, but the idea of discipline in this book is thought of in the way Richard Foster speaks of it in his Celebration of Discipline. He says that spiritual disciplines are those practices that put us in the presence of God where we can have an intimate relationship with him.
Quiet time, the subject of chapter three, introduces the practice of a daily routine of meeting with the Lord. A quiet time can become a safe place where you experience the Lord as your fortress and protector as well as your closest friend. It can be the place in your day where you freely pour out your heart in an unedited fashion and where God can speak back to you through his Word and Spirit.
Bible study is a key ingredient in a quiet time. This book teaches the inductive method, an investigative study where you discover the meaning of a biblical text through a series of discovery questions. This method is used throughout these studies to guide the unearthing of God’s truth. Prayer is another key ingredient of a quiet time. A simple guide for prayer is provided in chapter five to give structure to the dialogue of prayer.
Finally, in chapter six we focus on worship. Whether private or public, worship is the activity that will characterize our eternity in heaven, and we can experience a bit of that awe and wonder even now.
PREPARING FOR THE TASK AHEAD
The best way to prepare for your discipling session is to take a little time each day to work through the material. It is much better to spend twenty minutes each day than to do it all in one evening. Discipline takes practice to incorporate into our daily routine. It has been shown that new habits take approximately three weeks to become comfortable and another three weeks to become a part of one’s way of doing things. Pray that these disciplines will become second nature to your life and your partners’.
You have a wonderful, painful, delightful, challenging adventure ahead. God bless you as you grow up into him.
CHAPTER ONE
LOOKING AHEAD
MEMORY VERSE:Matthew 28:18-20
BIBLE STUDY:Luke 6:12-16; 9:1-6, 10
READING: A Biblical Call to Making Disciples
Making Disciples
ORE TRUTH
What is discipling?
Discipling is an intentional relationship in which we walk alongside other disciples in order to encourage, equip and challenge one another in love to grow toward maturity in Christ. This includes equipping the disciple to make disciples who make disciples.
1. Identify key words or phrases in the question and answer above, and state their meaning in your own words.
2. Restate the core truth in your own words.
3. What questions or issues does the core truth raise for you?
EMORY VERSE STUDY GUIDE
Jesus’ mission statement for the church is to make disciples. These pivotal verses (Matthew 28:18-20) are commonly referred to as the Great Commission.
1. Putting it in context: Read Matthew 28. What key events precede Jesus’ giving the Great Commission, and how would they have affected the disciples?
2. The memory verses are Matthew 28:18-20. Copy these verses verbatim.
3. What do these verses teach us about Jesus?
4. Why does Jesus stress his authority (v. 18) as a backdrop to his command to “make disciples”?
5. What do the action words of “go, baptizing and teaching” tell us about how disciplemaking is to be carried out?
6. When is a disciple made?
7. How have these verses spoken to you this week?
NDUCTIVE BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Jesus always lived with a view to the end of his earthly ministry. The preparation of a few who would carry on his ministry after he ascended to the Father was ever before him. This Bible study focuses on the training and transference of ministry to his selected disciples.
1. Read Luke 6:12-16; 9:1-6, 10. What do you suppose Jesus included in his all-night prayer? (See the reading here for some ideas.)
2. What can you learn about Jesus’ strategic purpose for the selection of the Twelve from 9:1-6?
3. What power and authority was given to the disciples? What power and authority can we expect to receive from Jesus today?
4. What was Jesus’ role with the disciples after their return (9:10)?
5. What questions do these passages raise for you?
6. What verse or verses have particularly impacted you? Rewrite key verses in your own words.
EADING: A BIBLICAL CALL TO MAKING DISCIPLES
When Jesus commanded his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), he spoke the mission statement for the church. Jesus told his disciples to do what he had done during his three years of ministry. Jesus made disciples by selecting a few into whom he poured his life.
JESUS’ METHOD OF DISCIPLEMAKING
What was the strategic advantage of having twelve men who would “be with him” (Mark 3:14)? There are many reasons, but two seem most relevant.
Internalization. By focusing on a few Jesus was able to ensure the lasting nature of his mission. We might wonder why Jesus would risk others’ jealousy by publicly selecting twelve from a larger group of disciples (Luke 6:13). Why didn’t Jesus simply continue to expand his growing entourage and create a mass movement? The apostle John captures Jesus’ caution when people clamored to him because of the marvelous signs: “But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone” (John 2:24-25 NRSV).
Though Jesus ministered to the needs of the crowds, he knew they were fickle. The same ones who shouted “Hosanna” on Palm Sunday were shouting “Crucify him” five days later on Good Friday. Knowing the whims of the throng, Jesus built his ministry on a select few who would form the superstructure of his future kingdom. Disciples cannot be mass produced but are the product of intimate and personal investment. A. B. Bruce summarizes this point: “The careful, painstaking education of the disciples secured that the Teacher’s influence on the world should be permanent, that His Kingdom should be founded on deep and indestructible convictions in the minds of a few, not on the shifting sands of superficial impressions on the minds of many.”1
Multiplication. Just because Jesus focused much of his attention on a few does not mean that he did not want to reach the multitudes. Just the opposite. Eugene Peterson puts this truth cleverly: “Jesus, it must be remembered, restricted nine-tenths of His ministry to twelve Jews, because it was the only way to reach all Americans.”2 Of course, you could substitute any nationality here, which is exactly the point.
Jesus had enough vision to think small. Focusing did not limit his influence—it expanded it. When Jesus ascended to the Father, he knew that there were at least eleven who could minister under the authority of his name, an elevenfold multiplication of his ministry. Robert Coleman captures the heart of Jesus’ methodology when he writes, “[Jesus’] concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes but with men the multitudes would follow.”3
PAUL’S APPROACH TO DISCIPLEMAKING
We see that the apostle Paul adopted the same goal and methodology in his ministry that Jesus modeled. Paul’s version of the Great Commission is his personal mission statement. “We proclaim [him], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me” (Colossians 1:28-29). Paul is so passionate about making disciples that he compares his agony over the maturity of the flock to the labor pains of a woman giving birth: “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).
Following Jesus’ method, Paul invested in individuals to make disciples. He too had his sights on the multitudes, but he knew that solid transmission of the faith would not occur as readily through speaking to an audience. Paul encouraged Timothy to use a personal style to link the gospel to future generations when he exhorted him, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2, emphasis added). Paul envisioned an intergenerational chain of disciples linked together through personal investment. Contained in this verse are generations in the discipling network, creating the following path: Paul ➞ Timothy ➞ reliable people ➞ teach others.
We know Paul lived out this admonition, for his letters are filled with the names of those to whom he gave himself. Paul replaced himself in the battle with soldiers like Timothy, Titus, Silas (Silvanus), Euodia, Syntyche, Epaphroditus, Priscilla and Aquila. They accompanied Paul on his missionary journeys, were entrusted with ministry responsibility and became colaborers in the gospel. Paul attributed the change in their lives to the impact of the message of Christ in his life on them.
The Bible teaches us not only the message of our faith but also the method by which that faith is to be passed on to future generations. We are called to do God’s work in God’s way. The manner in which the Lord works is incarnational: life rubs up against life. We pass on Christlikeness through intimate modeling. Paul said, “I urge you to imitate me” (1 Corinthians 4:16) and “You became imitators of us and of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
DISCIPLEMAKING TODAY
Disciplemaking ensures that the gospel is embedded deeply in the lives of mature believers who serve as links to the future. Discipling then is a relationship where we intentionally walk alongside a growing disciple or disciples in order to encourage, correct and challenge them in love to grow toward maturity in Christ.
This book brings together three ingredients necessary to produce maturity in Christ. Relational vulnerability means honest, self-disclosing and confessional relationships that give the Holy Spirit permission to remake us. Second, the centrality of truth is emphasized when people open their lives to one another around the truth of God’s Word and the Lord begins to rebuild their lives from the inside out. And third, mutual accountability is authority given to others to hold us accountable to mutually agreeable standards—“iron sharpening iron.”
We will not make disciples through methods of mass production that attempt shortcuts to maturity. Robert Coleman clarifies the challenge: “One must decide where he wants his ministry to count—in the momentary applause of popular recognition or the reproduction of his life in a few chosen men who will carry on his work after he has gone.”4The irony is that focusing on a few takes a long-range view by multiplying the number of disciples and therefore expands a church’s leadership base. Though adult education programs and small group ministries are good tools to produce maturity, without the focus of small discipling units a solid foundation is difficult to build. Keith Phillips’s chart compares the numeric difference between one person a day coming to Christ and one person a year being discipled to maturity.5
Catch the vision and invest yourself now!
Year
Evangelist
Discipler
1
365
2
2
730
4
3
1095
8
4
1460
16
5
1825
32
6
2190
64
7
2555
128
8
2920
256
9
3285
512
10
3650
1,024
11
4015
2,048
12
4380
4,096
13
4745
8,192
14
5110
16,384
15
5475
32,768
16
5840
65,536
READING STUDY GUIDE
1. What were Jesus’ reasons for choosing twelve to be with him?
What can we learn from this about how to bring people to maturity in Christ?
2. How did Paul emulate Jesus’ methodology?
3. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, “I urge you to imitate me” (4:16). Can you see yourself saying or living that? Why or why not?
4. What ingredients are necessary for an effective discipling relationship?
5. What questions do you have about the reading?
6. Does the reading convict, challenge or comfort you? Why?
GOING DEEPER
Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan of Evangelism. Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1964. Summarize the eight-step process outlined in this classic.
CHAPTER TWO
LOOKING AHEAD
MEMORY VERSE:Luke 9:23-24
BIBLE STUDY:Luke 5:1-11
READING: Demands My All
Being a Disciple
ORE TRUTH
Who is a disciple?
A disciple is one who responds in faith and obedience to the gracious call to follow Jesus Christ. Being a disciple is a lifelong process of dying to self while allowing Jesus Christ to come alive in us.
1. Identify key words or phrases in the question and answer above, and state their meaning in your own words.
2. Restate the core truth in your own words.
3. What questions or issues does the core truth raise for you?
EMORY VERSE STUDY GUIDE
Jesus never enticed someone to be a disciple under false pretenses or promises. He clearly laid out the conditions and benefits of being one of his followers.
1. Putting it in context: Read Luke 9:18-27. What is the setting for Jesus’ call to discipleship?
2. The memory verses are Luke 9:23-24. Copy these verses verbatim.
3. What does it mean to deny self?
4. Illustrate ways from your own experience that you attempt to save your life.
5. Why does losing your life for Jesus actually save it?
6. How have these verses spoken to you this week?
NDUCTIVE BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
The magnetism and power of the person of Jesus is at the heart of our faith. Note how the following incident portrays the compelling draw as well as the frightening impact of Christ on Peter’s life.
1. Read Luke 5:1-11. Describe the setting as a backdrop for the dramatic catch of fish (vv. 1-3).
2. What was Jesus trying to demonstrate about himself with the command “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” (v. 4)?
3. Notice Peter’s conflicted reaction to the large catch of fish (v. 8). Why does he respond in this way?
4. What does it mean to catch people (v. 10)?
5. In verse 11 Luke tells us that the disciples “left everything and followed him.” What did they give up? (Notice that this happened immediately after a great business success.)
6. How would you describe the power of the person of Jesus?
7. What questions does this passage raise for you?
8. What verse or verses have particularly impacted you? Rewrite key verses in your own words.
EADING: DEMANDS MY ALL DARRELL JOHNSON6
“Life is difficult.” That is the way M. Scott Peck begins his very helpful book The Road Less Traveled.7
Most people do not see this truth. Most people believe that life should be easy. The road most traveled is the road of moaning and grumbling about life’s difficulties. The road less traveled is the road of accepting life’s difficulties and meeting them head-on.
What Peck says about life in general is even more true about life with Jesus Christ. Discipleship is difficult. Following Jesus Christ is costly. In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus made it very clear that living with him meant walking a road less traveled. “Enter through the narrow gate,” he said, “for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Jesus promises to give anyone who will follow him abundant life (John 10:10), but he makes it very clear from the beginning that to follow him is difficult and costly. He calls us to follow him on the road less traveled.
JESUS’ TRUE IDENTITY
Mark 8:27-35 may be the hardest of the hard sayings of Jesus. Jesus and his disciples were traveling through the villages around Caesarea Philippi, a city north of the Sea of Galilee. Caesarea Philippi was a pluralistic city, a city of rich and diverse religious and philosophic heritage. Up to this point in his ministry Jesus had done and said things that had stimulated the question “Who is this man?” In Caesarea Philippi Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” After receiving various answers, Jesus then asked the disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter, speaking for the Twelve, said, “You are the Messiah” (v. 29; Matthew 16:16).
Jesus accepted their answer, but he immediately began to fill those terms—Messiah and Son of God—with unexpected meaning. “The Son of Man,” Jesus’ favorite way of referring to himself, “must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” (v. 31). Jesus knew he must leave Caesarea Philippi and make his way to Jerusalem. And he knew that in Jerusalem he must suffer. And not only suffer but be rejected. And not only be rejected but be killed, crucified. And then be raised.
Peter could not handle Jesus’ words. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22). Suffering and death did not fit Peter’s concept of the Messiah. The Messiah comes in glory and power.
Peter also knew the implication for himself of Jesus’ concept of Messiahship. Just as there would be no resurrection for Jesus without crucifixion, so there would be no resurrection for the disciples without crucifixion. Peter had become the mouthpiece of the tempter, repeating the temptation Jesus had resisted in the wilderness.
JESUS’ DIFFICULT ROAD LESS TRAVELED
From that day Jesus walked and taught the road less traveled, the road that leads to Easter but that goes right through the cross. There are all kinds of forks in the road offering another way, a way around the cross, but each of them eventually ends in a cul-de-sac. There is only one road to life. This road ends on the other side of the empty tomb, and we do not get there except through the cross.
Jesus gave this hard saying not only to his disciples but also to the multitudes. William Barclay rightly observed, “No one could ever say that he was induced to follow Jesus by false pretenses. Jesus never tried to bribe men by the offer of an easy way.”8 Jesus was up-front with any would-be follower: “If anyone would follow me—and I hope you will because I can give life abundantly—this is what you are in for” (see Mark 8:34-35).
Notice he uses the word if. That if reflects Jesus’ acknowledging our freedom to choose. A certain rich man heard Jesus’ call to discipleship, and he walked away (Mark 10:17-22).9 He heard what he was in for and judged it too costly. Mark tells us that Jesus looked at the man and loved him (v. 21), still knowing what his choice would be. But Jesus did not run after him or change the terms of the call. Jesus said, “Estimate the cost” (Luke 14:28). “You call me Messiah, Christ. You wish to follow me? If so, you should realize quite clearly where I am going, and understand that by following me, you will be going there too.”
Jesus uses three vivid phrases to describe the road less traveled: deny yourself, take up your cross, and lose your life for my sake.
Deny yourself. This is probably one of the most misunderstood and misapplied commands of our Lord. The word Mark uses in 8:34 means “to resist,” “to reject” or “to refuse,” in short, to say no.
The phrase deny yourself is used in a number of important New Testament texts. For example, in Mark 14:71 Jesus had been arrested, and Peter was standing outside the courtroom warming himself by a fire. Peter was confronted three times and accused of having known Jesus. He began to curse and swear, saying, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.” Peter denied that he even knew who Jesus was.
To deny yourself is to say, “I do not know the person.”
Denying yourself may involve denying things, but this is not what Jesus is getting at. Neither does it mean denying your self-worth. Denying yourself does not mean denying your feelings. And although some would say if you are enjoying following Jesus, something must be wrong, in truth it is not about denying yourself happiness. Finally, denying yourself does not mean deny your brains.
To deny yourself means to deny your self-lordship. It means saying no to the god who is me, to reject the demands of the god who is me, to refuse to obey the claims of the god who is me. A decisive no—“I do not know Lord Me—I do not bow down to him or her anymore.” Jesus calls us to say no to ourselves so we can say yes to him.10
Take up your cross. This phrase has also been misunderstood and misapplied. Many people use it to refer to enduring an illness or disability, a negative experience or bothersome relationship: “This is the cross I must bear.” But Jesus’ words mean much more. “Jesus’ statement must have sounded repugnant to the crowd and the disciples alike.”11 The phrase would evoke the picture of a criminal forced to carry a cross beam upon which he was to be publicly executed.
A criminal picked up his cross only after receiving the death sentence. When a criminal carried his cross through the streets, for all practical purposes he was a dead man. His life had ended. A man on his way to public crucifixion “was compelled to abandon all earthly hopes and ambitions.”12Jesus calls his followers to think of ourselves as already dead, to bury all our earthly hopes and dreams, to bury the plans and agendas we made for ourselves. He will either resurrect our dreams or replace them with dreams and plans of his own.
This is a hard saying, but a liberating saying as well. Human bondage in all its forms is the result of being our own gods. Freedom comes when we lay down the ill-gotten, false crown, when we say no, when we live as though the gods who are us have already died.
Lose your life for my sake. Herein lies the paradox of the road less traveled: we finally find ourselves when we lose ourselves for Jesus’ sake. And how do we lose our lives for him? By investing all that we are and have for him and his gospel. By saying to him, “Here is my home, my checkbook, my talents and gifts, my brain, my heart, my hands, my feet, my mouth. Here—it’s all yours. Use it all to glorify yourself and further your purpose on earth.”
This a risky thing to say according to the world’s wisdom. But in the end, when history is completed, what will really matter? Nothing except the kingdom of God. The only investments that pay off in the end are the investments made in the kingdom now. Those who walk the road less traveled, the road of losing everything for Jesus’ sake, end up gaining everything that finally matters. Jim Elliot summarized it well: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
That is why Paul told the Philippians, with great joy,
Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. . . . I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ. . . . I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11)
ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE
What are some of the signs that we have not yet met Jesus’ challenge head-on? The signs abound in churches today and manifest themselves as jealousy—not having what others have; competition—trying to achieve more than the next person; argumentative spirits—needing to have our own way; oversensitivity—becoming resentful when not recognized for our work or wanting it to be noticed that we’ve lost it all for Christ. We believe that we deserve the things we have—the nice homes and new cars. We plan our future without reference to the kingdom of God and spend the resources we have to improve our own kingdom. We use the gifts of God to advance our own name, our own reputation.
But “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). The road to Easter goes through Good Friday. The road to new life goes through the death of the old. The road to resurrection goes through crucifixion. Jesus calls us to walk that road, the road he walked.
READING STUDY GUIDE
1. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement from Peck: “Life is difficult. . . . Once we truly see this truth, we transcend it”? Why?
2. Why was it difficult for Peter to accept that Jesus must die at the hands of the religious leaders?
Why is this still difficult to accept?
3. The reading identifies a number of things that denying yourself does not mean. Which speak to you and why?
4. According to the author, to “take up our cross” means that our life is already finished. What does this mean, and how do you react to it?
5. How do we find our lives in losing them?
6. The reading concludes by identifying some signs that we have not met Jesus’ radical claims head-on. Which of these are issues for you?
7. What questions do you have about the reading?
