Gospel-Centered Discipleship (Foreword by Matt Chandler) E-Book

Jonathan K. Dodson

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

A Gospel-Rich, Reproducible Model for Making Disciples as Jesus Intended Biblical discipleship emphasizes encouragement, repentance, and spiritual growth—essential parts of the Christian life. However, well-meaning believers often struggle to follow Jesus, unaware their views are too legalistic, licentious, or individualistic. How can churches and Christians develop a healthy, successful path to disciple-making? In this second edition of Gospel-Centered Discipleship, Jonathan Dodson presents an effective, Spirit-led model for sanctification. Reminding readers that real discipleship is imperfect yet transformational, Dodson encourages Christians to engage more authentically with others as they grow in faith. Drawing from his own failures and successes while following Jesus, Dodson defines discipleship, describes the heart of a disciple, and gives practical guidance for mentor and peer-based discipleship as Jesus intended. - Revised and Expanded: Includes three new chapters and new illustrations - Applicable: Shows how discipleship can be practical and gospel-centered - Theological: Addresses the Holy Spirit's involvement in discipleship - Foreword by Matt Chandler: Author of The Explicit Gospel

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“In this tumultuous season of evangelicalism, we are in great danger of a kind of gospel amnesia—a dangerous assumption and even erosion of the precious substance of gospel-centrality. Jonathan Dodson is one of the original architects of the once-nascent gospel recovery movement, and his Gospel-Centered Discipleship is a seminal text in our renewed understanding of how people change and how people grow in Christ. I’m excited about this new edition of such an important work, and I trust it will aid in our recentering and recalibrating around the amazingly powerful grace of God once again.”

Jared C. Wilson, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; author, Gospel-Driven Ministry

“Jonathan Dodson’s Spirit-led, gospel-centered, organically relational, and authentic book is such a rare jewel. Jonathan is a good friend and an even better ally in the gospel. God has used him to teach me much, and I pray the Spirit will use this book to change the way you view and do discipleship.”

Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor, The Village Church, Dallas, Texas; President, Acts 29 Church Planting Network; author, The Mingling of Souls and The Explicit Gospel

“Jonathan strips away a stagnant view of discipleship and replaces it with something so refreshingly honest and deep, you find yourself craving it. This book will redefine all of your relationships with depth and transparency and Christ-centeredness. This isn’t just God’s design for discipleship—it’s how we were designed to live. Jonathan just took discipleship from the spiritually elite to dorm rooms and neighborhoods and coffee shops.”

Jennie Allen,New York Times best-selling author, Get Out of Your Head; Founder, IF:Gathering

“With all of the talk of gospel-centeredness these days, I’m thankful to see Jonathan unpack this topic with a clear, compelling, Spirit-empowered approach. He goes beyond just answering the question What is gospel-centered? to help us see how the gospel of grace really works in the details of everyday life. His clarification of the unhealthy divide between evangelism and discipleship will bring about a more holistic approach to gospel-centered discipleship. I know Jonathan and respect the fact that these are not just concepts or theories, but truths coming out of the practice of his own disciple-making ministry. I trust that this book will serve to further advance the work of discipleship that has the gospel of grace as its foundation.”

Jeff Vanderstelt, Visionary Leader, Soma; Pastor, Doxa Church, Bellevue, Washington; author, Saturate

“For the longest time, I have been hoping to see two books on discipleship. The first would be a practical resource for churches that, on the one hand, was serious about the kind of discipleship and accountability that are necessary for Christian growth and yet, on the other hand, would put forth the gospel of grace, not legalistic self-improvement, as the key to change. The second book I’ve wished for is one that would situate the task of discipleship specifically within the missional calling of the church. I was thrilled to discover that Jonathan Dodson has managed to write both of these books in one. In Gospel-Centered Discipleship, Jonathan pulls together all these different themes—gospel, mission, discipleship, church, and Spirit—into an integrated whole. And quite honestly, I don’t know a better person for that task.”

Abraham Cho, Assistant Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York

“I am grateful for Jonathan Dodson’s Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He masterfully took the truth and beauty of the gospel and pushed it into an area of Christendom that is typically performance driven. I came away from this book understanding how to think about discipleship in a new way. I also love that the book isn’t just theory; Dodson has clearly lived what he is teaching. The truth in this book has built my love for the Holy Spirit. It has challenged my thinking on community and discipleship. And it has effectively pushed my comprehension of the gospel to a new level.”

Jessica Thompson, author, Everyday Grace; coauthor, Give Them Grace

“If in your struggle against sin you’ve been beaten up by the duty-bound, legalistic, moralistic methods of contemporary discipleship or enslaved by the licentious approach to holiness by proponents of cheap grace, then Gospel-Centered Discipleship is for you! Jonathan Dodson calls us to join the fight against sin, legalism, and license by believing everything the gospel says about who God is for us in Christ, and how he is conforming us to the image of his Son. Read this book. Form a ‘discipleship group.’ And begin fighting sin for the glory of God and your joy in Christ.”

Juan R. Sanchez, Senior Pastor, High Pointe Baptist Church, Austin, Texas; author, The Leadership Formula

Gospel-Centered Discipleship

Jonathan K. Dodson

Foreword by Matt Chandler

Revised and Expanded

Gospel-Centered Discipleship: Revised and Expanded

Copyright © 2012, 2022 by Jonathan K. Dodson

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Patrick Mahoney of The Mahoney Design Team

First printing 2022

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from The New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-7407-8 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-7410-8 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-7408-5 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-7409-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dodson, Jonathan K., author.

Title: Gospel-centered discipleship : revised and expanded / Jonathan K. Dodson ; foreword by Matt Chandler.

Description: 2nd edition. | Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021025383 (print) | LCCN 2021025384 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433574078 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433574085 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433574092 (mobipocket) | ISBN 9781433574108 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Discipling (Christianity)

Classification: LCC BV4520 .D63 2022 (print) | LCC BV4520 (ebook) | DDC 248—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021025383

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021025384

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2022-01-06 09:47:50 AM

To Robie

You remind me of Jesus every day, without a single word.

Contents

Foreword by Matt Chandler

Preface

Part 1: Defining Discipleship

1  Making Disciples

2  The Gospel Commission

3  The Goal of Discipleship

Part 2: Getting to the Heart

4  Twisted Motives

5  Gospel Motivation

6  Gospel Power

Part 3: Applying the Gospel

7  Communal Discipleship

8  Mentor Discipleship

9  Peer Discipleship

10  Discipleship Groups

11  Gospel-Centered Culture

Epilogue

Appendix: Gospel-Centered Questions to Ask

General Index

Scripture Index

Foreword

As a pastor, I constantly pray and engage the people of the Village Church to keep what is “of first importance” at the center of their thinking, in both their justification and their sanctification. Over the years, I have become painfully aware that people tend to drift away from the gospel soon after their conversion and begin to try their hand at sanctification. In other words, they operate as if the gospel saves them but doesn’t play a role in sanctifying them. In the end, people become exhausted and miss out on the joy of knowing and walking with the Spirit of God. They miss out on intimacy with Jesus.

This is why I think Paul keeps preaching the gospel to people who already know it. He does it in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Over and over, he preaches the gospel to people who know the gospel. Why does he do that? He tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:1–2: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received”—past tense—“in which you stand”—perfect tense—which tells us that the Corinthian disciples stood in the gospel in the past and continued to stand in the gospel. We see that the gospel was received, and now it is holding them up. So the gospel not only saves me, but it also sustains me. Paul continues: “and by which you are being saved”—present tense. The gospel is good news for our past, it continues to be good news for the present, and it will remain that way for all eternity.

The book you are holding is of significant help in keeping the gospel of first importance. Jonathan is going to clearly and biblically unpack how the gospel plays the lead in not only how we are saved, but also how we are sanctified. I have used this material in small group discipleship, and I have witnessed a great deal of fruit in my own life as well as in the lives of those I walk closely with. The chapter on the Holy Spirit was especially powerful for me, and I have found myself going back and reading it over and over again.

As a pastor and a man who desires to lead other men into maturity, I wish there were more resources like Gospel-Centered Discipleship. Dodson’s Spirit-led, gospel-centered, organically relational, and authentic book is such a rare jewel. I am grateful for Jonathan. He is a good friend and an even better ally in the gospel. God has used him to teach me much, and I pray the Spirit would use this book in your hands to challenge and change your heart and the way you view and do discipleship.

Matt Chandler

Lead Pastor, The Village Church,

Flower Mound, TX

Preface

When I wrote this book a decade ago, gospel-centeredness was just gathering steam in the United States. Tim Keller’s influential white papers on the nature of the gospel and gospel change had been watering the soil of attentive evangelicals for some time. His books were starting to shoot out, as were new gospel-centered churches and church planting movements. I was fortunate to be a part of all this. I emerged as a writer in a constellation of gospel-centered influences. You will find them in the footnotes.

What Is Gospel-Centered?

In using this clunky word, gospel-centered, I am referring to a way of following Jesus that makes his person and work central in everything. The gospel is as big as the cosmos and as small as you and me. It renews all things, even us. This book focuses on us—on how the good news of Jesus Christ not only earns us a place with him for eternity but how eternal life works here and now (John 17:3). To be gospel-centered is not only to believe the gospel for salvation but to continually return to it for transformation. But it means even more than that. It means so cherishing union with Christ that, like a devoted spouse, he rubs off on us in every way.

There are various entry points into this life-changing discovery. Some enter through the portal of adoption. Laboring for the approval of others, they find it incredibly liberating to discover the unwavering, free approval of our heavenly Father. Others enter through justification. For those of us trying to prove ourselves to God, others, or ourselves, justification points us to Jesus, who proves us worthy of acceptance before a holy God. Others come through what many consider to be the centerpiece of the gospel, union with Christ, which brings us into an intimate, mystical relationship with Jesus. My entry point into this gospel deluge was through a deeper grasp of adoption.

I was seized by God’s grace at age seven. One summer afternoon, I stepped out on the back porch with my dad and asked him how I could know God. As he explained the gospel, I was floored that the God of the universe took interest in me. What did I, a seven-year-old boy in an East Texas town, have to offer him? I realized the gospel was not mainly about what I could offer God, but what he was offering me—through faith in Jesus I could become his son. The gospel of adoption overwhelmed me. When I was baptized, I took the microphone to declare to the church the joy of my salvation. I’ve often wondered why I came to faith through the gospel of adoption. Why was that gospel reality so compelling to me? Looking back, it’s likely because I had such an attentive, loving father. If my earthly father could love me like that, what would it be like to join my heavenly Father’s family?

Yet, even with that benefit, I’m still working out the answer to that question! I’m often disinterested in using my time to love others, a sure sign I’m loving myself more than enjoying God’s sacrificial love for me. Other times I catch myself evaluating the week to see if I’ve ministered enough to earn an easy weekend, an indication I’m trying to earn God’s unmerited love. I’ve wandered the wasteland of religion and chased pleasures of the world to find that neither really satisfies. Yet despite my sins, the desire to follow Jesus has not withered; it has grown alongside the desire to help other disciples.

Professional versus Amateur Discipleship

In college, I bought into a professional model of making disciples. I’d gather with several guys at five or six o’ clock in the morning (in college!) for Bible study and prayer. I walked them through Romans (like I really grasped its theology of grace at that time in my life). I was the pro; they were the amateurs. I was the guru; they were the novices. I stood at the top of the stairs; my acolytes sat at my feet. I descended the stairs, dispensing exegetical insights and spiritual best practices, only to return to the privacy of my room. I put the best foot forward but hid the ugly one. This created a comfortable buffer from those I mentored, but it also increased the distance between my true self and Jesus Christ. I really belonged on the floor, beside my fellow disciples, at the feet of Jesus.

Although I didn’t comprehend it, I was motivated by good works not deep grace. I was attempting to earn God’s favor by gaining the favor of my disciples. The more disciples I made, the better I felt. “Discipleship” became a way to leverage others for worth. “Disciple” was more verb than noun, an activity more than an identity. My spiritual center of gravity subtly shifted from Jesus and his work to me and my work. It’s not that I wasn’t making disciples; people gobbled up my platitudes and piety. The problem was the kind of disciples I made, disciples who could share their faith but not their failures. People who orbited around me not Christ. To be sure, my motivation was a mixture of genuine love for God and lust for praise. But the way out was not through gaining more attention. Escape came through a deeper grasp of the gospel, through repenting of sin and believing in my Father’s full and freeing approval in Christ.

Jesus-Centered Discipleship

Fortunately, the gospel is big enough to handle my failures, and Jesus is gracious enough to redeem me and my distortions of following him. In fact, the gospel of grace is so big and strong, it has reshaped my understanding of discipleship. As I continued to “disciple” and read the Bible, I was struck by the fact that the disciples of Jesus were always attached to other disciples. They lived in authentic community. They confessed their sins and struggles alongside their successes—questioning their Savior and casting out demons. They continually came back to Jesus as their Master and eventually as their Redeemer. As the disciples grew in maturity, they did not grow beyond their need for him. They returned to him for forgiveness, wisdom, compassion, and him. As they began to multiply, the communities they formed did not graduate from the gospel. Instead, churches formed around their common need for Jesus, tutored by his grace. As a result, the communities that formed preached Jesus not only to those outside the church but also to those within the church.1 Reflecting on this, I began to realize that Jesus is not merely the start and standard for salvation, but the beginning, middle, and end of salvation. He is salvation—not just when I was seven, but every second of every day. In the gospel, Jesus gives us himself, his redemptive benefits, and the church to share those benefits with. As it turns out, the gospel is for disciples, not just for “sinners”; it saves and transforms us in relationship, not merely as individuals who go it alone.

It slowly became apparent to me that the gospel of Christ was where I was meant to find my identity, not in impressing God or others with my discipling skill. Refusing to share my failures with others was a refusal to allow the gospel of Christ to accomplish its full redemption in me. God was leading me into a kind of discipleship with the gospel at the center—a constant, gracious repetition of repentance and faith in Jesus, who is sufficient for my failures and strong for my successes. The wonderful news of the gospel is that Jesus frees us from trying to impress God or others because he has impressed God on our behalf. We can tell people our sins because our identity doesn’t hang on what they think of us. We can be imperfect Christians because we cling to a perfect Christ. In this kind of discipleship, the church huddles around Jesus, not a professional.

Gospel-centered discipleship is not about how we perform but who we are—imperfect people, clinging to a perfect Christ, being perfected by the Spirit. I no longer stand at the top of the stairs but sit in the living room, where I can share my faith and my failures, my obedience and disobedience, my sins and successes. As we give and receive the gospel, we don’t linger in imperfection, unbelief, disobedience, and failure. We fight. We have to contend for belief in this gospel. Otherwise, we will slide back into using or neglecting Jesus. We need relationships so shaped by the gospel that we exhort and encourage one another to trust Jesus every single day. We need gospel-centered discipleship.

New Stuff in This Book

I chose to revise and expand Gospel-Centered Discipleship for several reasons. First, with the passage of time certain things become clearer. When I was younger, I was eager to get the gospel out and into peoples’ lives. As I aged, that eagerness collided with the gritty, long-haul work of pastoring souls, which helped me see the importance of getting the good news not just out but down, into peoples’ lives. In my youth, I had a shorter view of people—get them into the kingdom. Over the years, I’ve learned to take the long view—get more of the kingdom into them. I’ve also learned to disciple people with an eye toward not only who they are presently, but also on whom they will become in Christ. The descriptions in Scripture of who we are in Christ are stunning. Taking this view has fostered patience, a reluctance to correct every error, and a prayerful expectancy for the Holy Spirit to massage grace and truth into the soul. My revision of this book weaves in some of these life-experience insights. I hope they will enrich you.

In addition to this general revision, I have set out to accomplish several other things, which warrant three new chapters. First, I broke chapter 1 into two separate chapters, resulting in a separate chapter titled “The Gospel Commission” (chap. 2). This allowed me not only to reduce the page length of chapter 1 but also to expand upon the challenges and practices of living out each of Jesus’s descriptions of disciple-making (going, baptizing, teaching). Second, I added a chapter on mentor-based discipleship (chap. 8). In the previous edition, I focused mainly on peer-based discipleship. I did so because discipleship among evangelicals was, at the time, primarily a mentor-to-mentee experience. One-on-one discipleship, it was called. While this kind of discipleship has tremendous benefits, it can function as a kind of professional-novice relationship in which the spiritual pro hands down lessons learned to the spiritual upstart. In my experience, this professionalized discipleship rarely included transparency into the mentor’s struggles. This can result in discipling out of success not failure, sharing our righteousness but not our repentance. The whole discipling enterprise was out of whack.

I tried to redress this imbalance by making the gospel, not discipleship, the center of discipleship, and by focusing on transparent, peer-to-peer relationships. I discovered that peers often feel less pressure to impress one another than many mentors do. However, the reason I began emphasizing peer discipleship wasn’t mainly pragmatic; rather, my emphasis arose out of a firm conviction that the gospel converts us not only to Jesus but also into his church, where we are called to help one another change into the likeness of Christ. I have seen the benefits of this kind of discipleship over and over again. Nevertheless, peer discipleship is inadequate for individual and corporate maturity.

As a family, the church flourishes when spiritual fathers and mothers disciple their spiritual sons and daughters: teaching, correcting, and encouraging. When spiritual children lean into their mentors’ instruction, they receive wisdom they could not discover on their own. They also absorb character and dignity that is infrequently found among their peers. Conversely, younger disciples have an invigorating effect on older disciples, transmitting hopeful zeal and thoughtful curiosity about life and faith. This triggers growth in those who take up the call to disciple others. When these familial relationships are strong and vibrant, the whole church benefits. The entire body is strengthened as we grow into the full stature of Christ.

The third new chapter addresses the question I am asked most often: How do you implement discipleship groups (chap. 10)? To answer this question I have rewritten most of the original chapter and included four keys to promoting healthy groups. Over the years, I have seen discipleship groups form and fail, mature and multiply, or just hang on in crummy coexistence like a clingy dating couple. My hope is that this section will help existing groups realign with the gospel for healthy interdependence as well as send new groups off on better footing.

In revising the book to include hard-won life insights, mentor-mentee discipleship, and guidance in implementing discipleship groups, I hope you will be encouraged and helped in your ministry. More than that, I pray Christ will dazzle you yet again to follow hard after him.

—

I am incredibly grateful that I get to witness the power of the Spirit through the gospel in my local church, City Life. Thank you all for being the church with me and for encouraging me to put these ideas on paper. Your fight for faith in the gospel causes many to look on and give glory to our great God. It is an honor to serve Jesus with you.

I extend a special thanks to Sam Kleb for his editorial assistance in an early version of the book and to J. T. Caldwell who read several versions of that manuscript, offering encouragement along the way.

Also, thank you to Crossway for taking a risk on an unpublished author in 2012, and ten years later, allowing me to improve and expand this book. I’m grateful to Tara Davis for improving the manuscript with her editorial eye.

I am deeply grateful for “the good deposit” of the gospel I received from my wonderful parents. No son could ask for more in a mother and father. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Robie, thank you for teaching me so much about God’s grace, for your unparalleled love and companionship, and for our lifelong partnership in fighting to believe and spread the good news of God’s remarkable grace. Finally, thank you, Father, for your enduring love; Jesus Christ, for being both my Lord and my Christ; and Spirit, for making me new and giving me eyes to peer into the beauties of the gospel.

1  Joe Thorn, Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011).

Part 1

Defining Discipleship

1

Making Disciples

I’ll never forget my introduction to discipleship. It was the year I returned from a semester of Bible school at Capernwray Hall, a stunning manor nestled in the rolling green hills of the English Lake District. I didn’t return home voluntarily.

I left the States after a string of moral failures and arrived in England in a state of spiritual confusion. As a young Christian I knew God hated my sin, but I had no idea how much he loved me. In Bible school I struggled with questions like: Who am I? What does God think of all my sins? I journaled, wrestled, and prayed. I also met an attractive, spiritually curious Austrian girl. We had deep conversations about faith, life, and culture. I fell in love. She brought me joy and comfort that papered over my painful questions. We learned the Bible by day and snuck out to the pub by night. The staff warned us several times about breaking curfew, but in foolish disregard for my girlfriend and Capernwray’s policies, I blew them off. We were caught making out in a restricted room and were kicked out of Bible school the day before the semester was over. To make matters worse, twenty years earlier my mom met my dad at Capernwray. Instead of repeating their lovely romance, I was kicked out. I called home to confess my blemish on the family legacy, packed my bags, and walked out of the courtyard and down the path of crushed rock, humiliated. After returning to the States, I enrolled in college with a gaping emotional wound, deep sense of shame, and a sincere desire to improve, to restore the reputation of Christ in my life, to get it right.

When I returned home, my parents treated me as the father treated the prodigal son in Luke 15, not with arms crossed but arms wide open. I was crowned with forgiveness and love. My parents could see that my sins were a distorted attempt to deal with my past. In college, I found a best friend and got a discipler. My friend held me accountable to biblical morals, and my discipler helped me mature in my faith. The three of us met regularly for Bible study. I was taught how to interpret the Bible, share my faith, and cultivate character. As I understood it, discipleship was about maturing as a Christian. But somewhere along the way, I was also told evangelism is discipleship, and that all Christians are supposed to evangelize in order to “make disciples.” Brushing aside the confusion between evangelism and discipleship, I went for it. I began to evangelize non-Christians and