DISCIPLESHIP 101
INTRODUCTION
What are you getting yourself into? Imagine how the twelve disciples must have felt when Jesus called them to follow him. There must have been rumors that Old Testament prophecies were starting to come true, but God hadn’t spoken for over 400 years. The Old Testament ends with the book of Malachi and no other prophets are recorded until John the Baptist breaks the silence.
John is a wild man, living in the wilderness eating honey and locusts, wearing clothes he probably made himself. He preaches hard: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is now!” Now?
Yes, now. Here. God is breaking into this moment of time to bring His Kingdom.
Talk about good news! The Jews were under Roman authority and forced to live by the empire’s rules. But the Kingdom of God was about to change all of that, or so the disciples hoped. That’s why they were willing to leave their meager fishing businesses and even their lucrative tax collecting business to follow Jesus, the man John said was the Messiah–the new savior and soon to be King of Israel.
But it’s 2000 years later and the Kingdom of God doesn’t feel quite as urgent or exciting, if we’re honest. You don’t really need to quit school or your job and follow Jesus, do you?
Fast forward to your life. You probably call yourself a Christian if you’re reading this guidebook. But are you a disciple? Is there a difference? Is a disciple like an elite special forces kind of Christian that receives greater rewards and special access to God? How do you know if you’re a disciple? What does a disciple have to do? Should I commit to this?
All I can say is that after thirty years of being a Christian, I finally started taking Jesus seriously about making disciples and it has been the greatest thing I’ve ever done. Keep reading to see if God is breaking into this moment of time in your life to bring His Kingdom on earth.
CHAPTER ONE - D IS FOR DISCIPLESHIP
CHAPTER TWO - DISCIPLESHIP DOES
CHAPTER THREE - DISCIPLESHIP IS HARD
CHAPTER FOUR - THE POINT OF DISCIPLESHIP
CHAPTER FIVE - HOW TO MAKE DISCIPLES
CHAPTER SIX - NEXT STEPS
CHAPTER 1
D IS FOR DISCIPLESHIP
All in.
You’ve probably heard that the greatest commandment, as highlighted in both the Old and New Testaments, is “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” I don’t know about you, but the word “all” jumps out to me.
Truth be told, I’ve met hundreds of Christians in my lifetime and I would say “all” is not something I’ve really seen lived out. You might be thinking, “That’s a bit judgmental of you. No one’s perfect–It’s practically impossible to go ‘all out’ for God.” But that’s what the first disciples did, except the betrayer. Peter said, “We have left all we had to follow you.” Luke 18:28. And every disciple except John, who was probably boiled in oil nonetheless, were martyred, giving their all for Christ. So “all” is the example set for us, but “all” may not be preferable, or even seem feasible. Is it really required–to be so radical in our modern times?
We need to go back to Jesus’ commands and examine what he invites us into and what he mandates if we are going to be his real disciples.
I think a likely reason why we don’t see more followers of Jesus who love God with their “all” is that most Christians have never been discipled. We are missing out on so much. Be honest and ask yourself, “Why aren’t you obeying the greatest commandment by loving God with your “all?” If we are truly followers of Christ, shouldn’t we surrender everything to him and for his kingdom?
Are you a 10% Christian? You know what I mean–a “tither.” Or are you 100% devoted to Jesus? I’m not trying to shame anyone here, just asking us to be honest. I know high school students more devoted to band practice than most Christians are to doing what Jesus asks us to do. But maybe the problem is we don’t know what Jesus wants us to do? Are we supposed to obey all the commands or were they only for the original twelve disciples? And if we’re not obeying all the commands, then what? Does this jeopardize our salvation?
I am encouraged and I believe there is hope for you and me because the first disciples, fishermen and tax collectors, were transformed through discipleship, a teacher-student relationship that is just as simple and accessible and relevant today as it was back then. Jesus didn’t choose people to be his disciples based on their intelligence or influence; he chose ordinary people in a very ordinary time to do extraordinary things. But the call is the same for everyone, no matter what time period we live in. A disciple devotes themself to learning from Jesus and obeying his teachings.
The Discipleship Mystery
Discipleship is probably the most important thing we should be doing with our lives and yet almost no one is doing it. I was a Christian for twenty years before I realized this was supposed to be my main mission in life. Quite frankly, I wasn’t interested before that. Discipleship sounded boring. When I finally started asking God what He wanted, He let me in on the discipleship mystery. I call it a “mystery” because, up to a few years ago, I had never heard anyone define, explain, or lead me through discipleship.
I’ve lived through my share of Christian movements in the United States: the charismatic movement, the worship music movement, the church growth movement, the leadership movement, the promise-keeper’s movement, the short-term missions movement, and the church planting movement. None of which emphasized discipleship.
A few years ago, “discipleship” became a hot topic in Christianity in the United States. But I wouldn’t call it a movement because as of yet, no one agrees on what discipleship is or how to do it. It’s as if everything is discipleship. Everyone is a disciple– if they believe in Jesus. This is where we confuse people because they don’t know what to do, what they’re missing, or worse yet, they are vulnerable to deception. It’s a confusion/ complacency that slowly erodes faith. Not surprisingly, Jesus asks, “When the Son of Man returns will he find faith on the earth?”
The leadership movement ended when we started calling everyone a leader. Since everyone is a leader, people stopped striving to become “a leader.” Yes, everyone has influence, but that doesn’t mean they’re a leader. Having studied leadership for two decades now, been mentored by a leadership coach, and been a leadership coach for others, I can tell you there are certain disciplines and competencies of a leader. Influence is the least common denominator. And there is so much more.
Likewise, calling yourself a Christian because you are baptized, hold to a Christian belief system, attend church regularly, and maybe even practice tithing (giving 10% of your money to the church), does not mean you are a disciple of Jesus where true transformation happens and you become like Jesus. Church attendance is a “spectator sport.” You need to get into the game and be discipled. But this is where the Church failed you. Churches don’t walk with people through discipleship because it’s too intense and too personal. A pastor simply cannot disciple 200 people. So, as in all organizations, if the leader isn’t doing it, neither will the followers.
Churches talk about making disciples, but they don’t do it. Yes, they gather on Sundays and have small groups ranging from interest groups, to sermon discussions, to Bible studies– but that’s not discipleship! It could be discipleship, but something essential is missing.
Discipleship feels like a lost art. In reading the New Testament outside of the gospels, you don’t get a feel for discipleship anything similar to how Jesus did it. That’s probably because no one had three years which they could set aside–drop everything and follow some guy around, village to village, with a crazy mission to change the world. Ironically, Americans will invest four years and go into $100K of debt to graduate with a major in a subject they will likely never use. What’s crazier?
So is that it? Is that why people don’t do discipleship–because of the time commitment? Let me suggest that Christians settled into a rhythm of going to church on Sunday mornings and that became good enough–discipleship by osmosis, if you will. As one pastor and author called it, “pewship,” sitting in a pew and listening to a sermon.
So what’s missing?
Perhaps you’ve heard this saying: “Being in a garage doesn’t make you a car anymore than going to church makes you a Christian.” To further the car metaphor: most Christians have strongly held beliefs–the engine of the car, but they’ve never gotten behind the wheel and driven cross country. They know everything about the engine: they can name the 66 books of the Bible, quote John 3:16, and tell you their opinion of the End Times. They study that engine, even rebuild it in their living rooms on Wednesday nights with a group of other Christians. They love that engine. It’s actually pretty exciting to talk about the power of a V8 600hp engine. But God gave us the engine to put in a car and go somewhere. Jesus take the wheel, let’s go!
Taking the metaphor even further, true faith is stepping on the accelerator, pursuing a purpose, and delivering a package, like an Amazon driver. Everyone loves when that Amazon truck pulls up to their house. It’s like Christmas every day. (Yes, people get packages that often, sometimes twice a day…) But driving for Amazon isn’t as exciting as revving that Ford Mustang GT premium. (My son has one. He’s too poor to rev that engine, though, because it’s like a gallon of gas to ignite that power.)
My point is a lot of Christians, like myself, have been sold the “best life now” car–a kind of Christianity with all of the blessings to lavish on ourselves. We buy it and we “trip it out” with all kinds of specialized modifications: We get a louder muffler, we get a lift kit and buy sport tires, and we wash it once a week. Looking good on a Sunday, yo. But discipleship is about gaining so we can give, so we can deliver that package and make someone’s day, about spreading good news everywhere we go, and eventually training another driver by going on rounds together.
First big question: Who taught you how to drive? Who discipled you?
If someone doesn’t immediately come to mind, then you haven’t been discipled. Maybe you want to say, “My youth pastor.” Okay- how did your youth pastor disciple you? Pizza, games, small group Bible studies, and a mission trip? Major confession here: I was a youth pastor for over ten years and I never discipled anyone. I didn’t know how. I had a youth pastor in high school and he never discipled me. He did take me out for lunch, to an NBA basketball game one time, and even across the pond on a mission trip to London, England, where we played soccer-friendship-evangelism with some Muslims. He truly cared for me. He would ask about my life now and then and he was definitely a role model–demonstrating passion and commitment to Jesus. I even became a youth pastor in large part because of his positive influence in my life.
But the closest thing to discipleship I can think of that we did was on a car ride to a youth retreat. It was a late summer night. We had the windows down as we cruised the highway, and he asked me if I would pray with him through the alphabet. What did that mean? We took turns and prayed for something that started with the letter A, then the letter B. So forth and so on. It was awesome, actually. It really filled my soul. I wish we had done more of that. This was so satisfying, I believe, because we were obeying one of Jesus’ commandments, to pray with him, to pray to the Father.
Could discipleship be so simple?
Jesus’ last command, as recorded in Matthew 28, right before he skyrocketed back to God the Father was, “Go and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you.”
In one of Jesus’ most intimate moments with his disciples, as recorded in John 14, he said, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.”
So, that’s what’s missing: love and learning to obey his commandments.
What is a disciple?
Second big question: How many of Jesus’ commandments can you name?
Perhaps you’re familiar with the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament - but did you know that Jesus gave about 50 commandments that every Christian from his day to ours should obey? Can you name five? How about twelve? If you don’t know what Jesus commanded, how can you obey him? If you don’t obey him, how can you really love him?
The word DISCIPLE is “mathlete” in the Greek, the prominent language of the New Testament. It means “learner.” A disciple is someone who learns the ways of Jesus and obeys his commands. Better yet, a disciple is someone who learns to LOVE Jesus and his ways by obeying his commands.
Let me throw out two big ideas to help you decide if you should pursue discipleship:
Discipleship should be an immersive, intentional, and devoted season of your life when you focus on learning the commands of Christ. This can be done one-on-one or in a group. I recommend investing three months to go through twelve commands of Christ.
People don’t disciple each other as much as Jesus disciples us through the power of the Holy Spirit inside us. But we need others to hold us accountable to the obeying part by reminding us gently, sometimes truthfully, of why we obey. Sometimes they don’t have to say anything at all; they just live it in front of us. That’s where God’s design for spiritual community really works- through encouragement we build each other up so we will thrive in Christ. And we demonstrate forgiveness in the times when we fail him, as we all will during our lives.
So, when I asked you earlier, “Who discipled you?” I was really asking “Who shared their life and the gospel with you long enough for you to learn the commands of Christ and practice them in your everyday life? I like the apostle Paul’s words in his first letter to the church in Thessalonica: “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well.” 2:8. Discipleship is vulnerability and transparency–a willingness to share our wins as well as our sins with each other.
Look for someone to get in the car with you, to roll down the windows as you cruise the interstate and embark on your discipleship journey together. They could be older than you, younger than you, a brand new Christian or a seasoned saint. It’s not about who knows the Bible the best or has the most experience or the greatest testimony. Everyone can benefit from a season of focusing on the commands of Christ. We are all stuck on one or more of them, meaning, we just don’t want to obey that specific commandment right now. But oh how we will be blessed when we do. And maybe all we need is someone to encourage us to put the car in D (it stands for Discipleship) and tap on the accelerator. Perhaps someone you know ran out of gas and they just need a lift. You could be that person for some Christian stranded on the side of the road.
Get the tattoo.
A year ago I got a tattoo on my left shoulder to remind me of my life’s mission: "μαθητεύω"– which means “make disciples.” Will you start this journey today? If you can’t find someone to go through discipleship with you, please email me at robmattox@me.com and we will go on this journey together. It would be my delight!
CHAPTER 2 -
DISCIPLESHIP DOES
Jesus dares.
Have you ever played “Truth or Dare?”
As a kid, most people I played this game with chose “Truth.” More than likely they were immediately asked, “Do you like (girl’s name)?” But then people got bored and someone chose Dare. The first dare was usually rejected so they got a Double-Dog-Dare, which makes no sense if you think about it. Didn’t they know it was only going to get harder?
Marc Ostreicher wrote a journal-book called “Dares from Jesus,” a guidebook for youth pastors to spiritually challenge their students. The idea was to dare kids to do something Jesus commanded Christians to do. In other words, take Jesus seriously and see what happens. Just do it. Obey. Sounds like discipleship.
Bible studies, scripture memorization, and even sermons don’t constitute discipleship. They emphasize learning and spiritual growth, but discipleship is about doing. Discipleship is bold and brave action, the putting into practice of what is taught, living out what we hear. And it’s checking back to see if the mission was accomplished. That’s where churches fail at discipleship: no one checks in on you to see if you actually lived out the message of Sunday’s sermon.
Discipleship is all about obedience. The Hebrew word “hear,” (as in “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,”) means to listen and to obey. The Pharisees knew their Scriptures inside and out, but they didn’t put into practice the “love” part. They didn’t obey by loving God. But they did seem okay with burdening people with a lot of extra rules to earn righteousness. Obedience became a show, a way to earn status. And this has carried on through religious practices to this day. That’s probably why there’s not another word in Christianity that I dislike more than the word obedience. It conjures the idea of people faking it, when their heart is far from God. But there are other reasons why I don’t like the word obedience.
My dad died when I was six and my mother was overwhelmed with her own psychological issues while I was growing up so much so that her parenting was almost non-existent. I got used to it. To this day I don’t like people telling me what to do. Then I would have to obey or disobey.
I got around this in my faith by saying, “Obedience is not about doing our duty and being good because we have to; obedience is about our response to the God who loves us.” That way I could skirt around the word “obedience.” But, here I am, writing a book about obedience. Simply put, disciples do what Jesus did and disciples do what Jesus commands them to do. Discipleship does. But we must be careful not to fall into “legalism,” obeying with wrong motive, without love. This usually leads to judging others instead of loving them. Our purest motive for obedience should be to love Jesus. But even when we don’t “feel” like loving, we should still obey.
You could go to four years of seminary and never get close to Jesus. The only way to bond with the Messiah is to take risks and trust him by obeying his commands. No amount of Bible reading or prayer will form this unbreakable bond unless it is accompanied by action. When I was a youth pastor my famous quote was, “The Bible is the most boring book in the world unless you do what it says; then it will become your favorite, guaranteed.” You might retort, “But we are saved by Scripture alone. By grace alone. By faith alone. It’s not about doing good works and earning God’s love.”
Let’s define the word faith.
This time let’s use the metaphor of surfing. Jesus is out in the ocean calling to us to come ride some waves. His voice wakes us up and our hearts stir when we see the tide swell, crest, and crash before us. We long to be with him so we pick up our surfboard and we paddle out into the water. We sit and talk as the sun sinks on the horizon, waiting for a set to come in. Then Jesus says, “Now.”
Faith is paddling hard and standing up on your board at the right moment. Then all you have to do is ride the surging wave. But the cusping of God’s hand is what moves you and carries you to shore. God did everything except the paddle, stand, and balance parts. By exercising your faith, you surfed.
Every wave is an opportunity to obey one of Jesus’ commands. It can be risky or even dangerous, but the reward is righteous!
Bob Goff, author of Love Does, is someone I admire. He takes bold risks– like rescuing a young girl out of a sex trafficking situation. It was dangerous. When he was discovered, an angry mob attacked and Bob’s team barely got away unscathed.
Bob’s nonprofit, Love Does, builds schools in war torn countries and conflict areas like Somalia, Israel and the Congo. My adopted son and I called Bob on the phone one day (he prints his number in his book and invites people to call him) because we wanted to help them build a second school for the persecuted Hazara kids in my son’s home country of Afghanistan. He was excited to talk with us and he immediately connected us with the Executive Director to see how we could help.
Helping is nice, but helping is not necessarily obeying a command of Christ. How could helping Love Does be an act of obedience? Which command does it fulfill? Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9. In some small way I believe schools and playgrounds bring peace to children surrounded by war. And we know Jesus loved children. It would be ideal to make disciples in Afghanistan and introduce Muslims to the Prince of Peace, but it’s a country closed to the gospel where Christians are martyred for their faith. Inroads still need to be made and trust established through caring relationships and likely great personal sacrifice. Perhaps a school will open up opportunities for the good news of Jesus to be shared with a people desperate for hope.
With the help of our many friends, we raised $6900 for a second school to be built in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, a couple months later the United States military left the country and the Taliban took power. Many schools were shut down and once again girls were denied an education. The good news is that Love Does has one school that is still open there, where girls can attend, and they just built a playground, which has brought back many smiles and laughter. At the very least we can say Christians are loving enemies here, often one of Jesus’ hardest commands to obey.
There are two other disciples who are loving God with their “all” that inspire me greatly. My friends Gilbreth and Damaris, an older christian couple, “retired” to the Muslim country of Senegal when they could have wrapped up their decades of ministry in their home country and retired to the beautiful beaches of Costa Rica. Instead, Jesus called them to the desert of Africa to feed and bathe kids living in the streets. The authorities found out what they were doing and debated expelling this couple for being proselytizing Christians. But they “saw the good works they were doing and glorified God.” (Matthew 5:16.) They permitted Gilbreth and Damaris to remain and continue their outreach efforts.
Over the last ten years Gilbreth and Damaris, along with their children, have created an oasis in the desert– they established a farm, a school, and a church community that is thriving together. And they have helped dozens of women learn valuable skills to earn income and help support their families. This happened because Gilbreth has always been intentional about discipleship, having equipped and sent out over two dozen couples as missionaries to the Muslim world before he even moved there with his family.
While in Senegal, I met one of the young couples Gilbreth and Damaris had discipled. They had endured many challenges and great loneliness in other parts of Africa where they served. The husband remarked that discipleship with Gilbreth had been hard. He didn’t go easy on them. I wondered if that was really necessary, but I was pretty certain that, had their discipleship not been hard, they never would have lasted as long as they did in such hope barren places.
CHAPTER 3
DISCIPLESHIP IS HARD
Durable hope.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope, and hope does not disappoint.” 5:1-5. This is what Paul has observed taking shape in the lives of those who boast in the glory of God. It’s a discipleship formula.
Our hopefulness as disciples is forged in obedience, in long-suffering and sacrifice. That “durable hope,” as neuro-therapist Curt Thompson calls it in his book, The Deepest Place, is what makes the gospel so attractive. Because Jesus suffered as a man of sorrow, persevered to the point of shedding his blood on the cross, and perfectly revealed to us the true character of the Father, now billions of people have a forever hope strong enough to conquer death.
Jesus invites his disciples to do the same thing–to pick up their cross and follow him. There’s nothing easy about that. If we obey Jesus we will suffer. But as we persevere, his true character will be revealed in us–we will be transformed, made brand new. People will see Jesus in us and that will give them hope, the only kind of hope that does not disappoint.
A hope that does not disappoint is worth the fiery forging process. Discipleship is hard, but it forges a durable hope that can endure anything. The hope Jesus offers overcomes death and it’s worth the price he paid for it. And if that were not enough, there is something even greater than hope that happens through discipleship; we discover the power of love. Paul finishes his discipleship formula with these words, “...and hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” v.5
I will dive deeper into this subject of love in the next chapter, “The Point of Discipleship,” but love is quite an amazing reward for suffering discipleship.
To summarize, discipleship is an act of faith that results in hope and love. Maybe that doesn’t sound very impressive. You might trade those in for a trusty weapon or a million dollars, but I don’t think we’ve seen hope and love in action enough to really appreciate their power, which is why we settle for an easier, more comfortable life that promises quicker rewards.
Life is hard. We often look to escape it through entertainment, exercise, or eating, which promises pleasure. Some might even escape through work, which promises power, prestige, and prosperity. Work might not sound like an escape, but often people gravitate towards arenas of life where they feel comfortable or successful. Many workaholics are escaping family life because it’s just too hard compared to their job. They don’t engage at home because they don’t get as much respect or satisfaction there as they do at work.
Read that last paragraph again–where are you stuck? Is your life oriented around pleasure, power, prestige or prosperity?
Ultimately, we want control to ensure our comfort. It’s called homeostasis–being at peace in our environment. Unfortunately, this world threatens our survival and this peace only exists if we can live above our circumstances. We can’t escape this gravity towards chaos and unrest. We have to choose fight or flight. If we choose flight, we will be drawn to complacency. If we choose fight, we have the opportunity to discover our calling. Only then will we choose suffering, to be “peacemakers” wherever we are.
The only way to fight and overcome your circumstances is to make your life more about purpose and other people than yourself. That’s what a “calling” does–it reorients our lives from an inward to an outward focus. It’s something compelling that causes us to re-engage the world and its problems instead of trying to escape it. We know it’s going to be hard, but we dream that it’s worth it.
Why does discipleship have to be so hard?
Because there is so much at stake! As we read through the gospels, we see Jesus raising the stakes. It’s not that he’s making a bigger deal of stuff for no reason, talking about hell and unpleasant things like gnashing of teeth. He is ripping the bandaid off and exposing the infected, puss oozing, spreading disease of our sin so his tears can fall into the wound and heal us.
People are dying by the millions. Those who are living are trapped, trafficked by Satan, and slaves to self-sabotaging sin. Jesus has come to set us free with his truth, his ways, his commandments, his love.
Discipleship is hard because it is a willingness to follow Jesus into the hardest and darkest places of people’s lives.
CHAPTER 4
THE POINT OF DISCIPLESHIP
Your calling.
Those who say they have a “calling” are usually willing to suffer for the cause. Teachers suffer low pay, difficult parents, and bad behavior from kids in hopes of making a difference in the world. They probably enjoy teaching too, but they will often be tempted to quit and start another career they could equally enjoy. “Calling” is what keeps them in the arena, in the struggle. They are doing it for the kids more than for themselves.
Jesus is calling you to make your life about people. This calling gets even more specific when you truly follow Jesus. But don’t confuse career with calling. Jesus is not calling you to be a doctor or gamer or mother or pastor, even. Those can all be noble pursuits, even God-inspired and blessed by God. But Jesus reserves calling to three primary and specific things:
A call to follow him (A call to take up your cross and follow him.)
A call to obey his commandments (to be a disciple).
A call to friendship.
Career vs. Calling
Paul said he was called by God to be an apostle, which means “sent one.” These are called missionaries today, or people who plant churches and oversee them. But if we look back to Jesus, he sent out all his disciples. We are all called to be “sent ones.” Jesus is sending us out to make disciples. This is your calling! Make disciples who:
1. Follow Jesus.
2. Obey the commands of Jesus.
3. Become friends with Jesus.
This is more important than your career. In fact, you might have to sacrifice advances in your career to fulfill your calling. God might send you to a place of greater need, to share a gospel that saves lives. He might also move you on if you get too comfortable and complacent with that cushy job and forget that you are supposed to be discipling your coworkers. If that’s not your mission wherever you work, you are missing your calling. You are failing at a major commandment and your love will grow cold.
Jesus warns that in the end times the “love of many will grow cold.” Jesus wonders if he “will find faith on the earth” when he returns. Ponder what Jesus said,
“With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
What have you been doing with all your Kingdom benefits? Are your blessings overflowing to others or are you hoarding them for yourself? If you are not making disciples, you are hoarding, like a greedy troll. One day, you will lose those treasures and they will be given to another. Do not let your faith fail; do not let your love grow cold.
A Call to Follow Him
Many of the greatest stories start with a voice summoning an unlikely girl or boy, usually an orphan, to embrace their calling: to fight evil, save the victims, and restore peace to their village, the world, the galaxy, the metaverse.
We know Jesus is the true hero who listened to the Father’s voice and embraced his calling to die on the cross for the sins of the world and, through resurrection, restore fortunes and shalom. Now Jesus is calling us to do the same, to be heroes of the Faith, for the gospel story to be lived out again through you!
Will you follow Jesus? Will you die? Will you let him raise you from the dead?
A Call to Obey His Commandments
Act II in the story starts once the hero has accepted their calling. It is the “becoming” phase. I love the newest Dune films, adaptations of Herbert’s novel and what is proclaimed as the greatest science fiction story ever. In the first film, the hero, Paul Atreides, is called to lead his family and his people to rule the world of Arrakis. The entire movie is about Paul embracing his calling. In Dune Uprising, part two of the story, Paul must prove he is worthy and “become” the Maud’ Dib, the prophesied messiah. He must learn how to survive in the desert and to ride a giant sand worm. He must drink the poison that kills him and gives him supernatural power upon resurrection. He “becomes.”
Jesus knows that through obedience to his commandments we become like him. In doing what he did, even “greater works” than he did, as he said, we become fearless and free. His perfect love drives out fear and we become perfect.
A Call to Friendship
The story takes a surprising twist in Act III. It’s the promotion, when we are declared heroes. In the crowning of the triumphant, we realize something greater happened than we had anticipated; we became friends with Jesus. I love the after-credits scene in the first Avengers movie. The heroes go out to eat, they go out for shawarma, as friends. It’s like the tavern scene at the end of the Lord of the Rings movie when Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin are drinking a pint and sharing a moment together that no one else in the tavern can truly appreciate–that they owe their lives to these heroes. Hobbiton was saved. The Fellowship became an unbreakable friendship.
Jesus said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” John 14:12-17
Through discipleship we become friends with Jesus!
We started out as God’s enemies. But a voice woke us up to faith, to believe that Jesus is real and his love saves us, an irresistible grace. We are now compelled to respond and that response is obedience to the commands of Christ. Some, like the “older brother” in the story of the Prodigal Son, unfortunately remain “servants” of the Father, those who just obey without love in their hearts, without realizing they have a 100% share in everything the Father has, without realizing their true sonship. Being sons and daughters of the Father makes us brothers or sisters with Jesus, but Jesus hopes for something more–friendship.
Discipleship is how Jesus bonds with us and how we move from enemies to servants to friends with him.
More than servants.
Yes, Jesus tells the parable of a master who rewarded his “servant” who was faithful with a few things. He was entrusted with more and given a share in the master’s happiness. That’s why many Christians say they can’t wait until they get to heaven and hear Jesus say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” like that’s as good as it gets.
We should read on in Matthew 25 where Jesus explains how he will reward us.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ”
These are the intimate actions of a friend of Jesus, someone who cares deeply for him in the darkest times of his life. To the others he says, “I never knew you.” Jesus says his friends know him, “for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
Do you feel like a servant of God, somewhat distant from the Father? Maybe you’re like Martha who was working hard to make preparations while Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to his stories? Martha was upset and asked Jesus to tell Mary to get to work. Jesus responded, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Or maybe you can identify with the prodigal son’s brother when you see others getting blessed. “The older brother became angry and refused to go in (to the party). So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.’”
You might be the wounded orphan/ widow/ victim who hears the voice of God calling you. Maybe you’re even obeying Jesus’ commands. But are you experiencing the fullness of friendship with him? Are you learning to love Jesus and his ways?
Love Is The Point
Now that we understand calling, we can ask the question, “What is the point of discipleship?” Why can’t we become friends with Jesus by just attending church or going to a Christian school or reading my Bible? What is so special about discipleship that mixes faith, hope, and love to forge a friendship?
Refresher: Discipleship is learning to love Jesus and his ways by obeying his commands.
You can definitely become friends with Jesus even if no one ever goes through discipleship with you because the Holy Spirit is the perfect guide. It’s also helpful if you go to church and read your Bible so you can get close to God too. But only by obeying God can we bond with Him.
I wish I had someone teach me early on in my faith journey about the commands of Christ. When I became a Christian it took me five years to read through the Bible once, and I still didn’t know what I was reading, exactly. Thank God the Holy Spirit convicted me on some things so I didn’t go down very many destructive paths. But it would have been helpful to know how Jesus wanted me to live.
The commands of Christ are like Bible bullet points. You learn them and then you read all the stories, psalms, proverbs, poems, and prophecies in the Bible with a greater sense of how things should have been. Otherwise you might wonder, “Should I beat my enemies with the jaw bone of an ass like Samson did?” Or, like the Crusaders who admired King David’s military prowess, “Should I start a holy war fueled by my zeal for God?” Or, should I love my enemies like Jesus commands us?
We need to learn what Jesus would do. And Jesus learned obedience to the Father. Now he teaches us to do the same.
Two hard things to understand.
Jesus said two hard things that, if we understand them, will lead us to greater clarity on the importance of discipleship:
“The reason the Father loves me is that I lay down my life, that I may take it up again.” John 10:17
AND
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26
Jesus submitted to the will of the Father. He said, “I do what I see the Father doing.” And “I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
Jesus is all in with the Father. Yes, Jesus came to die for our sins, but more than that, he came to glorify the Father.
In obedience Jesus loved the Father. Had he disobeyed, he would have communicated to the world that he did not love the Father, only himself. Likewise, If we love anyone more than Jesus, we cannot be his disciple.
Let’s go back to creation: Adam loved Eve more than God and ate the fruit she gave him, disobeying God’s only command given to him. There has only ever really been one command: to love God. Every other command is an opportunity to demonstrate obedience to that one command. There are over 600 laws in the Old Testament and likely 50 commands of Christ. It’s as if God is asking us hundreds of times and in a hundred different ways, “Do you love me?” The disciple Peter was asked this three times in a row by Jesus because Peter had denied him three times. At the end of the day, this is the question Jesus asks us. Do you love me? Do you love Jesus? More than anything?
What Is Love?
If God only loves Jesus if he lays down his life, is that love? Sounds like conditional love, not the “unconditional love” everyone told me about. If love is a command, is it really love? And if we don’t love God we get punished–Is that love? Sounds like jealousy, spite, and a controlling relationship. Have you ever been in one of those? It’s miserable. Absolute agony. I know because I lived through it for years.
I was the jealous, controlling boyfriend engaged to a flirtatious girl. I eventually broke it off with her because I couldn’t suffer it any longer. We both took time to reflect on ourselves and our five year relationship. Eventually we got back together, but it was a giant leap of faith to marry her. I feared her behavior and my emotional immaturity would carry over into our marriage. Miraculously, she changed. She became one hundred percent devoted to me and I was free from the bondage of jealousy. I wish I could say that I loved her as well as she loved me, but instead I became self absorbed with ambition, which I disguised as holy ambition. It took many years for God to show me how to let that ambition go, to stop being the orphan and live like a son, content in his father’s love.
I share all of this with you because I want you to know I was a mess. A hot mess. I had no clue what love was. God had to show me. I was surprised to learn that God is actually a jealous God, but not insecure, like me. I was feeling some of what God feels when we reject him and betray him, but God is not emotionally immature and manipulative like me either.
Is love really unconditional?
You’ve probably heard the gospel before, likely from a friend or pastor. They usually say something like, “Jesus loves you even in your sin. His love is unconditional.” What they are trying to say when they use the word “unconditional” is that you can’t earn God’s love, his approval, or your salvation. They might go on to say, “God doesn’t love you any more or any less tomorrow than he did yesterday or today. But you need to receive His love and forgiveness to be saved.”
That sounds like good news–finally someone accepts you as you are–adulterer, addict, homosexual, liar, cheat, thief, gossiper, complainer. But is that true? You don’t need to change? You don’t need to “deny yourself” and become a different person?
If unconditional love means you don’t need to change and become like Jesus, then what’s the point of discipleship? It’s one thing to say you can’t earn God’s love, and another to say that love lets you be who you are and “live your truth.”
This “unconditional love” is starting to sound like bait and switch. You were told God loves you unconditionally, but this only means that He loves you if you change and become a good person? If you become like Jesus?
Before we can answer these questions, we need to understand the hard things Jesus said.
Jesus was tested by Satan to see if he truly loved God. But he was also tested in going to the cross. Jesus prayed for the father to take the cup of wrath from him. Then he prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done.” Did Jesus love his life more than us, more than the Father? No. He denied himself.
Jesus sacrificed himself to prove God’s love once and for all. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” 1 John 3:16. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13.
Here’s the big revelation: there is no way you and I would ever have known what true love is had Jesus not displayed it through his sacrifice on the cross. It had to happen this way. Jesus tells us that he received this charge from his father, to lay down his life and take it up again. For this the father loves him. Love is conditional.
Had Jesus not obeyed, he would not have known the love of the father. Only through obedience does he experience the love of the father–a love that is powerful enough to forgive the sins of the world and righteous enough to execute wrathful judgment for these same sins. Had Jesus not obeyed, we would not know the love of God. We would have said, “God doesn’t love us enough to be a substitute for us, to die for us, to take our punishment for us.”
You see, God has every right to judge and destroy every living creature for the evil and wickedness we have done. None of us are innocent.
Imagine this scene in heaven:
Jesus knows the world deserves judgment and asks, “What needs to be done to prevent this?”
“The price must be paid,” the Father replies.
“I will pay it,” Jesus volunteers.
“Go to earth, live a perfect life, die at the hands of a murderous mob. I will put my wrath upon you as one who substitutes himself for the punishment of sin. I must forsake you in that moment, as unholy. But three days later the Holy Spirit will resurrect you and once again you will be glorified with me,” declares the Father.
“Send me.” Jesus says.
Through his obedience Jesus experienced something you and I will never have to experience–being abandoned by God. The Father abandoned his son on the cross. Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” as the splinters in his back pierced through his whip torn flesh.
As a father of four kids I can tell you that there is nothing harder for me as a parent than to watch my kids suffer. I’ve even prayed for God to let me suffer in their place. By forsaking Jesus, the Father did the hardest, most unnatural thing for any parent to do. But Jesus accepted his Father’s charge to save the world. He knew his mission. He understood the cost.
The point of discipleship is, through obedience, to fully understand the love God has for us. Through this immersive, intentional, and devoted season of our lives, when we learn and obey the commands of Christ, we expose ourselves to this infinite love. By obeying we think we are loving God, but truly we are experiencing His love for us. We begin to see the beauty of his ways–how he feels, how he thinks, what motivates Him and how He takes action– with all His heart, with all His mind, with all His soul, and with all His strength. We only get this revelation of love through obedience.
Love is Supra-Conditional
If we do not obey Jesus’ commands, we will not know his love. Love is not unconditional. In fact, it is supra-conditional. That means all the conditions have been met for us to even experience God’s love, which otherwise would be limited to rain and sunshine that even the wicked receive. If we are to experience the limitless love of God, we must obey the commands of Christ.
The reason couples fall out of love is because their love grows cold. Love requires them to change, to sacrifice, and to fulfill their vows (promises). Love requires them to increase their capacity to love when times get hard. Love tests them to see if they truly love the other more than self. Love must grow or it dies.
I have two adopted boys and I tell my two biological girls that I love everyone the same. Love is limitless. I love because God first loved me and God has increased my capacity to love. But that love was tested hundreds of times. When I stop proving my love, it grows cold.
Jesus said another hard thing: If we do not forgive others, we will not be forgiven. Love is conditional. But Jesus loved us first and forgave us first. Right there on the cross Jesus pleads with the Father, “Forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”
Love is supra-conditional. Jesus met the conditions for us. We are not loved because God loves unconditionally and accepts us as we are. No, we are loved because Jesus satisfied the wrath of God. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” We must believe that God is real and that he rewards us with the inheritance made available to us through Jesus Christ, which is “Yes” to every promise God has made! That is fantastic. Believe it. Receive it.
As we obey Jesus we will discover this incredible love growing in our hearts. We won’t know if we are obeying because we love Jesus or if we are learning to love Jesus because we are obeying. It’s all happening at the same time, like a snowball getting bigger as it rolls down the hill.
But sometimes that snowball gets stuck. We don’t want to change!
We will be tested and sometimes we won’t want to obey. More likely, we will become distracted, entertained, become comfortable, and our love will fade. We won’t know it until our comfort is taken away. Then we will see how selfish we’ve become and that might surprise us. The older we get the more tempted we are to make life about us. Settle in and settle down to comfortable routines, fixed incomes, and Sunday offerings on auto-draft.
We need to make disciples or we will fall into this trap of a comfortable life. We can’t let that happen, especially when so much is at stake with billions of people being trafficked by Satan in slavery to sin.
Shake off your slumber and make disciples! Help people discover the limitless love of God that can truly set them free. This is your calling.
CHAPTER 5
HOW TO MAKE DISCIPLES
Why not?
Why don’t Christians obey Jesus’ command “Go and make disciples?”
Here are some plausible reasons:
People don’t feel worthy. They don’t think they know enough to lead spiritual conversations.
People don’t know it’s something they should do.
People don’t know how: where to start, what to do, who to ask, because they were never discipled.
Keep It Simple
To make this simple, we need to keep three things in mind if we are going to make disciples:
Discipleship is learning to love Jesus and his ways by obeying his commands. So the focus should be on the commands of Christ.
Discipleship is an intentional, immersive, and devoted time to learn/ practice these commands. I recommend a 12 week semester to focus on 12 commands of Christ, which I have included in this digital guidebook.
Two or more Christians should go through this together. No one needs to be mature in the faith necessarily, although that can be helpful. We are learning from Jesus, primarily, not each other.
A Trellis For Your Life
Jesus uses the metaphor of a vine and it’s branches to describe our relationship with him. We are the branches and apart from him we can do nothing. Only in him can we bear fruit, fruit that will last. One of his commands is for us to “abide” in him, to abide in the vine. This abiding is how we learn to love what he loves.
Think of the commands of Jesus as the trellis for this vine and its branches. The trellis supports and gives direction for growth. If the trellis were a lattice, each cross-section would be a command of Christ that holds the trellis together. This trellis is essential for you to grow.
On one side of the trellis are the truths that Jesus teaches, what we should believe about God. Some call this the doctrines of the faith. On the other side of the trellis are the commands of Christ–what we should do, how we should live. Jesus said we should do the works he is doing, and even greater works. But we can’t do the greater things without doing the basics first.
Discipleship Boot Camp- Basic Training
Keep in mind you’re at war. As a Christian you will soon become aware that spiritual battles are real. Satan likes to isolate people and pick them off one at a time, like a lion that preys on the weak. Some believers get ambushed and abandon their faith because they weren’t prepared to fight. Sometimes the temptation to love the world seduces a believer, their love for God wanes, and they switch sides. They will be deceived to think there is no war and no God. Humans just made it all up. Now they believe they are free to go live their own truth. Little did they know that they became a disciple of Satan.
You need this discipleship boot camp to survive and overcome your enemy. When soldiers go into a war zone, their commanding officer will inspire them with three words: “Remember your training.”
Begin With The Basics
Here are twelve commands of Christ I recommend you start with:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength. Mark 12:30
Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39
Love your enemies. Matthew 5:44
Go and sin no more. John 8:11
Forgive others. Matthew 6:14-15
Beware of false prophets. Matthew 7:15
Abide in me. John 15:4
Seek first the Kingdom of God. Matthew 6:33
Ask, Seek, Knock. Matthew 7:7
Sell all you have. Give to the poor. Follow me. Matthew 19:21
Take. Eat. Drink. (Remember me.) Luke 22:18-20
Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22
Outline to follow each week:
Prep work (15min-45min)
Your time together (45min-60min).
Beforehand
Do the prep work
Read the scripture
Scribe or memorize the key verses
Answer any questions
When you meet together, catch up on the week prior.
“How did it go trying to obey the command?”
Read additional scripture together.
Identify the command Jesus gives
Discuss the “Challenge” paragraph
Discuss the “reward” and “warning” around this commandment.
Share how you obeyed or disobeyed this command in the past.
Share how you will obey this command this week.
Pray for each other. (Pray Matthew 6:9-13
CHAPTER 6
NEXT STEPS
Discipleship for Dummies (like me).
For six years I worked at Liberty Thrift, a store that supported a ministry for men coming out of incarceration. It was a one year discipleship program and everyone was required to work at one of the thrift stores. As the manager I usually had 2-3 men working on my team. Between loading and unloading boxes of donations, we would talk about life, our struggles, and God. I didn’t really know what discipleship was back then but it felt like we were doing it.
I hired an assistant manager one time and I can still remember her first day. She walked around to the side of the building where we accepted donations and I greeted her there. I handed her a dum-dum lollipop and I said, “Let’s be dumb.” I had a short speech about being learners and keeping an attitude of humility. We unwrapped the dum-dums and shoved them in our mouths. It was an amazing season of mentorship because we were both willing to learn from each other and the men working with us. By serving one another, it felt like we were serving Jesus. Discipleship was messy, dirty, sweaty, and lovely.
During the six years I worked at Liberty I discovered an important reality: I wasn’t working at a thrift store; I was working at “God’s University,” or so I called it. Those who understood this found healing and hope during their time there, especially me. Those who despised the work and the meager pay, missed out on the greater experience. It was hard work and it would break you if you didn’t stay humble. But when I chose to jump in and do the dirtiest jobs with my team, my joy was contagious and our burdens lifted.
I didn’t start out there as a great leader. I despised the work. I thought it was beneath me. I had plans to quit as soon as possible. I was making less money than I had made a decade prior. I was definitely not living “my best life now,” or so I thought. My boss was like no one I had ever met before. She was a strong woman in a mennonite fashion who could out-work any man who came her way. She would do laps around them and they couldn’t keep up. I have no idea how I survived her training, but she broke me and taught me how to work.
I was in the Discipleship for Dummies program, learning long-suffering and love every day.
God took six years to teach me the commands of Christ, the commands fleshed out in every day living.
So, no, you can’t become like Jesus in twelve weeks by studying twelve commands of Christ. However, these twelve weeks you’re about to embark upon will help you understand the work God is going to do in and through you for the rest of your life. Most importantly, you will hear your calling. You will know your mission. You will bond with Christ. Everything you gain will give you the conviction you need to be “all in.” This is the first step, like when Peter said, “We have left everything to follow you.”
After these twelve weeks, the true following really begins.