Real TheoBros Make Disciples
It is important to remember that whatever God calls us to, He always equips us for. This includes making disciples of Jesus Christ.
TheoBro’s,
We need to keep reminding people that there is no such thing as “lone-wolf Christianity.”
We cannot become all that God calls us to be in Christ without the Body of Christ: the other members of the local church. A finger, an ear, or a foot cannot function in health without being connected to the other vital parts.
“If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you (1 Cor. 12:19-21; c.f. Prov. 18:1).’”
It is impossible to be follower of Christ without being an active participant in the local church. You can sing all you want, “I have decided to follow Jesus,” but if you aren’t putting yourself in the way of other believers within a local church to learn, grow, and mature — and then help others to do the same — you are fooling yourself.
Every Biblical church has a place for formal teaching and preaching, and a place for Biblical education. This happens within Sunday Schools, sermons, Vacation Bible Schools, AWANA programs, and Youth Groups. These are vitally important.
A Biblical Church also has times and events in place for Christian fellowship, to practice the theology and teaching they’ve received, the one another’s of Scripture in relationships.
Every Biblical Church is devoted to one-on-one discipleship, where Christians mutually agree to help each other think more Biblically, and love Christ more fully.
A Biblical community,
1. Is characterized by commonality in Christ. When two people share Christ — even if everything else is different — they are closer than even blood ties could ever bring them. They are the family of God.
2. Has purpose: to safeguard the Gospel, to transform lives and communities, and to shine as a beacon of hope to the unconverted. This community isn’t designed around the Gospel plus some other bond of similarity. It is a community that reveals the Gospel. [1]
We must give ourselves to this task of safeguarding the Gospel, transforming lives, and shining as a beacon of hope in the context of the local church. We do this by becoming better disciples ourselves, while, at the same time, helping others to become better disciples.
No doubt, TheoBro, the idea of making disciples is daunting. But there are two facts we must take into account:
1. We will never be perfect disciple-makers as Christ was.
Because of the sin nature that dwells in us, we will be selfish at times. We will drop commitments. We will make errors in our theology. We will misunderstand or misdiagnose spiritual issues. These, and many more mistakes, will show up in all of our disciple-making attempts.
This is where we glory in the cross: where our sins, guilt, and errors have been fully paid for. This is why we seek to grow, get better, and reach deeper in our knowledge of God; and this is where we confess our sins and repent to one another. Our mistakes will inevitably become another teaching tool, as our disciples will make imperfect disciples themselves.
2. We have everything “in Christ” that we need to make disciples.
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire (2 Peter 1:3).”
This is why I have, as a teacher and pastor, great hope in our Jr. Higher’s, High Schoolers, and the weakest of Christ’s sheep. As the glory and majesty of Christ is presented day by day, and as our hearts receives that truth in faith, He will disciple us in our disciple-making. I know that if we get a fresh view of Gospel of Christ, that we have died and are raised with Him (Gal. 2:20), we can do what feels nearly impossible to us. God is an absolute savant at doing impossible things.
So it is important to remember that whatever God calls us to, He always equips us for. This includes making disciples of Jesus Christ.
Compelling Community, Mark Dever; pages 26-27.