“THE NECESSITY OF DISCIPLESHIP” Col. 1:28-29
FBCF – 1/21/24
Jon Daniels
INTRO – 1996 – Fulfilled childhood dream of becoming a firefighter. I joined a fire dept. First 90 days – probationary firefighter – Wore an orange vest which identified me as someone who didn’t know anything about firefighting at that time but was willing to learn. Watched – listened – met w/ my training officer each week – went through drills – took tests – At end of 90 days, could take the vest off & perform basic firefighting skills & tasks. Still had a lot to learn & am still learning after all these years.
It would have been ridiculous & dangerous & careless if that fire dept would have let me, an untrained, unskilled, inexperienced 32 yr-old man run into a raging house fire w/ no training or instruction. Sure, I had joined the department. But I needed to be a student who submitted to a teacher. In a sense, I needed to be discipled.
Sadly, in most churches, we have people who join the Body of Christ – not talking about just becoming a member of a local church, but actually making a profession of faith & becoming a Christ-follower – but we drop the ball there. That person, whether a boy or girl, teenager, or adult of any age, needs to be discipled. That’s why today, as we continue in our “Don’t Stop!” series, we are going to talk about “The Necessity of Discipleship.”
EXPLANATION – Colossians 1:28-29
Why is discipleship necessary? Why should this church be concerned about discipleship? Why should every Christ-follower be involved in discipleship? Although I’m not preaching on The Great Commission today, it’s hard to talk about the necessity of discipleship w/out referencing Matthew 28:18-20 at some point. Let’s read it now. In these verses, we see that discipleship is necessary b/c:
- It’s a matter of obedience – “Go therefore & make disciples of all nations…”
o Jesus clearly & concisely commands us to “Go & make disciples” – not “In case you go” or “If you want to go” – No, we are commanded to GO & MAKE DISCIPLES.
- It’s the mission of the Church – “baptizing them…”
o Baptism is an extremely important step of obedience that identifies a new believer as a member of the Church. It is one of 2 ordinances – 2 “God-ordained ceremonies” or practices – that we are commanded to do until Jesus returns, the other being the Lord’s Supper.
- It’s a means of spiritual maturity – “teaching them to observe [obey] all that I have commanded you”
o We do pretty good at the go & telling part – pretty good at the baptism part (already have a couple of people that need to be baptized this year).
o But we usually stop there & drop the ball w/ the “teaching them to obey” part.
o We drop the ball w/ 2 Timothy 2:2 – “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful people who will be able to teach others also.” (NASB)
The point of this message is that we CAN’T keep dropping the ball there. We MUST be involved in discipleship b/c…
APPLICATION – Discipleship is at the heart of “Making Much of JESUS!”
COMPONENTS OF DISCIPLESHIP:
THE POINT: JESUS! – “Him” – If anybody was all about “Making Much of JESUS!”, it was the Apostle Paul!
- Focus of Colossians: The supremacy of Christ – that HE is superior over all human philosophies & traditions.
- That’s why Paul stated, “HIM we proclaim” – The focus is on JESUS, not on rules & regulations or philosophies, not traditions, not denominations – Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians – but JESUS! We point to HIM in discipleship. We make much of HIM in discipleship. We focus on HIM in discipleship.
- “It is manifestly impossible…to love, to worship, or to pray to a principle.” (Griffith Thomas)
- The focus of our entire lives is JESUS! We make much of HIM & focus on HIM in discipleship.
- How do we do that?
THE PROCESS:
- Proclamation – “Him we proclaim”
o Katangello – report, tell w/ conviction
o The starting point – telling others about Jesus
- Admonition – “warning everyone”
o Noutheteo – advise on the consequences of a wrong action
- Instruction – “teaching everyone”
o Didasko – provide instruction
This is exactly what we are talking about when we talk about discipleship – warning another believer about the dangers & consequences of not walking w/ Christ, & teaching them how to walk w/ Christ.
- Life experiences
- Things taught to us by others
- Insights we’ve gleaned in our our relationship w/ Christ
- All based on the Word of God
- Back to 2 Timothy 2:2 – “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful people who will be able to teach others also.” (NASB)
THE PURPOSE: Spiritual maturity – “that we may present everyone mature in Christ” – Back to message 2 weeks ago – “Born Once Is Not Enough” – The process of sanctification is that lifelong process that every Christ-follower is in where we SHOULD be maturing spiritually & becoming more & more like Jesus.
- KJV – “perfect” – Obviously that’s not literally what is meant.
- Word means “adult” – Someone who has progressed & continues to progress out of spiritual infancy & childhood.
- Mama – My 36 yr-old son, Reese, went to see her a couple of weeks ago & help her at her house in Cleveland. “Reese is a man now. He is really knowledgeable about a lot of things.” She was there when he was born in New Orleans. She’s been at birthday parties – seen him grow through childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, get married, have kids. He’s mature now, so different than he was on that Oct afternoon in 1987 when he was born. And yet is still maturing.
- A mature adult stands in stark contrast to an infant child. And that’s what Paul is saying here about spiritual maturity. There should be an obvious, marked difference in someone who has known Christ for a long time & someone who is still young in their faith.
- This maturing stage of the Christian life is where we need each other. It’s the place where the discipleship needs to take place.
- And who needs that?
THE PEOPLE: “everyone” – every believer in the church – No one is exempt. No one needs to be left out. No one needs to opt out. It should be our desire & our determination that every person who comes through this baptistery will step out of this water & into a discipleship relationship w/ another believer who will walk w/ them & help them get their feet firmly grounded in the Word.
- Students in DNow this weekend
- Young men/women – Titus 2:4-8
THE PERSEVERANCE: “For this I toil, struggling w/ all his energy” – 2 words to look at:
- “toil” – kopaio – labor, work, give effort
- “struggling” – agonizomai – strive to do w/ intensity & effort
Sounds like work, doesn’t it? That’s b/c it is. Discipleship takes effort, which is why most of us don’t get involved in it. But it's worth it!
THE POWER: “struggling w/ all HIS energy that HE powerfully works in me” – We don’t disciple others in our own strength & power & intellect & know-how. We have another source of energy!
- Whose energy? HIS energy – God’s energy
- The word for energy can be “power.” Whose power? HIS power – God’s power
- Who is that power? The Holy Spirit
- Who is in us? The Holy Spirit
- Who is powerfully working in us? HE is!
- Rely on HIM & HIS energy & power working in us!
