INTRODUCTION
• Talk about the goal of a baseball team. Get people across home plate. Don’t push the details of the analogy.
• Does a team cheer and quit when it gets a person to 1st base or 3rd base? They will cheer because they expect to bring that person around the bases to score.
• At the end of the game, the fans and the team is more concerned about the number of people who score than they are concerned about hits. I have seen games where a team my have only had one hit and beat a team with more hits.
• If a baseball team does not understand that part of its purpose is to score, then they will pat themselves on the back when they just get baserunners.
• In the church we can run into the same problem. We can get so excited about getting someone to 1st base that we forget that now the work is just beginning.
• If we do not understand the purpose of the church, then we will stop short of what God wants us to do.
• Over the last couple of weeks we have looked at two purposes of the church, worship and fellowship, this week we are going to look at discipleship.
• Matthew 28:19-20 states: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
• We are commanded to make disciples. This is a two part process. This is the first part of making a disciple to evangelize and baptize them. We will not talk about evangelism this week. The second part is that we are to teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded.
• We are going to look is what we are to do once we have added a person to the kingdom of God. We are called to disciple them.
• What happens in a typical church when we win a person to Jesus? We usually leave it at that. We are happy, we got them to first base!
• When a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior, our job does not stop there. That is like getting a person to 1st base and saying that our job is finished.
• Our goal is to help bring that person around the bases to score!
• Too many times we get a person to first base and then for get about them, we leave them stranded.
• Dallas Willard (A Christian Philosopher & writer) says that, “Discipleship is the great Omission of the Great Commission on the part of Churches.
• Part of making a disciple is teaching them all that Jesus commanded. The Great commission tells us this and the early church was committed to the apostles’ teachings. Acts 2:42 tells us, They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
• Today, let us look at the 3rd purpose of the Church, Discipleship.
• READ ACTS 2:41-47
SERMON
I. THE DEFINITION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A DISCIPLE.
A. What is a disciple?
• Quite simply a disciple is a learner, or a pupil of someone.
• In the context of the Bible, a Christian is supposed to be a disciple. Who are we to be a disciple of? Jesus!
• The word disciple is used over 250 times in the New Testament and is only found in the Gospels and Acts.
• Acts 11:26 is where we find that Christians and disciples are the same thing. In Acts 11:26 the Disciples were called Christians at Antioch.
• The name “Christian” was given to the disciples by Paul and Barnabus through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The English translations of Acts 11:26 makes it sound like the people called the disciples Christians, but the grammar of the original will not allow that. The original says that Paul and Barnabas called them Christians. The word “called” has a prophetic meaning to it.
• Discipleship is the development of Christians.
B. The Characteristics of a Disciple
• Love for the brethren. JOHN 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
• Love for Jesus. LUKE 14:26 "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.
• Be like Jesus. MAT 10:25 "It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!
• Commitment to Jesus. LUKE 14:27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
• Benevolent. (Luke 6:38)
• Abide in Jesus. JOHN 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
• How are we doing?
II. THE OBJECTIVE OF DISCIPLESHIP
A. The objective of discipleship is to facilitate the spiritual growth of Christians.
B. When we are immersed into Christ, (when we become a Christian) we are born again. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
C. 2 CO 3:18 says, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
D. Jesus gives us a principle in Matthew 12:43-45. "Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. "Then it says, ’I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. "Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."
E. Discipleship fills our house with tools and encouragement for growth.
F. Myth’s about spiritual growth.
• Spiritual growth is automatic once you are born. BABY?
• Spiritual growth is mystical, and maturity is attainable by only a few
• Spiritual maturity can occur instantly if you find the right key
• Spiritual maturity is measured by what you know
• Spiritual growth is a personal and private matter
• All you need is the Bible to grow.
G. If we fall for these myths, then we will not work on helping people grow. If we fall for these myths, we will not do what we need to do to grow. If we fall for these myths, we will become discouraged if we are not growing. If we fall for these myths, we will become lazy.
H. We need to get people to go from 1st base (membership) to 2nd base (commitment to maturity) to 3rd base (commitment to service) to homeplate (committed to evangelism or missions).
I. We need to intentionally do things that help Christians become more Christ-like.
J. My favorite definition of discipleship is MAKE ONE TO MAKE ONE.
III. WAYS TO HELP A DISCIPLE GROW.
A. Church programs
• Bible studies. Logical, the early church was devoted to the scriptures.
• Sunday school. This cannot be the only food we eat.
• Preaching. This cannot be the only food we get.
• Service opportunities.
• Providing fellowship opportunities for people.
• Mentoring programs.
B. Individual
• Personal devotion time.
• Prayer time.
• Serving others
• Bible reading
• Mentoring
• Giving
• Fellowship with other Christians
• Have a person that you are accountable to. PREACHER GROUP.
• The key to growth is commitment to the truth of the word of God.
• Notice that part of the great Commission is teaching and the early church was committed to the word.
• If we are not putting the word in people’s lives, then we have to ask ourselves what are we winning people over to?
• What we need to understand about discipleship is that I cannot be a disciple without being disciplined. The more disciplined I become he more God can use me. The mark of a disciple is continual growth.
• I believe the main keys to being able to make someone more Christ-like is, desire to grow, discipline and time spent with both God and His people.
• So many people that have been in church at some point in their lives will say that God has done nothing for them. My question to them would be what kind of effort did you give to God? Did you expect something (spiritual growth and blessings) for nothing (no time spent trying to grow)?
IV. THE BENEFITS OF DISCIPLESHIP
A. The Church grows deeper through discipleship.
B. Discipleship gives us principles to live by. A foundation to build our lives on. Word of God.
C. It gives us stability. The world is in turmoil because they do not have a foundation under them.
D. As we become more Christ-like, we will experience more blessing than we can imagine!
CONCLUSION
• When the church stops making and developing disciples, it is not a church. EXAMPLES.
• For the church to be able to develop disciples there has to be a great deal of involvement in each other’s lives.
• See how the first three purposes fit together. They are not separate from each other.
• Our worship is a extension of the way that we live our life. In turn we feel a strong sense of community and desire to strive with others in our walk (Fellowship). Our worship helps us to see how much we need to grow more Christ-like because we are in awe of God, we want to be more like Him. Through our fellowship a great love for other brethren is strengthened, we then seek to help other’s grow and develop (discipleship).
• When we get a person to 1st base, our job is just beginning. It takes time, effort and resources to develop disciples. As a Church we must make sure that we are fulfilling this purpose. As individual members of the body, we must make sure that we are committed to growth.
• Are you willing to invest your time to help other s grow closer to Jesus?
