The Minister’s God-given Goal – Part 2
Matthew 28:16:20
Biblically speaking, a disciple is a sincere believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, one who is abiding in His Word and consequently being set free from sin. A disciple is one who is learning to obey all of Christ’s commandments, and one who loves Jesus more than his own family, his own comfort, and his possessions, and he manifests that love by his lifestyle. Jesus’ true disciples love one another and demonstrate that love in practical ways. They are bearing fruit.
Obviously, those who are not His disciples cannot make disciples for Him. Thus, we must first be certain that we ourselves are His disciples before we attempt to make any disciples for Him. There are ministers who fall short of the biblical definition of a disciple. The minister who falls short of the Biblical definition of a disciple cannot make disciples and will not even try. The minister who falls short of the Biblical definition of a disciple is not committed enough to Jesus Christ to endure the difficulties that come with making true disciples.
Although Jesus made it quite clear what a disciple is, many have replaced His definition with one of their own. For example, a disciple is anyone who professes they are a Christian. One may be a believer in Jesus but not be a disciple of Jesus. Because it is so difficult to simply ignore Jesus’ demanding requirements for discipleship that are recorded in the Bible, there are two levels of Christians, the believers, who believe in Jesus, and the disciples, who believe in and are committed to Jesus. According to this theory, there are many believers but few disciples, but that both are going to heaven.
This theory neutralizes Jesus’ commandment to make disciples, which in turn neutralizes the making of disciples. If becoming a disciple means self-denying commitment and even hardship, and if becoming a disciple is optional, the large majority of people will elect not to become disciples, especially if they think they will be welcomed into heaven as non-disciples.
The question that needs to be answered is does Scripture teach that one can be a true believer in Jesus but not be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Is discipleship an optional step for believers? Are there two levels of Christians, the uncommitted believers and the committed disciples?
Jesus did not think that becoming a disciple was a secondary, optional step for believers. His three requirements for discipleship in Luke 14 were not addressed to believers as an invitation to a higher level of commitment. Rather, His words were addressed to everyone among the multitudes. In John 8:30 we are told “As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.” Jesus said to the many that believed in Him, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). Jesus did not say to those newly professing believers, “Sometime in the future you may want to consider taking the next step, a step of commitment, to become My disciples.” No, Jesus spoke to those new believers as if He expected them to be disciples already, as if the words believer and disciple were synonymous terms. He told those newly professing believers that the way they could prove they were His disciples was by abiding in His word, which would result in their being set free from sin (8:34-36).
Jesus knew that a profession of faith was no guarantee that they really did believe. He also knew that those who truly believed He was the Son of God would act like it; they would immediately become His disciples, desiring to obey and please Him. Such believers/disciples would naturally abide in His Word; in addition, as they discovered His will by learning His commandments, they would be set free from sin. That is why Jesus immediately challenged those new believers to test themselves. His statement, “If you are truly My disciples” indicates He knew there were many who believed in Him that were not true disciples, but only professing disciples. Only if they passed Jesus’ test could they be certain they were His true disciples From John 8:37-50 there is evidence that Jesus had good reason to doubt their sincerity.
In His Great Commission, that disciples be baptized the book of Acts indicates that the apostles did not wait until new believers took a second step of commitment to Christ before they baptized them. Rather, the apostles baptized all new believers almost immediately after their conversion. They believed that all true believers were disciples.
In this regard, those who believe that disciples are the uniquely committed believers are not consistent with their own theology. Most of them baptize anyone who professes to believe in Jesus, not waiting for them to reach the committed level of discipleship. Yet if they really believe what they preach, they should only baptize those who reach the discipleship level, which would be very few among their ranks.
If disciples are different than believers, why is it that John wrote that love for the brethren is the identifying mark of true born-again believers (1 John 3:14), and Jesus said that love for the brethren is the identifying mark of His true disciples (John 13:35)?
If the idea of two separate classes of Christians, the believers and the disciples, is not found in the Bible, how is such a doctrine defended? The answer is that this doctrine is supported by another false doctrine about salvation. That doctrine alleges that the demanding requirements for discipleship are not compatible with the fact that salvation is by grace. Based on that theory, the conclusion is drawn that the requirements for discipleship cannot be requirements for salvation. Thus, being a disciple must be an optional step of commitment for believers who are saved by grace.
In His ministry, Jesus linked obedience with salvation. The apostles linked obedience with salvation. The question is, how can we reconcile the linking of obedience with salvation with the doctrine that salvation is by grace? It is quite simple. God, by His amazing grace, is temporarily offering everyone an opportunity to repent, believe, and be born again, empowered to live obediently by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, salvation is by grace. Without God’s grace, no one could be saved, because all have sinned. Sinners cannot possibly merit salvation. Therefore, they need God’s grace to be saved and God’s grace is revealed in many ways. It is revealed in Jesus’ dying on the cross. It is revealed in His convicting us of our sin, His granting us an opportunity to repent, His regenerating us and filling us with His Holy Spirit, His breaking the power of sin over our lives, His empowering us to live in holiness, His discipline of us when we sin. None of these blessings have we earned. We are saved by grace from start to finish.
According to Scripture, however, salvation is not only “by grace,” but also “through faith” (Ephesians2:8). Both grace and faith are necessary, and are compatible. If people are to be saved, both grace and faith are necessary. God extends His grace to us, and we respond by faith. Genuine faith, of course, results in obedience to God’s commandments. As James wrote in the second chapter of his epistle, faith without works is dead, useless, and cannot save (see Jas. 2:14-26).
God’s grace offers people a temporary opportunity to repent and be born again. After death, there is no more opportunity to repent and be born again, and thus God’s grace is no longer available.
A perfect picture of salvation offered by grace through faith is found in the story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you,” that is grace because under the Law she deserved to be condemned, “go. From now on sin no more” (John 8:11). When she deserved to die, Jesus let her go free. He sent her away, however, with a warning, “from now on sin no more.” This is exactly what Jesus is saying to every sinner in the world, “I am not condemning you now. You deserve to die and condemned forever in hell, but I am showing you grace. My grace, however, is only temporary, so repent. Stop sinning now, before My grace ends and you find yourself standing before My judgment seat as a guilty sinner.”
If this adulterous woman repented as Jesus instructed her, she was saved by grace through faith. She was saved by grace because she could never have been saved without God’s grace, being a sinner. She could never rightly say that she earned her salvation by her works. She was saved through faith because she believed in Jesus and thus believed what He said to her, heeding His warning, and turned from her sin before it was too late. Anyone who has genuine faith in Jesus will repent, because Jesus warned that unless people repent, they would perish (Luke 13:3). Jesus also solemnly declared that only those who do the will of the Father will enter heaven (Matthew 7:21). If one believes in Jesus, one will believe and heed His warnings.
On the other hand, what if this adulterous woman repented of her sin and after a certain period of time returned to her adulterous ways and she died without repenting and stood at Jesus’ judgment seat. What do you think? Would Jesus welcome her into heaven? If Jesus would welcome her into heaven, the Apostle Paul lied when he said, “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators…not adulterers…shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Jesus’ requirements for discipleship are nothing more than a requirement for genuine faith in Him. There are no biblical grounds for the claim that, because salvation is by grace, Jesus’ requirements for discipleship are incompatible with His requirements for salvation. Discipleship is the evidence of genuine saving faith.
This being so, to meet his God given Goal a minister should begin the process of making disciples by preaching the true gospel, calling believers to an obedient faith. When ministers promote the false doctrine that discipleship is an optional step of commitment for professing believers he is opposing Jesus’ commandment to make disciples and proclaiming a false grace and false gospel. Only Jesus’ true disciples possess saving faith and are going to heaven, just as Jesus promised: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
Because of a false concept of God’s grace in salvation, the modern gospel has often been stripped of essential biblical elements that are considered incompatible with a message of grace. A false gospel, however, only produces false Christians, which is why such a large percentage of new converts will not be found even attending church within a few weeks after they claim they have accepted Jesus as their Savior. What is more alarming in this age of falling away from the faith is the pew warmer that is often indistinguishable from the unregenerate population, possessing the same values and practicing the same sins as their conservative neighbors, because they do not really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and have not been born again.
One of the essential elements now removed from the modern gospel is the call to repentance. Many ministers feel that if they tell people to stop sinning it will be the same as agreeing that salvation is not of grace, but works. However, this cannot be true, because John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and Paul all proclaimed that repentance is an absolute necessity for salvation. If preaching repentance somehow negates God’s grace in salvation, then John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and Paul all negated God’s grace in salvation. They, however, understood that God’s grace offers people a temporary opportunity to repent, not an opportunity to continue sinning.
For example, when John the Baptist proclaimed what Luke refers to as “the gospel,” his central message was repentance (Luke 3:1-18). He used the cutting of the root of a tree as an illustration, those who did not repent would go to hell (Matthew 3:10-12; Luke 3:17).
Jesus preached repentance from the start of His ministry (Matthew 4:17). He warned people that unless they repented, they would perish (Luke 13:3, 5).
When Jesus sent out His twelve disciples to preach in various cities, “They went out and preached that men should repent (Mark 6:12).
After His resurrection, Jesus told the twelve to take the message of repentance to the whole world, because it was the key that opened the door to forgiveness, He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).
The apostles obeyed Jesus’ instructions. When Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost, his convicted listeners, after realizing the truth about the Man whom they had recently crucified, asked Peter what they should do. His response was that they, “repent” (Acts 2:38).
When Paul testified before King Agrippa, he declared that his gospel had always contained the message of repentance (Acts 26:19-20).
In Athens, Paul warned his audience that everyone must stand in judgment before Christ, and those who have not repented will be unprepared for that great day (Acts 17:30-31).
In his farewell sermon to the Ephesians elders, Paul listed repentance along with faith as an essential part of his message (Acts 20:20-21).
This list of scriptural proofs should be enough to convince anyone that unless the necessity of repentance is proclaimed, the true gospel has not been preached. A relationship with God begins with repentance. There is no forgiveness of sins without it.
In Part 3 of The Minister’s God-given Goal we will continue the subject of repentance.
