The Necessity Of Discipleship Series

“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