Introduction To Discipleship Series

“Now That You’re Saved”:

THE PURPOSE OF LIVING FOR CHRIST

 

A truck driver was hauling a load of 50 penguins to the zoo. Unfortunately, his truck broke down and could not continue his route. He was able to wave down another truck and offered the driver $500 to take the penguins to the zoo.

            When the driver had his truck fixed, he drove to town the next day and witnessed a peculiar sight. Just ahead of him, he saw the other truck driver crossing the road with 50 penguins waddling behind him. The driver jumped out of his truck and ran up to the guy and said, “What’s going on? I gave you $500 to take these penguins to the zoo!” To which the man responded, “I did take them to the zoo. But I had enough money left over, so now we’re going to the movies.” 

            The second driver was unclear on his mission. Either the instructions given by the first driver were given in a moment of panic and hurry, or the second driver worked for Purolator and was not instructed on how to deliver live animals. I don’t know. It’s a silly story that simply illustrates that many believers today are unclear about their sense of purpose. 

            We are living in post-Easter times. The teaching of salvation is immensely important, but now that you are saved by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, what comes next? Jesus gave his disciples the “Great Commission” in Matthew 28, commanding them to take the good news and make disciples – that is, to teach people what it means and how it makes a difference in this present life. 

            You see, some Christians get stuck on the salvation aspect of Christianity; they receive forgiveness for sin and the hope for eternal life, but they don’t know what difference their faith makes in the present life. How does being a Christian affect your community? The world of finance? The workplace? Social justice? The realm of politics? 

            The big question we want to look at over the next several weeks is this: What does it mean to follow Jesus in these various realms of life? 

            But before we get into the specific realms, I want to briefly introduce you to the process of discipleship. After we have put our trust in Jesus for salvation, what comes next? What comes next is learning to walk in life as Jesus walked. We sometimes call this spiritual growth. It is a process where the Holy Spirit works in us to show us how to live like Jesus and become like him. 

            Becoming like Jesus, the goal of discipleship, is only possible if we have someone to show us what that’s like. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit uses people to accomplish this work in our lives. And in turn, he uses us to disciple other people. 

            This is the thrust of what Paul talks about in Colossians 1:28-29. “Him (Jesus Christ) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me.” 

            In these words, we read about five aspects of discipleship:

1. The Heart of Discipleship – First and foremost, discipleship is about proclaiming Jesus. Paul speaks of Jesus as the great mystery hidden for generations but now revealed to us (1:26). Again, in 2:2-3, Paul expands on this picture of Jesus as a mystery saying that the knowledge of God’s mystery is Christ “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

            In other words, everything that can be known about God and the universe he created begins with Jesus Christ. As Hebrews 1:3 expresses it, Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. If you want to know what God is like, examine Jesus in the gospel. He is God in the flesh; a visible and accurate expression of who God is (1:15).

            Christ is central to the Christian faith. That’s what I appreciate about the Anabaptist movement: it is the primary core value of our creed. A church that emphasizes another part of the Bible as primary or focuses on something other than Jesus is not a Christ-centered church. 

2. The Means of Discipleship – How do we disciple others to know Jesus and live godly lives? In this verse, Paul talks about warning and teaching everyone. 

            When we disciple, we must train them up in the Word of God and show them how to live lives that reflect who God is and the transforming work that he has done in us. “Warning” sounds about as harsh as the word “admonish.” The sense of the word is that we are helping to set someone’s mind in proper order, that is, to think like Jesus. Out of love for the person we are discipling, we must not be silent if we see them living contrary to the Scriptures. 

            “Teaching with all wisdom” means of course that we open up our Bibles together and talk about what God has shown us. We meditate on the saving work of Christ, but we also discuss together what it means to follow him in life. 

             I would add, as Paul does to the Philippians, that discipleship is not just about teaching someone to live like Jesus, it is also showing them. Paul boldly asks believers to imitate him, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you,” (Phil 4:9). Do we live the kind of lives that we could say to someone, “imitate me”? 

3. The Goal of Discipleship – One word: Maturity. Our goal is to present everyone who follows Jesus as complete before God. Paul said, “that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” There are two sides of salvation in this sense. On the one hand, we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, and nothing needs to be added to that fundamental truth. On the other hand, we have a responsibility to nurture and develop the gift of faith given to us by living it out in this present life. 

            Dietrich Bonhoeffer once talked about those who believed that grace had saved them believing then that they could live how they wanted. He called this “cheap grace.” Costly grace, in contrast, compels a person to submit to the lordship of Jesus and follow him in every aspect of life. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ…Costly grace means pursuing the gospel. It is costly because it will cost you your life, and it is grace because it will give you true life. 

            For some of us, maturity seems elusive. How do we know if we are growing in maturity? The evidence of growth in our faith can be seen by looking back on your progress. John Newton, the writer of “Amazing Grace,” wrote, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”

4. The Cost of Discipleship – Paul said, “for this I toil, struggling.” “Toil” and “struggle” both come from the world of sports. “Toil” means to grow or advance through hard work, while “agony” is at the root of the word “struggle.” An athlete who excels at his or her sport will compete to the point of exhaustion because winning is so important. Athletes talk about the agony and the ecstasy of the competition; it is a challenge that could break you, but the outcome outweighs the tears and sweat. 

            Think of this in terms of discipleship: Do we engage discipling in this way, with this effort? Do we agonize over one or two other people to see them mature in Christ? 

             J. Oswald Sanders told the story of an indigenous missionary who walked barefoot from village to village preaching the gospel in India. His hardships were many. After a long day of many miles and much discouragement, he came to a certain village and tried to speak the gospel but was driven out of town and rejected. So, he went to the edge of the village, dejected, and lay down under a tree and slept from exhaustion.

            When he awoke, people were hovering over him, and the whole town was gathered around to hear him speak. The head man of the village explained that they came to look him over while he was sleeping. When they saw his blistered feet, they concluded that he must be a holy man, and that they had been evil to reject him. They were sorry and wanted to hear the message that he was willing to suffer so much to bring them.

I doubt we will have blistered feet, but is there a willingness in our hearts to wrestle with the work of discipling another person in the faith? 

5. The Power of Discipleship – Discipleship takes a lot of energy, time, and resources. Even as Paul talks about the cost of discipleship in terms of energy, he concludes his thought this way: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me,” (29). 

            The good news is that the Lord gives us his energy to disciple other people. And he is the One who does the transforming work in the hearts of men and women. In the Greek, this verse would be literally, “striving according to his energy which powerfully energizes within me.” 

 

This verse captures the essence of discipleship in fundamental ways. “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me.” 

            Did you notice that Paul says “everyone” three times? Following Jesus is a calling for everyone, young and old. Parents, you are the primary disciplers for your children until they “grow up.” I learned the basics of faith from my mom and dad. Then, as I grew, my SS teachers had an influence on my maturity in faith. Sharon and I reminisced last week that we could not remember a thing our SS teachers taught us. But we do remember that they were faithful in teaching and showing us Jesus.

            Discipleship, or following Jesus in life, permeates every part of life. That’s why we are asking this question and trying to answer it from Scripture in the next few weeks: How do I follow Jesus at work? With my mind? In a world of violence? 

            Jesus didn’t just come to save you; he came to transform you. That’s what he meant when he said, “Come follow me.” Following him is a journey of discovering how God in Christ wants us to respond to our world and its crises.

            “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps,” (1 Peter 2:21). 

 

                                                            AMEN