CORE4: Devoted to Discipleship
Life-Giver Church exists to know Christ and make Him known in Windsor Ontario. We do this as a church family by adhering to 4 core values, God’s Word, Prayer, Missions/Church Planting and Discipleship. This installation of CORE4 will deal with the importance of a devotion to Discipleship.
The Way of the Master
If we judged the earthly ministry of Jesus using our criteria for successful ministry, then we would have to conclude He was a colossal failure. He preached to thousands, healed thousands and became the most controversial figure in all Israel, but His “church” only consisted of 12 men, and 1 betrayed Him. Today we look at the number of people in a particular ministry and judge based on the numbers whether it is a success, but that is not how God judges ministerial success. The way of the Master is more about faithfulness to obey God, than it is to manufacture “results.”
Jesus has adopted us into the family of God (Ephesians 1:5) and commanded everyone in His family to “GO and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:16-20) He set the example for us in discipleship and equips us to do the same. Discipleship is not a class or a program, discipleship is a life lived with God’s people to the end that we would obey everything Jesus commanded until He returns to finish our salvation.
The way of Christ was to be intimately involved in the lives of His disciples. He ate with them, walked with them, taught them and was a very real presence in their lives. Discipleship happens in the mundane and ordinary situations of life. Discipleship is hard work, but it is a non-negotiable in the Christian life.
The Church of the Master
Christian discipleship happens in the context of the local church. God’s Spirit has equipped your brothers and sisters in Christ with gifts for the primary purpose of building up the whole church in service to Christ and one another. This means that if you are a Christian, you have spiritual gifts that YOU MUST use in discipleship.
Thank God He has not left us alone to figure out life on our own. Discipleship is about being committed to one another, its about being involved in the lives of other believers and plundering Hell to populate Heaven. The church is a family and family is messy. Discipleship is not a cookie cutter 4 step process, because life is not a cookie cutter 4 step process. Its great that churches have discipleship classes and processes, but those things are only supplemental. You cannot thrive on vitamin pills and protein shakes, in the same way Christian discipleship stagnates when its relegated to classes and programs. The church is a family of PEOPLE following Christ, not a Christian club where we merely learn stuff.
Discipled, Disciple and Discipling!
At Life-Giver Church we are devoted to discipleship because we are devoted to God and His people. We all need to be discipled and to disciple others. I’ve heard it said we should all be involved in 3 levels of discipleship. The First is to be discipled by a more mature, seasoned believer. The second is to be a disciple with a peer, someone who is on your “level” so to speak. At this level you are peers, encouraging one another to holiness and good works. And thirdly we ought to all be discipling someone less mature in the faith than us. By constantly be involved in this way, your spiritual growth will exponentially explode, and you will be less susceptible to fall for the schemes of the Devil.
0 Comments