In the coming months, we are going to dust off and re-release some of our older content that has not previously been published on the blog. Much of this content is foundational to our disciple-making strategy at Highview, providing definitions and clarity of vision that we've received through careful consideration of God's Word and Christ's call to the local church. We pray that this will renew within you a passion to make disciples who make disciples. Below is a post from January 3, 2017.
What is a Disciple?
Most of us know that Jesus has commanded us to make disciples of all nations. I would even argue that the sole purpose of the church, the very reason God has left us here is to make disciples. But what is a disciple? A good football coach will tell you that when you are tackling someone you must keep your eyes up, because you can't hit what you can't see. In other words, if you don't know what you are aiming at, you won't be effective at hitting it. So, if our goal is to make disciples, and we want to be effective in that, we need to understand what a disciple is. What are we trying to hit?
Highview defines a disciple as someone who knows and follows Jesus. (Mark 3:13-15)(Mark 1:15-17)
And saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Mark 1:15-17
Here Jesus preaches the gospel of the kingdom. He calls people to repent and believe the good news that he was coming to die for sin, then rise again to give them right standing with God and new life. His invitation to them after preaching was, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." He said, come be with me in relationship, and as you are with me, I'll make you into something. As we know Jesus in relationship, He shows us how to obey His commands and join Him in His mission.
To know Jesus is to understand who He is, what He has done, and be in relationship with Him through repentance and faith. Jesus is the God Man who loved the world in such a way that He died on the cross and rose again to save people from their sins and give them new life. (1 Pet. 3:18) Jesus invites all people to receive the life He came to bring by turning from sin and self (repentance), and trusting fully in His death and resurrection as their right standing before God (faith). (Gal. 2:16) We demonstrate that we truly know Jesus as our repentance and faith in Him continues.
To follow Jesus is to obey Him as Lord, and join Him in His mission to make disciples of all nations. Obeying Jesus is completely surrendering our lives to honor him and submit to His commands from scripture. (John 15:8-10) We obey Jesus because we love Jesus and have been changed by the grace He showed us in dying for us while we were yet sinners. A part of obeying all that Jesus taught is to be used by Him to intentionally make disciples of those in our community and around the world. (Matt. 28:18-20)
So being a disciple is clearly more than raising your hand after an evangelistic event. It is more than even saying you believe in Jesus or identifying as a Christian. It is a relationship that leads to action. The New Testament understands a disciple as someone who is repenting of sin, trusting in the work of Jesus as their salvation, striving to obey His commands, and joining Him in mission. We would call this knowing and following Jesus. Unfortunately, many people who sit in our pews do not have this understanding of Christianity. Many would say they have believed for years, but obeying the commands of scripture and getting involved in the work of the ministry are non-existent. I believe it's partly because we have been aiming for decisions and baptisms instead of disciples.
As you are working with your D-Group, there are some principles that we want to make sure you are investing to help them become true disciples.
We want to teach them to be with Jesus through spiritual disciplines. Teach them how to read God's word, pray, worship, and memorize scripture.
We want to teach them to be grounded in Jesus with some core theology. Help them know the fundamentals of Christian faith and doctrine from the Bible.
We want to teach them to be conformed by Jesus through loving accountability. Help them change by the power of grace applied.
We want to teach them to be sent by Jesus to engage in personal evangelism and relationship building, while beginning to disciple others.