Today I will be sharing a word about healthy discipleship as I comment on Ephesians 4:11-24.
We have been looking at the characteristics of a healthy church as defined by the International Mission Board. We’ve seen how the how healthy worship is our “Job 1.” We have also seen how God has given us a commission to proclaim the Gospel.
Our text for today gives us a clarion call to become disciples. Let’s look at Ephesians 4:11-24 as we investigate healthy discipleship in our churches and our lives:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
FIRST, WE NOTE THE ABSENCE OF DISCIPLESHIP :
Consider that the world is a bent and broken and dying place.
A popular urban legend from the US Army concerns a retired Sergeant Major who tried to reenlist. Pointing over his shoulder he told the recruiter, “There’s nobody in charge out there!” Regardless of the veracity of that tale, the sad fact is that the world is not what it was meant to be. It has fallen far short of the glory of its Creator.
Consider that the world doesn’t know what to think:
- In the 1980s’ everyone was eating salads, until they realized that with the meat, croutons, and salad dressing, salads can have as many calories as any other food.
- Medical researchers have debated for years if mammograms and other preventive diagnostic tests are useful or just a waste of time?
- Early proponents of nuclear power said that it would make electricity so cheap it wouldn’t be metered.
- And on and on it goes
Consider also that the world doesn’t know how to act: Chinese people are rude to strangers, but polite to family/friends. On the other hand, Westerners are rude to family/friends, polite to strangers. The world is a crazy mixed-up place at times.
Because the world doesn’t work the way God intended it to, the world can’t give us life, either an abundant life in the here and now, nor eternal life in the hereafter.
NEXT, WE NOTE THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP :
We are not the world: We live here, but we aren’t from here. We are from God and so like Abraham, we are strangers in a strange land. We must learn to live as if we are from God:
- We must learn His truth.
- We must learn His attitudes
- We must learn His way of treating people.
- We must learn His way of love.
The mother of pastor who baptized me would tell him, “Remember whose you are” when he went out to play as a child. He was confused by this and one day asked her, “Don’t you mean remember who I am?” She replied, “No, I want you to remember that you belong to God!” And so must we!
To learn about the things of God, must become life-long learners: We can never know all there is to know. I remember when, after seminary and several years of being a pastor, I was studying Luke Chapter 2 during the Christmas season one year. I discovered the prophetess Anna, someone I had never heard about before. Hers is a wonderful story of devotion to God, but I did not even know she existed! There is always more to learn! We can never know all there is to know about God.
WE ALSO NEED TO NOTE THE PURPOSE OF DISCIPLESHIP:
We learn to put into practice because knowledge in the abstract is a dead end. Knowledge that is not used is wasted, like example of the young lady I once knew who had graduated from college with a teaching certificate but decided instead to work as a clerk.
What are some specific things we need to learn to do?
- Do the work of the ministry because knowledge of subject best cure for nervousness.
- To be come unified in the faith like the way that missions can unify the Southern Baptist Convention
- To speak the truth in love because sometimes we are so kind that you never witness.
- To become and to act mature in Christ like the worship leader in my home church who became its de facto interim pastor.
- To become and act as Godly people so that living our God’s Word becomes natural for us.
As we live out the Word in our daily lives we will benefit from its by-product; we will enjoy the abundant life here on Earth!
As Matthew 6:31-33 reminds us:
Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
The fact is that those who live out the Word ministry are most blessed by it. This was even true in the life of Jesus as Luke 2:52 says: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”
FINALLY, WE MUST NOTE THE TOOLS OF DISCIPLESHIP:
We need tools to do work. A workman without tools ids greatly handicapped. My dad was a truck mechanic and when he retired, he had a barn full of tools. When we were in African, a mechanic’s tool kit might be a plastic bag with a kitchen knife, a screw driver, pliers, and strips of rubber from inner tube. Can you guess who was the more effective mechanic?
We are blessed that God has given us an abundant tool kit:
- The Word of God, our manual.
- Prayer, our customer-service line.
- Pastors, deacons, teachers, and elders: our instructors
- The Holy Spirit, our guide, and our on-line help source.
We need to use our tools! We need to read the Bible and to attend Bible study. We need to pray and to reflect on God’s Word.
CONCLUSION:
For far too long, the church has mis-read the Great Commission. Jesus did not command us to make converts, but to make disciples. Because of this mistake, our churches have suffered, our witness has suffered, and the Kingdom of God has suffered.
The time is long past when churches should have focused on making disciples. Now that we are mostly on the backside of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of our churches are rebuilding their ministry efforts now is the time to reinforce the discipleship efforts of our churches.
We must make hay while the Sun shines and we must strike while the iron is hot!
Every blessing,
Dir Otis Corbitt
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