WHERE DO WE GROW FROM HERE? PART 4
We trust today’s message encouraged and guided you in your journey of following Jesus. These notes are meant to help you remember and reflect on the message, help you go deeper into study on the subject, or to be used for a sermon group discussion. CLICK HERE to find a discussion group. Enjoy!
Sermon Title: We Make Disciples
Main Scripture: Matthew 9:35-38 Matthew 28:18-20; John 1:35-51; 2 Timothy 2:2
If you’re going through this discussion with a community group this week consider taking the time to read the provided scripture to catch everyone up!
Summary:
Pastor Ryan concluded our series by teaching on the topic of evangelism at Calvary. We learned that we are called to be disciples of Jesus that make disciples of Jesus. We learned that in Churches we’ve separated evangelism, the practice of leading people to salvation…and discipleship, the practice of teaching and growing new believers in the faith. This hasn’t helped and has done damage to reaching the lost and teaching people to go make disciples. Jesus’ vision for evangelism was to equip and empower disciples who could do both. Disciples, making disciples would be the fastest-growing method for expanding the Kingdom of God into the whole world. We know it works because Jesus did it with just a few and we are reaping the benefits of it, today. Pastor Ryan challenged us to begin wherever we are, but to not leave out both arms of disciple-making. Grow in evangelism and in discipleship, make disciples.
Notes:
INTRO
Personally, I don’t know anything more exciting, more challenging, but more fulfilling in the Christian faith than obeying the great commission to make disciples of Christ.
Disciple-making is the primary method Jesus established to evangelize, reach and save the lost. Disciple-making is obviously the primary method for teaching and training new disciples to evangelize.
SCRIPTURE
The Need for Workers and Disciple Makers
Matthew 9:35-38
The Great Commission-Matthew 28:18-20 NLT
This scripture reveals the mission and the method that reproduces fully devoted and developed disciples of Christ capable of multiplying and seeing the kingdom of God spread throughout the world.
WHAT HAPPENED? Why the decline of Christianity in America?
People stop at being baptized or being taught, but they don’t go make disciples. It’s not good.
Calvary is working towards being a disciple-making church. We believe in the method of Jesus that to evangelize is to make disciples and that discipleship should develop disciple-makers. We hold the biblical conviction that believers are to be disciples of Jesus, students, and learners of Christ so that we not only believe but also become and live like Jesus, who went to the lost and called them to repent and believe for salvation. Disciples evangelize and disciples teach new disciples.
EVANGELISM OR DISCIPLESHIP? BOTH! DISCIPLE-MAKING!
There’s been a breakdown over the years of this Biblical command to make disciples. Christianity has split the efforts of evangelism and discipleship when they were meant to be married together.
Let me explain further…We evangelized people into salvation, but there was no one there to walk with them to teach and model being a disciple of Christ. Then we had discipleship where we taught people the Bible in Sunday school but they had no journey or on-the-job training to apply their lessons and no idea how to lead someone to Jesus for salvation. Churches also divided the two tasks into two different people, the evangelists did evangelism and the pastor/teachers did the discipleship, and often the members of the church were not partners or proactively trained in these efforts.
"A discipleship strategy that doesn’t lead to evangelism is not biblical disciple-making. Likewise, an evangelism strategy that doesn’t lead to discipleship is not biblical evangelism." -Robby Gallaty, Replicate
This would leave people, underdeveloped disciples of Christ, missing evangelism or discipleship experience.
Jesus would agree
Robert Coleman said on the subject of Jesus choosing 12 disciples, “His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men (and women) whom the multitudes would follow.” (The Master Plan of Evangelism)
People, not programs were to be Jesus’ method of winning the world to God.
Jesus made disciples: Jesus evangelized a small band of people, calling them His. Jesus taught, modeled, equipped, and empowered them to go seek, reach, and evangelize the lost. He then commissioned these disciples to go do the same thing. A perpetual reproduction or multiplication of new disciples becoming disciple-makers who make new disciples and so on.
WHAT IS A DISCIPLE?
A disciple is a follower of Christ who makes new disciples and teaches them to obey God’s commands (including, making disciples).
In order to make disciples of Jesus you need to be a disciple of Jesus
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MAKE DISCIPLES?
Go and make disciples (Reach)
To reach and evangelize the lost. Invite them to believe in Jesus for salvation and follow Him.
Invitation to come and see or hear or watch - John 1:35-51
John the Baptist properly pointed his disciples to Jesus, but what’s key is John knew Jesus as the savior of the world. Andrew, one of John’s disciples leaves him and begins to follow Jesus. This day with Jesus impacted Andrew immensely so he went and invited his brother Simon to come and see the messiah the prophets spoke about. Jesus, in the meantime, kept reaching and evangelizing and found Philip. Their time was fruitful and so Philip went to his brother Nathaniel and invited him to come and meet Jesus. Nathaniel had a life-changing encounter with Jesus and that was how Jesus started fishing or reaching people. Jesus went to where they were and lived.
We should introduce family, friends and co-workers to Jesus through our own lives, pointing them to scripture and sharing our story. Jesus is still working, even though he’s not physically in front of them, the Holy Spirit is working on the hearts of people.
The x-factor of Jesus’ method of evangelism and discipleship was relationships.
Relationships are key to making disciples
Jesus called His disciples to be WITH him in a community where they would learn everything. Jesus wasn’t just preaching and teaching a good sermon, Jesus was living the sermon for them to see. Jesus made himself available and spent quality time with them so He could model what He taught. He loved, dialogued, answered and asked questions, explained, and demonstrated. Jesus was downloading everything He could so the Kingdom of God would continue on when He left to be with the Father (not to mention sending the Holy Spirit to be their advocate).
"The first and the second-century church was not built on revivals, mass crusades, and gospel pitches. It was built on the backbone of personal relationships." Robby Gallaty
Win and Charles Arn in their book The Master’s Plan for Making Disciples said, “The means of church growth was through the individual Christian’s interlocking social system-his or her family, friends, and associates. Christ often commanded new believers to return to their “households” (Greek: Oikos meaning friends and family) and tell them the Good News…” Why? For two reasons. First, the existing relationships had a strong level of trust, credibility, and common concern. The changed life was more likely to be respected and heard. Secondly, those close to the new believer could witness the reality of a life changed by the Gospel. This change would make a significant impact on one’s friends and family. The Arn’s go on to say, “The barriers of distrust and suspicion lowered and receptivity to the Good News increased tremendously” (pg, 29).
Oikos is the Greek word for “household.” In the Greco-Roman culture, Oikos not only described the immediate family in the house but included servants, servants’ families, friends, and even business associates. An Oikos was one’s sphere of influence, his or her social system composed of those related to each other through ties of kinship, tasks, and territory.”
Examples: Cornelius’ Household (Acts 11:14), Lydia’s Household (Acts 16:15), and the jailer’s household (Acts 16:31-35).
In other words, if we lead one member of a family to salvation in Jesus that could be the catalyst for saving dozens of lives.
Research from Charles Arn:
75-90% of people in the faith today came to Christ through friend or family/relative
Dr. Flavil Yeakley did research on new believers and the difference between those who became active Christian disciples and those that soon dropped out. He concluded that “when a person has no meaningful contact with the congregation in the process of his/her conversion, that person is likely to feel no meaningful sense of identification with the congregation and therefore more likely to drop out.”
Bottom line: making disciples evangelizes and disciples through relationships resulting in reaching, keeping, and multiplying more souls into the family of God.
Baptize disciples (Connect and Grow)
This is referring to water baptism which Christ commanded us to do. Water baptism is identification with Christ, representing the death of our old life of sin and resurrecting with new life in Christ.
Baptizing also holds the meaning of sanctification because you are now set apart as holy and part of the family and household of God.
The Christian life begins at salvation and baptism. We must stop acting like it is the end of their journey.
We need to help the new disciple or new believer get assimilated into the body of Christ for the rest of this scripture to be applied. However, if it is through relationships or your “Oikos,” then it isn’t as hard.
Teach new disciples (Grow and Empower)
Transformation. No longer following the patterns of this world but being transformed by the renewing of their minds.
Jesus is not speaking about education for education’s sake. He speaks of the taught as “observing” what Jesus has commanded. In other words, Jesus is concerned with a way of life. Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (p. 749). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
2 Timothy 2:2 You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.
New disciples now obey the commands (Go and Reach)
Multiplication
For some reason we don’t see ourselves as disciples and get stuck, never getting to this part.
We want to be fully developed disciples of Jesus who can reach and teach.
Robby Gallaty: "Most evangelistic tactics move people toward making a decision or a convert; however, Jesus and His disciples focused on making disciples. A decision to follow Christ is necessary to go from death to life, but it doesn’t end there; you must also follow Christ."
Win and Charles Arn: “The goal of effective evangelism is that the new Christian becomes a disciple and a responsible member of the church.” I would add a contributing and active member to the mission of making disciples.
How?
God gave me direction for an intentional strategy of making disciples. We’ve used these 5 words to guide us in making disciples here at Calvary. REACH, CONNECT, GROW, EMPOWER, & GO. Jesus started at GO because, well, He's Jesus. Jesus reached out to us through someone or on His own with His love and truth. We believed and decided to follow Him. We are now included in the body of Christ so we CONNECT with God and the church where we find our spiritual support in Biblical community. We GROW in our knowledge and relationship with God as we learn and are taught about God and His Word. God uses the Word, the Holy Spirit, and the Church to EMPOWER and equip us to be disciple-makers. Now we GO into our worlds to REACH those willing to listen to our story, especially the story of Jesus. Whether we meet at work, over coffee, an invitation to a small group, church service, or outreach event we commit to share and be by their side through the whole process. We love people into the Kingdom of God and it’s all because God first loved and saved us.
Discussion
What is the process of making disciples according to Matthew 28:18-20?
How does John 1:35-51 simplify evangelism?
Read 2 Timothy 2:2, what is one important Biblical teaching you want to pass down to your kids or a person you are discipling?
How does disciple making marry evangelism and discipleship together? Why is that important?
What stuck out to you from this message?
The most important decision you will ever make!
Are you ready to experience salvation and be transformed we encourage you to say a simple prayer like this from your heart: Dear God, I acknowledge and admit I have sinned. I see my need for Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I believe I am forgiven and cleansed of my sin by His death. I also believe I have eternal life because of His resurrection from the dead. I repent, I turn away from my old ways and I choose to live my life to worship you and follow Jesus, amen!
We would love to know if you made the decision to accept this wonderful gift from God. Let us know here.
Pray Together
We hoped you found this AFTER THE SERMON discussion helpful for your walk with Jesus. We pray you can find ways to apply it this week!