Equipping Resources

The Missing Connection: Discipleship & Church Membership

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Most people see little, if any, connection between discipleship and church membership. Yet as we are reading through Fight Clubs, Jonathan Dodson brings the essential nature of the church to bear upon discipleship. Unfortunately, as Dodson points out, “The gospel has been reduced to a personal ticket to glory. But the biblical gospel is much more than personal conversion or a heavenly reservation. The Gospel has two more ‘thirds.’ The Gospel calls us into community and onto mission in Jesus” (39). Thus growing in the gospel, i.e. discipleship, must be connected to growing in one’s relationship to the church. Dodson declares, “As the church, we are called to live, grow, and fight together for belief in the gospel and obedience to Christ” (41). Connecting and living life with a specific local church is essential to experience the totality of this reality. Thus church membership is vital for discipleship.

But maybe that is too quick of a jump for some. Maybe you object that church membership isn’t necessary as long as you’re connected to a community of believers. However, I would seriously disagree. Church membership isn’t simply getting your name on a role, and certainly, one’s salvation isn’t contingent upon it. Additionally, when Christ saves a person, he or she is already made part of the universal church, the people of God, throughout history. But church membership is about a commitment with a specific group of Christians. This commitment is a covenant modeled off God’s gracious, unending covenant with us. It’s a covenant to “live, grow, and fight together for belief in the gospel and obedience to Christ,” and to not give up on one another when the going gets tough. Church membership is a commitment to live out the “one another’s” of the New Testament toward specific people—even when that may not be returned.

The One Another’s

These “one another’s” refer to 50+ passages that define how the church is to “live, grow, and fight” with one another. Here’s a compiled list:

“Love one another: John 13:34-35; 15:12, 17; Romans 12:10; 13:8; 14:13; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 4:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11, 3:22; 4:8; 23; 4:7, 11-12; 2 John 1: 5
Serve one another: Galatians 5:13; 21; Philippians 2:3; 1 Peter 4:9; 5:5
Accept one another: Romans 15:7, 14
Strengthen one another: Romans 14:19
Help one another: Hebrews 3:13; 10:24
Encourage one another: Romans 14:19; 15:14; Colossians 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13; 10:24-25
Care for one another: Galatians 6:2
Forgive one another: Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13
Submit to one another: Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 5:5
Commit to one another: 1 John 3:16
Build trust with one another: 1 John 1:7
Be devoted to one another: Romans 12:10
Be patient with one another: Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13
Be interested in one another: Philippians 2:4
Be accountable to one another: Ephesians 5:21
Confess to one another: James 5:16
Live in harmony with one another: Romans 12:16
Do not be conceited to one another: Romans 13:8
Do not pass judgment to one another: Romans 14:13; 15:7
Do not slander one another: James 4:11
Instruct one another: Romans 16:16
Greet one another: Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 13:12
Admonish one another: Romans 5:14; Colossians 3:16
Spur one another on toward love and good deeds:  Hebrews 10:24
Meet with one another: Hebrews 10:25
Agree with one another: 1 Corinthians 16:20
Be concerned for one another: Hebrews 10:24
Be humble to one another in love: Ephesians 4:2
Be compassionate to one another: Ephesians 4:32
Do not be consumed by one another Galatians 5:14-15
Do not anger one another: Galatians 5:26
Do not lie to one another: Colossians 3:9
Do not grumble to one another: James 5:9
Give preference to one another: Romans 12:10
Be at peace with one another: Romans 12:18
Sing to one another: Ephesians 5:19
Be of the same mind to one another: Romans 12:16; 15:5
Comfort one another: 1 Thessalonians 4:18; 5:11
Be kind to one another: Ephesians 4:32
Live in peace with one another: 1 Thessalonians 5:13
Carry one another’s burdens: Galatians 6:2”
– Into Thy Word Ministries, http://www.intothyword.org

Many of these are impossible to live out in loose, general connection with other Christians but must be lived out through the covenant of church membership.

The covenant of church membership is a grace of God for reminding us of how essential and serious our commitment to one another in a local church is. When times are good, it’s easy to love others and live these out, but our covenant spurs us to do so even when it’s not reciprocated (modeling God’s one-way love for us).

Discipleship—growing in the gospel—is tightly connected with the covenant of church membership, for we will only grow in the fullness of the gospel has we experience the totality of Gospel-centered community life in a local church.

Look at the Book

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Do you want to learn to study Scripture, learn to mine the depths of the riches of God’s Word, and learn to do this without reading a massive book with a long process? You’re in luck!

John Piper has recently began a new initiative called Look at the Book. It’s a fantastic resource. Essentially, Piper films short videos of the process he works through as he studies Scripture. He talks through how he meditates upon the text. The examples of such a great pastor and scholar studying through passages of Scripture right before your eyes provides a resource that anyone desiring to know God’s Word more would be foolish to miss out on.

Watching these videos is like apprenticing under a great Bible teacher.

Watch Piper break down Matthew 28:18-20: http://www.desiringgod.org/labs/i-am-with-you-always .

You can access other videos here.

Don’t wait to check out these phenomenal resources.

Gospel Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson

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As we turn our focus to sacrificially investing through intentional discipleship, there is one resource that I highly recommend. This past summer, we did a book study on Gospel Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson. (We are currently working through the booklet version—Fight Clubs—in our small groups.) This resource provides a biblical understanding of discipleship, correctives for typical misconceptions, and great practical tools for making and maturing disciples. Check it out, and start making disciples!

Gospel-Centered-Discipleship

Stoking the Flames of Persistent Prayer

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George Müller was an incredible pastor in Great Britain during the 19th century. Not only did he passionately preach the gospel, but he also lived out a phenomenal example of sacrificial investment in caring for the needs of the poor and the powerless. He led countless souls to the one who can provide rest and healing both spiritually and physically. Any cursory glance at his life reveals the power behind this man’s ministry was his devotion to prayer.

As we consider devotion to prayer, Müller’s life provides a powerful inspiration toward persistent prayer:

“‘In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without one single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land or on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be.  Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God, and prayed on  for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second one was converted. I thanked God for the second, and prayed on for the other three. Day by day I continued to pray for them and six years more passed before the third was converted. I thanks God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. These two remain unconverted. The man to whom God in the riches of His grace has given tens of thousands of answers to prayer, in the self-same hour or day on which they were offered, has been praying day by day for nearly thirty-six years for the conversion of these two individuals, and yet they remain unconverted; for next November it will be thirty-six years since I began to pray for their conversion. But I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer.’

*One of these persons was converted before Mr Müller’s death, and the other only gave clear evidence of conversion after Mr Müller had passed away.”

-“The Prayer Hearing God” by George Müller

May we all be devoted to prayer with the persistence of Müller.

Praying More Than a Wish List

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Last week, we considered how to build a habit of prayer, but if we don’t have a good pattern or rhythm to our prayers, then we will tend toward focusing on ourselves. If we aren’t careful, prayer can quickly become a wish list brought to a cosmic Santa Claus rather than a time of conversation with our God and Father. In sports, one practices drills over and over again to hone particular muscles and skills so that unnatural motions become natural and even automatic. Similar to athletics, we need some drills to develop the fundamentals of prayer. Here are a couple of helpful resources that will help you develop a holistic relationship with God through prayer:

A.C.T.S

A simple acronym can go a long way to help guide your prayer time and make sure you focus on more than simply making requests to God. Each time you spend with God in focused prayer. Work through the following aspects of conversation with God:

Adoration – Begin your time with God reflecting upon who He is and praising Him.

Confession – Next, consider who you are-a sinner saved by grace. Be authentic with God, confess your sin to him, and express your need for him.

Thanksgiving – Flow from your need for Him to thanksgiving to God for His provision of grace and salvation in Jesus. Then thank Him for the many other blessings in your life.

Supplication – Wrap up your time of prayer with requests for both yourself and others.

Face to Face by Ken Boa

Another great tool for growing in your relationship with the Lord through prayer is learning to pray the Scriptures. Meditating upon God’s truth can go a long way toward expanding how and what you talk about to God. The best resource I have found and use on a regular basis is Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures for Intimate Worship by Ken Boa. It works through a similar rhythm of prayer as the A.C.T.S. paradigm above, but it also provides Scriptures to guide your thoughts and give voice to your prayers. You can buy it on Amazon by clicking on the image below:

 

Boa Image

Forming a Prayer Habit

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During my small group this past week, we discussed the idea of forming habits. We reflected upon the general feeling that habits are so often viewed in a negative light. For many in the Church, we have reacted against legalism with a complete avoidance of habits, yet Scripture actually affirms some habits as good (see 1 Timothy 4:7-8; Hebrews 10:24). If any practice in Scripture is affirmed as worthy of developing a habit, it’s prayer. In fact, Paul so wants this habit to be built into our lives that he urges us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

But how do we build such a constant habit of prayer? It seems like an impossible goal.

Think about this, though. A few days ago, my wife and I were on weekend trip to the Poconos, and we did a 25 mile bike ride, which got us thinking about Iron Man races. Basically, we talked about how impossible an Iron Man seems. Just imagine a 2.4 mile swim, 26.2 mile run, and 112 mile bike ride all in the same day! We couldn’t imagine how anyone could accomplish such a feat.

But people do it all the time.

How? Incremental training over a long period of time.

So how do we build toward praying constantly? We start small in two areas: focused planned prayer and triggered spontaneous prayer.

Focused planned prayer –
Start by setting aside five minutes per day for prayer. While you can do this anywhere, I’d suggest finding a place in your home where you can be completely focused on talking to the Lord. Each week increase the amount of time you spend in prayer by 2-3 minutes. Don’t burn yourself out by starting out too long. Just like training for an Iron Man, you’ve got to build habits of prayer that increase over time.

Triggered spontaneous prayer –
Set apart a couple of triggers in your mind to spark spontaneous prayer throughout your day. What are triggers? Specific places, times, events, people, etc. The key is to make your triggers something specific encountered on a daily basis. For instance, many people have a trigger already built in: meals. We sit down for a meal and pray before we eat. Other possibilities could be when you receive a text message, when you get on the subway or in your car, or when you do a specific task that is otherwise brainless. Brainstorm and identify a couple of triggers that will remind you to pray at various points throughout your day beyond your focused planned prayer time.

Commit to these two areas of prayer, and over time, a habit of prayer will be formed that will grow your relationship with the Lord and produce significant fruit in your life and others’.

Apathetic Attendance or Passionate Participation?

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Every Sunday dead people attend worship in churches all over our country. Many do this for years—even decades. Attendance at church is easy. Anyone can check that box off.

What’s not easy is passionately participating in Sunday worship.

As I discussed earlier this week, worship with the whole church is a gracious gift of God in our lives. He values it so much that Hebrews 10:24-25 urges us not to neglect meeting together and passionately participating in each other’s lives.

But so many things get in the way of that. Our plans for Saturday night keep us out too late to even be halfway awake for worship the next morning, or our Sunday afternoon plans have us distracted during and immediately after the service. Other times we find ourselves in a really tough season of life: those times when suffering and despair seem to consume us, and nothing about our spiritual lives is easy especially trying to worship. Finally, some weeks busyness consumes our personal time with the Lord, and we spend the first half of worship just trying to reengage spiritually.

How can we passionately participate with our church on a regular basis with so many potential obstacles?

Here’s my three suggestions:

1. Plan
Passionately prioritize worship with your church family, and then plan your weekend accordingly. Failing to plan our weekends so that we are rested and focused for worship on Sundays will hinder us from receiving the full richness of God’s gift for us. So I encourage you to spend time planning your Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons in such a way that you are rested and focused to not only receive the blessing of corporate worship, but also give your presence and service to others.

2. Pray
No matter what season of life you are in, Satan is seeking to steal, kill, and destroy. Apart from relying upon God to deliver us from the evil one, we will fall to his attacks. May we regularly pray that God would protect us from the evil one and prepare our hearts for passionate participation in worship. Also, let’s pray the same for those leading us each week.

3. Prime
Finally, prime the pump. In other words, read the passage of Scripture being preached before it’s preached. The more familiar we are with the text, the better prepared we will be to engage in active listening to the preacher and ultimately the Holy Spirit.

Let’s not simply attend worship, but may we passionately participate for the fame of Jesus and the good of the church.