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Implementing Intentional Discipleship

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Gospel-centered discipleship has been the theme for the past several weeks. We’ve seen how much of our discipleship is off balanced.

But now, we’ve got to ask, “How do we actually do this discipleship thing?”

Intentionality is key in consistent growth as disciples, and without some tangible, practical handles for implementing discipleship, we will never get around to consistent growth and maturity in our faith. And we as a church have committed to sacrificially invest through intentional discipleship for the fame of Jesus.

In the final chapter of Jonathan Dodson’s Fight Clubs, he provides a few simple, practical tools for intentional discipleship. His model is Biblical, effective, and easily reproducible, which is why we have adopted this as the basic structure of how we are going to pursue intentional discipleship.

So what are these basics?

1. Three Objectives: “Know Your Sin, Fight Your Sin, and Trust Your Savior.”

First, we must work to know our sin, our struggles. We’ve got to examine our hearts and allow others to examine our hearts. What are our sins? What are the circumstances and triggers for our sin? What lies are we believing?

Second, we must be committed to fighting our sin. We do this in the power of the Spirit and by the grace of God, but we must fight.

Third, we must turn from the lies we’ve identified and the sins we are committing as a result, and we must trust our Savior. Identify the promises that Jesus gives us in the Scriptures to counter the lies we are believing. An example of this from Fight Clubs:

“Instead of sexual lust, choose purity of heart: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’ God is eternally satisfying; lust is fleeting.”

Fighting sinful lies with the promises of God is the kind of fight we are called to in discipleship.

2. Two People: A discipleship group consists of at least two people, but no more than three, who meet together regularly for the sake of intentional times of discipleship.

*Discipleship is not limited to the meeting times and is, in fact, enhanced by living life together in general. But without these regular meetings, intentionality will be lost.

3. One Process: “Text-Theology-Life”

Let Scripture guide your time together, for it’s the one source of truth and life that we can count on. Begin with the text. Study the same Scripture passage and discuss it when you get together. Begin with this to avoid spending all your time catching up. Share how God has been teaching you through this passage.

Next, discuss theology. All this means is talk about what this passage teaches about God and his promises. Dodson suggests asking this question: “How does the person and work of Jesus inform this text?”

Finally, connect this to Life: How do these truths help you to “know your sin, fight your sin, and trust your savior.” Dig into each other’s lives, struggles, and victories. Apply the truths of Scripture to your lives.

**These basics are a summary of chapter five of Jonathan Dodson’s Fight Clubs**

Imagine what God would do through us if we pursue sacrificial investment through intentional discipleship like this. Imagine the fruit he would produce within us as we grow in the grace of the gospel. 

Imagine how God could then multiply these groups if we pour into a couple of men or women for a season and then call them to go and do the same.

If just five of us commit to do that, then ten others would be intentionally discipled. Then, after a semester or year, they begin to pour into others intentionally in the same way. Suddenly there are 45 people in intentional discipleship relationships. Do that one more time, and you have 135 people pointing each other to the gospel on a regular basis. Imagine what God could do with an entire church committed to this!

Let us be a people that sacrificially invest through intentional discipleship so that God would multiply it for His fame and our good.

Beware of Community

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“Whoever cannot be alone should beware of community…. Whoever cannot stand being in community should beware of being alone…. Each taken by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. Those who want community without solitude plunge into the void of words and feelings, and those who seek solitude without community perish in the bottomless pit of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together (Fortress Press), 82-83.

This profound truth—the necessity of both solitude and community—infuses our discipleship with a healthy balance of both an individual and community pursuit. In a culture that loves the idea of community, we must avoid idolizing it. As we pursue intentional discipleship, we must recognize that Jesus uses both solitude and community to draw us closer to and increase our faith in Him.

For further reflection on Biblical community, check out all of Bonhoeffer’s Life Together.

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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.

Avoiding License in Discipleship

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Many of us have come for moralistic/legalistic backgrounds. Sunday school lessons were often focused upon the rules we’re meant to obey rather than the grace we’re meant to rely upon. As a result, many of us have swung toward the other end of the spectrum in order to avoid the strict self-righteousness that characterizes the legalism we grew up around. The problem is the other end of the spectrum is license, another deadly peril.

The glorious news of the Gospel is that Jesus has made us righteous and holy based upon grace rather than upon anything we can do. Yet, just because we’ve been saved by grace and we cannot earn God’s favor on our own, we aren’t to continue in sin. But the temptation toward license is the idea that we are free to live as we please since grace will always cover us.

The attitude of license completely undermines discipleship.

Paul directly battled this attitude in Romans 6:1-4.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

We are to embrace grace and allow that to joyfully lead us to the pursuit of holiness both toward God and man. We’ve been freed not to lazily pursue whatever desires our flesh produces because grace covers those sins, but we’ve been freed from sin and the flesh to pursue holiness for the glory of God (Romans 6:19).

Avoid both legalism and license. And pursue holiness for the glory of God and the good of man by trusting in grace and not yourself.

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.

Two Annoying Aspects of Prayer

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I’ll admit it. Making a bold shameless ask and being persistent in it makes me highly uncomfortable. I’ve never wanted to be perceived as taking advantage of others, overstaying my welcome, or pursuing my own desires over others’. Most likely, I don’t like these things because I find them highly annoying in other people particularly when accompanied by entitlement.

Yet, shamelessness and persistence are two aspects of prayer that Jesus calls us to in the book of Luke.

First, Jesus shares a story of a friend in need:

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence [bold shamelessness] he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” – Luke 11:5-13

Shamelessness flows from childlike faith not entitled pride. The person in the story pursued his friend’s help because he knew his friend’s character: avoiding shame at all costs. As for us, we can boldly and shamelessly ask God for all our needs and desires when we have a childlike faith in His character as our loving, gracious, and merciful heavenly Father. We don’t seek answers because we’ve earned them but because He is gracious.

Prayer is not cashing a paycheck, but trusting in grace.

Second, Jesus shares a story of a persistent widow:

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said,“In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” – Luke 18:1-8

Persistence flows from complete reliance not arrogant manipulation. The widow knew her only hope for justice was to go to the one who had the power to accomplish it. She recognized her powerlessness, embraced it, and relied completely upon the judge. She didn’t persist as some tactic to manipulate him, but out of her need for his grace. The same goes for our prayers to God.

Prayer is not a tool to manipulate God, but an exhibition of faith.

May we come to our heavenly Father as His sons and daughters with bold shamelessness and undying persistence and make our requests known to Him with expectant faith for how He will answer.

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’.

Gospel-Centered Prayer

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The focus of the next three weeks is prayer. To begin, we need to consider how our identity affects our prayer life.

How we perceive ourselves drastically affects our approach to God. Specifically, our identity is deeply intertwined with our approach to God in prayer. Jesus teaches just this truth in Luke 18:9-14.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The significant difference between the pharisee and the tax collector is their understanding of their identities.

Identity 1: Jesus’ audience viewed their identity as the righteous ones. They were portrayed as the Pharisee in the parable, who labeled other men with identities of “extortioners, unjust, adulterers,” etc., and they took the identity of the holy ones who fast and tithe. They were righteous in their own eyes.

Result 1: Their prayers were arrogant, entitled, and ineffective.

Identity 2: The tax collector viewed his identity as a sinner in need of mercy and grace. He recognized his low and needy place before God.

Result 2: His prayer was humble and heard.

We are all sinners in need of grace. Recognizing and embracing our need before God is essential for effective prayer. When we believe we are entitled to something we are praying for, we are exalting ourselves as the Pharisee in the parable, and God promises to humble that kind of person. Answered prayer is meant to be received as a gift not as a wage. Just as with our salvation, God longs to pour out grace upon upon us, but we must recognize our need, not assume our rights. Our prayers will only be heard and answered when we approach God in humility.

Ultimately, this means our prayer must be Gospel-centered. The Gospel reminds us of our need, specifically, our identity as sinners in need of grace. The Gospel also reminds us of God’s holiness, his goodness, and his merciful love.

Meditating upon those identities through daily considering the Gospel will cultivate prayers that are humble and heard. May we center our prayer life upon the Gospel by recognizing our identity as needy sinners before a holy, loving God.

***Further food for thought: our gospel identity as sons and daughters of God leads us to pray with expectant faith to our loving, gift-giving Father. What other identities do we have as a result of the Gospel that affect our approach to God in prayer?