The Bucket & The Thimble: How do I do Discipleship?
“But you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching. 2 Older men are to be self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love, and endurance. 3 In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is good, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s word will not be slandered. 6 In the same way, encourage the young men to be self-controlled 7 in everything. - Titus 2:1-7
This last sunday we covered the above passage, and it occurred to me, as I continued to ponder the text, that we may be confused on how one might do the things that are mentioned here. In this blog, I want to briefly explain the primary way one may disciple someone, so that you may be free to apply the sermon to your own lives. Consider this passage in Hebrews:
“12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.”- Hebrews 3:12-13
This passage in Hebrews gives two commands with regards to how we might disciple one another, to “watch out” for one another, and “encourage each other daily.” There is a common theme to both of these commands, did you catch it? Both of these passages assume that we are in relationship with one another on a daily basis!
Friend, if you are looking to put last week's sermon to use in your life, start with a relationship! Discipleship starts with a caring and loving relationship, coffee together in the middle of the week, dinner at each other's house. Make it a goal to be involved in each other's lives. After all, the times in which you may have to offer hard advice will go over much better when there is an established relationship between you and the person you’re discipling. Thus, we shouldn’t look at discipleship like a task to be checked off of our to-do list, but a lifestyle which marks the character of the church.
Consider, Hebrews tells us we ought to “watch out” for one another, here I believe it's implied that we are intimately connected with one another so much so that we notice when we fall into sin that would “turn your heart away from the living God.” I don’t believe this means we should look at each other’s outward life and make assumptions, I think this means that through our personal relationship together we notice the small sins and character issues which often give way to a hard heart. This takes bravery, admittedly, but bravery comes when love grows amongst each other.
Also consider “encourage each other daily.” We ought to be living together in a way that allows us to encourage each other daily. We should notice in each other the ways in which we see discouragement amongst those we fellowship with. How might we point out the ways in which God is shaping our hearts to become more like Christ. Notice that if we refuse to do this with one another, the consequence is that we may fall into sin's hardening effect.
As we live amongst each other, I want to encourage you, do not wait to disciple each other in a one-and-done manner, this is not a job best left to Sunday mornings or random encounters, this is a daily task for all of the church, until the day we are perfected in eternity.
For the Kingdom,
- Pastor Alex