October 2022

4 – Make disciples of all nations

By / Discipleship Notes / 3 minutes of reading

Jesus’ command carries His heavenly authority, giving His approval, together with His resources, to all discipleship relationships. Christ sends and empowers His disciples to do that which they are not able to do in their own strength – to make followers, disciples of Jesus from among all other people in our lives.

Text:     Matthew 28:19a
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…

Jesus’ disciples are to MAKE disciples of other people in Jesus’ place. This is not for some Christians, but for all believers.

MAKING disciples begins by taking the message of Jesus Christ to people who do not want to follow Him. This requires hard work, sacrifice, long hours of Bible study in preparation, and prayer. It means persevering, NOT giving up on people quickly, just as Jesus patiently perseveres with us.

MAKING disciples requires going somewhere. We may need to go to the next house, to the next neighbourhood, to the next town, or possibly to another country. But we must be willing to leave our homes and go, leaving comfort and the things we enjoy doing to do the things Jesus enjoys us doing, which is making disciples. Going starts as an attitude, then it leads to behaviour. Going is not always easy, not always comfortable, and not always understood by other people, but we must go.

As we look at all the people in our lives from Jesus’ perspective, there are only 2 groups available for you to make disciples of.

Non-believers. Unsaved sinners who need to hear the gospel and repent of their sin by placing faith in Jesus Christ as their substitute on the Cross of Calvary. You can find these people anywhere, some may even be attending a church already, but do not know Christ. These may be family or work friends.

These are younger in their faith than you are. These people may have genuine faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour, but they are walking alone in their Christian life even though they may attend Church services. They need us to disciple them so that they grow to become more mature in their faith, in their doctrine, and in their behaviour.

Discipleship gives personal help to these believers, growing a friendship with them, spending time with them, listening and talking with them, sharing the Bible with them, and praying with them.  We do everything to help them grow to become more Christlike.

Jesus tells us to make disciples from all nations. These disciples may not be like us, they may be culturally different to us, even speaking another language. They may be from a different tribe, from a different race, and people with different coloured skin. All types of different people are given to us by Jesus Christ for us to make disciples of. Some don’t know Christ yet, while others are babies in Jesus. But all need us to walk with them and teach them how to mature in Christ. This is the task Jesus calls every one of us to under His authority. Go… make disciples of all nations…

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3 – Discipleship carries Jesus’ authority

By / Discipleship Notes / 3 minutes of reading

Despite the doubting faith of the disciples who had obediently travelled to Jesus in Galilee, Jesus met with them to give two primary pieces of information.

Text:     Matthew 28:18-19a
Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples…

The first reassuring truth Jesus gave these doubting disciples was that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” God the Father had given absolute and total sovereign authority to Jesus (Mat 11:27) over all realms. Jesus’ authority is over angels, over mankind, over Satan, and over demons. The day is coming when “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Php 2:10-11).

The disciple’s faith could be strengthened because they worshiped the resurrected Saviour who is Lord of lords. Jesus’ ruling authority is above challenge and beyond negotiation.

Their faith could mature in submission to the Lordship of Jesus with supreme reassurance. If they were to continue following Jesus, it had to be in humble obedience under Jesus’ holy will and direction. There could be no questioning Jesus’ authority. Jesus’ plans for them were divine and final.

Submission was NOT optional. Jesus’ authority would guard and guide them through life and into eternity.

The second reassurance Jesus gave them was an instruction, the mission they would carry out on Jesus’ behalf. “Go therefore and make disciples…”

This instruction was not only because of Jesus’ heavenly authority but passed on to them that authority through Jesus purpose for their lives.

This was to be their primary function in life under which all other plans, goals, and achievements would come second.

This instruction required action, they had to “go.” This could not be achieved by sitting at home waiting. They could not delegate this responsibility to anyone else until they had first fulfilled it themselves.

It was simple and clear, “make disciples.” Just as Jesus had made disciples of them, so they must also make disciples of others who would follow Jesus as they had.

A “disciple” is one who follows as a student, learning and growing under the authoritative leadership of the teacher.

In John 8:31-32, Jesus explained this to a group of faith professing Jews. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Disciples submissively follow Jesus. They abide in Jesus Word, learning from the Bible. Jesus’ truth increasingly defines their character, changing their behaviour, and liberates them from the power of error and sin.

Believer’s in the Lord Jesus rejoice in the security of divine authority impressed upon their lives as they follow Jesus and call others to follow as they do, making disciples.

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2 – Imperfect disciples worship

By / Discipleship Notes / 2 minutes of reading

Just as Jesus requires obedience of all disciples, so all disciples can only experience the fullness of Jesus’ blessing when walking in obedience to Him. However, even the most genuine disciples stumble in foolishness, they make mistakes, and they sin in their weakness.

Text:     Matthew 18:17
And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

Matthew’s observation should instil great humility in all of us, especially those of us who wish to give their lives to Jesus’ calling; “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).

These 11 disciples had obediently left their families and travelled a long distance to encounter Jesus. They knew how to give up personal treasures for Jesus, they had proven this over the past 3 years. Now, the lessons of obedience are about to be stretched to cover worship and overcoming doubt.

The disciples had the perfect response upon meeting their risen Lord Jesus, they worshipped. Nothing should come more natural to any disciple of Jesus than to worship Him. If worship is not present, or not desirable, something is terribly wrong and out of character for one who claims to have faith in the Saviour.

However, Matthew records an inner symptom of some of these 11 hearts, some doubted. How could they doubt? With 3 years of living with Jesus and all the powerful evidence, including Jesus’ resurrection, how could any of these men ever doubt Jesus? But they did doubt, even while they worshipped. What a contradiction?

Yet, this is how fleshly human hearts operate sometimes. Even sincere believers sometimes doubt. Jude, Jesus’ half-brother, exhorts us to have mercy on those who doubt (Jude 1:22).

As we grow to become more intentional in discipling others, we are to be compassionate with Jesus’ loving patience as we work with people who struggle with disobedience and doubts. These people may believe, and they may worship the Lord, but they are weak and sometimes question the Lord.

Disobedience and doubts make us aware of our desperate need for Christ to work within us by His Holy Spirit through God’s Word to sanctify us. This begins in us through daily taking in God’s Word to change our thoughts and beliefs.

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Assignment:
Examine your  heart for doubts and pray over them for strength from the Holy Spirit and God’s Word.

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1 – Discipleship Introduction

By / Discipleship Notes / 2 minutes of reading

This series of lessons are very brief notes about biblical discipleship. This series is not intended to be extensive or in depth but serve as a series of biblically mapped thoughts on discipleship. Today is an introduction to the subject and I invite you to prayerfully think about the material we shall cover over this course.

Text:     Matthew 18:16
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
These 11 disciples were personally selected by Jesus 3 years earlier. There may have been other followers of Jesus there also. As Jesus prepares them for His soon ascension to Heaven, He leaves them with the most critical information for the growth of His future Church.

These men obeyed Jesus by travelling from Jerusalem to meet Him at a mountain in Galilee. This was about a 1 week journey.

Following Jesus requires obedience and sacrifice. John 14:15, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Following Jesus means obeying Him even when it is not convenient and may require you to change the plans you had already arranged, and it may cost you money. Other people may not understand why you are obeying Jesus and following Him, but you still obey.

The disciples had to obey Jesus precisely, not in part, and not in their own time. Total obedience meant they arrived at the correct mountain at the correct time to meet Jesus. Half-hearted or partial obedience is really disobedience and misses the mark of righteousness.

First and foremost, any follower of Jesus is a disciple of Jesus, and they MUST be OBEDIENT to Jesus. Before they could receive any commission or promise from Jesus, they had to obey Him first.

Assignment:
Examine your  life. Are you identified by other people as someone who obeys Jesus?

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1 – Welcome to life in Jesus Christ

By / New Christian Helps / 8 minutes of reading

Welcome to God’s family!

We want to encourage you in your new life of following Jesus Christ through a short series of foundational Bible lessons. Life in Christ is a wonderful exploration of knowing God and incorporates many facets of personal development as Jesus impacts our lives.

As Christians, we find our identity, our motivation, and our strength for life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our relationship with Jesus is discovered and advanced through our exploration of God’s Word, which is the Bible. In this lesson we shall introduce some of the foundational aspects of knowing God through Jesus and the Christian life.

Because you are reading this lesson, we assume you have Christian friends, that you believe in Jesus Christ, that you have a Bible, and you can attend a Bible teaching church. We pray that these lessons will help and encourage you while clarifying some of the common questions about God and the Bible.

We suggest pausing throughout this lesson to read the Bible passages that are referenced but not quoted. By doing this you will maximise the impact of God’s Word in your life. Also, write extra notes that will help you to remember the lessons learned. It is also helpful to highlight verses in your Bible that had impact upon you. We suggest using coloured pencils or a fine-tipped pen.

Amongst the wonderful gifts God gives to believers in Jesus, is eternal life.
John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God says we have eternal life as His response to our belief in His Son Jesus.

Jesus explained to His disciples, that He gives them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand (John 10:28). And God testifies in 1 John 5:11-12, that He gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all endorse the gift of eternal life. When this body ceases to operate, our spirit/soul will appear with God in heaven and never experience death or separation from God.

Eternal life is possible because believers in Jesus are forgiven.
Sin separated us from God from birth, but that is now history because of Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul explains this change in our lives from God’s perspective in Colossians 1:12-14. He says, it is God the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

In response to us confessing our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Not just the past, but the present and future sins also.  Furthermore, God promises not to remember our sins again in Hebrews 10:17.

This can take a little time to accept because we tend to remember our sins. Our minds often remind us of past wrongs and present failings with the associate guilt. But that is past. Because our forgiveness is from God, and not from self or from other people, we are truly forgiven with a lasting forgiveness.

Forgiveness enables adoption into God’s family.
God not only gives eternal life and forgiveness, but He adopts believers into His family. This makes you His son or daughter through the Lord Jesus (John 1:12, Galatians 3:26). The gift of adoption was received by you when you repented of your sin and believed in the Lord Jesus. And that was precisely God’s intention all along. In fact, God predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:5). Your salvation and adoption into His family was the direct expression of His specific will for your life.

Adoption into God’s family is wonderful because we can never be adopted out of God’s family. We are now part of a very large and eternal family of believers in Jesus Christ.

Believers are given the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.
At the moment of your belief in Jesus Christ, God gave you His Holy Spirit as a guarantee of ownership (Ephesians 1:13-14). This is one of many invisible things that took place on that occasion. You would not belong to Christ if you did not have His Spirit (Romans 8:9). You have been baptised (immersed) with the Holy Spirit into God’s family (1 Corinthians 12:13). Consequently, you can never fall from this Holy Spirit secured position in Christ (Jude 24). You cannot lose the Holy Spirit, and you cannot receive any more of the Holy Spirit. But we do have a say in how we allow the Holy Spirit to live through us. We shall learn more of this in another lesson.

1 Corinthians 6:19 says, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And Philippians 2:13 says, it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good pleasure. We are to allow God’s Holy Spirit to control our lives. As we live in surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit will produce His fruit as explained in Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.

Believers are secure in Jesus.
Even though you may fail God at times and feel discouraged as a result, remember, God promised in Hebrews 13:5, never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. The security of your relationship with God is not based on your performance. Romans 8:1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. In Christ, our default position is one of positional innocence before God. Condemnation from God is no longer valid for everyone who by faith, lives in Christ.

As Christians, our future is with the Lord, both here on earth and later with the Lord for ever in heaven. Romans 14:8, for if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. It is our perseverance in the faith which provides us with assurance of the authenticity of our salvation (John 15:4, 7; 2 Timothy 2:12). Therefore, we live knowing that nothing in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God [which is] in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39).

Believers pray and study God’s Word.
As the children of God, believers are able to daily walk and talk with God in prayer, praising Him, thanking Him, and making your requests to Him. Pray to God the Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17).

Read, meditate on, and obey God’s Word, then you will prosper in your relationship with God (Joshua 1:8). Don’t neglect God’s Word but crave for its spiritual nutrition (1 Peter 2:2-3).

Keep yourself in the Word of God, which is called the Sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6:17. The Holy Spirit uses His sword to teach us the things God wants us to know. In John 16:13-15, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit speaks truth, and He only says what the Lord Jesus gives, so Christ receives all the glory. Plus, the Holy Spirit has given us everything needed to live a successful Christian life (2 Peter 1:3) through our growing knowledge of Him found in the Word of God which the Holy Spirit authored (2 Peter 1:21). All that remains is for us to walk in obedience and dependence on His truth.

Believers desire holiness.
If we truly want to live for God, it is our obedience to Him that will show our authenticity and that we do genuinely belong to Him (1 John 2:3-5). Because we want to be like Jesus, we possess a desire to be holy as Jesus is. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct (1 Peter 1:14-15). This happens progressively over time and requires much patience with ourselves.

Believers love other Christians.
Another indication that we belong to Christ is a love for other Christians. The Holy Spirit causes us to prefer their company because you and they belong in God’s family. Showing love to other Christians is a sign to unbelievers that we belong to God. In John 13:34-35, Jesus gave a new commandment… that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Believers desire to tell others of Jesus.
Wanting to share the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ with others is a healthy sign of God’s love living in you (Acts 4:20). Andrew, in John 1:41-42, immediately found and introduced his brother Simon to Jesus. Many people are secretly hungry to know the gospel truth without all the man-made trappings. Ask God to bring you into contact with such people so that you can share the Gospel with them. Show the love of Jesus and tell them how Jesus Christ saved you.

Believers want to live a victorious life.
If you are putting into practice the things taught from God’s Word in this study, you will live victoriously. Not because you have gained lots of knowledge, but because you are allowing God, by His Spirit, to control your life. Even though problems and struggles remain part of life, we look past them to attach our thoughts to Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:18).

We look past present difficulties to the Lord’s return for us (1 Thessalonians 4:16-19, John 14:3) which inspires hope within us. We give thanks to God for everything (Ephesians 5:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:18), talking with God daily in prayer, listening to Him by reading His Word, and learning the wonderful benefits we have inherited as a child of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we continue to study God’s Word, we shall discover that the truths mentioned in this lesson are just the beginning.

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