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You will remember that the purpose of these short teachings are to help you answer the question Why? and What is the Purpose? in your life.
The question was asked in the last lesson, “When a baby is born, why don’t we leave it alone?” and we compared the answer, “The baby would die and never grow to reach its potential without someone caring for it,” to why then do we neglect our own Spiritual development, leaving it up to chance.
Training was the essential part of both the, illustrated, child rearing process, as well as the Spiritual development process, which is called discipleship. Both training processes are made up of two parts, hearing and doing.
Let’s then begin by briefly defining Disciple and Discipleship. A Disciple is a learner; one who puts into practice what he or she has been taught. Discipleship is the process of transformation from “learner” to “teacher”. It involves changing the way the learner thinks and acts, so that he becomes conformed to the image of the teacher.
With that being defined, let’s now reflect back on the two words from God I left you to consider last: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”, and “Go therefore and make disciples. . . teaching them to observe all that I commanded you . . .” These were the final words that Jesus spoke to His followers before ascending into heaven. Jesus chose His words carefully. They were important words, memorable and intended for lasting impact.
Two questions come to mind immediately. What did Jesus command His disciples to do? Why is it so important to teach others to do as He commanded? The answers to these questions are the heart of the disciple making process used by Jesus.
During the three-year period of His ministry on earth, Jesus took ordinary men and women who followed Him and transformed them into powerful disciples. Within twenty years of His ascension into heaven they had become known throughout the Roman Empire as “those who have turned the world upside down.” They had truly become expressions of God’s love on earth.
What happened to them to cause such a great impact on the world? It’s simple. Jesus gave His disciples only one task . . . . . . . make more disciples. He told them exactly how to do it. They did what Jesus told them to do and He sent the Holy Spirit to help them do it! The rest is history.
With that, allow me to leave you with this one question to consider until my next lesson:
How is the disciple making process accomplished?
Until next time . . . Godspeed!
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