The New Testament book of Ephesians gives us many good aspects of what biblical Disciple Making looks like. Dr. Michael Cooper, author of the book Make Disciples - Discovery the Spiritual Journey of a Christ-Follower outlines more the topic of "what is a disciple".
Discipleship is not something that is done just one day a week, it is done every day of the week. We always have opportunities to either disciple others or be discipled ourselves and it is just a matter of what we are choosing to be disciple by. Sometimes these are negative things or positive things.
Michael challenged us to regain our identity with Christ as part of being a disciple. "to obey all he has commanded" means there is to be no distinction in what you believe and how you behave. Our doing should flow out of our being. One key way to do that better is to get back to knowing who Jesus really is, as it is He that we are imitating as His disciples.
"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Do everything in love.."
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESV
Dr. Michael Cooper joined us to talk about his new book: Making Disciples - Discover the Spiritual Journey of a Christ-Follower.
Michael is a follower of Christ, a husband, father. He has spent almost 40 years in missions, involved mostly church planting and academics. (and he is a cyclist).
This book follows an earlier book he wrote titled Ephesiology, which focuses on the practices and things related to the early church in Ephesus. Nearly 50 percent of the New Testament is related to the church in Ephesus.
As a young believer, he spent time with Cru and making disciples was simply just what was done in that context. Discipleship has always been a part of his heart and a passion of his. He can recall after being overseas, coming back to the United States and seeing a big focus on the Sunday Gathering, but often there are not other places where discipleship is happening.
It is important for us to ask, "What kind of disciples are we making?" The disciples we tend to make will look like us in some way, just as happens when we raise our kids. A key part of discipling is imitating - you imitate those who are discipling you. If we focus too much on the Sunday Gathering, then people tend to think they need to be a pastor - and not everyone is called or needs to be a pastor. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ." The Greek word for disciple is mathétés, which means to be a learner, thinking things through.
DISCIPLESHIP IS DONE EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK
The Sunday Gathering is a good thing, and discipleship does occur there; we should be different people from this and be encouraged by the Word as we live out our week. Yet, discipleship is not something that is done just one day a week, it is done every day of the week. We always have opportunities to either disciple others or be discipled ourselves and it is just a matter of what we are choosing to be disciple by. Sometimes these are negative things or positive things.
Where every you are you can be discipling people to walk with the Lord. We need to be active wherever you are. Discipleship takes both someone willing to lead and someone being willing to learn. Yet other times, we may be being discipled and not aware of this occurring. Michael shared that in his family, they often talked about "every moment" is an opportunity for discipleship. "As we are going" applies to the main action of Making Disciples in the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-20. So yes it can be intentional but also often just part of our everyday living.
Because we can be discipled, often wrongly, by people around us, it is important and helpful for us to go back to Scripture to re-discover what we are called to DO and what we are called to BE. Who are we as followers of Christ and what does that look like? In the Great Commission, there are three commands: Go, Baptize, Teach to Obey. Jesus uses an interesting word for teach, tēréō, meaning -- to own everything that I have taught you, make it your own, let it so come into you that there is no distinction in what you believe and how you behave, it just becomeS a part of who we are. We need to regain this identity piece in discipleship. We have designated it simply as a list of things to do. These practices are good things, but they should be coming out of who we are, our identity in Christ. It should become a natural part of my being.
The Overflow of Our Identity in Christ
Our Christianity should become simply who we are as a result of discipleship, learning what means to become a follower of Christ. We need to understand who Christ has made me to be, not what he has made me to do, but made me to be is revolutionary in our walk with the Lord. It is easy to fake the "doing part", but when it comes down to the core of who we are, that just expresses itself naturally. When that natural expression comes out, that is when people really see Christ living in us.
Getting Jesus Right
Where are we not getting it right?
Like the apostle Paul, we are supposed to overwhelmed with God's goodness through contentment and thankfulness, it is a part of us. In the US we are facing challenges right now for sure as the church and believers. More and more people do not identify as a Christian. Why has this happened? One of the things seems to be that we have not defined and done making disciples well. In addition we should to recover the importance of character, of a strong family. We need to better learn who Jesus really is.
Application
At the end of each chapter in the book, you are encouraged to make this practical and concrete:
1) What should we now then Believe?
2) How does this shape how we should Behave?
3) How might we do this as we Belong together?
Link to the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Disciples-Spiritual-Christ-Follower-Ephesiology/dp/B0CPNTVDXB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=37HH4J5VGGDB7&keywords=make+disciples+cooper&qid=1706199690&sprefix=make+disciples%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-1
www.ephesiology.com
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The purpose of our podcast is to help each other be better leaders, husbands and fathers for God's glory. Our discussions are based on elements from the Men's Ministry at Hillcrest Christian Reformed Church in Hudsonville, MI. For more information about us, check our website and hillcrestcrc.org