(This is Part 5 in our series on Discipleship. Click here for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.)
If you examine global Christianity with a focus on finances, it is impressive how much the church spends every year, doing outreaches and events in the name of “soul-winning.” Millions, maybe billions, of dollars are spent every year on community outreaches, crusades, and various other evangelistic efforts. And it works. Millions of people, every year, pray a prayer of salvation, in hopes of having an eternity in paradise when they die. Yet all too often, that is where the church’s outreach ends.
As we have discussed already in this discipleship series, the Great Commission calls us not just to make converts, but to make disciples. The sad reality is, however, that too many churches make big plans with big budgets for getting people saved, but have a much lower priority in helping the people become Christ-like. Discipleship has a much lower priority, than winning converts.
Even worse is the fact that we now have multiple generations of believers in the church who are caught in a terrible cycle where, because they were not discipled themselves, they do not know how to make disciples of others. We have churches full of Christian converts who live in immaturity, making more converts who also continue to live in immaturity.
The Goal of Discipleship is that People would Become Like Christ.
Discipleship is the process of leaving who we were before salvation, and becoming who we are called to become in Christ (see Ephesians 2:10). It is a leaving behind of the old man; a putting to death to our sinful nature, in the process of conforming to the image of Jesus, who is the perfect image of God and man (see Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5; and Romans 8:29).
If we have any plans in ministry, short of seeing people being transformed into Christlikeness, then we have completely missed the goal of discipleship, and need to reanalyze our motives. To be sure, it is a great thing to want to see hundreds or thousands of people get saved, yet that is not the finish line. Maturity in Christ is.
To use a football analogy, when trying to get someone saved, it is like playing the game on defense. Your only desire is to get possession of the ball before the other team can score (or in this case, to get the person saved before they die and go to hell).
When a person gets converted to Christianity, that is like the ball being intercepted and now rather than playing defense, you switch to playing offense. The strategy changes when you get the ball, but you still haven’t scored. You still have work to do to get the ball to the goal, which in this case, means taking the new convert from the point of salvation and leading them to maturity in Christ. Salvation is simply taking possession of the “ball,” but getting to maturity in Christ is the actual goal line.
So how do we know when a believer reaches maturity in Christ?
The Clearest Mark of Maturity is the Ability to Make More Disciples.
As with any living thing, the most recognizable mark of maturity is the ability to reproduce. When a human child grows up, they go through puberty and transition from adolescence to adulthood. It is a process, and takes time, and they undergo many changes along the way. They begin to look different. They begin to act different. They even begin to sound different. Yet the process isn’t complete until they can successfully procreate. Beforehand, they could not reproduce even if they tried, but after the maturing of their bodies, it becomes a natural part of life.
The same is true spiritually! We are born again, then go through the process of transformation and spiritual growth, and then naturally, we will begin to lead others into the new birth and discipleship process as well!
Also, just as in the natural world, when we reproduce, we will replicate whatever is in our DNA. Cows give birth to cows. Birds give birth to birds. People give birth to people. So naturally, disciples should give birth to disciples. Disciple-making should be in the DNA of every believer.
Maturity in the Body Means Everyone is a Disciple-Maker
The goal of discipleship is that as a believer grows in Christ, he or she will not only begin to live their lives by Christ’s example, but will begin reaching out and discipling others as well. As Ephesians 4 tells us: “we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” – that is maturity – and “when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” The body of Christ builds up the body of Christ.
Earlier in the same passage, Paul tells us that it is the job of spiritual leadership – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers – to equip every believer for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12).
It is time that we understand that we must be equipping every believer to become disciple-makers, walking in maturity, and pulling other people out of darkness and up to the standard of Christ, as well. His image in mankind is the goal, and any target less than that, falls short of the high calling of God.
As we continue in this series on discipleship, the next post will begin to look at practical steps in forming a discipleship strategy for yourself and for your ministry. Stay tuned…
Photo by Liane Metzler on Unsplash
