Why make disciples

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He gave a mandate to the church of all ages not simply to evangelize but to make disciples. That leads us to a significant question: What is a disciple? The simplest definition of disciple is one who directs his mind toward specific knowledge and conduct.

So, we might say that a disciple is a learner or pupil. The Greek philosophers—people such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle—had disciples. Socrates described himself ultimately as a disciple of Homer, the person Socrates regarded as the greatest thinker of all of Greek history.

We tend to think of Homer as a poet rather than a philosopher. But Socrates saw him as the supreme teacher of ancient Greece. Then, of course, Socrates had his own student—his chief disciple—whose name was Plato.

Plato had his disciples, the chief one being Aristotle. Aristotle also had his disciples, the most famous being Alexander the Great. It is astonishing to think about how drastically the ancient world was shaped by four men: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Alexander the Great.

In fact, it is nearly impossible to understand the history of Western civilization without understanding the influence of those four individuals, who in their own way were each disciples of another. That is, he was a nomadic teacher who walked from place to place, not teaching in a fixed location. The students of Aristotle would follow him as he walked the streets of Athens. The aforementioned concepts help illumine the nature of discipleship.

However, they fail to capture the full essence of biblical discipleship. Discipleship in the biblical sense involves walking with the teacher and learning from his words, but it is more than that. Jesus was a rabbi and, of course, the most important peripatetic teacher and disciple-maker in history.

Wherever He walked, His students would follow. And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? Whether that is within your own family, your close circle of friends, people in the church, or globally, you are called to make disciples who love and follow Jesus. Discipleship is a lifestyle commitment.

To produce growth, you have to daily practice what you hope to gain a reward in at the end. Living out the gospel daily is not easy. You have to lay aside your desires of the flesh to be one with Christ. This is called practical theology. Discipleship is necessary because it shows us how to follow Jesus practically by leading by example. This is one of the key ways in how you can disciple others. It is by living for Jesus every day that we are able to put into practice what we believe.

This is what discipleship means. To teach others about who Jesus Christ is, we need to be an example of who Christ is to them. Discipleship also leads you through the process of recognizing why you need to give your life over completely to God. He has to be first in every area of your life. It teaches you to let go and hold things with a loose grasp so that God can transform you.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple…So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple. To make it clear, Jesus is not saying that you are to hate your family, but that the love you have for them should be so small compared to the love you have for Jesus that it is like hate.

Jesus must be first. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? Whether you are a new or old believer in Jesus Christ, you need daily transformation to happen in your mind and in your heart. It is the daily walk of walking in the Spirit that transforms you from the inside out.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. If you want to know God, grow in relationships, develop maturity, make disciples, and practice a lifestyle that is committed to Christ, you need to renew your mind daily in Christ.

The battle is first won in the mind before you do anything else. Discipleship is necessary to learn proper theology and doctrines. This is especially important for new believers, but equally important for those who have been in the faith for a long time to continue learning. New believers are always excited about their newfound faith and freedom in Jesus Christ but they may not have the correct understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done for them.

They need to be taught on sound doctrine so they can eventually lead others to Christ and disciple them in their walk with God. In the book of Acts, Pricilla and Aquila disciple a young man named Apollos who is passionate about sharing his new-found faith in Christ with others.

Afterward, he preached the Word of God much more accurately. Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. Discipleship helps a new believer learn about who God truly is and recognize what is truth and what is not.

Always go back to the Bible. Discipleship is necessary because it not only allows you to make disciples who make more disciples, but God can use you to create disciple-making movements all over the world.

Did you know that there are disciple-making movements all over the world right now? Making disciples is how Jesus has commanded us to reach all the nations and ethnic people groups of the world. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

You can start a small discipleship group in a small community such as using the Discovery Bible Study method that will help both non-believers and believers grow in their knowledge of the Lord. Eventually, the hope is that the people you have been discipling will make disciples who make disciples who also make disciples.

This will create a large movement of new believers that can continue to grow, plant churches, send out missionaries, and spread the gospel. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Jesus was a source of wisdom to the disciples. When they were in His counsel, they were sure to grow and gain wisdom themselves. Today, we can see accounts of this in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Today, disciplers are people who have an intimate relationship with the Lord and are people who will humbly share what they have learned from their life.

You can learn so much from the lives of other people who have walked through similar experiences that you are going through. Another component of why discipleship is necessary for the life of a Christian is to be kept accountable.