Go and make disciples: 4 ways to disciple!

I saw this comment today on Facebook … “the world needs more Jesus!”. While I couldn’t agree more, it also got me thinking … how often do we say or think this but not actually do anything about it?

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” –Matthew 28:19

As it says in Matthew 28:19, we are called to share Jesus and make disciples.

Okay … great, but what exactly is a disciple?
In this regard, a disciple is someone who learns from Him to live like Him. Someone who conforms their ways to the words AND ways of Jesus. (DesiringGod.org featured a great article about this!)

So the goal of this post is to encourage each and every one of you to be a disciple and to INTENTIONALLY go and make disciples of others … to intentionally share Jesus.

The only way this world can get more Jesus is if more of us are sharing Jesus!

But how? I found these great 4 ways to make disciples from The Gospel Coalition:

4 Ways to Make Disciples

1. Teach: As the Gospel Coalition states, discipling IS teaching. We teach with words and in this case can teach the words Jesus taught his disciples, the words of the Bible.In action … Focus on having meaningful conversations with others. Ask your friends what God has been doing in their life. Partake and invite others to a bible study, or even to join you at church. It’s amazing how many people say they have never been invited to attend church. If you can invite a friend out to dinner, you can also invite them to church.

2. Model: A huge piece of discipling is living out a Christian life before others. To be an example! As we learned above, to be a disciple means to conform your WAYS to the words of Jesus. Jesus asked us to obey his teachings, not just to teach his teachings. To allow the words of the Bible to live in you and change you. To find peace and joy from His grace, while also living a little more and more like Jesus everyday. Think about it this way … have you ever walked into a gym and the trainer looked super out of shape? They could be super knowledgeable about what it takes to be healthy, but their actions don’t exactly prove

Think about it this way … have you ever walked into a gym and the trainer looked super out of shape? They could be super knowledgeable about what it takes to be healthy, but their actions don’t exactly prove truth to their knowledge. It’s just like discipling. You can talk the talk, but if you don’t walk the walk … you aren’t being an example of how Jesus can really change you! In fact, you’re likely being a stumbling block for the person watching you. Allowing people to see Jesus in you and your actions is what will attract them to wanting to know Jesus for themself! Often times they won’t even know it’s Jesus until they get to know you more and more. This is a BEAUTIFUL experience if you’ve ever seen it in action.

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

3. Correct: This may not be the fun part, but discipling does require you to warn others about the choices they are making. Part of being a Christian is recognizing that sin deceives us, and that we need other believers to help us see things that we cannot see ourselves.

A funny way to think about this … if you walk out of the bathroom with toilet paper on your shoe, wouldn’t you want your friend to tell you?! So if you are a “Christian” and are trying to live more like Jesus, wouldn’t it make sense to want your other Jesus friends to tell you if you are being sinful? Iron sharpens iron! Just remember that you can’t just be critical of others and point out their sin without first recognizing and making changes to your own sin. (Just as scripture talks about the plank in your own eye: Matthew 7:3-5)

4. Love: As the Gospel Coalition stated, discipling is a form of mutual love. Yes, there may always be some sort of a teacher-student relationship, but there will also be peer-to- peer mutuality and love! Our goal is to love others … to desire for each and every person you come in contact with to spend eternity in God’s kingdom. To build His kingdom!

We must all remember where we came from. If you’re like me, I wasn’t always a Jesus person. And I thank the Lord everyday that the people who sprinkled Jesus and planted seeds didn’t look the other way and judge my sinful nature. No, they loved me and knew I was God’s creation just as they were. They showed me love and modeled their biblical values. All of which I can now look back on and see that they were discipling me!

So think of that the next time you look down upon someone or say “they need Jesus” in a sarcastic tone. Yes, maybe they DO need Jesus … and maybe you were put in their life to be the one to share Him with them! Or at least show them love and model His ways. Never forget where you came from and God’s amazing grace for all of his creation! Everyone’s Jesus journey has to start somewhere.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ [a] The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [b]  There is no commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:30-31