Saturday, February 28, 2009

A disciple has two main goals...

"The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" (Matthew 10:24-25 24)

The disciple is a learner. He is taught by God (see John 17:3; Matt. 11:25-27), and he has learned from God (see Psalm 27:11; Matt. 11:29). The main goal of a disciple is to be like his master. The Bible notes that Moses (John 9:28), the Pharisees (Matt. 22:16) and John the Baptist (Matt. 9:14) had followers, but the most prominent figure of all, Jesus also had followers - and thus when we speak of disciples we are talking about Christians. The first and primary goal of a disciple is Christ-likeness in character. The second goal is to pass on to other disciples the teachings of the master. I have heard it put this way: You aren't a disciple until you yourself are involved in "discipling" others. Truly, discipleship is the main heart beat of the Great Comission (Matt. 28:18-20). It involves first and foremost evangelism and then it involves seeing them baptized (which is a public identification of the believer to the Lord), and then further teaching them all of the things that the Lord Jesus would have them to do.

Salvation is not just a change of destiny, and manner of living it really is a changed life (1 John 5:11,12). This life is called "eternal life." This is a kind of life or a quality of life that is primarily spiritual, but it is something that every saved person possesses as a gift from God. Everything that God has given life to has also been given the capacity for growth. There are two things that can hinder the spiritual life of a Christian and they are ignorance (of the nature of the Christian life) and unbelief.

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