Scripture: Matthew 28 v 18 - 20: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
The Great Commission Jesus gave His disciples just before He ascended to Heaven is still as relevant today as it was then. Go and teach all nations all about Jesus. As Tozer said, "Only a disciple can make a disciple."
Tozer was a man to whom discipleship was on top of his agenda. Not that making a disciple was to become like him, but to become like Jesus. Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation, and we must lose our humanity, our natural, carnal, fleshly, selfishness and give our lives to being like Him. He is our role model without exception.
The modern church has lost sight of true discipleship and has exchanged it with emphasis on being politically correct, even if it means contradicting everything Jesus stood and died for. The church is now back under the laws of man, as was seen in the Dark Ages, and seemingly unafraid of God and His coming judgment. Totally unaware of the significance of signs in the heavens, climate change, rising anarchy heralding the climax of human existence.
To return to the faith of the first disciples is the only way of rectifying the state of the church that is in a state of "churchianity". This indicates a church that is not centred on Jesus Christ. It takes Christ out of Christianity and leaves us with inanity. It has lost its meaning.
Discipleship means moving away from the traditions of man which were built in over twenty centuries, and realising what Jesus said about them.
Matthew 15 v 8 - 9:
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
There is a desperate need for the church to review the doctrines it is teaching to determine where truth has been overwhelmed by error. It's not worth teaching disciples error, to go forth and spread those errors as truth. Error has gone viral and is bringing on the apostasy at a rapid rate.
We need to go back to the faith and teachings of the early church and the first apostles. They knew Jesus and learned directly from Him. They followed Him and were the first disciples. Discipleship means hands on training in the works of God in our lives. Being a disciple means being a follower not a leader.
Leadership is much emphasized in churches today. Man made leadership techniques are highlighted so forgetting the scripture that says in
1 John 2 v 27 - 28: "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming."
We cannot substitute the doctrines of men for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We must let God be God in every facet of our beings. The Lord pulled me away from church membership to reveal and teach me about membership of His invisible Body. He took me back to the early Church experience of following Him without any embellishments. It allowed me to discern the true doctrines from false teachings and reject them very quickly. I still follow Him and I am not a leader. I live by the pure anointing of the Holy Spirit which is more than enough.
Sometimes church leaders are interested in having me share on Prayer to a group of interested members until they ask who is in oversight over your ministry? When I say the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit they are perturbed. If no man is your authority I cannot be allowed to share anything. They know that what I would say is under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. What bothers them is..... will their church members notice their own emptiness.
To reach the goal God desires for us we need to conform to the character of Jesus. We need to find out what He loves and love those things too. We need to know what offends Him and be equally offended at those things, no matter what the rest of humanity think about it.
"We have suffered from the preaching of cheap grace. Grace is free, but it is not cheap. People will take anything that is free, but they are not interested in discipleship. They will take Christ as Savior but not as Lord." - Vance Havner
There are teachings on grace that have been twisted out of the shape God intended. Jesus in our hearts is like yeast in flour. It changes every particle of dead flour into living dough that becomes bread. The food of life. Jesus changes our deadness, spiritual inactivity, into a living disciple on a mission for Him. Our new life must in turn create life in those around us.
The Bible does not teach Super Grace which means that we can keep on being sinful because its all covered. There are times when we do something wrong without thinking or knowing its wrong, and as soon as we ask for forgiveness grace covers it.
If we keep on knowingly sinning after receiving the full salvation and power of the Holy Spirit, we will fall away or backslide. It is sometimes very difficult to renew our commitment to Jesus because we now see our own weakness. It takes a determined effort to make up for lost time and show the Lord that we mean it.
We are not members of some club which draws in people by the quality of its entertainment, but members of Christ's resurrected Body. When we lift Him up for the world to see, He draws them to Himself. We are out in the world to make disciples appointed by royal authority.
So many men, and women, of God have fallen out of fellowship with Him because they have too many worldly commitments. Christians have to accept they are not of the world just passing through it. We may visit other countries without becoming citizens, just seeing the sights.
2 Timothy 2 v 1 - 4: "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier."
When we set out to follow Jesus, its like being in His Army with plenty of warfare. Paul's instructions to Timothy should be true for us all. We have so many excuses to justify our worldly behaviour when God needs us to be on the battlefield. Brothers and Sisters, we are God's answer to the world and its grief. We are His hands extended to help them to know Him. Will you stand ashamed before the Throne of Grace one day? Just saying!
If He sends out quality controllers to inspect His disciples, He expects to find people using the talents He has given them to be making more disciples.
"Because God disciplines those He loves, He will take drastic measures to get our attention if we need to grow up spiritually." - Crystal McDowell
Let us start praying in our secret closets to first of all shed everything that has crept into our lives to water down the full power of the gospel. Let us fast and pray for two or three days on water only, shut in with God and start really listening to Him. No food, TV, mobile phones, laptops, tablets, books, sports, entertainment or fun.
If we just give this time to Him we will see real transformation in our lives. Not watching endless TV evangelists but listening to His voice alone. This will clear our minds and hearts for the direction we need to take.
The root of discipleship is discipline. Like a Marine. Honed to meet any adversity. Are we spiritually honed and ready for battle? Are our swords sharp and able to cut through everything false and unworthy? Is our communication with our Commander in Chief connected properly so we hear and obey without question? Or are we dull of hearing? That time of fasting will fasten our hearts onto what needs changing!
Are we receiving input from too many different voices and not discerning truth from error? We need to audit our lives and see what we are giving to God and glory, and what we are withholding from Him. The most difficult people to minister to are those who have a multitude of counsellors. If they don't like what one is saying they move on to the next. Confusion reigns supreme.
Remember, our God responds to what we do first. If we forgive, He forgives us. If we give to those on the battle lines, He meets our needs accordingly. When we love the flock, they respond and our Father responds too. He surrounds us with love.
We can measure our discipleship by the amount of time we spend reading the Word and praying. These are what ignites our zeal to serve our Almighty God. We must grow our faith by using faith and having confidence in God to answer prayer and meet our needs. We need the true disciples to be hard at work in these last days.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we desire to be true disciples of Jesus and if we have fallen short of Your plan for us please forgive us and restore us to the right path. Time is growing short and we need to be ready for any eventuality. Lord we love You, we worship You, in Spirit and in truth. In Jesus' name. Amen.