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INTRODUCTION
TO DISCIPLESHIP
Charles Pinkney
The Supernatural Church
and its Commission
Believers need to be
nurtured in order to grow as disciples. The 'great
commission' was given by the risen Christ, Messiah,
to his original disciples. In it he commands them to "make
disciples" of every nation. This reveals two important foundational
principles: First that the kingdom would grow through the making of
disciples; and second, that these disciples would be from not only
Judea (Jewry) but from every nation. Prior to this the "Gospel of
the Kingdom" was a message limited only to the people of Israel who
worshiped JHVH God.
In a week or so after
ascension, Jesus' departure into the heavens, the age of the
"Church" of Jesus Christ came into existence. Previously prophecy
hinted at a time when the gentiles would also be gathered into the
Israel’s covenant; but when and how this would happened was not
considered seriously nor understood. The Church was born on
Pentecost, a Jewish commemoration 50 days after Passover.
When I use the term "church" I always imagine it in quotations
because not everyone regards this word the same way. How we in the
twenty-first century regard it is a far cry from that experienced
and understood by the disciples who witnessed the arrival of the
Church (ekklesia) in power on that first Pentecost. The
church was never meant to be understood as a place to gather but
rather as a body of people who had one thing in common, that they
were born again by the power of the Spirit of God and became
the
children of God. The
church may consist of a gathering of individual believers with as
few as two or more.
Typically we refer to the church as its
familiar church meeting-house model where Christians gather. We
typically think of a location, an edifice. It is sometimes called a
house of "worship." This is not the original New Testament model.
The term ekklesia, ek-kle-si’-a in the original Greek text,
is translated "church" throughout the Bible. The proper connotation
of ekklesia is the called out, the gathered out ones. We tend
to assume that church life in early Christian times is equal to its
present day form. However, the form of the 'church' in the days of
the apostles was unlike our modern understanding of religious
practices that occur in a church house.
In ancient times an
ekklesia was a gathering in which members came together to transact
a specific kind of business on behalf of a community. In the case of
the Christian ekklesia it is the business of the Heavenly Shepherd,
Christ Jesus. In this kind of fellowship all members are free to
participate actively. As members of this church body we have
been called out of the world by the power of the Holy Spirit
to be a part of Christ's Body.
Christ the Messiah, is the
head of the body. All members are called to become a part of the
body. Each individual brings with them unique abilities and gifts.
These gifts have a place that is needed for the growth of God's
Kingdom. It is grace provides the activation or enablement of
those many gifts that are needed for Spiritual fellowship and growth
in understanding. (1 Peter 4:11)
Becoming A Disciple
Membership (our discipleship) in the Body of Christ commences at the
time of our being baptized into 'The Body'. This may also be stated
when we believe and confess our faith in Jesus the Messiah
we are spiritually 'reborn'. This salvation is introduced in
John's gospel, chapter 3. In theological terms this salvation is labeled
'Soteriology'. Salvation occurs as God supplies the power to transform
us. It is supernatural. The power of God is activated through faith
by believing. What do we need to sincerely believe
and acknowledge?
We have to have a belief that addresses:
Who Jesus is, (Christology) – He is the
Son of the highest,
the Lamb of God, Savior of mankind, God in human flesh, the creator
and Coming King.
What He has done, and can do He
has the power to forgive all of our sins, He has the power to make us
into a New Creation.
What we expect Him to do for us. To
take away our sins, remove all uncleanness and unworthiness, to save
us from destruction and the wrath of judgment, and bring us into eternal
life, Christ Jesus has paid the penalty of every sin of humanity on
the cross.
When we come to Jesus we believe that:
He is alive, He is enthroned in
glory.
He is supernaturally empowered and able to meet with us,
meet our needs, and change-remake our lives.
That He is willing
and able to fulfill every promise that He promised in His word. (The
Bible is true, the inspired Word of God.)
Religious notions are expressed in
church ministries
There is a general attitude
that joining a church is the source of entry into
God's kingdom. This is assuredly not the case! The entry point in
reality, is having your name written in the "Book of Life." No
church can do this although they would like to have that authority.
The membership of becoming a disciple is established by a
supernatural and sovereign act of God. It has been called by various
names: Coming from death into life; being born of the spirit;
becoming a new creation; being born again; having your sins forgiven
and wiped clean, being born from above. Every "Believer" must say,
"Yes" to His call.
Actions of the Holy Spirit
(In Systematic Theology the study of the nature and actions
of the Holy Spirit is Pneumatolgy.)
The Holy Spirit is the divine personage
who brings to each believer the gifts or enablements of Grace. The role
of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Jesus and deliver His knowledge, His
attributes of character, and His power to all of us who believe. We
who are called to
partake in the Kingdom of God are empowered to grow, mature, gain experience
and develop our own testimonies
concerning the Kingdom of God. These testimonies are our personal 'God
Stories.' "We declare the things we know and we testify about
the things that we have seen." (John 3:11) This is what it
means when the resurrected Jesus declares, "You shall be witnesses
to me, In Jerusalem, In Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of
the earth." (Acts 1:8)
These God stories and testimonies,
when shared among ourselves and others, build faith among those with
whom we share. Testimonies describe the reality and the dynamics of
how heaven has touched us individually. Through the power of Grace,
we are not only regenerated and positioned into the kingdom of God,
but also endowed with various Spiritual gifts. These gifts are supplied
to every believer as enablements that bear witness of God's presence
in our own day to day experience. There is through the ongoing Grace
of God the ability to learn the Word, to depart from the past life from
which we were rescued, to mature and grow as a disciple. Church house
religion, has proven to be deficient in providing a platform to grow
and flourish as a disciple. Every believer-disciple is to be a partaker
in the things of God. It is God's intention to use all whom he calls.
The true expression of the ekklesia is to provide a platform for both
growth and ministry. Such a platform is mostly absent in the majority
of traditional churches.
Among the assertions I want to
present in our discussions of discipleship is that we as believers,
after being born of the Spirit, may not only know God, but that we (all
men, women, boys, or girls) can receive a spiritually empowered
life. The "church" as Jesus Christ established it, was given
this indispensable provision. But in spite of this provision, both knowing
God and developing a spiritual life, is often unrealized. Time,
circumstance and unrelenting forces of spiritual resistance by our spiritual
adversary assail believers, to derail or to side track us from attaining
the Spiritual life. Religious traditions are substituted instead. Jesus
warned his disciples in Mark 15 to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and also the leaven of Herod, superficial religiosity, and worldliness.
Jude, half brother and an apostle of Jesus, writes in his brief letter,
that we must, " - - earnestly contend for the faith given to
us once and for all by the apostles.”
AN INTRODUCTION TO
DISCIPLESHIP
Disciples, Learning the "Way"
The foundation of the life of Christ begins when we become a
disciple of Jesus. As Jesus made disciples in the time of His earthly
ministry, so he continues today. (John 8:21 ; 17:20) Religion has made
the life of the Bible dry, remote and impersonal. Christian religion has
made Peter, James and John or John the Baptist into icons or religious
folk heroes. The sense of these being our brothers in the faith, sharing
the same life of trials, has been all but lost. In our minds Bible days
were another time, another kind of application. This is not so.
Religious tradition places the apostles on pedestals. This should not be
so, because it is contrary to every apostolic and Christ-uttered
teaching. God does not show favoritism nor does he show respect of
persons. We do not worship men. Even the greatest were partakers of a
"gift" as we are.
A short time after the apostolic
age, lust for human rulership and impure motives undermined the
apostolic foundations. Liberty and spiritual forms of worship began to
erode. We are entitled to the same promises and gospel practices that
New Testament believers knew. The Christian life, being Holy Spirit
inspired, is not of human authorship nor human tradition. It is the way
that I have found to be God inspired, life-changing, fulfilling, and in
perfect accord with the Bible.
Discipleship described here is
modeled by the saints and apostles in the beginning of this church
age. Many denominations and religious teachers, attempt to mentor
and advise others about the spiritual life. Since there has been a
history of promoting religious traditions instead of knowing God, it is
important that we look to grow in wisdom through the guidance of the
Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit.
God has told us through the Word
(James) that we may ask for wisdom or truth to be revealed to us.
He further instructs us to be confident knowing that God is willing to
give good gifts which bring fulfillment and blessings and not
sorrows. When seeking the revelations which are of
God and not false we must be fully
aware of the risk of error and counterfeit. Deception and false
teaching is everywhere. In order to discern the true from the false It
is very important to invoke the name of Jesus Christ. His is the
name above every name! And also know that His Spirit will not lead
us into bondage, fear, submission to abusive men, or lawlessness.
Meekness, gentleness, compassion and service to others is the right
spirit.
The Bible
teaches that Jesus' name commands all powers of heaven and earth. It is
above the authority of any other god or angel or worldly authority. The
word states that at the name of Yeshua, Jesus, every knee shall bow and
every tongue shall confess his lordship. It is in His name that we can
consecrate any prayer or any request. It is a safeguard and assurance
that anything which will be revealed or imparted spiritually will be
without deceptive influence. If you ask in Jesus, name the deceiver
is unlikely to make his intrusion.
The
Seeker Becomes Reconciled with God
The Spirit of Christ Jesus is the spirit of love, forgiveness,
gentleness, meekness, selflessness, and patience.
The nine fruits of the Spirit define Christ’s character.
The Holy Spirit is not tinged with fear, with condemnation, with urgency
or panic. It is not contaminated by a lust for personal gain, of for
manipulation to control others. Anyone desiring to grow up in the semblance
of Christ Jesus must check himself/herself for any motives that are
contrary to the nature of the Holy.
Receiving True Gifts and not
Counterfeit
Jesus instructs us about
receiving gifts from God, especially the gift of the Holy Spirit. He
teaches us that the God of heaven gives good gifts
and not devilish or perverted ones. Christ also characterizes the fact
that there are two sources who might affect spiritual results. God's
gifts are good and true. Let us look at the scripture found in Matthew
7:8-11 and in Luke 11:11-13: These shed light on Spiritual gifts. The
greatest gift is to become a "New Creation." It is the gift of God to
recreate our nature into something fit for God's purposes. See 2
Corinthians, 5:17.
"For every one that asks
receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be
opened."Matt 6:8;"Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask
bread, will he give him a stone? v.9; "Or if he ask a fish, will he give
him a serpent?":10; "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask him?"- v.11. The two gifts which
are requested are bread and a fish, God gives things which are
life-giving (bread) and safe (meat of fish). Luke chapter eleven
restates the same teaching about asking from God the Father with a
slightly different emphasis, and includes the gift of the Holy Spirit
which is the living gift of God's power and presence: "If a son
shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a
stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?"; "Or
if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?" "If ye then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
him?" -- Luke 11:11-13
The references to the counterfeit
gifts are not just coincidental or random examples they represent the
fact that there is a source of the bad gift. The enemy is Satan.
He does not give good gifts, nor give valid revelations. His gifts are
not life giving, they give neither joy, nor health nor liberty. Yet it
is possible that he will try to come in unless you exclude him from
having any part of the asking and seeking transaction (namely the
spiritual search for a spiritual life.) Satan's gift is characterized as
a stone instead of bread, as a serpent instead of pure food, a poisonous
scorpion instead of an egg. Jesus has portrayed Satan as the
deadly counterfeiter who will insinuate himself into the seekers life
subtly and at any opportunity. Forewarned is forearmed; for this reason
we will need to initiate safe guards and precautions as I suggested
above in order to keep the deceiver out of your life. There was a
time when our lives were entirely under his (Satan's) control. We may
not think that this was the case but the apostle is very clear about it.
A couple of apostolic letters bring attention to the nature of the
unredeemed life, common to each and every life before that life is
renewed In Christ.
Paul states in his letter to
Ephesus, Chapter 2, verses 2 and 3."- - in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, (Satan) the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience; Among whom also we all had our conversation (lifestyle) in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others." Paul's letter to Colossae, Chapter 1 verse 21."And you,
that were sometime before now) alienated and enemies in your mind by
wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled" Paul's letter to Corinth,
Chapter 1 verses 10 and 11, "Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of
God; And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by
the Spirit of our God."
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