Courting Christ: Raise His Children, Part 1

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." – John 8:31-32 NASB

We all love the idea of a cuddly little baby. But within a few short years, these babies grow up into room wrecking, mess makers! And then they develop this strange idea that they should be allowed to drive!

Jesus told us that we are to go out and make disciples[1]. Sometimes we get on our Tuesday-night-door-to-door visitation or our mass evangelization kicks and forget that the Great Commission went on to say that we were to not only get them converted, but also baptized, taught and obedient.

We must fight the 'independent' attitude today in which we let everyone learn by himself. Can a child raise himself? Perhaps, but what kind of person will he or she be? How many handicaps could they have avoided if they had a loving, caring adult guiding them to maturity?

We need to think through where we want our spiritual children to be in areas of giving, discipling, evangelizing, family care, loving of neighbors, etc. We can not just assume that people know the right thing to do.

Some people think that discipleship takes place automatically with church attendance. But the average service is usually too general in its approach and not specifically targeted to the needs of a new Christian.

Some people think that discipleship will simply just happen. But Jesus’ teachings are too counter-cultural and contradictory to the innate sin nature to spontaneously be learned without work. And learning is a constant process. Discipleship is not merely for new Christians. We never outgrow the need to grow!

Discipleship is far more than a twelve-week program. Discipleship is a lifestyle. It’s like a diet. If you go off your diet and back to your old ways, you’ll start reverting to your old shape too! Like parenting, discipling or mentoring never ends.

I wish someone had taken me aside when I was a young Christian and guided me in what I should do, how I should live and how to study the Bible. It would have made a tremendous difference in my Christian life. I blundered about. Fortunately, God slowly weaned me through this process. As a church elder, I’m trying to save you from a lot of the mistakes that I made so that you may someday surpass me in your spiritual walk.

That’s what discipleship is. It’s not enough to bear Christ children. You also need to do your part in raising them so that one day they can surpass you. That was the Master’s attitude. He said, "I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these[2]”

[1] Matthew 28:19-20
[2] John 14:12