We have now arrived at the sixth, and final, installment of a brief series expounding upon PBF’s Identity Statement. If any of the previous five articles have been missed, they can be accessed here (each including an excerpt):
“God has done all things for His own glory…Our love for Him moves us…to rejoice that we exist for His glory, and to maintain Him at the center of everything we do as individuals and as a local expression of the church.” ~ Pastor Greg Birdwell
“Rather than pridefully seeking our own way, we want to humbly submit to the Bible (Isa 66:1-2). This will ensure our lives and ministries will not be out of alignment with God’s will and wisdom.” ~ Pastor John Botkin
“Our aim as a church is to be propelled by the Gospel, motivated by the reality of its beauty and power.” ~ Pastor Rick Jones
“Pure worship flows out of embracing the truth about the riches of God given to an undeserving sinner.” ~ Pastor Dan Williamson
“Teaching that truly has God in the center will lead to a growth in knowledge, but it will not terminate there. Rather, growth in knowledge should result in greater love for God and man.” ~ Pastor Greg Birdwell
At this juncture, we must turn our attention to discipleship:
OUR DISCIPLESHIP is characterized by organic, intentional, intergenerational relationships within the body of Christ whereby members stir one another to love and good works. Because following Christ means doing what He does, we strive to make disciples by: 1) pursuing relationships with the lost around us, sharing the gospel with them, so as to gather more worshipers into His Body; 2) using our Christ-given gifts to minister the gospel within the Body to help one another grow to maturity in Him; and 3) leveraging our personal experience and maturity to help train one another to be better disciple-makers.
PBF’s discipleship efforts align with this clause because the concepts flow directly from Scripture. (Thus, we make it our aim to be Bible-focused.) Discipleship is a major point of emphasis throughout Scripture, especially in the Gospel accounts and Acts where there are roughly 270 uses of the word mathétés (disciple). Jesus emphasized and prescribed the discipline in grave measure and His disciples took the commission to heart—even to great lengths of suffering and death.
Acts 14:19-23 (ESV) is a helpful (and true) illustration:
But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Being stoned to the point of assumed death, Paul woke up the very next day not to purchase a tube of IcyHot for his bruises and re-bandage his wounds, but to make haste with Barnabas to continue preaching the gospel and making disciples. After that, they returned to the place of Paul’s stoning to strengthen the disciples that were being matured in Christ! Was Paul out of his mind? Yes! He had adopted the radical mind of Christ for discipleship. He was God-centered and Gospel-driven.
It might be helpful to pause and consider whether we have the right understanding of what a disciple is. One pastor and author is helpful in stating, “Discipleship—following Jesus—is to live before God’s face, to dwell in His presence, to be satisfied in all that He is. We follow as creatures of grace, entering into the fellowship of the triune God in whose presence there is fullness of joy, at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).”1 If you weren’t pierced to the heart (in a good way) by reading that excerpt, please read it again—prayerfully and slowly. Discipleship occurs when disciples are living out their identity as redeemed followers, enjoying the Lord continuously. When this prevails at the heart level, disciples move beyond their enjoyment of the Lord and crave to help others taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). Therefore, “discipling involves transmitting the knowledge of God and His Word through every moment of life.”2 “Discipling is helping someone follow Jesus by doing deliberate spiritual good in his or her life.”3
At PBF, we prayerfully desire for discipleship to be:
Organic
Before God, in His mercy, pours out repentance and faith, an individual is both a recipient and dispenser of hatred (Colossians 3:3). The only discipling occurring was learning craftier ways to follow “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:1-3). One standing on the peace-filled side of relationship with God (Romans 5:1-2), however, considers it a delight to participate as a member “in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). Within the organism that is Christ’s body (Ephesians 4:12-16), all members—regardless of age and maturity—have a role to play in ensuring the body’s health.
This is why discipleship must be…
Intentional & Intergenerational
Relationships within the church are given by God as a blessing and tool for spiritual progress. Each member of the family of God has the honor and responsibility of: 1) being unified in love and mind, 2) considering others as more significant, and 3) looking to the interests of others (Philippians 2:2-4). This is why younger men are to encourage older men as fathers, “younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, [and] younger women as sisters” (1 Timothy 5:1). This is why older men are charged with the task of being “sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness” (Titus 2:1). This is why older women “are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, or slaves to much wine,” (Titus 2:3). They must teach truth and train younger women “to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands” (Titus 2:4-5). This is why younger men are to be prodded toward self-controlled living (Titus 2:6). All of this (and many other passages) prescribes what is required for the body of Christ to “build itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:16). To be intentional means to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24). God’s grace is a saving grace. Hallelujah! God’s grace, however, is also a training grace (Titus 2:11-14). Let us not neglect to play our part.
To this point, the focus has been on building up those who have been granted faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. There is another component, however. Returning to Acts 14:19-23, notice the gospel was preached before disciples were made. This is why the Lord’s commission through the mouthpiece of Matthew commands us to go to the nations. Disciples are not given the option of remaining neutral until converts come to them for training, though this might happen on occasion. Disciples are to go with the resolve to proclaim the gospel, knowing God will save His elect. This means going to one’s literal without-Christ neighbors. This means proclaiming Christ at the grocery store and on the golf course, the basketball court and at the crafting expo. This means leveraging abilities and hobbies in such a way that Christ-followers creatively find avenues to intentionally share the good news of Jesus Christ with the lost. It means all believers have a role to play in local and foreign mission efforts—going, giving, and/or praying. It means that at all times the Lord’s praise must continually be on the mouths of those who have a share in His kindness and call (Psalm 34:1).
All believers have unique tools for discipleship, unique experiences both to bless the family of God and to bring the light of Christ into a world of darkness. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:18, “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.” With what has God gifted or given you that is not being utilized for discipleship? Today is the day to reorient our thinking and living, that all would see that Christ is glorious every moment of life. The unbeliever needs to hear of Christ’s atoning work (Romans 10:14-15). The believer needs to be deepened in his or her affections for and resolve to proclaim the excellencies of Christ (1 Peter 2:9). The resolved disciple-maker needs to be sharpened by other disciplers to improve his or her precision in the work (Proverbs 27:17); he or she needs other disciplers to stir up passion for Christ to maintain the work (Hebrews 3:13-14).
To borrow the words of one author, “Every one us follows someone, and everyone of us carries significant influence over someone else.”4 The question is: what are we doing with Christ?
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1. Jonathan Parnell, “The Heart of Discipleship,” Desiring God Articles, May 25, 2012, accessed March 8, 2022, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-heart-of-discipleship.
2. Mark Dever, Discipleship: How to Help Others Follow Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 28.
3. Ibid., 47.
4. Marshall Segal, “Make Disciples: The Life-Changing Ministry of Why,” Desiring God Articles, September 21, 2016, accessed March 8, 2022, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/make-disciples.
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