When you became a Christian, you may have focused on the next life and spending eternity in heaven. That’s fair. A lot of us did that. But as you grow in your faith, you begin realizing God says a lot about discipleship in the Bible. And when it comes to biblical discipleship, the emphasis is more on how we live today.
As men of God, we need to understand what God says about discipleship in the Bible. We have a responsibility to see what it means for us and for our ministry toward others. After all, God didn’t take us straight to heaven once we accepted Jesus as Savior. He has a purpose for us here on earth.
And that purpose revolves around the meaning of discipleship.
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“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”
2 Timothy 2:1–2
The first step of discipleship
As we start thinking about biblical discipleship, we need to know what it means to be a disciple. Simply put, a disciple is a student or follower of someone else. As disciples of Jesus, we allow Him to be our Teacher, our Mentor. We take His teachings seriously and try to build our lives on His principles.
But before we can embrace the definition of discipleship in the Bible, we have to take the first step—accepting God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. We can’t make disciples until we become disciples. And no one becomes a disciple without first surrendering their lives to Jesus.
So, before you dig into the meaning of discipleship, examine your personal relationship with Jesus. Acknowledge that you have sinned (disobeyed God) and that you cannot save yourself from that sin. Embrace Jesus’s death as the substitute for the punishment for your sin and accept that gift by confessing Him as your Lord and Savior.
If you’ve already made that decision in your life, that’s great. You’re ready to move forward as a disciple of Jesus. If not, talk more about that decision and what it means with a close friend or pastor. Becoming a Christ follower is the first step in becoming His disciple.
Five principles for following Jesus
As I mentioned earlier, God has a lot to say about discipleship in the Bible. In fact, you can spend a lifetime studying the Scriptures and never exhaust His teachings about discipleship completely. But there are a few basics that are important to grasp.
As a man of God, these principles can provide a foundation for biblical discipleship in your life. As a dad, they can help you talk about the meaning of discipleship with your kids. You see, aside from your own discipleship, one of your biggest responsibilities as a man is to teach your children to become disciples of Jesus as well. These five truths will put you and your family on the path toward biblical discipleship in your home.
1. Discipleship is a command.
After His resurrection, Jesus gathered His followers and gave them some final instructions. The primary charge He offered was for them to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). This involved both becoming stronger disciples themselves and sharing Him with others so they would become disciples too. But the Greek wording is clear that discipleship is a command that Jesus expected His people to follow and obey.
2. Discipleship is rooted in love.
As you study discipleship in the Bible, you’ll find that Jesus highlighted one characteristic for His people that rises above all others: love. He said that people would be able to identify His disciples by the way they loved one another (John 13:34-35). As a dad, you love your kids more than words can express. As their brother in Christ, you need to love them so much that you are willing to make any sacrifice to help them become stronger disciples of Jesus.
3. Discipleship requires an example.
Timothy was a young preacher being mentored by Paul. In a lot of ways, he was Paul’s son in the faith. As Paul wrote Timothy one final letter (probably the last letter from Paul in the biblical timeline), the aging apostle focused on the importance of discipleship. He told Timothy to take the things he had learned from Paul and pour them into the lives of others. Those individuals could then repeat the process and extend the reach of the gospel for future generations. That’s what biblical discipleship is all about. We learn from the examples of others, set a godly example ourselves, and encourage future generations to keep the chain going and growing. It’s worked for more than 2,000 years, and we can use it to teach our children the meaning of discipleship in their lives.
4. Discipleship is active.
Sometimes, kids have a right to be angry. Injustice and sin should create a sense of anger in our hearts, just like they did for Jesus when He was on earth (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; John 2:13-17). But in most cases, learning how to help an angry child means setting proper boundaries and consequences for their outbursts.
You might even consider asking your child to help set the boundaries and determine the consequences. In doing so, they can take ownership in the process. Setting and honoring such boundaries also can teach your child how to discern between proper anger and improper anger.
5. Discipleship focuses on Jesus.
In Luke 9:23, Jesus gave a pretty good summary statement about the meaning of discipleship. He noted that being His disciple meant dying to our desires and sacrificing everything to follow Him. In other words, He is the focus of discipleship in the Bible—and in our lives. Decades later, the apostle Paul told the Christians in Colossae that his goal was to present them to Jesus as mature believers on the day of judgment (Colossians 1:28). As a dad, that should be our prayer for our kids. The Lord is going to hold us accountable for the way we disciple our children. We need to do all we can to help them mature in their faith by helping them become more like Jesus.
There’s more to learn
If you’re looking at yourself and feeling like your discipleship leaves a lot to be desired, join the club! None of us are going to live out the meaning of discipleship perfectly in this lifetime. But that’s all right. As long as we’re making progress, God will guide our steps and give us wisdom for ourselves and for our families.
Honestly, these five principles only scratch the surface when it comes to understanding discipleship in the Bible. So, keep reading, keep studying, and keep obeying. Remember, the disciples of Jesus still struggled after spending three years in close contact with the Son of God. It was a process for them, and it will be a process for you.
The more you study biblical discipleship and try to make it a part of your life as a man and as a father, the more you’ll learn. It’s the adventure of a lifetime—but it takes a lifetime to complete.
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