From Grant to You
posted by Navigators on June 15th, 2023 in Blog | Discipleship
Dear Friend,
Discipleship means many things to many people, and you can’t go to one verse and get the Bible’s definition of discipleship. Its root meaning is follower or pupil, a learner.
Today we think of a learner as someone who wants to know what the teacher knows, but a biblical disciple was someone who wanted to become like the teacher. In Jesus’ time, a disciple was one who learned by use and practice and incorporated their learning into a transformed life. You know a disciple by their fruit1, and the fruit was being a servant2, loving their fellow believers3, abiding in (not just knowing) God’s word4, bearing fruit of the Spirit and in evangelism5, being totally committed to Jesus6, being obedient7, being sent into the world whether over the street or over the ocean8, being prayerful9.
To become a learner of Jesus Christ is to have a whole new way of thinking about everything, to have your heart changed and to live that out in a whole new set of actions. You surrender to Jesus and then there is an ongoing learning day by day, step by step, continual learning of what that means. You are a person who thinks a different way about the world, who knows a different truth, who has a whole set of different desires and so who lives a different way. It’s a matter of both knowledge and life. That sort of disciple can’t be made only on Sundays.
Making disciples will be the theme at our National Conference in Canberra from 29 September to 2 October where our International President, Mutua Mahiaini, will be our keynote speaker. Love to see you there!
Together let us go wherever He leads and do whatever He asks.
1 Matthew 7:20;
2 John 13:13-17; Mark 10:35-45;
3 John 13:34,35;
4 John 8:31,32;
5 John 15:8-16;
6 Luke 9:23; 14:26-33;
7 John 14:21;
8 Matthew 28:18-20; John 17:18; 20:20;
9 Luke 11:1-13