No person becomes a Christian and knows everything they need to know immediately. Even if a person has been Churched for years and then becomes a Christian, they need to be discipled. Take for example doctrines like justification, election, predestination, sanctification or adoption … or what about assurance of salvation, fellowship, evangelism or service. These things might be known theoretically but not in the heart. From a Biblical point, all these are spiritual activities and need to be understood as such. They need to be learnt and discerned in the soul before they can be used for the glory of God, the blessing upon His people and where applicable, to reach lost souls.
Let me give you an example … although the Church I was attached to through confirmation, became a liberal Church, it was not always like that. As an older child and a young teenager I remember how the Gospel was preached and the Bible taught. I recall how Sunday School Teachers would explain the Bible in detail and how our Confirmation Class Leader went to pains helping us grapple with doctrines. Yet once I fell away from the Church, I never forgot the teaching and once I became a Christian I never battled with any of the reformed doctrines of the Christian Faith … I might not have understood them in my soul but I believed them real and true. Only once saved and started to be discipled did I begin to understand things like assurance of salvation, the inspiration of Scripture, etc. deep down inside my soul. Discipleship is vital. The lack thereof is the single reason why so many who make commitments of faith never have assurance of salvation or realize their commitment was not genuine. We learn this lesson from the missionary team, Paul and Barnabas.
Ac 14:3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. 4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5 There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. 6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7 where they continued to preach the good news.
1) Discipleship. As already indicated, this is the one single spiritual disciple lacking in the Church at large today. True, some Churches do it right, but most don’t.
Ac 14:3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord.
Remember many believed the Gospel immediately, others were in opposition and spoke untruths against the missionaries. This might have been the main reason they remained in Iconium for a “considerable time”. Both of them would have known Jesus’ teaching about discipleship:
Mt 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We cannot emphasize this sufficiently. If our Lord command this, why don’t we do it? The two key point here are:
(i) Make disciples and
(ii) Teaching them.
(1) If people do not want to be discipled you can’t force them but in doing so they are indicating that they are uncertain about personal salvation, know they have not been saved or reluctant to obey Jesus and live under His Lordship. Going backwards to Abraham … God’s promise to make a People, giving them a Place of their own where they could live under His Rule. Many want to be God’s People with the promise of Heaven but refuse to live under the reign of King Jesus. Such people prove they are not God’s People in the first place.
(2) Caution. Do not be eager to grow your membership before discipling new converts or new people seeking membership. You will make membership out of people not saved or who have beliefs different to your Church’s statement of faith. This will give you headaches untold in the future. You see, once a person is a member they have full voting rights and should they garnish sufficient support, they can capture your Church and lead it in a different direction! Practice discipleship even if it reduces the numbers … you will at the very least have a healthy Biblical Membership Role with people knowing whom they are in Jesus Christ and their responsibility within the local Church.
(3) Being discipled will give you personal assurance of faith and help you believe what is taught in the Bible and help you discern where to slot into the life and activities of the Church.
(4) If you are a leader in your Church engaged in teaching or in discipleship … study to know your Bible well so that when you speak you speak truth and are able to do it boldly knowing what you speak is not your words but Gods Word.
2) God confirmed the missionaries’ message by the supernatural … who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. Many believe that such abilities are still available in the Church today. I do not because at this time the full Bible was not available to confirm what was preached, so God used the supernatural. These were withdrawn once the Scriptures were completed as they were no longer necessary. “For no apostle could work a miracle by himself; nor was any sign or wonder wrought even by the greatest apostle, but by a special grant or dispensation of God. This power was not resident in them at all times.” (Clarke).
The “message of His grace” means these signs and wonders were associated with confirming the Gospel of Grace to be genuine and ought to be believed. As mentioned before, today we have the greatest miracle, the greatest supernatural event taking place when a spiritually dead soul, unable to give itself live and neither desiring life is resurrected to spiritual life. From being dead in sin and enjoying being a follower of the prince of darkness, without even knowing it … the soul is birthed a second time … into the glorious Kingdom of Light and Life in Jesus Christ! Surely there cannot be a greater supernatural act than this! The soul is the spiritual dimension of man. Because of Adam’s sin, when a baby is born, its soul is dead and remains like this until the Holy Spirit resurrects it to life. This is known as the New Birth or Being Born Again. Not every soul is granted such life … it is totally dependent upon the soul’s desire to respond to the working of the Spirit. Should it, life is given, proving God’s sovereign choice over that soul. This beloved is the proof the Gospel message is true today. I am living proof of it. Are you?
O Lord our God, may you so revive Your Church to discipleship, equipping and preparing Your saints for service and for glory. Amen.