Benefits of Discipleship

Benefits of Discipleship

By Apostle Felix

13  For every spiritual infant who lives on milk is not yet pierced by the revelation of righteousness. 
14  But solid food is for the mature, whose spiritual senses perceive heavenly matters. And they have been adequately trained by what they’ve experienced to emerge with understanding of the difference between what is truly excellent and what is evil and harmful. 

Hebrews 5: 13, 14

Discipleship is the foundation of every believer in Christ. It is the core responsibility of the church to make disciples of all nations. Jesus commanded the church to go into all the world and make disciples, not members.. There is a huge difference between church membership and a disciple of Christ. One can belong to a church as a member and yet is not a family member in the family of God. It is very unfortunate that the church is in the business of recruiting people as church members without discipleship. The haste for large numbers or a mega church has made many to neglect discipleship and resort to using marketing strategies such as digital and community-based tactics to increase visibility. Though these strategies are good but they should not replace discipleship. Sadly, many churches tend to rely on them and negate discipleship. Seeker-friendly approach has watered down the foundational christian ethics with motivational speeches in order to avoid offending anyone. The purpose of discipleship is not to make believers to be comfortable in sin, but to help them to become like Christ in character.

46  Daily they met together in the temple courts and in one another’s homes to celebrate communion. They shared meals together with joyful hearts and tender humility. 
47  They were continually filled with praises to God, enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were coming to life.

Acts 2: 46, 47

There are benefits to discipleship. The spiritual growth of the church is solely discipleship dependent. The early church followed Jesus’ pattern of discipleship. The church met in the temple and in their homes for fellowship. They shared meals together. Other Bible versions say communion, but The Passion Translation says ‘meals.’ So, it was not the holy communion they were sharing from their homes, but meals. The pattern remains the same for both spiritual and numerical growth. The church’s pattern of growth is discipleship based. The meetings that took place in the temple and homes were for the teaching of the word of God. They met daily. Their commitment to discipleship was outstanding. They met daily because they understood the benefits of discipleship.

The church is immature today because of lack of discipleship. We have church members instead of disciples. These are members who are moving from one church to another, looking for miracles. We have miracle seekers, running around looking for miracle workers. Jesus rebuked miracle seekers as a wicked generation.

4  A wicked and wayward generation always asks for signs, but the only sign I provide for you will be the sign of Jonah the prophet.” Then he turned away and left them. 

Matthew 16: 4

Miracle seekers usually shun discipleship. These are men and women who remain infants where the matters of the kingdom of God are concerned. They are not interested in the word of God, but are only interested in material gain. We have a generation in church that is yet to go through discipleship. Very few believers in church have been through discipleship. Falsehood is thriving today because of lack of discipleship.

To be continued…