Disciple Maker

Jesus ended his earthly ministry with an instruction to make disciples. Who is the person God uses to make disciples?

What does the Bible say about being a disciple maker -

1. Make Disciples - Matthew 28v16-20
2. Immersed into Lord - 1Thessalonians 2v4-6
3. Disciple maker's love - 1Thessalonians 2v7-8
4. Disciple maker's character - 1Thessalonians 2v9-12
5. Tried and tested - 1Thessalonians 2v2-3

Make Disciples

Matthew 28:16-20

Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Questions for reflection or discussion

1. What range of attitudes can be seen in the disciples when they come to Jesus?
2. On what basis does Jesus tell the disciples to make disciples?
3. What are the key elements to making disciples?

Thoughts to consider

We make disciples following Jesus’ last command in his earthly ministry, a command given with authority! Disciples are to be immersed in the Lord and taught all that the disciple maker has learned from the Lord. This is a great challenge, but Jesus is with us in it.

While Baptism can mean immersed in a liquid, the spiritual sense of being immersed in God should not be overlooked. The teaching is not to exceed what has already been taken in and lived by the teacher. The teaching is fundamentally going to be love.

Immersed in the Lord

1 Thessalonians 2:4-6

For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.

Questions for reflection or discussion

1. What techniques did Paul choose not to use in gaining a hearing with this church?
2. What does it mean practically to trust God for outcomes rather than trusting in techniques?
3. How did God and his transforming power work in both Paul and those he ministered to?

Thoughts to consider

The Lord desires to immerse both his messengers and the hearers in himself. When the messenger clings to God and shares the reality of their struggles, then the message has a ring of authenticity and the hearers are swept up by the power of God.

Disciple Maker's love

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8

As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.

Questions for reflection or discussion

1. How did Paul demonstrate the love of his message?
2. What did Paul's audience see of the teaching of Jesus through Paul?

Thoughts to consider

In love Paul shared his life with his hearers. That is costly, but through love, Paul expressed himself in a way that no brilliance of intellect could reach.

Disciple Maker's character

1 Thessalonians 2:9-12

You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory.

Questions for reflection or discussion

1. Paul describes his approach as a father here, and as a mother in the earlier paragraph. What might this involve practically?
2. What is the difference between the teaching of a parent and that of a school teacher?
3. How do Paul's aims come across in the way he expressed himself?

Thoughts to consider

The making of disciples is an interplay of God's purposes, the character and love of the disciple maker and the heart response of those to whom the life and message is presented.

Tried and tested

1 Thessalonians 2:2-3

You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.

Questions for reflection or discussion

1. What had the writer Paul, experienced that had tested his motivation?
2. Why is it important that the motivation of the disciple maker is pure?
3. How had Paul clung to God through these challenging times?

Thoughts to consider

The Lord allows challenges into our lives that ask us tough questions about our priorities. It is good to pray that we would find the Lord’s strength and grace to come through well. The outworking is that Paul knew that Jesus was in fact with him and that he could rely on Jesus.

Overview question for reflection or discussion

1. Going back to Jesus’ instructions in the first section. How do you see each of Jesus’ points worked out by Paul in these Bible texts?
2. What would be involved in making disciples in your context?

Thoughts to consider

Those who make disciples are like encouragers on a process. The focus is the disciple and the Lord Jesus. The disciple maker shows through life and wisdom a path that Jesus has already shown them. It is not about theory but practical and spiritual life.

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