Discipleship, Identity, and Walking with Jesus

Discipleship, Identity, and Walking with Jesus

Discipleship of  the nations

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.“

These verses tell us to go forth and teach all nations. To make disciples of them, but do we really know what that means? Do we really understand our identity in Jesus and who we are meant to be?

These verses are The Great Commission: a command and a covenant, but they are also a key to our identity.

The very first thing Jesus tells us to do here is to “Teach all nations”. Teach is Strong’s number G3100 matheteuo. It means to make disciples, to follow his precepts and instructions. Just as Jesus did. He showed His disciples how to live.

Born Again into Discipleship

We are called to this the moment we are born again. It doesn’t matter if you have someone to teach you, the Holy Spirit is our teacher and it is He who leads us and guides us into all truth, John 16:13 – Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

We can baptize, we can teach, we can Pastor, we can Evangelize, we can Prophesy, we can operate in the Apostolic. The Ephesians 4:11-14 “offices” are not titles. Apostles are not Presidents, prophets are not the Vice President. These are all aspects of our identity in Christ and we walk in these callings each and every day. One at a time, two or three together, or all at once. As God sees fit to use you.

The word ’perfecting’ means to completely furnish and equip. It doesn’t mean you are perfect, but that you have all you need to accomplish your task.

Educating and Discipleship

Churches today either neglect discipleship, or if they do have a program, they teach the new believers to be what they want them to be or what they need in the corporate church. This is the same as we do in our education system. We teach kids to be what we want and need in society.

There is a huge difference between educating and teaching. To teach someone is to put stuff in them whether it be facts and figures, ideas, or concepts. Granted, there are some things that need to be taught but what we as a society fail to do is educate just as we fail to educate  in the church.

Educate is from the Latin word ’ducere’ which means to draw or lead. The prefix ‘e’ means ‘out of’.  So ‘educate’ means to draw out of. Educating someone is to draw out what God has placed in them. It’s to help the person see who God has made them to be and what He has called them to.

Enjoyed the post.