Leading Others to Christ: The True Meaning of Discipleship

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical words that have great significance to our faith.

The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are familiar with in Scripture.

So come along with me.

Let's study the Word of the Week.

Pastor Josh here with another Word of the Week.

And again this week, we're going to be looking at discipleship.

We've looked at the definition of discipleship.

We've looked at what it means for us to grow in the truth of God, and we've looked at what it means ultimately for a disciple to be a learner or a follower of Christ.

We're also called in Scripture to point other people to this process of discipleship, as the Bible says in Matthew, chapter 28, to make disciples.

And so we've understood what the definition of discipleship is.

We've understood the directive of God for us to make disciples in that process of discipleship.

But now we're looking at some things that we can do practically in this process of discipleship.

And we talked last week about the idea of encouragement or exhortation, challenging one another to walk in accordance to the word of God.

And we've talked about that accountability, we've talked about that edification, strengthening one another, and the passage in Hebrews chapter 10 that speaks of the importance of assembling together for the purpose of exhorting one another for love and good works.

And so another aspect of discipleship is pointing one another to spiritual growth through the Word of God.

And the Bible uses some analogies.

And one of the analogies that we're going to look at here in this study is the analogy of becoming a spiritually mature adult.

The Bible says that when we are converted, when we are saved, when we are justified, we are spiritual babes in Christ, which is the natural process.

We are born again.

But the Bible says that we are to be growing in maturity from the place of a babe drinking the milk of the Word to a place of meat, moving on to the deeper matters of the faith and the application thereof.

And one of the passages of Scripture that reference this is in First Corinthians, chapter three.

Paul is coming to speak here at the church at Corinth, and he is recognizing that there are some things that he would like to bring to them, but they are not at the maturity level to do that.

But what we can see here through the context is that they should be able to receive these things.

They're not growing at the rate that they should be growing.

And so many times within our churches, we are emphasizing people coming to Christ in salvation, which we should.

But one of the elements that we do miss is that nurturing process of discipleship, to see people become more mature in their faith.

And when we're babies, as, as humans, we are very selfish, right?

We, it's all about us.

It's all about getting food, it's all about getting comfort, it's all about getting sleep.

But as we mature properly, we are then to turn our attention away from ourselves and turn it to others around us.

So maybe for a mature parent, their focus is not on themselves all the time.

It is on their children and what we're seeing here in First Corinthians, chapter three, Paul is speaking and he references them as, as babes in Christ.

He says in verse 1 of First Corinthians 3, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual.

He says, I can't come to you and speak to you as spiritual people.

Why, why can't I speak to you on these spiritual matters?

But as unto carnal, as he says here, so, so I can only reference you as someone who is carnal or fleshly, even as unto babes in Christ?

So he says, I can't reference some of these deeper matters of the faith because you're still walking in the flesh.

You're still dealing with those things that you should be getting victory over because of your spiritual maturity.

Now, in Scripture, we are told that throughout our salvation, well, let me say throughout our sanctification after salvation, we are dealing with the wrestling between the Spirit and the flesh, right?

We are to live in the Spirit, but many times we don't appeal to the Spirit, we appeal to the flesh.

And so he's telling them here, I can't refer to you as someone who is spiritual because you're still acting in the flesh.

You are still a babe in Christ.

Then he says, I have fed you with milk.

And, and we know that in other passages of Scripture that's specifically dealing with, with the, the basics.

And the basics are, are needed and discipleship for a babe in Christ.

We need to stick to the basics to get them to a place of maturity.

I've used this example before within church.

You know, when, when our children were born, we weren't feeding them t bone steaks the first week of their life, but we give the appropriate nutrition at the appropriate time.

And so for a baby we give them the appropriate nutrition in milk or formula.

That's the same thing with a Christian.

So there is an opportunity for us to give them milk.

But then there is a time when we need to bring the meat as there's the spiritual maturity going.

And so in verse two, it says, I have fed you with milk and not with meat.

For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

So he says, I fed you with the milk.

I've not been able to feed you with this meat, the solid food.

Why?

Because you were not able to receive it.

You're not able to move forward in the truth.

And he says, even now you're not able to.

He says, why?

Because you're acting like someone who is still in the flesh.

For verse 3, for ye are yet carnal or fleshly, for whereas there is among you envying.

So he says, these are the things that are indicating that you're still walking in your flesh.

You're still immature.

And so essentially what he's doing here is he's describing the immature Christian.

He says, you, you should be mature.

You should be growing.

But these things that are evident in your life are proving that you are still in that immature process.

So he says, here among you is envying.

So there's envy in their midst.

Envy is essentially desiring what someone else has and thinking that they should not have that in their life.

So I envy what that person has.

And with that comes a lot of selfishness.

And then it says, and strife.

Okay, so when we, when we're dealing with, with strife in this context, what are we talking about?

Well, here, here in this context, he's talking about fighting, being against each other, having divisions.

So he says, strife and divisions.

Are ye not carnal and walk as men?

So he says, you are still walking with jealousy.

You're still walking with this envy.

You're still walking with fighting.

You're still walking with division.

And he says, so that, that is the problem.

And he actually goes into a situation here where he addresses the, the core of their problem.

And the core of their problem is their eyes are set on man instead of God.

And that's a challenge when we're dealing with discipleship, that we don't want to point people to a pastor.

We don't want to point people to a, a person, so to speak, that they wrap their whole faith up into.

And, and, and, and I think that that sometimes is a challenge.

What we have to do is we have to point people to the gospel of Jesus Christ we have to point them to a relationship with the Lord.

Now can a person help someone grow in that process?

Certainly.

But what does he say here in verse 4?

He says for a while one saith, I am of Paul.

So there's a person who says, I follow Paul.

And, and obviously Paul is the writer here.

And so he says, there's some people that say that in other, in another, I am of Apollos.

So, so there's another person that says, well, I'm not a follower of Paul.

I'm a follower of Apollos.

And at the end he says, are, are you not carnal?

Is, isn't that a very human focused way to think about things?

He says, who then is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man?

So he says, look, it doesn't matter who, who the teacher is.

He is just a servant, a minister.

So you can't say, well, I'm following Paul or I'm following Apollos, or I'm following Pastor so.

And so no, it should be I followed Christ.

These are individuals that are proclaiming the truth of Christ.

And so really, essentially what he's talking about is not falling into the trap of man worship, not falling into the trap of, of simplifying discipleship down to just copying another person.

To be Christlike means to follow Christ.

Now yes, Paul does say in, in some passages of Scripture, he follow me as I follow Christ.

And so we can't have godly examples, but it's not ending with following that person.

It's ultimately ending in following Christ.

And so he gives this whole analogy here in verse six, he says, I have planted.

So Paul says, I've planted.

Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

And so ultimately it is God who gives the growth.

And verse seven.

So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.

Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one.

And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.

And so we'll stop there.

And what is he talking about here?

He's talking about in that discipleship process in the direction of spiritual maturity, we cannot have a focus on, on the teacher.

The focus must be on the one who is being taught.

And that is the Lord.

Not, not, not necessarily the receiver of the knowledge, but the one who has created that, and that is God.

And so the point that Paul is trying to make here is that it doesn't really matter who's doing what in that process.

And so, for example, some people go, I want to be the one that plants, I want to be the one that waters, and I want to be the one that gets the increase.

But what we can see here is that God uses some to plant, not all to plant.

He uses some to water, not all to water.

But ultimately, it is God who gives us the increase.

It is God who gives the growth.

It is God who gives the fruit.

And so if we want to see people spiritually mature, if we want to spiritually mature, who do we rely on for that growth?

We rely on the power of God.

We rely on the wisdom of God.

We rely on the direction of God.

And so sometimes it's very difficult for a young Christian, an immature Christian, to see that happening, because we want to have things happen quickly and, and, and have these dynamic changes in our life.

And sometimes those dynamic changes do come in the discipleship process.

But sometimes the discipleship process is a bunch of little steps, little decisions that align ourselves with the Lord and therefore get us to a place of spiritual maturity.

It's very hard for me to see my children growing, even though I see the results of their growth.

Like, I don't wake up in the morning and literally see my children growing in front of me, but each day they're incrementally growing.

And one day it's like I'm noticing, wow, you're, you're tall, you're growing, you're, you're, you're changing.

And that's how it is sometimes with Christians.

I mean, though we do see sometimes drastic change in the life of an individual, sometimes it's that slow progression of being more Christlike and dying to self and yielding to the Spirit.

And sometimes that takes time, and ultimately it takes trust in the Lord to do the work.

I cannot change someone's heart.

I cannot be the Holy Spirit.

So as I'm discipling someone, I can't be their Holy Spirit.

I can lead them to the truth.

I can show them in the Word.

I can be the example.

But ultimately, at the end of the day, I have to say, you know what?

For them to spiritually mature, they have to understand the power of Christ.

They have to be relying in the Lord for faith.

And that is where there is going to be serious, real, authentic growth in that believer's life.

Now, ultimately, the Spirit's doing the work.

We saw that in John chapter 15.

John chapter 15.

It tells us that in verse five, Jesus speaking, here I am, divine, year of the branches, he that abideth in me, and I In him there same bringeth forth much fruit.

For without me you can do nothing.

So without the Lord in our lives, without the indwelling of the Spirit, we are not able to see any fruit.

And so it's only through God.

We even go into the book of Galatians, Galatians, chapter 5.

Speaking of the fruit of the Spirit, one of the prerequisite to seeing the fruit of the Spirit manifested in our life.

And of course we know the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

If we are to see those things in our life, the only way that those are going to be truly, authentically manifested in the way that we live is when the Spirit indwells us.

How does the Spirit indwell us?

The Spirit indwells us in salvation.

The Bible says when we have the Spirit, we are his children.

When we trust in Jesus, when we are justified in faith, we now have the Spirit indwelling us.

And so it's a work of God, it's a miracle of God for spiritual growth.

Now, spiritual growth will not happen unless a person is indwelled by the Spirit.

And spiritual growth will not happen unless someone is walking in the truths of the Word of God.

We, we know that in John, the Book of John, chapter 8, Jesus defines what it means to be a disciple.

And, and we want to be disciples.

Our desire is to be a disciple.

And John chapter 8, verse 31, Jesus says, if ye.

If he's talking to those who believe in verse, verse 31, he says, and then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in My word.

And that word continue is talking about living in his word, walking in His Word.

If ye continue in My word, then are ye my disciples indeed.

So what does it mean?

Walk in his word, trust in him, obey him, follow Him.

And that is what we're doing as disciples.

As disciples, we're pointing people to the truth.

We are pointing people to the Word.

We are pointing people to the evidence of God in, in our lives.

When we live our lives publicly, we're not living our lives publicly for praise or acclaim.

Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.

So we all go back to this idea of spiritual growth, spiritual maturity.

Where does it come from?

It comes from the Lord.

We are just vessels to point people to that true growth that only happens through the Spirit.

So another aspect of discipleship here today, let's not look at a certain curriculum.

Let's not look at a certain person.

Let's not look at a certain program.

Let's look to Christ for our spiritual growth.

Let's look to the guidance of the Spirit for our spiritual growth.

And we lead those folks to that.

So anyway, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much for your, your attention.

I do thank you for that.

If you could pass along this podcast to someone else, I know that it would be a blessing.

And I know that ultimately the Lord is, is, is blessing us.

He's blessing those of that are his children.

And though sometimes there's difficulties in our life, ultimately we know we have hope in Him.

So I pray that you can know that hope here today.

Well, God bless you.

We'll come back next week with another word of the week.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro, middletownbaptistChurch.com if you've enjoyed this podcast.

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Thank you so much.

God bless.

Have a wonderful day.