Tag: discipleship

Prioritizing Rest #LikeJesus

On By dougholliday

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Matthew 11:28-29 NIV

How are you doing with rest these days?

There’s this interesting encounter Jesus had with a Canaanite woman who pleaded with Him to heal her daughter. It’s interesting because at first Jesus ignored her. Then, when her persistent pleading grew annoying, the disciples wanted Jesus to send her away. Instead of immediately sending her away, Jesus told her that He had come for the lost sheep of Israel. 

All this seems very un-Christ-like. Where’s His compassion? This would be a simple healing. It’s not like Jesus to ignore people who asked Him for help. 

“Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.’”

Matthew 15:23 NIV

Eventually, her pleading convinced Jesus to act. But why the delay? Why the debate?

One thought we should consider is that Jesus had taken the disciples to Tyre and Sidon not to do ministry, but to rest. After John the Baptist’s death, when the disciples returned from being sent out two by two for a period of intense ministry throughout Galilee, He told them He wanted to get away with them to rest (and likely grieve). This planned rest was interrupted by the large crowd who followed and found Him when Jesus and the disciples got off the boat in Bethsaida. After a full day of ministry meeting the overwhelming, pressing needs of the crowd, Jesus fed the 5,000.

Was the journey to the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon intended to be a seaside retreat to escape the crowds and find desperately needed rest? Is this why Jesus didn’t want to heal the Canaanite woman’s daughter? News would spread, and crowds seeking healing would come to find the miracle working Messiah, making rest impossible. Was Jesus’ not responding to the Canaanite woman initially the equivalent of Him turning off His cell phone?

This interaction could be viewed as callous and uncaring when He initially ignored her, but could the reality be that in fact Jesus was demonstrating the priority of rest, especially in light of the fact that He’d soon tell the disciples He’d be going to Jerusalem to die?

Jesus knew it was about to get intense. And it did!

The crowds continued to grow. The demands continued to increase. Where a few months earlier Jesus drew a crowd of 5,000 men plus women and children in Jewish town of Bethsaida, after being in Tyre and Sidon He drew a crowd of 4,000 men plus women and children in Gentile region of the Decapolis. 

“Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.”

Matthew 15:30 NIV

We find Jesus again and again, in the midst of ministry intensity, getting away from the crowd. Perhaps this was to prioritize rest. 

“After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.”

Matthew 15:39 NIV

Magadan (possibly another name for Magdala) was a smaller town south of Jesus’ base of operations in bustling Capernaum.

“Jesus then left them and went away.”

Matthew 16:4b NIV

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’”

Matthew 16:13 NIV

Caesarea Philippi, north of Galilee, was a center for Pagan Worship, somewhere Jews would not go. The crowds from Galilee would not follow Jesus there, so was this another way to escape the crowds and retreat with His disciples?

“After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.”

Matthew 17:1 NIV

The hike up the mountain with Peter, James and John where Jesus was transfigured was another way to escape the crowds to find a place to pray, reflect, rest, and be with the Father.

It was absolutely critical that Jesus and the disciples prioritized rest at this point because of the intensity of what was coming. The emotional toll would be great. 

“From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” 

Matthew 16:21 NIV

Jesus continually modeled the priority of rest.

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

Luke 5:16 NIV

“Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.”

John 11:54 NIV

“Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives.”

Luke 21:37 NIV

Jesus prioritized rest. He got away from the crowds. He practiced solitude.

Jesus prioritized rest. He got away from the craziness. He practiced stillness.

Jesus prioritized rest. He got away from the challenges. He practiced soul-care.

How intense is ministry for you right now? What kind of emotional toll are the demands of ministry taking on your soul and in your relationships? Jesus prioritized rest. Are you? Burning the candle at both ends leaves nothing in the middle. You know what’s in the middle? 

Your heart.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

*For a deeper dive into the priority of rest, read Unhurried Living or listen to Sonlife’s podcast on Unhurried Leadership with author and speaker Alan Fadling.

This podcast originally appeared on Sonlife.com in 2020.

Growing #LikeJesus

On By dougholliday

Years ago, I heard Dr. Howard Hendricks make this statement.  “The day you stop growing is the day you start dying.”  Don’t we all want to grow?  The alternative doesn’t sound so appealing, does it!  But what does personal growth look like?  What does spiritual growth look like?  How do we define genuine growth?    

Does growth mean that we know more?

Does growth mean that we do more?   

Is a mature Christian one that has been around a long time?

Is a mature Christian one that shows up all the time?   

Is a growing church one that is adding people to the pews?

Is a growing church one that is expanding its facilities or programs?   

I think we have to make a connection here.  Healthy, growing disciples produce healthy, growing churches.  And when you have a healthy, growing church it will naturally produce healthy, growing disciples.  But which comes first?   

Look at the prototype, the first century church in the book of Acts.   

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Acts 2:42-47

Here in Acts 2, we see a community of growing believers, and what’s the result?

Sonlife’s Foundations Seminar focuses on the initial 18-21 months of Jesus’ ministry and six foundational priorities that Jesus both modeled for and established with His disciples.  When we look in Acts 2:42-47, I believe we see all six of these priorities forming the foundation of the early church.

HOLY SPIRIT DEPENDENCE

God has given us a secret weapon, the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit indwells us, fills us, empowers us, guides us, anoints us, grows us.  Without the help of the Holy Spirit, living the Christian life would be an exercise in futility.  How do I know?  Because I’ve tried.  It’s like trying to use a cell phone with a dead battery.  No power.

We read of “many wonders and signs performed by the apostles” in the early church.  This is clear evidence of dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit, without whom this would not be possible.

PRAYERFUL GUIDANCE

We can really tell how dependent we are upon the Holy Spirit by how much time we spend praying.  Does the effectiveness and impact of our ministry depend upon God’s power or upon our dedicated effort?  Another way of looking at this is, do we put prayer in a glass box with a little hammer dangling below the sign, BREAK IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.  Is prayer used as a last resort?  “Well, we’ve done everything else.  Nothing has worked.  Maybe we should pray.”  It’s time we make prayer the engine and not the caboose in our lives and ministries.

These new believers “devoted themselves… to prayer.”  This conveys a sense of gathering together to pray, and to say that they were “devoted” to this kind of prayer means it was a hallmark of their fellowship.  They spent a lot of time praying together.  You would have to think that this kind of devotion also carried over into their families and their private lives.

OBEDIENT LIVING

Just as prayer is a key indicator on how dependent we are upon the Holy Spirit, obedience also serves as a key indicator on how much we’re experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit.  God’s power accompanies each step of obedience we take.  For far too long, churches in North America have taught truth with no expectation of obedience.  We offer good suggestions, helpful hints, wise counsel.  Jesus gave commands, and then He said, “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  Instead of acting surprised when someone obeys and celebrating their obedience as exceptional, shouldn’t we be surprised when people fail to obey.  What are we expecting?  And then, are we willing to inspect what we expect?  We have to ask the hard questions and hold others accountable to obedient living.

In the early church, the people “sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”  Obviously, they felt prompted by the Spirit of God to make dramatic sacrifices.  They followed through.  The early church was marked by radical obedience.

WORD-CENTERED

When we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit, He will use the Word of God to shape our character, sharpen our gifts, and steer our decisions.  God’s Word is the Spirit’s primary tool for accomplishing the Father’s work and the Father’s will in our lives.  There are five primary ways that we consume God’s Word.  READ IT.  STUDY IT.  MEDITATE ON IT.  MEMORIZE IT.  LISTEN TO IT.  Growing believers learn how to feed themselves and aren’t solely dependent upon their pastor or favorite Bible teacher to spoon feed them God’s Word.

These new believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.”  They were hungry for truth.  They were committed to hearing and obeying the Word of God.

EXALTING THE FATHER

Jesus continually said that He wanted to bring the Father glory.  Even as a twelve year old, we read that Jesus “grew… in favor with God.”  Jesus didn’t take credit for the miracles He performed.  He deflected men’s praise, telling them it was really His Father at work.  In John 15, Jesus told the Twelve that if they lived as true disciples, that would bring the Father glory.  Jesus exalted the Father both privately and publicly.  He said the Father was looking for true worshipers, those who would worship in both Spirit and truth.

These believers were “devoted to… the breaking of bread,” the celebration of the Lord’s Supper together.  They were also “filled with awe” and “continued to meet together in the Temple courts” with “glad and sincere hearts, praising God….”  Worship was a priority, but it was more than merely singing songs.  Worship was a way of life as they continually exalted the Father for who He was and what He had done.   

RELATIONSHIPS WITH INTEGRITY AND TRUST

The Christian life is lived out in the context of relationships.  Ultimately, our dependence upon the Holy Spirit is reflected through prayerful guidance and governed by God’s Word, which we must obediently follow so that the Father is exalted.  And when we exalt the Father through our obedience, where do we see the immediate impact of that?  You guessed it.  Our relationships.  We grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.  When we’re growing in all of those areas, it will have a dramatic effect on the way we treat people.

These new believers were “devoted to… fellowship.”  “All the believers were together and had everything in common…”  “They continued to meet together…”  “They broke bread in their homes and ate together….”  The early church described in Acts 2 was one where the people really loved one another.  They wanted to be together.  They knew one another’s families.  They shared meals together.  I imagine there was a lot of laughter, a lot of tears, a lot of grace and a lot of encouragement.   

All six of these foundational priorities are found in Jesus’ life.  He modeled them, so it’s no surprise that His disciples would also practice these same six priorities in their own lives and in the early church.  When we read Acts 2:42-47, we see a growing community of believers.  They were growing individually.  They were growing corporately.  And what was the result?   

“And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

The church wasn’t just growing by numbers as people left one church to go to another.  That would be Transfer Growth.  The early church was growing because people were being saved.  That’s what we call New Conversion Growth.  

We need to look at growth differently.  Is our ministry growing because our people are growing spiritually?  Is our ministry growing because lost people are being saved?  The two are connected.  Healthy things grow.

For Further Consideration:

1 – How do you define spiritual growth?  I’ve listed out six foundational priorities that are a part of spiritual growth.  If you had to list five or six qualities present in a person’s life who is growing spiritually, what would they be?

2 – Is the “Lord adding to your number those who are being saved?”  What is your ministry’s New Conversion Growth Rate?  (Calculate NCGR by dividing the number of new believers added to your ministry in the past twelve months against your average attendance)  Sonlife suggests that a healthy ministry will have 10% New Conversion Growth Rate.  What does your New Conversion Growth Rate suggest about the health of your ministry?

3 – Of the six Foundational Priorities we’ve outlined from Jesus’ ministry and Acts 2, which do you personally need to give the most attention to so that you experience significant personal growth?  Which does your ministry need to give the most attention to so that your ministry is strengthened and your impact is deepened?

This blogpost originally appeared on Sonlife.com

How Do You Know When You’ve Made A Disciple?

On By dougholliday

How do you know? How do you know when you’re going the right direction? How do you know you’re sipping the perfect cup of coffee? How do you know you’ve studied hard enough to pass the test? How do you know you’ve found true love? How do you know… that you’ve made a disciple? How do you know?

If we view discipleship through the lens of a curriculum, class or program, then we view a disciple as someone who has completed our curriculum, class or program, right? But is that really what a disciple looks like? What did Jesus have in mind when He said “go and make disciples of all nations” to His followers?

What is a disciple? It’s not a word that we frequently hear in our culture. Disciple is one of those “Bible words” that only Christians really use today, so it’s not hard to see why there might be confusion about its meaning.

In Sonlife’s 4 Chair Discipling training, we define a disciple as: One who knows God personally and pursues Jesus passionately, modeling everything in their life after the character and priorities of Christ.

This definition has two key components to it.

1. KNOWS GOD PERSONALLY

A disciple is one who has put their faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation, entering into a personal relationship with God.

“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

2. PURSUES JESUS PASSIONATELY

A disciple is one who is committed to being like Jesus. The character of Christ is being formed in them. They are growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The priorities of Christ are being followed by them. Love God. Love People. Make Disciples.

“Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6

In ancient times, the word “disciple” was interchangeable with the word “student.” The word disciple carried with it the connotation of being a student, a learner, a follower, an apprentice.

A disciple was not just a student who learned what his teacher knew. A disciple learned who their teacher was. It was the disciple’s intent to become just like their teacher. They would walk the way their teacher walked, talk the way their teacher talked, eat the way their teacher ate, sit the way their teacher sat, dress the way their teacher dressed… A disciple was to become a carbon copy of their teacher.

A rabbinical teaching from the Mishnah encouraged students to “walk in the dust of their rabbi.” The idea here is that you followed so closely behind your rabbi, desiring to learn whatever you could from him and not miss anything he might say, that you would literally be covered in the dust his feet kicked up.

Consider Jesus’ words in Luke 6:40.

“A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

A disciple “who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” A disciple is committed to be like Jesus.

Now don’t miss this. It’s important.

If the teacher discipled their student…
…and the student is going to be just like their teacher…
…then the student, in turn, will… disciple others also!

Did you catch that? Built right into the DNA of being a disciple… is making disciples!

You can’t be a disciple of Jesus and not be committed to making disciples yourself. Jesus made disciples. So then it must follow, disciples make disciples. A non-reproducing disciple is an oxymoron.

Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men!” Jesus’ intent is to make His followers fishers of men, reproducers of disciples. If we’re not fishing, can we really say we’re following Jesus? It’s what He did. It’s what His disciples do.

If what we’re calling “discipleship” doesn’t produce disciples who make disciples, then it’s time to re-examine our discipleship. If what we’re calling “discipleship” doesn’t produce disciples who make disciples, then it’s time to redefine what we mean by disciple.

How do you know if you’ve made a disciple?

It’s simple. Look at the fruit.

“This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” John 15:8

This Blogpost originally appeared on Sonlife.com in 2016.

Making Disciples #LikeJesus

On By doughollidayLeave a comment

Google discipleship and you’ll find 8,910,000 results. Google disciple-making and you’ll find about half that, 4,200,000 results. Needless to say, there is a lot that is being said and a lot that is being written about discipleship. Where does one start?

When we hear the word discipleship, what comes to mind? If we’re honest, I think most of us think about curriculum. What kind of discipleship curriculum do you use? Is there a “magic curriculum” out there that will really help me get results? Or maybe we think about programs. What kind of discipleship programs do you run? How have you structured your programs to get the desired results? Or maybe we think about classes? What discipleship classes do you offer to help your people grow in their faith?

The reality we must all face though is this. Curriculum doesn’t make disciples. Programs don’t make disciples. Classes don’t make disciples. Disciples make disciples.

So if we’re confused by 13,110,000 different perspectives on discipleship, maybe it’s time we simplified things and focused on just one. Jesus. What did He do? What has He modeled for us? What did Jesus mean when He commissioned us to make disciples, and how did Jesus Himself make disciples?

Jesus is our model.

“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”
1 John 2:6

Jesus has given us our mission.

“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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20

We are to be disciple-makers.

Disciple-making is the full-orbed process of seeing people come to faith in Christ, grow in Him, and then being equipped to go back and help others repeat this process.

Disciple-making is more than discipleship… which usually defines how to help believers grow. While many terms can describe the disciple-making process, we have chosen four biblical phrases to define it:

1. “winning the lost” (I Cor 9:19)
2. “growing the believer” (Col 2:6-7)
3. “equipping the worker” (Eph 4:12)
4. “sending out proven multipliers” (John 20:21)

These priorities are also reflected in the Great Commission with the participial phrases of “going”, “baptizing”, and “teaching to obey”…, and then doing this “of all nations.”

Jesus also reflected these priorities by modeling a process of developing fully trained disciples as He challenged them to “come and see” (evangelism), “follow Me”(discipleship), “I will make you fishers of men” (equipping) and then “go and bear fruit” (multiplying).

Disciple-making is not complicated!

Disciple-making is a relational process of helping people to “follow Jesus and be like Him.” It is recognizing that people are at different stages of spiritual development and then responding appropriately to help them. It is building a ministry that does the same.

But disciple-making is also a life-long process of becoming more like Him and helping others do the same. Because we are seeking to become like Jesus, and not just conform to a set curriculum, this is an ever deepening process. It is an ongoing process of “abiding in the vine” and allowing Him to bear fruit through us.

Developing a disciple-making ministry involves looking at both the process and product of what Jesus developed. Understanding the process Jesus modeled is extremely helpful in developing a healthy balanced movement of multiplying disciples. This is good Christology.

But don’t take my word for it. I’m just one among 13,110,000 voices. I invite you to study Jesus for yourself. This year, I’m reading through the Gospels every month, taking a deep dive into the life of Christ to learn from Jesus as my model for life and ministry. I’m blogging insights that i’m learning along the way at #likeJesus as I study a different Harmony of the Gospels each month. Let’s study Jesus together! Let’s disciple as Jesus discipled!

This blogpost originally appeared on Sonlife.com in 2016.