Personal Discipleship
I was listening to a Paul Washer sermon the other day and he made a comment about “personal discipleship.” He cited two passages first (one in Matthew and the other in Mark), and then began speaking about the Gospel and discipleship. I’ve transcribed his comments below. If you have a minute to read them, that’d be great. If you have time to leave me a comment and let me know what you think about what he said, that’d be even better. Thanks! ~Greg
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. [Mat 7.13-14]
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. [Mar 1.14-15]
Now beginning here with Mark, I think it is quite telling what’s going here, and it’s quite a rebuke to our modern evangelistic methodology. If we were to re-write this based upon what we see in the modern evangelical community, it would be something like this: Jesus saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Now who would like to ask Me into their heart?”
Do you see the problem? The language that we use today is not used in the New Testament, in any place. “Who would like to repeat this prayer after me? … Oh, I see that hand! … Come forward!” We see none of that. But, in the message of our Lord we see: “Repent and believe!” In the Apostolic invitation we see: “Repent and believe!” In the great confessions of the Church we see: “Repent and believe!” It is only until we come into this modern time that we hear nothing of repentance and faith unless it’s redefined in the context of “receiving Jesus” (which means, “Pray this prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart. And if you’ve done that sincerely, then you can stand on the fact that you’ve been born again”).
Now that is serious, folks! This is serious! I preach in many churches where they’re absolutely appalled that I do not lead people in prayers; that I simply command, with the authority of Scripture, that men repent of their sins and believe the Gospel, and then sit down with them (at times for hours) explaining to them repentance and faith, and praying with them, hoping that Christ be formed in them! They would rather have me get people to raise their hands, come forward, pray a prayer, and then go out to eat somewhere!
This is the reason for all the noise about personal, one-on-one discipleship. Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s there was just this birth of personal discipleship. And if you talk to many people about the reasons for discipleship (personal discipleship) they would say this: “There are just as many people walking out the back door of our church as are walking in the front door of our church. They’re coming in, they’re not staying, and the reason is that they’re not being discipled personally.”
Well, first of all, I believe that personal discipleship can be of great benefit. But, here’s something I want you to know: The history of the Church knows very little about that sort of thing. Most men were discipled through the preaching of the Word of God. So, maybe we need all this “discipleship” because the pulpit is so weak.
But, I think that they entirely miss the point. Our brother talked about men seeing the problem but giving the wrong answer. The reason there were just as many people (and still are just as many people) going out of the church as coming into the Church is because the Gospel that we’re preaching is not the Gospel. It’s a truncated version of the Gospel. And the invitation we give cannot even be found in the New Testament! Now, does anyone have a problem with that?
The reason why they are leaving… well, “they went out from us because they were not of us.” They were not truly converted.
And sometimes the Lord will send unique individuals to our church as a rebuke. For example, you’ll try to win someone, you’ll try to manipulate someone, you’ll try to get someone to “make a decision,” and then you’ll work very hard at discipleship, calling them on Saturday night to make sure they’re ready for Sunday, going by and picking them up, and following them around like a little puppy trying to make sure that they walk the Christian life. And then one day some drunk, that you don’t even want in your church, walks in, gets saved, and you can’t chase him out! Why? Because God saved him.
Am I against personal discipleship? Absolutely not! But that is not the reason why people, after they are “converted,” continue on in their ungodliness [it's not for lack of personal discipleship]. They continue on in their ungodliness because they are still ungodly… because they weren’t converted. They were not.
4 comments
Greg,
You seem very harsh towards the church body that attempts to put some of Christ’s teaching back into it’s everyday life. I believe that you are correct, as only God saves, yet that does not make study and Christian guidance incorrect. I look to Jesus’ as the author and finished or my faith and He did spend time with men teaching them the way to live as well as the way to spread the Gospel. Thankfully.
I suppose that since you are called to be an evangelist, you may not see the need to care for the flock, but, the sheperd recues the lost lamb while still caring for the whole flock.
the prodigal son received the fatted calf, yet the older son always had the riches of his father, we always need help and guidance even after we are saved.
Just some thoughts.
Lynn
forgive my typos! lynn
Lynn, my name is michael payne and I hope you do not receive this the wrong way. Digital communications can cause misunderstandings more easily than in person. But what prompted me to reply here were the statements: “You seem very harsh towards the church body that attempts to put some of Christ’s teaching back into it’s everyday life.” and “I suppose that since you are called to be an evangelist, you may not see the need to care for the flock, but, the shepherd rescues the lost lamb while still caring for the whole flock.” The concern in the post (words are from Paul Washer) is about disciplining goats. I am just a lay Christian and I see the importance of delivering the Gospel of Peace to the lost and I am not a pastor. I also see the mandate to disciple. Supposing that evangelists that know God and are known by God don’t see the need to disciple or care for the flock seems a bit unfair. Lynn, I personally have listened to the Paul Washer sermon in question and the point is not one of discipleship of saved people, but of men that have not truly been born again that we have to chase around. Stony ground hearers, Tares, Decisions for Christ without Faith. The goats in the sheepfold are the point. Of course the sheep need the Master’s care and God is not a derelict father. The concern in the post is for God’s glory and a sincere love for those that will say: “Lord, Lord!” and hear the Master say “Depart from me you who practice iniquity” and “I never knew you.” We (generalization but very prevalent) have turned repentance and faith into a sinner’s prayer. I am certainly not against a sinner praying “Lord, forgive me a sinner” or Psalm 51 are great examples of sinners praying, but the prayer follows conviction and faith. The publican and King David were broken and contrite because godly sorrow works repentance. When the young rich ruler came to Jesus and asked what to do to have eternal life, what did The Lord of Glory tell him? He did not say “repeat this prayer or ask me into your heart, or accept me” He asked him if he had kept the law in five areas with his fellow man. When the rich man said oh yea the Lord said one thing you lack (worshiped his idol: money) and the rich man walked away. Jesus let him go. The concern that many godly men have is that unbiblical evangelism has produced spurious, or false converts. Mass evangelistic crusades have promoted the sinner’s prayer to replace genuine faith not “they honor me with their lips”. The danger arises when a sinner thinks himself saved because of repeating some words and not with faith. The modern gospel tells men don’t ever question your salvation, but the Bible says the exact opposite “examine your self to see if you are in the faith” not “did you say a prayer.” Don’t think I am attacking prayer by these comments, but I am certainly against sinner’s prayers as used in evangelistic outreaches that give someone a false assurance of salvation. Greg posted: “Am I against personal discipleship? Absolutely not!” Lynn, Paul Washer is for it! For the sheep! We are all called to preach the Gospel, not just Greg and Paul Washer. The concern here is that we have turned discipleship into a tool to chase false converts around. You must not have known, but Greg is a pastor (shepherd) and actually does disciple. He has a website dedicated to discipleship also: http://www.discipuladobiblico.com/ It is in Spanish though. My daughter discovered Greg’s website several months ago while looking for resources for family in Panama. I would encourage you to check these teachings out as they have been a great blessing (Hell’s Best Kept Secret and True and False Conversions). You can find them here:
http://www.wayofthemaster.com/audiolessons.shtml
Peace, michael.
Hi, Lynn! I don’t know if I’m called to be an evangelist or not (I wish I were!). Right now I juggle a lot of different “hats” in the ministry: Pastor, teacher, missionary, evangelist… discipler! Don’t forget, I’m a big “discipleship guy” (hence the 1000+ pages of discipleship material I wrote: http://www.discipuladobiblico.com/).
Also, those comments in the post are from a message preached by Paul Washer. Your comment states: “You seem very harsh…” It’s not me — those aren’t my words (not that my words aren’t harsh… most say they are — they say I’m “mean spirited”). Those are Paul Washer’s words.
Thanks for writing. It’s really great to hear from you guys. ~Greg
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