#24 Discipleship Principle #7: Make Disciples

Does calling yourself a home builder make you one? Of course not! You are a home builder only if you build homes. As challenging as it is, the same goes for disciples. We are not disciples because we call ourselves such, we are disciples when we make disciples. If you are like me, you may have pushed back on this thought. Can’t I just love Jesus and be a disciple? Well maybe, but I do not see that modeled during Jesus’ time and in what we know about His story. He told Peter and Andrew He would teach them to fish for men instead of for fish. He gave the parable of the sower, and the seed that “produced much fruit” was the example He gave for what a disciple should do. He said, “Abide in me and you will bear fruit.” He instructed in the great commission to “go and make disciples.” I could give so many more examples but for brevity, let’s move on.

If you get pushback from anyone in your group, encourage them to pursue the Lord in intimacy, really pressing in and giving their lives to Him, for a full year and then report back to you. If they still believe at that point that they can fully encounter Jesus but not also make disciples, you can discuss it further. Remember, intimacy breeds passion; passion breeds purpose, and that purpose will always include making disciples.

Acts 4:13 is our keystone verse, which displays this phenomenon precisely in the lives of Peter and John: “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”