Last Sunday, Jimmy introduced our working definition of "Lifestyle Discipleship" as he explained Jesus' incredibly simple, easily repeated, proven plan of discipleship. Lifestyle discipleship is:
Cultivating complete followers of Jesus
in every context
by sharing my redemptive life with others,
surrendered to the Father
and empowered by the Spirit.
Let's look at this definition phrase by phrase:
Cultivating complete followers of Jesus: The idea of cultivating, as we taught a couple of weeks ago, pictures co-laboring with God, doing the hard work of cultivating, planting, watering, and weeding in the lives of one another, while God is the one who causes the spiritual growth within any of us. We do this for the purpose of developing complete followers - followers of Jesus who are 1) fully devoted to Jesus, and 2) being fully formed in thoughts, words, and actions. That's a disciple.
In every context: Jesus didn't cultivate complete followers in the sterile environment of a classroom, or even in the synagogue. He cultivated them in the marketplace, along the road, and inside the homes of others. He didn't just cultivate on the Sabbath day, but every day of the week. It wasn't an extra "program" he added into His busy schedule - it was His schedule.
By sharing my redemptive life with others: Jesus was always relational in how He cultivated complete followers. He offered redemption in Himself through relationship with Him. We can't offer redemption in ourselves, but we can offer our "redemptive lives," redeemed in Christ and instruments of redemption to others through authentic relationships.
Surrendered to the Father: Jesus repeatedly taught that His earthly ministry was conducted completely surrendered to His Father (e.g. John 14:10). As we follow Christ, we follow in His method, too. "Surrender" is the humble act of "giving up the fight." Our selfish motivations drive us to serve ourselves, whereas surrendering means we follow the will of our Lord. It's God's mission first and foremost, so to participate in His mission is to surrender our will to His.
Empowered by the Spirit: Jesus temporarily set aside the free exercise of His divine attributes when He took on human flesh (Php 2:1-11). As a result, everything He did in his earthly ministry of cultivating complete followers was done by the divine power of the Holy Spirit who indwelt Him and empowered Him (Luke 3:21-22). We have no power in ourselves to "make disciples" - the power lies solely in the Spirit who indwells and empowers us.
Jesus is our model. His ministry here was to cultivate complete followers. Therefore, as we join Him in this mission, we model our methods and practices after His. The Church can at times overcomplicate our mission in our earnest desire to fulfill the mission. Jesus' ministry wasn't complicated. He was merely effective, surrendered to His Father, empowered by the Spirit.
In every context: Jesus didn't cultivate complete followers in the sterile environment of a classroom, or even in the synagogue. He cultivated them in the marketplace, along the road, and inside the homes of others. He didn't just cultivate on the Sabbath day, but every day of the week. It wasn't an extra "program" he added into His busy schedule - it was His schedule.
By sharing my redemptive life with others: Jesus was always relational in how He cultivated complete followers. He offered redemption in Himself through relationship with Him. We can't offer redemption in ourselves, but we can offer our "redemptive lives," redeemed in Christ and instruments of redemption to others through authentic relationships.
Surrendered to the Father: Jesus repeatedly taught that His earthly ministry was conducted completely surrendered to His Father (e.g. John 14:10). As we follow Christ, we follow in His method, too. "Surrender" is the humble act of "giving up the fight." Our selfish motivations drive us to serve ourselves, whereas surrendering means we follow the will of our Lord. It's God's mission first and foremost, so to participate in His mission is to surrender our will to His.
Empowered by the Spirit: Jesus temporarily set aside the free exercise of His divine attributes when He took on human flesh (Php 2:1-11). As a result, everything He did in his earthly ministry of cultivating complete followers was done by the divine power of the Holy Spirit who indwelt Him and empowered Him (Luke 3:21-22). We have no power in ourselves to "make disciples" - the power lies solely in the Spirit who indwells and empowers us.
Jesus is our model. His ministry here was to cultivate complete followers. Therefore, as we join Him in this mission, we model our methods and practices after His. The Church can at times overcomplicate our mission in our earnest desire to fulfill the mission. Jesus' ministry wasn't complicated. He was merely effective, surrendered to His Father, empowered by the Spirit.
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