The Function of Practical Discipleship

Most of the content presented on this site focuses on the forms of practical discipleship and how to do them. I think there is a real shortage of practical action in Christianity today. And I want to help people put their faith into action.

But the reason for action is equally, or more, important. The action is the form. The reasons are the function of the forms.

Throughout history, we see people practicing spiritual forms long after they have forgotten the functions. We see it in the Old Testament. We see it in the New Testament. We can see it through the history of Christian culture. And we can see it in Christian culture today.

The forms are not the end. They are the means to the end. The function is the end, the purpose and the reason.

The function of practical discipleship is to know and understand God.

1. To know God

The forms of practical discipleship will not earn me salvation. Salvation from the penalty of my sins is free. The removal of eternal spiritual death and destruction as the outcome for my life is a gift from God through Jesus. I can't earn it by my actions. Its free. Trying to earn it only reinforces the truth that I can't. I'm not good enough.

But Jesus told me that one benefit of having eternal spiritual life is that I now have the opportunity to know God in a personal way. In John 17:3, Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Here is where practical action comes in. Knowing God takes work. The Lord said, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13. I do the actions of a practical disciple because I want to find God. The LORD can not be found with out action on my part. That is why I have forms. So I can take action.

2. To delight God

Too often Christians engage in the forms of practical discipleship to please others. They study the Bible, or pray, or attend meetings and conferences because of pressure from their friends. The reward for their actions comes from the praise of their friends or their parents or their pastors. Jesus called these people hypocrites in Matthew 6:5. He said, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.” If I practice the actions of a disciple of Jesus Christ to please other people, I have received my reward.

Unfortunately, I used to be a people pleaser. Over the years, God has helped me become a God pleaser. I want to be motivated by the reward God speaks of in Jeremiah 9:24. God says, “'but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the LORD.”

Practical discipleship is how I get to know God personally. Knowing and understanding God in a personal way delights the LORD. I want to delight the LORD.

3. To be satisfied by God

I have tried a lot of things over the years hoping they would satisfy me. Many of them are good things. Athletics, hard work, relationships with people, Christian disciplines, education and making money. But none of them satisfied me. Jeremiah called them “broken cisterns.” In Jeremiah 2:13 speaking on God's behalf he said, “My people have committed two sins; They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

God is the spring of living water. Only He can satisfy me. He has outlined the methods I can use to drink from the spring of living water. If I try to create my own ways to get there, I will fail.

A spring can only be made by God. It is a natural occurrence where water collects together underground. Then water pressure or gravity forces it out of the earth. All we have to do is collect it.

My ways are broken cisterns. His way is the spring of living water.

4. To be joyful in God

Isaiah 12:3 elaborates on the spring of living water. A well and a cistern appear to be the same from the top. Both are dug by men. They can be any shape the construction workers care to make them. The difference is a cistern has to be filled by people. Water is carried from a well or naturally occurring spring and put into a cistern. The cistern can not fill itself. As water is removed from it, it must be re-filled by people. If it is not re-filled, it eventually becomes empty. Resulting in no water.

A well on the other hand is dug down to where the naturally occurring spring can be found in the ground. As water is taken from the well, the spring re-fills it. No matter how much is taken out, the natural spring deep underground re-fills it. The people always have water.

Isaiah 12:3 says, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Drawing water from a well brings me greater joy than drawing water from a cistern. I feel like the cistern “owes” me water. Afterall, its my water. I put it in there myself. I think I own the water because I collected it for myself.

With a well, the water is a gift. I don't do anything but draw is out. Its a great joy to get a gift from God.

Why? Because God has given me a heart to know Him

It is my natural tendency to want to earn my keep. I don't want to think that I owe anyone, not even God. I want to earn my way. I want to earn my way into heaven. I want to earn my holiness. My pride tells me I don't need any help. That I can do it on my own.

However, when I accepted the free gift of salvation through repentance and confession, God gave me a heart to know Him (Jeremiah 24:7. Once a correct relationship was restored between me and God, He gave me a desire to know more about Him. I wanted to know and understand Him better.

If I don't seek Him with all my heart, there will be something missing in my life. God has put the desire there, the only way to satisfy the desire is to seek God.

Its not a feeling. Its not an emotion. Its a choice. It requires action. The forms of practical discipleship are for seeking and knowing God.

Examples:

Are you a Mary or a Martha?

Luke 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and heard listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Martha was a doer. She had the King, the Prince of Peace, the Messiah in her home and she was serving Him. But she was distracted from enjoying His presence. She was doing the actions. But she was missing out on the reason. Martha fulfilled the forms but missed the functions.

And she was upset. Martha wanted her sister Mary to come and help her with the forms. Mary had decided to sit at Jesus' feet and listen to Him speak. Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen what is better. Mary chose a form that fulfilled the function of knowing Jesus better.

I have to ask myself, “Do my forms fulfill the function of knowing Jesus or do they distract me from knowing Jesus better?”

Am I a Mary or a Martha? Which are you?

What have you given up?

Philippians 3:7,8 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

Paul was a big shot. He was a Pharisee. He was a learned man. Respected in the Jewish community. He was persecuting and executing the followers of Jesus Christ. The Jewish leaders approved of what he was doing. He had fame and fortune.

Paul gave it all up for the “surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.” For Paul to engage in the forms of practical discipleship necessary to know Jesus was costly.

What have I given up compared to that? I live in a country where following Jesus Christ is allowed. No one threatens to physically harm me because I follow Jesus. As far as I know, it has not cost me fame or fortune. Maybe it has and I just don't know it.

I would like to think that in my heart I have given up the things that keep me from knowing Jesus Christ. I guess I won't know for sure until God asks me to give up something I am still holding on to.

What about you? Is there something God is asking you to give up so you can get to know Him better?

How to focus on knowing and understanding God

When I have a quiet time, I try to picture myself sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to Him like Mary did. Or sometimes, I picture Jesus and I sitting in easy chairs in the living room having a conversation. I ask God to help me have a relationship with Him, not just have a “quiet time” activity.

Practical discipleship tips on having a Quiet Time

I ask God to help me listen to His voice. Bible reading and Bible study are not activities to be completed. They are opportunities to hear the voice of God. I don't want to read a book or study a concept, I want to hear the voice of God.

Practical discipleship tips on dwelling in the Word of God

I ask God to help me know Him better. I use the prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesians. I pray, “God, give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that I may know you better.” This prayer is based on Ephesians 1:17.

Practical discipleship tips on praying

Even evangelism and witnessing are opportunities for me to know God better. Before I go out to intentionally share my faith, I ask God to help me have a better understanding of every good thing I have in Christ. (Philemon 1:6)

Practical discipleship tips on sharing your faith

Becoming a parent helped me understand God the Father better. My love for my child helped me better understand the sacrifice God the Father made by sending His own Son to die for me. Its not a perfect understanding, but its a growing knowledge and understanding.

Along that line, Jesus said “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). So being like Jesus should help me know and understand God better. God wants us to become like Jesus. We are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. I ask God to make me more like Jesus. Christlikeness helps me understand who God is and know Him better.

Practical discipleship tips on becoming more like Christ

I help other people grow in their relationship with God. When I help and mentor other believers, I share with them the truths and principles that God has taught me. Relating my knowledge of God to others reinforces it in my mind and gives God opportunity to better understand who He is by what He has done in my life.

I listen to how God is working other peoples lives. As I listen, I ask God to help me understand who He is by what He is doing in the lives of others.

Practical discipleship tips on fellowshipping with other believers

God is interested in His glory and His praise from men. He does not share well with others (Isaiah 42:8). He wants me to focus on Him. Not on me.

The amazing thing is that by focusing on the God, I actually end up doing what is best for me.

The function of practical discipleship is to know and understand God better. The forms should be designed to accomplish that function.

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