Pillar 4 - Maturity / Discipleship
Discover Discipleship
Scripture echoes Christ’s command to make disciples.
Most Christians have heard the word discipleship for years without encountering a clear definition of what it costs, what it produces, and why Christ considers it non-negotiable.
Do You Not Know ?
We Love Because He First Loved Us.
He Died That We Might Be Transformed Into His Image.
Have Your Not Heard ?
Do Not Be Conformed To This World.
Know Jesus.
Bring Others To The Fullness Of Knowing Christ.
Where Will You Spend Eternity?
HELL - ENDLESS AGONY WITH SATAN IN THE LAKE OF FIRE
OR
HEAVEN - ETERNAL LIFE OF JOY, PEACE AND LOVE WITH CHRIST JESUS
The Choice is Yours !!
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35
Discover Discipleship!
This is the truth in its simplest form — the same words printed inside every Discover Discipleship Truth Card:
Do not move past this too quickly.
If this is true, which it is, it changes everything about your life.
What Scripture Says About Discipleship
Discipleship is both the pathway to spiritual maturity and the objective of Christ’s Great Commission to “Go and make disciples”. The character of discipleship is rooted in following Christ. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23 It requires giving up your right to your own will and replacing it with God’s will as revealed by the Holy Spirit, Scripture and prayer.
The cost of discipleship can be high. Surrendering to God’s purpose for your life may cost everything: career position, reputation, financial security, relationships, family harmony, or even life itself. Becoming a true disciple requires a sober, deliberate decision not only to obey his commands but to allow his very being to envelop you. His perspective becomes your perspective; his desires become your desires.
Discipleship commands a grounding in the Word of God, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and direct your spiritual maturation. It produces a joyful and willful submission to Christ’s authority in living out your Kingdom purpose. Your transformation prepares you serve as Jesus did and to “value others above yourselves.” Philippians 2:3
Matthew 28:19-20 quotes Jesus saying: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations … and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” This outward dimension of discipleship compels the spiritually mature to teach others. The community of disciples becoming disciple-makers exemplifies the reproductive nature of the Kingdom.
Ultimately, the goal of discipleship is twofold. First is our grace-filled conformity to the image of Christ. Romans 8:29 states: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Second is our outreach to the world. “He (Jesus) is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.” Colossians 1:28 Discover Discipleship!
What Others Ask
Q. What is discipleship in the Bible?
A. Discipleship is the process of becoming like Jesus and helping others do the same. The Greek word for disciple, mathetes, means learner or apprentice. Jesus called His disciples to follow Him — not merely to believe information about Him but to pattern their lives after His. Matthew 28:19-20 makes disciple-making the ongoing mission of the church until He returns.
Q. What is the difference between being a believer and being a disciple of Jesus?
A. Every disciple is a believer, but not every believer lives as a disciple. A believer has placed faith in Christ for salvation. A disciple is actively being formed into the image of Christ — pursuing obedience, community, and mission as a way of life. Jesus did not call people to believe and plateau; He called them to follow — which implies movement, growth, and cost.
Q. How do I make disciples as an ordinary Christian?
A. Discipleship does not require a title or a program. It requires intentionality with the relationships you already have. Invest in two or three people: share your life with them, open the Word together, pray together, do ministry side by side, and eventually release them to repeat the process. Paul to Timothy, Jesus to the Twelve — the model is always relational, reproducible, and personal.
Q. What does it cost to be a disciple of Jesus?
A. Luke 14:27 says: 'Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.' Jesus was honest about the cost: it may include the surrender of personal ambition, relational comfort, cultural acceptance, and self-determination. But Luke 18:29-30 follows with the promise: no one who has left things for the kingdom will fail to receive far more in return.
Q. How do I find a disciple-maker to invest in my spiritual growth?
A. Look for someone a season ahead of you in faith — not a perfect person, but a growing one. Someone transparent about their own struggles and consistent in the disciplines. Ask them to meet regularly. Come with questions, with honesty about where you are, and with a willingness to be challenged. Most mature Christians are waiting to be asked — they rarely volunteer without an invitation.
Digging Deeper Introduction
Scripture presents discipleship as the process of making followers of Christ into His likeness and training/equipping them to make disciples of others. It is a lifestyle that involves continual death to self and surrender to Christ. Matthew 28:18-20 records Christ’s final instructions: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Discipleship has two major goals. The first is your transformation into the likeness of Christ. Romans 8:29 states God’s purpose: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” This ongoing progression is described in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” As you can note this is a Spirit-empowered transformation.
The second goal is for each disciple to become disciple-makers. Colossians 1:28-29 describes Paul’s discipleship aim: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” The goal then is to present every person mature in Christ. Ephesians 4: 12-15 portrays this maturity within the body of Christ: “… building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine … Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”
Discipleship will cost you - will you still commit to it?
Someone’s eternity depends on it!
Awaken the sleeper!
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