Author: Megan Langan

Re:Verse passage – 2 Thessalonians 2:13–17; Hebrews 5:11–13; Romans 16:17–18 day four) 

Discipleship is one of the primary ways we can keep from becoming stagnant or “dull of hearing,” as the writer of Hebrews says. When we allow our spiritual life to be reduced to an individualistic experience, we lose out on the refining that comes through Christ-centered relationships. When I’m content to keep time in prayer and Scripture reading just to myself, when I show up to church without truly engaging in community, and when I don’t engage in intentional discipleship relationships, I’m not challenged in the way I ought to be. I make excuses for myself, I don’t get my sin into the light as quickly, and I’m not as motivated to grow in holiness. Deep relationships are required for us to move from spiritual milk to solid food. They’re required for pursuing and knowing the truth. They’re required for a vibrant Christian life. If you feel stagnant in your spiritual growth, prayerfully consider how the Lord might be leading you into deeper relationships.

Re:Verse passage – John 15:6–10; Hebrews 12:10; Acts 13:2–3; Colossians 4:2–4 (day four) 

Practicing spiritual disciplines can sound daunting. For one, the word “discipline” implies that there’s some effort on our part we will find challenging. The spiritual disciplines can also start to sound like a to-do list for our spiritual life, or the criteria for making an A+ with God. When we view them this way, we might have moments of motivation where we feel we can surely master them all, and we set out to do so only to find that our motivation is short lived and you’re not entirely sure how to go about some of them.

But this isn’t the biblical vision of the spiritual disciplines. Rather, the disciplines are more like a trellis, a structure that the ivy hangs onto as it grows, forming its path. The spiritual disciplines are the form, structure, and anchor points that we hang on to as we grow, seeking to become more like Christ. Prayer and Scripture reading, fasting and celebrating, service and solitude, among many others, are the things which anchor our souls and give us a structure to hang on to as we grow towards the source of light and life. They are means of grace, not a check list. Disciplines for sure, but not a rubric.

How might that change the way you practice these things in your life? How is God calling you to grow in these disciplines?

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 5:21–6:4; Matthew 12:46–50; 19:27–30  (day four)

One of the primary places discipleship takes place is in our home, among our family. This is the place where the fruit of our spiritual growth should be most evident. It can also be one of the hardest places to engage in discipleship. Home is where we go after a long, hard day. Home is where we let our hair down, and are more likely to let our true emotions out. The members of our family tend to be the ones who get under our skin or upset us most. This is true no matter what stage of life you’re in. Whether you have a house full of kids, it’s you and your spouse, or if you’re single – the people you consider family will be a significant part of your journey in discipleship, and you will experience challenges as you try to model Christ in these relationships.

Christ calls us to first and foremost submit to him. Every other relationship or endeavor comes second to him, including our relationship with our family. When we increasingly submit ourselves to Christ, we will find that we can live in rightly ordered relationships with those closest to us. When they take the right place in our lives, these relationships will become discipleship-focused. Submission to Christ helps us submit to one another in love.

What changes do you need to make to let Christ be first and foremost in your life? What does discipleship look like in your family? What steps might the Lord be asking you to take to engage in discipleship with the members of your family?

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:9–11, 28B–29; 4:2–4; Ephesians 4:11–16; James 1:2–4 (day four)

When we first become a Christian, we realize that there are certain “basics” to living the Christian life. Praying, reading our Bible, being kind to others. It’s easy to think that Christian maturity means we eventually move beyond these “basics,” and on to heavy-hitters like doctrine, theology, and apologetics, like a mathematician moves on from addition and subtraction to algebra and calculus.

But that’s not the picture that Scripture paints. These things aren’t “basics,” they’re pillars of living the Jesus way. We don’t grow beyond them, we deepen our roots in these very things. Christian maturity means deepening our prayer life – confessing sins more readily and praying for others more fervently. It means reading Scripture with more attention to what the Spirit is saying. It means interacting with others in such a way that the fruit of the Spirit in our lives is more obvious to them.

Christian maturity doesn’t mean graduating to high mindedness, it means growing deeper roots.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18 (day four)

Take a moment to think back on your walk with Christ so far. What has caused the most growth in your spiritual life? Was there a particularly moving sermon? A helpful Bible study? A retreat?

All of those things can be helpful in my spiritual growth. But I have found that the conversations and prayers I have shared with my brothers and sisters in Christ have propelled some of the most profound growth in my life. Second only to daily time in prayer and Scripture reading, relationships with other believers is essential to becoming more like Christ. When we are willing to be vulnerable and move beyond Sunday morning pleasantries and invite others into our questions, hopes, and fears, we will find that Christ meets us there. When we open ourselves to the encouragement, exhortation, and correction of other believers, we will be challenged to grow in ways we never would on our own.

Who in your life encourages and challenges you? How might you take a step to deepen your relationship with someone so that they can encourage and challenge you? Who has allowed you into their life to do the same? Spiritual growth requires deep relationships. Deep relationships require vulnerability. Vulnerability requires trust. Fortunately, when Christ is at the center of a relationship, we can move in confident trust that he will use that relationship to form us into his likeness.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 1:4-5, 9-11; Acts 8:9-13, 34-39 (day four)

The story of the Ethiopian eunuch is one that Pastor Chris reminds us of often, and it has become a significant text in the life of our church. It displays the kind of obedience, urgency, and joy over the gospel that believers ought to have. Once the Ethiopian eunuch understood the gospel, he had an urgency to live in obedience to it by getting baptized. He was not content to let the gospel remain head knowledge. He quickly took a step of faith through baptism, and “went on his way rejoicing” in his new life in Christ. He practiced immediate obedience.

When was the last time you practiced immediate obedience – where you felt the Lord calling you to do something, or to stop doing something, and you quickly took a step of faith to physically do what the Lord asked you to do? When was the last time you were so impacted by God’s Word that you felt a sense of urgency to obey? It’s possible that our sense of urgency might wane the longer we walk with God. But part of discipleship is maintaining our sense of joy and urgency to obey our God who so mercifully saved us. In what ways is God calling you to have the faith that the Ethiopian eunuch displays here?

Re:Verse passage – John 3:1-9  (day four)

To be born again means to submit yourself to something new. When we are born in the first instance, we’re submitted to the flesh. Our natural tendency is to serve our fleshly desires, both the good and the bad. Though a life devoted to fulfilling your own desires at first sounds like freedom, it quickly shows itself to be a form of slavery. To submit to the flesh is to become a slave to the flesh. The initial fun of fulfilled cravings quickly gives way to an endless pursuit of chasing satisfaction that is always out of reach.

Nicodemus learns here that life in Christ requires submission to something else. When we’re born again by the Spirit, we are now to live in submission to that Spirit instead of the flesh. This is a completely different experience. We’re still “slaves” to something, but Romans 6 tells us that those who are in Christ are now “slaves to righteousness” and “slaves of God.” When we submit ourselves to the Spirit, we inherit God’s holiness and eternal life. A life of submission to the Spirit means a life of unique joy, hope, and peace that can’t be found anywhere else.

Following Jesus costs us something. It costs us our entire life. But it replaces our old life that was headed for death with a new life that is headed for eternity.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Corinthians 16:15–18; Acts 18:1–8; 11:22–26 (day four)

If you’ve been in church for a significant amount of time, you’ve probably experienced some of your discipleship through programs – classes, retreats, Bible study groups, etc. These things are good and helpful, but they’re not meant to make up the bulk of our experience in discipleship; they’re not the “main course.”

When we look at the early church, we see that discipleship happened primarily through relationships. We see several discipleship relationships in Paul’s life described in these texts and throughout the book of Acts. Barnabas was a mentor to Paul. He was likely older and walked him through the essentials of the Christian life and understanding the gospel. He connected Paul with ministry opportunities in Antioch and encouraged him in his work. Barnabas was one of Paul’s primary discipleship relationships. Priscilla and Aquila were peers of Paul, likely around the same age and worked alongside him in Corinth. They worked arm in arm, helping to disciple new believers like Apollos and develop the church in Corinth. They challenged, encouraged, and strengthened each other, and discipleship happened among the three of them as peers. Finally, we know Paul had several companions that he mentored and considered “sons” in the faith, including Timothy. Paul poured into Timothy and discipled him as Barnabas had done for him.

The main course of discipleship is relationships. Barnabas, Priscilla and Aquila, and Timothy represent different discipleship relationships in Paul’s life: mentor, peers, and mentee. Examine your life and relationships – who would you put in each category? Do you have a more mature believer walking with you on your journey? Do you have peer friendships that you invest in to strengthen and encourage each other in the Lord? Are you mentoring someone in the faith? If not, how might you take a step forward in one of these ways this week?

Re:Verse passage – Luke 14:25-35 (day four)

Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?

This remark about salt seems odd here at first. Jesus seems to be mixing metaphors about building towers and cooking spices. But this is not the first time Jesus has talked about salt. The disciples would have heard Jesus use this metaphor of salt at least twice before, recorded in Matthew 5 and Mark 9. Each time he talks about this, Jesus is telling believers to live a distinct life – one that is noticeably different from the world around them. The calling to be a disciple requires us to live in such a way that people take notice.

In Luke 14, Jesus is communicating one of the ways that disciples are called to live in a distinct way – we are called to center our entire lives around Christ and follow him alone, keeping all other things subordinate to him, even things that are precious to us. This goes against the norm of the society Jesus lived in, and it goes against the norm of our world today. One of the ways we maintain our “saltiness” is by keeping all other possessions, loves, and positions in our life subordinate to Christ. Consider the testimony it is to the world to live in this way.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 28:16-20 (day four)

Jesus’ command to “go” is a universal calling for all Christians. This calling to go and make disciples among the nations is not just for missionaries, it’s not just for pastors, it’s not just for those with the finances to join a missions trip. The calling to go is for everyone. Whether you’re a new believer or a seasoned Christian, young or old, introvert or extrovert, bat left handed or right handed – you are called to go.

The question becomes, where should you go? For some, it will be the other side of the world. For others, it will be on the other side of their city. And for many, it will be the other side of their street. Our faithfulness to this calling to “go” is not measured in the distance we travel but in our willingness to preach the gospel and make disciples wherever the Lord sends us. Spend time in prayer this week asking the Lord where he is sending you. Do so with an open heart and mind to whatever he may say. Through the power of the Spirit, he has equipped you to fulfill this calling no matter where it leads.