Text: Mark 8:34-38
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? Mark 8:36-37
All our worldly possessions, aspirations, achievements, pleasures, and pursuits of power are not worth the value of one's eternal soul! We know this to be true in our minds, but the way we conduct our lives doesn't seem to correspond with this mental "reality." Instead of allowing this truth to shape our lives, many Christians live as if “busyness is next to godliness.” We behave as if moving fast, thinking big, and focusing on the many is a more valuable approach to life than slowing down, thinking small, and faithfully investing in a few people for the sake of the gospel.
Many Christians – including church leaders – are living lives of speed, exhaustion, and emptiness, not lives of spiritual purpose, contentment, joy, and lasting fruit. We are not slowing down and going deeper in our walk with Jesus. Nor are we slowing down and helping others go deeper in the faith.
JD Greear writes, "Sermons, books, and podcasts are great, but certain dimensions of discipleship can only happen in the context of relationships. Disciples are formed by disciple-makers—intentionally, personally, one soul at a time."
Jesus' words from our text should change our priorities.
- Jesus calls us to deny ourselves.
- Jesus calls us to take up our cross every day (Luke 9:23).
- Jesus tells us to follow Him.
- Jesus compels us to lose our life for His sake and the gospel's sake.
Gospel advancement happens when ordinary people like you and me are empowered by the Spirit of God because we are full of God's new morning mercies (Lamentations 3:22-23) and we are living intentionally in the world with God's will in the front of our minds because He gives us exactly what we need each dayto see "His kingdom come and His will be done."
Disciple-making happens when the Word of God is shaping men and women within life-on-life relationships. This is gospel-driven, Word-saturated, self-denying for the sake of another. It is men and women regularly teaching one another to obey what Jesus commanded.
- If you would like to disciple someone,
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . I'll do my best to connect you with one or two others people of the same sex who need discipleship. - If you need training in the how-to of discipleship,
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Visit our website for some great discipleship resources.
A great resource I like is The Walk. It is written for those who have expressed a desire to follow Christ as His disciple. It assumes no prior understanding of what that means, nor does it assume that the person has actually come to the point of professing faith.
Another great resource I like is The Disciple's Study Bible. This Bible features discipleship-themed study notes, as well as tools and resources that equip Christians to disciple others.
If you would like to enter a drawing for a free copy of The Discipler's Study Bible,
