One of the essential tasks of Christ’s Great Commission is His command to disciple believers of all nations (Mt 28:19-20). Christian discipleship is helping others follow Christ according to the instructions set forth in Scripture. It involves being an instrument in God’s hands who seeks to see the life of Christ reproduced—by the power of the Holy Spirit—in the life of another believer. Regarding this, the apostle Paul wrote: “My children, with whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Gal 4:19).

The apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians with a tone of both concern and love and warning and indignation. This was because false teachers were persuading new Christians—converted under Paul’s ministry—to abandon the gospel of grace for a false message of salvation by faith plus works. As we will see, Paul has a genuine passion for the spiritual well-being of the Galatians as well as the goal of Christ being formed in them. Let’s look at four truths this passage teaches us about discipleship.

1) Discipleship involves spiritual nurturing

Paul begins by saying “sons” (Gal 4:19). He uses this word in another context, for example, to speak of his true son in the faith, Timothy, and also to describe the essential relationship he had in developing his disciple into maturity (1 Tim 1:2). In the same way, the apostle brought the gospel to the Galatians and they were converted through his preaching. They were his children at conversion (Gal 4:19).

God has designed the growth of other Christians to occur through His Word, both preached and modeled. The same love, care, concern, and intimacy that parents should have toward their children is what we should have toward those we seek to disciple. Paul felt the bodily weight of the spiritual well-being of all these believers.

"God has designed that the growth of other Christians occurs through His Word, both preached and modeled."

If you are a pastor, you have a calling to train workers to help with the ministerial load (2 Tim. 2:2). It is also true that we should be concerned about the health of all the believers God has placed under our care, both the faithful and the difficult. But if you are not a pastor, you also have a responsibility that goes beyond a few, in whom you can invest more time of love, care and teaching, as you yourself received from another faithful disciple (Heb. 3:12-13).

Biblical discipleship should not be divorced from the local church. Our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ is personal, but it is neither private nor individual. My relationship with Christ is personal and corporal. There is no idea in the New Testament of a personal relationship with Jesus divorced from my relationship with His body (1 Jn. 4:20). The local church is the place where the genuine fruits of that faith are manifested (or not) (1 Thess. 5:14).

2) Discipleship involves personal stewardship

“Mine” is the second word we see in Galatians 4:19. I would like to start by saying what this does not mean. The sheep are not ours but the Lord’s, who bought them. Be careful not to have a possessive and sinful attitude toward those we serve in discipleship. When we disciple other people, we do not seek for them to admire us, but rather for them to admire Christ.

Just as in raising our children they copy both our virtues and our defects, the same can occur when we disciple others. Hence the importance of our discipleship being in the context of the body and that we are not the only ones who teach them. There lies the balance in discipleship.

Let us avoid using discipleship for our own benefit. Let us seek what is best for our disciples in the light of the Word and not what is “most convenient” for us. If Paul is not seeking in discipleship that which is for his own benefit, what does he mean when he says “my children”?

“The same devotion, love, care, and concern that parents have for their children is what we should have for those we seek to disciple.”

As pastors, we must watch over the people God has placed under our care: we teach them all of God’s counsel, we model the Christian life before them, we counsel privately when the situation requires it. We also correct, love, spend time with them, seek to know them and know where they are in their walk with the Lord. We rebuke, and we pray before, during, and after our efforts (Heb 13:17).

On the other hand, this task is so great that we must always pray and work to have a plurality of pastors, if we do not already have one. Such is God’s wise design for church leadership in the New Testament. The work of caring for souls is not just for pastors, but for all members of the body who must also do their part in discipling others. The privilege and responsibility of every believer is to reproduce themselves in the lives of others.

Reflect on these application questions:

Pastor, do you see your responsibility to the entire body? Are you discipling others closely so that they can one day lighten your load? Are you praying and working toward having more pastors in your church to help you with the enormous task that God has entrusted to you?

"The work of caring for souls is not just for pastors but for all members of the body who must also do their part in discipling others."

Christian, do you see your responsibility to be discipled and to disciple others in the context of the local church? Who are you discipling? Are you seeking to learn closely from people who are a few steps ahead in their growth? The format can be as simple as getting together with one or two Christians from your church with a good book that emphasizes biblical truths that contribute to our growth.

3) Discipleship involves great effort

Discipleship is not something passive or that comes automatically. God is the one who brings about growth and change in the human heart, but He does so through the means He Himself designated.

Paul paints a picture that involves the pain and effort of a mother (Gal 4:19). The words “birth pangs” translate from the Greek a single word meaning “to suffer terribly.” As he explains in Galatians, Paul is suffering terribly for them because they are being deceived and led away from the gospel by false teachers. The apostle fears that his effort has been in vain. As Paul expresses in other letters (1 Thess 2:9), but all this effort has a precious goal and this brings me to my last point.

4) The goal of discipleship is that Christ be formed in others

“That Christ may be formed in you” (Gal 4:19), this is the goal in the Christian life, first of all for yourself. My ultimate goal should not simply be to be a better preacher, a better pastor, or a better husband or father. The ultimate goal of every Christian is to have the life of Christ reproduced in his or her own life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

"The ultimate goal of every Christian is to have the life of Christ reproduced in his or her own life by the power of the Holy Spirit."

The goal in discipleship is not simply for believers to have more knowledge, to serve in certain positions, to have certain skills, or to study in a seminary. I am not saying that all of those things are not important, but that they are not the ultimate goal. All of those things may be important in reaching the goal. But we must always keep in mind that the ultimate goal of discipleship is for the person of the crucified and resurrected Christ to be formed in us as revealed in the Scriptures.

The goal of spiritual nurturing is to bring believers to Christian maturity as defined by the Bible. Any particular responsibility the Lord gives us over other lives is to bring them to maturity through the means He has designated. Public and private ministry of God's Word is for this. Private and public prayer is for this.

I close with some application questions: Do you care about the spiritual well-being of others in your local church? Do you have a passion to disciple others? Are you committed to asking the Lord and going after spiritual children? Pastor, do you feel the weight of the responsibility of caring for the sheep? Are you striving in God's grace to make disciples starting in your home? Are you discipling in connection and under the supervision of your church?

All of this is worth it because it honors God. May the Lord give us His passion to be and make disciples! May the Lord help us to be instruments in His hands for Christ to be formed in others! There is no better goal!

SOURCE: Greg Travis - July 14, 2021 |

BIBLICAL DISCIPLESHIP AND ITS IMPLICATIONS