DISCIPLES TOGETHER
There are things we need to learn from other people: Learning to ride a horse; Learning to play the piano
Disciples are learners – we learn from Jesus, but we also need to learn from each other.
We find the phrases “Each other” and “One another” – >100x in NT
17x – love each other, love one another
LOVE ONE ANOTHER and LOVE EACH OTHER – 17 verses
Joh 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Joh 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Joh 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Joh 15:17 This is my command: Love each other.
1Th 3:12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
1Th 4:9 Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other
2Th 1:3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.
Heb 13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers.
1Pe 1:22,,,, love one another deeply, from the heart.
1Pe 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Ro 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one
another,.
1Jo 3:11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
1Jo 3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
1Jo 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1Jo 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1Jo 4:12 No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
2Jo 1:5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.
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LOVE IN PRACTICE – 13 verses
1Co 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
Php 4:2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.
1Th 5:13 Live in peace with each other.
Ro 12:16 Live in harmony with one another.
1Pe 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
Ro 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves.
Eph 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Eph 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
1Pe 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
1Pe 5:5 ,,, All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another,
1Co 12:25 there should be no division in the body, but … its parts should have equal concern for each other.
1Th 5:15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
Ga 5:13 ,,,, serve one another in love.
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FORGIVENESS
Eph 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Col 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Ro 15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
THINGS NOT TO DO
Ro 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling-block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
Jas 5:9 Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged.
Jas 4:11 Brothers, do not slander one another.
Col 3:9 Do not lie to each other
ONE THING WE NEGLECT?
Ro 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
1Co 16:20 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
2Co 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
1Pe 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love.
What this implies is at least disciples MEET up with each other regularly!!
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ENCOURAGEMENT
1Th 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
IN vv 11-15 words “encourage”, “admonish”, “warn” and “help”.
IN 2 Tim 3 we saw last week – Bible is useful for correcting, rebuking and encouraging?
1Th 4:18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Heb 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with
gratitude in your hearts to God.
Ro 15:14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
Eph 5:19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
Jas 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
Disciples together – but HOW?
Disciples are learners – we learn from Jesus, but we also need to learn from each other.
We learn knowledge. We also learn skills, we learn how to pray and worship and have faith. We learn character and holiness – and we learn these things by example of others!
• Homegroups
• embody true Christian love in friendship and community.
• the primary focus and front-line for regular pastoral care.
• discovering the reality and power of prayer together.
• identifying, developing and exercising spiritual gifts.
• teaching and training in small groups building strong
Christian faith and mature character.
• learning and practising true committed discipleship
• welcome newcomers, witness, grow and multiply.
• train and empower new Group leaders.
• Pairs and Triplets
• “One to One” – for new Christians
Disciples are learners – we learn from Jesus, but we also need to learn from each other. And in God’s scheme of things – we should learn from our church leaders, from ministers and elders
LEADERS
1 Thess 5:12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.
Hebrews 13:7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Paul Goodliff: head of department of Ministry at Baptist Union
The minister is herald, servant, priest, parish theologian, educator, evangelist and peacemaker. The role of minister should not be that of chaplain but of spiritual director, guiding people on their spiritual journey and equipping people for service. The focus should not be on healing but on growth, not on firefighting but on discipling. The pastoral tasks are nurturing and sustaining faith, creating healthy relationships and building a caring Christian community, not just healing wounded souls.
Not chaplain but spiritual director
The task of pastor-teachers is “not wiping spiritual noses but building spiritual muscles” (Pete Gilbert – Evangelism as a lifestyle)
Sportsperson, even at gym, “personal trainer”
Great singer or instrumentalist – still has lessons, voice coach, tutor
Football teams have a manager = trainer
Concrete example – I believe it is vital for EVERY Christian to belong to at least ONE of these ways of being disciples i.e. EVERY Christian should either belong to a Home Group or meeting in a pair for prayer or a prayer triplet every fortnight or even every week, or be in a one-to-one relationship where either they are responsible for taking care of a new Christian or as a new Christian you are being cared for and discipled. EVERY Christian should be in at least one of those kinds of discipleship relationships. Home Groups or Pairs or Triplets or One-to-One. When as your minister I say that is an ESSENTIAL aspect of discipleship, for every Christian, do you immediately say – of course Peter, “which Home Group should I join?” Or “who do you suggest I could meet up with week by week?” Or do you say – that can’t be right. Peter’s gone over the top on that one! Do you say, Peter’s only been a Christian 34 years – he’s only been a minister 21 years – he doesn’t know what he is talking about? That doesn’t apply to me. I’m too young. I’m too old. I’m too busy. I don’t need that kind of discipleship.
Not wiping spiritual noses but building spiritual muscles. Not a chaplain but a spiritual director.
To be proper disciples of Christ we need each other. We need the church!
In Uganda two things surprised me again about the church. The first is the amazingly high regard in which they hold their pastors. The second is the way in which Christians help and rely on and depend on each other!
Disciples are learners – we learn from Jesus, but we also need to learn from each other. In Home Groups. In pairs or in threes. Learning from our minister and elders because that is God’s plan for discipleship. We need each other!
