RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Making Disciples – 9
Sammy Tippit: We’ve been talking about being a disciple of Jesus, and we just finished talking about relating to one another and loving one another and how Jesus said that’s how people will know we’re his disciples. I want us to begin to think about God’s using us and our becoming fruitful. Jesus said to make disciples, not just to be disciples. He wants every one of us to grow to the place where we can help others be disciples of Jesus and followers of him.
One Scripture verse that has just burned into my heart for many years… Jesus said in John, chapter 15, “You’ve not chosen me, but I chose you, that you would go forth and bear fruit, and that fruit would remain.” Now Corey, we’ve been talking about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It’s a fruitful life. It’s fruitful in two ways, I think.
First, fruitfulness is when the fruit of the Spirit is being developed in us. We become people of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness… We’re growing in all of those things. That’s the fruitfulness, the character that’s developed in us. But there’s also a sense of fruitfulness in that God wants to use us.
Corey Webb: You bet.
Sammy: God wants to use every single person. I would say I don’t care who you are. You might think, “Well, what do I have to offer?” God chose you, that you would bear fruit. God wants to use you to bear fruit. So let’s talk about fruitfulness and how to become fruitful. We were talking earlier about Elijah. You mentioned something about that. Kind of go through what you were sharing with me again.
Corey: When God had called Elijah to go and speak to the king and let him know it wasn’t going to rain for a certain amount of time (until he said it would, actually). He said, “It’s not going to rain again until I say so.” After that point, God had led Elijah out to a place where he was alone with God. He led Elijah to a brook, and he told him to stay there.
The more I’ve studied that passage, the more I’ve realized there was a process to Elijah’s becoming that wholehearted follower of God that he needed to be. There was a process to that learning. God led him to this brook and said, “Elijah, I’ll feed you.” He used the dirtiest bird, the roughest one, to come and bring him food: the raven.
Then he told Elijah to drink from this brook, and every day that Elijah drank from this brook, the brook began to slowly dry up. God did not tell Elijah how long he wanted him to be there. Sammy, I think it could have been for longer than what I originally thought when I studied that passage. But there was a process of Elijah learning how to depend on God in that time. He was growing during that time.
Sammy: I think what we’ve been talking about is how that’s where God wants us to be. When we talk about discipleship, there’s one passage we very seldom talk about. I think it’s really important. Jesus said, “If you’re going to find your life, you have to lose it.” That’s what happened to Elijah. He had to lose his life, he had to go to the brook and say, “I don’t have any hope. It’s not me. There’s nothing I can do, but it’s God.” It’s at that point when he was in a position to be useful in God’s kingdom.
Corey: Absolutely. Yes. He had to come to that place where he was emptying himself of his own ability to do it. It wasn’t until that brook dried completely up that God spoke to him and led him to that next place.
Sammy: Yeah. I think that’s where we are right now in this series. We’re talking about how we have to lose our lives so we can find his life. In so doing, we will become disciple makers.
Corey: Absolutely.
Sammy: We can have a fruitful ministry. When we talk about disciple making, again (we keep coming back to this), we’re not talking about religion. We’re not talking about being religious people. We’re talking about life. There has to be the life of Christ in us, so what we’re imparting is his life, sharing with people what he has done for us. So let’s define that for just a minute. Let’s talk about that. What does it mean to make a disciple? Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” What does it mean to make disciples?
Corey: Well, Sammy, that’s a great question. I believe it means to cause to learn. Through life and life situations, we are pouring ourselves into someone else from what has been poured into us. This vertical connection with our creator is now becoming horizontal through us and our interacting with the lives of other people.
Sammy: Okay, so it’s coming down. We allow God to do the work in us and begin to share that work with others. Now some people I know think, “Well, I don’t know if I can lead someone else. I’m not a leader. I’m not a natural leader.” I have a slightly different definition of a leader. A leader is simply one person who is one step ahead of another person.
Corey: That’s right.
Sammy: If you’re one step in front of someone else, you’re a leader. If you’ve grown to a place in your life where you’re at a certain point… You don’t have to be some spiritual giant. If you’re just one step ahead… In fact, sometimes what happens is some people get so far ahead that the people behind them can’t identify with them. They can’t lead those people, because they’re way out there by themselves.
Just taking someone and saying, “Hey, come alongside me and let me teach you…” I’ll tell you something that happened when I was a pastor in Germany. I was in an American military community. I took 20 men, and I just began to teach them how to have a time alone with God. Those men began to grow. They began to have a time alone with God. God began to use them.
They began to share Christ with others. But it came to a place where I said, “Okay, guys. Here I am every week. I’m meeting with you. I’m helping you. But now is the time for you to step up.” I said, “This is what I want you to do.” They all said, “Oh no.”
I said, “Every one of you, I want you to find three men, and I want you to teach those three men what I’ve been teaching you. Because you guys are having a quiet time. You’re having a time alone with God. You’re growing in your faith. Now I want you to do the same thing with those three.” They were all scared to do it.
They started doing it. I continued working with them and helping them, but part of their growth took place as they began to help others. You come to a place in your walk with God where you cannot continue to grow until you start helping others.
Corey: Absolutely. Years ago, I developed a leadership course. The purpose of the course was to develop and reproduce leaders who made an impact. That’s exactly what Jesus did with the disciples. He did it with the three who were closest to him (Peter, James, and John), as you said.
He taught them how to develop and reproduce themselves and other people through spending time with him, learning from him, and being at his feet. Then they simply passed on the very simple things (they don’t have to be deep things) they had learned along the way in their journey. It’s the next step.
Sammy: One of the amazing things about what you just said is… You think about the “disciples” of Jesus, those in the Bible who were disciples of Jesus. These were not the great intellects. These were not the great scholars. These weren’t the guys on Wall Street who had all of the money.
Corey: They were common people.
Sammy: These were common, ordinary people. They were fishermen, tax collectors, doubters, and deniers. They were people with failures, faults, and all kinds of problems, but they became leaders. Why? They followed Jesus, and they literally turned… The Bible says in Acts, chapter 17, that they turned the world upside-down.
Corey: They did.
Sammy: They impacted their world for Christ. This is a part of the whole process that takes place. When we understand that God wants to use each one of us, that he has a plan and he wants to make us fruitful… He has made you fruitful. I know that some of your greatest joys are probably people who you have seen grow in Christ.
Corey: Absolutely. One of the things I think God has used in my life along the way is mentors in my life (like yourself). You’ve been an incredible mentor to me in my life, and I believe every man and woman needs three types of relationships. Men needs three types with men, and women need three types with women. What we need is to have those further along in the journey than us mentor us and encourage us in our journey.
We men need men who are kind of where we are to help hold us accountable, challenge us, and sharpen us, as the Bible says “…iron sharpens iron…” Then we need to be pouring into those who are a couple of steps behind us. I believe, Sammy, that when we have those three types of relationships, not only are we going to grow, but we’re going to help other people develop and reproduce people.
Sammy: Yeah. I want us to go into that in just our next segment. I want us to go into that in more depth: those three types of relationships.