The Three Layers of Biblical Discipleship
“Join a Sunday school class and read the book of John!”
That’s what they told me. I was newly saved and not really having been raised in the church, I had no idea what I ought to do now.
Most Christians don’t either when it comes to discipleship.
Every pastor will say they love the Great Commission but ask them how they actually go about making disciples of all the nations, and you’ll get a litany of answers. Many may know how, but the methodology displayed in the Bible runs contrary to modern church-building ideology. Others have no idea how to actually make disciples. I really didn’t either until just a few years ago.
I always thought discipleship was a couple of brothers getting together and going through a book. I survey Christians all of the time, “How has your discipleship experience been in the church?” and almost always, the answer is that it has been non-existent.
Many Christians struggle to even define what discipleship is.
Jesus knew. As our church began to explore the idea of actually doing the Great Commission, we turned to Scripture, to the greatest disciple-maker, Jesus, to see what we’d find, to ask the question, “What did the disciples do?” that we might then ask, “What do disciples do today?”
We found three men, Peter, James, and John, and determined that no men in the history of the church had received better discipleship than they. We saw three layers of discipleship as described below.
The First Layer
Matthew Chapter 4 describes the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as he “began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (verse 17) He then calls his first disciples, Peter, James, and John, though parallel accounts indicate that Peter’s brother Andrew was actually called first.
Matthew records that Jesus began to travel around and teach in the synagogues and preach the Gospel to great crowds. He did other things. He healed the sick and cast out demons, but the “great crowds followed him from Galilee” to all the places he visited. (v. 25) Next, “seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him,” as he began to preach the Sermon on the Mount. (5:1)
What did his disciples do in all of this?
They were just there. They were present, listening, hearing.
They heard the preaching and proclamation of the Gospel message. They listened. They observed Jesus’ great compassion on the people. The Scripture doesn’t say that they did anything other than witness and hear. Surely, they did other things, the Bible just doesn’t record it. Elsewhere, we see similar accounts of Jesus preaching and teaching to the masses and always, his disciples are right there with the masses, hearing the word of God proclaimed by the Word of God, Jesus.
What ought a disciple do today? Assemble with the masses, the corporate gathering of the body. Whenever the body gathers, the disciple ought to be there. I cannot think of why a disciple would not want to be with the church body to worship, to pray, to receive the preached word of God.
Listen, I’ve attended church services out of sheer mechanical religious duty, but I’ve never left a church gathering and said, “that was a waste of time.” I’ve never been anything other than thoroughly edified by gathering corporately with the church body.
It’s one of the ordinary means of grace given to us as God’s recipe for transformation, for conforming into the image of Christ. And if I am leading a man in discipleship, I’ll gently lead him to the gathering, whenever and wherever that may be, that they may likewise benefit from this ordinary means of grace.
The Second Layer
After calling Matthew with a simple, “Follow me,” Jesus and his disciples went to Matthew’s home for a great feast where all three synoptics record the presence of sinners and even tax collectors. They reclined at the table with Jesus, joyously breaking bread together. And where were the disciples, Peter, James, and John? They were right there with them, right in the middle of it all.
And as some Pharisees and scribes take exception to the sinful company, they get to witness Jesus respond, teaching in essence. Jesus was always teaching. As we read about other frequent, smaller gatherings in homes, we know that Jesus taught them many great lessons over the dinner table, at feasts and other gatherings.
There’s something special and intimate about meeting in a home. There is the opportunity for the host to exercise a gift of hospitality. There is the opportunity for guests to receive hospitality and rejoice in one another’s presence, in opening up a home to one another.
There’s something special and intimate about sharing a meal together, the breaking of bread. Immediately after Pentecost and the foundation of the church, Luke records that the early church met daily in one another’s homes, breaking bread, studying the teachings of the apostles, enjoying true and intimate fellowship. (Acts 2:42-47)
On the night of the last supper, Jesus gathered with his disciples in someone’s home. He also added an element, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, one of two ordinances given the church that is likewise one of the ordinary means of grace. The Lord’s supper binds us together, unites us in fellowship, reminds us, and offers us an opportunity for repentance.
But in the home is where people begin to shed their outer shell, to be vulnerable and transparent, to establish real and lasting relationships. There is magic in the home gathering for sure and if your church does not have one, you ought to engage your leadership. If I’m in discipleship with a brother, I’m entreating him to be a part of our church’s homegroup ministry and if they don’t have one, we’re starting one.
The Third Layer
Scripture records an inner circle. You guessed it, Peter, James, and John.
On three occasions, Jesus deliberately takes the three aside: at the Mount of Transfiguration, at the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. Here, alone with the three, Jesus reveals something about himself by the miraculous and is especially intimate in his prayers.
In Gethsemane, he was “greatly distressed and troubled” as he prayed. (Mark 14:33) He chose the three to be with him during perhaps this fullest revelation of his humanity, contemplating his impending crucifixion.
In discipleship, we ought to have an inner circle, a core group, that meets together regularly outside of other church gatherings, be they home or corporate. Here is the fullest expression of intimacy, of transparency and vulnerability, of intentional time spent around the word of God, growing together in the word, iron sharpening iron.
At our church, we seek to imitate Jesus, groups of three disciples with a disciple-maker. We don’t always get that exactly right, but as I’ve surveyed those who’ve participated in this, they all attest to the greatest time of spiritual growth in their life when they were doing this.
The Result
Again, has anyone received better discipleship in the history of the church than the Apostles Peter, James, and John? Arguably Paul.
Did it work? Peter preached the very first sermon at Pentecost, took the Gospel to Cornelius the Gentile, wrote a few letters, and was a pillar of the church until he was crucified upside down around 68 A.D. John did some things. He cared for Jesus’ mother, wrote a Gospel, a few letters, the apocalypse, living until near the end of the 1st century. He too was a pillar of the church. James too, a pillar of the early church, was chosen to be one of the first Christian martyrs. (Acts 12:1-2)
Seems effective.
The Problem
It’s comprehensive. As I laid this out for a fairly new convert she remarked, “that’s a lot,” and it is, especially for those used to keeping their faith separate from their real life, like the bulk of western Christians. Churches talk about “doing life together” all the time. Well, this is what it looked like in the Bible, but once you buy in, once you start taking steps, at some point, it just becomes what you do.
It's inefficient. As I sat with a single brother in a discipleship meeting the other day, I thought to myself, “what a waste of time…from a secular perspective.” We could be doing so many other things to build the church en masse like VBS or youth groups or scheduling a revival. Yet, we see Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, focus his divine efforts upon a few and change the world in doing so. The problem is that you cannot mass-produce disciples despite the western church’s frantic efforts to do exactly that. It takes time, but it’s worth it for sure.
Which layer is most important? I’m convinced that each brings a vital aspect to the Christian’s walk. Lacking any of these, your walk will be likewise lacking. Once you get a glimpse of this though, and start to see people come alive in the faith through true discipleship, you’ll never do without. It is powerful indeed, truly transformational.
