I want to continue off my last post and talk about the gospel and discipleship. The gospel is something that affects not only our salvation, but every part of our lives. We had a speaker named Tim Klassen a few weeks back who talked about this. He challenged us to ask ourselves, what are the implications of this gospel on my life? This is the “What now” part of the question. If we’ve gotten through the why and the how, the question that remains is what now? What do we do with this good news once we’ve received it?
Tim said one thing that really stood out to me. He said “I’m not trying to live a legalistic life, I’m just trying to live out this life Christ has already given me.” This really struck me. The battle’s already been won. What Christ did on the cross is enough. It is finished. He has already paid the price to give me new life - all I have to do is accept it and live it out.
So what does that mean, to live out this life that Christ has already given me? That’s where discipleship comes in. Discipleship is the process of being taught and guided by mature Christians, to make you a more Christ-like follower of Jesus. There are two scripture passages that have helped me to understand the process of discipleship. The first is Luke 6:48: “he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock...” This is the first part of gospel-centred discipleship. The cross, who Christ is, needs to be the foundation at the core of everything we do. You have to be intentional about the foundation you lay. The foundation needs to be deep. God’s promises, his truth, and his commandments need to be so deeply rooted in your heart that they are a strong foundation in trial and temptation. And here’s the important part: it doesn’t matter how great your foundation is, unless it’s rock, it will not stand. If will build our lives on anything other than Jesus Christ, we will not stand. Pressures, trials, and temptations will come, and if we are not firmly rooted in Christ, we will not stand.
The second passage is Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” There is a pattern here of study, do, and teach. Ezra studied the Law of the Lord, then he did it, and then he taught it. This is very much like the pattern of discipleship; with other believers we study the word, we do it, and then we teach it. We can’t teach before we study. This is where community, where other believers come in. One thing we are told frequently on TREK is that wherever you are in your walk with Jesus, you need to be discipled by godly Christians who are more mature, or have more experience than you, you need to have people who are in the same place as you spiritually, who you encourage and who encourage you, and you need to have people who you are discipling, and teaching to be more like Jesus.
The gospel, the saving message of Jesus Christ, needs to permeate every aspect of our lives. It’s all about him. In our living, in our dying, everything needs to reflect him. His love, his grace, his mercy, his faithfulness. As I prepare to leave for Portugal next Wednesday, this message is close to my heart. Pray for opportunities for us to disciple others, for us to come alongside the Portuguese church and encourage and spur them on in their walk with God. I look forward to sharing Christ, and to hear, see, and experience what God is doing in the church there. We will be having a commissioning service on Thursday, November 1st at 7:00pm in the Columbia Bible College Chapel. If you are in the area, I would love for you to come, hear a little more from us, meet my team, and be a part of sending us off!
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for focus in these final days of training.
- Pray for safety as we travel November 7th.
- Pray for openness in the nation of Portugal, and that God would be preparing and working in the hearts of the people we will encounter.
- Please pray for God to continue to provide me with financial support. I currently have approximately $7400 still to raise.*
- Once again, for God’s continued blessing on MB Mission, and thanks for the work he is already doing through that organization and all their long and short term missionaries.
*If you would like to support me financially, you can donate online at https://secure.mbmission.org/donate/cdn/C7739 for Canadian donations or at https://secure.mbmission.org/donate/us/C7739 for US donations (select Brittany Reddicopp under "participants", or in person to me or directly to the MB Mission offices. Please contact me via phone at 604-226-4083 or email at brittany.reddicopp@gmail.com if I can help you with any more information.
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