Dear Discipleship-first Friends,
“Metanoesein kai pistos emoi genesesthai!” These were the words of Flavius Josephus to a group of Jewish rebels in 66 A.D. commanding them to abandon their current course of action and to instead come under his command and direction. In English, we recognize his words as, “Repent and believe in me!”
To the Christian, this is reminiscent of the call of Jesus in the first chapter of Mark, “Metanoeō kai pisteuō en ho euangelion!” or, “Repent and believe in the good news!”
What was the good news?
Jesus emphatically stated that the good news was, “The kingdom of God has come near!” (Mark 1:15).
The “good news” was that the King has come in person and he has established His kingdom, which will be fully consummated when he returns to the Earth. (Acts 3:21; Revelation 21:1ff) Therefore, the only proper response to the good news was to “repent,” to abandon our current course of action and come under the command of our ruling and saving King.
So, what does this have to do with discipling lost people into salvation?
You might have noticed in the statement of Jesus in Mark 1:15 that “good news” in Greek was, euangelion. The word, evangelism, is a version of transliterating the word, euangelion. Jesus proclaimed the gospel in Mark 1:14 and we are told to proclaim it in Mark 16:15. We proclaim the gospel (good news) that Jesus is the saving King and that we have been invited to repent and join His kingdom.
But is the expression, “proclaiming the gospel” something that is to be done in a church, through an evangelistic crusade, while standing on a street corner or through an informal discipling conversation? The answer is “yes”–proclaiming the good news includes all these forms of communication and more. But here is a good way to think about evangelism:
Think of evangelism as the front end of disciple making.
Now, if you grew up in North America you might be confused because you have always heard that evangelism was presenting a gospel that says, “Jesus died on the cross for your sins.” Someone might have even pointed you to 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 where Paul lays out the fundamentals of the gospel. However, when looking at these verses, we must remember that a first-century audience would have understood “Christ” to mean “the Anointed King” and that it was a direct reference to Jesus’ kingship both as an earthly descendant of David (as was written in Scripture) and as the enthroned King of Heaven after His resurrection. So, with that in mind, Paul wrote that the gospel was:
…that the Anointed King died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Cor. 15:3-4)
Thus, reading between the lines and understanding this statement as a first-century reader, the gospel is not only that Jesus died for our sins, but that He is the Anointed King, descended from David, and is now enthroned in Heaven after His resurrection according to the Scriptures.
We can summarize the gospel by saying that Jesus is our Saving King – he invites everyone into his kingdom.
It is important to couple salvation and kingship together. That Jesus died for our sins cannot be separated from the fact that He is our King. Our response is to pledge faith, which is allegiance and faithfulness, to our king. The response to him is to place our faith in him, which brings salvation and puts us in his kingdom. (Colossians 1:13-14)
Traditionally, we think of evangelism as something we engage in to lead people to conversion. And then discipleship as something we do after conversion, to lead people to maturity, as they become more and more like Jesus. We can diagram it this way:
But is this dichotomy taught in scripture? Let’s look at Matthew 28:18-20:
Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
In the Greek text, “make disciples” is in the imperative mode, which means it is a command that dominates the focus and meaning of the text. It is like Jesus said: make disciples, and here is how you do it.
Three expressions are in the participial mode, meaning they describe how you make disciples:
- Go
- Baptize (and)
- Teach Obedience
So, the great commission tells us to go, and; 1) disciple people into baptism (evangelism), and then; 2) disciple people to obey every command of Jesus (maturity). It would be better to diagram the teaching of Matthew 28:18-20 this way:
And, lets note something else… Evangelism, understood as proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, is something that does not stop at the point of conversion. I need to hear the gospel regularly after conversion, as part of my ongoing discipleship in Jesus. I need to hear it from others and I need to hear it from myself. As Martin Luther used to say, “we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily.”
So, in short, we can put it this way:
- We privately proclaim in discipling relationships and publicly the “gospel/good news” that Jesus the saving King came into the world to offer his kingdom to all who repent and turn to him by faith.
- King Jesus’ life, teachings, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension open the door to the salvation and new life found in his kingdom.
- We disciple people into faith in King Jesus so they can receive the salvation found in his kingdom.
- We disciple people into the faithfulness and obedience in King Jesus because it expresses the reality of his kingdom reign.
- We wait for King Jesus to return to fully consummate his kingdom – where we will live with him in sheer joy throughout eternity.
The only proper response to the good news is to “repent,” to abandon our current courses of action in life and come under the rule of our saving King.
Do you want to look at all the main stage sessions and breakout track sessions at the upcoming Forum?
ALL THE INFORMATION ON ALL THE TRACKS is a click away … go to M.DISCIPLESHIP.ORG.
For King Jesus,
Bobby & Curt