Dear Discipleship-First Friends,
Let’s start with what scripture does not teach – a transactional gospel. That is a truncated gospel you can share in 60 seconds, it only features Jesus offering eternal life when you die, if you make a transaction with him – your part is to simply give him mental assent or trust. Just say a short prayer to make the transaction, and your eternity is forever changed. There is no concept of the Lordship or Kingship of Jesus, no repentance, no pledge of allegiance, no commitment to being a disciple or a life of discipleship in Jesus.
We cannot find this transactional gospel in scripture.
Yet it is very popular today and it helps explain why millions of North Americans claim to be saved by Jesus, but they do not demonstrate the fruit of true faith or lives of discipleship in Jesus.
We believe that scripture teaches the King Jesus Gospel. And so should we… it has two key parts… the gospel itself and the gospel response of true faith.
The Gospel of the Kingdom:
When Jesus states that His gospel “will be preached in the whole world” He calls it “the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 24:19). Bill Hull puts it this way:
What is the kingdom gospel? It is the proclamation of the rule and reign of Christ over all of life.”[i]
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The King Jesus Gospel is about both salvation and discipleship. All who respond to salvation are freely saved and, at the same time, called to discipleship by faith, no exceptions, no excuses (Mark 8:34–38; 1 Cor. 15:1–8). It is about kingdom life then and there (when we die), but also here and now (in this life). It is about surrendering to the risen and saving King to have our sins forgiven and our lives changed, so that we learn to die to ourselves and live for him (Galatians 2:20).
Note the following summary of the gospel – which points to Christ’s forgiveness, but also his reign and the promise that he will soon return to judge the living and the dead:
Jesus is the Saving King who:
- Pre-existed as God the Son.
- Was sent by the Father into our world to rescue us and establish His kingdom reign.
- Took on human flesh in fulfillment of God’s promises to King David.
- Lived as the ideal Israelite – and humanity’s ultimate teacher and example.
- Died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and was buried.
- Was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
- Appeared to many witnesses.
- Was victoriously enthroned at the right hand of God as the ruling King.
- Has sent the Holy Spirit to His people to effect His rule, and
- Will come again as final Judge of the living and dead and then he will punish those who reject the gospel and consummate his rule in eternity for those with true faith.
Therefore, when we respond to the gospel of King Jesus, we are not merely responding to an offer of salvation from the penalty of our sins, we are responding to the truth that Jesus the Anointed King has conquered sin, death, and decay, He now reigns at the right hand of God and He will restore all things in heaven and earth, including those who have come to Him for forgiveness of sins. We surrender, knowing that we will all stand before our king, both believers and non-believers, for a judgement of our lives. As Paul wrote:
…the gospel I preached to you… 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 Corinthians 15:1-4, AT).
Faith in the Gospel:
The proper response to the gospel of King Jesus is not only to accept His pardon of sin, but to place our faith in Him. The faith the Bible teaches includes trust, but focuses on allegiance to His Kingdom. Please note, the primary way the Greek word for faith (pistis) is understood is allegiance. Again, we translate pistis as faith and faithfulness. We are saved by grace, through pistis.
However, as should be apparent to all, a pledge of allegiance that is not fulfilled by a commitment of action is an empty and meaningless sentiment. Imagine reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America at every opportunity given but then refusing to live in such a way that honors and benefits the country. Truthfully reciting the Pledge of Allegiance should only reflect a reality that exists within you.
Likewise, responding to the gospel of King Jesus with anything less than a commitment to develop embodied allegiance demonstrates that you do not understand the true gospel and the kingdom may not be within you, and you may not be within the kingdom.
Let us clarify how this is not salvation by works. Salvation by works postulates that we earn our place in the kingdom by being a generally good person. It holds that our good deeds outweigh our bad ones. Salvation via the gospel of the kingdom teaches that our sins have excluded us from the kingdom regardless of our good deeds. Only through the sacrifice of the King are our sins forgiven and the doors of the kingdom opened to us; but we must still enter the kingdom as a citizen who swears allegiance to the King. And once again, allegiance that is not fulfilled by embodied action can be a meaningless sentiment. As Dallas Willard often stated:
Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.”[ii]
So, what does embodied allegiance to King Jesus look like? Is it just being a good person?
This is probably one of the greatest points of confusion in North American Christianity. Christianity is not being a good person. Being a Christian is abandoning our former life, whether we were a good person or a bad person, and becoming a disciple of Jesus. We imitate and obey Him, thereby being conformed into His image through the power of the Holy Spirit. As Paul wrote:
…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:14-15).
God supernaturally empowers believers through the Spirit to be able to carry out their pledge of faithful allegiance, but we must make that initial commitment in faith. As Bill Hull wrote:
People become Christians when they decide to follow Jesus. They may not believe everything the Bible teaches. But if they can get the basic facts and from them reach the point of wanting to be a follower of Jesus, they are on their way.”[iii]
When we say, “The Discipleship Gospel,” what we are really talking about is the proper response to the gospel of King Jesus. The gospel is the gospel whether we respond to it as a disciple of Jesus or not. The gospel of the kingdom is God’s side of the equation. Submitting to become a disciple of Jesus through allegiant faith in His kingdom is our side of the equation. As Jesus taught:
The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15).
The very next thing recorded by both Mark and Matthew is Jesus going to Peter, James, and John and He invites them:
Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).
We don’t think it is a coincidence that these two invitations are next to one another in Scripture. We believe they are the same thing. To “repent and believe the good news that the kingdom has come near” is to turn away from our former way of life, whether good or bad, and to enter into the kingdom where we follow King Jesus as His disciples.
At Discipleship.org, we use Jesus’ words in Matthew 4:19 to define what it means to be a disciple of Jesus:
- Follow me – Imitating and obeying Jesus as His disciple.
- I will make you – Being changed by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Fishers of men – Being committed to the mission of Jesus to make more disciples of Jesus.
The end goal of the gospel of King Jesus is not just that we are saved from the penalty of our sins in hell, but that we are recreated back into the image of God that we were created to be so that we are able to inhabit a recreated heaven and earth. It is through imitating and obeying King Jesus, who is the only perfect image of God, that this recreation occurs. This is why the only correct response to the gospel of King Jesus is that we follow Him as His disciple.
In The Discipleship Gospel, Bill Hull and Ben Sobels pull from the complete picture painted in Scripture and state the gospel as such:
The gospel is this: the Kingdom of God has come through Jesus of Nazareth. He is Christ, the King, God’s one and only Son. He died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and was resurrected on the third day according to the Scriptures. In His great love and by His amazing grace, God our Father saves everyone who repents of their sin, believes the gospel, and follows Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. When King Jesus returns on the last day, the great Day of Judgment, everyone who followed Him will enter the eternal Kingdom of God.”[iv]
By Bobby Harrington and Curt Erskine
[i] Hull, Bill. Conversion and Discipleship: You Can’t Have One without the Other (p. 38). Zondervan.
[ii] Willard, Dallas. “Live Life to the Full.” https://dwillard.org/resources/articles/live-life-to-the-full
[iii] Hull, Conversion and Discipleship (p. 27).
[iv] Hull, Bill; Sobels, Ben. The Discipleship Gospel: What Jesus Preached—We Must Follow. HIM Publications.