Study 10 of 13 on Discipleship
“Words are amazing emissaries but can also be vicious detractors…we can build bridges or blow them apart all by joining letters, words, and sentences together. A young lady from Malaysia chose a college far from her homeland. She chose this college because of its Christian values. The first Sabbath she was there the people at church invited her to a potluck. The young lady was appalled that church members would take their luck with pot. She later discovered it was the sharing of a meal and not a free for all drugfest….True story! …Jesus knew how to use his words so all people could understand the Gospel. He told stories with metaphors that even the foreigner could understand. Perhaps to reach more of the world, we need to translate out of Christianese…and speak like Jesus did…to all people with an understanding of where they are.” –Falvo Fowler
Scriptural Basis: Isa. 56:6–8; Matt. 11:20–24; John 12:20–32; Rom. 15:12; Acts 1:7, 8. Key Text: “‘For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’” (Isaiah 56:7, NKJV).
1. How do you understand the mission of “making disciples” of all nations? 2. What hinders our mission to reach all nations? 3. This week’s study draws parallels between Israel in the Bible and the modern church today. • What are the similarities and how can we avoid the pitfalls? 4. Matthew 11:20-24, Luke 4:25-30, John 10:16: • What do these texts have to tell us about the reach of the gospel and our discipleship of nations? • What should we be careful about? 5. What does John 12:25 tell us about the cost of discipleship? • Is the cost too high? • Is this what hinders nations accepting Christ? • Or is our focus on the cost overshadowing the joy of the gospel? 6. Think of Pentecost: what was so amazing about that event in terms of the people? 7. What models of discipleship can we glean from the story of the Good Samaritan 8. How can a church better reach the diverse community around it? Paolo Benini from Italy contributed to the questions of this lesson