Master the Bible: How to Get and Keep the Big Picture of the Bible's Story

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Mas ter the B i b l e : How to Get and Keep the B i g P i c ture of the B i b l e ’ s Stor y

b. Those who bear burdens and love, Gal. 6.2 – Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

5. Encourages and equips members to share their faith with their immediate family and relational web, e.g., Philippian jailer, Acts 16

6. Serves new believers with consistent feeding and care from godly, spiritual parents, i.e., “Feed my lambs,” cf. John 21.15-17

7. Makes room for new believers to use their spiritual gifts in the body, Rom. 12.4-5; 1 Cor. 12.1-12; 1 Pet. 4.10-11 – As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: [11] whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

II. Growing to Maturity: A Biblical Profile of a Mature Disciple of Christ

Perhaps the most fundamental error many Christians make is to separate receiving salvation and being a disciple. They place them on different levels of Christian maturity, assuming that it is acceptable to be saved without having to commit oneself to those more radical demands of Jesus, like ‘taking up the cross’ and following him (Matt. 10.38). This assumption is grounded on the erroneous belief that salvation is primarily for man’s benefit – to make him happy and prevent eternal damnation. While God’s gift of salvation does meet man’s most crucial need, this humanistic, do-it-for-your-own-good pitch completely ignores the ultimate reason Christ died on the cross. God provides man [ sic ] with salvation primarily to bring glory to himself through people who have the character of his Son (Eph. 1.12). God’s glory is more important than man’s welfare (Isa. 43.7).

~ Keith Phillips. The Making of a Disciple . Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1981. pp. 17-18.