Discipleship: Keys to Connection

 

Why Relational Discipleship? 

Jesus commands it.

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  - Matthew. 28:19 NLT 

“Follower, disciple, sharing of life lessons that were fully intended to be lived out in day-to-day life.  More than learning in class, to be a disciple meant to have a relationship with the teacher.” – Joey Bonaficio

“To Jesus, teaching was just the vehicle to help people learn how to love God and others.  Relationships were the end goal, not teaching.  Discipleship is relationship!” – Joey Bonaficio

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” - Mark 12:30-31 NLT   

“Love God love people: connect to God, connect to people.  This to Jesus was what it means to be His disciple” – Joey Bonaficio

 

Jesus modeled it.

“After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. - John 21:15 NLT

It works.

“The most profound changes in our lives come through the people who have directly influenced us.” – Hans Finzel

 

Can We Trust?

Christians struggle in this area: “God is trustworthy-but not people!” … Our dependence on God is the only thing that causes us to become more trustworthy.”  -Julie Gorman

“Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord!” he replied. The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”

“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem!  And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”

 But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.” So, Ananias went and found Saul. - Acts 9:10-17 NLT  

 Keys to Connection

 1. Value

Visioning what another is becoming and trusting God to accomplish such – Larry Crabb

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.”  - Acts 9:26-27 NLT

 Find and Celebrate the Gold

“When he got there and witnessed for himself God’s marvelous grace, he was enthused and overjoyed.” - Acts 11:23 TPT

 2. Care

“So, the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.” John 1:14a NLT

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”. – Theodore Roosevelt

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” - Rom. 12:15 NKJV

 

3. Encourage

“When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” - Acts 11:23 NIV  

 “Faith in the possibilities of grace enabled Barnabas to look beyond the weaknesses he saw to focus on what God had done and could do in the life of the church in Antioch.”

 – Ajith Fernando

 In a study researching the power of encouragement it was found that:

The best-performing teams used about six times as many positive comments for every negative one. It found that the worst performing teams, on average, used three negative comments for every positive one. 

 

4. Relate

Your life in God connecting with their life in God and empowering them forward with God

“We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.” - 1 Thess. 2:8 NLT

A central task of the community is to create a safe place where walls can be torn down, and brokenness revealed.  Only then can the power of connecting do its job.  Only then can discipleship relationships be used of God to restore our souls

-Larry Crabb (adapted)

 

 Questions for discussion/reflection:

1.      What is holding you back from deeper connections with people you could be in a discipleship relationship with?

2.      Do you tend to see the value, the gold, in people around you, or are you more focused on their problems and issues?  Why?

3.      Do you regularly share encouragement, discouragement, or neither with people around you? Why?

4.      Do people around you, in your circle, feel valued by you?  Why or why not?

5.      What holds you back from being vulnerable and sharing deep aspects of your life with others?