The 6 W’s of Discipleship
Facilitated by Pastor Joedy Lim
We’re all different in our walks with God… But whatever situation we’re in, these principles of Discipleship can be timeless with the proper mindset. We shouldn’t look at these as methods and programs to follow, but inspirations and principles to draw from. Great grace was upon the disciples, and it’s from great grace that we discipleship.
The First W: Welcome
Welcome to the family! Welcome to Manila, Welcome to Baguio! Welcome to your new job!
Welcome – What a beautiful word! And whether we realize it or not it is part of a man’s daily experience in life, and the more welcome he experiences, the richer his life’s meaning and purpose. And the opposite is true – the more rejection a man receives, the more dejection and unpleasant situations.
Part of discipleship is welcoming. And regardless of how much welcome we’ve received from the world, it’s the welcome we get from God that’s essential.
Defining Welcome
Welcome is a noun, meaning an instance or manner of greeting someone. It’s a greeting / salutation / hail / reception / acceptance / act of hospitality. The opposite of welcome as a noun is farewell or reject, while as a verb, the opposite is to shun, avoid, ignore or, also, to reject. As an adjective one who is welcome is gladly received, say as a guest or as a new arrival.
The idea, however, of welcome is as follows: Welcome is extended to one another in the different situations and relationships of life. It positively strengthens relationships, extends help, brings pleasure of camaraderie and friendships. It restores a broken relationships, and serves as a refuge to those who need it. Welcome also provides new opportunities to people, like a job or a citizenship.
A welcome also has power over life or death. A pregnancy welcomed leads to a new life, but a pregnancy rejected is aborted. We value each other. And as God welcomes us, so we welcome each other. As God values us, so we value each other.
The Biblical Aspect of Welcoming – The Creation of the Family of God
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26
‘In His Image’ is ‘tselem’ in the Hebrew – resemblance, hence a representative figure.
‘In His Likeness’ is ‘demuth’ – resemblance, like, manner, similitude
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.Genesis 1:27-30
Welcoming is sharing provisions and taking pleasure in each other. As we have been provided for, so we provide for each other and bless one another. As God takes pleasure in us, so we are able to take pleasure in each other. God’s heart is to extend this family to all who would want to be part of it.
And speaking of families, we’re to consider that the enemy hated us because we were created in His likeness, and the first thing he attacks is – surprise, surprise – families.
Running Away From The Family
And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:9, 15-17
Man was given a choice – He can eat any fruit from any tree (including the tree of life) BUT not from the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why? This tree represents religion. The choice was made, and as an effect, good or bad, all have been rendered sinners in God’s sight.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”Genesis 3:1-5
Satan’s temptation included doubt, distraction, deception and its effect led to curiosity that led to choice, that further led to a change of course or direction in life – away from God’s family, and consequently to death.
The Welcome Will Not End
Christ’s arms were outstretched on the cross… as a welcome. By Christ, the door to fallen man is not closed. Christ has ushered in unconditional love and abundant grace. His arms are wide OPEN to receive, to greet, to accept, and to welcome who would come to Him. ALL who would come to Him are welcome! Even those full of sin are met with open arms, for when sin abounds, grace abounds much more!
That’s right! We need to keep going back to Romans 5:19-21:
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Indeed, grace abounds!
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”Luke 19:5-10
The prostitute who washed Christ’s feet. Zacchaeus. The useless blind man. The wretched leper. Curious Nicodemus. The thief on the cross. Christ welcomed them all. And so Christ welcomes us… and we will never be away from this love. We will always be drawn back to this love.
Leading Up To The Big Welcome:
Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.John 17:7-24
The BIG Welcome:
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.John 6:37
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.1 John 3:1
Friends, through Christ we have all been accepted in the beloved, adopted as sons, acquired inheritance, made heirs and co-heirs with Christ, made able to grow in full life in Christ!
Why did Jesus tell us to make disciples? He wants His beloved children to know that they are welcome, and they have been given the blessed opportunity to grow in the knowledge of abundant grace! As Christ welcomes us, so we welcome each other into our homes, and fellowship. We enjoy each other – correct each other, encourage each other, listen to each other, talk to each other; we do all this because we have been loved that way, and so we love! All we do in fellowship, and in discipleship, has its roots and origins in love!
In closing:
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. Luke 15:17-24
***Here I was thinking that we would talk about the 3 W’s, but we spent time in Welcome. Beautiful stuff. As Christ welcomes us, so we welcome each other! -jb***
Until the next post, God bless you.
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