What About Discipleship?

Discipleship is the term used to describe one's growth as a Christian believer after salvation. It is distinct from salvation in that while salvation specifically denies association with works, discipleship is all about works.

However, it's not what you may think. To understand what discipleship is all about we must first examine how God created you.

You were created by God as a being with three distinct components. They are as follows:

BODY: This is the flesh and blood portion with which we are all familiar. You share this aspect of your creation with animals. It is your body that carries out your actions thoughts and intents.

LOWER MIND: This is the home for the soul and the sin nature. The soul is that part of you from which are derived feelings (or emotions) and instinctive behavior. Yes, animals were also created with a soul.

The lower mind is also home for the sin nature. The sin nature was inherited from your father all the way back to Adam (after the Fall). Consequently, animals have no sin nature (their behavior being learned or instinctive). The sin nature is a filter for all of thoughts and intents.

UPPER MIND: Home for the human spirit. The human spirit is that portion of our mind that asks the questions like, "Why am I here" or "What is life all about." It is that portion of you that seeks communion with God. Animals do not have a spirit.

The upper mind is also home to the Holy Spirit after one is saved. Prior to salvation, this portion of you was empty and available on a temporary basis for possession by Satan (or his minions). From this spot, Satan could influence you in a manner that would appeal to your sin nature to act as he desired. Once saved, the Holy Spirit takes up residence here and further possession is not posible. Only outside influence by Satan is possible after salvation.

Now, a word about your old sin nature (OSN). The OSN is subservant to direction from the upper mind. Both prior to and after salvation your sin nature acts to produce two kinds of effort (or works) as directed by the upper mind. One was human evil while the other was human good. The evil output of the OSN is easily recognizable. Human good is represented by those thoughts and actions that, while on the surface (to us) appear to be noble, but actually still fall far short of God's perfect holiness and, thus, are still deemed as sin. This is why all of our 'works' (as unsaved) are considered "filthy rags" to God. All of these works by a less-than-holy human spirit are sin when compared to God's perfect holiness.

However, as an immediate consequence of salvation, each believer is permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in the upper mind and effectively locks out possession by Satan or his minions. External Satanic influence is still possible, but the indwelling Holy Spirit never allows the external influence to take control. The Holy Spirit will never allow your OSN to be externally tempted beyond your capability to resist.

Once on board, the Holy Spirit acts to provide an available (yet never forced) option to control by your human spirit. For someone who is saved, their is the option by the human spirit to yield to God's soverignty and direction as provided by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Yielding to God allows the Holy Spirit to impose God's will through your human spirit to your lower mind and body so that the resulting 'work' or effort produced is devine good. Or, one could elect never to yield control to the indwelling Holy Spirit and, thus, never produce any devine good.

As a saved individual, how does one 'yield' to control by God? This is enabled by confession to God of your known sin(s) (1Jn.1:8-9). This places you back into fellowship with God (via the indwelling Holy Spirit)--sometimes referred to as "walking in faith." From this point forward, God can direct your behavior toward the production of devine good (DG) until such time as you break the fellowship by electing to commit a sin. At this point, you are back to producing either human good (HG) or human evil (HE). Fellowhip with God is re-acquired by again confessing your known sin(s).

You can see from the illustration that there is no middle ground. The fruit of the believer is very dichotomous. They are either producing devine good, or, a combination of human good/evil. In Scipture, devine good is referred to as "gold, silver, and precious stones" while human good/evil is referred to as "wood, hay, and stuble." Notice that there is no middle ground. There is no "polished brass," or "shiny quartz," etc.

The believer who is growing in Christ is asked to be Christ-like. This is only possible under the dichotimous view illustrated above. We are Christ-like when we are in fellowship and are conduits for the production of devine good. When we have sinned and fallen out of fellowship then our conduit is severed and all efforts are being produced in our own strength. Growning in Christ is shown in the illustration by the increasing time spent in fellowship.

Grace is not a doctrine that is to be placed on a shelf after salvation. It is the means through which God enables us to grow each and every day. As we spend time in fellowship (walk in faith) our faith becomes stronger resulting in an increased desire to remain in fellowhip. Thus, God is able to use us as instuments of His will for the production of devine good on a more frequent basis, as illustrated above. We are never the producers of the devine good, mind you. God performs the devine good while we are simply the yielded instrument. However, God pours out His grace on us as yielded instruments.

Yes, there are future rewards for having yielded ourselfs as vessels for God's use (see the study on Dispensations, particularly the Judgment Seat of Christ), but that's just the icing on the cake. God's daily grace is more than you can contain. It will fill you with contentment and spill out on everyone around you as fruit of the Spirit.