B.I.O. - The Jesus Way of Disciple-Making, Part 1

We've all heard at one point or another that the goal of the Christian life is to become more and more like Jesus.

But how does that really happen? What's God's part and what's our part? That's today.

Stay with me. Today's series we're calling Bio. Over the next handful of programs, Chip will explore the life of Jesus, focusing on three core habits he practiced and unpack how these habits can grow our faith and make us more and more like Christ. Well, there's a ton of ground to cover today, so if you're ready, here's Chip with his talk, The Jesus Way of Disciple Making. After pastoring for over 35 years, I'm hearing this story over and over and over again. Let me tell you the story of Bob and Mary, not their real names, but I think you'll pick it up. They've been married 30 years. They have two adult children.

And about 25 years ago, they had a great experience. They didn't grow up being overly religious, went to a social church now and then. And they had some great neighbors that were super friendly, invited them to their Bible teaching church.

And, you know, Bob was listening. He'd never read the Bible. He'd never opened to the Bible.

He'd never even heard about being, quote, born again and how to have a personal relationship with Christ. And after a few months in that relationship, Bob and Mary both trusted Christ. They came to know him.

They had this brand new joy. They started attending church regularly. They had these two little toddlers, and their life went on a pathway, pathway for about the next 20 or 25 years. And, you know, he heard messages about being in the Bible, and they went to an occasional Bible study. And they were pretty regular in church, and Bob even served as an usher now and then. Mary got involved with the women's ministry, and the ebb and flow was they tried very hard to be good moral people. And they were, and they were kinder than most.

And Bob was known as a man of high integrity at work. As the kids began to grow, they learned that it's very important for them to come to the youth group and children's ministries. And so they made sure they were in church. And, in fact, in those middle school years, they even put them in a Christian school. Now, they heard stories about praying at home and family altar and studying the Bible.

And Bob privately would say, look, I tried that a few times. I really couldn't understand the Bible. We didn't do that. But we attended church faithfully, and Mary and I worked hard. And, you know, the kids during, you know, the early high school years both made traveling teams, so we weren't all that regular then.

You know, we did our best. We raised our kids. And then I met with Bob and Mary, and they have a 28-year-old and a 26-and-a-half-year-old. Bob Jr. currently doesn't go to church anywhere, and he's living with his girlfriend. And Bob and Mary can't quite figure out why. Their daughter is getting some counseling now. She has some very significant mental health issues and anxiety. She doesn't know whether she believes in God. She's not sure about life, and she has some deep, deep confusion about her own identity. They've come to me and said, what happened?

Here's what I can tell you. Bob and Mary's story I wish was, like, so unusual, but it's one I'm hearing over and over and over again. And if I would say one thing, what was at the core of the issue with Bob and Mary's life? They genuinely came to know Jesus. They tried very, very hard to be good Christians. They were more moral than most people. They attended church regularly. They cared about their kids.

They had seasons where they weren't as faithful. But no one ever sat down with Bob and Mary and discipled them. In the words of theologian J.I. Packer, looking at the Western church, especially in the United States, he said this, Christianity is 3,000 miles wide and a half inch deep. Dallas Willard, USC professor, philosopher, and Christian speaker on the role of discipleship wrote this. The greatest issue, not facing the church, the greatest issue facing the world today with its heartbreaking needs is whether those who are identified as Christians will become disciples, disciples, students, apprentices, practitioners of Jesus Christ, and learn from him how to live the life of the kingdom of heaven into every corner of human existence. And finally, perhaps the most authoritative group currently in the world of evangelical believers, the Lausanne Movement and Conference has evaluated the church over the last decade and says the number one need in the church of Jesus Christ globally is discipleship, the actual learning and practice of not just understanding what Jesus taught, but actually following him and living out the life that he actually lived.

Well, what I want to do in our time together is talk about how do we experience this life that Jesus promised? I mean, what's it look like to be an authentic follower? Living on the Edge, we call it becoming a Romans 12 Christian. You know, that kind of person that out of the grace of God is surrendered to God and is separate from the world's values, they're on a journey.

They have a sober self-assessment. They're serving in love and they supernaturally respond to evil with good. How does that work and what's happened to Christianity in general?

How do we have this crisis of discipleship, what we like to call the discipleship deficit? Well, to look at that, let's look at the actual invitation of Jesus. What did he promise? What did he say?

What did he offer and how does it work? Remember Jesus said, I came that you might have life and you might have it abundantly, John 10. The problem is there's not a lot of followers of Jesus that are experiencing that overflowing abundant life. If you've ever watched the NFL game, you know the most famous verse in all of Scripture is John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shouldn't perish but have eternal life. And what I want to do in our time together is talk about what is that eternal life?

How does it actually get lived out? Well, Jesus gives us his own definition in John 17, verse 3. He says, this is eternal life, that they may know you, speaking of God the Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. It's an equality of life.

It's not just quantity. I thought for years that eternal life was something you get after you die because you're a Christian and you've trusted in what Christ did on the cross for you in his resurrection. But that's not what Jesus taught. Jesus taught that eternal life certainly goes on forever and ever, but eternal life is the actual life of Christ that comes and takes up residence inside of you.

And it goes on forever and ever and ever. And God's plan is that we would actually little by little by little on this journey of discipleship would become more and more and more like Jesus. We'd begin to think like Jesus. We'd begin to pray like Jesus. Our morality would change, not to earn or gain God's favor, but our morality would change because from the inside out, God is changing our character and changing our desires. That the Word of God and the Holy Spirit working with us in the context of his church community would little by little transform you and transform me into little Christ ones.

It was a derogatory term, but the early church was so much like Jesus in how they spoke and how they acted and what they did that they said, oh, they're little Christ ones, these Christians. Well, how does it work? How do we become those kind of people? Let me invite you to follow along with the very invitation of Jesus. Let's go back to the beginning.

I want to get very, very clear on the basics. Jesus said this in Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30. This is Jesus' invitation to you and to me and to everyone. He says, come unto me, all of you that are weary and heavy laden, especially heavy laden with religion, heavy laden with the pace of life, weary with trying so hard to be a good person, overwhelmed with all the demands, all the messages that we get.

Here's what qualifies us. If you're heavy laden and overwhelmed and you need help, here's the invitation. He says, come to me. And then notice the promise, and I will give you rest. And then here's the next step that I don't think is being taught or followed. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

Why? For I am gentle and humble and hard. In other words, this isn't signing up for a new job. This is Jesus saying, come to me, this eternal life, this new kind of life, this life of power and love and joy and peace. I'm gentle and humble, and it's a process. And we're going to learn in a minute what that yoke is and what it looks like. And then he goes on to say, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

I'm gentle and humble and hard. And here's the promise, and you will find rest for your souls. And then here's the part that when most Christians read this, including me, you think, really? For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

I did a little research on this, and here's what I can tell you. We must come to Jesus and learn from him if we're to experience the life that he promised. Let me say that again. We must come to Jesus, right?

An event. And then learn from him if we're to experience this eternal quality of life, this life of love and joy and overflowing that we read about and we talk about and we share about. But according to the research, maybe 8.5 out of 10 Christians are not experiencing this kind of eternal, qualitative life. And so when you look at this passage, look at our responsibilities.

They're pretty simple. The first is to come, to put your faith in Christ, to believe on his work on the cross, that he died in your place, he paid for your sin, he rose from the dead, and by the grace of God, you have been forgiven and you've received that by faith. And then notice when we come, the promise is rest and peace and acceptance. And then he says, take my yoke.

Here's what you need to understand. He was a rabbi, and when he was speaking to the people of his day, and he said, take my yoke, a yoke was, I want to follow this rabbi. That means I want to embrace his teaching and I want to embrace his way of life. There were many rabbis, and they had their own schools, their own kind of little academies.

And so the people following Jesus called him rabbi. And so if you were going to follow the rabbi, your goal was to first be with him, second, to become like him, and third, to absolutely master his teaching so that someday you could be a rabbi and the very things that he taught you and the kind of character that he had, you pass on to your disciples. And so when he says, take my yoke, he was saying, I want you to submit to my teaching. I want you to learn it. I want you to embrace it, and I want you to follow it.

And then I want you to imitate my lifestyle. This is how to pray. This is how I treat people. This is how you treat people.

It's literally to mimic the actual life of the rabbi. And what he says is that instead of a stern, here's something to live up to. This is going to be difficult.

It's going to be challenging. He says, no, no, I'm gentle and humble of heart. I'm going to walk with you. I care about you.

I want to cherish your soul. I want to be on a journey with you where this comes out of the love relationship, not some sort of performance. And then notice finally this idea of learning. When we learn something, A, it's a process. Two, it takes time.

And three, are you ready for this? It takes practice. Some of you play the guitar.

Some play the piano. Some have played multiple sports. To get really good at any of those things, you need to learn some things about how to do it.

And then you have to practice and practice and literally go into training to cultivate those skills. The same is true in being a follower of Jesus. This is the part that I think we've missed. We have taken years of learning about the teachings of Jesus. We discussed Jesus. Bob and Mary actually went to some Bible studies and they watched a video. And then they talked about what Jesus said. And this is how Jesus acted. And the Bible teaches that he's fully God and that he's fully man. They understand all these things about Jesus, but no one sat down with Bob and Mary and said, this is the way of Jesus.

This is what he actually did. Let's do what Jesus did. Let's practice his actual lifestyle. Because the life change, that eternal type of life, that quality of life that brings love and joy and peace and purpose comes not just from understanding his teaching, but it's also embracing his practice. Coming to Jesus as an event and a lifelong process of learning to follow his example and his teaching. The event is salvation.

Okay? Yes, you trust in Christ at a certain day, at a certain time. I recognize, you recognize, you fall short of the glory of God and we turn from our sin and in the empty hands of faith, we receive Christ.

Right? Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5-1.

That's the event. And then there's a process. And the process is discipleship. Once people heard the message to come, then Jesus said, follow me.

Follow me. And that means do what I do. Follow in my footsteps and you will become fishers of men. And he didn't mean they would just become evangelists.

What he meant was, I'm the rabbi. You become my apprentice. You follow in my steps and then the day will come when you will have others follow in your steps.

You will be a fisher of men like a good rabbi is who has an academy of disciples that submit to his teaching and want to be with him and emulate his lifestyle. And finally, there's a path. There's a way to get there. And Jesus said, here's the path or the way or the road to get there. John 14, 6. I am the way and the truth and the life.

No man comes to the Father except by me. Jesus' life is the path. Jesus is the path himself. That little word where he says, I'm the way, in Greek it's the word hados. It's translated path.

It's translated a road. In all the wisdom literature, if you read Proverbs or often many of the Psalms, you'll hear about there's a way that seems right to a man, but it ends in death. But there's the way of the righteous. There's the way of the wicked. There is a path or a pattern, if you will, that followers of God have followed that bring life and righteousness and life change. And there's paths of selfishness and self-righteousness and wickedness and lying that take us down paths that lead to death. And so it wasn't just Jesus' teaching, but there was this path or his practice.

Listen carefully. If you want to experience the life that God offers, here's the key. We need to not just listen and believe what Jesus taught. We need to practice what he practiced. Jesus practiced two things throughout his life. He practiced dependency on the Spirit of God and submission to the Father's will. As you study his life, you will find that he did three very essential practices. He came before God regularly.

The longest day of his whole ministry is Mark 1 35. He's healed deep into the night. He's cast out demons.

He's been rejected. He's had all these things happen. It was early morning, late night. And it says the very next day, a great while before dawn, he arose and went to a lonely place. And there he spent time with his father recalibrating.

He was always depending on the father. He was fully God, but he lived as a perfect human being dependent. He did all of his work by the power of the Holy Spirit. You read the Book of Luke.

I actually jotted them down. In Luke, chapter 5, verse 16, chapter 9, verse 18, verse 28, chapter 11, multiple, multiple times. And as he tells the story of Jesus, he says, And Jesus slips away to get by himself and pray. Or when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray and he shocked them, Our Father. Jesus' practice was to come before God daily, to live before the face of God.

He not only met with him privately and spent time with him, but he was living out the presence of God, keeping his eye in the midst of all the things he's doing in his life. He's keeping the sense of the presence and the power of the Father. Am I pleasing him? Am I doing his will?

Am I listening to what he wants me to do? You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll get you back to our series, Bio, three essential practices to becoming more like Jesus in just a minute. But quickly, I want to remind you that we are in the middle of our year-end match. Thanks to a few close ministry friends, every gift we receive until December 31st will be matched dollar for dollar.

For more information about how to partner with us, go to livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. And thanks for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well, let's rejoin Chip now for the remainder of his message. The second thing Jesus did is he did life in community. He comes out of the baptism water and John the Baptist says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And a couple of his disciples said, wow. And so they go up to Jesus and Jesus, where are you staying?

Jesus says, come see. And they spend the day together and he just hung out with them. And they said, you know, I'm going to go to a wedding.

Would you guys like to come? And he hung out with them and he spent time in relationship. And then later on, when he began to see the ministry as moving forward and he'd done miracles and established his credentials by the miracles and the power, he prayed all night and he chose 12.

Are you ready for this? That they might be with him. He did life in community. He wanted them to understand that this is the practice. And then the very last night, he takes a towel, takes off his outer garment. He washes their feet and he says to them, I, being your Lord and Master, have served you. Blessed are you if you love one another in the same way.

Jesus lived in community. He says to them, I have longed for this hour that I could share it with you. When he's going to the cross, he asks three of his closest disciples, I need you.

I want to be with you. He's not doing it on his own. Will you pray with me? Jesus had three major practices. He came before God daily.

He did life in community and he was on mission 24-7. When he went to that lonely place to pray, I believe what he was doing is recalibrating. All the disciples came and said, Lord, Lord, I mean, the massive crowds and the miracles and all the people that got healed, the crowds, they all want you, they want you, they want you.

And in Mark chapter 1, right after verse 35, he says, it's a very interesting phrase in the Greek New Testament. He says, I must, it's what's called a D of necessity. He says, I must go to other villages for that is why I came.

He was tempted to get pulled into the crowd, into the popularity. But Jesus says this, my mission is to seek and to save that which is lost. For the Son of Man did not come to the world to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. Jesus constantly had three practices along with his teaching. And what he did is he said, gentlemen, this is the way I live.

And then he taught them to follow the way. And it's when we absorb his teaching and then submit to his lifestyle. That's when we begin to experience the very eternal life that he talked about.

And in fact, don't take my word for it. Jesus clearly taught his disciples what was required to continually experience the supernatural life he gave to them. He says to them, you must come before God. His very last night, right, very last night, what's he going to say to them? He gives them hope in John 14, right?

I'm preparing a place for you. And then they go out and he knows that, you know, within hours he's going to be crucified. And he takes him to a vineyard and he's at this vineyard and he begins to say to them, read John chapter 15, the first 11 verses.

And what's he do? The Father is a vine dresser, I am the true vine. And then he talks about, here's the deal, just stay connected to me. My life, you've been around me physically, you've seen me, but my very life is going to come and dwell in you. He promised in chapter 14 he was going to send the Spirit. In chapter 16 he gives him the details. And then he says to them, if you abide in my word and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish. He says, by this my Father is pleased that you bear much fruit.

What's the fruit? That you become like Jesus, that you care like Jesus, that you love like Jesus. And so he talked to them the first 11 verses about coming before God and staying connected through God's word and prayer and their connection to one another. And then he says the only way to do this is in community with one another. Greater love has no one than this, right, verses 12, 13, 14 in John 15, that one laid down his life for his friends. He's saying to the disciples, you can't do this alone.

You need deep, authentic community relationship with one another where you really share your hurts and your struggles, where you hold each other accountable, where you're willing to literally lay down your lives for one another. And after that he said, you did not choose me, but I choose you. And no longer do I call you slaves, but I've called you friends for all things the Father has revealed to me I've made known unto you. And then he says to them, again, love one another. And as you go through the whole chapter, John 15, he talks about the Spirit will bear witness of me. And then he says, and you all, disciples, will bear witness of me. When you look at the final thing that he says, he tells them, in order to be a follower and this eternal life experienced, he modeled it number one, and then he taught them all through the Gospels and especially in John 15. To experience the life of Jesus, you need to come before God daily.

You need to do life, the apostles would later say, weekly, because they would have a love feast and they would eat together and they would share the Lord's Supper and they would meet from house to house. And finally, you need to be on mission 24-7. I came to seek and to save that which was lost. And he's saying, you are going to be little Christ-like ones. And the mission that I had, now I give to you. All power in heaven and earth has been given to me.

Those were his final and last words. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, all ethnic groups, literally. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them not to just listen or learn, teaching them to obey all the things that I taught you. And then here's the promise, you'll never be alone.

I will be with you always, even to the ends of the earth. What I want you to see is that Jesus' life, his actual practice, his yoke, his way, his steps, what he actually did had three essential practices. He did it, he taught the disciples to do it, he expected them to do it, they did it. And as they did it, what happened?

They turned the world upside down. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, The Jesus Way of Disciple Making, from our series, Bio, Three Essential Practices to Becoming More Like Jesus.

Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. It's been said that the 21st century church is thousands of miles wide, but only an inch deep, meaning many people identify as Christians, but few truly identify as Christians. Many people identify as Christians, but few truly live out a life that honors God. In this new series, Chip takes us on a journey through the Gospels, revealing the profile of an authentic follower of Christ. Together, we'll explore the discipleship path Jesus modeled while on earth, built around three simple yet powerful practices that will help us live out our faith.

You're not going to want to miss a single program of this meaningful series. I'm joined in studio now by Chip, and Chip, as we look back at this last year, we've seen God use this ministry in incredible ways. So take a minute, if you would, and reflect on where we've been the last 12 months, and where Living on the Edge is headed in 2025. Well, Dave, I am happy to talk about that.

In fact, I'm very excited to talk about it. In 2024, we created more new messages and more resources. We saw Christians get strengthened and be bold and be willing to be kind, but to take a stand for the truth at a time where it is absolutely critical. And as we are in a world that is very, very topsy-turvy, there's never been a more important time to teach God's Word clearly and practically and right into the issues of the culture. Second, we went upstream, and we began to train pastors and leaders here and all across the globe. I mean, it has been mind-boggling of the hundreds of thousands of pastors that we've met face-to-face, in person, where they are, and not just giving them a little talk or even some resources, but a very clear pathway.

I just came back from the Dominican Republic recently, and that was our third time with the same group of pastors helping them go from getting out of crisis, developing a discipleship pattern, and now, how do I disciple the people in our churches? So it has been a fantastic season. We launched brand-new resources in partnership with Steiger to reach the next generation. We have pierced the darkness, and in 2025, our passion is to bring forth the light. We just need to literally, by God's grace, expand and develop every door that God has already opened. And so that's going to require prayer and financial resources. As we think about 2025, and as you think about how you see the world right now, what the issues are, especially here in America, and some of the real challenges that we're facing, would you help us bring forth the light?

Thanks so much. Well, if you're already supporting us, thank you. Your gifts are helping us in profound ways all around the world. But if you're still looking for a way to make a difference, let me suggest becoming a financial partner. And right now is a great time to join the team, because thanks to a handful of donors, every gift we receive between now and December 31st will be doubled. To send a gift, call 888-333-6003, or visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. That's LivingOnTheEdge.org.

Or call 888-333-6003. App listeners, tap Donate, and thank you in advance for doing whatever God leads you to do. As we wrap up, Chip, can you talk a little bit more about the responsibilities we have as Christians in order to receive the promises that Jesus offers us?

Yeah, great question, Dave. I think there's two extremes here. I think there's one school of thought, you know, somehow, mysteriously, everything's going to go our way, and I have this sort of Eastern mindset of I'm letting go and letting God. And I think the other extreme is I've got to do everything. I'm in charge. I'm going to read the Bible. I'm going to memorize this.

I'm going to do that. And God is going to fit into a box. And in fact, Jesus gave us the very clear pattern of receiving His promises. He says, Here's your part. Come to me. Here's my part. I will give you rest. Here's your part. Take my yoke upon you.

And we already discussed this in the message. It's submitting to His teaching, and it's actually teaming up with Jesus to say, I can't live this Christian life. I can't be who you want me to be. But Christ living in me can. So I'm going to go into training to do life with Jesus, and I do that by the power of the Holy Spirit living in me. I do that by engaging in God's Word habitually, and I do that by connecting with other believers. And so then I have this tremendous promise that He says, Because I'm gentle and humble in heart.

So many of us have such a warped view of God that we feel like we never measure up. And He's saying, I want you to submit to My teaching. I want you to be all in with Me, and I'm not going to shame you, and I'm not going to be down on you. I'm going to put My arm around you, and we are going to go through this life together. Your God loves you so much, and He loves to be with you. Bio is a lifestyle to embrace. Thanks for that word, Chip.

I think a lot of people really needed to hear it. And before we go, we want to help you get an accurate and holy view of the Heavenly Father who loves you. So let me encourage you to visit livingontheedge.org and search for The Real God. You'll find Chip's popular book, The Small Group Resource, and the insightful broadcast series he taught on this subject. Our prayer is that through whatever tool you use, you'll better know and worship the God we serve. Again, to learn more about any of these resources, search for The Real God at livingontheedge.org. Well, join us next time as Chip continues his series, Bio, three essential practices to becoming more like Jesus. Until then, I'm Dave Drouy, thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.