Discipleship 101

"...John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus, as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus." - John 1:35-37

We all know John the Baptist as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness..." the one who would "make straight the way of the Lord." But aside from His God given biblical titles, in John 1:35-37 we see that John was also an example of HOW to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let's observe

1. First we see that John was a man who had some disciples of his own. The temptation is to deem him as a successful "Disciple maker" because he had a group of men who passionately followed him. But John's success is NOT found in how many people followed him. John was successful because his followers followed the CAUSE he followed, NOT John Himself. I believe John was very well aware of the lingering temptation behind the door of having "many followers" as a leader. Hence why he said in John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease."
2. Secondly, within this passage of scripture John conveyed his followers to become follows of Jesus by the way John BEHELD JESUS. Behold means to "Be sure to see!," i.e. "Don't miss this!" John spoke about Jesus, and beheld Jesus in such a way that it caused his followers to passionately follow after what He had beheld.

From this passage of scripture, and from the lifestyle of John the baptist, here are a couple of things we can take for application in regards to "Making Disciples"

1. YOU ARE NOT JESUS - A good disciple maker's disciples follows of the CAUSE, not of the leader of the Cause. John the baptist knew He wasn't the Savior, he simply longed for all men to know JESUS and follow to Him. Period. For those of us who long to make disciples, be aware of the temptation to BE "The Savior" rather than PREACH the Savior!
2. BE BOLD AND BEHOLD - They way we talk about Jesus is the way we behold Him in our hearts. "Out of the abundance of his heart the mouth speaks." - Luke 6:45. This week lets challenge each other to observe how we speak about JESUS! Do we speak with lightheartedness? Through intellect? Or Do we speak of Him as with the very weight of the glory of His name? As we observe our speech about Him through our conversations, let us ask ourselves...

How do I Behold Jesus?