DISCIPLESHIP: A Roadmap to Spiritual Maturity

Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by PulpitAI (with edits)

Today we’re diving into a journey that is at the very heart of our faith—the journey of discipleship.

Know What You’re Signing Up For

Now I want to start by asking you a simple question. How many of you have been part of something where you had no idea what you are signing up for? Right? Maybe you agreed to help somebody move, and you thought, well, that’s gonna be like one hour of your time, and then that turned into like five hours, right? And boxes, and it’s like in an apartment building, it’s three stories up and down. It’s like, “Why did I sign up for this?”

Not to pick on Dr. Kydee, but one day she asked Christo and I to come and help her with horses, and she was away, and she had this cute little name for picking up horse poop, right? And we had no idea. It’s like, “Man, this sounds so exciting to do whatever Kydee is asking us to do,” and then it’s like, we had no idea what we were signing up for, right? And then she got us good for that one. Thanks, Dr. Kydee.

Maybe it’s like somebody asked you to look after some kids, and then that turned into like five kids, and they’re all loaded with sugar and running wild, right?

But today I’m gonna ask you to sign up—and more importantly, Christ is asking you to sign up—for discipleship.

What Discipleship Means

And I want you to know that you don’t have to wonder what discipleship is all about. Jesus is very clear in his communication through his Word with us in what that all means to be a disciple, or a follower, of Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat what it means to follow him. In fact, he’s pretty clear about it. In Luke chapter 9:23 he says:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple [or my follower, or a Christian] must deny themselves to take up their cross daily and follow me.”

So I know that’s not quite a casual invitation, but that is the reality of what it means to be a disciple.

And so over the next several weeks—next week I will be preaching on discipleship, and then we will have a guest speaker that’s gonna speak on discipleship, and then we’re gonna dig into 1 Corinthians. And so we want to just encourage you to really think differently around this very important topic.

So just maybe if you’re new to this word, this idea of discipleship, what does that mean? So a quick definition for you:

Discipleship is the process of growing as a follower of Christ, rooted in the teaching and life of Jesus. It involves moving from spiritual infancy to maturity, becoming more like Christ in character and in mission.

And so it means like, hey, as a new believer, or somebody that is saying, “Hey, I want to find out more about Jesus Christ,” and you give your life to Christ, and then you’re new, you’re like a baby in the faith, and in that discipleship process, you’re gonna grow. As you study God’s Word, as you hang out with other believers, and as you pray, you will be growing, and you will become more and more like Jesus. And obviously your identity in him, you will start to understand what your identity in Christ will look like, because first of all, and most importantly, as believers, as disciples of Jesus Christ, that is the most important identity piece that we need to hold on to.

 Obviously right now, in our house, it’s quite international, right? It’s like, you’ve got South Africans, you got a Minnesotan, right, you’ve got some wannabe Minnesotans, and then you have Italian. And as I was listening to Adrianna’s accent this weekend, it’s like, that is so sweet. Everything that she’s saying sounds just beautiful, right? And then you have my accent, like, from the Free State, South Africa. It’s like, “Lord, life just isn’t fair,” right? It’s like, Italians can say “pizza” and “spaghetti,” and it’s like, “Man, I am hungry,” and then I say it, and it’s like, “What is that guy saying?” Right?

But we all have different cultural pieces, and we have a different identity. But when we become a believer in Christ, that is the most important culture piece that we can take on our identity as followers.

Analogies for Discipleship

So, some analogies here for us as we think through discipleship.

Discipleship is not like gym membership, or not at least the way that I have gym membership, right? And it’s like, so you sign up, you’re all excited about gym membership, and you get the good-looking shorts, and the tennis shoes, right, and the headphones, and you pay that yearly fee, and then you show up one time, and then to think, “Oh, now I’m gonna be in shape.” It just doesn’t work that way. So, in the same way, discipleship—you can purchase the book, the Bible, you can come to church, but if you don’t apply it to your life, you will not be able to see your faith muscles grow. It just doesn’t happen that way. You actually—guess what? I know this is gonna be a surprise to you. You actually have to show up at the gym and do the weights and do the work. In the same way, when it comes to Christianity, there is some work for us to do.

Now, the second piece of that is when we think about home improvement stuff—we’ve been watching some home improvement things. And you know—and especially if you’re not as gifted like me, when you see—like several years ago, we had an issue with our toilet, and I was like, “Well, I’m just gonna replace this thing.” I watched about a hundred videos on how to replace the toilet. It’s like, “Well, I can do this.” I was motivated. I started that process, and there was all kinds of layers and challenges waiting for me, right? And something that should have been like 15 minutes took two weeks. Actually, Rob Benson had to come in and help me. And it’s like—and that can be true with discipleship too. Like, you can start; you can be excited about what does it mean to follow Jesus; you can purchase the Bible; you can start to read; you can go to church; and then suddenly you run into some challenging things. And that is the beauty of church. And that’s the beauty of us gathering. We’re supposed to do this in community, right? And where we can ask questions. We can be part of a small group where we can try and figure things out. I was so grateful to call Rob and been grateful over the years to call many of you to come and help me with some projects, and just that relief. And the same way, when you get stuck in your spiritual journey, reach out. Have people in your life that can help you and that can pray for you.

First Scripture Passage

I have two passages this morning that I want to share with us, and I’ll be very quick because I know you’re all excited to see pie in the face this morning. The magic number this morning that I’m praying for is $19,900. No.

Matthew chapter 16 says:

Then Jesus said to his disciples…

Now, I want you to know when we think about this word, or this title, “disciples,” this is what early believers were called. It was only later on in the book of Acts that we read about “Christians.” But when they talk about disciples, it is believers. So:

Then Jesus said to his disciples [his followers], “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”

Desire It

And so this morning, I want to start off with a big key to discipleship, and it is this: we have to want it. We want to desire it. Some translations will say “want;” some translations will say “desire.” And so there’s something got to happen in our lives where we want a desire to become followers of Jesus Christ, where we want a desire to know him more. And maybe this morning it starts with a prayer, because in the flesh, in the natural, a lot of times it’s like, who wants to take up your cross, right, and just to follow Jesus Christ? It’s so much easier to do the things of the world. Our flesh wants those sinful things. And yet Jesus saying, “Hey, whoever desires, whoever wants to be a disciple.” And so this morning, it starts for us to have a desire.

At the heart of discipleship is a deep, transformative desire to follow Jesus, a longing that goes beyond mere religious obligation or ritual. This desire is not something we can manufacture ourselves; it’s birthed through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, and it grows as we come to understand who he is and what he has done for us.

When you realize—like I said, it’s that spiritual revelation of who God really is and what he has done on that cross for you. And the Holy Spirit’s got to do that. I cannot do that for you, right? You’ve got to have that desire. If I’m gonna try and manipulate you or force you and say, “You gotta love Jesus!,” it’s not gonna last. It’s only gonna last till after the cup of coffee. So something—you’ve got to desire it in your own life. You’ve got to pray for that, and you’ve got to say, “Okay, if this God thing is real, if Jesus is real, if he’s really the son of God, if he really died on the cross,” and sometimes that might mean that you have to do some work, and you’ve got to figure it out, you’ve got to settle in your heart that this thing is real, then you say, “Okay, Holy Spirit, I’m coming to you. I want to be a disciple. I want to desire to go deeper in my relationship with you.”

Now, you just got to know—life is busy. There’s so many other things that we desire. You know? I desire ice cream. I desire pizza. I desire a good cup of coffee. Mmm. Right? But we don’t always desire Jesus.

And so even as we’re sitting here right now, I want to just pray over us. So just—I want you to close your eyes. And so Father God, I pray even right now. Lord, stir up a desire in our hearts to know you more. Holy Spirit, I pray that in the coming days, the coming months, the coming years, even those that are watching online—help us to pause. Help us to pay attention as your Holy Spirit is stirring things up in our lives. Lord, I pray that you will give us opportunities to just become quiet. Lord, we know that our lives are full, and we desire so many things. But Father, I pray in this moment. Supernaturally, Holy Spirit, help us to desire you more. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Deny Yourself

Secondly, as we think about discipleship, it means to deny yourself. Now, I don’t like this one, right? It’s like, none of us really like this one.

It means that we are to deny our own self-will, desires, and autonomy in order to align fully with God’s will. This is not merely giving up certain pleasures or habits, But a total reorientation of one’s life around Christ.

So, it’s not just something you do on a Sunday morning. It is something you do all the time, in laying down yourself and your own selfish desires. And you already started to do that this morning. You could have been in bed. Good job laying down yourself this morning! Good job for those of you that are watching online, and saying, “Hey, I’m gonna be here. I’m gonna learn from Jesus Christ this morning.”

So a starting point for us as we think about discipleship is this:

Therefore, the desire to be a disciple is a desire to put Christ first, even when it costs us something.

And discipleship will cost you something.

Second Scripture Passage

Now, the second passage I want to look at is Philippians chapter 3. It says:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

A couple of highlights here just as we think about discipleship.

Discipleship is a lifelong journey.

Okay? It’s not just, okay, this month I’m gonna be a disciple and then it’s over. It’s a lifelong journey.

We need a roadmap like a journey. We don’t become spiritually mature overnight; it’s a process of growth and transformation.

You don’t just jump into your car and say, “I’m gonna head to New Mexico,” right? I don’t even know where is New Mexico at this point in my car, right? And so there’s some planning. You figure out what’s the roadmap. How do I get there? Where do I need to stop for gas? Where are we gonna stop to sleep? Where am I gonna stop to eat? You kind of plan that out a little bit. And same thing when it comes to discipleship and our spiritual maturity. You don’t take your Bible and put it under your pillow and sleep on it and say, “Oh, tomorrow I’m gonna be a mature believer in Christ.” No, it just doesn’t work that way. That would have been nice in some aspects, right? Much easier. But that’s not the way that it works.

Discipleship—and you really need to hear me on this:

Discipleship is not about perfection but about a process. Every day, we are called to take one more step in our relationship with Jesus.

Do not look for perfection in this journey of relationships, because none of us are perfect. There will be days that you will mess up, right? And it’s not about just being perfect in that moment. And a lot of times when you strive for perfection, you will fail. And then you will be discouraged, and you’re gonna give up. You’ll say, “Oh, this Christian thing is too hard. Jesus is so disappointed with me because now I have messed up.” Guess what? We all mess up. And so it is not about perfection, but it’s about hanging in there in the long run. The Holy Spirit will do his work.

Look Forward, Not Back

We are not bound by past mistakes or success; instead, we are called to press forward, straining towards what God has ahead for us. This is a call to focus on the future with hope and anticipation.

Right? And so this scripture is just saying, “Hey, I’m looking towards the future.”

C.S. Lewis once said, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

Right? So don’t just live in the past. Don’t just live in your past mistakes, but think about, you know—be in the present and think about the future, too. It’s like, God will use your past, but don’t be so stuck there and on all of your hangups and things you have done wrong. No, we got to press in.

So when we look at this, the word “goal” that we read in this passage, the original Greek for this word is skopos, which can be translated as “goal” or “target” or “aim.”

It referred to a vantage point or a fixed target that someone would aim toward. In the context of a race, for example, skopos was the finish line or the point at which an athlete focused all their attention and energy.

I just want to pause there. So think about an athlete. Where are they putting their attention to and where are they investing their energy? And the same way when it comes to discipleship and our relationship with God, are we putting our attention around that and are we throwing our energy at that as well?

Not Already Obtained

Spiritual maturity involves a deep sense of humility. Recognizing that we have not already obtained all of this…

And we see this with Paul. Paul’s got it together. He’s a Jew among the Jews. He is way smart, and he’s saying, “I have not arrived.” What a humble spirit to be on that place. I don’t care how many podcasts you have listened to. And I’m talking to myself, right? Like, because I listen to a lot of podcasts. I read a lot of books and different things online. And we never get to that place where we can actually say, “Boom, I have arrived. I have it now all together.” You will be in for a surprise at some point in your life, right? Because even the angels—when we read Revelation, it talks about, you know, how the angels is worshiping God, and every moment they sing something new and something amazing about God. But don’t fall into the trap to think, “Oh, I’ve got this faith all figured out,” because none of us have it all figured out. You will fall on your face. Go on your knees. Be humble. Say, “Holy Spirit, lead me. I want to grow.”

Discipleship Pathway

Now, this morning, I want to talk to you, something—as a church, we’ve worked on something very important, something that we are excited about. And there’s a team that have worked on this, and I’m so grateful for them. And we’re calling it “Discipleship Pathway,” right? And so I know you’re not gonna be able to see all of this, but over the next several weeks—and we’re launching the first course. And there will be four courses.

Now, a lot of times when we think about small groups and different things, it’s easy to just pick random stuff, right? But there’s not an intentional pathway and direction on how to grow in your faith. And the reality is, at Salem right now, we have people that’s been at Salem for many years. You have a lot of the basics down, but there’s some of you that’s brand new in the faith, and you don’t have some of the basics down. And we want to help all of us.

Our plan and our hope is to get every person at Salem Covenant Church through this process. And so this is something that will be with Salem. We will constantly have a Course 1, a Course 2, a Course 3, and so we’re all launching kind of at Course 1 right now.

And here’s the other part. You might think that you have some of the basics down. So you’ll see in Course 1, we’ll talk about “Who is God?” “What does following Jesus mean?” And so even if you know, right, do you know how to communicate that? Because when you are a disciple, in Matthew we are told that we should be disciple-makers, right? And so you got to know what all of these things mean in your discipleship life, but also, can you communicate some of these truths to new believers or to people that are just asking questions? And then we’re gonna lead people all the way through to Course 4 with leadership.

So here’s the goals. This is what we want to achieve by doing this.

First of all, discipleship. We are called to make disciples, and that begins with teaching people how to follow Christ in their everyday lives. We want to help you, but we also want to give you the words so that you can help other people.

And number two for us, it is language. Now, right now, like I said, we have some Italian, we have English, we have Afrikaans in our house, right? And if we’re gonna try and use Italian and Afrikaans and English, we’re gonna miss it. There’s gonna be a communication gap there. But our common language right now—or at least I’m trying with the common language—is English. Okay, so pray for me, you know, to connect accurately. So when it comes to language, when we speak the same language of faith, it creates unity and clarity. The Discipleship Pathway gives us common tools and frameworks to talk about spiritual growth. And so, so many times in different groups, we’ll talk about “sanctification,” or we’ll talk about “righteousness,” and then people will look at me, it’s like, “What does that mean?” Okay? And so if we all have the same language, then we’re gonna really grow together and we will be united.

The third goal is community. Discipleship Pathway is designed to be lived out in community and not in isolation. Now, you know that there’s many—I mean, you might know some people at Salem, but there’s also a lot of new people at Salem. And so community is important for us because we want to create the opportunity for you to meet new people and get to know who do you worship with on a Sunday morning. And so even you might say, “Oh, I need it. I know everything about Course 1,” which is great, but do you know everyone, right? And can you do life with them? And so we want to encourage you to—even if you know the material—be part of a small group.

And then lastly, leadership. A healthy church constantly raises new leaders. We don’t want people to attend church; we want them to step into their calling to lead, serve, and disciple others. So if you’re brand new this morning, that’s okay for you to just kind of check things out, but at the end of the day, you got to know that God has a calling on your life, there’s a purpose for your life, and you have certain gifts, and God wants to use those gifts and those talents for his Kingdom. And a lot of times churches will say, “Well, we don’t have leaders.” Every church has leaders. And you are a leader. And so we want to help develop that. And so over the next several months, we will develop some of those leadership qualities in you and for you to maybe think differently about leaders, because you got to know, I don’t think anybody is just born a leader. I most certainly wasn’t born a leader. There’s a lot of things that I had to learn and study and grow into my role. And so can you. And that doesn’t mean you’re gonna be a pastor and that you’re gonna have to speak to a hundred people, right? There’s different leadership pieces to that.

And so this morning and over the next several weeks, I want to encourage you—go to our website and sign up for one of the small groups. Now, we have the Discipleship Pathway. There’s several options, but there’s other options as well. There’s a study in Revelation, but at some point, we want all of you to go through all of those courses. So start. We’ve got amazing, amazing groups; we’ve got wonderful godly people that are leading these groups; and so please sign up and be part of something wonderful. We know it’s gonna be a blessing to you.

Reflection

I want to leave you with a reflection question this morning, and then I’ll give you just a minute to ponder this question:

Think about the journey of discipleship as described in Philippians. In what areas of your faith do you feel like you’re pressing forward, and where might you feel stuck or stagnant?

So think about it. Just ponder that question. Take a moment to just even have conversation with God about it, and then we’ll stand and then we will worship.

Brody’s Poem

I wasn’t planning on reading, but when Steven started sharing his message, I was like, “Oh man, that’s kind of exactly what God has been putting on my heart this week.” This is a poem I wrote on Thursday.

I hear the cries and prayers below
Of saints and sinners, young and old.
I understand the hard terrain.
I’ve walked this earth and felt your pain.

Please don’t cry, and please don’t fret.
I suffered first to pay your debt.
So won’t you, Christian, follow me?
Pick up your cross and die to thee.

They pierced my hands, they crowned my head—
My scoffer’s thorns, my blood ran red.
I suffered all to clear man’s name
Up to my death, my body slain.

In hollowed ground, a lifeless husk
wrapped in stone from dust to dust.
But when the stone was rolled away
I conquered even death that day.

Please don’t cry and please don’t fret.
I suffered first to pay your debt.
So won’t you, Christian, follow me?
Pick up your cross and die to thee.

Thank you.