Be Mindful of What You Reproduce
All Christians should eventually be making disciples. Disciples are made when people willingly follow us and our living example. We must always be mindful of what kind of example we are setting.
As leaders, we should often ask ourselves: What kind of disciples am I making? What am I reproducing? Do we really need two or more like me?
Our priority should be a growing relationship with the Father. We should be cautious of having followers if there are other priorities above that. What can we reproduce if we make disciples apart from intimacy with God?
A leader can easily get distracted from spending intimate time with the Lord. A common trap is to replace being alone with God and pursuing intimacy with Him with the busyness of religious activity. Another pitfall is to allow our devotion time” with the Lord to become lifeless, where we go through the motions and never connect with God on an intimate level. We can read a daily chapter or two in our Bible, run through our laundry list of prayer requests, and never be quiet and listen to the one we are talking to. I have been guilty of this myself. It is tragic to become religious in our devotion to God and call it a relationship.
We can learn a lot about God from reading and studying the Bible, but to honestly know Him, we must spend time with Him, commune with Him, and listen to Him.
Jesus set a remarkable example. He only did what He saw the Father do. This mindset demands a lifestyle of watching and praying. It’s not always convenient or comfortable, but it is necessary to be a disciple of Christ.
If you read a person’s biography, you can learn much about them, but you can’t honestly say you know them. You may “feel like you know them,” but to honestly know someone, you must meet with them, ask them questions, listen to their responses, and spend time with them. It is the same with God. Apart from intimacy, we will never reproduce the fruit of who He is.
Reading the Bible takes on new dimensions when intimacy becomes a lifestyle. The word of God bears much more fruit in our lives. We begin to view His written word through the lens of His divine nature; we see it with an unveiled face and a heart of love that makes us more sensitive to His spoken word.
As leaders, we must understand that spiritual gifts are free, but maturity is expensive.
If we are to reproduce mature leaders, we must first make sure that we are maturing. Most disciples will never rise above the level of those mentoring them.
Exposing the Deception of Itchy Ears
Matthew 23:9-10 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.
That may seem contradictory since the Lord Jesus gave us teachers through the “five-fold ministry gifts” mentioned in Ephesians 4, but it is not. All the five-fold ministry gifts have one purpose: to equip the saints for the work of ministry. All five gifts teach differently, but their purpose is primarily to equip the saints for the work of ministry. We must filter those teachings through the anointing and our relationship with God and His written word.
1 John 2:26-27 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
Suppose we abide by false doctrine out of ignorance. Regardless of our intention or our ignorance, we partner with the adversary, building strongholds of wrong thinking and wrong believing in our hearts and minds. We assist Satan in his deceptions by helping him make the strongholds that bind us. Unfortunately, it’s an evil deception that most of us fall for at one time or another.
These strongholds are not only reinforced belief systems but encampments in our minds that the enemy hides behind to ensure we stay trapped in wrong thinking and believing.
One of the ways he does this is to keep us running in the same circle of believers, hearing the same false doctrines taught repeatedly and despising believers in other denominations. Denominational divisions were never God’s plan, and now they are an effective tool the enemy uses against us.
To be truly free, we must be very selective about what we are hearing and beholding, who we are listening to, and how much we are doing it. Without the filter of a robust relationship with God and His Word, we cannot skillfully discern wrong doctrine. Truth becomes obscured with the leaven of religious doctrine that appeases the carnal mind and satisfies our selfish desires. Self is the very thing we need to be set free from. Freedom from self will not come until we renew our minds to the truth of God’s word.
Again, are we abiding in His word or just reading the latest books and listening to the latest sermons? Do we desire the sincere milk of the word, or do we lust for the leaven of a self-serving gospel that doesn’t challenge or strengthen us for trials and testing?
Our tendency to have itchy ears and the lust for leavened bread binds us and closes our eyes to the truth. There is a reason the apostle James wrote, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” (James 3:1)
If we are bound by false doctrines and doctrines of devils, that is what we will reproduce in others. When discipling others, we should do it in the fear of the Lord—encouraging them to seek God for themselves and acknowledging that we don’t know it all.
If we abide in His word, seek Him diligently when no one is looking, and cultivate a hunger for the sincere milk of God’s word, we will become everything the blood of Christ has paid for us to be. Others will follow our example, and they will be true disciples of Christ.
Be Mindful of What You Teach Others
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
All scripture is profitable for reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, but not necessarily our interpretation or delivery of it. Handling the word of life without humility and the fear of the Lord will not only result in teaching false doctrine, but the effects of those teachings can result in people being cut, hurt, offended, and deceived. It brings a reproach on Christ, discrediting His name, harming the Church, and devaluing His Word.
The Bible says in James 3:1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. And yet, the world is full of Bible teachers who do not rightly divide the Word of truth. We should all realize that teachers of the word of God are held to a high level of accountability—a stricter judgment. Teachers should teach from the overflow of their intimate relationship with the Lord, for these are the only things they truly know. Accumulating knowledge about the Word of God is not the same as knowing the Word. A true teacher is not only anointed to teach but also anointed to learn. We must all lean on the anointing to learn more than the need to be heard.
In the age of abundant information that we live in, it is easy to accumulate knowledge about God and reduce ourselves to just relaying information. Unless we put that knowledge into practice, we don’t know the truth we are trying to share. The common practice of merely sharing information results in teaching and preaching that lacks spiritual authority with demonstration and power. Many try to compensate for this lack of authority and power by being funny and entertaining or dramatic and forceful in their delivery. These are poor substitutes.
We should keep in mind that the Word is a person. When we share the Word with others, we are to share from our understanding of that person we have gained from the relationship, not the knowledge we have accumulated about God through academic efforts. If we are not practicing what we know, we cannot teach it with the authority and power it deserves.
Question: What does it mean to have itchy ears?
Question: What are some things that cause us to have itchy ears?
Question: On a scale of 1-10, How would you rate your fear of the Lord when teaching it to others?
Question: What are you reproducing?
Question: Who are you discipling?
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