August 2018 Branches

Staying on Mission
Discipleship within Biblical Community
“The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience
and a sincere faith.”
1 Timothy 1:5, ESV
In the last edition of Branches, we saw that the primary
calling of the church is to make disciples. That involves
calling men, women, and children to faith, and then enabling
them to live out that faith in every aspect of their lives as
ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. Scripture gives us
this calling as well as a particular context of how such
discipleship takes place. It is always within, never without,
a community of fellow disciples.
The ultimate goal of every disciple is found in the great
commandments to love God and to love our neighbor.
The key term here is “love.” Love is never expressed or
produced in a vacuum. It always involves others. These
two great commandments are seen in more detail in the
Ten Commandments. All ten of these are relational, either
vertically towards God or horizontally with one another.
Then you have the words of Jesus in John 13, where He says
that there is one unmistakable characteristic of His people,
which is love for one another. The world will know that we
are Christ-followers not because of our religious language,
the crosses we wear around our necks, or the fish bumper
stickers on our cars. They will know because they see Jesus’
love working in and through us. So, it is not surprising that
Paul gives Timothy the core value of His ministry—love. The
goal of all that he teaches, of all of his shepherding, and all
of his pastoral care is to see love growing more deeply in
the hearts of his people.
This is a point we sadly often miss. When we study the
Bible, it is so that we will love better. When we study
theology, it is so that we will love more deeply. We grow
in our faith so that we can love more effectively and more
completely. If our study of the Bible and theology does not
produce deeper love for others, and if our ministries do not
encourage us to love more fully, then we are missing the
core of the Gospel. The Christian life is never merely about