Training prepares people to do something important
What comes to mind when you hear the word “training?” Maybe you think about an athlete training for a competition. Perhaps you think about training for a new job. Maybe you think about a parent training a child. However you picture it, training is all about preparing to do something important.
Training isn’t limited to knowing the right things. It also includes being able to do the right things in the right ways for the right reasons. The goal of training is to produce competence. Trained doctors are competent to practice medicine. Trained lawyers are competent to practice law. Trained mechanics are competent to work on cars. Proper training produces competent people.
Jesus intentionally trained His disciples to carry on His mission
The same principle applies to our spiritual lives. After Jesus selected His twelve disciples, He began to train them. He invested in them so they would be fully competent and ready to carry the movement forward after He ascended to Heaven.
In Luke 6.40 ESV, Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” In Jesus’ mind, a mature disciple is fully trained to be like his rabbi. In His case, He was training His disciples with the goal of having them look and act like Him. Jesus wanted His followers to reflect His character and develop His competencies so they could carry on His work in the world.
Spiritual training includes both knowledge and action
Spiritual training has instructional and practical parts. As a follower of Jesus, there are some things you need to know, and there are some things you need to be able to do.
When Jesus trained His disciples, He didn’t explain everything to them, He focused on what they needed to know to do the work of making disciples who make disciples.
Spiritual maturity grows through stages
In 1 John 2.12–14 ESV, John addresses three groups of people: “little children,” “young men,” and “fathers.” He wasn’t grouping them by their physical age. He grouped them by their spiritual maturity.
All of us start off as little children in our spiritual lives. We’re brand new and born again. We hunger for the Word and are excited to learn. As we grow, we become “young men” who are stronger in our faith.
As we see God redeeming our past and transforming our future, we continue growing until we become spiritual fathers. That is, we produce spiritual offspring because we’re actively sharing the gospel with others, investing in them, and leading them to become truly devoted followers of Jesus.
Jesus wants every believer to become a fully trained disciple
Jesus wants you to be a fully trained, fully prepared, and fully competent disciple. He wants you to be ready to carry on His work of making disciples who make disciples.
He wants to train you to reach full maturity, fashioned into the “full measure of the likeness of Christ” Ephesians 4.13 ESV. That happens when you invest your life in others, training them to think and act like Jesus.
This blog features an excerpt from one of our Student Series books, Invest In A Few.
