#172 Book Review: The Discipleship Gospel
Part 1
According to Hull and Sobels the Gospel is made up of four declaratives and three imperatives. Each of these seven elements is an essential aspect of the Gospel message according to Hull and Sobels. The declaratives are God’s Kingdom here, Jesus is the Christ, Jesus died for our sins, and Jesus was resurrected on the third day. While the three imperative responses are repent of sin, believe the gospel, follow Jesus. In my estimation this is a clear summary of the Gospel. When we consider what each of these elements means it may give a fuller understanding of the Gospel. The first declarative is that God’s Kingdom is here. I understand this to mean that God’s Kingdom is at hand, that His Kingdom is where people are doing His work and that is in the here and now as Hull and Sobels wrote “true gospel is Jesus’ gospel, which he referred to as the “gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 24:14), and this gospel was crystal clear to the early church (Acts 2:14–41).” The second declarative is that Jesus is the Christ. This is a historical claim as to the identity of the person that the Jews were looking for. Christ is described in numerous ways throughout the Old Testament and leads to His arrival. The next declarative is that Jesus died for our sins. Jesus’s death on a cross is a widely recorded event in history. And it is not denied that Jesus believed He died on the cross for our sins. This declarative makes this historical fact personal that you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins. This says something about the nature of who Jesus is and what He came to do. Finally there is the fact that Jesus was resurrected on the third day. This fact must be accepted in order to be Christian. It speaks to Jesus’s divinity that He was a perfect sacrifice. Next there are three imperatives which are repent of sin, which means we need to make a change when we come to Jesus. Second is to believe the Gospel which is different from saying to believe the Bible. It is to say that Jesus is the culmination of the prophecies in the Old Testament and the centerpoint of the New Testament. Finally to be a Christian you must follow Jesus. That is the most challenging and greatest part of all as Jesus says that His burden is light but we must be ready to follow Him to the Cross.
Part 2
The message of Hull and Sobels agrees with that of Spurgeon. Spurgeon taught that we are not justified by God without also being sanctified. This means that we are not simply made right with God but made perfect in His sight. Hulls, Sobels, and Spurgeon were all Christians and believed the same Gospel even if their framing of the ideas are somewhat different. When we are called to be saved this promotes holiness in the process of moving towards God. As we accept God’s call on our lives God blesses our actions and the process of sanctification begins.
Evangelism and disciple making are two steps in the same process. When we go from being not saved to saved and eventually in heaven we undergo multiple processes. First someone will evangelize and that person becomes saved. Then they undergo a transformation towards being more Christlike that is called discipleship. As that process progresses disciples began to evangelize and disciple others. 2 Timothy 2:2 (NASB) says “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” This means that as a part of the evangelism to discipleship process as leaders we are to find others to entrust what we have learned to. As a pastor this verse applies to me, I need to find others to whom I may entrust what I have learned. This impacts the way in which I go about living life and doing ministry.
Furthermore as I go through life and do ministry in the same way that there is a relationship between disciple making and evangelism there is a relationship between the Great Commission and discipleship. Each Christian in their own way is called towards greater maturity which means sharing your faith and discipling new believers. I would argue that this may take on many different forms. One person may be called more towards discipleship than evangelism while for another the opposite may be true. In my ministry I have the opportunity to counsel believers and non believers alike. In my context I need to both evangelize and disciple as God makes opportunities for me to do so.
Part 3
In Mark 4, Jesus tells the story of the sower. In that story Jesus makes it clear that we are to reach out to people who are the fourth soil. They are the ones who will multiply and produce more fruit. It is evidently better for a ministry to be productive rather than unproductive. As part of this idea the Church has begun to emphasize discipleship groups where more people are brought into ministry and leadership positions. This creates more touchpoints in the church and among non believers who may in turn come to know God. In the form of small groups this is very productive. In my ministry context, as someone hoping to join the Air Force as a chaplain after graduation, this looks like finding other Airmen who can help to identify people in need. To teach my fellow Christians how to minister to non believers and to be examples in their lives. I too as I counsel non believers am to help them become believers.
There is though a second side to the idea of fourth soilers which is negative. A mistake that can be made with the idea of fourth soil is to not love the individual but rather to care for the lives that they might reach in the future. While that is not something to be ignored it is irrelevant to the evangelism process. I have seen first hand the detrimental effects of taking the fourth soil idea too far among missionaries I have known in New York City. As Hull and Sobels say, “If someone sounds like they’re trying to add an unbiblical requirement or some sort of legalistic demand to the gospel, an alarm goes off in your head." They also say that “If you don’t disciple fourth soilers or people who become fourth soilers, don’t expect to create a disciple-making movement because only fourth soilers multiply—and a disciple-making movement demands multiplication.” This is the pitfall of focusing too much on the fourth soil idea. We must teach those who may be fourth soilers but we cannot ignore the other people God has put in front of us. My ministry will take a balanced approach where I minister both to those who can multiply my ministry as well as those who Christians who struggle through life.
Bibliography
Hull, Bill and Ben Sobels, The Discipleship Gospel: What Jesus Preached—We Must Follow (HIM Publications, 2018), 15.
