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Christian Living

Don’t Make Christians; Make Disciples

Go into All the World and Make Disciples

About two billion people in the world call themselves Christians, more than those who align themselves with any other religion. But how many will call themselves disciples of Jesus? The Bible never tells us to make Christians or even to be a Christian. But it talks a lot about disciples and discipleship.

Make Christians

For most people, at least in developed nations, becoming a Christian is easy. For many it involves saying a prayer. For others, going to church is all it takes. Some even look at their family tree as the only requirement for them to call themselves Christian.

Other considerations that carry the Christian label might involve joining a church, checking off a box on a commitment card, or donating money.

With these things standing as the only prerequisite, being a Christian is simple and requires little effort. Churches smugly count members, attendance, or decisions. And that seems good enough for them.

Yet to mean something worthwhile, Christianity must be more than a trivial, one-time act. It must be a commitment to live a changed life that makes a difference.

That may be why Jesus told us to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).

Make Disciples

A disciple is someone who follows and wants to be like their master, their Rabbi. It’s a total, all-in commitment to a different lifestyle.

Look at Jesus’s disciples. To start, they left their old life behind. Then they spent their time with him. They listened to his teaching and asked him questions. Later they told others about him and healed people in his name.

This was their training. Their prep. Then, just before he left Earth to return to heaven, Jesus told them to make disciples throughout the world.

First, they waited for Holy Spirit power. Then, when they told people about Jesus, thousands responded. The disciples continued to heal the hurting and help those in need. They taught people about Jesus and what it means to follow him and be his disciple.

They formed the first churches, which are far different than today’s versions and which pale in contrast to the gatherings that Jesus’s disciples started. They ignited a spiritual movement that spread around the world.

This is what it means to be a disciple. Few Christians do this. It’s easy to be a Christian, but Jesus doesn’t want us to be Christians. He wants us to be disciples. As disciples we point people to him and make a difference in our world—a difference that matters, both here and into eternity.

Go and Make Disciples

Stop being a Christian and instead be a disciple maker. And it starts by becoming a disciple of Jesus ourselves.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Peter DeHaan News

How Big is Your Tent? A Call for Christian Unity, Tolerance, and Love

How Big is Your Tent? A Call for Christian Unity, Tolerance, and Love

What’s It Take to Be Welcome in Jesus’s Tent?

The Bible gives us the answers, but most people miss them. And too many clergy spout manmade solutions that miss the mark.

Discover what Jesus said it takes to “go all in” for him. It’s really quite easy. In fact, it’s so simple that some people can’t accept it. Instead of cramming faith into an exclusive box, what we need is a bigger tent. A unity tent, where we accept all Christians.

How Big Is Your Tent?

However, Jesus was a Jew. What about them? And what about other faiths that consider the Bible part of their heritage? Can we invite them into our tent?

Last are the other world religions. Where do they fit? Can our tent hold them, too? Should we make room? The answers will surprise you.

How Big is Your Tent? calls for Christian unity, tolerance, and love. And that makes for a most ambitious tent.

Get your copy of How Big is Your Tent? today!

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Elisha Goes All in to Follow Elijah

Elisha’s Total Commitment to Follow Elijah Leaves No Option to Go Back

After Elijah has a meltdown of sorts, God reassures him that he is not alone and gives him several things to do. One of those tasks is to anoint his successor, Elisha.

Elijah finds Elisha plowing in a field. It’s a group effort, with twelve teams of oxen each pulling a plow. As the twelfth team, Elisha takes up the rear.

This suggests he and his team are the least capable. Perhaps Elisha lacks experience, or his oxen aren’t that strong.

If he had other teams behind him and he went slow, that would slow them down too. That’s why he’s last.

Just as King David was the youngest of his brothers (1 Samuel 16:10-13), Elisha is the least of the teams plowing. Yet in both cases God picks the least.

Can I Say Goodbye First?

When Elijah taps Elisha, Elisha expresses interest, but he asks permission to say “Goodbye” first. Although Jesus will later criticize this type of response (Luke 9:61-62), Elijah does not.

But Elisha does more than just say goodbye. He throws himself a celebration party of sorts. How does he do this?

Elisha kills his team of oxen. Then he breaks up their yoke and his plowing equipment to build a fire. He roasts the meat and feeds the people. Once everyone has eaten, Elisha leaves to follow Elijah.

No Turning Back

When Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they leave their boats and follow him. But they don’t destroy their boats.

In fact, they still use their boats after becoming Jesus’s disciples. And after Jesus dies, these disciples return for a time to fishing.

Since their boats are still available, they have a backup plan. But Elisha doesn’t have a fallback option. When he decides to follow Elijah, he kills his oxen and destroys his equipment.

He has no work to return to if things don’t work out with Elijah and the call to become a prophet. He has no opportunity to go back. He’s committed. He’s all in.

And isn’t that what God wants of us? He wants us committed to him, to go all in, and with no option to return to what we left behind.

With Jesus, there should be no turning back.

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is 1 Kings 17-19 and today’s post is on 1 Kings 19:19-21.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

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Christian Living

Go All in for Jesus

God Doesn’t Want Part of Us, He Wants Our Whole Heart

When we follow Jesus we must do so with all our heart. There is no turning back to what we left behind. He wants our full attention, not part of it. We must go all in for Jesus.

Follow Me

Jesus gives his followers various instructions about what they must do to be part of team Jesus. He tailors his words to the individual situations of the people who ask what they must do to inherit eternal life. His most common response is, “Follow me.”

He says this a couple dozen times. All four of the biographies of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) include this instruction (such as Matthew 16:24).

To go all in for Jesus starts when we follow him.

No Turning Back

When we follow Jesus, we abandon our old path because we’re on a new one. There is no turning back. When Lot and his family run for their lives before their city of Sodom is destroyed, God says, “Don’t look back.” Lot’s wife does. She doesn’t make it.

Though the way forward, the path to life, was clear, Lot’s wife worried about what she was leaving behind. She had a divided heart, and it cost her her life (Genesis 19:17, 26).

Jesus says, “People who look back when they’re plowing aren’t fit to be on my team” (Luke 9:62). A person who is plowing and turns around will plow a crooked line. To go straight, the person plowing must focus on what is ahead.

To successfully go all in for Jesus means that we must look straight ahead and not turn around.

All Our Heart

Both the Old and New Testaments tell us that God wants us to pursue him with our whole heart. This is most often found in Deuteronomy, where it sometimes adds all our soul and all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).

Later, when a teacher asks Jesus to identify the most important commandment, he says we must love God with all our heart and soul and mind. Then he adds a second one that we must love others as much as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).

To go all in for Jesus means that we love him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.

To follow Jesus with all our heart, there is no turning back. We must go all in.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

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Christian Living

What Does a Christmas Sale Have to Do with Jesus?

Let’s Reframe the Idea of a Christmas Sale in Spiritual Terms

This time of year, we so often see the phrase “Christmas sale” that we barely give it a thought. And if we do think of it, we lament the secularization of our holy celebration of Jesus’s birth.

Yes, the commercialization of gift giving and a merchandising mentality of tempting, can’t-pass-it-up sale prices has coopted one of Christianity’s most cherished celebrations.

This distraction of Christmas sales takes us from what the birthday celebration of Jesus’s arrival on earth was meant to be, moving us to something spiritually unintended and eternally unhelpful.

The idea of a Christmas sale is to entice us to buy something that will make us or our loved ones happy. Connecting a sale to the memory of Jesus alarms us.

Yet before we reject the phrase Christmas sale, let’s re-examine it from a spiritual perspective.

While we don’t want to offer of Jesus for sale, in hopes that someone will buy him, we do want to promote Jesus in hopes that someone will follow him.

If we think of sales in terms of marketing, isn’t that what we’re really doing when we tell others about Jesus?

Granted, the thought of marketing Jesus offends many, yet telling others about the good news of Jesus—either through our words or our lifestyle—is, at its most basic form, marketing.

In our marketing of Jesus, we don’t expect anyone to buy him—even if we pretend he’s on sale—but we do want people to buy into the idea of turning their life around and following him.

Each time we see the words Christmas sale, may we connect it with Jesus. I don’t mean in a crass commercialization of him but in a way that reminds us that both in this season and all year round, we need to let others know about him.

Though shocking to suggest it, this might be the true meaning of “Christmas sale.”

Celebrate Christmas in a fresh way with The Advent of Jesus. It’s a forty-day devotional that prepares our hearts to celebrate the arrival of Jesus in an engaging read. Begin your Advent journey now and gain a greater sense of wonder for the season.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

Is Church a Haven for Saints or a Hospital for the Sick?

Jesus Didn’t Come for the Righteous but for Sinners

As Jesus walks along he sees a tax collector, Levi. He says to Levi, “Follow me.”

Levi gets up, leaves everything, and follows Jesus. Then Levi throws a party for his tax-collector friends. Jesus is there hanging out with them.

As often the case, the religious leaders criticize Jesus. They don’t think he should eat with notorious tax collectors and “sinners.”

Like always, Jesus has a response that catches everyone off guard. He says, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, only the sick.” Then he makes his point, “I didn’t come to earth to call righteous people to repent.

Instead I came to encourage sinners to turn their lives around.” (See Luke 5:27-32, Mark 2:14-17.)

Shouldn’t we do the same?

Most Churches are a Haven for Saints

But most churches focus on the righteous, the people who appear to have their act together. These churches don’t care about sinners, not really.

Yes, they say they do, but who do they invite to church? It’s usually other Christians, not non-Christians.

Church folks are uncomfortable hanging out with the non-churched. So-called sinners make them uneasy. (Remember, we all sin. It’s just that some of us have been made right through the gift of God’s goodness, Ephesians 2:8-9.)

Instead, we Christians spend time with people like us, not the people who need Jesus the most. For most people, the longer we’ve been a Christian, the fewer non-Christian friends we have.

Yet Jesus does the opposite. He ignores religious insiders, the righteous people. Instead he spends a lot of time interacting with those on the outside, the people society dismisses as sinners and outcasts.

But they’re the ones he wants to help. They’re the ones who need him the most.

Make Church a Hospital for the Sick

People who need Jesus need a safe place where they can encounter him and learn about him. They need love, not judgment. They need to be able to come to Jesus as they are, not after they’ve changed their lifestyle to become “good.”

When Jesus calls Levi, he doesn’t call the tax collector to change his behaviors. Jesus calls Levi to simply, “Follow me.”

Shouldn’t we and our churches do the same? Shouldn’t we focus on encouraging people who need Jesus to follow him?

Instead we’ve turned our churches into a comfortable club where we sequester ourselves from the world and spend time with each other—ignoring the people who need Jesus.

Look Outward at People Who Need Jesus, Not Inward at Ourselves

When we make church a haven for saints, we have a selfish perspective. We hold an internal focus. However, when we view church as a hospital for the sick, we have a selfless perspective. We hold an external focus.

We need to put others ahead of ourselves (Philippians 2:3)—especially those who need Jesus.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

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Christian Living

Jesus’s Final Instructions as Found in the Four Gospels

Consider What Jesus Expects of His Followers—and Us

A while ago we looked at the final words in each book of the New Testament. This provides us with interesting information. However, more enlightening is to look at the final words of Jesus in each of the four biographies of him in the Bible.

While you may be most familiar with what Matthew records as Jesus’s final instructions, let’s start with what John says.

John Writes to “Follow Jesus”

The Gospel of John ends, not with any profound instructions, but instead Jesus focuses on reinstating Peter to the group. Twice Jesus reminds Peter to “follow me” (John 21:19, 22).

By extension we can apply this to us today. Jesus’s most essential instruction, the foundational starting point, is for us to follow him.

Luke Writes to “Wait for the Holy Spirit”

Now let’s move to the book of Luke. Dr. Luke writes that Jesus reminds his disciples that he will send them a gift (the Holy Spirit) from Papa and that they are to return to Jerusalem and wait for that gift (Luke 24:49).

Then Jesus ascends to heaven.

Dr. Luke picks up the story in Acts. There he writes that Jesus’s followers were in constant prayer as they waited for Jesus’s special gift (Acts 1:14).

As they paused and prayed, the Holy Spirit showed up in an awesome display of supernatural power (Acts 2:1-13).

Mark Writes to “Go and Preach”

Mark’s account of Jesus has three different endings. As a writer I get this. It’s sometimes difficult to know how to end a book. So I’m okay with a few different attempts to get it right.

The oldest of manuscripts of Mark ends without Jesus giving any final instructions. It stops abruptly at Luke 16:8 with the women standing at Jesus’s empty tomb and an angel instructing them to tell the disciples.

But they’re afraid and don’t. That’s not a good ending.

A few manuscripts of Mark, tack on an added passage after Luke 16:8: “After this, Jesus himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.”

This helps some, but it feels rushed and is an unsatisfying ending.

Other manuscripts of Mark don’t contain that extra passage, but they do include versus 9–20, which reads like an epilogue. In this text, we do hear Jesus’s final instructions.

He essentially says, “Go everywhere and tell everyone about me” (Mark 16:15).

Matthew Writes to “Go, Make Disciples, Baptize, and Teach”

Last, we get to Matthew’s more well-known account. In what’s often called The Great Commission, Jesus tells his followers, “Go everywhere, make disciples, baptize, and teach about me (Matthew 28:19-20).

Putting It All Together

Can we combine these four thoughts from John, Luke, Mark, and Matthew to provide one comprehensive instruction? How about a three-step procedure?

Jesus’s final instructions are to:

  1. Follow Jesus.
  2. Wait for Holy Spirit power.
  3. Go, make disciples, and then baptize and teach them.

It starts with us following Jesus, but we need to make sure we don’t do anything without the Holy Spirit.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

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Christian Living

We Must Pick Up Our Cross Daily

Becoming a Christian Isn’t a Onetime Decision but a Lifetime of Daily Decisions to Follow Jesus

A friend in high school followed Jesus, and her life exemplified that decision. But after a while she fell into an extreme interpretation of the “once saved, always saved” doctrine. Then her life took a turn.

She reasoned that she had “prayed the prayer” and was good to go. This, she felt, freed her to live and act however she wanted.

Going forward she would rely on God’s grace and mercy to open the door for her to heaven when she died. After all, he loved her and wouldn’t let her down.

After that her life didn’t so much point people to Jesus. And before long there was no evidence that she even followed him. I still grieve for her.

Yes, we can—and should—have assurance for our salvation. Yet this doesn’t give us the license to act however we wish and do whatever we want.

We have a responsibility to do our part in keeping with our decision to make a U-turn with our lives and follow Jesus. Theologians call this repentance.

Pick Up Our Cross Daily

Jesus says that anyone who wants to be his disciple must deny themselves, pick up their cross each day, and follow him. I’m still contemplating what it fully means to pick up our cross, but I do get the part about doing it daily.

Following Jesus is a decision we make each day. It’s not a one-time event when we said a prayer, signed a commitment card, or went through some religious rite. It’s a daily choice.

If you’re like me, some days we do better than others. There are times when following Jesus unfolds with ease. Other days become a struggle, but we persist.

Occasionally a few seasons evolve without giving Jesus much thought at all. And, I suppose, we may live other days in opposition to him and his ways.

Thankfully there’s always tomorrow (for most of us) where we can do it all over again. Each day we have a fresh opportunity to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus.

Following Jesus is a lifetime of decisions, of intentional day-by-day living for him. Our conversion experience isn’t the end. It’s the beginning.

I’ve not heard from my friend for decades, and I don’t know what her life looks like today. But please pray for her, others like her, and us that we will pick up our cross daily to follow Jesus.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 7-9, and today’s post is on Luke 9:23.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

Discover What Jesus Said…and Didn’t Say

How to Inherit Eternal Life

There are many things Jesus didn’t tell us to do to inherit eternal life or become saved. He didn’t say:

  • pray a prayer,
  • be confirmed,
  • go to church,
  • come forward,
  • do good things,
  • raise your hand,
  • fill out a pledge card, or
  • jump through any hoops

He didn’t give Four Spiritual Laws, share The Roman’s Road, or recite the ABC’s of Salvation.

His answer was easy. His most basic instruction was “follow me.” Then he wants us to be faithful and fruitful to honor him.

Read more in How Big is Your Tent? A Call for Christian Unity, Tolerance, and Love and discover what the Bible says about following Jesus. Available in e-book and paperback.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

When Asked about Salvation, Jesus Said Follow Me

When people talked to Jesus, the discussion was often about the same thing, whether broached with the phrase “kingdom of God,” “kingdom of heaven,” “eternal life,” “salvation,” or “saved.”

Sometimes the people asked, what must we do? How can we receive it? And Jesus responded.

Although his instructions varied with the person and situation, the thing he said most often was simple: “Follow me.”

There were no steps to check off or hoops to jump through.

In the centuries that followed, especially the last few, well-meaning people added requirements. They took something simple and inserted their own twists. But there’s little biblical support to insist upon these man-made expectations.

Jesus simply said, “Follow me.”

Read more in How Big is Your Tent? A Call for Christian Unity, Tolerance, and Love and discover what the Bible says about following Jesus. Available in e-book and paperback.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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