Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting under a two week Sunday school series on the distinction between salvation and discipleship. Pastor Roger Luiken of Liberty Baptist Church in Fremont, Nebraska taught this and I was blessed.
Now this may seem to be an elementary issue that 99.999% of people would be on top of. Not so! More and more, people, in varying denominations, are muddying the waters and blurring the lines between these two major doctrines of the Scriptures. To us, who know Bible terminology, there is not much of a problem, but to a lost person, this can be very confusing!
Listed below is the main outline of what Pastor Luiken had to say about this topic.
Conclusion
There is a big difference between SALVATION and DISCIPLESHIP. The next time we quote Scripture to a lost person, let us be more careful to give out verses that are plain and “rightly divided”. Though some famous evangelists of the past have blurred terminology on purpose to reach certain religious groups outside their own denominations, we must refrain from this. Always use Bible terminology when dealing with people and you will do just fine!
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Spiritual Discipleship: Principles of Following Christ for Every Believer |
By J. Oswald Sanders / Moody Publishers
As J. Oswald Sanders points out, true discipleship is more than intellectual assent to a belief in Christ—it involves the whole person and lifestyle.
Those with only a superficial belief will soon fall away from the faith, but Sanders says a true disciple would rather be presented with a difficult challenge than a soft option. Disciples are charged with the task of training themselves to be godly, because it is their responsibility to remain spiritually fit. Ever-fresh topics in this time-tested volume include:
- the disciple’s second chance
- the disciple’s ambition
- the disciple’s senior partner
- the disciple’s olympics
- the disciple’s right
- the disciple’s maturity
In addition, a “For Reflection” guide is included, making this book ideal for both individual and group study.
