Today we launched a new discipleship group on my back porch at 6:45am. In our first meeting together, we carefully explained and studied the core message of the gospel. We began with God and His character, considered man’s need because of his sin, Christ’s righteous life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection, and the need for responding in repentance and faith. We discussed our individual experiences hearing, believing, and living the gospel. Though it may seem basic, starting any disciple-making effort must start with the gospel. Here’s why:

1. The gospel is the entry-point into life with God.

A disciple is someone who is following Jesus. Someone who is walking with God. The gospel is the message that brings us to God. The content of the gospel- Christ’s life, death, and resurrection- is the power of God to save (Romans 1:16). By believing it, we become sons and daughters of God, and begin a new life with God. We must start disciple-making with the gospel because it is quite literally the starting point of our lives with God.

2. The gospel is the foundation of walking with God.

Not only is the gospel the starting point of life with God, it is also the foundation of the believer’s future walk with God. We never outgrow our need for the gospel. Every day we are sinners in need of God’s grace. Every day we are recipients of God’s grace in Christ. Every day God sees us, not in our sin, but in the perfect righteousness of the Son.

Everything we do in disciple-making is done from our position of being right with God and not for a position of being right with God. The gospel is the foundation of every other aspect of life with God. We go to church because we’ve been forgiven and made righteous, not so that we can be forgiven and made righteous. We pray because we’ve been made children of God, not so that God will view us as His children. We serve, give, and love from the position of being loved, not so that God will love us.

Understanding the gospel and how it motivates every aspect of the believer’s walk with God is integral to starting the disciple-making process on the right foot. If it is not the foundation of our disciple-making, we will end up flirting with legalism and works-based salvation. True discipleship is growing in our understanding and appreciation for the gospel, learning to “live out” the gospel, and sharing the gospel in the spheres of life where God calls us.

3. The gospel is what believers should emulate and share as they serve God.

We never outgrow the message of the gospel because it is the foundation of our daily relationship with God. But the gospel is also the foundation of our outward expression of faith. It is the message that we want the watching world to see in the way that we live. It is also the message that we want to share with those who do not know God.

We must continually remind ourselves of the gospel so that we can live the gospel. “Just as I have loved you, you are to love one another”(John 13:34). To obey this verse, we must first understand how Christ loved us, “just as I have loved you…” How has He loved us? By living for us and dying for us. That’s the gospel. Then we can live it out, “you are to love one another.”

As we live out the gospel, we are also called to share the gospel. “Christ and Him crucified” is the focal point of our message (1 Cor 1:23). The gospel is the “power of God unto salvation for all who believe” (Romans 1:16). Our calling is to share this message with the world, so that others may find eternal life in Christ. “How are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14-15).

Disciple-making, then, must start with the gospel. It is the starting point of the Christian life and the foundation of the rest of our walk with God. It is the message that we spend our lives emulating and sharing with the watching world. Quite literally, there can be no discipleship without the gospel. So we must start there, making sure we understand it so we can live it and share it.

This year my discipleship group will be reading What is the Gospel? By Greg Gilbert. It’s a short book that explains the gospel using the God, Man, Christ, Response model. I highly recommend it! We are also learning how to preach the gospel to ourselves and share it with others. Please pray that as we begin with the gospel we will also continue in the gospel, growing in our ability to understand, love, and share it. I will pray the same for you!