Imagine an entire generation of believers in Yeshua whose testimony was simply this: “I came to know Yeshua at a very young age. And because of that, I’ve never walked in sin or the ways of the world, and I’ve completely devoted myself to Him all the days of my life.” Can you imagine what a generation like that could accomplish for God? And yet, in far too many ways, believers today look and act just like the world. Why? Because for generations, many have only had the goal of making more religious adherents to the same faith—more believers. What many didn’t do was determine to raise up their children and those new in the faith to become followers—to be dedicated to walking wholeheartedly after Yeshua in every area of their lives. They didn’t commit to raising a generation of biblical, Messiah-following disciples.

In each generation, making disciples has been our one main job—our great commission, as it were—given to us directly by the Master Yeshua Himself. He said,

“Having gone, then, disciple all of the world-ethnicities… teaching them to guard everything, whatever I commanded you.” (Matit’yahu 28:19-20, mjlt)

Yeshua commanded a deliberate discipleship that He Himself modeled with those closest to Him. It was an approach also foreshadowed in the words of Moses.

“And you must repeat [Adonai’s commands] to your sons, and speak of them in your sitting in your house, and in your walking along the road, and in your lying down, and in your rising up…” (D’variym 6:7, mjlt)

The discipleship of Yeshua and Moses was simple: to be up-close and personal with their disciples (and children), to teach them to know and love God’s word, and to deliberately demonstrate that walk by talking about it—repeating the word of God again and again through both their words and actions—all while spending a great deal of time together.

Yet what do we see in today’s “discipleship”? A transactional, impersonal transmission of knowledge presented as a lecture, or through a video, or from a pulpit at a distance. This is why each modern generation has seen fewer people who follow the biblical Messiah. Because, by and large, biblical discipleship has simply been missing.

The pursuit of real and personal discipleship relationships has been absent from the Body of Messiah for several reasons. First, we have emphasized classroom-style learning its place. We have been trained to accept and expect formal educational modes—including from those in the pulpit—not as a substitute for discipleship, but as discipleship. We expect professional clergy or academically educated individuals to perform this service for us, rather than doing true discipleship ourselves.

Interpersonal discipleship has also been missing because we have been trained to be self-oriented about our faith. We come to Yeshua strictly for what we can get from Him—what benefit our belief in Him can bring to us—and we pursue spiritual activities and Christian or Messianic media content that makes us feel closer to God. But discipleship requires exactly the opposite attitude, where the goal of personal growth isn’t personal benefit, but to prepare oneself to benefit others.

And lastly, it is rare to find biblical discipleship anymore because of the epidemic of biblical illiteracy. Believers today do not have the confidence to take on a disciple—and rightly so. Many today might be familiar with a handful of Scriptures, and some can parrot their denomination’s doctrinal positions, but most are largely unfamiliar with the Scriptures themselves, not knowing how to understand and apply them in their everyday lives.

Being a disciple of Messiah means self-sacrificially setting our own lives aside, and instead pouring ourselves out so that we can multiply the Messiah in us in others. One way or another, we are all submitted to a master and bearing fruit for their cause. The only question is, “Whom do you really serve?” Decide today to start being a true, biblical servant of Yeshua, guard everything He says, and then go and make disciples.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

WATCH or LISTEN TO the full teaching on The Biblically Correct Podcast!

Go to https://www.biblicallycorrectpodcast.org/ep65