By Sidharth Mohandas
As we enroll in the school of discipleship, it is important we understand what the goal of discipleship is. Unless and until we understand this, we will never be able to work towards it, with the Lord. We will in fact be tossed to and fro by all that comes our way.
The goal of discipleship put simply is to be like Jesus (Romans 8:29, Romans 13:14, Ephesians 4:13). Not a matter of mere imitation, but actually carrying and revealing the heart of the Father.
Now before I move onto teaching more on this, I desire to deal with things that may distract us from focusing on the goal of discipleship; beginning with the way we are wired. Though our being is far more complex and interlinked, for the purpose of clarity, I choose to limit my teaching on the constitution of our being three compartments: the spirit, the soul and the body. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
The spirit of man was the part of man that God breathed into him. It was the God-substance within him that could relate, connect, and fellowship with God. Man was designed to be led by his spirit.
The soul of man was that part of his being that was created to give expression to his spirit: “I think”, “I will”, “I feel” etc.
And finally, his body was the part of him that related with the physical world.
These were originally designed to function as one complementing unit, moving in unison with the heart and plan of God. (Refer figure below).
However, when man chose to separate himself from God, he was cut off from the source of eternal life, and his spirit that had been sustained and nourished by God, suffered death. Man started using his soul faculty to lead him through his daily life. In other words, instead of being a spirit-led being, he became a soul-led being. Since he was no longer influenced by God’s Spirit, he became a soulish being, vulnerable to the influences of the spirit of this world.
This is where humanity has fallen. What is around us has influenced our expression, our response and our focus.
In Scripture this kind of influence has been described using many English words such as “natural”, “carnal”, “sensual”, “worldly” etc (1 Corinthians 2:14, James 3:15, Jude 1:19). But it is interesting to note that the Greek word used for all these different words is one single word called “psuchikos”. The word “psuchikos” comes from another Greek word called “psuche”, which is the translation for the word “soul”. In other words, to be “natural”, “carnal”, “worldly”, “sensual” etc, simply means to be soulish. Driven by what you feel, what you think, what you will etc. (As displayed in the figure below)
Jesus came as a perfect substitute, and He took on Himself our death, and gave us His life in return (Ephesians 2:1-5). Our spirits have been made alive again, and now we are connected back to God! Glory be to God! But, wait, it does not end here. Why? Because our entire being was once calibrated for the soulish-lifestyle, and now we need training and discipline to direct our souls to be led by our regenerated spirits. This is where discipleship comes in!
A lot of believers have it all in reverse. They are seeking sensationalism, materialism, earthly gain… contributing more and more to the soul-led life. Unfortunately, even the very ministers who have been called to train believers into maturity are encouraging soul-led lifestyles!
In the upcoming article, I will be dealing with this in more detail. Stay tuned!
So glad you made this article! This is really helpful!
What a great introduction to the word discipleship. Can’t wait to read the next installment!
Good groundwork… waiting impatiently for the upcoming article..
Sid this is so amazing !! Thank you!! Just what I needed to hear!!
The body/soul/spirit concept is something I have seen described in a number of places, but I never could get the full significance of it. Thanks for explaining this in a clear and simple way Sidharth!
That was a good way of looking at the topic… Loved the explanation…. Waiting for the next part
our first class!!discipleship went all the way back to the first class we had!sumthin I dint see before was “The soul of man was that part of his being that was created to give expression to his spirit…”..to give expression to the spirit..so if the spirit is dead,then ‘i think,i will,i feel’..the thots,the feelings,the response,focus is all dead.If the Spirit is God breathed,then the rest will all be alive..expressing God’s heart n this happens thru discipleship..wow!!
Amen, Sini! I had planned on teaching something different, but then as I started writing I realized it was necessary I first dealt with the foundational issue of how we were created to function before moving onto teaching any further on discipleship.
Great is the salvation of the Lord! There is MORE to come! HalleluYah!
[...] my previous teaching, I presented to you certain aspects of why we are so prone to be distracted easily from the goal of [...]
I am most impressed by your web site, Sidarth Mohandas! Did you know Pastor Stanley Hickman and his wife, Deborah, as I know they travelled to India many times where he trained Pastors. Appreciate your feedback about my concerns when I found a detrimental article about him online on gth’s(Guarding The Heart)web page.