What do new Christians need the most from you?

“After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.” John 3:22 

“After these things” points back to Jesus’ conversation with a religious leader named Nicodemus whereby He stressed to Nicodemus that the only way to be born again and enter the kingdom of God was to believe in Christ alone for His gift of everlasting life (John 3:1-18). These verses are stressing the importance of evangelism whereby we share the pure and simple gospel with non-Christians like Jesus did with Nicodemus.

In John 3:22, Jesus begins to develop new believers into “disciples” or devoted followers of Him. Once a person believes in Christ to get to heaven he is then initiated into the discipleship process through water baptism (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15). Look at the phrase, “Remained with them.” This was an unhurried period of time that Jesus had with these new believers. They are getting to know each other. Being the Lord’s disciple meant you were with Him. You spent time with Him.

New birth or getting to heaven is by faith alone in Christ alone (John 3:5-18), but discipleship involves water baptism and instruction (John 3:22; cf. Matthew 29:19b-20). I believe Jesus wants to expand His Church all around the world through discipleship whereby older Christians meet with younger Christians one on one or in small groups to reproduce devoted followers of Christ. This is part of God’s plan for increasing Jesus’ popularity (cf. Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:2).

It is important to understand that new Christians need You more than they need your materials. They need to spend time with you and learn from you about how to talk to God in prayer and how to study and apply the Bible to their lives. A new believer needs a more experienced Christian to show him how to share the gospel of Christ with another unsaved person. He needs guidance on how to love his wife and nurture his children in the faith. More and more new believers are broken and struggling with anger or depression and they need a mature believer to show them how to process their emotions in healthy ways. 

When a couple has a newborn baby, they do not expect that baby to take care of itself. Nor should we expect a newborn Christian to know how to grow spiritually. Like a newborn baby in need of parental care and guidance, so a newborn Christian needs an older Christian to teach him how to follow Jesus and grow to be more like Him. He needs to know how important it is to spend time with Christ and sit at His feet to receive His Word.

If you are an older Christian, are you meeting with a younger believer to disciple him or her? Or if you are a new believer, are you meeting with an older Christian to teach you how to follow Jesus? If not, what will you do with Jesus’ command to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19)? The world will be a much better place to live if more Christians would obey Christ’s command to make disciples. If you are not doing that yet, it isn’t too late. You can begin now by asking the Lord whom He wants you to spend time with in a discipleship relationship. He loves to answer that prayer.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I am thrilled to meet daily with You to talk to You in prayer and to listen to You speak to me as I read and study the Bible. Thank You for giving me the Holy Spirit to guide and teach me through Your Word. Lord, I want You to use me to increase Your popularity on earth through the discipleship process. Please show me whom You would like me to spend time with in a discipleship relationship. Prepare me and that person or persons for this journey. In Jesus’ name. Amen.