Share Love with those you Disciple – Disciple Making
SHARE LOVE with those You Disciple
Together Church | Pastor Brandon Werner & Pastor Jerry Wells | September 13, 2026 |
Series: Making Disciples
INTRODUCTION
Brandon
The last two weeks, we dug into the first fundamental of discipleship from the life of Jesus: SHARING LIFE with God and with those we disciple.
In a moment, we’ll jump into the second fundamental of disciple-making. Before we do, let’s, once again, start with Jesus and consider a radical change He made in His life to make disciples…
Jerry
We know Jesus was the firstborn in his family. He had at least six siblings, and they lived in the town of Nazareth in Northern Israel.
As a young man, Jesus learned the family trade of carpentry. His life as a Jewish boy at that time would have consisted of His work, family meals, family gatherings, and gatherings with friends.
Brandon
Scripture reveals that Jesus’ family was faithful to God: that included attending the local synagogue on the Sabbath and regularly traveling to Jerusalem to observe the feasts of Israel.
Jesus had a very specific lifestyle and pace of life during His first three decades walking this earth.
Jerry
And then, when He was about 30 years of age, there was this radical change in the priorities of His life. Scholars call this change the beginning of His public ministry. That statement is way too general and doesn’t explain just how radically His life changed when He began to make disciples.
Jesus’ priority for the first part of the adult years of His life had been caring for His family, specifically His mother and His younger siblings.
But at age 30, His priorities suddenly changed to caring for 12 men that He had invited to join Him in a discipleship relationship.
Brandon
Here’s the point: to make disciples, Jesus made a radical change in His life to SHARE HIS LIFE and SHARE HIS LOVE with those He discipled.
To be a follower of Jesus who makes disciples like Jesus…
We must also make a radical change in our priorities
to share our life and to share our love with those we disciple.
Jerry
This radical change in lifestyle to make disciples like Jesus did is not just a calling for pastors, or missionaries, or those in full-time ministry. Jesus calls every member of His Church to make this radical change and make disciples like He did… and this specifically means sharing our lives and sharing our love with those we disciple.
Brandon
Sometimes we call this “real-life discipleship” or “life on life discipleship” or “relational discipleship.” All these are ways to describe how Jesus made disciples.
This morning, we’re going to talk about the second fundamental of discipleship… and here it is:
To make disciples like Jesus made disciples,
you must SHARE LOVE with those you disciple.
Jerry
How do we do that?
One important way we share life and love with those we disciple is by committing ourselves to the same church and the same small group.
Attending church with those we disciple is an act of love.
Attending a small group with those we disciple is an act of love.
Brandon
Those are important! But they aren’t complete.
In the gospels, we see Jesus attending synagogue and feasts with His disciples! Those were things they did together as part of discipleship.
But Jesus’ investment wasn’t limited to a meeting or two a week! Jesus was present in the lives of His disciples.
Jerry
And that’s the lesson we can learn from Jesus’ example of sharing love:
If we’re going to share love with those we disciple, we need to be aware of specific times, outside of church and small group, that we can be present with them and make them feel loved!
Brandon
What are those times? How can we recognize them?
Look at Jesus! As He shared life with His disciples, they experienced what all of us experience in life…
There were a lot of good times
and there were a lot of very difficult times.
The good times included…
- Miracles He performed and the miracles they performed
- The large crowds of people that would gather to be with them
- Positive responses from people about the teaching they heard
- Times they shared meals together and enjoyed one another’s company
Jerry
Mixed in with these good times were times of great difficulty.
The difficult times included…
- Being away from their families and friends for extended periods of time
- The long walks they took to reach certain destinations
- Spending many nights in the wilderness or in strange places
- Difficult weather conditions
- Limited food – both volume and variety
Brandon
- Their differences in personalities
- Their personal ambitions, their personal differences, and the conflicts it created
- The public personal attacks on Jesus and on their reputation for being followers of Jesus
Jesus shared love with His disciples by being there in the good times and the difficult times. He rejoiced with them when they rejoiced, and He was with them when the fires of adversity came.
Jerry
You know…
A lot of things have changed in two thousand years, but what it means to be human and love people hasn’t changed.
Like them, our lives are filled with good experiences and bad ones.
Sharing love with those we disciple means being present with them THROUGH THOSE EXPERIENCES.
Loving them means being with them in the good times and the bad.
BODY
Brandon
How do we do that?
It’s not as complicated as you might think.
Sharing love doesn’t mean fixing all their problems, always having the right words, or knowing just what to do or say.
Sharing love with those we disciple is actually pretty simple: SHOW UP.
Be present. Specifically, be there in the good times and bad.
See, it isn’t complicated!
It’s costly. It requires a radical change of priorities.
But it’s not rocket science.
Jerry
The Apostle Paul gave this simple admonition to the church at Rome. It’s a blueprint to this fundamental; showing us what it looks like to love one another without hypocrisy.
Here it is…
Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
Let’s use this very simple admonition as the picture of what it means to SHARE LOVE with those we disciple.
- First, we SHARE LOVE with those we disciple by rejoicing with them in their good times.
Brandon
There are so many good times in life worth celebrating…
- There are graduations
- And new job opportunities
- There are job promotions
- And special achievements
- There’s marriage
- The birth of children
- And the accomplishments of our children
- There’s the birth of grandchildren
- And their accomplishments
SHARING LOVE with those we disciple means being present with them and rejoicing with them during the celebration of these good times.
Jerry
Isn’t that simple?
Being present with them means attending celebrations, listening to their victorious stories, rejoicing with them in what they are feeling, praising God for His blessings, and being generous with them based on our ability.
Brandon
Before I graduated with my master’s degree in 2022, I graduated from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies.
To achieve this degree, I went back to school ten years after I completed high school. It was a difficult decision, but I knew God was preparing me for His plans for my future.
Even though we had three children ages seven and under, Rachael supported me and my decision. Together, we made the sacrifice.
About a year before I started school, Pastor Jerry and I started a more intentional discipleship relationship. I was working on staff at the church and he was the Senior Pastor. He began investing in me, and his support and encouragement was a big reason I decided to go back to school.
Even though we saw each other nearly every day at our church office, he knew it would mean a lot to me if he and Saundra attended my graduation in Chicago. So, they did! On their own time and with their own dime.
That decision meant so much to me!
Things like that are affirming and convincing. Being there for me like that meant I wasn’t just a project to him… we shared a relationship, and it mattered to both of us.
Jerry
For us to be present and rejoice in the good times with those we are discipling is loving them like Jesus loved His disciples.
- Second, we SHARE LOVE with those we disciple by being present with them in their difficult times.
The apostle Peter called difficult times “fiery trials.”
1 Peter 4:12
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
Brandon
One of the things we say frequently at Together church is…
“You’re either in the fire, coming out of the fire, or about to go back into the fire.”
There are different kinds of fiery trials. There’s the fire of…
- Temptation to sin
- Moral failures and their consequences
- Addiction
- Medical issues
- Financial or physical needs
- Broken relationships
- Death
- Mental and emotional battles
We don’t have to seek these trials out… they will come.
Jerry
As we share our lives with those we disciple, they will experience all these fiery trials. SHARING LOVE with those we disciple means when they are in the fire, we are in the fire with them.
The greatest pain of being in a fire is not the fire itself
but feeling like you’re alone in the fire.
Brandon
To be in the fire with them means we first have to know about the fire! This is where a relational environment becomes so important to discipleship. We need to create places where those we love can share transparently.
But if those we disciple are being transparent with us about the fires in their life, it’s not enough for us to just say, “Good luck with that, I’ll see you next week,” or, “Let me know how that works out for you,” or even, “Call me if you need me.”
SHARING LOVE with those we disciple means taking initiative to be present with them in the fire.
Jerry
Being in the fire with them means visiting them during difficult times, listening to what they are feeling, praying with them, following up with them, enduring with them, and being generous to them based on our ability.
It mirrors Jesus’ pattern with His disciples during their difficult times: He was with them, He listened to them, He prayed for them, He followed up with them, He endured with them, and He was generous with them based on His ability.
Brandon
Pastor Jerry has been there in the fiery trials with me. He’s been present in…
- In times of grief and loss
- In times of confusion
- When others attacked me and slandered me
- When I’ve faced health issues or my family’s faced health issues
- To offer counsel or advice
- And to offer help in times of need
Every one of those has a story to go with it.
But here’s a fun story of when I saw it early in my life…
Before I was ever in a discipleship relationship with Pastor Jerry, he was in a discipleship relationship with my father, Greg.
When I was young, me and my parents and siblings were on the way back from a family vacation in Missouri… and our vehicle broke down in Missouri. My dad called Pastor Jerry to ask for prayer. Instead of just praying, Pastor Jerry offered to drive up to Missouri in his van and bring our family and broken van back home… and that’s what he did!
Just recently, after all these years, my parents were reminiscing about that situation, and they reached out to Pastor Jerry again just to thank him for the way he shared love with them.
When we go into the fire with those we are discipling,
we are being like Jesus.
Jerry
There’s a great example of this is in Daniel 3:1-30.
It’s commonly called the story of the fiery furnace.
Three Jewish refugees in Babylon named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood firm before King Nebuchadnezzar when he commanded them to bow down to an idol. Their punishment was to be cast into a furnace that was heated seven times hotter than usual.
Those three men were cast into the fire.
But when the king looked into the furnace, there was another person in the flames with them. Many Christians believe this was Jesus Christ appearing with them in the fire.
Brandon
Jesus goes into the fire.
And He’s done it for all of us…
SHARE THE GOSPEL
- Descended from heaven
- Entered our broken and fallen world
- Took on our likeness and experienced our weaknesses and temptations
- Yet lived the sinless life we failed to live,
- And still died a sinners death we deserve
- Taking our sin upon His cross
- And providing eternal salvation and new life in Him
Jesus is God, and God is LOVE.
At great personal cost, Jesus has entered the fire with us.
Jerry
For us to be like Jesus as a disciple maker, we must SHARE LOVE with those we disciple by being with them in the fire.
Paul’s statement is so simple, so clear, and so helpful…
“Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.”
CONCLUSION
Brandon
Are you with us?
Let us be pastoral here for a moment as we make some applications.
As a disciple-maker, how can you apply this right away?
It’s got to start with realizing that SHARING LOVE with those we disciple requires a lot more than being with those we disciple once a week during a church service or once a week in a small group meeting.
I think it is important to emphasize this…
For us, being disciple makers certainly INCLUDES sharing life and love every week by going to church together and attending a small group together!
Those basic spiritual commitments are so important in discipleship. We need to be seeking God together, growing in God’s Word together, serving the Lord together, and practicing ministry together.
And being in church and small group together is bound to increase relationship, transparency, and opportunities to share love in good times and bad.
Jerry
It’s always a good idea for those in discipleship relationships to share life and share love together in the same church and small group.
But if we look at Jesus, it’s almost comical to reduce His example of discipleship to attending a church service and a small group meeting together once a week.
Discipleship programs or discipleship strategies in the church that produce disciple makers who are not sharing this kind life on life and love for those they are discipling is reproducing disciples who are religious but look nothing like Jesus.
Brandon
Having a doctorate in discipleship or in the Bible doesn’t make anyone a disciple maker like Jesus.
Jesus is not looking for disciple makers who are just expert tour guides of the Bible. He’s looking for disciple makers who are shepherds; who live life with their disciples like He lived life with His disciples; who love their disciples the way He loved His.
Jerry
This kind of commitment to love requires a radical change in our priorities. To make disciples, we have to make room in our lives for the people we disciple.
Room to share life.
Room to share love.
Room to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
Brandon
And once again, Jesus modeled this change for us with His disciples.
In John 13:35, He said…
By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Jerry
After Pentecost, God used the disciples of Jesus to produce a church in Jerusalem that was full of disciple makers.
They shared their lives with one another, and they shared their love with one another. One of the ways they did this was by opening their doors and sharing their homes with one another.
The first church in Jerusalem started with 3000 people and grew fast.
How many homes does it take to host over 3000 people?
In their homes, they shared their meals together.
How much food does it take each day to feed over 3000 people?
Only God knows all they shared with one another.
Together Church, to be a church full of disciple makers like the early church, we must share life and share love with those we disciple.
INVITATION – Brandon
- Will you choose to SHOW UP for those you are discipling?
- How do you need to MAKE ROOM for sharing love in your life?