Of course, there are many different ways to do this. But one particular method I've found particularly worthwhile is what I call "Discipleship Groups." In this post, I'd like to share how I personally prefer to structure and operate Discipleship Groups with the hope that it might spark interest in others as well. Feel free to use this model to whatever degree you find it helpful—or change it as you see fit!  

Parameters for Discipleship Groups

I prefer to operate Discipleship Groups according to the following parameters:

• A group size of five people. Having more than five people results in a group that is too big to go as deep as I like to go in Discipleship Groups since there simply isn’t time to focus as much as I'd like on each individual person. On the other hand, having less than five people results in some meetings having too few people for a dynamic conversation (keep in mind that one or two people might miss any given meeting). 
• Only one gender. As a man, I only meet with other men.
• Meetings once every two weeks. Meeting less frequently than every two weeks isn’t preferable since regular accountability is a key component of these groups. At the same time, meeting more frequently than every two weeks is more than a lot of people can handle. From my experience, meeting every two weeks seems to be the best frequency for most people.
• Meetings that last an hour. In my experience, it’s really not possible to have a meaningful group in less than an hour, and groups lasting more than an hour seem to drag on unnecessarily. Therefore, I try to pray the concluding prayer at the end of the one-hour time period. However, that being said, it’s quite common for group meetings to have informal fellowship long after the concluding prayer—sometimes for as long as an hour afterwards. The key is for group members to understand that the “official” group meeting is over and that they are free to leave whenever they desire.

Elements of the Group Meeting

Discipleship Groups that I conduct have the following elements: 

Reciting Memorized Scripture (25 Minutes)

After an opening prayer, group members can share the Bible verses they’ve memorized. Since memorization comes much easier for some people than it does for others, I make sure group members understand that they are free to memorize however few or many verses they desire.

On average, group members usually memorize approximately 4-6 verses every two weeks. At the same time, it is perfectly fine for someone to only memorize one verse, and there have even been groups in which others have consistently memorized twenty verses! Each group member memorizes however many verses he desires to memorize.

It is also common for group members to work their way through books of the Bible in their memorization, though it is perfectly fine for them to memorize verses from different parts of the Bible—whatever they desire to do.

As group members are reciting their verses, the other group members follow along silently. If a group member misses something as they’re reciting their Scripture verses, other group members bring it to his attention in a way that doesn’t immediately reveal the correct reading—so that the person reciting has an opportunity to recite it correctly without being told the answer. If he continues to struggle, the other group members then provide the correct answer.

If time allows, it is also often nice to allow group members to spend a couple of minutes discussing each the Bible verses that have been recited—though I try not to allow this portion of the meeting to extend beyond 25 minutes.

Accountability Questions (10 Minutes)

After everyone has recited their memorized Bible verses, the next portion of the meeting is devoted to asking each other accountability questions. Each member is allowed to choose one question he wants the group to ask him each meeting.

While there are a wide variety of questions that are beneficial to ask, here are a few examples:

• “How many days in the past two weeks did you dedicate at least 20 minutes exclusively to prayer?”
• “How many days in the past two weeks did you spend at least 20 minutes reading the Bible?”
• “How many days in the past two weeks did you do a devotional with your spouse?”
• “Did you view any pornography since our last meeting?”
• “Did you lose your temper with anyone since our last meeting?”

Group members should select a question that addresses an area in which they’d really like to grow rather than an area in which they’re already strong. They can also change their question as often as they’d like. For example, if they initially choose a question about Bible reading but then become consistent in that for a couple of months, they might find it beneficial to change their question to something related to prayer.

Discussion Question (25 Minutes)

After everyone has recited their memorized Bible verses, the next portion of the meeting consists of the discussion question I've chosen for that meeting. I have a rotation of discussion questions that I like to work through. I simply choose one of them each meeting. 

For the first group meeting—or perhaps the first two group meetings, if necessary—I ask, “How did you come to put your trust in Jesus for salvation?” This helps group members get to know each other and develop the trust that will be vital to them being willing to share in highly personal ways later on.

Then, in the second or third meeting, I ask, “How would you most like to grow these next few months?” The focus of this question is not so much on which spiritual discipline group members would like to grow in (since that will be addressed through everyone’s accountability questions) but rather about other, more intangible, aspects of spiritual growth such as growth in specific aspects of Christian character. I write down what each group member says and then text it out to the group so that group members can be regularly praying for each other in those areas. I also like to bring up people’s answers to this question on a regular basis during subsequent meetings (often very briefly at the conclusion of the meeting) and have group members continue to pray for these things. 

After this, I have the group discuss the following questions on a more frequent basis:

• What has God been teaching you lately in your personal devotions or through books you've been reading?
• How is your heart? (not just your circumstances, but more specifically how you’ve been responding to your circumstances on a heart level)
• What is one way the Scripture you’ve been memorizing is significant for our lives? Write out a prayer using the “rejoice/repent/request” approach ahead of time and lead us in that prayer together.
• What challenges have you been facing lately?

In addition, I have the group discuss the following questions on a less frequent basis (usually just once per year):

• What do your times with God usually look like? How do you approach reading the Bible? Are there other disciplines you find helpful?
• What has your prayer life looked like recently? How have you been approaching prayer? What specifically have you been doing? 
• In what areas of your character do you believe there is the most need for improvement in order to live a life that is worthy of imitation?
• In what area(s) of life have you been struggling the most to trust God? What would it look like to surrender that area of your life completely to God? What fears make it difficult to surrender in that way?
• How have you been seeking to serve the Lord by investing in the lives of people around you? (children, neighbors, coworkers, people at church)? Are you engaged in any ongoing outreach efforts we can be praying for?
• What is the biggest lesson God has been teaching you this past year or so? What teaching has he been impressing on your heart the most, or in what way has he been shaping you the most?
• What things do you think are hindering your spiritual growth the most?
• For those who are married, in what ways is your marriage strong? In what ways could your marriage improve? (Before the group, I have group members who are married ask their spouse the same questions and come ready to report their responses. For those who are single, I ask how they've been doing in stewarding their singleness and how their stewardship can be improved.)
• How do you seek to motivate yourself to pursue God when you don’t feel like doing so?
• What major challenges and difficulties have you faced over the course of your life, and how have those experiences shaped your relationship with God and approach to life?
• What three sins are the biggest struggle for you?

I keep track of the questions I’ve asked in order to make sure I don’t repeat those that only need to be asked one time and that I don’t repeat the others too frequently.

In addition, I try to be sensitive to opportunities to provide godly counsel during this portion of the meeting. Of course, I've found it's always good to be cautious about giving unsolicited advice—since such advice may not always be what the person was wanting. However, there are often times when a group member seems like they would be very grateful for others' input on the situation. Whenever I discern there is an opportunity to help someone in this way, I try to take advantage of it. 

Other Practical Matters

Attendance

One reason I strongly prefer having a total of five people in the group is because of the fact that there are often times when group members can’t attend.

Before including someone in my group, I ask them to confirm that they believe they’ll be able to attend group meetings at least 75% of the time—and I make this a requirement for being a part of the group. Not only does having group members who attend less frequently result in fewer people at group meetings, it also has the effect of changing the culture and dynamic of the group in a very undesirable way.

Subsequently, I form a group text with group members and send out a reminder text about 24 hours before each group meeting. This not only minimizes the chances of anyone forgetting about the group meeting, it also gives members an opportunity to let everyone in the group know if they can’t make it.

If it looks like less than three people will be attending the group meeting, I simply cancel the meeting. Cancellation is preferable to rescheduling so that the rest of the year’s scheduled group meetings aren’t affected. This way, group members have a reliable schedule of all group meetings and can plan their lives accordingly.

If a group member seems to be attending significantly less than 75% of the time, I have a conversation with him to inquire about what is going on in his life that is preventing him from attending consistently. Depending on the situation, I might have an honest discussion with him about whether it is best for him to continue being involved in the group if he can’t be there 75% of the time.

Multiplication

In my experience, it’s often optimal for groups to plan from the beginning to disband after meeting together for 10-12 months. Not only does this keep things “fresh” and avoid groups getting in a rut, it also allows for multiplication.

At the end of the 10-12 month period, I encourage group members to try to start additional groups—and maybe even step up themselves as facilitators of those groups. This is what I mean by “multiplication.”

The Unique Value of Discipleship Groups

I'm sometimes asked, "If our church already has Community Groups, why do we need Discipleship Groups?" Here's what I like to emphasize:

Getting Personal

Since Discipleship Groups are smaller than Community Groups and all members of a Discipleship Group are the same gender, it’s possible for discussions to go a lot deeper and get much more personal than is possible in a Community Group setting.

The small size of the group means that there’s actually time to discuss in detail about how each group member is doing in various aspects of life. The small group size and single-gender composition also help group members feel more comfortable sharing personal details that they likely wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing with a large group or one comprised of both genders.

Practical Focus

Discipleship Groups are heavily focused on encouraging group members to practice spiritual disciplines and addressing practical situations in their lives. These are often not areas of significant focus in Community Groups, yet they’re vitally important.

Community Groups are wonderful at facilitating Christians learning from the insights of other Christians, but Discipleship Groups focus on motivating Christians to immerse themselves in the Bible on their own and thereby acquire their own insights. It’s similar to the well-known contrast between giving someone a fish and helping him progress to the point where he’s regularly fishing on his own.

Due to the small group size, Discipleship Groups are also uniquely suited to group members asking each other accountability questions. This is a key way the members of the group motivate each other to pursue God more passionately.

Leaning into These Areas

In order to maximize the benefits of Discipleship Groups, I like to lean into the things that make Discipleship Groups unique. I focus on using the Discipleship Group meetings for the things that Discipleship Groups are uniquely suited to accomplish such as accountability for spiritual disciplines, accountability for personal holiness, and other personal conversations. I feel free to leave the rest for Community Groups.

In other words, if Community Groups can accomplish something effectively, I let the Community Groups do it. I focus my Discipleship Group on things that can be effectively accomplished only in a Discipleship Group setting.

At the same time, we desire to honor God and serve people well by approaching baptism in a responsible way. One of the ways we seek to do that is by linking baptism with church membership. In other words, in order to baptize someone, we usually like to see that person taking serious steps toward becoming a church member—specifically, going through our Membership Information Class and verbally indicating their intent to join our church.

We prefer to approach things in this way because administering baptism apart from church membership conveys the idea that church membership is an optional "extra" for the Christian life rather than an integral part of it, as the New Testament teaches (see this message and this message for an explanation of the biblical basis, and indeed the biblical necessity, of church membership).

By linking baptism and church membership, we affirm that someone has been saved not only into a relationship with God but also into a relationship with other Christians. They now have a spiritual family!

This is confirmed by the New Testament, in which baptism is closely associated with entrance into a local church. Immediately after Peter's famous sermon at Pentecost, Acts 2:41 states, "So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls." The phrase "were added" implies that these baptized individuals became a part of the church community (the life of which is outlined in verses 42-47). This demonstrates that baptism isn't just a personal spiritual milestone but is also a visible initiation into a local church. 

In reality, professing to be a part of the universal church but not joining the localized expression of the church is, in essence, saying one thing but doing another. It is communicating two opposite things and, therefore, makes no sense. It's simultaneously saying that you are a part of the Body of Christ and that you are not a part of the Body of Christ. It would be similar to someone claiming that they are a part of the United States military but not a part of any particular branch of the military.

In addition, pursuing church membership is also a part of having a credible profession of faith (which is a requirement for baptism). A true Christian will desire to obey the teachings of the Bible. And, since the Bible teaches that being a part of a church is a core component of the Christian life, it follows that a true Christian who is properly instructed will desire to become a part of a church.

Therefore, although there are extenuating circumstances that require accommodation from time to time, our normal practice is for those who are seeking baptism at our church to be on the path to becoming a member of our church.

1 - Address everyone involved. If you’ve done something that’s affected more than one person, then everyone who’s been affected needs to hear your confession. That means if your sin is habitual gossip, you probably need to apologize before the whole church. Or whatever the sin is, a good rule of thumb is that the circle of confession needs to be as wide as the circle of offense. In a church I used to attend, there was this one guy who apparently had a bit of a temper, and after the church service one day, I’m not sure exactly what happened, but he just blew up on another guy in the church, and a lot of people saw it. So the next Sunday, he apologized before the whole church, and I thought that was very appropriate. So number one, address everyone involved.

2 - Avoid “if,” “but,” and “maybe.” These are the words you absolutely do not want to use in an apology. I’ve only been married for a little over five years, but even I know that if I use those words in my apology, it’s probably not going to go very well for me. “Honey, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, but you’re just so sensitive sometimes.” Not the best thing to say. So avoid those words “if,” “but,” and “maybe.”

3 –-Admit your wrongdoing specifically. It’s not enough to apologize for “everything I’ve done against you” or “all the bone-headed decisions I’ve made.” Show them that you understand exactly what those bone-headed decisions were and why you need to be sorry for them. They know what you did, but they need to know that you know what you did.

4 - Acknowledge the hurt. Put yourself in their shoes and think about how they must be feeling, and then say something that shows you understand. Show that you understand how your action harmed the person. Show some remorse for the pain and difficulty it caused.

5 - Accept the consequences. Accept that it may take some time for you to earn back that person’s full level of trust. Accept responsibility for any material damage you’ve done and try to make restitution for that. Actions have consequences, and if you’re really sorry, a good way to show your sincerity is by accepting those consequences.

6 - Alter your behavior. Have you ever had someone tell you they were sorry for doing something only to do it again soon after? And perhaps the second offense was followed by a second apology, but then, lo and behold, it happens again? I’m guessing that after two or three cycles of that, their apology probably wouldn’t mean very much to you. If you’re really sorry, you’ll change your behavior.

7 - Ask forgiveness and allow time. You need to directly and specifically ask their forgiveness for what you’ve done. Now, keep in mind that, depending on how serious the offense was, it may take some time for them to forgive you. So for a more significant offense, don’t expect them to be ready to fully forgive you and move on with life five seconds after you ask. But you do need to ask.

There are a wide range of opinions about this topic, and many of these opinions have just as much to do with personal preferences as they do with biblical convictions.

For our church, the most important consideration is whether the lyrics are biblically faithful and theologically substantive. This is because we believe that true joy is rooted in God and the wondrous grace God has shown toward us.

All too often, many Christians confuse joy with emotional euphoria. This euphoria can, to a large degree, be manufactured through the various elements of a concert-like atmosphere that are found in many churches today.

However, perhaps it’s worth considering that a similar sense of emotional euphoria is experienced in secular concerts that have nothing to do with Jesus. These concerts might even have elements that explicitly undermine Christian teaching. Shouldn’t this make us hesitant about identifying this euphoria as the joy that should be a part of Christian worship?

In reality, true joy is something much deeper than the fleeting emotions that many Christians seek to “whip up” or manufacture through various human methods. Stage lights and fog machines can’t produce the rich joy that God intends for his people.

Instead, this joy requires a right understanding of biblical truths and grows out of being reminded of those truths in a powerful way.

We can see this modeled in various psalms:

• “I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:6).

• “For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing to your name. Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever” (Psalm 18:49-50).

• “But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress” (Psalm 59:16).

• “I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 89:1).

Notice that, in all of these instances, the joyful worship of the psalmists doesn’t arise out of a theological vacuum but rather is a response to specific truths about who God is and what he’s done.

Worship is similar to fire, and fire needs fuel in order to burn. Without substantive biblical truth, there is no fuel for the fire of worship.

Therefore, our church’s main concern as we select the songs we’ll sing in our worship gatherings is the degree to which those songs contain substantive biblical truths about God. That’s what fuels our joy in the Lord and the natural expression of that joy in worship!

Stated another way, biblical joy rises up within us only as we comprehend substantive biblical truths. This joy then manifests itself in genuine worship. This means that we can only worship God with joy to the extent that we’ve been reminded of who he is and what he’s done.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the only thing we care about is the theological richness of a song’s lyrics. There are several other factors that are important to consider, such as whether a song is:

• Understandable—We want to make sure a song’s lyrics are clear and understandable. If a song is too dense or contains to much outdated language to be understood by a significant portion of the congregation, it is best to forego singing it. In order to have edifying value, the lyrics of a song have to be readily understandable.

• Accessible—There are some songs that have amazing lyrics but are difficult for the average person to learn and/or sing. This hinders them from participating in worship. Such songs might be very suitable for a time of personal worship but are probably not the best choices for worship gatherings.

• Memorable—The best songs are ones that we easily remember and that stick in our minds so that we find ourselves singing them at various points throughout the week. This multiplies the edifying effect of a song exponentially.

However, even these practical considerations ultimately come back to the idea of people encountering substantive biblical truths in a powerful way.

God desires that his people worship him with genuine joy that’s fueled by the wonderous truths he’s revealed in Scripture. We should select songs that inspire such worship.

I think of those commercials for new cars where you see the car doing all of these fancy, high speed maneuvers that show off how well the car’s capable of performing. It can do this impressive thing on this terrain and that impressive thing on that terrain. And at the bottom of the screen, what does the fine print typically say? It says something like, “This is a professional driver. Don’t try this yourself.”

While that may be good advice for some of those high speed maneuvers, that’s a terrible way to approach our gospel mission. Just look at Acts 8.

Acts 8:1 records how the Jewish religious leaders begin persecuting the early Christians in Jerusalem. It states, “And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” So because of this persecution, the Christians of Jerusalem were scattered to the surrounding regions—except for the apostles, the text says.

Then if we look down at verse 4, here’s what we read: “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” So who “went about preaching the word”? Was it the leaders? No, verse 1 told us that the leaders were actually the only ones who weren’t scattered. It was everybody else in the church, the so-called “ordinary” Christians, who “went about preaching the word.” As I heard one pastor say, it was the Joes, not the pros, who spread the gospel here in Acts 8.

And that’s really how God has designed the church to function. He didn’t design it to be like football game where you have a handful of players actually playing in the game and then thousands upon thousands of others watching from the stands.

When the Steelers play here in Pittsburgh, the vast majority of people at Heinz field aren’t really doing much of anything beyond drinking and eating and having a good time. Only a very small minority of the people present are actually playing football. The rest are just spectators. They’re just watching the action rather than taking part in the action.

And the sad reality is that if you leave Heinz field and go around to various churches, it doesn’t take long to observe that the churches aren’t all that different. Many of them are full of spectators also. But that’s not the way God designed it.

God’s design is for every Christian to do what these early Christians here in Acts 8 were doing and function as missionaries wherever he places them. That means if you’re a Christian and you’re living in the Pittsburgh area, God has called you to be a missionary to the Pittsburgh area.

Consider yourself licensed. Consider yourself authorized. God himself has licensed you, authorized you, and even commanded you and empowered you to live as a missionary right here.

"The revelation to the believer that God is his Father is in a sense the climax of the Bible, just as it was a final step in the revelatory process which the Bible records.

In Old Testament times, as we have seen, God gave his people a covenant name by which to speak of him and call upon him: the name Yahweh (‘Jehovah’, ‘the LORD’). By this name, God announced himself as the ‘great I AM’—the One who is completely and consistently himself. He is: and it is because he is what he is that everything else is as it is.

He is the reality behind all reality, the underlying cause of all causes and all events. The name proclaimed him as self-existent, sovereign, and wholly free from constraint by, or dependence on, anything outside himself. Though Yahweh was his covenant name, it spoke to Israel of what their God was in himself rather than of what he would be in relation to them. It was the official name of Israel’s King, and there was something of regal reserve about it. It was an enigmatic name, a name calculated to awaken humility and awe before the mystery of the Divine being rather than anything else.

In full accord with this, the aspect of his character on which God laid most stress in the Old Testament was his holiness. The angels’ song which Isaiah heard in the temple, with its emphatic repetitions—Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD Almighty’ (Isaiah 6:3 NIV)—could be used as a motto-text to sum up the theme of the whole Old Testament. 

The basic idea which the word ‘holy’ expresses is that of separation, or separateness. When God is declared to be ‘holy’, the thought is of all that separates him and sets him apart and makes him different from his creatures: his greatness (‘the majesty in heaven’, Hebrews 1:3; 8:1), and his purity, (‘Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong’, Habakkuk 1:13). 

The whole spirit of Old Testament religion was determined by the thought of God’s holiness. The constant emphasis was that human beings, because of their weakness as creatures and their defilement as sinful creatures, must learn to humble themselves and be reverent before God. Religion was ‘the fear of the Lord’—a matter of knowing your own littleness, of confessing your faults and abasing yourself in God’s presence, of sheltering thankfully under his promises of mercy, and of taking care above all things to avoid presumptuous sins. Again and again it was stressed that we must keep our place, and our distance, in the presence of a holy God. This emphasis overshadowed everything else.

 But in the New Testament we find that things have changed. God and religion are not less than they were; the 0ld Testament revelation of the holiness of God, and its demand for humility in man, is presupposed throughout. But something has been added. A new factor has come in. 

New Testament believers deal with God as their Father. ‘Father’ is the name by which they call him. ‘Father’ has now become his covenant name—for the covenant which binds him to his people stands revealed as a family covenant. Christians are his children, his own sons and daughters, his heirs. 

And the stress of the New Testament is not on the difficulty and danger of drawing near to the holy God, but on the boldness and confidence with which believers may approach him: a boldness that springs directly from faith in Christ, and from the knowledge of his saving work. ‘In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence’ (Ephesians 3:12). ‘Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us….let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith’ (Hebrews 10:19ff). 

To those who are Christ’s, the holy God is a loving Father; they belong to his family; they may approach him without fear, and always be sure of his fatherly concern and care. This is the heart of the New Testament message."

So how will people know that Christians really are who they claim to be and that their message is legitimate? By the love we have for one another.

As Christians, our love for one another is a huge part of our witness to the world. It might even be the most important thing that helps people see how true the gospel is. It’s the key piece of evidence.

Because, when you think about it, you can’t see the gospel. There’s nobody walking around today who was alive 2,000 years ago and could be an eyewitness to Jesus rising from the dead.

So how can we know the gospel is true? We can’t see it. We can’t do a series of empirical tests and verify that the gospel’s true. So where’s the evidence that confirms the truth of the gospel?

Well, the evidence is in our lives. We know the gospel is true because of the results it produces within us—results that are nothing short of miraculous. The gospel changes us and makes us into new people and teaches us, among other things, to live together in love. So when we as believers exhibit that love, people know that the gospel is true.

You might compare it to gravity. Gravity itself is invisible. So how do you know that gravity exists? Well, I’m sure a scientist could make a case that gravity exists by telling us all about complex formulas and statistics. But I’m pretty sure just about all of that go would go right over most people’s heads. Most people probably wouldn’t be able to understand what he’s talking about and therefore wouldn’t find his arguments very persuasive.

The best way to prove gravity exists is simply to drop an object and watch it fall. That’s all it takes. We know gravity exists because of the way it affects objects when drop them. We know it’s real by the effect it has.

And it’s the same way with the gospel. How can people know the gospel’s true? How can people know that Jesus really came from God and died for our sins and rose again from the dead? It’s by the way that gospel message changes us as followers of Jesus.

So if you’re a Christian, is your life a convincing testimony?

In one sense, Jesus won a decisive victory through his resurrection. Jesus rescues his people from “the world” (John 16:33), which I believe is shorthand for everything that’s set in opposition to God, including Satan, sin, and the consequences of sin.

Jesus overcomes it all and rescues us from it all through his resurrection. Many in the world will continue opposing God and by extension the people of God, but praise be to Jesus that the victory has been won.

And yet, I think we all sense that there’s something incomplete about the victory. After all, we still face opposition. We still suffer trials of various kinds. So Jesus won the victory, but we haven’t yet experienced the fullness of that victory. We haven’t yet seen that victory become real and manifest in every aspect of life.

You might compare it to the end of World War II, when the Japanese officially surrendered to the Allied forces. As soon as those surrender documents were signed, victory had officially been won. The Allies had defeated Japan had officially won the war.

However, the fullness of the victory hadn’t yet come to all of the islands in the Pacific. Some of the islands were so remote and communication with some of the Japanese soldiers was so difficult that there were numerous Japanese soldiers who mistakenly kept on fighting even though the war was officially over.

In fact, I even read about one Japanese soldier named Hiroo Onoda who didn’t really believe the war was over and kept on fighting until 1974—twenty-nine years after the war officially ended. He received some leaflets dropped from airplanes that the war had ended, but he thought the Allies were trying to trick him. So he just kept on fighting.

Finally, the Japanese government managed to track down his commanding officer, who by that time had taken up civilian life as a bookseller, and the commanding officer traveled to the island where Mr. Onoda had stationed him and formally relieved him of duty.

Now of course, Mr. Onoda was a bit unique for the amount of time he continued fighting after the war was officially over. But there were Japanese soldiers throughout the Pacific, especially in the first few weeks and months after Japan’s official surrender, who were still fighting the war.

So you might say that the Allies officially won their victory over Japan when Japan signed the documents of surrender, but that victory took a while to become universally real and manifest. And it’s the same way with the victory Jesus won through his death and resurrection. He won the victory, but the fullness of that victory has yet to be seen.

However, we’re told that one day it will be seen. And it will be seen in a very visible and powerful way. Revelation 19:11-21 records how, one day, Jesus will triumph over his enemies and reveal his glory to the world.

And thankfully, for those who belong to Jesus, his victory is our victory. So be encouraged: the best is yet to come.

Think about the way a mother gives her life, in a sense, for her children. She may not physically die for them, but there’s still a sense in which she definitely gives her life for them.

I think of my wife, Becky, and all of the things she has given up and regularly gives up for our children. She’s given up having a career—at least for this season of her life. She’s also given up some aspects of her health since her three pregnancies have really taken a toll on her physically and brought on some physical ailments she didn’t used to have. And then, on a regular basis, Becky gives up her time, her attention, her energy, and hours of her sleep every night so that she can care for the three children God’s blessed us with.

Those children are a blessing, but Becky is certainly making a sacrifice. She’s laying down her life. And the reason she’s laying down her life is because she loves our kids.

Jesus says that as believers, we’re supposed to love one another in a similar way—even to the point that we’re willing to lay down our lives for each other. And in some ways, we should be laying down our lives for each other on a regular basis. We should be giving to one another—giving time, giving energy, giving help, giving encouragement, giving in whatever ways God provides opportunity for us to give. Giving to one another is part of truly loving one another.

And the motivation behind us giving ourselves in this way is that we care about one another’s welfare. That’s what biblical love is. It’s caring about the welfare of others.

In a sense, you could even say that when you love somebody in the biblical sense of that word, you’ve chosen to make your happiness dependent on their happiness. J. I. Packer brings this out in a brilliant way in his book Knowing God.

As Packer talks about the love God has for us, Packer observes that even though God’s ultimate purpose, according to the Bible, is his own glory, he has at the same time chosen to love human beings. And in choosing to love human beings, Packer says, God has “voluntarily bound up his own final happiness with theirs.”

Packer continues, “It is not for nothing that the Bible habitually speaks of God as the loving Father and Husband of his people. It follows from the very nature of these relationships that God’s happiness will not be complete till all his beloved ones are finally out of trouble….God was happy without humans before they were made; he would have continued happy had he simply destroyed them after they had sinned; but as it is he has set his love upon particular sinners, and this means that, by his own free voluntary choice, he will not [have] perfect and unmixed happiness again till he has brought every one of them to heaven. He has in effect resolved that henceforth for all eternity his happiness shall be conditional upon ours.”

Does that not blow your mind? For God to love us means that even though he was originally perfectly complete and satisfied in himself, he voluntarily made his happiness conditional upon ours. He allowed his own happiness to be bound up in ours.