Gospel-Centered Discipleship Quotes

“We need relationships that are so shaped by the gospel that we will exhort and encourage one another to trust Jesus every single day. We need gospel-centered discipleship.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“The gospel calls us back to look at Jesus over and over again. A disciple of Jesus is a person who so looks at Jesus that he or she actually begins to reflect his beauty in everyday life. The gospel gives us the eyes to see Jesus as well as the power to look like him.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“Disciples are gospel people who introduce and reintroduce themselves and others to the person and power of Jesus over and over again. A disciple of Jesus never stops learning the gospel, relating in the gospel, and communicating the gospel.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“Gospel-centered discipleship is not about how we perform but who we are—imperfect people, clinging to a perfect Christ, being perfected by the Spirit.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“The wonderful news of the gospel is that Jesus frees us from trying to impress God or others because he has impressed God on our behalf. We can tell people our sins because our identity doesn’t hang on what they think of us. We can be imperfect Christians because we cling to a perfect Christ.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“Making disciples requires not only “sharing our faith,” but also sharing our lives—failures and successes, disobedience and obedience.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“How do we repent? We repent through faith . . . turning to God in faith and from sin in repentance are the same movement.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“Unfortunately, repentance is commonly viewed as something we do to get on God’s good side. We think to ourselves, “If I feel sorry enough, get angry enough at my sin, then God will forgive me.” This view splits the coin of repentance. It assumes that turning from sin is our work, and returning to Christ is God’s work. But, remember, repentance is one movement, one coin. To turn from sin is to turn to Christ, a fluid movement of grace, which is a gift from God (Rom. 2:4).”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“The wonderful news of the gospel is that Jesus frees us from trying to impress God or others because he has impressed God on our behalf. We can tell people our sins because our identity doesn’t hang on what they think of us. We can be imperfect Christians because we cling to a perfect Christ. In this kind of discipleship, Jesus is at the center with the church huddled around him.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“If we really believed that porn and gossip were based on lies that don’t satisfy, we wouldn’t participate in them.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“A disciple of Jesus is a person who so looks at Jesus that he or she actually begins to reflect his beauty in everyday life.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“The gospel promises us the arms of God’s loving embrace every single minute of every single day, provided we give up on ourselves.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“Christians who internalize the gospel of grace more and more are compelled to spread the gospel more and more.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“As it turns out, the gospel is for disciples, not just for “sinners;” it saves and transforms people in relationship, not merely individuals who go it alone.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“Neither. It was my fault. Although I didn’t understand it at the time, my motivation for obeying Jesus had shifted from grace to works. It progressed from attempting to earn God’s favor, to gaining the favor of my disciples. “Discipleship” had become a way to leverage my identity and worth in relationship with others. I was comfortable on the pedestal dispensing wisdom and truth.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“I’m discovering that most of the time the power of the Spirit is subtle, not showy. The Spirit is present in our subtle inclinations to serve our spouses, do what’s right, read the Bible, love the marginalized, make disciples, and commune with God. He is that renewing presence that says: “Choose what is good, right, and true.” He is that tug toward self-sacrifice for the good of others. He is that challenge to boldly tell someone how Jesus is changing your life. He is the Person that brings Scripture to mind and coaxes you to believe it. He is the one who prompts you to pray for others. He is the one who restrains you from clicking on that image on the Internet, making that purchase, or silently judging someone. He prompts you to encourage a friend, to praise the good in a coworker, or to rejoice in God’s remarkable grace. If you are in Christ, you have the Spirit, and he prompts you all the time. We simply need to surrender to his prompting!”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“The Spirit will direct us into undesirable circumstances. He led Jesus to fast for forty days, in a human body, in the wilderness, under the attack of the Devil. The leading of the Spirit sometimes includes suffering, but even that suffering is designed for our gospel holiness. Consider how Jesus relied on the Spirit during his wilderness temptations. During each temptation, Jesus relived the temptations of Israel during their forty years in the wilderness. Yet, instead of failing at each temptation of food, faith, and fame, Jesus succeeded. How? He relied on the power of the Spirit to believe the promises of God. When faced with the promises of Satan, Jesus responded by faith in God’s promises. He realized God’s words were true and reliable and that the Devil’s words were false and unreliable. Jesus trusted in the promises of God by the power of the Spirit.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

“The role of gospel motivation in discipleship is frequently overlooked.1 If religious performance and spiritual license are unbiblical motivations for discipleship, what do biblical motivations look like? How do we cultivate them?”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship