How to Repent of Sin and Rejoice in Christ Together with a Discipleship Group

Fighting the Good Fight with a Discipleship Group

How can we fight the good fight of faith? I want to explain the concept of “discipleship groups” as a way for all disciples to fight for what is noble and beautiful. My hope is that discipleship groups will help you experience victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil and enjoy Jesus Christ.

Discipleship groups are small, simple groups of two to four people who meet regularly to repent of sin, rejoice in Christ, and reproduce disciples. Men meet with men and women meet with women in order to effectively address gender-specific issues head-on. I have been in discipleship groups for years. Some have been better than others. Along the way, I’ve discovered groups that make the gospel central are much more effective and enjoyable.

Repent of Sin

Repentance is not a one-time act to get us into heaven, but an entire way of life to maintain Christian joy. It is a single turn from the bogus promises of sin to the blood-bought promises of the Savior. But to turn to our Savior, we must disentangle ourselves from our sin. We must become students of our spiritual pathology so that we can help one another apply God’s healing remedy. We can know our sin by asking three questions: What? When? and Why?

First we must ask, What? What sins are you currently tempted by? Some temptations change from season to season, while others remain the same. Name your temptations and sins. Confess them to your friends. An unknown or unacknowledged opponent is impossible to defeat. Our temptations can be as obvious as anger or as subtle as self-pity. As you prayerfully examine your life, remember, you are God’s child not his project. He knows you, sees all your sins, and loves you still! Talk openly with him about your struggles; ask him to reveal your sins and convict you of them (Ps. 139:23–24; John 16:8). Invite your discipleship group to point out sins they see in your life. Very often, our self-perception is about as accurate as a carnival mirror.¹ A loving community can help us by holding up the mirror of God’s word so we can see ourselves more clearly. The word is powerful, sharper than any sword, dividing between things visible and invisible, judging the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12). Use God’s word as a mirror to expose sin and as a scalpel to excise it.

Once you have identified the what, it is important to consider the when. If we don’t think about the times when we’re most likely to be tempted, sin will sneak up on us to take us out. It is always crouching at our door (Gen. 4:7). When are you tempted to sin? Consider the circumstances that surround your sin and identify your sins. For example:

• Do you find yourself tempted to vanity or self-pity when lingering in front of the mirror?
• Does sexual lust or despair creep in on late, lonely nights watching TV?
• Are you prone to pride when you succeed or receive a compliment?
• Are you easily angered in traffic or while waiting in line?

If we know the circumstances of our temptation, we can be prepared to fight it off.

Finally, a critical question to ask is, Why? Why do you sin in this way? The why question is important because it gets below sin to the heart. The truth is, we never sin out of duty. No one stands behind us twisting our arm. We sin willingly. In that moment, our hearts desire something other than Christ. If we don’t address the motivational issues behind our sin, we will treat it superficially, adjusting our behavior not our hearts. God doesn’t want mere behavioral adjustment; he wants affectionate obedience: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

To love Jesus and uncover your motivation, ask yourself why you gravitate to certain sins. What do you believe they will do for you? What is it that your heart longs for? What are you desiring or valuing most when you sin in a particular area? Using the examples above, we may sin because we desire:

• Worth and beauty
• Satisfaction or companionship
• Confidence or success
• Convenience or efficiency

Notice that none of these desires are bad, but when they are directed to the wrong place, they become deadly. Sin promises us that these desires can be ultimately fulfilled apart from Christ. Consider how these good desires can be twisted by lies into sinful motivations.

Vanity: If you perform beautifully, then you have worth.
Lust: If you find sexual intimacy on the internet, then you won’t be lonely or stressed.
Pride: If people paid you more compliments, then you would be more confident.
Anger: If you don’t get your way, you have the right to get angry.

Many of our sins can be traced back to a belief in a lie. These false promises of worth, satisfaction, confidence, and convenience motivate our sin. If we are to discover true acceptance, approval, satisfaction, worth, beauty, and significance, we need the ability to expose those lies. Cultivate a habit of looking beneath your sin to the lie underneath it, “to the sin under the sin.”² Help one another get to the motivational why by asking questions such as, “What do you believe that will give you?” “Why do you desire that more than Christ?” “Any idea why that is more appealing?” Once we understand why we sin, we can expose the false promise and replace it with a true promise. If we don’t address the why question, we will inevitably drift into religious white knuckling or rebellious shoulder shrugging. To avoid drifting, we need gospel motivation.

Repentance involves knowing the what (sin), the when (circumstance), and the why (motive). But it’s not enough to analyze our sin; we must also wrestle free from it. To do that, we must stretch out to grasp something better.

Rejoice in Christ

Jesus is better. We sing it; we say it; we counsel it. But how is Jesus better? That’s the trick to defeating sin, because sin secretly says, “I’m better than what Jesus has to offer.”

Attributes of Jesus. There are numerous ways to uncover the glory of Christ. One way is to consider the roles and attributes of Jesus and compare them to sin’s offer. For instance, if we are tempted to sulk in self-pity, believing no one cares about us or will stand up for us, we can remind ourselves that Christ is our advocate (1 John 2:1). If Jesus willingly advocates for us before the greatest audience, our heavenly Father, how much more can we trust him when snubbed by a lesser audience? Jesus stands in heaven eternally making intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). There is no greater advocate.

Or perhaps we’re exhausted, worn down by the week, and feel like we need refreshment. While Netflix can be an innocent distraction, it does not offer rest. Films are for entertainment, but Christ is for refreshment. Jesus is our rest. He says, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Jesus is our peace, comfort, and rest! Get in the habit of asking your discipleship group how Jesus is better. Compare sin’s offer to Christ’s offer, and you’ll uncover the unsurpassed glory of Christ.

Gospel Metaphors.³ Another way to rejoice in Christ is to consider what he offers us in the gospel. All of us have deep-down longings meant to be fulfilled in the good news. However, we’re daily tempted to find satisfaction in inferior announcements. Gospel metaphors offer us specific satisfaction for deep longings. For instance, we may be tempted to gossip to a friend about someone else in order to feel accepted. Our desire—acceptance—is good, but our faith in gossip with a friend is misplaced. The gospel of justification, however, reminds us that we are perfectly accepted by God in Christ. Since he accepts us fully, we need not gossip to find acceptance with others. God invites us to repent of sinful gossip and place our hope in the good news that we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone. To those seeking acceptance, justification promises perfect acceptance before a holy God through his Son.

The metaphor of new creation can be especially compelling for those longing for a new start in life. If your life has been littered with failure, scarred by abuse, humbled through suffering, darkened by depression, or ruined by addiction, there is hope of becoming a new creation. This gospel metaphor offers more than a new identity; it offers a new reality. God sees you as new because you are renewed. In Christ, you have a new worth, a new spirit, a new power, a new Redeemer. You need not be ruled by the past; Christ is your merciful King. To those seeking hope, new creation exiles the old life and welcomes a new life, sending a bright ray of hope into the heart of the hopeless.

Compare sin’s offer to Christ’s offer, and you’ll uncover the unsurpassed glory of Christ.

The metaphor of our union with Christ is especially rich because it offers mystical intimacy with Jesus. Our search for intimacy in relationships seems to never end. Even the best friendship or marriage isn’t enough for our insatiable need to be noticed, loved, and cared for. We all want a place where we can be ourselves and know we are accepted. We want relationships where we feel safe to share our innermost thoughts and darkest struggles. This is especially true of the sexual struggler, the spouse stuck in a broken marriage, or the lonely single. To those seeking intimacy, union with Christ invites an intimate, loving, unbreakable, fulfilling relationship that brings deep healing and joy.

Instead of simply asking, “How is the gospel better?” invite one another to claim a specific gospel metaphor that displaces the power of sin.

The Promises of God. A third way to repent is by trusting in the promises of God. Trusting our Savior makes discipleship personal. When we trust in his promises, we cut through religious performance and spiritual license, leading to soul-sweetening obedience. And guess what? He is utterly trustworthy—the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8)! All of God’s promises are guaranteed, “Yes” and “Amen,” in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20). Jesus is a totally trustworthy Redeemer who double-backs his promises. As if that isn’t enough, God gives us his Holy Spirit to prompt faith in God’s promises. Like lightning through steel, the Spirit’s power is released through Scripture to awaken our hearts to the glory of God dazzling off the face of Christ. But to experience that power, we need to know his promises. We need not just random verses but specific promises and warnings for personal temptations and trials. Fumes from Sunday worship are not enough. We need to have the word at our side, ready to wield the truth at a moment’s notice. Develop a practice of identifying the promises of sin and comparing them to the promises of Christ. Let’s examine a few specific sins and compare them to specific promises.

Sexual Lust: seeking satisfaction. Instead of trusting in sexual lust for satisfaction, trust God for true satisfaction. Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). God is the most beautiful, glorious, satisfying being in the universe. Seeing him is thrilling. The psalmist reminds us, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, / that we may rejoice and be glad all our days” (90:14). So, when you are tempted to lust, turn to God for true satisfaction and be ravished.

Lust says: Act on your urges, and you will be satisfied.
Scripture says: The pure in heart will be satisfied.

Vanity: seeking beauty. Instead of relying on vanity for worth, consider the beauty of God: “What we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). When you are tempted to find your worth in your appearance, turn to God’s beauty and be content with the beauty you have in him.

Vanity says: Perform beautifully, and you will have worth.
Scripture says: Behold the glory of Christ, and you will bear his beauty.

Pride: seeking confidence. Instead of trusting in compliments or praise for confidence, believe the truth that your adequacy comes from God: “Such is the confidence we have toward God through Christ. Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate” (2 Cor. 3:4–6 NASB). It’s true we are inadequate, but we are made more than adequate in Christ.

Pride says: Cherish compliments, and you will be confident.
Scripture says: Your confidence comes from being made sufficient in Jesus.

Anger: responding to circumstances. Instead of getting angry because you don’t get your way, put your trust in the Lord’s way: “Be angry, and do not sin; / ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. / Offer right sacrifices, / and put your trust in the Lord” (Ps. 4:4–5). Put your trust in God, not in circumstances going your way or what you think is right.

Anger says: If I don’t get my way, I have the right to get angry.
Scripture says: Trust in the Lord, not in controlling your circumstances.

These precious and magnificent promises are so freeing! Get in the habit of comparing the promises of sin to the promises of Scripture. Write down a sin promise next to a gospel promise in order to see the staggering difference between the two. When you identify the sin promise, it forces you to search the Scriptures for how the gospel is better. There’s something about seeing the futility of sin next to the truth of Scripture that helps us enjoy Christ. Memorize God’s promises together; write them on your heart, quote them to your temptations and, most importantly, cherish them.

Romans 8:13 offers a promise. If we “put to death the deeds of the body,” we will live. Those who skewer sin by trusting the Redeemer enjoy life. One day that life will flower into eternal enjoyment of the promises of God in his renewed creation forever and ever. No more sin, temptation, or repentance! We will fully and forever face the Lord. There will be only joy!

This article is adapted from Gospel-Centered Discipleship: Revised and Expanded by Jonathan Dodson.

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