Proverbs & Discipleship

If you are following the lessons on repentance, please continue to visit. Another lesson is soon to follow. But for now, I felt that this lesson was more appropriate for the moment.

Because of the proliferation of leadership books and church growth books, most people are very familiar with Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

The verse has been misused on so many occasions that we have lost sight of its real meaning. While it may not be readily apparent, we should realize that this verse is actually a verse about evangelism and discipleship.

Let’s begin with one of the most well-known verses and arguably one of the most evangelistic verses in the Bible.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (KJV)

John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (HCSB)

There is so much to say about the first two parts of this verse, but for the moment, I want to concentrate on those last few words, “will not perish but have eternal life.”

Most people know this verse and are familiar with the promise that God gives eternal life through Christ. But not so many are as familiar with the fact that, in His high priestly prayer of John 17, Jesus defined the term eternal life.

John 17:2-3 …you (God, the Father) have given him (Jesus Christ, the Son) authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

In verse 3, Jesus very clearly defines the meaning of eternal life as the knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ.

Now, substitute this definition into John 3:16.

John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have the knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ.

Notice that there is a direct correlation between perishing and the knowledge of God in John 3:16 just as there is in Prov. 29:18. From John 3:16 we learn that people are rescued from perishing by the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Yet not everyone is saved from perishing. The only ones who are saved are those who believe.

Belief is the verb form for which faith is the noun. Thus believing means to exercise faith.

Yet faith is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8). It does not exist in the human heart until it is placed there by God. That’s why Jesus was authorized to give eternal life only to those whom the Father had given Him (John 17:2).

How does this happen? How does this gift of faith find its way into the human heart where it eventually blossoms into believing? The Apostle Paul explained this for us in his letter to the church at Rome.

Rom. 10:17 …faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (ESV)

Earlier in that same chapter, Paul explained the process of hearing.

Rom. 10:14-15 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? (NLT)

Now let us return to Prov. 29.18.

By taking some liberties and borrowing from several translations and commentaries, the verse might be written in a longer, explanatory form.

Prov. 29:18 Where there is no prophetic vision, no redemptive revelation of God, no revelation of God's will made through and by the people of God to the culture in which they live, the people of the culture are deprived of moral restraints, run wild, become ungovernable, and cannot be reined in.[i]

Here is a simpler paraphrase:

When the servants of God (individual Christians) fail to participate in evangelism and discipleship – in actively making God known to all of the people – then the people lose their moral compass, cast off all moral restraints, and everyone basically does what is right in their own eyes – in other words, they perish.

When the people of God are faithful in fulfilling the Great Commission, people are rescued.

When the people of God are not faithful in evangelism and discipleship, we get the society that we live in today.

And we wonder what’s wrong with the world! Could it be that we who call Jesus our Savior and Lord simply do not believe that the biblical process of making disciples is a sufficient way to change the world?

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[i] The additional words and commentary used in this expanded version came from the ESV, the NLT, the Amplified Version, Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary, and The Pulpit Commentary.