Like, Share, & Subscribe: How to Be the Ultimate Gospel Influencer

What makes a person “special”?

You know, the type of person who, when they walk into the room, everyone wants to shake hands with them.

Is it their reputation, their social media platforms, their intelligence, or their physique that makes them stand out in a crowd?

In a world that is hardcore obsessed with building a cult-following, we’re more concerned about being identified with how many followers we can accumulate over what type of follower we are.

Maybe it’s time to switch gears and recognize the most important facet of our identity is being a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ.

My friend Travis and I have tackled the discipleship topic before, but today, I’m launching into a deep-dive study of Colossians, a book that establishes a high calling to understanding Jesus’ supremacy, sufficiency, and divinity and diverts us from a me-founded gospel. This foundational concept helps us combat false teachers and philosophies that may try to invade our own Christian walk.

But First, the Backstory...

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” (Colossians 1:1)

Paul opens up the letter to the church in Colossae, identifying who he is (an apostle) and Who he belongs to (Christ). Paul’s opening indicates how he clearly understood that his position and his identity were deeply rooted in God’s calling.

If anyone had a reason to be “the leading man,” it was Paul. He could have kickstarted all of his letters with “I, Paul, Leading Pharisee, Persecutor of the Church, Honors Student of Gamaliel [think of being an Ivy League student] Hebrew of Hebrews, and Insert Ultimate Celebrity Status Here,” in order to gain some noteworthy clout with the Colossians.

I mean, Paul was the key influencer of his pharisaical circles. But instead, he identifies himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ, pointing to his identity ultimately relies on the work of Jesus Christ in his life.

So let’s take a look at how Paul identifies what unity, service, and discipleship look like.

More Love, Less Likes—The Unity of Christ

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel . . .” (v. 3-5)

Seems like the last few years have molded the word “unity” into a catchphrase promoting social justice or overarching team spirit. In the “spiritual circles,” what’s especially alarming is this trend being pushed defining unity as being “spiritual but not religious,” and promoting the false ideas that any lifestyle walk can lead to God any which way.

Ok, but we don’t want to be tossed like a wave by man’s wisdom, so what does the Bible picture unity as?

Unity in Christ isn’t just some catch-all phrase depicting us as believers joined hand in hand together singing, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” Christ-unity is motivated by two solid factors—agape love and alethea, or the hardcore truth of the gospel.

Think of it this way, Paul never visited the Colossians, yet he speaks to them with great affection and great admiration.

It’s cool to see that when Paul writes “we pray for you,” translated from Greek it literally means “we are praying with you,” denoting how Paul is joined together with these believers in love and prayer.

But how can we be lovingly unified with people we don’t even know?

For example, have you ever met someone you instantly connected with? Like bam! You just click. It could be because you think the same way or have the same interests and hobbies, but sometimes there’s an inexplicable bond that can be made. Imagine this type of relationship but it’s being motivated on a Christ-founded love and solidified by the mission to influence the world with the power of the gospel.

That’s how Paul viewed how we believers ought to be unified—in love and truth.

Because of the Gospel, we Christians are called to be unified despite the culture, location, or economic status.

Paul applauds the Colossians because of their love for the saints (or holy ones) and for their commitment to truth.

The Colossians also had firmly established their hope, a hope that had a real focus and understanding of what is coming or what was theirs.

It’s neat to note here that Paul describes this type of hope as being “laid up,” meaning our reservations are not based on earth but rather in heaven! When we are anchored in a hope of where we are going, we are unified with fellow believers because of our common destination.

Paul never met the Colossians; however, he emphasizes the unity he felt with them because of their love for Christ, for each other, for the fellow believers, and for their commitment to their hope-filled truth! This is our challenge to us to maintain unity as believers, not allowing anything or anyone to come between the love with have for Christ and for each other.

Sharing the Gospel—The Service of Christ

“Which has come to you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.” (v. 6-8)

What’s the most off-the-wall trends that have run through your social media feeds?

It’s funny to think of all the time spent creating content and video clips in hopes that one day with enough strategy they go viral, yet the silliest things that people post and share end up blowing up on the trending page! (See the blue/gold dress debate a few years back).

The gospel isn’t just a trend, it’s life-giving truth. Its very nature is to influence the world on micro and macro scales.



Every time you observe in the Bible, the gospel begins on a small scale then expands around the globe. For the Colossians, they didn’t go to the gospel, it came to them and multiplied tenfold as it was “Bearing fruit and increasing,” giving us the idea that the gospel is fertile and active.

If the gospel brings about the results where do we fall into the picture?

We get to be the conduit, the carrier for the gospel while the gospel brings about fruitful results.

The growth of the individual and the growth of the message are the results of service to Christ. The gospel is increasing. Not will. Not could. Not should. It is. It’s in its very nature.

So let’s think back to the first time you heard a tune whether you were in a store, concert, or on the street. You weren’t sure who the artist was, but you just started jamming right then and there. Maybe you even whipped out your iPhone to look it up and add it to your personal playlist. And the next time that you heard the song, you immediately recognized the melody and could sing the lyrics by heart.

The effects of the gospel are very similar.

The first time you hear the melody of the gospel is different than when you begin to grow and understand the lyrics of the truth. As God and the Spirit work in the heart of the individual, the song becomes familiar and upon receiving Christ you can recognize the tune.

Subscribe to the Truth—The Discipleship of Christ

“Just as you have learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.” (v. 7-8).

Ok, now that we’ve looked at how we are unified with a common hope and purpose, let’s take a look at how Paul challenges us to apply this through discipleship.

I’m going to debunk a myth right here and now.

Being a disciple of Christ doesn’t promise a life full of prosperity. That’s not the end goal.
Discipleship costs everything.

Not to say that Christians can’t live a good life, but the model Paul sets for discipleship contradicts a lot of our misconceptions about living a “successful” life, starting with the idea of being a slave.

It’s interesting that the Greek word Paul uses to identify Epaphras is syndoulos, meaning an associate slave, indicating that the primary slave (doulos) is Paul himself.

Hold on, doesn’t Paul also write in Galatians that “for freedom’s sake, Christ has set us free”?
Why on earth would he call himself a slave?

Using this type of word imagery, Paul is really hitting home that the work of a minister is like being a slave—you are chosen by God, hired by God, and tasked by God to serve others.

A servant of the gospel is commissioned to serve God by increasing in gospel knowledge and serving others in truth. This sets up the model for how we as disciples are to interact with the gospel and with each other.

Just as a minister is a faithful servant of delivering the gospel to others, a disciple is faithful to serving the Source of his life.

True discipleship is teaching biblical precepts while modeling and guiding others toward living righteously as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Discipleship is all about the position of serving others, not the power of how many followers you can accumulate. It speaks of building a solid working relationship with the Holy Spirit, not your ego.

Compelled by unity and the service of the gospel, we as disciples of Christ should be marked by our earnestness to help build, make, and develop other believers as we actively point others to Christ.

After all, we Christians have the most share-worthy content—the gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth that is totally worth subscribing to.