The painting to the left is, "Calling of the Apostles" by Domenico Ghirlandaio c1481. This fresco is in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
Our class on the essentials of the Christian faith has entered a new phase. The course is divided into three parts which mirror the theme of Scottsdale Bible Church: Come, Grow, Go.
We are now into the second phase (grow) which is called class 200. The first lesson in this section is on discipleship.
It seems, we learned, that there are three kinds of people as we discuss discipleship:
- The Curious: these have many questions and are still not persuaded to embrace Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.
- The Convinced: these believe that Jesus is God-in-the-flesh who died on the cross for their sin. There is a sincere heart response to Jesus. However, because they do not put themselves in a place where God can change them, there is little growth.
- The Committed: these possess salvation by God's grace alone through faith. They are committed disciples as described by Jesus. The are continually being conformed to the image of Christ.
Please join me on this study of discipleship...
First of all, the question that begs to be answered is this, "What is a disciple?" The dictionary defines a disciple as: one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another. The original language of the Bible uses a Greek word "mathetes": a learner.
It is interesting to note that Jesus only used the word "mathetes" eight times. Seven of those times he used it in a conditional sense:
Matthew 10:42, "And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."
The writer of Hebrews challenges us (Christians) to go on to maturity:
Hebrews 5:12-61a, "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity..."
I mentioned earlier that Jesus used the word disciple (mathetes) seven times. It certainly makes sense to get our definition of what it means to be a disciple right from the words of Jesus.
The Seven Marks of a Disciple of Jesus Christ
#1 - a disciple holds Jesus as the object of highest affection.
Luke 14:26, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, ever his own life, he cannot be My disciple."
At first blush, and taken out of context, this seems to be a strong and awkward statement. We are to hate our families and ourselves? But Jesus is teaching us that He is to be the object of our highest affection. We are to love Him (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) above all else.
While we are currently captive in our fleshly bodies it is difficult to grasp the full meaning of this. But if you meditate on His words, it is fairly easy to understand that God (the Creator of all) is asking us to love Him and put Him first in our lives. After all, our families were created by Him as well. How can we put the creation above the Creator?
#2 - a disciple allows himself or herself to be conformed to God's will.
Luke 14:27, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."
What? Am I to make a cross and crucify myself on it? Don't forget that Jesus Christ taught us in parables and in the figurative. Christianity is not a cult where its leader is suggesting that we all kill ourselves. Jesus taught us that this earth is not our home. Solomon, in the book of Ecclesiastes, tells us that our time on this earth is but a vapor (a puff of smoke).
As Christians we have a human (fleshly) body that has all kinds of desires. Some of these desires are good and some of them are well..not so good. Jesus is telling us that we need to die to ourselves (our fleshly body), and follow Him. We need to read, understand and follow his teachings and certainly long for the day when we will see Him face to face.
#3 - a disciple patterns his/her life after Jesus Christ in order to be like Him.
Luke 14:27, "...come after me..."
Matthew 10:25, "It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!"1 John 2:6, "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."
Jesus held Himself up as our model and instructed us to be like him.
#4 - a disciple stewards his/her possessions rather than clinging to them.
Luke 14:33, "...none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his possessions."
Once again, Christ is not asking us to give away everything that we have. He is, however, asking us to understand that our possessions are not ours to keep. We are all going to die and we can't take our possessions with us. Therefore, we are to learn to be good stewards of what we have and keep a heavenly perspective on our possessions.
As one who has been blessed with "wealth", I certainly have grown to understand this. As I have mentioned, when we sold our business I quickly learned that a major part of my self-worth had gotten wrapped up in my ability to run a successful business. Slowly over time I took a business that started as "God's business" and took it for my very own. I took credit for its success. I spoke on stages in front of others speaking of my success. Eventually, God had very little to do with the business. Don't take me wrong, we acted in an honest way. We stood out from the crowd because of this. We still represented something different. People could see that we were different. BUT...eventually I took the credit and slowly started to put my faith in my business. Do you see?
When I die, Jesus is going to be proud of the way I conducted myself IN the business. But..he isn't going to be impressed WITH the business.
#5 - a disciple abides (lives in) God's Word.
John 8:31, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine."
In a previous article, I learned that God has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ and the Bible. Christ is teaching us that He wants us to spend time with Him (reading the Bible).
#6 - A disciple loves others.
John 13:35, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Matthew 22:39-40, "The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
1 John 2:9-10, "The one who says he is in the Light [a true believer], and yet hates his brother is in the darkness...[but] the one who loves his brother abides in the Light...[4:12]...If we love one another, God abides in us!"
Pretty simple isn't it? But oh, so hard to do as he did.
#7 - a disciple bears fruit.
John 15:8, "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples."
In the very beginning of this article we talked about the convinced and committed Christian. The committed Christian is going to bear fruit.
This is precisely one of the reason that I am writing this blog. I realized that I have a lot more fruit available in my branches (if you will). Therefore, I am writing this blog to reinforce what I am learning, burning the words into my soul, teaching my family, hopefully leaving a legacy and letting you, the readers of this blog, view my journey.
Christ gave us a commandment before he left the earth:
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20
Before one can make disciples, one must be a disciple. Hence, I am beginning at the very beginning. I invite you along on the journey.
The Boomer in the Pew
