Bible Thought - Christian Discipleship

 

Introduction For about 40 years now, I have been a Christian Disciple - a follower of Jesus. It has been an exciting journey on the road of life. I have had my ups and my downs through that journey of 40 years. Most of it I have forgotten. But this I do remember - I know that Jesus has been there with me. I know, that I know, that I know. After my conversion and baptism, I was taken in hand and discipled. Once a week, for about a year, I had a midweek meeting with a mentor, for prayer, bible study, accountability and guidance.

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From my observation of Christianity today, that experience would now be rare, as Discipleship is generally in the control of a home group. That works well if that new convert gets some form of bible study, prayer and accountability. Often though, that is not the case and the home group is more an extended social club. Or we are just told to get on with it ourselves and the church isn't interested in helping in lifelong discipleship, outside of Sundays or home groups. The Christianity I see today is broad and wide, but it is also in large parts, wafer thin - there appears to be not much depth to it.
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The very idea of discipleship is almost anathema in some church circles today, and dare I say, that is why churches are depleting across this land - even within those that would identify themselves as 'evangelical'. People in those churches may know what to believe, but they probably do not know why they believe it and how it affects their behaviour. People coming in the front door and going out the back door - that's if they even enter a church in the first place! I know many Christians who don't attend a church regularly, for all sorts of reasons. So given that, what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and what difference does it make?

 

1. What is a Disciple?

 

Firstly, let's look at what a Disciple is! As I said, the words 'Disciple' and 'Discipleship' are almost dirty words in some church circles today. I guess because we don't like the word 'discipline' in the church today. A Christian Disciple, is somebody who has accepted Jesus call on their life and they are a follower and learner of Him.

 

Before He ascended, Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:18-20: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

 

In these verses Jesus commanded his Disciples to go and make other disciples.  Note Jesus did not say go make converts. Billy Graham once said, "To only go around making converts and not offering some form of discipleship and aftercare, is a form of spiritual abuse." Many people have been hurt down through the years this way. It's like leaving a newborn baby floundering for help, only for the cries to go unheard. No!  Jesus said go train people, give instructions to others about this new way of living and mark them with baptism!

 

Discipleship of Jesus means that Christian Disciples are to train, be trained, instruct and be instructed in the way of life Jesus showed.  To listen to some Churches today, Christian Discipleship is all about a form of spiritual belief where it is just believing, and nothing to do with training, instruction and following Jesus' way in life. Too many Christians I talk to and know have fallen into the belief, that belief is enough. Note, I did not say they were not saved! Oh they may have their salvation, but they are also holding onto that salvation by their fingernails rather than having a full grip!

 

They are being taught that church is all about having a high entertainment value. They are being taught, either implicitly or explicitly, that they don't have to work out their own salvation. They are being taught that they don't have to take up their own cross daily.  I know they are being told that, because I have talked to them! A disciple of Jesus Christ is not just somebody who believes in Him. Rather, being a disciple means accepting Jesus' call to follow Him, and letting Him permeate every aspect of life.  Discipleship involves taking up your cross daily in response to Jesus' command over you. Taking it up daily, not as a once in a lifetime offer or once a week on a Sunday. Is that you?

 

So if that's what a Christian Disciple is, what is the goal of being a Disciple?

 

 

 

2. What is the goal of a Disciple?

 

The Apostle of love, John, wrote in 1 John 2:3-6 "We know that we have come to know Jesus if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

 

The ultimate goal for any Christian Disciple, is to be radical and living a life worthy of Jesus and undergoing constant life change and transformation.  A Christian Disciple is somebody learning to be like Jesus in every facet of life, practising His presence with them every second of every day, and so engaging their life with Him so that He truly lives through them. It is living a life which reflects Jesus the Son of God, by total submission to the Holy Spirit, which is to the praise of God the Father. It is not done out of some slavish form of guilt, but borne out of a desire and love!

 

Christian Disciples are to be radical and endeavouring to reach the goal of being Jesus to others!  This is done by a constant renewing of the mind and having a willing heart to be transformed.  It is by loving others in such a way, that the end of a Christian Disciple's generosity is only when their resources have expired. How generous are you towards others, particularly those others who are not within your own circle of friends?  A Christian Disciple is to live and walk as Jesus did; imitating Jesus and obeying his command to take up their cross daily and follow Him closely. A life imitating Jesus, not out of guilt, but out of love!

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it like this: "When Jesus Christ calls a person, he bids them die, die to their own selfish self." Dying to ones self, is the loving of others, in action. Again, that is not a popular message in churches today. Loving others sacrificially, is radically showing Jesus' command to "love one another" (John 15:17) and putting those words into practise.  That means all Disciples of Jesus Christ are expected to be self-sacrificing, having taken up their own cross - looking to the interests of others, before fulfilling their own interests and desires. How is that for being radical Disciples of Jesus Christ in the 21st century? How else can people out there in the community know that we love God, if not by seeing that we love each other and them with extravagant generosity?

 

Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ is being called to a life of total loving obedience and freely submitting to Jesus Christ. Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ is freely letting that obedience and submission permeate all areas of life!

 

As Christian individuals, whether we like it or not, we are linked together in a Christian community through rebirth, and our relationship exists only through our relationship with Jesus Christ. Look around you now. If that person next to you or at the other end of the row is a Christian, then they are in relationship with you, through Jesus Christ. That person in another church in this town, who is in relationship with Jesus Christ, is in relationship with you, through the same Jesus Christ. Whether you like it or not, that is fact.  You cannot escape that person - however much you may like to think that you can.

 

We, as Christian Disciples, are interdependent upon one another, bound by a corporate inclusivity.  The church community of disciples of Jesus Christ is to be dynamic by nature. Within the church in Ringwood, and by that, I mean all those who would say they are Christians in this community; there are too many individualistic Christians. Not just Ringwood, but certainly in the Western Church in general, and that I think, is one of the great failings of 21st century Western Christianity.

 

There are far too many Christians, who wants all the benefits of being a Christian Disciple, but don't want to the responsibility of working at living and growing as a Christian Disciple! For instance, if we say "I love my neighbour" and yet refuse to help when that person needs help, what does that tell your neighbour? It certainly doesn't say that you love them! And who is your neighbour? Look around. Loving others is an endemic part of living as a Christian Disciple. Loving God and loving others shows you are reaching towards the ultimate goal for any Christian Disciple, which is to be radical and living a life worthy of Jesus and undergoing constant life change and transformation.

 

Now a couple of questions to delve deeper and ponder to ourselves for a few minute...

 

Q1. How have I taken up my own cross in order to follow the Master, Jesus?

 

Q2. How have I wanted all the benefits of being a Christian Disciple but not the responsibility?

 

3. Living and Growing as a Christian

 

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18: 'And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.'

 

Living

 

As 21st century people, we are inculcated to think that success is instant. We like everything instantly, we want it now, and if we don't get it now, watch out! We live in an instant society which wants everything now and to be gratified instantly. Just a cursory look down the High Street will tell you that! But success, as I am sure you are well aware, is not instant.  Ask those Olympic Gold medallists if their success was instant and they just turned up in London 2 weeks ago, to compete in a sport they had never played before.  Of course it wasn't - it took a lot of hard graft and determination! The same is true in living successfully as Christian Disciples, as followers of Jesus Christ. It can be hard work, but again, we are not left alone to do anything in our own strength, but in the strength of the Almighty Holy Spirit who lives within us! Living as a Christian Disciple is not a matter of expecting spiritual maturity to occur overnight, it is an exiciting journey with many wow factors through out!

 

Fullness of life is achieved as we allow Jesus Christ to live this fullness of life through us, so that we start to think and respond like He would, to the people and circumstances around us.  Where we are learning to see circumstances and people from God's perspective, rather than reacting on the basis of feelings. Yes it is hard, but it is worth it, and it can be done if we rely on the Holy Spirit who lives within us and empowering us.

 

Growing

 

A vital part of living is growing - just as babies grow to be adults! The process of growing, becoming more like Jesus is, in one of the big words of theology: sanctification. It is like the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. It is a cleansing, and a yearning to live a life worthy of the Master Servant, Jesus Christ. Sometimes it's a difficult path, but nobody said that growing to be more like Jesus was going to be easy.  But He is with you, through the Holy Spirit who is within you! How easy we forget that fact!

 

Now you may well ask, that if I am growing and being sanctified, why do I still continue to sin?  Firstly, you sin because you choose to sin. Nobody else can take the rap.  The devil and the world may tempt you to sin, but it is only you that does the sinning. So do not succumb to the wiles and ways of the devil and the world! Tell them to get lost!

 

Secondly, when you became a Christian, you gained a new nature, albeit in embryonic form.  As this new nature grows, your old nature shrivels and shrinks yet refuses to die quickly.  So our new nature, now that you are a Disciple of Jesus, fights against your old nature.

 

So what can a Disciple do?  As Christian Disciples, we are not left alone to fend for ourselves.  We overcome sin & temptation through the power of the Holy Spirit, who was promised by Jesus.  The Holy Spirit works in us, and assists our new nature in overcoming the old nature.  We may struggle in our own strength, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, our old nature shrivels.  Remind yourself that temptation itself is not sin!  Otherwise Jesus Himself would have sinned, and we know that even though He faced constant temptation, we know for certain, that He did not sin.

 

It is rather, that as Christian Disciples, having died and been raised with Jesus Christ, we now live in the freedom of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The beloved Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4: "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." Christian Disciples aren't made of Chocolate and melt under pressure. Christian Disciples are born of the Spirit of God and His power is ever reliable! We as Christian Disciples are to love.

 

If however, a Christian Disciple does succumb to temptation and sins then, when that Disciple recognizes that they have sinned, they need to repent quickly!  Unconfessed sin soon becomes a heavy burden.  Confession & repentance are needed.  Not a confession borne from constant grace-less guilt but rather a repentance born from grace!  In a lot of church services, that is why the confession of sin comes at the start of services. It is as John Stott once said "penitence is to come before praise!"

 

Lets have a time once more to reflect again, delve a bit deeper with a couple of questions and then after a couple of minutes, we will have another song. 

 

Q1. How can I live a life worthy of, and pleasing to, Jesus?
Q2. What pressures am I constantly confronted by?

 

4. Going on!

 

Lots of those who claim to be Christian, would also rightly claim to be John 3:16 people "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

 

But we are not to just leave it there, we are to press on and be 1 John 3:16 people "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."

 

Not only are we to live and grow as Christian Disciples, we are also to go on and persevere as Christian Disciples. Yes, I know sometimes life can be difficult but we can persevere because as Christian Disciples, we have the living God inside us, the Holy Spirit empowering us, comforting, consoling and counselling, ever encouraging us onwards and upwards. At least that's my experience of Him!

 

Not only are you to live as a Christian Disciple, you are also to grow as a Christian Disciple. Not only are you to grow, you are to persevere.  As a Christian Disciple, here is a hallmark to signify that you are persevering. That word is servant.

 

Servant. The word servant as I am sure you know, is key in Scripture. The supreme servant, Jesus, talked about it a lot as well as living a life of service! When a Christian Disciple serves, God's honour is released, because service shows the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ to those being served and to those watching.  That is to be our motive for service - the release of God's honour and He is glorified.  Serving is never to be about what you and I can get out of it. When that is the motive, God is not glorified.

 

Serving is to be borne out of love for others and no other reason. We can choose to serve selfishly as Judas did or we can choose to serve lovingly like John did.

 

God's glory, honour and supremacy are to be the goal of a Christian Disciple's life.  Spiritual growth comes from serving.  This is because what ever is given in service of God and others, faith grows and Jesus Christ gives back even more. Why do we do the things we do for the church and others? Is it motivated out of love for Christ? Or is it motivated out of some vain self satisfying glory and duty?

 

Serving others is a sign of faith in God and are trusting in Him.  It's a visible aspect of invisible faith.  Service is the outward expression of inner beliefs. Serving is an outward expression of inner faith - an external working out of salvation. Serving God and others is the mark of a spiritually mature (or spiritually maturing) Christian Disciple and through service, the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ, is reflected. It is one of the main hallmarks of a living, growing and persevering Christian Disciple.

 

Not only are we to serve but we are also to show our dependency on others by allowing them to serve us when we are in need.  Again this is counter-cultural - a culture where people are to be independent of others. Remember Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and what he said to Peter when Peter protested about having his feet washed?

 

As Christian Disciples, we are interdependent upon each other. In the same way one part of the human body is dependence on another part.  That is why we serve each other and use generously for the benefit of others what we have been given by God.  The Gospel is "God helps those who cannot help themselves." Yet so often, we deny it. We want it for ourselves, and more often than not, we are not willing to have that attitude towards others.

 

An endemic part of Discipleship is our active work of service, loving others and allowing others to serve and love ourselves - all to the glory of God alone, through Jesus Christ and in the creative power of the Holy Spirit.

 

As Christian Disciples, we are to be as Jesus Christ to others, to serve and be served by submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit and His authority. By doing this the lives of other people could be changed to the glory of God! I know people who are worried about how others are serving. Don't worry about how that other person is serving God and other people. Be more concerned how you yourself are serving and why you are doing it. People can be changed for God's greater glory because of your acts of service and worship.

 

Now a further couple of questions to ponder to ourselves for a few minutes!

 

Q1. How can I, both improve my serve and also allow others to serve me?
Q2. Why do I do what I do for others?

 

5. Warning

 

And now lastly, very briefly, we have a warning! The Apostle Paul writing in Philippians 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

 

Contrast those Paul-ine values to those of our society, where morality can be summed up with this kind of attitude: "Good is self and self is good. Greed is good and good is greed!" It is used in advertising to great effect. A brief walk down the High Street will show you that! That is where the importance of ones own self, is placed at higher importance than other people. Individualism imbued with self-reliance and personal independence. Even when help and compassion are offered, so often there are strings attached and hoops to be jumped through. Sadly, it is not just within society that this exists, but it has also infiltrated into some parts of the Church.

 

Where that occurs, it is in denial of the basic rule of compassion and mercy, which dictates that Christian Disciples are to be lovingly helping and serving others, because those others are also humans created in the image of God, loved by God and so should be loved unconditionally by those who proclaim to be God's people - the Church.

 

Denying that basic need to others is selfishness and places others below our own selves. Individualism is not showing love towards others, and can never be considering placing others higher than your own self. It certainly could not be construed as serving other people, to always place your own desires above those of others. Individualism hampers spiritual growth because it impedes loving others and our servant-hood of God and others.

 

Conclusion We have seen that those who claim to be Christian Disciples, are to live for Jesus, grow in maturity and keep on going forward in faith in Jesus. We discovered together that we are to train, be trained, instruct and be instructed in the way of life that Jesus showed.  We discovered that the Christian Disciple is to live a life which is constantly "dealing with God" in all matters - just as Jesus the Master Servant did.  The growth of those claiming to be Christian Disciples is discerned in their love for, and service of, all others - not just those within their close circle of friends & acquaintances. The world out there is watching. I know they are watching, because they tell me. Each church is only one generation from closing. Let us go from here, determined to be a transformed people, living, growing and serving for the glory of God the Father, through Your Master Servant Jesus Christ the Son in the creative power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside you.

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