Legitimate Disciples of Christ

Jesus commanded His people to engage in discipleship when He said, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the 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’ (Matthew 28:19-20). This command has been commonly referred to as the Great Commission. Our jobs as Christians include making disciples.

My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:8

What is Discipleship?

The word ‘disciple’ comes from the Greek word which means ‘a learner’ or ‘someone who enrolls as a pupil’. It strongly implies a teacher-student relationship. Discipleship then, is defined as the systematic instruction from a mature believer to one who is young in the faith. Thoughtful and methodical explanation of Biblical precepts combined with Christian modeling of righteousness results in the maturation process of not only the young learner, but is of much benefit to the teacher as well.

Discipleship in the Bible is the pairing up of people who are more mature in the faith with people who are less mature in the faith.

Fathers teaching children : Deuteronomy. 6:4-9
Parents teaching children : Proverbs 22:6
Elders teaching the church : 1 Timothy 3:2
Older women teaching younger women : Titus 2:2-3
Faithful men teaching others : 2 Tim. 2:2

Discipleship can be a very long process; in fact, maybe even a lifetime. The timing of maturity in our respective faiths is different for everyone. But since God expects us to make progress in our walk with Him, this training process should have an urgency attached to it. One lie of the devil is that it’s ok to just coast along. Imagine coasting on a bicycle without pedaling. You will slow down and eventually stop.

The Theology of Discipleship

In The Gospel of Matthew, Jesus encounters a couple of fishermen in chapter 4 as He was walking by the Sea of Galilee. Simon and his brother Andrew were casting their nets into the water when Jesus said, ‘Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men’.

“Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him”. Matthew 4:18-20

We can observe a few things from this passage:

1). These men weren’t just on a casual fishing trip for relaxation. They were fishermen by trade. The more fish they could catch, the better it was for their business and for their finances. So instead of a fishing pole to catch one fish at a time, they were casting nets into the sea to pull in as many fish as they could haul. I believe that there is some significance to this for followers of Christ.

2). Jesus commanded them to follow him. This was a forceful imperative for them to obey. The phrase here is to literally get up, and stand close, right behind Jesus and physically follow Him. Get in His footsteps and don’t lag behind. But the intent of Jesus’s words are so much more robust than that. He was saying, ‘I want you to stay close, walk in my footsteps, watch what I do, hear what I say… learn from me. In short, Jesus was saying to His followers: “imitate me”.

3). Jesus wanted to make them fishers of men. Instead of catching large quantities of fish, now they were going to catch large quantities of men.

4). The reaction of the two men was quite amazing. The Bible said they left their nets immediately and followed Him. No hesitation. No delay. Immediately they followed Him.

Very shortly after this encounter, Jesus called ten more men to come behind him and follow in His footsteps which collectively we know as the Twelve Disciples. They weren’t men of importance or renown. They weren’t gifted in public speaking or rich in material goods. They were regular guys. Jesus spent three years with these men He called His disciples, using that time to train them and model for them what He expected them to become. The twelve very ordinary, blue-collar men that Jesus chose for the important job of spreading the news about Him took a three-year crash course in discipleship. In that short amount of time, Jesus taught these men everything they needed to know and what to expect for their great mission. He gave them hands-on experience and on-the-job training. He taught them how to pray. He taught them how to be leaders. He taught them with intentionality and focus, because they were about to go out and change the world.

With only three years to prepare, the mission was urgent with Jesus’s closest circle of friends. And it is no less urgent for us today! It is important to train with diligence so that we may be effective for whatever jobs God has for us in His kingdom. Since God expects us to mature in our faith and not remain as infants, we must exert maximum effort in the discipleship process while leaning on the Holy Spirit for help. And we must heed the call with a deep sense of urgency.

The Cost of Discipleship

Discipleship is expensive and demanding. It will cost you comfort. It will require you to change your own plans. And it will interrupt your timing. Look at the three guys in Luke 9:57-61:

As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go. And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”

Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

The first guy found out that following Jesus was going to require a new attitude about comfort. This wasn’t going to be easy. If Jesus didn’t have a place to sleep then anyone following after Him was going to be in the same situation. The second guy had some plans go home and take care of business after his own father had died. That seems noble, but Jesus told him that there was work to be done… there are people back home to take care of that. And the third guy was on his own time-table. He wanted to go back to his home FIRST, before he even started into the work, he had his own itinerary to complete. Jesus responded with an agricultural word picture: a plow. When a farmer sunk the blades of the plow into the soil he had to keep his eyes directly in front of him to keep the rows straight. He couldn’t turn his eyes to the left or right. He couldn’t be bothered with distractions or else the furrows would not be straight and the sowing of the seeds would not be as effective, possibly damaging or losing the crops.

The moral of the story is clear:

Followers of Christ must separate themselves from former things. Anyone who would be a disciple of Christ was going to have to sacrifice. Jesus doesn’t paint a rosy picture that would mislead people into thinking following Him was going to be easy. If people were going to claim to being a legitimate disciple of Christ, it was going to be on His terms of unconditional commitment and total allegiance. Nothing less.