Dear Friend,
Yesterday we learned that a disciple is not a deluxe model
Christian. A Christian and a disciple are one in the same. A Christian is a disciple,
and a disciple is a Christian. If you don’t accept the fact that you are one of
his disciples, then it may be because you are not a Christian, or at least not
the kind of Christian Jesus desires you to be.
The late bible commentator William Barclay writes, “It is possible
to be a follower of Jesus, without being a disciple; to be a camp follower,
without being a soldier of the king; to be a hanger- in some great work,
without pulling one’s weight."
Barclay continues, "Once someone was talking to a great
scholar about a younger man. He said, 'So-and-so tells me that he was one of
your students.' The teacher answered devastatingly, 'He may have attended my
lectures, but he was not one of my students.' There is a world of difference
between attending lectures and being a student. It is one of the supreme
handicaps of the Church that in the Church there are so many distant followers
of Jesus and so few real disciples." (The Gospel Commentary of Luke,
William Barclay, quoted from The Tales of The Tardy Oxcart, Charles
Swindoll, p.162)
Author Eugene Peterson writes, "Discipleship is anything that
causes what is believed in the heart to have demonstrable consequences in
our daily life."
What Barclay and Peterson are saying is our beliefs should be
reflected in our behavior. There should be a relationship between our life and
our lips, our creed and our conduct, our doctrine and our duty.
Jesus sums up a disciple's job description with two words:
"Follow Me.” Two simple words that are meant to be a disciple's marching
orders.
A disciple is one who seeks to follow in the footsteps of Jesus
and who mimics the life of his leader.
Paul writes, “From the very beginning God decided that those who
came to him should become like his Son” (Romans 8:29 TLB).
It was God’s plan from the very beginning of time that his
followers should become like him.
Jesus wants us to walk in his footsteps, to listen to Him, to
learn from Him, and then to go into the world and show and share His love.
A disciple listens to the words of Jesus. When Jesus speaks
a disciple seeks to listen to his every word. When Jesus was on the Mount of
Transfiguration, God spoke from heaven with a clear command: saying, “This is
my Son, whom I love……listen to him (Matthew 17:5).
A disciple learns as well as listens. He is not just a
hearer of the Word, but a doer of the word. What he hears is lived out in his
daily life. There is a consistency between what he hears and what he does.
Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me”
(Matthew 11:29). A disciple not just a listener but a learner who seeks
to put into practice the things he learns. The disciple yearns to learn, and
like a sponge he soaks up his Master’s teaching and lives out what he learns.
A disciple shares what he learns. The thrust of his words,
“Go and make disciples" is clear. We are not to shelve the things we
have learned, but to share them with others. We are to gossip the gospel, to
spread the good news to as many as will listen.
And finally, we are to show the gospel. We don’t share the
gospel and forget about the people with whom we shared it. No, we show the
gospel through our lives. We translate the truth of the gospel through our
actions as we live out what we learn.
As pastor David Platt writes, “Disciple making is what happens
when we walk through life together, showing one another how to pray, study the
Bible, grow in Christ, and lead others to Christ.” (“Church Growth Magazine,”
David Platt, from the internet”).
As disciples we are to listen, learn, show and share
the Good News. Our command is clear, and our destination is defined: We are to
“Go into all the world and make disciples.”
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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