Being a Disciple

What does it really mean to be a disciple of Christ? In Matthew 28 Jesus commissions His followers to make disciples. He gives tells them to baptize and to teach these new disciples, but he does not define what it means to be a disciple. After living with them and modeling the discipleship process for 3 years it would have been superfluous and redundant to explain the core concept. In our day the concept of discipleship has been overlain with multiple layers of culture and tradition. I believe that reclamation of this core concept is in order.

To be a disciple is to be a learner. To make disciples is to create learners. We are called to be learners and to draw other people to be learners of Christ. Making disciples is about much more than just communicating content. Content can be memorized and repeated. There is no need for the Spirit of God to be involved in the communication of information. Humans are quite adept at that. But only the Spirit of God can make disciples. Only the Spirit of God can take out the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh that is tender and responsive to God. The Spirit is central to discipleship! Of course, we are to teach and to model, to baptize and practice the ordinances that serve as tangible reminders that refresh and rekindle our faith, but these things are powerless by themselves. The reason that we do these things is to create learners, and we must be cooperating with the Spirit in this process. The goal is to draw others into a relationship with the living Christ where He is the master and we are the students. To do this requires that we remain humble learners ourselves who are submitted to the Spirit. We cannot draw others into an experiential relationship with Christ that we do not have. We will undoubtedly recreate ourselves in the lives of those we lead, but we must take care lest we fail to model true discipleship in our own lives.

True discipleship is to tune our hearts to the voice of the Shepherd. We should be ever inclining our ear to hear and obey His commands. The problem is that we often would rather not hear what He has to say. We would rather do our own thing, devise our own plans, or just go with the flow. Rather than be filled and controlled by the Spirit of God, we often train ourselves to tune out His voice, to grieve His Spirit. The Christian life begins with, and must continue in, the Spirit. The disciple of Christ is one who, like his Master before him, is attentive to the movements and the will of the Father. We will most likely never attain the kind of natural fluidity and constant connection with the Father that Jesus modeled on earth, but the life of the disciple is marked by the desire and discipline of learning from Him.

I am daily faced with struggles and temptation from within and without. I often refuse to name these temptations and struggles aright; instead I entertain them and start to drift along with them. The Spirit of God tugs at my heart and reminds me of the right decision, the right choice, the choice that will sow to the Spirit and will produce the sweet fruit of righteousness, renewal and peace, but I have become adept at tuning out that voice. I am so good at dismissing and ignoring the voice of the Spirit! But, I do not lose hope, for I know that like Peter, even after grieving Him, I will be restored again. Sometimes there will be weariness, weeping and other consequences for sowing to the flesh, but I know that He holds me safely in His hands and that He will not lose me. So, I confess and repent, and reorient myself to Him. Then, we begin the ascent again. The most fundamental aspect of this is the Spirit empowered choice to exercise my will to submit my will to His. (Oh the mystery! I must work out my salvation with fear and trembling but it is He who is at work within me, and He will be faithful to complete the work.) I must choose to be a learner. Only then am I truly a disciple and fit to make disciples of Christ.