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Christian Discipleship

In Jesus Christ, God has provided the way for humanity to be redeemed of sin and to participate in His abundant, eternal life. The Bible explains that the basic requirement to claim this gift of mercy is to possess a God-given faith in Jesus.  Such faith allows a person to truly and fully believe that His sacrificial death provided a sufficient atonement for man’s sin, and that His resurrection guaranteed that all who believe in Him are spared God’s judgment and will pass from this world into a conscious, eternal state of peace and joy in His presence.

Scripture also makes plain that obedience to Jesus is the validation of true faith and the evidence of salvation. When we profess faith in Christ it is typical for us to profess that He is our personal “Lord and Savior,” but what exactly does that mean? It is important to understand that becoming a Christian isn’t just about escaping judgment—we all have the responsibility to receive Christ not only as our Savior from sin’s curse, but Lord of our lives as well. Obedience to Jesus is the essence of what is called Christian discipleship. When a saved person submits to Jesus’s lordship and dutifully follows Him as the model for how they live their own life, they are said to be a disciple of Christ.

A disciple is not a special type of Christian; all Christians are called to be disciples. Characterized by an active and consuming devotion to Jesus, a disciple places Him at the center of their lives, learns and follows His teachings, denies their own will in favor of His, separates themselves from worldly influences and pursuits, bears fruit in their life that glorifies God, loves fellow believers, and works to bring others into Christian discipleship. Jesus Himself set the example by doing these things in obedience to God throughout His earthly ministry.

When we consider that acts of obedience comprise discipleship, we must always remember that no act of our own contributes in any way to our salvation. Salvation is the sovereign act of God alone—the product of His mercy and grace, and a gift that we can only receive. One cannot buy or earn their way into heaven; the works a believer does in obedience to God’s will only reflect true faith, and are a necessary consequence—but not the cause—of their salvation. Certainly Christ calls us to obedience, and through God's gift of faith we are enabled to respond. Therefore, obedience and the discipleship that proceeds from it are the proper response to Christ's lordship.

In Matthew 10, Jesus describes discipleship as reflecting the attributes of a superior, using the examples of a student reflecting his teacher and a slave reflecting his master to show that Christian disciples are to be Christ-like in thought, word and deed—to emulate His holy nature. This is the primary purpose of discipleship. It is also a very high standard, requiring a kind of discipline and self-deprivation that is contrary to human nature.

Therefore it is not an easy path. The Apostle Paul addressed the difficulty in his encouragement to Roman believers to present themselves as a living sacrifice, an illustration of the Christian’s effort to supplant sinful self-interest with God’s will regarding the control and direction of their life, and to stand apart from the world around them. Jesus Himself described discipleship as the narrow way proceeding from the equally narrow gate of salvation. Though Christians are justified in the eyes of God, they still retain the old sin nature, making it very hard to deny the corrupting influences of the world and stay on discipleship’s straight and narrow path.

There is also the reality that discipleship doesn’t just produce incompatibility with the world, but draws persecution from it. Jesus was largely rejected by sinful humanity the first time He came to earth. If a person reflects Christ and His teachings, it follows that the world’s reaction to that person will be similar to its reaction to Him. Jesus acknowledges that He creates division among people and that for the disciple, following Him comes at a substantial cost in this life.

However, God makes it possible through the ongoing influence of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life. It is the Spirit who empowers faith and informs and guides a disciple’s conscience, giving them the ability to repent and endure in obedience to Christ. In the face of certain hardships and persecution resulting from that obedience, it is the Spirit of God that sustains the Christian.

Believers are to consciously and continuously strive to be like Jesus, and they are best able to approach that goal by practicing the biblical model of discipleship. We must always remember that it begins and ends with the gospel. All other attributes of Christian discipleship, whether love, devotion, service, stewardship or others, begin with a saving knowledge of the glorious gospel of Christ. If you have received Him in faith, you have also been set apart by God for the work of His kingdom through discipleship. Begin today by making known the good news.

Though not without difficulty, discipleship is a privilege and a blessing beyond compare. It is the means through which a believer may serve God's purposes toward His eternal kingdom, through which they may act as a light illuminating God’s truth to the world, and through which they come to experience the incomparable fullness of eternal life in Christ.

Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.” - Luke 10:23-24

 

Image:
Dore, Gustave, illustration "Christ Calling the Fishermen" fromThe Life of Christ, 1895

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Most scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB)

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