One of the most well-known passages from the Gospel of Matthew is the closing (Matthew 28) where Jesus tells His hearers to go and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them. At the core, one might argue that while there are many key things that the church does or many key elements of what it means to be the church, but I think it's safe to say that this is one of the main purposes of the church.
If the church is called to make disciples, then the next logical question is, "What's a disciple?" It's funny because most people could not clearly and concisely describe what a disciple is. We often, I believe, assume that someone who is religiously active is a disciple but that is clearly not the case if you look at Matthew 23. There Jesus challenges the religious leaders and confronts them on the way they are missing the cores of knowing and loving God. Church attendance, praying pious-sounding prayers, giving a great deal of money - these MAY be signs of a disciple, but they are not the core facts about a disciple.
Often the word “discipleship” is used to describe a broad spectrum and can be a term we use to describe the total scope of moving people toward being a fully-committed follower of Christ. BUT the weakness of this approach is that we can then say that EVERYONE is in a place of discipleship, even if they are not interested in God at all (we could argue that God’s working despite that person’s hardened heart – Romans 1 – they know of God but reject Him).
To deal with this issue, I looked into the word “disciple” in the Bible – How does the Word of God describe what a disciple is?
- 2 references in the Old Testament (Isaiah has both)
- 294 references to a disciple in the New Testament (use of the word or references directly to people we would call disciples i.e. subtitles that use the word in the NIV)Of these examples, the Bible uses them to describe some of the early followers of Christ (and those who seemed to just come and listen to Jesus) early on in the Gospels
- However, we should note that very quickly, the term disciple is used to describe those who are fully-committed to following Jesus.
Their lives are exemplified by the following 4 attributes:
* consistently following Jesus
* commitment to learning from Jesus
* commitment to being like Jesus (in character)
* doing as Jesus did
So we conclude that there is something unique about a disciple – it’s not just a person who wants to come to church and be nice; it’s not a person who wants to meet with a mentor to just hang out. At the core, a disciple is someone who has found the Pearl of Great Price and has sold EVERYTHING to have it. A disciple might be best described using 1 John 2:6 – “Those who claim to be in Him must walk as He walked.”
If the church is called to make disciples, then the next logical question is, "What's a disciple?" It's funny because most people could not clearly and concisely describe what a disciple is. We often, I believe, assume that someone who is religiously active is a disciple but that is clearly not the case if you look at Matthew 23. There Jesus challenges the religious leaders and confronts them on the way they are missing the cores of knowing and loving God. Church attendance, praying pious-sounding prayers, giving a great deal of money - these MAY be signs of a disciple, but they are not the core facts about a disciple.
Often the word “discipleship” is used to describe a broad spectrum and can be a term we use to describe the total scope of moving people toward being a fully-committed follower of Christ. BUT the weakness of this approach is that we can then say that EVERYONE is in a place of discipleship, even if they are not interested in God at all (we could argue that God’s working despite that person’s hardened heart – Romans 1 – they know of God but reject Him).
To deal with this issue, I looked into the word “disciple” in the Bible – How does the Word of God describe what a disciple is?
- 2 references in the Old Testament (Isaiah has both)
- 294 references to a disciple in the New Testament (use of the word or references directly to people we would call disciples i.e. subtitles that use the word in the NIV)Of these examples, the Bible uses them to describe some of the early followers of Christ (and those who seemed to just come and listen to Jesus) early on in the Gospels
- However, we should note that very quickly, the term disciple is used to describe those who are fully-committed to following Jesus.
Their lives are exemplified by the following 4 attributes:
* consistently following Jesus
* commitment to learning from Jesus
* commitment to being like Jesus (in character)
* doing as Jesus did
So we conclude that there is something unique about a disciple – it’s not just a person who wants to come to church and be nice; it’s not a person who wants to meet with a mentor to just hang out. At the core, a disciple is someone who has found the Pearl of Great Price and has sold EVERYTHING to have it. A disciple might be best described using 1 John 2:6 – “Those who claim to be in Him must walk as He walked.”
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