by Jacob Ninan
What does 'disciple' mean?
In the olden times, a man would attach himself to a teacher so that he could learn from the teacher and become proficient in some particular knowledge or skill from the teacher. Our goal too, when we decide to follow Jesus, must be to learn from Him and to become like Him (Matt.10:25). There was something very different about Jesus compared to all other teachers. He did not teach His disciples to imitate His leadership skills so that they could develop power and authority over others. He warned us not to seek position, honour or recognition, but to consider one another as brothers and sisters (Matt.23:8). What He wanted to teach us was to become gentle and humble of heart (Matt.11:29). Jesus saw greatness in serving and blessing others rather than in being considered as great by the others. "But Jesus called them to Himself and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt.20:25-28). Even in the days of the early church, there were extremely few who became great in God's eye like this, even though many were apparently considering themselves as servants of God (Php.2:19-21). Most of them were seeking something for themselves, perhaps money, name, recognition, power, influence, etc.Jesus Himself came to serve us, the ones whom He had created but who had gone away from Him. In order to serve us, He humbled Himself, gave up privileges that could have made His life comfortable, and took the form of a bond-servant and became willing even to die for us (Php.2:5-8). The question is why we want to follow Him. Is it because we are seeking things for ourselves through His blessings, or are we seeking to become like Him in serving Him and His people?
Look around and see. Even among many who are following Jesus, many are looking for leadership roles, assuming that spiritual growth will inevitably lead to more powerful positions over the others. Of course, the church needs leaders, but the question we have to ask ourselves is, even when we lead others, is our motive to serve them or is it an indirect way to seek our own? Whenever we seek our own, let us understand that it would be entirely in opposition to what Jesus came to teach us. Have we seen the implication of this passage, "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph.4:11,12)? If we place too much focus on 'the 5-fold offices in the church' here, we may miss the real point. These offices are not meant to be positions or designations for us to take pride in or titles to flaunt. These are responsibilities entrusted by the Lord to different people in the church so that the people in the church (the saints!) can be helped to build the body of Christ. 'Building the body of Christ' is about bringing about a spiritual transformation in our lives individually which then transforms our relationships and working together. Then, as in the physical body, each member has a contribution to make towards the building of the others, some in a prominent way but most others in a hidden way. Receiving from the others is also a great help God has provided for our individual growth. The focus must remain on the members of the church including the leaders being built up and building one another up to become more and more like the Lord (Eph.4:15). Paul's goal as a leader was, "We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ" (Col.1:28), and "My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you--" (Gal.4:19). Won't 'leadership training' become futile if in the end the members do not grow but only the leaders become prominent and well-known?
This is the example that our Lord has given to us and the direction we ought to take. That must be what we are always intent on learning from Him and becoming like Him. In the early days of Jesus, the word 'disciple' was used to refer to the twelve disciples who were later sent out with the task of taking the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the world, when they became known as apostles (the sent out ones). As the ministry of Jesus expanded, we read about seventy others being sent out with the Gospel, thus showing us that the word 'disciple' is not to be confined to the twelve. Further on we see 'disciple' being used more widely to indicate those who followed Jesus, to such an extent that it included even those who later fell away from Jesus (Jn.6:66). These 'disciples' were certainly not all leaders! After the death of Jesus, the eleven disciples were referred to as the apostles, and soon we see that the disciples who put their trust in the Saviour and began to follow Him began to be called Christians (Acts.11:26). So now, if we are to be true Christians, we ought to be disciples, who are following Jesus with the intention of learning from Him, obeying whatever He tells us and becoming like Him. It is not a position or title, and God's intention is that every member of the church must become a disciple.
Look at this direction given to the church from the Lord, "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; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt.28:19,20). In other words, the result of this great commission is intended for every one of us to become a disciple, learning to obey everything that He has taught the original disciples. Each of us is to learn from Jesus to become gentle and humble of heart and to serve one another, and it is this that the leaders are to equip us for.
There seems to be a lot of carry-over from the Old Testament to us as Christians. People in the church still classify themselves as clergy or laity, 'servants of God', pastors or elders and ordinary believers, and some people give themselves special titles or wear distinguishing clothes showing their ranks, etc. Why don't we learn simple things such as what Jesus taught, not to distinguish ourselves with titles or costumes but to consider ourselves as brothers and sisters, and learn to serve others and learn from one another? For example, are we open in our mind to learn from anyone, and not just from our 'superiors' or recognised leaders?
What does it mean to live as a disciple of Jesus?
Now that we have understood that all of us are to be disciples of Jesus, learning from our Lord and becoming more and more like Him in serving others, shall we look at some of the guidelines Jesus has given for His disciples?A learner Jesus wants us to learn from Him, and we have come to Him to learn, hoping that ultimately we can become like Him in His character, heart and attitude. "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Php.2:3-8). It is not difficult to realise, if only we would examine ourselves honestly, that we are so different from Him in every direction. A lifetime will not be sufficient for us to learn everything. It becomes clear that if we seriously want to be a disciple, a casual interest in it is not going to be enough. Our nature is sinful, selfish and self-centred, and what we are setting out to become is the complete opposite, such as 'considering others as more important than ourselves', and serving them, looking out for their welfare. I hope it is clear that this is not a part-time class which we can take at our own pace and convenience. For a transformation of our own nature, this goal has to be always in front of our eyes, no matter what we do, and guide us at each step and decision (Col.3:1,2).
As it happened to Jesus and the apostles, and many others through the centuries, our experience may include misunderstanding by the world and worldly-minded Christians. But to count the likeness of Jesus in our life more precious in our mind and heart is the anchor that will hold us steady in all such situations.
Jesus to be more precious than everyone else "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Lk.14:26). Matthew clarifies what Jesus meant by using the word 'hate', "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt.10:37). He points out that it refers to our loving Jesus more than everyone else. We must understand that this is the standard for all of us and not just for some elite group among us. When we know that we are dealing with the Creator, Saviour and the future Judge, and that we ourselves stand before Him as sinners saved by grace, can we take any other position towards Him? We are tempted many times to take the side of a loved one and defend him/her when they have done wrong. Another time it may be to favour someone even when it would be unrighteous. We may fool ourselves into thinking that this is love, but we forget that in the process we are totally ignoring what God thinks about it. In other words, we are choosing people above God! If we do that, will not all our proclaiming how much we love Him, etc., become ridiculous?
Our will versus God's will "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me" (Lk.9:23). It was when Adam and Eve chose to disregard what God had told them and look for what appeared to offer them advantages that sin came to the human beings. When God gives us salvation, His goal is to restore us to the place where we will voluntarily choose to follow what He has prepared for us. If we want to become like our Lord and that is why we are following Him, can any transformation happen if we are pleasing ourselves by doing what we like, even though it comes to neglecting what He tells us to do? Jesus gives the clear answer, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple" (Lk.14:27). 'Our will' comes from the lusts and desires we have in our old nature, our flesh. The world draws us with its lust of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life (1Jn.2:16). Every time we please ourselves when God wants us to do something else, aren't we in fact declaring independence from God and that we are our own lord? Again, this is critical for our salvation, and not some option we may choose.
No thing to be more valuable to us than God "None of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions" (Lk.14:33). There was a rich young ruler who came to Jesus who had been keeping all the laws of God from his youth and who wanted to have eternal life. Everything about him at this point appeared to be so good that Jesus appreciated him. Jesus really wanted to give him the best, and saw that there was only one thing that hindered him from reaching that place. Therefore He told him that if only he would put aside that thing that blocked his progress, he could follow Him. This block was that this man loved his wealth so much that he could not imagine leaving that. Tragically, what he chose was his wealth, above eternal life and everything God had intended for him (Mk.10:21).
When God, in His great grace, offers us eternal life, fellowship with Him as our Father, deliverance from our bondage to sin and the privilege to be transformed into His character, can we afford to place anything else as being more important to us than that? It could be our loved ones, our own ambitions, plans and desires, or our attachment to things that God Himself has given to us. But the danger comes when any of these things becomes so important to us that we become willing to deny God in order to please ourselves. When Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, his only son and whom God had given him, God declared that it demonstrated the fact that God was more important to him than even the most precious thing in his life (Gen.22:12). When Job's children and wealth were taken away from him at the same time, Job still held on to holding God as above all in his life (Job.1:20-22).
Even though the rich young ruler was asked to actually sell off everything he had in order to follow Jesus, it is not a general command for everyone. God is not asking us to renounce everything and become ascetics, monks, nuns or poor. It is not that every time we do anything that gives us pleasure, it is sinful. Not at all! As an example, God points out that He gives us many things for us to enjoy (1Tim.6:17). So, what is it that God wants from us? A heart that values Him above everyone and everything else, which can be seen in demonstration during the ordinary situations of life and sometimes through extraordinary situations when we are tempted to please ourselves rather than God.
What kind of Christians are we? When it comes to the test, do we hold on to God even if people will be offended with us or we are likely to lose some things we like?
Let us all become true disciples of Jesus. He died so that He could make us that kind of people. "He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf" (2Cor.5:15).