(This article is part of a series that starts here.)
Look closely at Jesus and what he did. He picked twelve men to follow him closely as he traveled and taught, but have you ever noticed how he treated the crowds? He told them parables without explaining the meaning!
Then the disciples came to him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He replied, “You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not. For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. (Matt 13:10-12 NET)
Jesus had just told the story about someone throwing seeds out and how some never grew, some withered quickly, some were choked out by weeds, and some produced a good crop, which was not news to anyone in the crowd. They all understood farming and how planting seeds worked, yet no explanation was given to them for this obvious bit of information.
It was only the twelve and those called disciples who asked the meaning of the parables. These were those who waited until the big show was over, after Jesus performed creation miracles involving flesh growing where none existed before, after feeding thousands of people with a handful of bread and fish, after the crowds had their fill of the fantastical and their bellies were full and they went off to tell their friends about the great experience. After all this, there would be a few hangers on who would press in close to Jesus and ask, “What does all this mean?”
It was these who saw that Jesus was offering something more than a momentary experience. He offered life, and they were hungry for that life, and to get that life they had to pursue that life. This is discipleship, pursuing the life of Jesus Christ, seeking to be like him, patiently waiting for the noise to quiet down so that we can press in close to Jesus and ask what it all means and how do we live it out.
In my previous article, I defined Christian disciple. This is what I came up with:
A Christian disciple is one who not only learns from and imitates Christ but worships him as God and Creator of heaven and earth, and this is reflected clearly in the person’s lifestyle, moral character and worldview.
In the Bible, the followers of Jesus were called disciples, but the word discipleship is not in the Bible. We must be very careful, then, how we define and execute it! We all too often take a sentence here and there and piece together a ministry method that strays from the point of it all.
With this in mind, I want to start very simple. I believe the best way to describe discipleship is “follow me.”
As He was walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. “Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. (Matt 4:18-20 HCSB)
For the next three years, they followed Jesus everywhere, seeing and hearing everything. They lived so closely with him that nothing about him was hidden, and he taught them to do what he was doing, even sending them out to practice. They were trained to be leaders of the church Jesus was starting.
But here we must make distinctions. Not everyone is a leader of the church, are they? Not everyone is a teacher or preacher, and Paul states that the leaders are in their position to perfect believers for ministry (which is service), building up the body of Christ so that we are unified in faith and knowledge of Jesus, making us mature believers (Eph 4:11-13). Should everyone in the church be telling others to “follow me” if the example in the Bible only shows trained leaders doing this?
Paul wrote this, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1 NIV) And before this he mentioned sending someone who would set an example:
Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. (1 Cor 4:16-17 NIV)
Yet, how long had Paul been a Christian, and been in leadership, before we have a recorded instance of him telling others to follow his example? In 2 Thess 3:7 & 9 he said, “For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example,” and, “in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.” (NIV) He wrote this letter about year 51, more than 15 years after his conversion (AD 35-ish) and 5 years after being brought into leadership at Antioch by Barnabus (AD 46-47, Acts 9:1-30, 11:19-30).(1)
Notice there were ten years of Paul living out the Christian life before he was called into leadership. Also note that 1 Corinthians was written about year 55, four years after Paul picked up Timothy to train him as a leader, so Paul was sending a trained leader to set them an example to follow. Those who are making disciples, doing the work of teaching, training, and setting the good example, ought to be those who not only paid their dues being trained as leaders, but who also have proven faithfulness.
I do not mean to make discipleship seem unattainable. If we are living in community, we should be able to find these examples of faith, whether they are in an official capacity of leadership or not. Paul wrote this to the Philippians: “Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.” (Phil 3:17 NLT) I believe it is important to be connected to the body of Christ for this very reason. We cannot find strong disciples to imitate if we do not go where they go, and as faithful members of the body of Christ, they will be found within the body of Christ.
Therefore, make no excuses, and let no self-righteous hypocrite keep you from going to church, nor a disgraced leader, nor a pushy evangelist. In the same way the early disciples had to wait for the crowd to disperse and push their way forward to get close enough to hear Jesus explain the parables, or possibly to ask him a question, so we also must push through the mess to find those setting the good example. If discipleship is summed up in “follow me,” then find someone to follow!
But what if even in church you cannot find a good example to follow? You can only know this from the Bible, and to the Bible you can go for discipleship. Study the lives of Jesus, Peter, Paul, David, Elijah, Boaz, Jephthah, and so many others. Note their successes and failures, and model yourself after them. “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” (Heb 13:7 NASB)
Do not be a member of the crowd who enjoys the show then leaves without asking for more, be among the disciples who patiently wait and press forward to find those good examples to learn from and follow.
Blessings! – Shamar Covenant
Next article in series, Discipleship: What Discipleship is Not…
(1) Timeline from The Essential Bible Companion by John H. Walton, Mark L. Strauss, and Ted Cooper Jr.