Becoming a Disciple

The Great Commission in Matthew’s Gospel charges the Apostles and the church to make disciples. Have you ever wondered why the Commission is worded this way? Often I think we equate “disciple” with “Christian” and then equate “Christian” with “churchgoer.” We think we have “made a disciple” when we have made a convert. This often passes as making a disciple in the modern world, but it isn’t what Jesus meant.

Jesus told his disciples that he is the way, the truth, the life - not just for them but for the whole world. If any would come to the Father, they would do so by the way which is Jesus. The idea of the Way apparently gained traction outside the Bible as a name for the Christian movement. Paul in his defense in Acts 24:14 refers to his beliefs and teachings as the Way. Luke then uses the term as though it is a normative title in verse 22 when he tells us that Felix had “a rather accurate knowledge of the Way….” There are definitely critical doctrinal points that Paul and the early Christians taught. Jesus as Messiah, his death and resurrection, that it is through Jesus that salvation has come are all distinguishing marks of the early teaching and we need to hold them close and proclaim them.  They form part of what is referred to as the kerygma of the Christian message—the core or key concepts and ideas of the message.

The kerygma though is contained in a broader mission, a higher focus for Jesus and the writers of the New Testament. It can be found as well throughout the Old Testament. It is this: that the call of God is for mankind to return to the Father as people who live as God made them to live. That is what is important about these two mentions of the name of that early movement. “The Way” emphasizes a path, a direction, a life focus more than a settled decision. Conversion isn’t the end of making disciples, it is only the beginning. The hard work of being a disciple of Jesus comes after the rush of excitement of conversion when the realities of just how out of sync we are with the ways of Jesus become evident. To be a disciple requires that we reorient not just what we do but how we think. We change what matters to us, our desires, our wants, and being transformed in this way, our behaviors change and our lives begin to be holy. We begin to be holy.

When Jesus tells us all the things we need to release, to give up, to not value, he isn’t listing things that aren’t important per se. He isn’t saying that we shouldn’t love our parents or bury our dead. He is illustrating the importance of following him as his disciple—taking up our cross and following him in the way he lived. This reorientation of our lives so that we can truly be the images of God that we are intended to be is a critical aspect of life with God. God wants us to set our minds and eyes on Jesus and live as he did. The sayings of Jesus, the writings of the New Testament, the Decalogue, and the Prophets all tell us the same thing. Disciples are those who follow the Way as they seek to live as Jesus did, in whom the fullness of Deity dwelt.