Discipleship Education
Main scripture:
Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the (very) close and consummation of the age. Amen. Matt. 28:19 – 20 (AMP)
Introduction:
The above scripture was one of the last words of our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples who would eventually be known as Apostles. Its common knowledge that the last instructions of anyone would reveal the most important things to him/her. What stands out is the word, “disciples” and the rest of the instruction just explains what to do to with these disciples. This is often referred to as the Great commision. This underlines the importance of discipleship. The term, disciple is a recurring theme all through Jesus’ ministry. He started with making disciples and ended with instructions to make disciples of every nations (worlds).
We must note that the term, “christian” was not coined by Jesus or His Apostles and was scarcely used throughout the original bible text.(Acts 11:26). It is suggested it may have initially been used derisively to refer to those who did not acknowledge the emperor of Rome. However, irrespective of the origin, this has come to be acceptable to mean, the followers (disciple) of Christ.
In the course of this discussion, we will be looking at: who is a disciple? how is a disciple made? What qualifies you to be a disciple? What are the responsibilities of a disciple? Benefits of discipleship and can you be saved without being a disciple?
While we await the main course meal, I would very much love to hear your thoughts on this question, Is there any difference between a student and a disciple? Please drop your comments below. Remember for every comment your make, you could get some lovely pearls. So lets get to it. Ciao!
- 3 Replies
Thank you @Michael for the Word. To the question I wanna reply. I think there is a difference between a disciple and a student.
For me a Disciple is first a student but a student can not always be a disciple. What I mean is that only those who are committed to do more than learning lessons from the teacher are disciple. Discipleship is above the content of the teaching, it relates to the teacher because being a disciple is to embrace the ideology of a person. Not only learning from him or her but understanding and going with his/her way of seeing things.
@Jefferson That’s a good point! A disciple internalizes what he learns and lets the knowledge change the way he or she lives. There are many students in the church but few disciples. To be a disciple you must be willing to not only hear but you must also be a doer of the word.
<font size=”4″>WHO IS A DISCIPLE?</font>
“<font size=”4″>Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32</font>
<font size=”4″>Yesterday we introduced the subject of discipleship and we were left with the question, is there a difference between a student and a disciple? If you looked at the discussion, you may see the responses made by Jefferson and then Pastor Phil which were great and I couldn’t agree more. Thank you Jeff and Pst Phil. So I’ll just pick up from there.</font>
<font size=”4″>The word, disciple is gotten from the Latin word discipulus, meaning learner, or follower. In the context of the believer, it would mean one who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ. However, this is beyond just passively following but means actively engaging and practising these teachings until you become like your teacher (Master).</font>
<font size=”4″>While in the University, one of my lecturers would always say that, it is expected of the student on graduation, not just to be proficient in learning but also in character. I love the words of Jesus because it always gives a clear answer if we are open to receive them. In our opening scripture our Lord Jesus Christ, told the Jews what it means to be his disciple. He tells them that his disciple is one who first believes his WORD, then continues in them, then he will know the truth and the truth will make him free. This is powerful! It will be difficult to exhaust the meaning of those words in this discussion. I will simply say that a disciple begins as a student and ends up in his masters image. </font>
<font size=”4″>The journey between student-hood to mastery is lined with liberating truth. This truth will free the student from his/her fears, doubts, unbelief, to become the image which is desired of him by his master. We watch sports and we see many potentially very talented individuals who still hire coaches to train them. Like Paul admonishes in 1 Corinthians 9:25 – that every man that is striving for mastery is temperate (disciplined, self-controlled) in all things. There is no discipleship without the word, discipline. A disciple is one who is disciplined in the teachings and character of his teacher/master.</font>
<font size=”4″>You may have noticed the word master repeatedly used, but I will apply some caution to put this in context as we go on in the discussion. The term must be seen in the context of Jesus’ relationship with his disciples and not the way we use it in the world. </font>
<font size=”4″>This is already getting longer than I thought, so I’ll conclude here.Tomorrow as God wills, we will take a look at discipleship in the context of the new creation. But as usual, I will love to hear your thoughts on this question, Is there any difference between the disciple as used in the gospels (Mathew to John) and the new creation (born again) man? There is no catch,
Please share your thoughts.</font><font size=”4″>Till we see again, Ciao!
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