In the first blog on being a disciple of Jesus we presented the definition of a disciple as one who is a learner and is a follower of Jesus. We presented the two greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The last aspect that we covered was the Great Commission, where Jesus commanded all of His disciples (including us) to make disciples of all nations and to teach all that He had commanded.
Every person that has chosen to follow Jesus has turned from their old lifestyle of sin and evil, repented and turned towards Him. At that point Jesus becomes Lord, which means He is the master and ultimate authority. This concept is seen in Romans 10:9 “…that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Jesus also gave the instruction for water baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as an outward sign of an inward reality, renouncing the old life and entering the new life in Christ. There are different views in the body of Christ on how and when baptism is to be performed, so my encouragement is to search the Scriptures and investigate what God chose to have recorded in His Word about water baptism.
In Luke 10 Jesus was questioned by a lawyer about what must be done to inherit eternal life. Once Jesus confirmed that loving God with all of our heart soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves would result in eternal life, the lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus went on to tell the story that is commonly called “The Good Samaritan,” where a man is beaten, robbed and left for dead. A priest and a Levite avoided the injured man, but a Samaritan, someone who was racially ostracized, treated the man kindly and took care of him. Jesus’ instruction broke down the walls of racism and prejudice, showing that each person was worthy of being shown love. He also commands us not only to love those that love us, but to love our enemies and to show them kindness.
I think it is impossible to be a disciple of someone and not end up like that person with many similarities and shared attributes. As disciples of Jesus, it is not merely “following” Him that makes us like Him. Being a Christian is more than associating with a group of people with similar beliefs on creation, sin and the afterlife. When we are born again into the family of God, we receive the Holy Spirit, which gives us a new nature and new desires. The Bible says that we are given a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone. Granted, we may not instantly quit having sinful desires and our behaviors and practices may still have the resemblance of our lives before turning to Christ. The Holy Spirit will instantly bring change in some areas (i.e. an addiction), and yet we may still struggle with other areas like anger or jealousy as the Lord transforms our hearts. This process is commonly known as sanctification. We still may wrestle with character flaws and weaknesses as God’s nature is being manifested in our lives and we are changed in the process. As we are conformed into His image we learn do the things that Jesus did: Loving our neighbors and carrying on His ministry of healing, restoration and reconciliation.
In the next blogs we will continue to develop more aspects of discipleship and what that means in practical terms for us.
I think it is impossible to be a disciple of someone and not end up like that person with many similarities and shared attributes. As disciples of Jesus, it is not merely “following” Him that makes us like Him. Being a Christian is more than associating with a group of people with similar beliefs on creation, sin and the afterlife. When we are born again into the family of God, we receive the Holy Spirit, which gives us a new nature and new desires. The Bible says that we are given a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone. Granted, we may not instantly quit having sinful desires and our behaviors and practices may still have the resemblance of our lives before turning to Christ. The Holy Spirit will instantly bring change in some areas (i.e. an addiction), and yet we may still struggle with other areas like anger or jealousy as the Lord transforms our hearts. This process is commonly known as sanctification. We still may wrestle with character flaws and weaknesses as God’s nature is being manifested in our lives and we are changed in the process. As we are conformed into His image we learn do the things that Jesus did: Loving our neighbors and carrying on His ministry of healing, restoration and reconciliation.
In the next blogs we will continue to develop more aspects of discipleship and what that means in practical terms for us.
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