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WHAT IS DISCIPLESHIP?
by Steve Goodenough
The answer to this question is very
important for the health of the body of Christ.
Unfortunately, there have been many answers or methods of
discipleship that have clouded the practice of
discipleship. Actually, getting back to the original
pattern set forth by Jesus would bring His body
back to a healthy status.
To understand discipleship as practiced
by Jesus, we need to understand the culture of that
day. Learning the ways of the LORD was the primary
directive of the Torah as described in Deuteronomy
6:1-9 NLT, emphasis added is mine:
These are the commands, decrees, and
regulations that the LORD your God commanded me to teach
you. You must obey them in the land you are about to
enter and occupy, and you and your children and
grandchildren must fear the LORD your God as long as you
live. If you obey all His decrees and commands, you will
enjoy a long life. Listen closely, Israel, and be
careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and
you will have many children in the land flowing with
milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your
ancestors, promised you. "Listen, O Israel! The LORD is
our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your
God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your
strength. And you must commit yourselves
wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you
today. Repeat them again and again to your children.
Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on
the road, when you are going to bed and when you are
getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on
your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts
of your house and on your gates
In honor of this command, the
Jewish people would start teaching their children the
Torah (instructions) at age six. By age 10, many of them
would have memorized most if not the entire Torah. The
need for this memorization was found in the scarcity of
the Torah scrolls. A small village might have only one
scroll for the community to use. The more talented
students would move on to learn the Talmud (learning).
Here the student would learn of the rest of the
Scriptures, the Oral Traditions and commentaries regarding
the Torah instructions. This form of education would
continue until about age fourteen when the best of the
best would seek discipleship with a Rabbi.
The discipleship process was a total
commitment to learning the ways of the Rabbi. They would
spend the entire day and night being around the Rabbi,
seeing how he would handle various situations based on his
understanding of the Torah instructions. The Rabbi would
use objects from everyday life to explain the truths from
the Scriptures and he would question the students
regarding their previous training to better develop their
understanding of the Torah.
The goal of the disciple was to be just
like the Rabbi in their manner of spiritual expression.
This goal would require a character on the part of the
teacher that would model the characteristics of the
LORD in their lives. While each Rabbi would have a
different interpretation of the Torah instructions and
would thus, maintain different rules, nevertheless, they
would all have the same dedication to the basic character
of the Torah instructions. The basic character of the
Torah was to completely love the LORD and to love
their neighbors as they would love themselves, Matthew
22:37-40 NLT, emphasis added is mine:
Jesus replied, "'You must love the
LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and
all your mind.' This is the first and greatest
commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your
neighbor as yourself.' The entire law (Torah) and all
the demands of the prophets are based on these two
commandments."
In other words, in was customary for
the Jewish people to follow different teachings or
guidelines for righteous living but yet still exhibit the
same level of devotion to the things of the LORD as
a corporate community. It was for this very purpose that
Jesus came to the Earth to provide a living
demonstration of how the Torah was to be interpreted
correctly in accordance with the spirit of the Torah
instructions. The instructions that Jesus offered
was of a divine authority. We, as mere mortals, will be
forced to follow human teachers that may not have the
compete understanding of their divine authority that
Jesus had. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit can
provide us with understanding of the divine authority that
may be lacking in our human teachers. It is important to
understand that we are not now to follow the man
instituted interpretations because these are often tainted
with human agenda’s, but rather we are required now to
submit to the divine character of our teachers as they
exhibit the righteousness of the LORD in their
lives and that are submitted to the direction of the
Holy Spirit. It is to their righteousness as presented
in the Torah instructions that our submission is required
and not to their charisma or intellect.
Jesus came to present many
examples of how a teacher should look and act. One example
is found in the following reference, Matthew 6:22, 23
NLT:
Your eye is a lamp that provides
light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole
body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad,
your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the
light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep
that darkness is!
The phrase ‘eye is good’ or in some
translations ‘eye is single,’ means that a person has a
generous spirit. They are willing to share of their
emotions, their finances, and their life. This is the type
of character that a teacher is to show from their life as
an example for the disciples. The phrase ‘evil eye’ or in
some translations ‘eye is bad,’ means that the person has
a miserly spirit. This type of spirit does not portray the
character of the Father as revealed in the Torah
instructions. So the character that a teacher must
manifest is that of the generous and loving character of
the Father.
Showing forth the characteristics of
the Father is the vital element of being a teacher.
In our Western viewpoint, a teacher can be one that has
acquired knowledge on a subject but they have not
necessarily experienced the application of that knowledge.
Under the Hebraic system, the teacher was one that had
knowledge based on personal experience with the ways of
GOD. His life was a walking billboard, if you will, of
how the LORD had dealt with him in his walk of
faith. The lack of personal experience in spiritual
maturity is a major problem in our efforts to promote
discipleship. We seem to think we can pass on information
from a book, program, or curriculum; and that these
efforts will have life changing potential. It just doesn’t
work this way.
People will accept these principles
from those that have used the principles for themselves. A
person might have some interest in reading a book by
someone that tells them the theoretical means to make a
million dollars but most people will prefer to read a book
by someone that has actually put the theories to work to
make their million. The same holds true for spiritual
matters. The reason that Jesus was so successful in
His ministry was that He walked by the truths that He
shared. People want to see people that are genuine in
their walk.
The issue of genuineness does raise an
interesting question regarding our personal experiences
with the discipleship process and that question is – Do we
need to be ‘perfect’ in order to disciple others? The
answer is a resounding no, for no one is perfect in their
walk of faith. We are being perfected in the process of
our spiritual maturity. Besides, being ‘perfect’ could be
discouraging for people that do not feel very ‘perfect’
and it might make it difficult for them to relate to a
‘perfect’ person. What people really want is ‘real’ people
facing ‘real’ situations to model an approach that is
consistent with the characteristics of the Father.
This means that we might not handle a situation perfectly
at first but through persistence we can handle the
situation better. It gives others a hope that though they
are not ‘perfect’, they can grow and become more like our
Father in time.
I really would like us to grasp the
basic concept that being a disciple or to disciple someone
else is about sharing life experiences. It is rather
difficult under our Western mode of spiritual life to meet
on Sunday and maybe during the week in small group and
effectively be able to disciple anyone. It takes a
quantity of time to develop as a disciple or to disciple
someone. There needs to be a host of experiences that will
allow the disciple to see the spiritual principles that
are being taught modeled before their eyes. And just like
there are no ‘perfect’ parents, there are no ‘perfect’
people that choose to disciple others. We are all growing
in the things of the Kingdom of God but we are all at
different stages of development or understanding.
Thus, the very essence of discipleship
is taking a person under our wing to devote a sufficient
quantity of time with them, in order for them to see all
your ‘warts’ and to be able to see you struggle a little,
while you figure it out. It is the watching of your
struggles, in your questioning of the Scriptures, in your
struggles with relationships, in watching your submission
to the will of the Father; that they will be able
to witness genuine faith in action. It is a matter of
saying that ‘here is where I am at. Come along and I can
show you how the Father got me here.’ We are
responsible to pass on what GOD has done for us to
this point and then perhaps, we need let other believers
complete the process of discipleship with their
experiences. It is in this manner that the whole body of
Christ participates in the discipleship process. We
do not have to be responsible to grow them all the way to
spiritual maturity, it may happen that way, but it is more
important to be willing to let the LORD direct the
discipleship. You may only have to take them a few steps
along the journey before GOD will direct another
obedient servant to take over, but for whatever the length
of the discipleship period, you must be committed to your
disciple and to giving them the time that they need to
grow.
Being a person who disciples others
will expose your inner being to others. It will expose
your weakness and points of failure but it also will allow
the Father to manifest His strength through your
vulnerabilities. It means being humble and teachable. It
is difficult to teach others what you have not learned. So
you must be willing to allow GOD to teach you and
train you, so that you will have life experiences to share
with others.
It is also important to realize that
you cannot disciple anyone by your own efforts and achieve
spiritual maturity for them. You must be guided every step
of the way by the work of the Holy Spirit. Each
person that you disciple will have different needs but
there will be basic concepts that will help everyone to
grow into the image of Jesus. Some helpful steps
are as follows:
Sharing Knowledge: It is
important for the disciple to understand the basics of
the plan of GOD to bring salvation to the
people of the world. The basics would include an
understanding of Father’s plan of restoration,
the part that the ministry that Jesus plays in
this plan, and how GOD will fulfill the Kingdom
mission for the ages.
Answering Questions: The
disciple will have many questions that you will not be
able to answer. Some of these questions may be beyond
their level of understanding at this time. Other
questions may regard topics that are difficult to
explain. We have included a basic set of twenty one
teachings that will offer assistance to the person
mentoring the disciple in their quest to provide
answers to these questions. Some questions will take
long periods of discussion and research in order to
answer. Don’t resist this part of the process for it
is important for the disciple to understand that they
will not know all the answers either but they can
witness a process that will engage the Holy Spirit
in seeking the answers.
Sharing life experiences: A lot
can be learned by sharing the experiences of life that
have meaning to the disciple so that they can learn
how others have dealt with these very situations.
Since no one ever deals with them ‘perfectly’ it would
be helpful to discuss what worked and what did not
work so that the disciple can examine the various
options to see what would be meaningful to them. This
is a practice that will make one vulnerable but it is
also a practice that will bring much glory to the
Father.
Doing things together: Making
the disciple an active part of your life is very
important. Jesus spent many hours traveling
with His disciples that would afford numerous
opportunities to express eternal spiritual truths in
the everyday activities of life. What these activities
would be comprised of would be up to you but they
should consist of many common experiences and not just
‘big’ activities. They could include work activities,
spiritual activities, recreational activities, family
time activities, etc.
Praying for and with your disciple:
Many hours are needed to be spent before our Father
in prayers for the people that we are endeavoring
to disciple. In is during this time spent in specific
prayer for them that our hearts will be changed for
them and we will receive valuable guidance for them.
We should pray over them on any appropriate occasion.
It is helpful to impart a measure of our spiritual
maturity to them as we minister to them in the
intimate context of prayer.
Encourage your disciple: Part
of our spiritual growth that occurs at the hand of our
heavenly Father is that He tends to bless us
when we get it right. Do not hesitate to correct your
disciple if they get it wrong, for even Jesus
had some words to say to His disciples in such
occasions (o ye of little faith). But then be quick to
encourage their efforts, even when the progress is
slow. Remember that the LORD has a specific
plan for them and it is our responsibility to be in
cooperation for that plan. We can sometimes get
impatient but such impatience will only hinder the
progress. We need to be committed to the desired
results despite the length of time that may be needed
to complete the project.
Be flexible with your approach to
doctrine: The goal of discipleship is to make us
and then them, into the image of Jesus. It is
tempting sometimes to try to instill pet doctrines and
beliefs into our disciples but the basic need of the
disciple is to know what to do rather than what
doctrines to believe. It is important for the disciple
to understand the basic tenets of the faith, these
things being expressed in Hebrews 6:1-3 NLT:
So let us stop going over the basic teachings about
Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and
become mature in our understanding. Surely we don't
need to start again with the fundamental importance of
repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in
God. You don't need further instruction about
baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of
the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing,
we will move forward to further understanding.
They may have to struggle with these ‘milk’ oriented
teaching before they are capable of understanding the
more ‘meat’ oriented teachings that deal with more
mature themes. Give them time to grow into the more
mature ways of the Father.
Model obedience to the ways of GOD:
It is very important to not just teach the right
things to do but we must be willing to walk in them
ourselves. The old adage that you should ‘do as I say
and not as I do’ is certainly not appropriate here.
Obedience to the LORD is a great privilege and it
should be modeled as a joyful activity and not as a
dire duty. Since many of our blessings are contingent
on obedience, it is most beneficial for our disciples
to see the blessings that we receive as our walk is
obedient to the will of GOD, which was
expressed in the Torah instructions, elaborated on by
Jesus, and is taught to us by the Holy Spirit.
Model the servant’s heart: It
is most important to understand that it is not so much
a matter of what we do as it is the reason that we do
it. We can do the right things but for the wrong
motive and it will do no good. Conversely we may
struggle in the doing of the right things but if our
hearts are committed to doing right, then the issue of
performance becomes secondary to the proper attitude
of the heart.
Lastly, we need to bear in mind the
model of discipleship that Paul set forth in his famous
five fold ministry example given in Ephesians 4:11-16
NLT. It does not matter what our specific giftings
are, as much as it is the attitude of helping other
believers into maturity and doing it in a sense of
community, which will form the full stature of Jesus,
emphasis added is mine:
Now these are the gifts Christ
gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the
evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their
responsibility is to equip God's people to do His work
and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will
continue until we all come to such unity in our faith
and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in
the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard
of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like
children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every
wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when
people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound
like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in
love, growing in every way more and more like Christ,
who is the head of His body, the church. He makes the
whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does
its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so
that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of
love.
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