“Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were you,” says Dallas Willard. A disciple has no higher ambition than to glorify God with their life. Jesus instructed all believers to make disciples. (Matthew 28:19-20) But we can’t make disciples unless we are disciples ourselves. The concept of discipleship built the church—mature disciples reproducing other mature disciples in Christ. (Colossians 1:28)
Fundamental to Christianity
A disciple is more than a fan or a Jesus groupie. They truly know Jesus, not simply know facts about Jesus. Discipleship is more than showing up on Sunday morning to learn even more but never putting it into practice. It means doing what Jesus taught. Christianity without discipleship is like a car without an engine. It might look good, but it isn’t going anywhere.
Discipleship is characterized by sacrifice. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23 | NIV). It takes death to self to walk with Jesus. It requires listening to and obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit in all things, not just doing those that are convenient. A true disciple surrenders their life, every facet of it, every day to follow Jesus.
Sunday Morning Disciples Need Not Apply
Jesus did not call any Sunday morning disciples. For those who accepted his invitation, it was a 24/7/365 commitment. They left everything to respond to his, “Follow me.” And nothing has changed. We cannot be disciples without faith. And faith without obedience is no faith at all. The heart of discipleship is obedience. Bonhoeffer said, “For faith is only real when there is obedience, never without it, and faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience.”
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15 | NIV). In another place, he asked the crowd, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46 | NIV) He compared such people to a man who built his house on the sand. When the torrent came, it was destroyed. People who call themselves Christians but who have not sold out entirely to Jesus have built on a faulty foundation.
It takes more than a hand to be raised in response to a passionate church “invitation” or to be a member of the “cool” church at the top of the hill. A disciple acts and thinks like Jesus. A disciple is a different person from what they were before. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is what Jesus meant when he told Nicodemus he must be born again. If you are not being discipled and are not making disciples, you would be hard-pressed to prove that you are, in fact, a disciple of Jesus.