By this point of our journey, we've come to trust in Jesus by faith for our salvation. We've been washed of our sin, buried with him, and risen to new life in baptism. And we've received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And we walk in that love and power and life day-by-day. So what's the next step?
What does the journey with Jesus now look like? The next step (and all the rest of our steps) is becoming a disciple of Jesus. And this begins with Jesus's call to discipleship. Jesus' death and resurrection isn't the end of the story. He calls us to continue our trusting relationship with Him on a journey that lasts the whole of our lives, and even into eternity. We've trusted Him as our Saviour and now we trust Him as our Lord. As those who've been saved through Jesus's death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, we now offer to the living Jesus what Paul calls our obedience of faith. We trust him. That's what faith is. And in our trust, we obey what he's calling us to, which is discipleship.
One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. And as Jesus came up out of the water, He saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said "You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy." The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness where He was tempted by Satan for 40 days. He was out among the wild animals and angels took care of Him.
Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee where he preached God's good news. "The time promised by God has come at last," he announced, "the kingdom of God is near. Repent of your sins and believe the good news." One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. And Jesus called out to them "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people." And they left their nets at once and followed him.
A little farther up the shore, Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. He called them at once and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men. Jesus was calling them to a journey of discipleship, and they responded.
So, what is a disciple? To be a disciple means to be a learner or a student. Our English word comes from Latin and is related to our word discipline. To be a disciple is not by definition to have achieved something, but to be on the way. To be a disciple is not a status you've already obtained or achieved. But as a student today, it's a status meaning you don't yet have something, but you're on the road to learning something.
Now in our society, learning and education are tied to a set curriculum. There are certain things that everyone should learn and be able to do by going through the education system. Who your teacher is doesn't change what you're expected to learn. We have many teachers over the course of our education, and they're all teaching us from the same curriculum. But things were a bit different in the ancient world, and specifically for Jesus's own Jewish culture.
In the ancient world, people attached themselves to particular teachers they wanted to learn from. In the ancient Jewish world, that teacher was called the rabbi, which means "my great one" or "my master." They might form a school as the Pharisees did with their disciples, or a teacher might be out on their own as John the Baptist apparently was with his disciples.
Another way ancient education was different was that learning was not limited to knowledge. A student (or disciple) wasn't only learning what their teacher knew or what could be expressed in their words, but what their teacher did and who they were. A disciple wanted to learn not only their teacher's knowledge, but also how to live like their teacher. In this way, a disciple is more like an apprentice, learning the trade of a master carpenter or electrician by doing what they do. But even more than that, the disciple wanted to be just like their teacher.
When Jesus goes to Peter and Andrew, James and John, and calls to them, "Come follow me," He's inviting them to be His disciples and to learn His particular wisdom and His own way of life. For the rest of Jesus's life, they'll be following Him, hearing Him teach the masses, watching Him heal the sick, listening intently to His arguments with the Pharisees. This is not our Monday-to-Friday, nine-to-three kind of education. This is the whole of their lives. They will walk where He walks, sleep where He sleeps, and try to understand every word He's saying. They want to be just like their master, to be like Jesus.
You see, discipleship is not just something we do. It's not one task among others, like I'm a parent, a spouse, an employee, and a disciple. No, discipleship describes who we are. The whole of my life is given shape and focus by discipleship to the Lord Jesus. Jesus gives us our identity and everything we do flows out of our identity as His disciples. This means there's no part of our lives in which we are not a disciple of Jesus.
Discipleship is not a solo effort. Jesus called 12 people to learn from him in an especially close and committed way. He formed a community of students. Discipleship also takes a long time; we never perfectly learn Jesus and are continually on the journey with Him.
And finally, the outcome of our journey of discipleship is increasing likeness to our teacher. As we follow, if we're learning well, we're becoming more and more like our Master. We are becoming more like Jesus.
Click here to learn more about discipleship, or click here to find ways to get connected at Elim.