Discipleship 101

What is Discipleship?

Discipleship is one of the most important concepts in the Bible. You can’t read the story of Jesus without running into the word. In fact, it appears 269 times in the New Testament. Jesus calls us to devote our entire live to being his disciples. And he tells us it’s the mission of our lives to make disciples! But what the heck does that even mean? What is a disciple?

What is a disciple?

The word disciple literally means a learner or a student. But a disciple in Jesus’ day was a very different kind of student than what it looks like to be a student right now in America. What does it look like for you to be a student at school?

Classrooms

Books

Homework

A few hours a day

Information-centered

Being a student in Jesus’ time was very different. You didn’t sit in a classroom and learn information. You followed your teacher 24/7 and became him. You learned not just what he knew, but how he walked, how he talked, how he treated his mom, how he ate, how he went to the bathroom! Literally, you tried to immerse yourself in the teachers so that when they were gone, you embodied everything that they stood for. So that having a conversation with you was like having a conversation with them.

This is the kind of discipleship that Jesus calls us to. He wants us to follow him so closely that we look like him, talk like him, and smell like him. This doesn’t mean we erase who we are — God made you uniquely and wonderfully you — but it means asking: what would Jesus do if he was my age, went to my school, had my friends, played the sports that I play?

So a definition of discipleship could be: “the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were me.”

How do we do this? How do we immerse ourselves in the life of Jesus in such a way that we truly become his disciples?

How do I Become a Disciple?

Becoming a disciple starts when we repent and believe. To repent means to turn away, to have a change of heart. What are we supposed to repent of? Well all of us are already disciples of someone or something. All of us are following something. Ephesians 2 says ,

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind

Basically, this is saying that all us are naturally following after the world and that it’s going to lead us right off a cliff. That’s why we have to repent. Repentance isn’t a bad thing, it’s not a scary thing. It’s just saying, I don’t want to get led off a cliff! I want to follow Jesus who will lead me to life and joy and peace forever with the Father.

Jesus already went off the cliff for us, so we don’t have to. He died on the cross to save us from our sins and he rose again to offer new life and grace for those who believe.

We become his disciples, not through a crazy try-out process, but by simply trusting in his grace and committing ourselves to following him.

What does Discipleship Actually Look Like?

What does discipleship actually look like on a day-to-day basis? It looks like modeling our lives after the life of Jesus.

Jesus had three great loves that shaped the way he lived his life. Another way to say this is that Jesus lived out his life in three directions: UP, IN, and OUT. This is shown all throughout the stories about Jesus but let’s look at one day in Jesus’ life, in Luke 6:12-19

English Standard Version Chapter 6

12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Ministers to a Great Multitude

17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

Let’s quickly break this down.

UP

in the upward dimension of Jesus’ life, he was continually connected to the Father. Notice he began his day by going up a mountain to be alone with God the Father. He spent the whole night in prayer. This was a normal practice for Jesus. Before he spent time with his disciples, and before he went out to minister to others, he first spent time looking UP, being connected with his Father.

But Jesus stay staring UP. Eventually he went down the mountain and invited 12 close friends in.

IN

Jesus didn’t just have a relationship with God. He also oriented his life towards his followers- spending significant time with 12 and focusing on 3. This inward community made up the bulk of Jesus’ ministry as they learned to love one another like family.

But Jesus didn’t just hang out with his disciples

OUT

Jesus took his disciples out of the believing community to bring the Kingdom of God to a lost and dying world. He healed the sick, preached the gospel, and ultimately laid down his life for his enemies. Jesus’ ultimate goal wasn’t to make a social club with people who all believe the same things. His goal was to save the world by serving it.

Practical

Now let’s bring this home by brainstorming together. What would it look like for you to pattern your life after the life of Jesus? What are some ways you can grow in your upward relationship with God? What are some ways you can grow your inward relationships with other believers? And how can you move out to serving those who don’t yet know Jesus?