A Crucial Question
When talking about discipleship, a question that must be answered early on is “what is a disciple?” Many different definitions have been offered, and most of them are not particularly right or wrong. A disciple is a learner. The Greek word for disciple, mathetes, at its base level means a learner. A disciple is a learner, but is a disciple only a learner? Certainly this was true in the secular Greek world with men like Socrates–his “disciples” were simply learners who followed him around to gain wisdom. But is there more than this involved in being a disciple of Jesus? I believe there is!
A Biblical Answer
A key text I go to when considering the nature of a disciple is Matthew 4:19. Consider Christ’s simple offer of discipleship in this verse: Follow me and I will make you fishers of people. Such a simple offer yet such a profound significance! I find in this text three elements to being a disciple of Jesus.
First, discipleship involves following. This might seem basic, but it truly is not. I do not mean “following” in the sense of simply following Jesus around like so many people did in Christ’s day. If this were true, then Jesus would have had many more than 12 disciples. But in following Christ we are recognizing and submitting to His authority. Christ simply said “follow me” and the disciples obeyed. They submitted themselves to the authority of Jesus–that’s how one starts as a disciple! It is not good to follow Him around if one is not willing to submit to what He says. In this sense, I like to say that discipleship involves our heads, because with our heads we acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus and submit to His desire.
Second, discipleship involves changing. When Christ called His disciples to follow Him He also gave them a promise–He was going to make them into something new. If they committed to Christ with their heads by recognizing His authority, He promised to do something transformative in their hearts. He was going to make a change; He was going to transform them into something they were not. This is why I like to say that discipleship not only involves your head, it involves your heart. Heart change takes place in the life of a true follower of Christ! When we answer Christ’s call and submit to His authority, He does transformational work in our heart to change who we are inside and produce the fruit of a disciple of Christ.
The fruit that Christ produces in our hearts and lives is the third aspect of discipleship–discipleship involves seeking. What is it that Christ changes in the hearts of those who follow Him? He changes their mission. He gives them a calling upon their lives and this calling is to fish for people. This is the expectation of all followers of Christ–that we are soul fishers. In this way, I like to say that discipleship involves your hands. Jesus expects followers of Christ to be reaching out and reproducing themselves into other followers of Christ. That is what discipleship is all about!
Final Thoughts
Let us put it all together now. Discipleship involves three things–following, changing, and seeking. Or to put it in another way–a disciple is someone who uses their head, heart, and hands to follow Jesus. At our church, I like to use three simple words to reflect this: know, grow, and go. That is our mission, and that is how Jesus defines a true follower of Him. A disciple recognizes the Lordship of Christ and submits to His authority, has been transformed and changed from the inside out by the power of Jesus, and seeks to produce other followers of Jesus as he or she fulfills the call to fish for people. Based on this description, are you a true disciple of Jesus?
