After His resurrection, Jesus gave His people clear instructions before ascending to heaven. They were intended for both those present when He did so and all future followers of Jesus. He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20).
The one who has all the power on earth and in heaven is Jesus. “Worthy is the Lamb who was killed, to receive power and money and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” will be uttered about Jesus all the time. He is the one before whom all knees will bow, the one for whom all the earth’s tribes will weep, and the one against whom the wrath of God will be poured out.
As we read in the best book on Christian discipleship, to learn from and remain close to Jesus Christ means to be His disciple. These prerequisites were crucial for Christ’s disciples back then and remain so for Christ’s followers today.
Meaning Of Disciple?
A person who has been baptized and is prepared to take on the name of the Savior and follow Him is referred to as a disciple. Similar to how an apprentice aspires to emulate their master, a disciple attempts to imitate Him by upholding His commands while on earth.
The most fundamental definition of a disciple is someone who follows Christ. Jesus’ teaching on discipleship is to be a fully committed follower of Christ. Through the renewal of our minds, we advance in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We have a brand-new heart, the Holy Spirit resides within us, and by the grace of God, and He has revealed this to us.
Who Is A Disciple?
A “disciple” is a specific category of a pupil. It is someone who adheres to, absorbs, and moulds their life after the teachings of someone else – in this case, Jesus.
The followers of Jesus who received these crucial directives knew well what it meant to be His disciples. After giving up everything to follow Him, they spent three years learning from Him and studying books for Christian discipleship, going through incredible highs and lows while knowing what it meant to follow their Lord.
Have you ever met someone who pictured themselves as something they weren’t in real? Have you ever come across someone who acted in opposition to what they claimed to believe? Consider someone who, despite claiming to be a die-hard supporter of a particular sports team, becomes hostile against them after a string of defeats. Consider a more severe illustration. Women being assaulted by males who pretend to love them is a common occurrence. Which is true if one’s words and deeds conflict? Christ sees our acts as speaking louder than our words. Therefore, to follow Him, we must live according to His instructions.
How to Become a Disciple?
Making disciples is not a passive endeavor. On the contrary, it necessitates deliberate, calculated activity. The Disciples of Christ could not wait for people to approach them and want to follow them. They would have to make them themselves, which indicates deliberate and strategic action.
Disciple discipleship is a path of deliberate choices to grow your connection with Jesus and become more like Him in your attitudes, attention, and conduct. Both the potential disciple and the disciple-makers must be committed to it. It cannot be finished in a six-week course or reading books of Christian discipleship books top sellers only and does not occur accidentally or overnight. This lifetime commitment is to learn from others and eventually teach them how to serve God with all your mind, heart, soul, and strength.
The collaborative process of discipleship shields you from erroneous conceptions of God, the devil’s attempts to isolate you through your thoughts and feelings, and the culture’s ever-evolving notions.
God made people to be His followers and to grow in community with Him. On the path of faith, you will trip and fall. You’ll experience hardship, suffering, and loss. But, Jesus guaranteed that they would to His followers.
In the modern church, preaching and teaching have almost lost their impact. Instead, believers congregated many times per week to participate in the church’s educational missions, which included lectures, which were public presentations of biblical truth.
Even though some churches have many services, they often deliver the same message at each one. Nowadays, many churches only deliver one distinctive message per week. As a result, the public reading of Scripture doesn’t seem as crucial as it formerly was. Nevertheless, Dr JK Jones has published his interesting Christian books about discipleship, ‘A Missing Discipleship.’
