We
are all disciples, of someone or something. Followers, shaped and disciplined
by a person or a preference; influenced, formed and conformed to whatever
offers us identity and motivates us, drawing us towards meaning and fulfilment
in life. But are we disciples of Jesus?
As
it was with the first followers of Jesus, it can today be unclear who is to be
counted among the disciples of Jesus. The ongoing path of discipleship seems to
sift and separate people, as time goes on. Some find the demands of
discipleship too much (Matthew 8.21),
or the cost too great (Luke 14.26-27).
Those who continue on the path of Christian discipleship appear, however, to be
those who are irresistibly drawn to Jesus (Matthew
5.1): they recognise the glory of God in Him (John 2.11), the voice from eternity that calls to them through
Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God (John
6.66-69).
It
is this allegiance, to the person of Jesus Christ, that leads and builds on the
birth and foundation of duty among us. Consciousness of Jesus Christ, the Lord
that He always was, the source and centre of our life and being, dawns in our
understanding. This doesn’t mean we cannot, at times, falter: the first
disciples knew moments of failure (Matthew
26.56), even denial of Jesus (Luke
22.34); but enduring disciples are drawn back, in longing and desire,
looking for Him to be the focus of their life and purpose.
This
allegiance, that discipleship demands of us, is forged in a relationship where
God has acted before we even realised it, reaching out to us before we ever
thought of reaching out to Him. Before any of us became disciples, God had
committed Himself, declaring His desire to take and shape us. It is God’s
faithfulness, arising from His heart, that gives birth and shape to the
covenants expressed in the Holy Scriptures to Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Moses and David. It is a faithfulness, rooted in God’s promise, that leads to a
fulfilment of all He intends in a New Covenant, where He puts His law in our
minds and writes it on our hearts (Jeremiah
31.33). It is a work forged within us by the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36.26-27).
In
sharing the bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper, our identity as disciples
finds a context for understanding this formation of discipleship. Here, in the
celebration of the New Covenant, in the signification of the blood of Jesus
Christ (Luke 22.20), we remember (1 Corinthians 11.25) His blood poured
out for us (Hebrews 12.24). In
taking to ourselves the bread and the wine, tokens of His body and blood, we
celebrate the path of deliverance that Jesus has forged for us and the path of
discipleship that God has called us to. Discipleship is a journey, where we
hold Jesus and all He represents at the centre. In this manner, we express our
commitment to journeying on the same path of discipleship that Jesus travelled
upon for us. We declare both our thankfulness for what Jesus Christ has done
for our salvation and our desire and readiness to travel the path of obedience
with Him, as disciples of our Lord (Luke
14.26).
This
sense, not only of duty but of responsibility, to participate in and continue
the ministry of advancing the Kingdom of God upon earth, is integral to the
path of discipleship. From the first mission of the apostles (Matthew 10.1), through to the Great
Commission (Matthew 28.18-20), Jesus
nurtured His disciples in developing the convictional drivers and practices
which define His ministry. Disciples are people who have a commission from God
and a sense of duty to pursue this path: because they own a life rooted in the
life of Jesus Christ Himself. It is a life, like that of Jesus, that is to be
attentive to the direction of our heavenly Father (John 5.13), owning responsibility to pursue the same manner of
ministry as Jesus Christ, as He instructed (John 14.12).
To
fulfil this responsibility of discipleship, we need empowerment: an empowerment
that allows and enables us to participate in the work of God. This can only
come about through the active presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us
and upon us. There can be no pleasing worship of our heavenly Father, in and by
the name of Jesus Christ, without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit at
work in and through our lives. This is something, Jesus teaches, that we need
to long for (Luke 11. 13) and wait
for (Luke 24.49). Furthermore, while
each disciple is called personally, always part of the larger body of
disciples, there is a responsibility on each of us to seek after and look to
receive that empowerment that would come to us from God, in Jesus’ name (Acts 19.2).
This
desire, for a greater intensity in experiencing the activity of the Creator
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is not to be mistaken as a selfish or hedonistic
distraction. It is a necessary pursuit for each of us. The ministry we are
called to, in Christ, is not one that can be undertaken unless it is energised
by the presence and power of the Kingdom of God, working in us and through us.
God’s desire is to spread the fragrance of Jesus Christ throughout the world (2 Corinthians 2.14-15), drawing men and
women into discipleship through our lives of witness to Jesus Christ. Our
calling is to be part of a process of replication, multiplying disciples (Matthew 28.19). The presence of the
Kingdom of God, active in each of our lives, leads to an overflow into the
lives of others, bringing them to taste something of the love, mercy, healing,
forgiveness and deliverance that Jesus Christ brings. Through each of us, God
would minister in this way into the lives of others: for God desires that
everyone be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2.4).
Discipleship
does not limit or inhibit us from being ourselves. It frees us into being the
people that God has purposed us to be. It liberates us from empty goals and
false expectations. It brings us to bask in the experience of and knowledge
that we are sons and daughters of the living God, delighting in His command.
This is what enables us to bear witness.
Questions for reflection:
·
Who are the people that have influenced you
most, in your life, so far?
·
Apart from Jesus, what are the allegiances
and loyalties that feature most in your life?
·
At what times, in your life, has your path
taken a different turn, because you have sought to be a disciple of Jesus
Christ?
