What Is Discipleship?

Now, Contending for the Faith.In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call, here’s this week’s question:Dear Dave and Tom:I read an article recently that indicated that one of the ingredients that is missing most in the church today is discipleship.That sounds right to me but I would like to get your take on it.Could you start off by giving me some Scripture verses that address discipleship.

Tom:

Well, Dave, I’ve got one, actually I’ve got a few, but let’s start with this:“Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world, Amen.”So, discipleship what?It’s teaching, isn’t it Dave?

Dave:

Well, yes, you are teaching and training a person with the desire to be obedient to Christ’s commands, and those were the commands that He gave to His first disciples.Jesus made disciples, He didn’t convert anybody to Christianity, He didn’t get anyone to join a church, He said:“If you continue in my Word (John:8:31Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
See All...), then are you my disciples indeed.In other words, if you obey my Word, then you’re learning your lesson, you’ve learned your lesson and you are continuing to learn the lesson because my Word is going to teach you more and more, then are you my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth, and the truth will se tyou free.”That’s what we need, to be set free from our doubts and fears and whatever else might drive us to go to a Christian psychologist.

Tom:

This is so critical, because, I know many people who have been listening to our programs, and where we have been emphasizing how wrong, how unscientific, how impractical psychological counseling is, on the other hand we have the Word of God, all that Jesus said, this is what discipleship is about.If we could get back to training ourselves up in the way we should go from the Scriptures, maybe the problems that we are going to therapy for would take care of themselves, that should be so obvious, shouldn’t it?

Dave:

It should be.Now Tom, what about this?I’ve been around for a long time—

Tom:

Well, you’re 80, Dave.

Dave:

Some people think I’ve been around too long, they would like to get rid of me.

Tom:

I wish I had your energy.

Dave:

The idea that you get in most churches is, I think, is when you become a Christian, and then if you want to do something really special, then become a disciple.That’s backwards, and you know the Scriptures, Tom, they weren’t called Christians. Christian was kind of a derogatory term, these followers of this dead guy that they claimed resurrected, you know.So, let me read you, where did it first come from?In Acts:11:26And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
See All...,—well, Barnabas gets Saul, he’s going to bring him to Antioch—

Tom:

That is, the apostle Paul.

Dave:

Right, I’m sorry.He’s going to bring him to Antioch because the Gentiles are becoming believers in Jesus there.So, Acts:11:26And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
See All..., “And when he (that is, Barnabas) had found him, (that is, Saul) he brought him unto Antioch.And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the Church, (that’s a biblical term—I will build my Church, Jesus said—and taught much people.And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”And nobody called anybody a Christian until in Antioch, and these Greeks didn’t know how to handle these guys.Well, they’re Christians—I mean, it was not a complimentary term, but it’s about the only one we use today, but they were disciples.So, this is the normal way, and as you quoted from Matthew 28, it really says, Disciple all nations and teach them to observe what I have commanded you.So, a disciple is really a learner, someone who is learning and obeying andhe’s following the example and he’s following the instructions, and that’s what we are supposed to be, Tom.

Tom:

Dave, sadly, I mean it’s 1 Timothy or 2 Timothy, where it talks about that in the last days we are not going to endorse sound doctrine.

Dave:

2 Timothy 4.

Tom:

Right, 2 Timothy 4, and sound doctrine, what’s that?Well, it’s just what we read in Matthew:28:19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
See All...,20.All that Jesus said, all that He taught, this is what we are to do.The Scriptures are loaded with verses after verses how I can really change my life, Dave.I mean, I begin with, as we mentioned earlier, by coming to Him, by recognizing the fact that I am a sinner, I can’t save myself, and that He has paid the full penalty for my sins, according to the Scriptures.

Dave:

And then I continue in the Scriptures.

Tom:

Then I grow, then I mature, and as I grow and mature the issues of my life, the problems that maybe I had, even as prior to being a Christian, or as a young Christian.The more I mature these things are going to dissipate, they are going to go away.

Dave:

And Tom, what is happening in the church, we’ve talked about it quite a bit, we need candles, we need icons, we need this kind or that kind.That is not going to do it.If you continue in My Word— thy Word is my delight—man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word—thy Word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.This is what we need and this is what a disciple is.

Tom:

Here’s another verse, Dave, 2 Timothy:2:15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
See All..., “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.

Dave:

Tom, I’m reminded of a statement by Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, and I’m paraphrasing, I’m not giving an exact quote, but this is basically what he said:I’m not all that impressed with people who emphasize Bible study.I think we need to study the Bible less, not more!That’s rather shocking from a man who gave us The Message, which isn’t really Bible.

Tom:

There’s much less of the Bible than any other version that I have seen.

Dave:

Yeah.So that’s the attitude today.You quoted from 2 Timothy 4, the time is coming—what does he say?Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine, for the time is coming when they will not endure sound doctrine.They don’t like doctrine today, Tom, that’s boring stuff.No, doctrine is the container of truth, this is what puts it all together, and this is what we need to get from the Word of God itself.