Discipleship

What is the secret to making disciples of Christ?

In everything Christian, we like to intellectualise and complicate the simple. Well-meaning but theologically questionable people of all denominations have created hundreds of discipleship programs.

The biblical truth is that only a true disciple of Christ can create new disciples. 

Following a cookie-cutter program will never replace the heart of a pilgrim who has lived an exchanged life: yours for His. Anyone can mask their “goodness” by following a cookie-cutter program while living a spiritually compromised worldly life.

"Carrying the cross does mean following in Jesus' footsteps. And in His footsteps are rejection, brokenheartedness, persecution and death. There are not two Christs - an easy going one for easy going Christians, and a suffering one for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are we willing to follow His lead?" ~ Hudson Taylor

Consider how discipleship has evolved throughout post-Christ church history.

In The First Century, A Disciple Paid With Possessions

Luke 14:25-33 LSB  Now many crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them,  (26)  “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.  (27)  “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  (28)  “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?  (29)  “Lest, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,  (30)  saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’  (31)  “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?  (32)  “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.  (33)  “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

Yeshua completes this discourse with the startling statement that true disciples must have no other focus but their Master. And again, we see the story of the rich young ruler:

Matthew 19:21-30 LSB  Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”  (22)  But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.  (23)  And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  (24)  “And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  (25)  And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?”  (26)  And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  (27)  Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”  (28)  And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  (29)  “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive one hundred times as much, and will inherit eternal life.  (30)  “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.

Again, Yeshua references the poorest in the physical world yet devoted to Yeshua, who will be the first in the Kingdom of Yahweh. The Apostles were astonished at this teaching and challenged Yeshua by asking, “Then who can be saved?” Yeshua responded in V26, “And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Ananias and Sapphira

In Acts 5, we read the astounding story of the cost of discipleship for the uncommitted. This husband and wife sold their land but only committed some of the proceeds to The Way. Full of the Holy Spirit, Peter discerned their deception and challenged them openly, and Ananias fell dead at Peter’s feet. Sapphira came to Peter later and suffered the same fate.

What was the moral of this story?

In the First Century, a disciple of Yeshua was an all-in disciple—not partial, but all-in or all-out.

Has this model ever really changed?

In Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira, A Disciple Paid With His Life

As Christianity grew in the second and third centuries (the Church of Smyrna), Rome exercised its brutal authority over the new religious sect of Christ’s followers, culminating in the annihilation of thousands of believers at the hand of Emperor Diocletian in 300-310 AD. Yeshua prophesied this slaughter in Revelation 2 and Revelation 6:

Revelation 2:10 LSB  ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days (meaning ten years. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Revelation 6:3-4 LSB  And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.”  (4)  And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sits on it, it was given to him to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

The fourth to sixth centuries (the Church of Pergamum and the third seal, Black Horse) saw church and state merge when Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of Rome. Paganism was the previous religion of Rome (and Greece), and many pagan beliefs were syncretised into the new religion. Constantine went on a building spree, and many new cathedrals were constructed at this time, with pagan idols adorning their interiors and exteriors. Whilst martyrdom was banned, fear entered the flock as the Roman Army eliminated many who disagreed with the Bishop of Rome. Three tribes of Europe were annihilated as prophesied in Daniel 7 (the three horns ripped out at the roots): the Herulis, the Vandals, and finally, the Ostrogoths in 538 AD, leading to the Bishop of Rome being declared supreme authority over the whole church, initiating the Papacy. The institutional authority of the Papacy had become the only means of discipleship, as prophesied by Daniel 7 (the Little Horn).

The Church of Thyatira and the fourth seal, Pale Horse (the horse of death), represent the Dark Ages, a period in which Christ’s spiritual influence was all but eliminated. Disobedience to the Pope rendered you punishable by death, and millions were slaughtered in the Crusades of Europe and the Spanish Inquisitions. In reality, mankind became disciples of the Pope rather than Christ, and religious conformity was your discipleship programme.

Discipleship in the Reformation

The Church of Sardis witnessed the Protestant Reformation, during which former Catholic Priests Martin Luther and John Calvin led the charge away from Catholicism and its Latin scriptures, which no one could understand except the Latin-trained Priests. The invention of the printing press greatly aided this movement, as native-language translations became available to the new Protestant denominations.

Discipleship advanced markedly. But what were the new disciples learning? Yeshua had something to say to Sardis:

Revelation 3:1 LSB  “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

The Reformation succeeded in breaking the hold of Catholicism but failed to break the hold of the institutional church on mankind. Many denominations were formed during this period, each with particular doctrinal positions, so discipleship was to the institutional position, not the truth of the indwelling Christ as a spiritual condition of an exchanged life. Position over Condition, a common flaw of Catholicism, was alive and well in the Reformation until today.

Discipleship in Laodicea

Fast-forward to today, where we find ourselves towards the end of Laodicea, the church that had no spiritual affirmations from Christ. Professional Pastors, a position without precedent in scripture, run our church services from an elevated platform of ascendency, complete with their seminary doctorates. They hold illegitimate spiritual authority over their flock, who sit in lazy subjugation, forgetting the message by the time the car park is in the rearview mirror.

We are to never place anything between ourselves and Christ. Not your Pastor, church, friends, family, or job. NOTHING!

Our sole purpose is to be spiritually submitted disciples of Christ. A “someone else does that” mentality prevents us from leading sanctified lives capable of discipling others. It is the responsibility of every disciple of Christ to disciple others.

Conclusion

I weep over the Condition of our Laodicean institutions. Almost every street corner has churches, but as Christ prophesied, the Spirit of Christ is virtually extinct. We need the Sword of the Spirit to enter the hallowed hallways of our church institutions so that Christ can emerge from within the walls and disciple people to an exchanged life of humble submission.

Revelation 3:17 LSB  ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.

I will hold the Sword of the Spirit out and help anyone seeking the indwelling Spirit to abandon all religious attachments and live for Christ alone.

Maranatha!

Blessings to all my readers,

Geoff