So You Want To Be One Of His Disciples

So, you want to be one of His Disciples

“The disciple is not above his master:

but every one that is perfect shall be as his master”(Luke 6:40)

Isaiah prophesied several hundred years before Jesus that sometime in the future God was going to “seal the law among my (His) disciples” (Isa 8:16). This is not an insignificant prophecy. These words predict that the Messiah would perform a future work through his own “disciples!” This also shows that the whole Biblical notion of “disciples” did not just first show up during the days of Jesus Christ. Here we see that the prophet Isaiah long ago foretold of the concept of discipleship!

We need to carefully consider why God would even decide to “seal the law among his disciples.” To seal means, “to place the final stroke or final piece” upon some work. Obviously Jesus literally sealed the law when he went to the cross. However, the very fact that Jesus’ disciples still continue to populate the earth means that Jesus is not yet finished working in and through His disciples! It follows that God has more work to perform in/through His disciples.

Do not get me wrong! The work of Jesus on the cross is a finished work; however, the effects of His finished work upon the cross is not yet completed in all of His disciples (there are yet others whom He desires to become His disciples)! Since He is still working in His disciples, we should carefully think about our own standing as a disciple of Jesus Christ!

But, what about you; do you consider yourself to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Notice, I did not ask if you are saved! The question is “Are you a disciple of Jesus?” Are you sure? How can we really know? Can someone actually be saved and yet not be a disciple? What are the Bible requirements in order to become a disciple of Jesus Christ?

During the hey-day of the cassette tape industry, there was a television commercial featuring a singer by the name of Ella Fitzgerald. As she would sing some of her trademark songs, she was able to break a crystal glass because of the high frequency notes that she was able to reach. Later, another glass would break and they would ask as part of that television commercial, “Is it real; or, is it Memorex?” Apparently, at times it was not possible to determine the real thing from a fake. When it comes to being a disciple of Jesus Christ, can we determine the real thing from the fake?

Let me make the following request, “If you believe that you are a real Christian, please raise your hand.” (If you only happen to be reading this Bible Study and you still agree with the question, please follow the request.)” Now, just to be sure, please stand up if you believe that you are a Christian. Okay those of you that have stood can sit down.

Now that we have all settled the issue concerning who we are, let’s take a Scriptural look at that request. We are just quickly going to read through some Scriptures out of the New Testament that seemingly reveal our true identity:

We find that the title “Christian” is used only three times in the whole New Testament. Why? Even then, when we take a closer look, we discover that outsiders gave us the title “Christian.” When we take a look at the history, we discover that the title “Christian” was used in a pejorative (meaning derogatory or uncomplimentary) sense! In essence, the outsiders were putting down Jesus’ followers by calling them “Christian.”

This leads to the natural question, “So what did Jesus and His followers call themselves?” This time, we are just quickly going to read through Scriptures from the Book of Acts that will help make our true identity in Jesus Christ come into a clearer focus:

When we read all these obvious verses, we can easily see that the followers of Jesus clearly chose to call themselves disciples. Jesus obviously instructed his church to disciple the nations, “Go ye therefore, and teach (GK: matheteuo meaning “to disciple”) all nations” (Matt 28:19); notice that the Greek word GK: matheteuo is also used in Matt 27:57, “there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple (matheteuo).” Obviously, the church has chosen to use on themselves a term which was used by outsiders. We can only wonder, “Why?” For just one minute, think about the following: Jesus’ commission was not to make “converts;” His commission was to make “disciples!” Discipleship requires effort! Notice Jesus’ words, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt 16:24).

Just because we are disciples, we should not expect everything to be easy during our service to the Lord Jesus. In fact, the Scripture teaches, “Thou (all of Jesus’ disciples) therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim 2:3). That last passage makes it clear that enduring “hardness” is a necessary attribute for all of Jesus’ disciples. Now let’s stop and think; since enduring hardness is a necessary attribute, we can only conclude that trials should be expected to be part of the life of a disciple, “no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. 4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation” (1 Thess 3:3-4). It is undeniable, Christians are going to run into negative circumstances during this life; in fact, we are promised these things, “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12).

All too often, we think of the life of a disciple as merely sitting around the master and listening as his words of wisdom enlighten us. However this is not the actual Bible definition of a disciple. The Bible teaches that a disciple knows how to endure hardness like a good soldier! What most of us do not realize is that soldiers are toughened up so they will be able to endure that hardness! A soldier is naturally acquainted with the concept of facing negative circumstances.

Christians are a blessed people; therefore, our Christian lives should not be overrun by negativity. Indeed, we are always supposed to gain the victory, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom 8:37). It is also true that God clearly takes care of His own, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ” (2 Cor 2:14). The point is, we should not expect that every negative situation will simply dissolve away just because we are His disciples! As disciples, we are fighting against the kingdom of darkness, therefore, we are going to have to “endure hardness” and, “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim 6:12).

In the last few passages that we have read, we have encountered at least three separate analogies that equate our Christian walk to the life of a soldier! Notice those passages:

Paul told Timothy to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim 2:3). We can actually read in the second book of Timothy where in one passage, Paul actually made analogies to three different aspects of human endeavor: (1) Soldiers; (2) Athletes; and (3) Farmers.

Let’s notice that entire passage in its context, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 5 And if a man also strive for masteries (athlete), yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. 6 The husbandman (farmer) that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits” (2 Tim 2:3-6). In the very next verse, Paul told Timothy that if he were to carefully consider these three analogies, then he would gain understanding, “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things” (2 Tim 2:7). The same is true of us, if we will consider these three analogies and apply them to our own discipleship, then we too will gain understanding!

Tonight; as we consider our discipleship under the Lord Jesus Christ, we are also going to give some careful thought to the whole concept of discipleship. As we endeavor to follow Paul’s instruction, we are going to consider our discipleship from the perspective of a soldier; an athlete; and a farmer.

At various times in my life I have had to endure severe physically demanding activities. The first time that I really became acquainted with the pains of severe strenuous physical activity was when I was a football player during high school. Every football player in America knows what happens during the last days of August. This is the season of two-a-day practice sessions (usually taking place in at least mid 90 degree temperatures). My high school football team would practice during two-hour sessions held every morning and again that same afternoon. These few weeks meant extreme physical training! Because of the intense physical training mixed with the late summer heat, it was not uncommon for players to vomit on the football field during these sessions. Whenever that happened, it would only make things get worse for the whole team; the coach would lecture us on how sacred the football field was; then, we would all have to run the dreaded hill! His logic was that if we were in proper shape, then we would not be vomiting. The hill was probably only about fifteen yards long; but it was nearly a forty-five degree angle up to the edge of the football field. It was upon this incline that we would run wind sprints. The football coach would blow his whistle and have the team run up the hill to the edge of the football field; then, he would blow his whistle and we would run down the hill. We would keep this up until we believed that we would die!

Obviously, these vertical wind sprints strengthened us and made us able to endure difficult situations that we were certain to face. They were so difficult that after a short while, the only thing that made us go up and down that hill was our sheer will not to quit. There were many that simply gave up and did quit on that hill! This mental and physical training obviously paid-off during games when things really got tough and we needed to score in order to win a game or when we needed to protect our goal to keep from losing! Obviously, these summer two-a-day sessions were very tough! I firmly remember promising myself after high school football was finished that I would never, ever, ever, ever again engage in another physically demanding situation like that!

However, just a few years later when I was in college, in order to avoid the draft (conscripted armed forces during the Vietnam war) I joined the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps. In order to qualify to enter the program during the fall quarter of my junior year in college, I first had to successfully complete a summer cadet training camp (a fancy name for Army boot camp) in Ft. Knox, Kentucky.

During the “camp” when we would run sprints, instead of the dreaded hill, we were running through the hills and carrying another cadet on our backs! Instead of short sprints we were required to run for long distances. During those instances when we were able to slow down to “walking speed,” they called that a march! We constantly marched from one area of training to another. We marched so much that the front of my lower legs (the shins) developed what I learned were splints! Shin splints were a severe muscular inflammation that irritated the front of the leg just over the bone. Obviously, every step of summer “camp” was extremely painful!

Kentucky is a very humid climate; I especially noticed this since I came from Colorado where the relative humidity is usually well below 20%, in the Kentucky humidity of 80% to 90%, I literally felt as if I was always wet. Every day, all day long, I had a sweat ring on the front of my shirt down to my belly button! This meant that when we crawled in the dirt, (which occurred regularly) the dirt that went down my shirt and up my pants would not simply fall off of my skin; instead, it formed a smutty gritty muddy substance that stuck on to my skin until the next rain or shower. I soon learned that this substance severely irritated my skin! This sweaty dirty substance on my skin often enticed mosquitos and other Kentucky flying insects to withdraw as much of my personal body fluids as they desired. These often encountered unsolicited withdrawals also caused severe welts to show-up on my skin.

Since we all sweat profusely all day and night, the army required us to take salt pills throughout the day with our water. One day I suppose that I did not take enough salt and I actually suffered a heat stroke. At first, I did not recognize what had happened; thankfully by the time I realized my condition, we had stopped that evening for a meal in the field. Since our only duties that evening were to establish camp, I was able to rest, re-hydrate myself, and recover. Thankfully, I never did have to go on sick call (the infirmary) during “camp.”

By comparison, my overall (boot camp) experience while in the army made the dreaded hill experience during high school football practice seem like child’s play! And thankfully, I did not have to go to Vietnam and get shot at! The point that I am trying rather awkwardly to make is that the Biblical injunction for us to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim 2:3) should be considered from Paul’s intended perspective! The Apostle Paul was regularly in the presence of Roman soldiers; he therefore had ample opportunity to hear firsthand stories from various soldiers! Surely, he must have heard of the soldier enduring long marches; surely he must have heard of the soldier enduring long periods of time from his family; surely, he must have heard of the soldier enduring gruesome battles; surely, he must have heard of the soldier enduring long periods without proper supplies.

Notice the hardness that Paul himself had to endure, “in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Cor 11:23-27). I hope you are beginning to get a better concept of Paul’s perspective of a soldier when he told Timothy to, “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim 2:3).

You’ve got to realize that a soldier is harassed and beaten down by their drill instructors until they have absolutely no concept of self! Every soldier wears the same clothes, they all eat the same food, they all experience the same physical training; they all get their hair cropped off. The reason for loosing their identity and doing things together is that in order for a soldier to respond to an order where he might have to sacrifice his very own life, he must be trained to be obedient in every order! A soldier even looses his identity; he is called a “GI” which is short for the term “government issue!” He is just another number to the government!

Further, the life of a soldier is not one filled with great affluence and riches. During the Vietnam era, soldiers earned something like $90 a month. However, they were eligible for combat pay in the event that they went into battle; during these combat engagements, their monthly salary went up to $117 a month! Are we beginning to get an appreciation for the hardship that a soldier faces?

The life of a soldier is not easy! I have not even begun to adequately describe the hardness that real soldiers face. They have to uproot and leave their families at a moments notice; since they are young they often are gone when their children are born and they are often gone during the formative years of their children!

Notice how Paul transitions from a soldier to an athlete; he wrote, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Tim 2:4). This means that a soldier is not only toughened up; he is also well disciplined. This idea of discipline led Paul right into his next analogy, “And if a man also strive for masteries (athlete), yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully” (2 Tim 2:5). Paul was making reference to the various athletes that competed in the early Olympics. All of these sporting events required that the athlete train full-time in order to be in top shape in order to compete at the highest levels of competition!

Consider the runner of a marathon. These individuals run 26 miles in one race. Most people have trouble running one mile! Just to be able to run twenty-six miles means that they must have been in training (disciplining their body) all along! They would have actually been training for months in order to be able to go that distance! One simply does not get up in the morning and decide that they are going to run a marathon that day! When it comes to physical training, we cannot hope to perform all of our training in just one day! This kind of physical training takes consistent disciplined effort. Running three and a half hours will not cause the same effect to your body as running ½ hour a day every day of the week. The kind of physical training necessary to run a marathon is marked by disciplined consistency! An athlete goes through disciplined training!

We need to get to the point in our Christian walk where we are disciplined in everything! This especially includes our words. If I say, “I will prepare a Bible Study once a week for this group;” then, I must discipline myself, come what may, to prepare that Bible Study! God carefully watches over this kind of discipline in our own lives!

We will only be able to face the marathons of our lives when we have been faithful to our daily workouts. In the same way, if we have not been preparing ourselves in our daily spiritual walk of faith, we will not be ready when the big trial (spiritual marathon) of our life comes! We need to have been regularly exercising our faith! When we are faithful and disciplined in our daily activities, God will open even greater opportunities to us!

Just like an athlete who is faithful to his daily training routine, we should hold ourselves to the highest standards of faithfulness! We should be faithful in whatever God has given us to do, “it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Cor 4:2)!

Finally, a winning athlete sees himself accomplishing his goal. Athletes are often asked during the Olympics how they continued through the grueling training regimen; and they often will say, “Practically every day in my imagination, I would visualize myself standing upon the Gold Medal podium receiving this award!” Likewise we need to have spiritual goals in our lives. If we are shooting at nothing, we will surely hit it every time!

We need to get Godly goals from the Almighty. If we will simply be quiet before Him in disciplined sessions over an extended period of time (for months if necessary), He will begin to reveal our own personal destiny, “ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jer 29:13). Searching with “all your heart” will require discipline!

Paul’s last analogy in this passage was the farmer. Every farmer has at least some understanding of the concept identified in the Book of Genesis, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen 8:22). We must understand the concept of seedtime and harvest!

Notice the interesting concept in Prov 11:24, “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Prov 11:24). The KJV is a little difficult to grasp; let me read how that passage is rendered in the NLT; “It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything” (Prov 11:24 NLT). The King James Version uses the word “scattereth;” perhaps we have heard that it means to give; but, does that word really mean to give? Notice how that same Hebrew word pazar (scattereth) is used elsewhere, “He hath dispersed (pazar), he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour. ” (Ps 112:9). In proverbs 11:24, to scatter means, “to give freely!” Here is the Bible Concept – Giving freely causes increase! Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you” (Luke 6:38)! I freely offer these Bible Studies over the Internet so that others may be blessed with my knowledge. I do this knowing that I am sowing spiritual seed. Like a farmer, I fully expect to produce a harvest of revelation from God!

I originally began to write, “I cannot explain why giving results in increase. I just know it’s true!” But, that is not entirely correct; I really can explain why giving works that way; the reason that giving causes increase is that God’s word stands forever, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matt 24:35). “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth;” God says if you scatter (give) you will increase! It’s no coincidence that the sower scatters his seed!

In every way God is faithful! Spiritually, physically, financially, and mentally, God has increased me! I am living proof that, “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth!” When we give it leaves our hand but it does not leave our lives! Giving causes more to be given back to the giver!

Getting back to Paul’s letter to Timothy concerning a farmer he wrote, “The husbandman (farmer) that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits” (2 Tim 2:6). This obviously means that the farmer eats his ears of corn before he sells them to others; however, in a spiritual sense, it means that the disciple should not be out teaching things that he himself has not yet nurtured to maturity in his own life! We have all seen or heard preachers that preached a message that they did not fully comprehend in their spirit. This is because they did not first partake of that teaching themselves!

Since we disciples are going to go out and help others, we should not be teaching other to tithe if we ourselves do not tithe; we should not be teaching others how to cast our demons if we ourselves have not cast out a demon; we should not be counseling others in their marriage if our own marriage is in shambles! We should be “first partaker of the fruits” that we have learned in the spirit. We should only minister to others those things that are a reality in our own lives! We cannot give what we do not have.

The Bible does teach us to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15); however, this does not give us Carte Blanch permission to teach anything! If you are having problems in certain areas of your life, don’t presume to teach other faltering Christians how they are supposed to overcome that same problem in their own lives!

We have takes some time on each of Paul’s three analogies: a soldier, an athlete; and a farmer. We have observed that being a disciple entails much more that just being “saved!” Nevertheless, we have all arrived at the conclusion that we are His disciples. Notice below that God commissions those whom he sends. Anyone who wants to be a disciple can go to God and expect to receive a commission from Him:

We have seen Jesus’ charge to His disciples in “the great commission.” He does not want us just to make converts to Christianity; instead He want us to make disciples of all nations on the earth! Go Ye Therefore and Make Disciples!

Consider what God has selected by choosing us, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Cor 1:27)! God obviously did not choose us because we had some special gift! He chose us in order to confound the great. If we will keep in mind all of these lessons from: the soldier, the athlete and the farmer, we certainly can be useful disciples of Jesus Christ!

Like a soldier who answers his country’s call, we all need to get to the point where we are willing to tell the Lord, “No matter where you send me, or what you ask of me, I am available and ready to obey.” When we get to that point, we will be ready to serve the Him! He is not looking to send those who are gifted, instead, He is gifting those who are willing to GO! We must be ready to say with Paul, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Gal 2:20). Our lives are to be the Lord’s and we should give him the right to do in us according to His will, “neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus (Acts 20:24).

So, what are the requirements of a disciple? We get the answer when we carefully consider: the soldier; the athlete; and the farmer!

Written by M. Larry Perrino 8/26/2005