A Disciple Defined

“So let us stop going over the basic teaching about Christ again and again.  Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding.  Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.” Hebrews 6:1, NLT. 

Last week I drew a distinction between a convert and a disciple.  Both have eternal life, but disciples go beyond the elementary teaching about Christ to develop in the image of Christ.  People who develop in the image of Christ become more than believing church members in good standing, they become disciples.

While it’s true that not all believers will become disciples in the truest sense of the word, it is nonetheless the desire of Jesus that they do.  So what exactly is a disciple?  Many definitions have been offered, but when stripped down to its most basic meaning, the following hits the mark.  A disciple is a follower of Jesus.  Wait, aren’t all Christians followers of Jesus? Not necessarily. All Christians are believers in Jesus.  That is to say they have acknowledged their sins and by faith trusted in the finished work of Christ, but following Jesus is different than believing or trusting in Him.  Following Jesus requires submission to His lordship in our life.  To follow Jesus is to imitate Him by conforming our thoughts, words and actions to His.  A disciple is one who makes progress in the life-long process of becoming more and more like Jesus.

Becoming like Jesus is to grow passionate about what He is passionate about and He is passionate about His disciples making other disciples.  Why?  Because disciples reproduce spiritually and invest in others who also become reproducing disciples.  It is this cycle of disciple-making that fuels world evangelization.  Jesus said to His first generation disciples, “…go and make disciples of all nations….”  That meant investing in others the same way Jesus had invested in them.  Jesus gave them the gospel; they responded in faith.  Jesus trained them to carry the gospel to others and to train those they reached to reach and train others.  Reaching, training and sending to do the same was the heartbeat of Jesus.  So the difference between a believer and a disciple (one who follows Jesus) is the training for and participation in the mission of making other disciples.

This is the work that First Federated is refocusing on.  We must be disciples ourselves and our mission is to make disciples who in turn will do the same.  If we commit to this, we will not only impact Des Moines, but we will touch the world for the glory of God.