Whose Disciple Are You?

In last Sunday’s article on discipleship, I wrote about the true nature of a disciple of Christ.  A disciple is one who goes beyond the elementary teaching about Christ to develop in the image of Christ.  Developing in the image of Christ is my topic today.

In Luke 6:40 Jesus says, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”  All of us are students of someone or something.  As a Christian, Jesus is to be my teacher and my life is to make consistent progress toward reflecting His image.  I’ve received testimonies from various missionaries who say this is taking place in the church of China.  The lives of Chinese believers are being radically transformed.  I’m told they can’t get enough of God’s Word. They are dedicated to prayer and meeting together for corporate worship, even though doing so could land them in prison.  Despite the potential cost, they can’t seem to stop talking about Jesus, which is resulting in an explosion of their countrymen coming to faith in Christ.  What accounts for this dynamic growth?  I would contend that in China, disciples, not converts, are being made.  Believers in China seem to be focusing on Jesus and, as they learn from Him, they are becoming more like Him.  It is convicting to me that, although many of these disciples do not own even one copy of God’s Word, they seem to be living it out in tremendous power. 

What about America?  What testimony is being floated concerning our spiritual development?  Sadly, I find author after author writing about the lack of spiritual power and discipleship here.  Bill Hull, pastor of the Cypress Evangelical Free Church in Cypress, California and author of several books on disciple-making writes; “Television is discipling America.  The media is eroding the moral base of our land, desensitizing you and me to evil and blurring the line between right and wrong.”  Pastor Hull continues, “The people sitting in the pew are products of television more than the Word of God.  Their world views are not scripturally based; rather they are disciples of the culture.”  Ouch!  I wish I could argue against his claim, but I’m not sure I can.  The statistics lean in his favor.  According to the United States Department of Labor, the average American spends 8.8 hours at work, 7.6 hours sleeping and, according to the A.C. Nielsen Company, on average 4 plus hours watching television daily.  There are more alarming statistics, but my goal is not to preach the evils of the media.  Instead, I hope we’ll wrestle with the disproportionate focus we seem to have on our culture-driven media compared with our time seeking to grow as disciples of Christ.  In fact, I must conclude that if we’re spending two hours focusing on the media to every one hour focused on Christ, the media and not Jesus is our teacher.

What’s the answer?  How can we be more effective to impact our families, neighbors and community for the cause of Christ?  We must move beyond being converts and become disciples.  The church must assume its mandate to be disciple makers. This is the vision before us.  It’s neither quick nor easy, but it is necessary.

For now however, whose disciple are you?