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Understanding Discipleship
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Paul Jang
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2008-03-24 03:09:52, hit : 3,695 |
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Understanding Discipleship
Charles Mylander classified the transformation of a person into three stages: exposure stage, commitment stage, and discipleship stage (Mylander 1979, 64). Discipleship must be in itself assigned by only God even if comes through a pastor or a leader with discipleship. Basically, it must have been rooted in the Bible. In the Old Testament the disciple might be considered as prophet (1 King 19:16; 2 King 2:6) and priest (Num. 3:10; Ps. 109:8; Act. 1:20). In the New Testament it was especially Jesus' disciples. He called the disciples in the metaphorical expression, "fishers of men." He called "'Come and follow me', and 'I will make you fishers of men'" (Matt. 4:19).
In a word, discipleship means adherence to Christ (Bonhoeffer 1963, 63). True discipleship means that the disciple has the same goals and objectives as his Master (McGavran with Arn 1974, 103). In this case discipleship has two meanings: relationship of Lord-servant (Matt. 16:16) and commitment to disciples (Matt. 28:19-20; Act. 1:8). Dr. Richard R. De Ridder wrote:
The person of Jesus is central. Discipleship involved acceptance of his authority, inwardly by believing in him and outwardly by obeying him...There can be nothing in the life of the disciple that is apart from the Lord and his life. The disciple is drawn into fellowship with all they have and are. (De Ridder 1985, 186)
The way of discipleship is not very easy to grasp when there is no map (Aeschliman 1991, 124). Discipleship has an inevitable place in the Christian church not only both in the period of the Old Testament and of the New Testament but also today. In the light of the key verse in the Bible (Matt. 28:19-20), discipleship must be necessary to all ages (Spence and Exell 1978, 15:644).
The principle of discipleship is crucial to understanding church growth (Jenson and Stevens 1981, 157). In Matthew 28:19-20, the present imperative verb "Go" takes the form of participial construction in the original, namely "having gone." In this case the verb can be interpreted as having both continuous and imperative force (Hendriksen 1975, 999). Discipleship has always been commanded for church growth.
Discipleship is not a communication of knowledge, but a communication of life and spirit (John 6:63). Disciples must be, therefore, made of not only a communication of knowledge of the Scriptures but also a communication of life and spirit. Juan Carlos Ortiz wrote:
In a discipleship relationship I do not teach the other person to know what I know, rather I teach him to become what I am. Discipleship, then, is not a communication of knowledge, but a communication of life and spirit. Making a disciple is different from winning a soul. Paul made disciples by living a life that taught other how to live. (Ortiz 1975, 67)
What are the signs of faithfulness in discipleships? The signs of faithfulness in disciples who seek to follow Christ are salt and yeast in the validity of the congregation. Congregations are made vital through the Christian life and action of the faithful, just as believers are built up in faith through the life of the congregation (The United Methodist Council of Bishops 1990, 123-124). Therefore faithful disciples can be recognized by their fruit. Jesus said:
By their fruit you will recognize them...every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. (Matt. 7:16-18; Luke 6:43-44)
What, then, are the fruits of faithful disciples? In a word, they are the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). All these fruits should be born as a result of a life with Christ. The United Methodist Council of Bishops defined the signs of faithfulness in discipleship as follows: (1) faithful participation in the life of a congregation, (2) daily readings of Scriptures, (3) living a life of prayer, (4) fasting, (5) living simply, (6) stewarding the gifts of life, (7) doing good to others, (8) advocating peace and justice, (9) sharing the faith, and (10) giving God the glory (The United Methodist Council of Bishops 1990, 125-131). These also may be integrated into the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
What are the qualifications of discipleship? There are two aspects in the qualifications of discipleship: supernatural and natural. One is a divine call, the other is the result of human effort. First of all, the man who has been called by God qualifies as Jesus' disciple (Rom. 1:1; Act. 9:15-16). The divine call is the first condition of the qualifications in discipleship (Eph. 4:11-12).
On this basis God gives rebirth and necessary gifts to him for ministry through the Holy Spirit (Cho 1985, 69). The divine call involved the gifts of God necessary to ministry (1 Cor. 12:8-11; 12:28-30). "The church ratifies God's call and gifts by conferring its authority on the individual" said James F. White (White 1976, 54). The gifts given by God are to be used to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (Harbaugh 1990, 88).
To be a good disciple he must follow Jesus without waiting to be called. But the would-be disciple wants to have his initiative rather than that of Jesus Christ. The would-be disciple wants to bury his father before he starts to follow Jesus (Matt. 8:21; Bonhoeffer 1961, 65).
In the human aspect, the man who always obeys God in every thing qualifies. C. Peter Wagner stated the qualifications for serving God as follows: (1) people who know God, (2) people filled with the Holy Spirit, (3) people of prayer, (4) people committed to the body of Christ, (5) people obedient to the Lord, and (6) people who are energetic and creative (Wagner 1987, 20-23).
Going back to the Bible, the qualifications of discipleship like apostleship have been found in Act. 6:3, and of discipleship like stewardship in 1 Tim. 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9 in the human aspect. The people (disciples) called by God must love the Lord and teach God's commandments to their children (Deut. 6:4-9).
The gospel shows us the way of the discipleship, "A man named Simon of Cyrene was coming in from the fields, and they pressed him into service to carry the cross" (Mark 15:21). "This image of Simon of Cyrene forced to carry Jesus' cross is also an image of one who is called to follow Christ in discipleship," said Cornwell (Cornwell 1989, 109). Accordingly the way of discipleship is the way of the cross. And the way of discipleship has shown in the Gospel of Luke:
Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very
self, take up his cross each day and follow in my steps. Whoever would save his life lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24)
The sacred question and answer issue between Christ and Peter in the New Testament may become a good swearing-in ceremony inarguration of discipleship:
A third time Jesus asked him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because he had asked him a third time, "Do you love me?" So he said to him, "Lord, you know everything. You know well that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep." (John 21:17)
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Introduction
Ch Growth 