December 28, 2006
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In the Dust of the Rabbi: When the Rabbi says “Come”
“What is a Disciple?”
This is Part 1
This next series is based on a study called “In the Dust of the Rabbi: Becoming a Disciple” by Ray Vander Laan.
To look at “discipleship” we must first look at what the Scriptures tell us about it. I suspect that what we today consider a disciple is not what it was in the day that Jesus taught. Let’s first look at the question, “What is a disciple?”
Matthew 4:18-22 (NIV)
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Matthew 10:24-25 (NIV)
24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!
John 8:31 (NIV)
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
1 John 2:3-6 (NIV)
3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
I see from Scripture a few things here. To truly become a disciple of Christ, we must stop what we are doing and answer His call. What I believe is meant here is that when we make the decision to follow Christ…..a change takes place in our lives. We are unable to “carry on as usual”. The first disciples of Jesus as well as any disciples of a rabbi in ancient times left much behind and followed the rabbi. In essence, they wanted to be like the rabbi in every way.
We see that the apostle John tells us in John 8:31 that Jesus told us to hold to His teachings and in Matthew 10:24-25 Jesus tells us that a student is not above his teacher and that it is enough to be like the teacher. What I see often today is that we read the Scriptures, Jesus teachings….but we often conform it to our world……..Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers“….yet we continually find reason to go to war. Jesus had a deep regard for the plight of the poor……yet we live in a world that recognizes the poor as people who are lazy, or who “brought it upon themselves” or we simply do not recognize that that there are negative circumstances in peoples lives that are beyond their control or shape their daily lives. All these things and more “keep” us from helping the poor. Do we know better than Jesus? Would we say, “Jesus, you don’t understand, the world just isn’t the way you say…there are circumstances you don’t see”. Maybe if we realized that if we simply “did” what Jesus said to do…..that our world would be changed. Maybe the act of helping the poor is less about them and more about the attitude that Jesus, indeed God, has, in wisdom, told His people to have from the very beginning.
The Apostle Paul reaffirms this is telling us to follow the example of Christ in 1 Corinthians 11:1.
I believe that this is all summed up in 1 John 2:3-6, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” The “big secret” here is that if we do what Jesus said do, we are truly made complete…..we may not understand it at first…but it is true.
So, should we “be above our teacher” or follow Him, striving to be like Him? No one said it was easy, in fact, Jesus certainly didn’t say it would be easy. But…we were given a promise…“But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.”.
What do you think?
Comments (2)
I like what Rob Bell had to say about discipleship. His comments were how for most Rabbis only the best of the best were chosen to be disciples. Jesus turned that on its head. He chose simple fisherman and others to be his disciples. He was the rabbi to the regular people in the world. So, you don’t have to be the best or the brightest, you just have to want to follow Christ.
It seems to me that when someone decides to follow, they want to be like the teacher. This to me is the essence of Christianity. It’s not how many verses you can quote or what you know, it’s about striving to be like Christ.
ryc Ron: This Bible study by Ray Vaner Laan starts with the history that Rob Bell shares and carries on even deeper into the maening of “discipleship”. We are doing this study in our home community group starting in a couple weeks……..it’s all about striving to be like Christ…..