We have read the gospels many times concerning how the disciples of Jesus Christ related with Him. We have heard many sermons concerning the inner circle of Jesus and the crowd that followed Him. However, have we considered how Jesus, as Chief Disciple-Maker, modelled to us His discipleship processes that transformed the twelve, such that we can be transformed by Jesus as well if we apply the same processes? Have we considered why Jesus, the Chief Apostle, began His apostolic work on earth through making disciples?
Mark 8:34
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Luke 14:26-27
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
Let me posit four overarching points pertaining to discipleship.
Firstly, discipleship is a people-transformation process that metamorphose carnal crowds into mature disciples in the image and likeness of the disciple-maker. In other words, discipleship replicates the disciple-maker into the disciples to form one unique people group.
Secondly, discipleship redefines “first love” (Revelation 2:4). In other words, discipleship recalibrates the disciple’s “first relationship”, “first community”, “first ambition”, “first vocation”, and “first economy”, etc.; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (c.f. Matthew 6:21; Mark 3:31-35; Matthew 6:24; Mark 8:35-37). If our treasure is not discipleship, our heart and desire will not be in discipleship.
Thirdly, discipleship, by nature of being “in the world but not of the world”, is counter-culture in its worldview and lifestyle within its set-apart settings. In other words, discipleship sets apart disciples from the worldviews and cultures of the world for a shared worldview and culture of the Kingdom, so that they will be free from what is perverse and unclean in their generations (c.f. 2 Corinthians 6:17-18; Acts 2:40).
Fourthly, discipleship is the beginning of all apostolic endeavours on earth. In other words, no apostolic mission is valid or complete without discipleship.
Jesus, the Chief Apostle, began His apostolic church (or ekklesia) by making disciples to be like Him, and then commissioned His disciples to make disciples in like manner through their apostolic work in the nations.
Can you imagine the discipline and accountability that were needed on the part of the disciples of Jesus, in the presence and watchful eyes of Jesus, to conform to the image and likeness of Jesus, who was the Holy, Righteous, and Anointed One?
Can you imagine having Jesus – who would sanctify Himself in truth (c.f. John 17:19), deny His own desires, and carry the cross of the Father’s will daily – seeing through the thoughts and intents of the disciples for three years, making sure that they too sanctified themselves in truth, denied their own desires, and carried the cross of the Father’s will daily, such that they could not remain the same but be transformed in Christlikeness?
Can you see how the disciples lived in community with Jesus, and learned to reason like Jesus, emote like Jesus, obey God like Jesus, challenge corrupted priestly processes like Jesus, flip the tables in the temple like Jesus, perform signs and wonders like Jesus, and engage the depraved cultures of Roman societies in peaceable wisdom like Jesus?
Can you imagine Jesus admonishing and correcting all the Greek worldviews and Roman lifestyles of the disciples so that they would live solely by the commandments and culture of the Kingdom of God without contamination by the Roman systems and Greek cultures in which they dwell?
Hmm… Seems like being in the crowd was much easier than being a disciple of Jesus. No wonder the rich young ruler preferred to be in the crowd after hearing the requirements of following Christ and entering the Kingdom of heaven (c.f. Matthew 19:16-26).
So, more than just an invitation by Jesus to “come and see” (John 1:46) from amongst the crowd, it was an invitation to immerse in total transformative discipleship without which they “cannot be My disciple” and “enter the Kingdom of heaven”.
After all, if we are not disciples of Christ who bear the image of Christ, how can we be the sons of the Father who bear the image of the Father, just like Christ? How can we fulfil the commandment of Christ, that is, “you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), when we are not transformed into the image of Christ through discipleship?
Jesus’ model of discipleship was the model of discipleship that Apostle Paul applied as well.
Acts 19:9-10
But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
For Apostle Paul, he took away his disciples from the crowd and reasoned daily with them for two years.
Knowing Paul’s discipline, can you imagine Paul, the disciple-maker, using scriptures to teach, reproof, correct, and train his disciples daily in righteousness, so that they may be adequate disciples of Christ, equipped for every good work (c.f. 2 Timothy 3:16)?
Can you imagine Paul demanding accountability from his disciples for spiritual discipline and growth in this set-apart community in Tyrannus? Even Paul would subject his own life to one another in this community in the fear of Christ (c.f. Ephesians 5:21).
Can you imagine Paul exercising “church” discipline in this Tyrannus community, just like he did at the church in Corinth (c.f. 1 Corinthians 5:3-5), and just like Peter did at the church of Jerusalem (c.f. Acts 5:1-11)?
Galatians 4:19
My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—
Paul, as disciple-maker, laboured to form Christ in his disciples in the same way that Jesus laboured to form Himself in His disciples, so that his disciples could become the full imagers and complete representation of Christ in His stead on earth.
Today, we are called and commissioned to do likewise, first as disciples and then as disciple-makers; for we are foreordained to become conformed to the image of Christ, so that Jesus the Christ would be the firstborn among many imagers of Him (c.f. Romans 8:29).
Matthew 28:19-20
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
1 Corinthians 11:1
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
2 Timothy 2:2
The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
Discipleship is a closed-loop process. You cannot be a disciple-maker without first being a disciple, and you cannot make disciples without ascertaining the quality of the disciples.
Churches today do not have robust discipleship, accountability, and discipline processes, like those that Jesus and Paul had, because we think that discipleship is not necessary for salvation, or discipleship is a laissez-faire outcome without the need for communal discipline and mutual accountability. We also seem to think that it is more important to “make disciples” of the nations of the world through social actions rather than make disciples of the body of Christ in the nations through discipleship.
The greatest crisis in the church today is not getting crowds to fill up a gospel-centred church; it is not getting believers to attend apostolic conferences and speak prophetic lingo; it is not getting worshippers to experience revival worship; and it is not engaging in cultural wars against the unbelieving world and seeking to impose the moral values of Christ on them.
The greatest crisis in the church today is the lack of rigorous processes for relational discipleship, communal accountability, and church discipline to build up its members as disciples of Christ who will deny themselves, carry the cross, and walk in the standard of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (c.f. Ephesians 4:11-13); that is, to become full imagers and complete representation of Christ in the flesh. For only then can the church be the transfigured light of Christ shining in the darkness; the incarnational hands of Christ doing the works that Jesus did, even greater works than those that He did; and the unlimited authority of Christ prevailing against the gates of hell in the nations.
Without true discipleship of Christ in the church, it will not be a church that Jesus is building. Without true disciples of Christ in the church, it will not become a Kingdom-prevailing church in the nations.
So, the Great Commission is great because making disciples is the pattern of the apostolic work of Christ on earth through His body; and when His incarnational body attains to the standard of the stature which belongs to the fullness of His incarnate body, the church will be the “greatest showman” on earth. Indeed, the whole creation is longing to hear, “It’s showtime!”, at the revealing of the gloriously transfigured sons of God (c.f. 2 Corinthians 3:7-8,18) who image and represent the Son of God to set it free from its slavery to corruption and birth pangs (c.f. Romans 8:18-22); just like Jesus calming the raging storm.
As for the crowd in church, since they have turned down the invitation to total transformative discipleship, they will not be featured in the cast of this greatest “show” on earth.
Points to Ponder
If you are currently part of the crowd, are you willing and ready to move away from the crowd, submit yourself to the process of discipleship, and become a true disciple and disciple-maker of Christ?
If you are a pastor of a church, are you willing and ready to follow the apostolic model, mission, and commission of the Chief Apostle on earth, just like what Apostle Paul did as well?
Post-Script
Although the twelve disciples left their homes to follow Jesus for three years, and Paul reasoned daily with his disciples at the school of Tyrannus for two years, I am not proposing the establishment of communities where believers live physically bounded together and separated from society for the purpose of discipleship and setting apart from the cultures of the world, like the Amish or Bruderhof communities. This is certainly not the scriptural model of church, or ekklesia communities, in Jerusalem, Ephesus, and Rome, etc.
Acts 2:42,46-47
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
What we can learn from the relational discipleship, communal accountability, and ekklesia discipline processes of Jesus and the Apostles is that these processes are highly intentional, effort intense, rigorously managed, relationally connected, and mutually accountable without having to be physically bounded together.
It is about the way we engage and do things daily as a set-apart and relationally-connected people, being joined together in oneness of heart and mind for the purpose of sharing in love and growing in Christlikeness, without necessarily dwelling together in one commune.
In fact, even when the church in Jerusalem was persecuted and scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, they continued to be fervent in preaching the gospel and in the discipleship processes (c.f. Acts 8).
Through such discipleship processes in Ephesus and Jerusalem, “all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks”, and “the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved”. This is the power of apostolic impact for Kingdom transformation in the nations through real discipleship processes.
Isn’t this what we are commissioned to do and accomplish in the nations?
For more definitions of discipleship, please read “Defining Discipleship“.
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What Holds the Promise for the Present Life and the Life to Come
The Father’s Discipline: An Act of the Mercy of God?
Defining Apostle, Apostolic Fathering, and Apostolic Church
The Grace of Sanctification
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