What is a disciple?

The word “disciple” is used around 275 times in the New Testament. Though the word is used exclusively in the Gospels and in Acts, the concept of discipleship is found throughout the entire New Testament. The word translated “disciple” simply means “learner” or “pupil” and it carried with it the idea of being a student or a follower of a person. It would have been similar to the modern day idea of apprenticeship where the less experienced learned from the more experienced, seeking to emulate them and their life. The task of the disciple was to learn from their master and to then pass along the teachings of their master to others and thus spread the teaching of the master beyond his own personal realm of influence.
When “disciple” is used in the New Testament it most often applies to followers of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it refers to the twelve disciples, it is sometimes a reference to a larger group of followers that included the twelve, but went beyond them, and in Acts it is used to refer to all those who are followers of Jesus Christ. This is important to see, because all Christians are disciples of Jesus: we are His followers who are committed to Him and to following Him and His teachings. And as such we are seeking to emulate Him. In Luke 6:40 Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Jesus’ point was that over time the disciple would begin to live as the teacher did.
We could define discipleship like this: Discipleship is learning from God’s Word how to live my life as Jesus would live it, striving to live that way, and teaching others to do the same. So there is a learning component, a doing component where you put what you have learned into practice, and then a teaching component where you take what you have learned and what you are doing and transfer that to others helping them to become disciples as well.
This concept of discipleship is seen in the life of Ezra, a priest and scribe of the fifth century B.C. The direction of Ezra’s life is summed up in Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel.” The phrase “set his heart” denotes certainty: Ezra had established that this was simply how it was going to be for his life. He had set his heart upon learning and knowing God’s Word, doing God’s Word, and teaching God’s Word to others.
Ezra set his heart to “study the Law of the Lord.” The word “study” has the idea of “seeking or searching for frequently” and conveys a serious desire for something. So for Ezra, God’s Word was not just something that he could either take or leave; it was something in which he had a burning desire and passion to learn and know. Ezra realized that to know God’s Word is to know the God of His Word, so he came to the Bible with a desire to know God.
But Ezra also set his heart to do it. He wanted to be the man that James would later write about who is not just a hearer of the Word, but a doer of the Word (James 1:22). Studying the Bible and coming to know God in a deeper way is not just an academic exercise, it is a call to action. And God uses His Word to make disciples of Jesus more like their Master as He conforms their lives to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). Any study of God’s Word that does not lead to “doing” is not truly fruitful study!
Ezra’s study of the Word that led to his doing of the Word did not end there. He then sought to pass along what he was learning and doing. Ezra taught God’s “statutes and rules in Israel” so that people would come to know this God and what He expects of them. Teaching is not just standing before a class and giving a lecture. It is sharing your life with others so that they can learn and benefit from what Jesus is doing in your life. Colossians 3:16 gives instruction to every disciple of Jesus when it says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.”
I pray that God would give us all a heart like Ezra: a heart that was set upon learning the Word, living the Word, and then teaching the Word. And when we have a heart like that what was said of Ezra may be said of us: “For the good hand of His God was on him” (Ezra 7:9).

Take Up Your Cross

Jesus Christ spoke some of the most radical words that have ever been uttered in the history of the universe. But it is not just what He said; it is the fact that these words passed through the lips of the one who is the God of the universe. That gives what Jesus said gravity and weightiness that is not there if a mere man speaks them. But Jesus is no mere man: He is the man who is also God.
Among the radical words of Jesus Christ are these: “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). These words hold particular weight because Jesus is laying out for us what it really means to be one of His followers.
What Jesus says in that verses goes totally against popular thinking today about what it means to follow Jesus. In the modern church in America there is the mindset that to follow Jesus simply means that you go to church more Sundays than not; you give a little bit here and there; you don’t have any scandalous sin in your life that others know about; you and your family and your kids try to look somewhat normal and adjusted; you help out a little bit at VBS and other things at the church; you own a Christian t-shirt and a couple of contemporary Christian CDs; you cautiously invite a person to church every Christmas and Easter; you pray on occasion and read the Bible now and then; and you are overall satisfied with how you are living the Christian life. That is the picture of Christianity in our society today: it is a cozy picture; it looks like Norman Rockwell painted it; it is a safe picture where there is little or no risk involved in it. And with these words Jesus destroys that picture.
The call to follow Jesus is a call to deny self. The idea here is not of denying things, but of denying yourself. It is the total renunciation of self. This is you and I ceasing to make life about us and placing Jesus and not you at the center of your life. That is difficult to do because everything within you (other than the Holy Spirit) wants you to live for you! We are by nature self-centered and self-focused. But the call to follow Jesus is the call to live as if you do not exist. That is how we are to deny ourselves: to live as if we simply do not exist anymore.
But Jesus does not end there: He then says take up your cross. Taking up one’s cross is not some minor irritation that is in your life that you must bear. It is not something that just makes life inconvenient for you that you have to endure. I have heard people say things like, “My boss is so unreasonable. He is always on my case and gripes and complains about everything that I do. I guess everybody has their cross to bear and he is mine.” Those things are called thorns and not crosses. Thorns hurt and irritate and you really want to get rid of them because they are very uncomfortable. Crosses will kill you.
A cross is a means of death and suffering, not inconvenience. Jesus is calling for self-execution here; not just a denial of self, but a death to self. When you take up your cross you will die to self and you will live as a dead man.
The Apostle Paul understood this. He wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul is saying that he is dead, but Jesus is alive and well living within him and now his life is lived by Jesus and for Jesus.
Then, and only then, Jesus says, “Follow Me.” If you are not denying yourself and if you are not taking up your cross then you are not following Jesus. Because it is doing the first two things (the denying and the dying) that frees you to truly follow Him.
Many people today feel this kind of “radical” Christian living that Jesus is referring to here is reserved for the super-saints and the real spiritual people; people in the ministry or people that are missionaries. We think that this passage and these demands are meant for someone else and it is not really meant for “normal” Christians like us. But Jesus says that this is normal Christian living. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to call radical what Jesus calls normal.

American Struggles

I just read a news story on the front page of a major news outlet that details the government's plan to expand broadband internet. The plan is for 9 out of 10 Americans to have broadband by 2020. I am all for this and think that high-speed internet is great. As a matter of fact, if anyone is even reading this you are likely doing so via broadband service.
The part of the story that jumped out at me was that it portrayed a woman in Oklahoma who "struggles" because she does not have broadband. This poor woman has to "do chores" around the house while she waits for images to download to her computer because her internet service is so slow. And the story details the plight of her deprived kids who have to get her to accept their Facebook friends when she goes to work and has access to broadband. It must be nearly unbearable to have to survive under these stressful conditions and amidst these oppressive struggles.
Thankfully many in our world today do not have to face these same trials. Those without computers, for instance, do not have to deal with the stress that a lack of  broadband brings. Those without the availability of electricity are further freed from these trials as they know that even if they possessed a computer they would  not have the means to power it.
And the minds of countless multitudes in our world have been spared from this non-broadband anguish because they are occupied with other thoughts: One-half of the world's population is trying to figure out how to live on less than $2 per day. Today 30,000 people will fight their final battle with starvation. 13 million orphans will wonder about their future and if anyone cares about them. Around the globe others are struggling with malnutrition, no cleaning drinking water, abject poverty, death from preventable diseases, and a whole host of other things. Oblivious that there is even such a thing as broadband internet.
Struggle? Not having broadband can be considered a struggle? I fear only in America would this be considered such. Perspective is everything.

Do You Want to be Great?

In Mark 9:35 Jesus told His disciples how to be great. He said, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
Consider four obstacles to being that kind of servant.
You will struggle to be a true servant if:
1) You are filled with pride
2) You have not denied yourself and taken up your cross
3) You are consumed with your rights
4) You are concerned with positions and titles and prestige
The common denominator in all of these obstacles and struggles to be a servant is me; it is self.

But consider ten things that a true servant will do and be.
A true servant:
1) Knows that there is nothing that is beneath him
2) Is never inconvenienced by serving Jesus and others
3) Will help and will give whether they get anything out of it for themselves or not
4) Serves out of delight and not out of duty
5) Serves so that people will see Jesus and not him
6) Is not just concerned about what is done, but about how something is done
7) Is always on the lookout for ways to serve
8) Realizes that serving is about people
9) Will get tired (sometimes exhaustedly so), but will not quit
10) Realizes that as they serve others they are ultimately serving Jesus

The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 3:23-24 and says, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” When you serve others it is not as if you are serving Jesus; but it is you serving Jesus.
It was Jesus who gave us the ultimate example of that kind of service. In Mark 10:45 Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The ultimate example of serving others was seen as Jesus hung on the cross for my sins. God in the flesh becoming the sacrifice and payment for every wrong that I have ever done against others and against Him. Dying in my place, for my sins, not coming to be served, but coming to serve as my Savior and my Redeemer, even at the price of His own life.
So now I can and must be a servant of Jesus and others because Jesus has bought me at the price of His life. Therefore, I am His possession and this now frees me to serve Him and to serve others because my life is not my own.

Do you want to be great? Here is how you do it: live as a servant of Jesus and a servant of others. That is how you achieve greatness in the Kingdom of God and that is how you really live!

Are You a Glory Thief?

God says in Isaiah 42:8, "I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another." He reiterates much the same thought later in Isaiah 48:11 where He says, "For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another." There is no missing the point that God is consumed with His own glory.
That is why it is not an understatement to say that God deeply hates pride. The reason that God hates pride is that He rightly loves Himself and pride is a person taking the focus off God and putting it on them. It is a person taking the glory and trying to put it on them; taking the spotlight that exclusively belongs to God and seeking to have some of it shine upon them and who they are and what they have done.
In our house we have a term for this: GLORY THIEF. A thief is someone that takes something that is not theirs. God has said that His glory He will not share with another because it does not belong to another; it is exclusively His possession. So if I am seeking glory for me then I am in the process seeking to steal something that belongs to God and that makes me a glory thief.
The world is filled with glory thieves because the world is filled with pride. It is filled with self-centeredness. It is filled with those who desire their glory at the expense of giving God all the glory that He and He alone is due.
Are you a glory thief?

The God Who Sings

I must confess that I am not a very good singer. In fact, my singing is quite bad. It is not that I do not like to sing; on the contrary I find great delight in it. The problem is that those who hear me find absolutely no delight in it. Yet singing is something that the Bible says we are to do in response to the person and work of God in our lives. Moses and the Israelites sang “to the Lord” after He led them through the Red Sea (Exodus 15:1-19). King David was a mighty warrior, but an even mightier composer of songs to and about God (2 Samuel 22:1-51). The book of Psalms is a divine hymnal of praise to God for His mighty works. In the Old Testament singing was a part of great and historic events, such as the restoration of the temple (Ezra 3:11), while in the New Testament singing is a source of instruction for others (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). And as the book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into heaven we see singing there as well as the saints and the host of angels are gathered around the throne of God praising Him in song (Revelation 5:8-10, 14:3, 15:3-4).

The Old Testament book of Zephaniah speaks of singing as well. The majority of the book is taken up with the theme of the coming day of the Lord when He will judge the peoples of the earth for their rebellion against Him. God through Zephaniah describes that day as “a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness” as the peoples of the earth come face-to-face with the righteousness and justice of God (Zephaniah 1:15). But after two-and-a-half chapters about God’s coming judgment God says, “Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!” (3:14). Sing? Up to this point in the book there has not really been a lot to sing and rejoice about!

But then God gives the reason for their singing, “The LORD has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You shall see disaster no more” (3:15). Their singing is not based upon wishful thinking, nor does its foundation rest upon their ignoring the circumstances around them. Their singing flows from the truth that God’s judgment has been taken away from His people, their enemies have been triumphed over by God Himself, and God’s very presence is with His people. Now that is a reason to sing!

For those who have a personal saving relationship with Jesus we too can praise God for those very same things. The judgment of God has been removed from us because Jesus has taken away and paid for our sins and rescued us from the wrath of God (Romans 5:8, 8:1, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Thessalonians 1:10). Our enemies have been triumphed over through the finished work of Jesus (Romans 8:37, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57). And now, through Jesus, God is always present with His people to care for them and to bless them (Romans 8:31-39, Hebrews 13:5-6).

But the most shocking thing about this passage from Zephaniah is not that God is calling His people to sing, but the fact that God Himself is singing! God says, “The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (3:17). As God is in the midst of His people that He has saved He is rejoicing and singing over them.

If you are like me this seems too good to be true. At first glance it does not even really make sense. I mean think about it: there is nothing in me that is worthy of rejoicing. There is nothing about my life that is song worthy. So how can God rejoice over me with singing? The answer is found in the fact that “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:10-12). He sings over me because of the triumphant and sin removing grace of God that has been demonstrated in my life through Jesus Christ.

No matter what your musical ability, “break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises” (Psalm 98:4). Whether you are a baritone, a bass, or something in between, “sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises” (Psalm 47:6). And as you sing know that in Jesus Christ God is rejoicing and singing over you as well!

Free!

If I live to be one hundred,
I will never understand;
The grace that freely flows,
From Your forgiving hand.
I could not buy nor earn it,
Though many times I've tried;
Your only Son You sent to earth,
For me He gladly died.
May I never take for granted,
The blood He shed for me;
I owe my life to Jesus Christ,
The Son has set me free!