Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ

[kanakattack]

Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Here are a few scriptures that give us an account of some attributes the Savior’s disciples had that we can apply to ourselves.

Luke 10:38-42
- There will always be things to do but taking time to “feast upon the words of Christ” is something we NEED to do and should do.

Luke 11:1-13
- Pray often, pray fervently, and be patient in receiving an answer. If what you pray for is for righteous intent the Lord will give it to you.

Luke 12:13-40
- Do not spend your life accumulating worldly wealth. You cannot take it with you and it does not measure your value as a person.
- Put the Gospel first in your life. Heavenly Father will provide for all your temporal needs if you do this.
- Live your life so that you’re ALWAYS prepared to meet the Savior.

Luke 13:23-24
- Follow the path in life that is less travelled because it is unpopular and more difficult.

Luke 14:16-33
- Forsake ALL that you have in service of the Lord. There is no other responsibility in life more important than the work of our Father in Heaven.
- Endure to the very end.

There are many more attributes found throughout the scriptures that we can apply to ourselves that we may become disciples of our Savior. These were some that are found while reading these few chapters in Luke.

Ultimately the Lord asks that we give all we have and all we are to Him in order for us to become His disciples.

One attribute that really hit me and I want to focus on to apply in my own life is to live my life in such a way that I will ALWAYS be prepared to meet the Savior. I know that the Spirit will guide me in every thought, speech, and action I take in life if I put that forward in my mind and focus on it daily. I believe it will help to change so many aspects of my life for the better by just applying this simple attribute. I encourage everyone to find an attribute of being a disciple of Jesus Christ and begin applying it to his or her life as well. I know it will bring anyone closer to Christ and bring his or her character closer to the Christ’s.

 

[james1523]

The concept of discipleship is not wrong yet should be understood in context. It is really an old testament concept, when there were Rabbi's and these had certain followers of the teaching, or disciples.

The word disciple does not appear beyond the book of Acts in the New Testament. There is good reason for this.

The concept of following Christ as a disciple ended with the completion of the gospel age and beginning of the age of the Spirit and the age of the Church.

The way of the early believers shifted from following Christ outwardly as a physical person to the concept of knowing Christ inwardly by the Spirit.

In this sense, the concept of being a disciple following a Teacher or teaching, shifts to being a vessel to be filled with the Spirit of the Teacher.

The concept of knowing Christ shifts from knowing Him without, to knowing Him within.
2 Cor 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

In the mind of the apostle Paul comes the concept of being a vessel containing Christ:
Col 1:27: To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

We are now not merely to become good disciples but to be useful vessels.
The word disciple implies being one who follows another.
The word vessel implies being one who contains another.

Christians who do not advance beyond the 4 gospels and the book of Acts, invariably see themselves in the same way as those disciples who followed Christ when He walked on the Earth. In this way they never reach the same level of revelation and experience in knowing Christ as those, like the apostle Paul, who realised they were merely earthen vessels containing a great Treasure.

There becomes less of a concept of following(God) and doing, to a concept of "containing (God) and being".

A religious Christian is one who follows God outwardly and observes all the outward teachings and forms, yet inwardly does not know by experience the Spirit of Christ.

To God, there is not much difference between a religious Christian and a sinful Christian, if both are not filled with the Spirit of Christ. Both are empty vessels. This is like having two jars on the shelf - one clean and one dirty. But both jars are not useful if they are not filled as intended.