What does it mean to be a true disciple of Christ?
The CALL, the COST, the CROSS, and the CONTOURS of
Discipleship
A. The Call to discipleship is the Great Commission itself: “make disciples” (Mt 28:18-20).
- Disciples are to be trained in righteousness and in the obedience which Christ has commanded. “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” (Mt 28:19-20).
- Disciples are to be personally instructed (admonished) to observe (obey) what Christ has commanded. “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom that we present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power which mightily works within me” (Col 1:28-29).
B. The Cost of discipleship is set forth by our Savior.
- Christ requires that His disciple have a supreme love for him.
a. The disciple’s love for Christ must be above that of any other relationship. “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” (Lu 14:26).
b. The disciple’s love for Christ involves regarding Christ as his greatest treasure. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Mt 13:45-46).
- Christ requires that His disciple practice self-denial.
a. Self-denial means complete submission to the Lordship of Christ. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me’” (Mt 16:24).
b. Self-denial is giving up the imagined ‘right’ to live a self-directed life.
“Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him” (2 Cor 5:9).
- Christ requires that His disciple take up his cross daily.
a. The true disciple of Christ deliberately takes up the cross. “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mt 16:24).
b. The true disciple, in ‘taking up his cross’ radically identifies himself with Christ—the disciple is willing to be misunderstood and even persecuted for Christ’s sake. “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb 13:12-13).
- Christ requires that His disciple spend his life following Him.
a. In following Christ, the disciple’s will is conformed to the will of the Father. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me’” (Mt 16:24).
b. In following his Savior, the disciple’s life is directed by the Word of Christ. “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters” (Lu 11:23). “And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19). “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Mt 7:13-4).
- Christ requires that His disciple have a fervent love for all who belong to Him.
a. Christ’s disciples are known by their love to the brethren. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jn 4:7-8).
b. Christ’s disciples have been purified by the truth of salvation for the purpose of love. “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born
c. again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Pet 1:22-23).
- Christ requires that His disciple continue in His Word.
a. A true disciple of Christ is continually attentive to the Word of God. “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (Jn 8:31).
b. A true disciple of Christ builds his life on the Word of Christ, and he is ruled by the Word of Christ. “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Lu 6:46). “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built” (Lu 6:47-48).
- Christ requires that His disciple forsake all to follow Him.
a. A true disciple of Christ gives up his imagined ‘right’ to ultimate ownership of anything on earth. “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Lu 14:33).
b. A true disciple relies upon the Lord’s supply as he seeks first the Father’s Kingdom and His righteousness. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Mt 6:33-34).
C. The Cross of discipleship is the source of power for transformation.
- The cross produces new motives in the disciple of Christ (he is no longer a slave to sin).
a. The disciple is controlled by the love of Christ. “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died” (2 Cor 5:14).
b. The disciple is motivated to die to self and to live for Christ. “. . . and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Cor 5:15).
- The true disciple depends upon the present value of the power of the cross. “I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 up for me” (Gal 2:20).
D. The Contours of discipleship are shaped by the gospel of Christ.
- ‘The disciple is committed to ‘gospel formation’; he is ‘poured into’ the gospel mold so that his life is shaped by the gospel (Col 1:6-8; 3:1-23).
The true disciple communes with Christ, abiding in Him so as to live a Christ-confident, Christ-dependent life (Gal 2:20; Phil 4:13; Rom 8:32; Jn 15:4-5). “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (Jn 15:4). “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (Jn 15:7-8).
- The true disciple is committed to change—the transformation mandate, he is being conformed to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29; 12:1-2; Col 3:10). “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:1-2).
- The true disciple is ‘on mission’—his spiritual and physical resources are plowed into fulfilling the Great Commission—the true disciple lives to know Christ and to make Him known.
“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mt 10:32-34).