What is a disciple? A disciple is a follower. It comes from the same root word as ‘discipline’, or training. To be someone’s disciple is to be trained by that person. The “following” is a theological and ideological following; it is not a simple as “becoming a fan of Jesus”.

 

How do we become a disciple? We become a disciple by answering the Lord’s call to “come after Me” (Matt. 16:24). The Lord has two calls:

1. “Come unto me” (Matt. 11:28) – this call is for salvation.
2. “Come after me” (Matt. 16:24) – this call is for discipleship.

We cannot answer the call for discipleship if we have not answered the call for salvation. Notice that the call for discipleship is elective; “if any man will come after me”. He doesn’t want us to be disciples if our heart is not in it. Discipleship is something that we must rise up to. It isn’t automatic, and it takes energy and sacrifice. 

 

Disciples and disciples indeed. There are two kinds of disciples… mere professors, and real disciples, or “disciples indeed” (John 8:31). The mark of real disciples is that they continue in His word, while mere professors walk away (John 6:66).

 

• A disciple gives the Lord the first place. “If any man come to me, and shall not hate his own father and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yea, and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Every other relationship must take a back seat to the claims of Christ. Our devotion to even a father or mother are to be like hatred in comparison to the devotion we have to Christ! In Matthew 8 one of the Lord’s followers asked for a leave of absence to bury his father. The Lord said “Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead” (Matt. 8:22). The claims of nature must make way for the claims of Christ.

• A disciple is willing to suffer for Christ.  “And whoever does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27, Matt. 16:24). The path which our Savior has marked out before us is filled with suffering. He was the “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”. The Lord was awarded a cross, and He bore it patiently, and humbly. We too, as His disciples, have our own crosses to carry. In Matt. 8 an enthusiastic scribe came up to Jesus and quickly volunteered for discipleship, saying, “I will follow you wherever you go.” The Lord responded, informing this man that the path was not an easy one, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven roosting-places; but the Son of man has not where he may lay his head” (Matt. 8:20).

• A disciple is diligent in his commitments to the Lord. “For which of you, desirous of building a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, if he have what is needed to complete it; in order that, having laid the foundation of it, and not being able to finish it, all who see it do not begin to mock at him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish? Or what king, going on his way to engage in war with another king, does not, sitting down first, take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him coming against him with twenty thousand? and if not, while he is yet far off, having sent an embassy, he asks for terms of peace. Thus then every one of you who forsakes not all that is his own cannot be my disciple.”(Luke 14:28-33). Once a disciple begins to follow the Lord, there is no turning back. He had better “count the cost” before beginning to follow. A halting disciple is a mockery to the name of Christ. A disciple needs to be realistic about the sacrifice required, and then commit to making that sacrifice. In Luke 9:62 the Lord said, “No one having laid his hand on the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

• A disciple is faithful to read and obey the Word of God. “Jesus therefore said to the Jews who believed him, If ye abide in my word, ye are truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:31-32). Only those who are truly Christ’s disciples will continue in His word. Others may display a great deal of interest, but they soon grow tired of the Word, and turn after other pursuits. But a “disciple indeed” will cling to the Word of God. Then, if we continue in His Word we will progressively know the truth, and be “set free” from every type of bondage!

• A disciple shows love to his fellow disciples. “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves” (John 13:35). As disciples, we are to reflect the loving heart of our Lord, who “having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them through everything” (John 13:1). Love is not something that can stay in our minds as a mere theory… it has to be practiced in our lives.

• A disciple produces fruit to the glory of the Father. “In this is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and ye shall become disciples of mine” (John 15:8). A disciple of Christ will bear fruit for the Father. What is fruit? It is the features and qualities of Christ replicated in the lives of His disciples. The Father should look down and see Christ reflected in all His disciples! When that is true, the Father is glorified by our lives and we fulfill the purpose for which we were called into discipleship.

Discipleship and Salvation. In Matthew 16 the Lord taught His disciples about the path of discipleship. He said that the path of discipleship was the only way to really “save” our life. To live for our own interests will actually result in wasting or “losing” our life. “For whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what does a man profit, if he should gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:25-26). Sometimes these verses are applied to the eternal salvation of the soul, and there is nothing wrong with the application. Surely, many unbelievers have been close to believing the Gospel, but then suffered the loss of their eternal soul because they valued the world, its pleasures, etc. But that it NOT what these verses are speaking about. Salvation in the Bible is much broader than forgiveness of sins in the eternal sense. Sometimes it has to do with our being caught up to heaven at the rapture, and sometimes it has to do with being preserved as useful to the Lord in this life. Here the Lord is speaking to His own disciples, who were believers (except for Judas). He tells believers that they can lose their lives if they live for selfish interests now. A Christian might focus all his time and resources on making money or gaining political office… and it be all a waste in view of eternity! How sad. By contrast, the path of discipleship may mean suffering for Christ now, but it will yield the maximum fruit for God. It means we will have to miss out on “life”, but we will find our life again at the judgment seat of Christ when He accepts and rewards us for our sacrifice. 

 

Lordship Salvation. If we confuse the tests and terms of discipleship with the means of justification we will fall into error. One such error is called Lordship Salvation doctrine. It is helpful to understand that actually much of the “doctrine” in Lordship Salvation is actually sound, but the way it is often presented conveys a totally wrong idea. For example, Lordship Salvation doctrine affirms salvation by grace alone, through faith alone. It says that works do not form the basis for salvation in any way, however, genuine faith will be accompanied by works, just as we have in James, that “faith without works is dead”. This is all true, wholesome, scriptural teaching. However, often (not always) in the presentation of this doctrine, works are added to faith. In many ways Lordship Salvation doctrine which is found among Calvinists is a reaction to Free Grace theology, found among Armenians. Free grace theology would assert that Christ must be acknowledged as Lord for salvation, but a consecrated life for the believer more of an “option”. Lordship theology is often contrasted with “easy-believism”, where a person simply has to make a one-time emotional decision to follow Jesus, recite a sinner’s prayer, and then live the rest of their life in sin and selfishness. Easy-believism produces nominal Christianity that is void of fruit. Of course that is wrong, as the epistle of James and many other scriptures would show. “My sheep here my voice, and I know them and they follow me”. However, the solution to one error is not to modify the gospel message! Since the Gospel was “too easy” and it was producing lukewarm Christians, the solution was to change the Gospel and make it “harder”. Now, instead of preaching salvation by faith alone (Romans 4, Galatians 3, etc.) Lordship preachers began to preach that a person was not really justified unless they had given their life entirely over to Christ, until they forsook father and mother, etc. and became His disciple. Essentially, they wrap the tests and terms of discipleship up in the Gospel message! This is to not understand the difference between discipleship and the Gospel of the grace of God, or the difference between (progressive) sanctification and justification. Now of course they are connected, very closely, but we must not tamper with the purity of the gospel message. It is to confuse the call to “Come unto me” with the call to “Come after me”. Especially with the publication of John MacArthur’s book The Gospel According to Jesus, this confusion was pressed, 

“The gospel that Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship, a call to follow Him in submissive obedience, not just a plea to make a decision or pray a prayer.”

– John MacArthur, An Introduction to Lordship Salvation, Grace to You