Jesus spent a lot of time teaching about what He wasn’t…
‘do not think I have come to abolish the Law…’
‘do not suppose I have come to bring peace to the earth.’
‘the son of man did not come to be served’
Why? Perhaps it’s because there is such a human tendency to create God in our image, to make Jesus who we want Him to be at a particular time. The truth is Jesus is not created by us, we are the creature and He is the Creator. And Jesus makes it very clear that He is at odds with the world. He did not come as a patch to fix a broken world, He came into a world that had rejected Him, depised and hated Him and everything He stood for. So Jesus makes it very very clear that His followers could not choose His side and also enjoy the things of the enemy.
Take a look at these four scriptures.
Luke 14 v 27
Luke 14 v 33
Mark 8 v 35
John 12 v 25
What does this tell us about being a disciple of Jesus?
What is Jesus saying in these passages?
What does this mean today for our lives?
The question of Discipleship is a very deep matter and it has been on my mind and in my heart for a long time.
The early church called themselves not just ‘servants’ but SLAVES ‘DOULOS’ [Grk]. in the context of what it meant to be a slave under Roman rule.
I have been seeking the Holy Spirit for some time now about this matter and have felt him speak to me several times over the past year about the status of Christians today.
1] there are believers…….(but even the demons believe and tremble]
2] there are followers….. those that turn up and just soak up as much as they can for as long as they can [before they are too challenged, the seat warmers..]
3] there are disciples, those who are about their fathers business, those who exercise discipline, have sought Father and found their ministry and are functioning in it.
The difficulty today is finding a fellowship that truly functions and operates scripturally in the 5-fold ministry. Where are the Evangelists, the Prophets, the Teachers, the Pastors, and the Apostles? What about the Helps, the Elders and the Deacons?
How can people find their ministries if there is no place or outlet for those ministries to function? Did you know that The 5-fold ministry was one of the first things that was over ruled/removed from the early church, to be replaced by single ‘bishop’ authority. Most churches today still function in this manner with a pastor/vicar/priest etc.
Discipleship is all about bringing believers and followers to maturity, enabling them to discover their gifts and then recognising them within the body and allowing them to function in their gift[s]. I strongly believe that the Holy Spirit is working today to restore the 5-fold ministries across this nation and across the earth. May we all seek Father… for there is a great work to be done! the harvest is great but the workers are few? Shalom to you all
Some good thoughts Sasha. It is precisely this loss of Discipleship that I spoke on during this talk really. In our times in the western church we talk more about attendance than discipleship. It’s like we have lost the calling of being disciples. But I do really feel the Lord is bringing this calling back to the western Church. Its interesting you mention Doulos, as being the early church’s name for themselves. How challenging that they treated themselves as servants, even slaves! WOW! How humbling is this!?! I often desire to be the leader or boss, when Christ calls us simply to serve. I’ve been praying through what it means to walk in the Spirit lately, and I think this is linked to servanthood too. As Christ humbled Himself, became nothing, obedient to death, even death on a Cross! Powerful stuff.
Thanks Tim. We actually did a study at our last meeting on discipleship based on our discussion at the last but one GenNet with Paul. We will follow that up tomorrow night using your notes. Good work! X
Thanks Ann!
That’s great that your using Gen nights and Sunday teaching to inspire and shape your meetings. These are great tools to help us ask the fundamental questions. Hopefully this devotional, and most importantly, these scriptures (a lot stolen from Paul’s paper at that Gen night) will inspire and shape your time together. And the Lord will speak through His word, if we are open.