The Marks of a Disciple

A popular skit series from the television show Saturday Night Live was about an individual named Pat whose character was intentionally made to be gender neutral. The point of the skits were to put Pat in various situations in which one could try and figure out if Pat was male or female. However, things were left so vague that one was always left wondering. The cast of Saturday Night Live made people laugh at the absurdity and awkwardness of something that should be quite clear yet was hard to define in this one individual.

How much of life is like this? Imagine if my references from when I was trying out for the preaching opening here at Garden Ridge made glowing statements like, “I am pleased to say that this candidate is a former colleague of mine”; or, “I can assure you that no person would be better for the job”; or, “I would urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment.” Huh? What would they mean? Are these positive statements, or negative ones? (Go back and read each one again from both perspectives.)

I believe we have done the same thing with some of our different religious terms. One example of this would be the word, “disciple”. Ask a group of people what it means to be a disciple and you will get a lot of different answers. Some would be positive and some would not! Perhaps, the reason for this is because we fall into the trap of letting the world define what this means instead of allowing the Scriptures to provide its own definition. What was Jesus calling people to be and do when He invited them to follow Him and become His disciples? How much of what He desired from those walking with Him in His time applies to us in this present age? How much of what the first disciples were able to do in His name should we be able to accomplish?

One book that powerfully deals with the concept of discipleship throughout its pages is the Gospel of John! He begins his gospel on the very high plain of God creating through His Son, Jesus, and then sending Him to His creation to “explain” (the Greek term means to exegete) God. In so doing, His goal was not to bring God, His Father, down to the level of mankind, but to help mankind attain to the level of His Father! This is why John will make statements like, “there was the true light which, coming into the world enlightens every man”; and “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:9, 12). Do you see by these statements that we are called to His level? He enlightens us, not vice-versa! As a child of God, I am to live according to the ways of my Father, thus proving I am part of His family (See John 8:39-47 for a scathing discussion on being true children of God).

John helps define what a disciple is and what he does in three powerful quotes of Jesus found in John 8:31; 13:35; and 15:8. These are descriptive marks one must portray in order to truly be a disciple of Jesus. He calls His followers to: (1) abide (or live) in His word, which will set us free; (2) to love one another; and (3) to bear much fruit. Over the next three weeks I hope to take each of these statements made by Jesus and discuss what the implications are for our lives today. Following that, we will consider the cycle of maturity Paul prays for in Colossians 1:9-12 and how we can implement this in our daily living and ministries here at Garden Ridge.

Please recognize that the leadership at Garden Ridge is committed to searching out the truth of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and then challenge the members of this body to strive to live according to His high standard. We do not want to present a weak or impotent picture of what it means to be a follower of Jesus to our community, or one another, so that it is abundantly clear what a GREAT thing it is to be a disciple of Jesus and a child of God.

-Scott