What is Discipleship Essay Example

What is Discipleship Essay Example What is Discipleship Essay What is Discipleship Essay When most people hear the word disciple, they immediately think of the twelve disciples of Jesus, which is, in a way, correct. A disciple is someone who follows another, Jesus in this case, physically and spiritually. I think there are five factors that are crucial to be a true disciple and in through these discipleship can be summed up; to heal, to teach, to preach, to believe and to serve. Jesus called his first four disciples one day when he was walking by Galilee. He saw Simon Peter and his brother Andrew and he said to them: Come with me and I will make you fishers of men. Simon Peter and Andrew immediately left their boats and followed him. Later on he saw James and John by the lake also and told them to follow him too and they did so. The calling of the first four disciples shows straight away that Jesus had not come for those who were highest in society or those who had the most authority, but for everyone. Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John were only simple fishermen and yet Jesus has chosen them as his disciples to give up what they had to follow him. Next came the call of Levi. Levi was a tax gatherer. Tax gatherers were generally seen as dishonest and were disliked by society but still Jesus called him to be a disciple and Levi got up and followed him. This shows that Jesus was willing to forgive those who wanted forgiveness and that we would exclude nobody if they were willing to repent of their sins. One day, Jesus sent the twelve disciples out on a mission to preach and to heal, and he gave them authority over evil spirits. This mission is a good example of the disciples healing others. Their healings of others showed their faith, because they could not have healed without faith. By giving them such a responsibility this also showed that Jesus had faith in them. They followed Jesus instructions and by healing all those that asked to be healed. Jesus taught that to be a true disciple, you have to make sacrifices. This is displayed in the Bible when a rich man asks Jesus what he must do to win eternal life and Jesus tells him he must sell everything he has and give to the poor before he can have riches in heaven. At this the rich mans face falls. The rich man could never be a true disciple as although he was a good person he would always worry about his money more than God. Discipleship is all about priorities. Jesus taught that to become a disciple you must make yourself last and servant of all and God should be your first priority. You should always honour and respect God, and be obedient and respond to his call. You should put nothing else before God. This links on to the aspect of serving. To be a disciple, you must serve God not only directly but also indirectly by serving other. Jesus says in the Bible: Anything you do for one of these men here, you do for me. He was trying to show that helping other people and putting them before you plays an important part in serving God. This can sometimes be extremely hard. For example, if you were with one other person in a sinking boat and there is one life jacket, a disciple should offer it to the other person. As Jesus said, the last person in earth will be the first in the Kingdom of God. To be first in heaven you need to put everyone else before you on earth. Another large part of discipleship is obviously faith, as you cannot follow someone unless you have faith in them. Sometimes, the first twelve disciples faith in Jesus wavered, for example, when they were fishing and a huge storm arose. Jesus was asleep in the boat so they woke him, frightened of what might happen as the storm was so strong. Jesus told the storm to be still and asked the disciples Have you still no faith?. The disciples had not thought as Jesus wanted them to. If their faith in Jesus was really as deep as they thought it was, they would not have worried and would have realised that Jesus would not have let the storm harm them. This shows that they had not fully realised who Jesus was. Faith is important, because it comes from the inside and it cannot be shown wholly in actions. Whether you have faith is a more personal, individual feeling and its something you have to confirm in yourself to be a true disciple. Once you have faith and understanding, you should follow by preaching to others and teaching them of your faith. The way that Christianity spread was through preaching and a disciple should preach what they follow in order to spread their faith. A true disciple would truly want to spread the word of what they believe and to turn others to their faith. The Gospels are full of teachings on these things. Jesus shows in many ways eg. Through parables, how true disciples of God should act and what they should truly believe . They should always be prepared to follow Jesus in thought, word and deed. Evaluation In some ways, it is a lot harder to be a true disciple in the modern world, but I do think it is possible. An obvious way in which it was harder for the first Christians was that it was illegal then, so they faced not only persecution but also often torture or death. This does still sometimes happen in a few countries across the world, but in most parts of the world, Christianity is widely accepted. Nowadays in the Western World, although Christianity is not outlawed, Christians can still be emotionally hurt by people laughing at them for their beliefs or persecuting them for their faith. For example, if there was a Christian person amongst a group of non-Christian friends, it could be hard for them to keep following their faith because of pressure from their friends. Another problem a person may have trying to be a true disciple in todays world is, like the rich man, getting his or her priorities right. We live in a materialistic, consumer-orientated world, where most are obsessed with material objects and luxuries. With so much commercialism surrounding us it is hard for a disciple to remember that serving God should always be put first and foremost. This should be prioritised over clothes, money and work. As possessions and material objects seem so important today, it would be hard to give it all up in order to follow your faith. Still, through the difficulties they face, I think if a person really believes they want to stay a true disciple, its not impossible. Many of the controversial issues around today were indeed still relevant for the first Christians. They were too persecuted and faced with temptation . However, today Christians have Jesus teachings in the New Testament, and those who are truly dedicated Christians should be able to use this at times of weakness for guidance and support. Those who are willing still should be able to follow Jesus in todays world and be a true disciple.