DISCIPLESHIP?

Recently, during my devotions, the Lord led me to a verse that I had read many times before, and thought I understood well.  This time, though, the Lord let me see something rather surprising about His intention for us as believers, and the seriousness of the call that He has placed on us as Christians.

 

The scripture is in St. Matthew 14, right after the account of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000.  It reads, “And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.” (Matthew 14:22).  There are two tasks that the Lord is directing in this verse: He is sending His disciples across the sea ahead of Him, and He is dismissing, or sending away, the multitude.  The Lord seems very deliberate in accomplishing these two tasks; and, so He was, for He did nothing that was not intentional.  Everything had plan and purpose.  We see in His actions, therefore, a clear separating of two groups of people: His disciples on the one hand, and the multitude on the other.  We also see two very different ways in which the Lord directed these two groups.  The one group He sent back to their homes and pursuits, while the other group He constrained to get into a ship and cross the sea ahead of Him.  This word “constrain” means “to compel.”  In other words, Jesus was not merely suggesting to the disciples that they get in the ship and go; He was insisting they do so.

 

It is important to understand something of the nature of discipleship in order to comprehend God’s will for those whom He calls.  One principle of discipleship that is essential for us to understand is that it was never our thought to come to God; it was His.  He tells us in St. John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”  It is God Who authored and initiated our salvation.  He has chosen us, and He has called us to Himself.  Our only decision after that was to receive this gift of love, or to refuse it. 

 

Since the Garden of Eden, it has always been God’s desire to walk with man.  He would come and call to Adam in the cool of the day to meet Him for the purpose of fellowship and instruction, but man’s disobedience and unbelief brought an end to that communion with His Creator.  The great benefit of this communion is that we come to know God in an intimate way, and are able to partake of the Words of Life that He freely shares with us.  “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed.” (St. John 8:31).  When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He simply walked by those whom He called and gave this simple invitation, “Follow Me.”  The result was that they dropped what they were doing and did just that!  Peter expressed the reasoning behind this for the whole group when he said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  Thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68).  It is this hunger for the truth, and for the words of eternal life, that defines the true nature of discipleship.  Even more importantly, however, it is the realization that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and there is no other source for the Words of Life but Him.

 

Sadly, the multitudes don’t often respond to the call of discipleship.  This is why Jesus must send them away.  Discipleship by its very name suggests discipline, but vast numbers of people have no appetite for such a thing.  They would rather claim Christ as Savior while following their own agenda, and not Christ’s.  Serving God on the basis of anything other than the desire to follow Him, and leave our past life behind us to walk with Him, will be an exercise in futility.  It will make us religious in the same sense that the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus day were religious, but will not change our heart and our nature.  It is not about an outward form of godliness, or rituals, or even religious habits: it is about an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  Christianity is about becoming like Christ.  It is about growing, maturing, and transforming into the image of the Son of God.

 

St. John 6 reveals something of what was in the hearts of this multitude that Jesus sent away.  In verse 26, Jesus tells them, “Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you.”  Of course, they understood that Jesus was an important figure, but what they were really seeking from Him was entirely superficial – just loaves and fishes. 

 

It is much like the multitude that we are told thronged Jesus in St. Luke 8.  They were all touching Him, and pressing upon Him; but one lady in the crowd believed in her heart that if she could just touch the hem of His robe, she would be healed of an affliction that had plagued her for 12 years.  Out of all that crowd touching Jesus, it was her touch on just His garment that stopped Him and made Him ask, “Who touched Me?”  Her faith caused virtue to flow from Him to her, and she was healed.  Her faith set her apart from the rest of the multitude who had also touched Him, but not in faith.

 

What about the other group in our verse in Matthew 14?  Remember that Jesus compelled them to get into the ship and head for the other side of the sea.  This is something else that is significant about discipleship: the Lord compels us into situations that we would not choose for ourselves so that He can increase our faith and show His glory in our lives.  Jesus knew that there was a bad storm awaiting the disciples out on the sea that night.  He wanted them to experience it so that they would learn to trust in Him through the good and through the bad.  If it had not been for the storm that night, Peter would not have known that he could walk on water and overcome the storms that life would bring his way.  Neither would the other disciples know and understand that it is Jesus Who speaks to the storms of life and commands them, “Peace, be still.”

 

Jesus defined discipleship in one other way in John 15:8.  He said, “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.”  Fruit is very important.  It is how we can tell a healthy tree from an unhealthy one (Matthew 7:17-20).  Lest we be confused about what fruit is and what it is not, the Apostle Paul lists many of the fruits of the Spiritual life for us in Galatians 5:22, 23.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  Some things that are not fruit and so are absent from this list are: tradition, ritual, position in the church, titles, spiritual gifts, and knowledge (for knowledge puffs up, but real love nurtures).  “Things” can be copied and mimicked, but true fruit can only be produced by the working of the life of Jesus in the heart of the believer.  Oh, we may falter from time to time, but the idea is that we continue in His Word day by day so that we may “grow up into Him in all things.”

 

I guess all that remains is to ask this question: will we be a disciple, or just one of the multitudes?  Will we let the Lord constrain us, instruct us, guide us, and show His glory in us; or will He be forced to send us away?  Let us be those who with confidence and conviction say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.  And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”  It is He, and He alone, Who has the Words of Eternal Life.    

  

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.  He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me.” (St. John 14:23, 24).