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Discipleship

Isaiah 50:4-5

“The Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear To hear as the learned.
The Lord God has opened My ear;
And I was not rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.

Different Ways of Learning
  1. Pupil
    • The word "pupil" comes from the pupil of the eye)
    • Pupils learn passively (e.g. by seeing, hearing) 
    • Children in Elementary School are pupils
  2. Student
    • The word "student" comes from the same root as "study"
    • Students learn by studying (e.g. experiments in a lab, research in the library, writing papers, etc.). There is more effort than just sitting in a classroom and learning by feeding.
    • Those in MS, HS, College, etc. are students
  3. Disciple
    • From the root word "discipline"
    • Disciples learn through discipline. Followers of a teacher imitate him and he disciplines them. 
    • Followers of a Teacher (e.g. followers of Christ, followers of desert fathers) are disciples
    • The Lord disciplined His disciples:
      • He started by teaching them as pupils
      • Then He sent them out to do some ministry and then come back with a report (Luke 9: "And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done"
      • When the disciples told Him they could not cast out a demon, He told them "because of your unbelief"
      • When James and John argued about who would sit on the left or right, and the disciples were jealous He told them "no, to be the first, you must be last. To be the greatest, you need to be servant of all."
      • Through discipline, He formed their personalities so that they became His disciples
Christian means Disciple

Acts 11:19-26 When Barnabas and Paul went to Antioch they found there followers of Christ, and they added more to the Lord, "And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26)

The word Christian and the word Disciple are synonymous

The day I stop being a disciple, I have stopped being a Christian

Christianity is a religion of discipleship: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20)

A servant who simply gives a lesson is making pupils. A servant who assigns homework or activities or research on top of that, is making students. But a servant who disciplines to transform others into the Image of Christ, is the one who makes disciples.

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