2025-01-02: Discipleship

Sources:
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. Part of making disciples is to teach them as pupils and letting them do research as students; but the discipline which aims toward transforming others into the image of Christ is an essential part of the ministry.

Into the Same Image

The Copy Machine Analogy

Principles of Discipleship

How do I become a learner?

“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." (Isaiah 50:4-5)

We will take these two verses are our guide. These two verses are about the Lord Jesus Christ. "I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting." (Isaiah 50:6)

The Lord Jesus made Himself a Disciple before making disciples

1. Developing the Heart of the Disciple

“The Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,

The Lord Jesus had the Tongue of the Learned

One problem in this generation is that I know everything.

Pope Theophilus went to the desert to listen to a word of wisdom from the elder St Arsenius. He went as a disciple (despite being the POPE!)

Some people go to confession not to listen to advice, but to challenge and convince Abouna to approve their agenda.

If I have the Tongue of the Learned, I will go to seek advice without intention of showing off, or of convincing someone, or starting a debate, make an argument, but with the intention of learning.

The Tongue of the Learned is...

A true disciple, at every moment of his life, is learning something

St Antony is said to be like a bee going from one flower to another flower in order to learn spirituality and how to live the true monastic life.

Parents can discipline, Abouna can discipline. But if you do not have the heart of a learner, all of this discipline will be in vain and produce nothing.

2. The Purpose of Becoming a Disciple

"That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is weary."

Selflessness

In college to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer. Maybe I am learning to have a good career, good money, comfortable life. But how many are learning in order to serve others and to help them? The heart of the disciple, is the selfless heart. A person who denies himself.

In season

The Purpose of Becoming of Disciple is to Serve Others

3. The Discipline of the Disciple

He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear To hear as the learned.

It is not "I will attend seminary, graduate, and now I've finished my discipleship" - "I will go through preservants and when I'm finished, I'm done with discipleship"

Discipleship is a continuous life-long process

"Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come—and the books, especially the parchments." (2 Timothy 4:23) - even in the last moments of his life, St Paul asked for the books and parchments so he could read, learn and continue his discipleship. St Paul who preached in three continents, saw the third heaven, wrote more than half of the New Testament, who was disciplined at the hand of Gamaliel and learned by revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ directly - and in the last breaths of his life, asked for the books and parchments to read and to study and to learn.

The Lord gives us an opportunity to learn every morning - and not just every morning, but every moment of every day

4. The Attitude of the Disciple

The Lord God has opened My ear;
And I was not rebellious,
Nor did I turn away."

A true disciple is the one who is not rebellious and does not turn away.

Does not pick and choose "I like this, I will take it. I don't like this, I will leave it." Sometimes even with the Scripture or Early Church Fathers - I like this verse, I will use it. I don't like this verse, I ignore it "It's not fit for the 21st Century." Open Buffet style.

The Lord Jesus did not turn away

Life of Discipleship

So far, we have been talking about discipleship in a vague sense. One should be a disciple of:

From HH Pope Shenouda III Book Discipleship

HH Pope Shenouda goes into far greater detail and many examples in his book, and I recommend for you to read those chapters. 

Now let's shift our focus to the discipleship of a spiritual father. Learn from a Spiritual Father.

Discipleship of a Spiritual Father

Firstly, our discipleship is to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are called Christians meaning "Disciples of Christ." So how can I be discipled to another person as a spiritual father?

The answer to this is in 2 Timothy 2:2 "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." - How many generations of discipleship do we see here?

  1. The Lord Jesus
  2. St Paul
  3. St Timothy
  4. "faithful men"
  5. "others also"

St Paul writes: "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ."

We are talking here about how you can be a disciple to your father of confession, or another spiritual father, or your father the bishop, or your parents, or your servants

How did Christ Disciple the Twelve?

The Lord Jesus used five methods to teach the disciples and prepare them for their ministry:

  1. Active learning
    • He would take them on the side and teach them in private, or he would give a sermon publicly and they would be present to hear it.
  2. Passive learning
    • They lived with Him and watched Him
    • When He forgave
    • When He prayed
    • From His faith
    • From His care for others
  3. Direct Supervision
    • He let them participate with Him in the service (e.g. shadowing)
    • Feeding the multitude, He took their opinion, then had them split the people, then had them distribute, collect the fragments, etc.
  4. Indirect Supervision
    • He sent them to serve by themselves, gave them all that they needed, and when they came back, they told Him all that they had done; He corrected the part that they missed
  5. Retreat
    • He took time with them to be away from the crowd
    • He had time for prayer and reflection and meditation with them

Why am I mentioning these points?

To see the seriousness of the Twelve in their discipleship.

When being a disciple to a spiritual father, all of those aspects are necessary. The Life of Discipleship requires all of those things

Characteristics of Spiritual Fatherhood
  1. Secure in his faith, experienced; reflects the Lord Jesus
    • "If the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (Matthew 15:14)
    • Remember the copy machine - you can expect to become like the spiritual father you are following
    • You want a spiritual father who has experience - personal experience, in that he has gone through the spiritual life, and also experience from other people he has mentored over many years. Many people when a new priest is ordained flock to him to be their father of confession, but it's better to wait and to give him time in his service first. And NEVER change spiritual fathers or father of confession without first asking your original father of confession for his guidance and blessing in doing so.
  2. Gives sound guidance and advice supported and reinforced by the Scripture and the lives and sayings of the saints
    • You want to have a spiritual father who gives you sound guidance and advice
    • A good spiritual father will give you good advice, and this advice will be backed by the Scripture and the lives of the saints
  3. Accessible
    • You want a spiritual father that you have access to on a regular basis. You see him weekly, you have several opportunities during the week to meet with him or to ask him for 5min of his time. You don't want a priest who lives in a different state or Timezone than you. You don't want a priest or a bishop who is responsible for a thousand other things and may take a few days to get back to you. Of course, you can have more than one spiritual father, but the main father of confession should be someone who is accessible
    • There is a story about Fr Mikhail Ibrahim when his wife departed and that evening he was taking confessions and meetings and consoling a man whose wife had departed six months prior
  4. Open to questions and asking for explanation
    • A good spiritual father will always be open to questions and asking for explanations
    • This is different from one who entertains debates and arguments and controversy
  5. Gives principles to apply according to the character of the disciple, knowing that (s)he will not be the exact copy
    • A good spiritual father knows your strengths and weaknesses, your character, your personality. He does not want to erase your personality. He knows you are your own person.
    • He also knows that he is his own person with his own personality, psychology, etc.
    • He knows you will never be an exact copy of him or of some ideal
  6. A person can have more than one spiritual guide
    • Take the example of St Antony who was said about him that he was like a bee going from flower to flower 
What do I need Guidance In?
Revision #3
Created 2025-01-03 03:57:23 UTC by Morcous Wahba
Updated 2025-11-25 06:53:39 UTC by Morcous Wahba