I recently granted an interview to a ministry student in our congregation.
His name is Michael Smith. I’ve discovered this young man to be a genuine servant of God. Most importantly, he and his wife maintain clean hands and pure hearts. I’ve done about half a dozen video interviews with Michael so far. He takes these interviews and uses them as aids to help write papers. Some of the interviews are turned in as part of his grade.
For this particular interview, I knew my brain was a tad tired. So, I prepared by writing brief answers since I already had the questions. Subsequently, I thought I’d share it with you.
Michael’s questions are in bold. What follows them are my responses, not in bold text.
1. What did the term “disciple” mean for the original 12 when they were called?
Answering the call to follow Jesus Christ meant they would submit their whole life to followership. It meant they were committed to learning and practicing His Words, ways, and will.
2. What are the biblical requirements of a true disciple according to Jesus?
Jesus says, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Those three phrases are the marked requirements Jesus makes:
1) In denying oneself, Christ’s disciples can no longer live selfishly.
2) In their culture, the cross represented death by crucifixion. By taking up their cross daily, we submit to the regular death of any of our ways and will that are not congruent with Christ.
3) Following Jesus Christ is the goal of every disciple, and in doing so, we discover a new quality of life called “eternal life.” This is the gift of God for the born-again soul at the moment of conversion.
3. According to the great commission in Matthew 28, it says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
What are your thoughts on obedience as a necessity for discipleship, and how does it apply to the modern-day believer?
What Jesus has stated then still holds for disciples and disciple-making in every generation, regardless of culture. Disciples are called to be students of the life and times of Jesus Christ, and we do that best by repeated reading of the Gospels. With any degree of intellectual honesty, one cannot read the NT without being struck in the soul by the need for obedience.
I’ve written an article titled, “Do Contemporary Christians Have to Obey God?” There are 500 more words to answer this question, so I’ll ask that you read them.
You might also enjoy this sermonic devotional, “The Obedient Followers of Christ.” It’s a little over 2,000 words with a read time of 12-15 minutes.
4. The original twelve disciples were also called apostles. How do the two terms differ, and how do they correlate?
In the Gospels, we discover that the original twelve Apostles were first and foremost disciples of Jesus Christ. An Apostle of Jesus Christ must be a disciple of Jesus Christ. But not all disciples are called to be an Apostle.
We’ve already defined a disciple, so let’s consider what an Apostle is. An Apostle is simply a “sent one” who carries the authority of the One who sent them. The original Apostles were authorized representatives sent with the power of the Son of God at their disposal. While all disciples have access to spiritual power to witness, via the Holy Spirit, all disciples are not called to be Apostles.
Ephesians 4:11-16 speaks of Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, who are called to equip the Body of Christ. Apostles shouldn’t be looking to make a name for themselves, but make the Name above all names the most renowned!
5. In John 15:8, Jesus emphasizes that discipleship includes bearing fruit: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.”
What kind of spiritual fruit is Jesus referring to when speaking to his disciples?
The most straightforward answers to Bible questions like this are often the best place to begin. As inspired by the Holy Spirit, John, the beloved, is recording Who and what He witnessed firsthand. He knew Jesus was talking about the fruits of a life that deeply abides in Him. The context of this upper room discourse points us to peace, joy, and love. And this is because His disciples continue in His Words.
It’s also easy and biblically correct to ascertain that the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24) should supernaturally grow from the life of one who actively crucifies the flesh with its passions and desires.
6. Matthew 16:24 states, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” And Luke 14:27 says, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
How should one who wants to be a disciple take up their cross and follow Jesus?
What does the phrase “pick up your cross” truly mean?
The short answer to these questions is repentance. Every day in the disciple’s life, you get to choose all over again. By the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (the qualitative state of eternal life and abundant life), we don’t have to choose sinful habits, selfish tendencies, or satanic activities. We put those desires to death by following Jesus. And on this journey of discipleship, we should be moving from habitual sinfulness to habitual righteousness, which is to say, a life marked by the fruit of following Jesus.
7. Here at Harvest Christian Center, our local church lives to love people, grow Christians, and multiply leaders.
How does Harvest Christian Center make disciples, grow leaders, and encourage believers to take an ongoing step of obedience?
This is not meant to be a trite answer. However, we accomplish those by nearly every righteous deed we do as believers. I’m working toward discipleship each time we spend time together like this, as I assist you in your studies. Spoken ministry from the platform, written blogs and devotionals, and every small group we lead aid us in discipleship. However, all disciples of Jesus Christ are authorized, commissioned, and commanded by Him to make disciples. Therefore, we must always encourage obedience to the teachings of Christ.
The grow leaders, or “multiply leaders” portion of our mission statement is another way of saying we want to make disciples who make disciples. Servanthood is the foundation of all biblical leadership. Disciples of Christ are servants of God and God’s people.
We encourage ongoing steps of obedience in nearly every worship service. Our water baptism classes and Membership Matters gatherings are excellent opportunities to promote obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ regarding items such as faith, faithfulness, forgiveness, giving, etc.
“Successful Servanthood” is a new class we’re starting to help us make disciples who make disciples intentionally. The end goal with this class is to multiply biblical leaders who follow Christ and help us obey the Great Commission. There’s a summer mini-mester of seven weeks, and a winter mini-mester of six weeks.
8. In the case of a church in decline, how does discipleship help an existing church?
A local church in decline, signifying very few converts and baptisms, along with reduced attendance numbers, is rarely an easy case to deduce from the outside. However, my experience as a denominational executive revealed that local churches usually decline because of the compounding problems of years of disobedience and generations of casual and nominal practicing of Christianity.
Can discipleship help an existing church in decline? Yes, but it might not be the only answer. Discipleship combined with some active practice of church discipline is usually needed to revitalize a declining church. Also, there could be a need for a whole new set of lay-leaders.
Discipleship, worship, and evangelism are the steady practices of the local church, regardless of any apparent decline, plateauing, or growth.
An additional note on discipleship for Michael.
The same author of John’s Gospel also wrote 1 John, via Holy Spirit inspiration. 1 John 5:13 says, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
All disciples need the assurance of eternal life. In the beginning, eternal life was lost due to original sin. It is now gained as the gift of God, given to those who place their faith in Jesus Christ.
Discipleship can be viewed as equipping a believer to know what to do with the gift of eternal life. It’s essential for us to understand that we already possess eternal life, and we must be trained to fully embrace this quality of life in our daily lives. This training is what we call discipleship. Therefore, discipleship is less about preparing for eternity and more about practicing eternal life here and now.
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