LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
Christ in Discipleship
Written Assignment 1
Josie Smith
DSMN 500 – Discipleship Ministries
May 17, 2017
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The command of the Great commission embraces the deity of Christ and the approach in
He commissioned. Christ’s disciples we primarily called out of their present life condition to
become disciple. Christ has called us out of existing life situation to become his disciple. Christ
wants us to follow him, he wants us to duplicate the things he did in his life time to become
disciples. Matthew 28:20 states, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Christ wants us
to observe what He had done, and we should do (I have commanded you) as He did. Jesus Christ
expects us to obey him. We are required to be clever, but the disciples were required to faithful.
This is a characteristic mark of a disciple. Obedience is essential to discipleship. According to
Deffinbaugh, “A person from one perspective, discipleship center upon the issue of dependence
and submission. To be a disciple of our Lord demands that He become the most important thing
in our life.”1
According to Ogden, “Salvation is mutually unconditionally free and yet it will cost you
your life. A person will receive salvation easily or at no cost, but when you receive salvation, a
person has just committed everything you are and have to Christ.”2
It is difficult to follow someone you not willing to obey. It is very frequent you will hear
people say how much they love the Lord God. Jesus says in (John 14:15), “If you love Me, keep
my commandments.” It is certainly not enough for you to say you love Him but demonstrates
act of disobedience toward Him. If you love God, you will keep His commandments.
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1Robert Deffinbaugh, Discipleship: Its Requirements and Its Rewards, Accessed May 24, 2017
www.bible.org
2Greg Ogden, Discipleship Essentials: A Guide to Building Your Life in Christ, Expanded
Edition, (Chicago: Intervarsity Press, 2007), p,119-127.
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In (Colossians 3: 11) it says. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are
above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. The next characteristic we should have in
our lives is “Put to death therefore what is earthy in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Nevertheless, we must strive to continue on in
the Lord demonstrating His character. “But now you must strive against all that is offense: anger,
wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.” Finally, we must learn, “Do not lie
to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.”
When you become a disciple, you must solely submit your life to Jesus Christ. You
submit your mind, body, and soul unto the Lord. You are no longer your own, but you are
bought with the price of Jesus’ blood. To be a disciple requires that all part of your life is
entirely submitted to God, and entire submission requires full obedience.
In Bonhoeffer’s book, Shepherd’s Notes Christian Classics: Bonhoeffer’s Cost of
Discipleship, he stated, “in receiving grace, he became subject to absolute obedience of Christ.
Grace was intended to open the way to Christ. Costly grace is the grace of Christian
discipleship. It is costly because it calls us to follow. It is costly because it costs our very lives. It
is costly because it condemns sin. It is grace because although it costs our life, it is also the
source of the true and complete life. And it is grace because, although it condemns the sin, it
justifies the sinner.”3
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3Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Shepherd’s Notes Christian Classics: Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Disciple-
ship, (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 467-78.
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Additional Murray discussed, “Let us ask Him to show us what Holiness is, His Holiness
first, and our Holiness; to show us how He has set His heart upon it as the one thing He wants to
see in us as being His own image and likeness; to show us to the unutterable blessedness and
glory of sharing with Christ in His Holiness.4 According to Wride a disciple, “To be a Christ
Follower is to be a lover of God. Get on your knees and get your hands palms up. A Christ
Follower is a lover of God, a person who, having experienced God’s love, is moved to respond in
worship and unconditional obedience. A Christ Follower is a lover of people, someone who acts
in the best interests of others because they see the inherent value in all people, and because they
love God who loves everyone.5
Before an immoral person can think a righteous thought of God, there need to have been
a work of illumination performed inside of him. Tozer believe, “We pursue God because, and
only because, He first put an urge inside us that unction’s us to pursuits.”6 To be a disciple of
Jesus requires a person to be zealously devoted to Jesus, values life conferring to scriptural
principles, and the person must understand that they were formed with a God-given commitment
and he or should deliberately seek to discovering and achieving it.
Discipleship is significant to our Christianity, and while we are not yet complete in our
faith, we should always strive for mastery for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the
Lord has challenged us to do. The Lord anticipates that if we select to obey him, then we are
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4Andrew Murray, Holy in Christ Thoughts on the Calling of God’s Children to be Holy as
He is Holy, Accessed May 23, 2017, Kindle. 59-67.
5Daren Wride, DNA of a Christ Follower: The 8 Essential Traits, (Canada: Deep Wild
Communications Publishers, 2016),230-38
6A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, New York City: Aneko Press, Access May 23, 2017,
Kindle, p. 138-45.
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compliant that we are to live a changed life from individuals who do not obey Him.
To be meek is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, since the Lord Himself was faithfully
meek. He came into this world as a freshly man, and born in a stable.
Three Stages of Discipleship According to Dempsey & Earley
Concurring to Earley’s textbook there are three levels of discipleship. Stage one is
Declaration. It asks the question: “Will you believe in Jesus?” This stage deals with the
investigation lead to repentance and faith in Jesus. Next, stage two is Development. The second
stage asks: “Will you go follow Jesus?” This stage centers on immersion into the new life,
abandonment of the old life, and apprenticeship into ministry. Finally, the third stage is
Development or being sent. The third stage asks: “Will you go for Jesus?”
Stage one
(John 15:13) There is no greater expression of love than to lay down our lives for a
friend. We lay down our lives, when we offer up prayers for the lost souls of Jesus Christ. We
must reach the non-believer even if it means going to where they go such as shopping centers, go
the doctor offices, etc. You can reach non-believers by just issuing out bottle water at a street
corner, or giving out tracts. According the Dempsey this stage is a call to investigate the person
and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus believed in inviting others, beside the disciple as He preached
repentance and believe the good news. We can invite our neighbors to a neighborhood bar-b-que
just to investigate people.
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Stage two
The second stage of discipleship is development, which is entirely about being devoted
follower of Christ, which Dempsey emphases on, “Immersion, Abandonment, and
Apprenticeship into ministry.” When you become more immersed, then you gain a deeper
relationship with Jesus through prayer, reading the Bible, being more active in local churches,
and eventually acquiring how to fulfill the Great Commission. This stage also seeks to ask the
question Will you follow Jesus? Earley clarifies. “A disciple is someone who seriously considers
the cost before following Christ and is totally committed to Christ, (meaning) we must have a
deep love for Christ, so overwhelming that, in contrast, it feels like hatred for others,” Dempsey
states, in the second stage, fellowship with Christ assumed the of an uninterrupted attendance
upon His person….” This mean Jesu wants a relationship with us through our righteous living,
our habitual prayers, or through our continuous mediation. The Lord let it know that this stage
does not happens overnight, but it takes about a year, according to Dempsey.
Stage three
The third stage of discipleship is deployment, Dempsey gives a definition, “Someone
who knows Christ, has grown in Christ, and now goes forth in Christ,” this means the person has
surrendered entirely to God and there is a charged placed on his/her life. This stage is
established on obedience and asks the believer Will you go for Jesus? The believer is one who
has advanced in God, ready to go forth, and proclaim his/her discipleship. Dempsey refers to the
believer as a multiplying leader. According to Earley, reproduction and multiplication of
disciples are proof of this stage with the initial emphasis being on leading others to the identical
saving realization you have found.
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Bibliography
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Shepherd’s Notes Christian Classics: Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Disciple-
Ship. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998.
Deffinbaugh, Robert. Discipleship: Its Requirements and Its Rewards. Accessed May 24, 2017
www.bible.org
Murray, Andrew. Holy in Christ Thoughts on the Calling of God’s Children to be Holy as
He is Holy. Accessed May 23, 2017. Kindle.
Ogden, Greg. Discipleship Essentials: A Guide to Building Your Life in Christ, Expanded
Edition. Chicago: Intervarsity Press, 2007.
Tozer, A. W. The Pursuit of God, New York City: Aneko Press. Access May 23, 2017,
Kindle.
Wride, Daren. DNA of a Christ Follower: The 8 Essential Traits. (Canada: Deep Wild
Communications Publishers. 2016).
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