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Writting assignment 1 Christ in
Discipleship
Discipleship Ministries (Liberty University)
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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARY
Christ in Discipleship
Submitted to Dr. Rick Garner
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500-B12
Discipleship Ministries
by
Kenneth Bass
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Christ as the Center..........................................................................................................................3
Total Obedience...............................................................................................................................5
Three Stages of Discipleship...........................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
The statement from Jesus to “Go and make disciple” cannot be overstated. When Jesus
spoke in Matthew 28:19, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” He was not just telling his disciple what
to do, but where it has to be done. In verse 20, He tells them what to do when they go out.
Matthew 28:20, “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be
sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” They are to go out and teach all
the commands they have learned. To truly fulfill this command from Jesus, one has to totally
understand all that is being asked. When a person truly understands what it means to become a
disciple of Jesus they realize it comes at a cost. What does it cost is to be a disciple of Jesus?
Christ as the Center
So often individuals find themselves following people, customs, and patterns which they
would tell you vocally they would never follow, but looking into their life, they are following
these things even though they said they would never follow them. Paul says in Romans 12:2
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person
by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good
and pleasing and perfect.”1 Paul is telling his fellow believers to examine who and what they are
following after. He is telling them, to change the direction you are heading, you need to change
the way you think. When a person accepts Christ into their life, most of the time there is not an
immediate change in the way they think, there has to be a process of change which often comes
over time. In the bible that is referred to as sanctification, which indicates a change is taking
1 Unless otherwise indicated all Bible references in this paper are to the New Living Standard Bible (NLT)
(Carol Stream, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004).
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place in a person’s life. Some of the changes result in who the person is following after as Paul
was talking about in Romans 12:2. To have a change in the way a person thinks, they need to
be taught new ideas which must come from a good teacher.
In scripture Jesus is called the good teacher, Rabi, and many other titles indicating his
teaching ability. When one looks at Jesus’ teaching methods it is easy to see He has all the
credentials for being a great teacher. Herman Harrell Horne suggests that a great teacher has
these characteristics. They are a person with a vision that encompasses the world, knowledge of
the heart of man, mastery of the subject taught, aptness in teaching and a life that embodies the
teaching.2 With Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, his Olivet Discourse, engaging people right where
they were, and living a sinless life it is easy to see Jesus was not just a teacher but a master
teacher. For a person to say they are a disciple of Jesus, they must not follow the custom and
patterns of this world, but follow the teaching of Jesus. Without Jesus as the center point of their
life, there is no way they could be considered a true disciple of Christ. To be a true disciple of
Jesus a person must be a student or learner of all He has taught in scripture. As Earley and
Dempsey stated in their book, a disciple is a protégé who learns and follows his teacher’s
precepts and instructions. A disciple is a student who adopts the lifestyle of their teacher.3 One
cannot adopt the teaching and lifestyle of Jesus if they have not made Him the center of their
personal life. To be a true disciple of Christ, one has to give up control of their personal life and
take up the teaching of Jesus, not just part of it, but all of it. This means they have to quit
following the custom and patterns of this world and be transformed into a new person by the
way they think.
2 Michael R. Mitchell, Leading, Teaching, and Making Disciples: World-Class Christian Education in the
Church, School and Home (Bloomington, Ind.: Crossbooks, 2010), 126.
3 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is …: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion
and Confidence (Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Academic, 2013), 49.
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Total Obedience
Many times people are willing to take on part-time job because they are not willing to be
totally committed to a full-time position. One of the biggest reasons is that a full-time job
requires a full-time commitment and a part-time job only requires a part-time commitment level.
When Jesus called his first disciples he did not call them to a part-time position, it was a full-
time calling. When Jesus came up to Peter and Andrew as they were casting their nets, Jesus
said to them in Matthew 4:19, “Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for
people.” Then in verses 20-21 Jesus called James and John and, “They immediately followed
him, leaving the boat and their father behind.” Being a disciple of Jesus, it a full-time calling that
requires a full-time commitment. Bonhoeffer states; being a disciple is a commitment to Christ.
“The call to discipleship is a commitment solely to the person of Jesus Christ…”4 When the
disciples were called they had to leave behind their old lifestyle and immediately follow Jesus.
When a person becomes a disciple of Christ and is learning to following him in all they do, this
style of “discipleship does not tolerate any conditions that could come between Jesus and
obedience.”5 To have total obedience to Christ means one is not just following one or two of his
commands, but following all of them. The first and most important commands are for a person
to give up their old life and repent of their sins and follow Jesus, Matthew 4:17. They must be
willing to give up on their personal desire and wants to “Seek the Kingdom of God above all
else…” Matthew 6:33. The disciple has to have faith in what Jesus’ commands tell them to do.
This is an important part of being a disciple, one may not be able to understand everything
Christ is telling them to do, but they must have faith to do what they are being asked to do. Jesus
never asked a person to become a part-time follower of his, but asked for a total commitment
and total
4 Dietrich, Bonhoeffer, and Et Al. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4, Discipleship. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press,
1996). 59.
5 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4, Discipleship, 61.
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obedience to all He asking them to do. Being a true disciple is a full-time calling, which requires
one giving up their fleshly desire to pursue the personal calling on their spiritual life.
Three Stages of Discipleship
As a child grows up there are different stage they go through in life. It starts with the
childhood years, then the adolescents years, and finally adulthood, simply stated. Becoming a
true disciple of Christ has three different stages as well. Earley and Dempsey in their book
simplify the stages of discipleship in three stages, the declaration stage, the development stage
and final the deployment stage.
The declaration stage is when a person has investigated the truth of Jesus and what he did
for them to be saved from their sins. This stage a person is simply a new believer in Jesus as
they have repented and believed in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. “The whole issue in
stage one is Jesus. The first stage of discipleship is a call to investigate the person and work of
Jesus. When a person gives Jesus an honest hearing, they end up turning from their previous life
and following Him.”6 When a person comes to this stage and believes and accepts Christ as their
Lord and Savior, they become part of the family of Christ, the Church. The new disciple has
given up their old life for a new one in Christ. They need to be taught they are now a follower of
Christ and all followers of Christ are transformed into minister. “A minister is someone who
does ministry inside and outside of the church. According to the New Testament, every believer
is a minister (cf. Ephesians 4:12).”7
To be an effective minister, a disciple needs to advance into the second stage which is the
development stage. In this stage the disciple will experience immersion, abandonment, and
6 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is …: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion
and Confidence, 63.
7 Gilbert G. Bilezikian, Community 101: Reclaiming the Church as Community of Oneness (Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 70.
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apprenticeship into ministry. When it comes to immersion the meaning is immersion into a
deeper relationship with Jesus. One cannot follow someone’s commands if they do not know the
commands. To follow Christ’s commands a disciple has to make time to have a relationship
with Him. This is done by spending time in prayer, studying the bible, spending time in the
church with other believers, and serving in ministry. As David Nasser stated, “Every person
who has ever been redeemed by God has been given a specific calling that is unique. Even
before we were born, God hard-wired this calling in us.”8 In this stage for there to be any true
immersion, there has to be abandonment as stated early in this paper. This abandonment has to
be from our selfness desires and instead immerse ourselves into the desires of Christ that is
being learned.
When this happens ministry opportunities open up to us in many different ways.
The most effective way to learn to minister is within the church. When a person become
a follower of Christ they have to set aside the selfish desire to want to attend church each
Sunday with a mentally of what can I get out of it, to a mentality of how can I serve. But a true
disciple of Christ cannot stay in an inward state of thinking, they must move on to the next stage
of being a true disciple.
The third stage that shows the true growth of a disciple of Christ is the deployment stage.
In this stage the question that is asked is, will you go for Jesus? It is one thing to stay inside the
church walls, but to be a true disciple of Christ, one must be willing to go out and share the Good
News of Christ that they have believed in. In this stage a person has to give up their comfort zone
they live in. Jesus taught his disciple this principal by living it out. Jesus spent a lot of time
eating with what where called “sinners” in biblical time. Jesus was mock because he was
spending a lot of time with sinners, not the religious people inside the temple. During this time
8 David Nasser and Brent Crowe, The Call Is Calling Will You Answer?(United States of America: Redemtive
Art Publishing, 2009), 13.
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Jesus was building relationships with the sinners with an alterative motive. Jesus’ friendship with
sinners gave people a tangible sign of the welcoming grace of God. They were an illustration of
the fellowship with sinners God so keenly desires. This is same mission Jesus calls his disciples
today. A true disciple’s life, including our social life, should demonstrate the Lord’s desire to
have fellowship with sinners.9 Jesus commanded his disciple to “go and make disciples”; this
was not a suggestion, but a command. A true disciple will be willing to give up the path they feel
is best for their life to ensure they are going where God has called them to go and that is to tell
other about Jesus their Lord and Savior, teaching them to follow the commands they have been
taught.
Conclusion
A true disciple is one who mind has changed and has quit following the customs and
patterns of this world and started following the commands of Christ. When the mind changes the
heart follows along with it and everything is done out of Love for what Christ has done for them.
Before one can become a true disciple of Christ they must count the cost before doing so. When
one is ready to make Christ the center of their universe, are ready to faithfully follow all Christ
commands, and ready to evaluate where they are in the process of becoming a true disciple, that
person is already a disciple of Christ. Being a true disciple of Christ does come at a cost, but the
fulfillment is well worth it all.
Bibliography
Bilezikian, Gilbert G. Community 101: Reclaiming the Church as Community of Oneness. Grand
9 John Dickson, The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2010), 51.
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Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. And Et Al. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Volume 4, Discipleship.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.
Dickson, John. The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan,
2010.
Early, Dave and Dempsey, Rod. Disciple Making Is…: How to live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Academic, 2013.
Mitchell, Michael R. Leading, Teaching, Making Disciples. World – Class Christian Education
in the Church, School and Home. Bloomington, Ind.: Crossbooks, 2010.
Nasser, David and Crowe, Brent. The call is Calling Will You Answer? United States of
America: Redemtive Art Publishing, 2009.
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