Discipleship

Definition: A student, learner, or pupil. One under instruction or discipline, an adherent

Although John the baptiser and Moses had disciples (the Pharisees claimed to be disciples of Moses as well) and Isaiah mentions disciples in Isaiah 8:16, in the New Testament the word is used most often to refer to a follower of Jesus. Lets take a look at what John has to say about the witness of the disciple.

John 21:24
24. This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.

I believe that the 12 inner circle disciples of Jesus were unique in being eyewitnesses of the things that Jesus said and did while on earth. They had the privilege of witnessing the raising of the dead, healing of blind eyes and deaf ears, 5 small loaves and two fish divided up and feeding more than 5000 people, the crucifixion and resurrection as well as countless other unrecorded miracles, teaching and ministry.
So then, we could say that the purpose of discipleship is to imitate the master or teacher, in every way to do as he does and say what he says, and to be a witness of what you have seen or heard. A true witness must only tell of what they have seen or heard, nothing else.
In 1 John 1, the disciple says "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life."
And also in vs. 2, "The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us."
And again in vs. 3, "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us."

So could we then say that, unless you testify of what you have seen or heard, you are not a disciple? Perhaps. There are a number of other duties for a disciple (take up your cross, renounce father, mother etc) but the primary function is to be a witness.
Jesus said, "..if you deny Me before men, I will deny you before the Father." You have an obligation to tell about what Jesus has done in your life. This is called witnessing.
The letters Paul wrote to Timothy, his “true son in the faith” (or disciple), clarify the relationship between the teacher, the disciple and the corresponding call to witness.

First of all, Paul himself was called a disciple (Acts 9:26) and a primary responsibility of a disciple is to make other disciples. Some of Paul’s disciples were Mark, Silas, Barnabas, and Timothy, to name a few.
Acts 16:1 tells of Paul’s trip to Lystra where there was a disciple named Timothy. So Timothy first believed in Jesus through his mother and grandmother’s witness then became a disciple of Paul. Paul “disciples” or fathers him and he later is instructed by Paul to pass on what he had learned. (2 Tim 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.”)
Peter the apostle, says in 1 Peter 5:1, “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:” After the day of Pentecost, all the disciples of Jesus who had been present in the upper room, became witnesses of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Look at how they turned Jerusalem upside down by their testimony.

What has become known as the “Great commission” of Mark 16:15, says that we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But this is recorded in Matthew 28:19 as “make disciples of all nations”. I believe there is no conflict between the two gospels because they present the commission as a two fold instruction – the first is to tell the nations of the good news (gospel) of salvation and the election of grace through belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ while the second is to make disciples of those same nations who have believed the good news! No conflict at all.

Finally, Revelation 12:11 says “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” I believe the promise of overcoming and being victorious, carries with it a condition that we must testify of Christ or miss out.

Lets move on now to examining what it means to bear fruit.