'Discipleship lite' is not an option for a Christian
Miller Lite launched an advertising campaign in 1973 that introduced a new product to the beverage market: light beer. It had fewer calories and carbs, but would it taste as good? The television ads featured athletes and celebrities bantering over whether it was the new beer’s taste or caloric lightness that made it so good. It became one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history, making “Great taste … Less filling” an iconic slogan.
Discipleship has become one of the buzzwords of many churches today, and it’s a good one. Although the word is not found in the Bible, it is the universal understanding of being trained — or discipled — to be like someone. It’s not just knowing what they know but living in a way that reflects who they are at the core of their being (Luke 6:40).
Two thousand years ago, there was a group referred to in the Gospels as the disciples. These were personally chosen by Jesus and discipled to lead the new movement He was starting. So if you’ve ever wondered what the finished product of someone discipled by the best discipler ever is supposed to look like, just check out the results. And when you do, you find their lives had been completely rearranged around God’s heart for the redemption and restoration of the world He loved. Discipleship not only changed their character and relationships: it changed their identity and purpose.
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But too many today are settling for discipleship lite: something that tastes great but is far less filling. It has little to do with becoming like Jesus in His purpose and a whole lot to do with becoming like Him in being a better spouse, a better parent, better in the business world, better in finances, and better in planning for a successful future.
But finding an example of Jesus being good at any of these is a real stretch. He never married, was never a parent, never owned a business or held employment in the marketplace, owned virtually nothing, and was betrayed and executed at 31. You probably won’t find many standing in line to become like Him in these.
There’s only one example of Jesus’ followers being identified as looking like Him — the point of discipleship — and that was when Peter and John were arrested for preaching the Gospel. Here’s how these two disciples who had spent nearly three years with Jesus concluded their defense:
“There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under Heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Ahh … I wonder where they ever got that idea! We then read this in the following verse:
“When they (their accusers) observed the confidence of Peter and John…they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).
What being discipled by Jesus had taught them, above anything else, was that God loved the world and didn’t want a single person to perish. It altered their purpose and priorities and, just like the one who’d trained them, ultimately cost them their lives.
The very first mention of a church discipleship class in the New Testament is found in Acts 19. The new followers of Jesus met with the Apostle Paul every day in the city of Ephesus, and the outcome is recorded in verse 10: “This went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.”
Any understanding of discipleship that misses this central focus can easily slip into being nothing more than spiritualized narcissism: the Jesus Way to a better, easier, and more comfortable life.
Don’t settle for discipleship lite. Become like Jesus not only in His person but in His purpose. Let His heart for the world be the defining force that shapes your marriage, parenting, finances, work, and future.
If you do, you just might find yourself being accused of looking like Him.
Ron Tewson is the President of the Therefore Project. He is also an author, husband, and father of five.
