Apprenticed to Him
Making disciples of Jesus - it’s what we do (or at least what we know we should be doing). But what is a disciple of Jesus? Often, people use the term “disciple” without any real idea of what that looks like. The problem is, if we don’t know what we’re aiming for, then any road will take us there.
In the ancient world a disciple was an apprentice or a student who would serve under the tutelage of a teacher; we see this in the Bible too. The disciple’s goal was to learn all that their teacher knew by both observation and enquiry so that they might become like that teacher and later be able to faithfully transmit that teacher’s ideas and ways to others.
In the Jewish Mishnah - a collection of rabbinic sayings - there is a beautiful phrase that talks about being “covered in the dust of your rabbi”. This is either referring to one of two things: as you walked behind your rabbi, he would kick up dust and you would become caked in it and so this saying came to mean following your rabbi closely with commitment and zeal. Or - as it was sometimes translated as “sit amid the dust of their feet” - the phrase could refer to humbly sitting at the feet of one’s rabbi to learn from them. Both interpretations capture the dedication, commitment, and passion on the part of the disciple.
Perhaps this is why those who followed Jesus were called His disciples; they accompanied Him where He went – they watched, they listened, they observed, they asked questions, and they copied. In the gospels, we see that the disciples of Jesus are His apprentices – they are with Jesus, learning to do what He did; they are literally on co-mission with Him.
I love the way The Message version renders Matthew 5:1-2:
"When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions.
As followers of Jesus we are to be, first of all, His apprentices. That’s what it means to be a disciple. We are to climb with Him and we are to sit at His feet; this is where He reveals His great secrets; this is where He transforms our outlook on life; this is where we are changed. As His disciple, we learn from Him how to lead our lives as if He would lead ours if He were in our place. And each day, we are learning more and more about Jesus and growing in Christlikeness.
This, quite simply, is the goal of the Christian life: ever-increasing Christlikeness (which by the way, includes not only character but deeds too). And this is in fact the essence of Christian discipleship too. This means that the longer we are Christians, the more we should be looking like Christ and the more naturally and easily we should be doing the things that Jesus told us to do - the more each area of our lives should align to Jesus’ vision for it.
For me as a church leader, it’s a reminder that a core factor as to the actual effectiveness of our local church is whether the people we have are being conformed to the likeness of Christ - and ultimately we know this is going to be proven by whether or not we are raising up disciples who make disciples. Towards this endeavour, we hold out three simple goals for those who consider our church their home: that they would be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do the things that Jesus did. I’ll talk about the systems we have in place to practically facilitate this in the next blog but suffice it to say for now, this is how we define discipleship and this is how we measure spiritual success.
How would you describe what it means to be a disciple?
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