Discipleship Considered

As we enter 2010 let us return to our series on 'Discipleship'. We have already considered why we should become disciples:

1. For love of the Saviour.

2. To be worthy of the One who saved us.

3. To glorify God.

4. For the salvation of souls.

5. For the 'well done' of the Saviour.

6. For the victor's crown.

Now let us continue with the qualifications of discipleship.

A Disciple Must Have a Commission.

1. The General Commission

Under the initial phase of the Messianic mission of Jesus, those who were His disciples were sent out with clear instructions. "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near'." (Matt. 10.5-7) And because they were representatives of Israel's Messiah they were equipped to perform the appropriate Messianic attesting signs, which they did.

After His resurrection, to accommodate the new circumstances, He revised their instructions. He commanded them to take the gospel everywhere, to the end that all people should have the opportunity to be saved. He instructed the eleven to go, teach and baptise all nations. The Revised Version of the Bible changes the word 'teach' to 'make disciples of'. His words, as they were given on another occasion (recorded in Mark 16.15), called for preaching the gospel to every creature. Preaching in His Name among all nations is the theme of Luke 24.47. Our Lord's last words before His ascension are recorded in Acts 1.8. They are, perhaps, the most famous missionary text in the Bible, and a command to bear witness in the power of the Holy Spirit to the ends of the earth.

The orderly progress of this testimony was to be in Jerusalem, where the apostles were at that time, then in the surrounding area and the adjoining region, and finally to the far places. The most comprehensive commission is found in Acts 26.16-18. Christ appeared to Paul for the purpose of making him a minister and a witness among the Gentiles. He was made responsible "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance."

While the great commission was directed initially to the apostles of the Lord, we must believe that discipleship includes the injunction to preach the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ to everyone who will give us a hearing. If the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost, and disciples are now His representatives, then we must follow in His footsteps and seek to win those who are lost. It seems self-evident that discipleship must take on board 'the great commission'.

Next time we will look at 'the particular commission' for individual disciples.