What did Jesus say about being a disciple?

There’s a lot of talk about discipleship in the Western Church today, and we should praise God for this welcome development. Forty-five years ago, it was rare to hear the word discipleship in church.

Today, there is widespread recognition that Jesus calls men and women to be disciples and to make disciples.

This is, no doubt, partly because we live in a culture of ‘mentoring’ and ‘coaching.’

But it also comes from a better understanding that Jesus calls men and women to much more than just believing in him, repenting of our sins and being baptised – absolutely imperative though these are. He came proclaiming a kingdom and calling men and women to follow him.

Nevertheless, there is a good deal of confusion about what discipleship actually is.

For some, it’s simply relabelling. Worship on Sunday, homegroup during the week, praying whenever you can is what is expected - but now we call it discipleship. Same thing, different label.

So, throughout this plan, we’re going to look more carefully at what being a disciple of Jesus actually is.

We’re not going to study sound bites from Christian gurus on Social Media. Or regurgitate phrases often passed on from one speaker to another: ‘a long walk in the same direction’, ‘when Christ calls a person he bids them come and die,’ etc, etc (All these phrases contain truth and have their place, and we are rightly indebted to Eugene Peterson and Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

But we need to look beyond the function - ‘follower – student – apprentice’ – to what Jesus himself said about character.

Today's reading is arguably Jesus’ leading statement on the issue and will inform much of the rest of our devotions in this series.