“Discipleship 101: Back to the Basics”
By Rev. Dr. Carla A. Romarate-Knipel
Then he [Jesus] said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
– Luke 9:23 NRSV
“Discipleship is a long obedience in the same direction.” –Eugene Peterson
Last Sunday I was happy to see so many people attend our worship service. Most of them were family and friends of the couple whose baby I dedicated to the Lord Jesus with a charge to the parents and godparents to pray for her, teach her about Jesus, the Bible, and bring her to church; so that when she is of age, she would have the opportunity to make her own decision to believe in Jesus as her Lord and Savior, and become Jesus’ disciple. This meaningful moment of dedication reminded me of the Great Commission that Jesus had given to his disciples in the first century. It has been passed on to every generation of those who believe in Jesus and the Gospel that he preached. Every year it is good to review and go back to the basics of discipleship.
Discipleship. It is a familiar word to all who grew up in church. It’s not literally mentioned in the Bible but it’s derived from the word, disciple, that Jesus frequently used. Disciple simply meant learner, or apprentice. A disciple or apprentice needs a Teacher to train and teach the basics of a trade or a skill. In the Christian life, Jesus is our Master Teacher. He wants us to be like him and he commands us to go out into the world and recruit learners, apprentices to train with him.
He was not just a carpenter from some obscure, little-known village called Nazareth. Jesus was God come to earth in-the-flesh. And this Jesus was saying something like, “If you want join me in the new world I am creating, here’s what you need to do: deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me.
And so 12 men and several women did. They didn’t get it at first. It took them awhile to unlearn the values and habits of their old life and learn the new life that Jesus was teaching them. But they persevered. And because they did, here we are, over two thousand years later, we got to know Jesus through their faithful witness and the written records they preserved: the Bible. Jesus. Yes, Jesus. The same Jesus who called a ragtag group of men and women, and led them to a life of “long obedience in the same direction,” as the late Eugene Peterson described it.
The church’s mission is to recruit learners for Jesus. But before we can do that, we need to make a commitment to follow Jesus and become lifelong learners ourselves. The three courses in Jesus’ curriculum are: Deny yourself, Take up your cross, and Follow Jesus. A refresher on these three subjects is helpful even for the most seasoned and committed disciple.
Here’s my attempt to refresh and renew what we signed up for when we decided to follow Jesus and cross the bridge to the new life with him.
Deny yourself does not mean deprive or hurt yourself. The Greek word in this verse means to “say no.” To deny ourselves is to say No to self-obsession and saying Yes to Jesus as the One who defines who we are as beloved sons and daughters of God, and not the limited view of ourselves or those of others based on false assumptions that distort our view of ourselves as bearers of God’s lifegiving image and God’s beloved children.
Take up your cross daily. This does not mean taking up Jesus’ cross. Jesus already did that. He willingly offered himself on the cross of Calvary, so that we will be free to take up our cross of discipleship, of apprentices in Jesus’ workshop of life. It is in the midst of the messiness of life that we learn to be more like him in loving and serving God and our neighbor.
Follow Jesus. Follow Jesus means that we are willing to set aside or give up anything that hinders us from taking the cues from Jesus. To follow Jesus also means we are not spectators but participants, actively helping Jesus in the work of creating a whole new world.
Growing as Jesus’ disciples and making disciples are at the core of our life as a church. I believe that learning and growth are not just for the young people among us. In the journey of Christian discipleship, we are constantly called by Jesus to keep learning and following his lead. As we begin a new season, please join me as we go back to the basics but also take the challenge of deepening our faith in Jesus. Let us pray, dream and act on the new vision God has for us in the coming years while remaining faithful in the present mission entrusted to us by the Lord.
Have a safe, healthy and fruitful September! God bless all families, learners of all ages, teachers and teaching staff! May Jesus, the Teacher of all Teachers, our Lord and Savior lead us on.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Carla
