Jesus's 12 Prescriptions for Discipleship

    In Every Man a Warrior (Helping Men Succeed in Life), Lonnie Berger wrote on page 24 of Book 1, “Jesus gave us HIS definition of discipleship. We need to teach what HE taught.” That is absolutely true!

    In the gospels, there are many descriptions of what the early disciples did, and some of the descriptions were not very flattering. The disciples were far from perfect. They argued over who was the greatest. They doubted, disbelieved, and disobeyed Jesus, their “Master”. They were fearful. They shunned children from coming to Christ, when Jesus actually wanted to bless them. They frequently misunderstood Christ and sometimes they stopped following Him when His words were too hard to understand. They slept when they should have watched and prayed. One famously denied he even knew the man. Ultimately, they all fled when He needed them most.

    However, the failures of the early disciples can actually encourage us. We too will fail when we are tested, falter when we try our best, and even fall when we are tempted. We simply are in “bad company” with other faulty disciples. However, our faults should not stop us from seeking to be discipled.

    Failures do not define us. Descriptions are not prescriptions! Our past will not determine our future. God has prepared good things for us (see Ephesians 2:10).

    Jesus’s definition of discipleship are HIS prescriptions for discipleship! The following are clear prescriptions from the Gospels of what Jesus said a disciple should be and what a disciple should do. Coincidentally, I found precisely 12 prescriptions to define what a disciple should aspire to be and do, the same number of his original disciples.

    This list includes four prescriptions from the Great Commission, four prescriptions of those whom Jesus says “cannot be My disciple”, and finally four prescriptions from John’s Gospel, from the aged apostle who had disciples who made disciples who can be traced well into the fourth century. Those historic disciples included Ignatius, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, who stem from John’s disciple named Polycarp, a martyr who “played the man” and famously said before his death, “Eighty-six years I have been his servant. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

   We will also see which disciple most identifies with each prescription. May this study encourage you to be Great Commission Disciple Makers.

1.       D       DISCIPLES  WHO  MAKE  DISCIPLES . Christ commissioned His disciples to make disciples who MAKE DISCIPLES.

¹⁹ Go … and make disciples of all the nations           Matthew 28:19-20

While not one of the original disciples whom Jesus called to be apostles, the Apostle Paul certainly was the example for making and encouraging others to make disciples. Paul discipled Barnabas, who then discipled John Mark. Paul also discipled others including Silas, Luke, Timothy, and Titus. See 2 Timothy 2:2 and Philippians 4:9.

2.     I         INSTRUCT  others. Teach what Jesus taught. The word disciple literally means a learner, being developed by a master teacher. The best teachers are those who are good learners.

²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you     Matthew 28:20

Matthew (also called Levi), is believed to have written the gospel by his name on behalf of his Jewish believers. Originally a tax collector, he was undoubtedly smart and astute, but not loyal to his fellow Jews. Perhaps wanting to make up for his disloyalty as a despised tax collector, Matthew is our example of wanting to teach his brothers and sisters through writing his gospel.

3.       S        SEPARATE  (or forsake) from everything he or she has. This is the first of four “cannot be My disciple” that Jesus pronounced, all of which are found in Luke’s gospel.

³¹ What king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. ³³ So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.         Luke 14:28-33

Philip, although one of the first-called and first-listed disciples, had a hard time forsaking his preconceived images of Christ (John 14:8-9) and what Christ could do, (in the feeding of the 5,000, his first thought was financial, John 6:7). Linked with his hometown buddy Nathanael (Bartholomew), he may have prejudged people. Instead of going directly to Jesus with the Christ-seeking Greeks, he first went to Andrew. Philip had to learn from these lessons to forsake all for Christ.

4.       C       CARRY   their   CROSS ; a crucified life and/or death. Disciples must be willing to experience the baptism of sacrificial and crucified life or drink the cup of a sacrificial death. Sometimes, it is both. Both sons of Zebedee were told by Jesus they would be baptized in and drink the cup of suffering. Romans 12:1 describes a sacrificial life and Revelation 2:10 calls for us to be faithful until death. This is the second of four “cannot be My disciple” prescriptions.

²⁷ And whoever does not bear his cross … cannot be My disciple        Luke 14:27

James, son of Zebedee and brother of John, was the first apostle to die, exemplifying the crucified life, even though he was thrust through with a sword. Both he and John proclaimed that they were ready to drink of the cup and be baptized with the baptism that Jesus would be (see Mark 10:38-39). James lived and died to prove this (Acts 12:2).

5.       I         IMITATE  Christ. Jesus not only commissioned us to make disciples, but He commanded that disciples should strive to become like their teacher.

²⁰ …observe all things that I have commanded you          Matthew 28:20

²⁴ “A disciple is not above his teachernor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master.           Matthew 10:24 (Luke 6:40)

Thomas the Twin is our example (John 11:16). Since Thomas was probably himself a twin, he knew what it was like to be like someone else. If so, that may have accounted for his skepticism in believing that Christ was truly risen from the dead, as Thomas himself may also have often been a victim of a mistaken identity. He reminds us to be like Christ.

6.       P        PURSUE  Christ. They follow Christ. The third of four “cannot be My disciple” phrases Jesus used in Luke 14, this call to follow Christ was the first commands as well as last commands Jesus made to the fisherman and Matthew.
“And whoever does not … come after Me cannot be My disciple.”     Luke 14:27

“My sheep hear My voice … and they follow Me.”  John 10:27

Simon the Zealot, was a radical who apparently was radically saved. He had to abandon his desires to heroically overthrow the Romans and instead follow the meek and humble Messiah. He who once walked in his own way is often listed among the last of the disciples, with only Judas Iscariot being consistently listed at the back of the discipleship pack.

7.       L        Love  other disciples. The first of four prescriptions related to John’s Gospel, no gospel emphasized the prescription of agape love more than the fourth gospel. Love is not a suggestion, nor a stated aspiration. It is a commanded call in order to be a disciple. While loving neighbors as themselves was listed as an old commandment, Jesus gave the new commandment for discipleship is to love “as I have loved you.

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”           John 13:35

John, the self-described beloved disciple, is our example for this prescription of love. Once known as being a “son of Thunder” with his brother James, John was well known to the court of the high priest, allowing himself and Simon Peter access when Christ was on trial. John was undoubtedly among the youngest and certainly lived the longest, being the only disciple who was said to die a natural death. Yet his life of discipleship was imparted to others, including Polycarp, who then discipled Irenaeus, the first church historian.

8.       E        EVANGELIZE  and  BAPTIZE  converts. This is the final prescription from the Great Commission. While Christ’s commission to baptism is not the same as evangelism, the two are equated since one should only be baptized after he is evangelized and converted. Jesus prescribed his disciples to make disciples, but also to follow His example of preaching the gospel (Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 11:5, 24:14). 

¹⁹ Go therefore … baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit             Matthew 28:19

Andrew was, along with the Apostle John, were the first to recognize Christ as the Messiah. Both were fishermen by trade along with their brothers. Andrew first got his brother, Simon, who would later be called Peter. He also brought the lad with the five loaves and two fish, and also brought the Greeks to Christ along with Philip. Despite this, for some inexplicable reason, Andrew was omitted from the inner circle of Peter, James, and John (Matthew 17:1, Mark 5:37, Mark 14:33).

9.       S        SUBORDINATE  all relationships in comparison to love for Christ. This is the final of four “cannot be My disciple” prescriptions. While it seems harsh to hate father, mother, wife, siblings, and children, it comes into greater perspective when we read the “yes, and his own life also” prescription.

²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.        Luke 14:26

Linking James the Less to the call to subordinate all family relationships isn’t obvious at first. However, James is likely the closest kin to Christ. He was Christ’s own cousin, seen when we compare Mark 15:40 (“Mary the mother of James the Less” to John 19:25, where Mary was likely an aunt of Jesus and sister to Christ’s mother (“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas…” John 19:25). In Christ’s call to his own cousin, James the Less, would go on to face the same fate as Jesus’s other cousin, John the Baptist.

10.     H       HUMILITY  and  SELF  -  DENIAL  is prescribed for discipleship. This is the second of four prescriptions linked to John’s gospel, but also recording in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Self-denial was prescribed by Christ, and exemplified by our Lord most notably when He stooped to wash the disciples’s feet in John 13. Paul described Christ’s self-denial and humility beautifully in Philippians 2:5-11. Christ called his disciples to deny themselves, in such things as in fasting (Mark 8:34; also Mark 2:20, Luke 5:35, Matthew 16:24).

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself … ²⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:24-26

Simon Peter (Cephas), yes, Simon Peter, because he struggled with humility in so many ways, even to the point where he at first denied Jesus when the Lord came to wash Peter’s feet (John 13:8). He also is famous for another type of “denial”, but not of himself, but of Christ. Three denials, in fact. But at the end of his life, Peter was told “you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19  He said to him, “Follow Me.”

11.     I        INDWELLING  (stay, abide, continue, hold to and remain with) the Words of Christ. Obey, abide in, and remain faithful to what Jesus commanded is implied in the Great Commission and other places (Matthew 28:20, Luke 6:40), but very explicit in John’s Gospel (John 8:31, 35; 15:4-10). This is the third of four prescriptions found in John.

“If you abide (continue) in my word, you really are my disciples.”   John 8:31

Judas, not Iscariot (Lebbaeus/Thaddaeus) responded to abiding and manifesting in him, see John 14:20-24. Judas felt comfortable enough to interrupt Jesus with a question, wanting to know why Jesus would treat disciples differently from the world. Judah thought the Messiah would reveal Himself in power, but Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” In John 15:7-8, Jesus further said, “If you abide in Me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

 

12.     P       PRODUCE  fruit. Flowing directly after abidance or remaining with Christ, a disciple is prescribed by Jesus to produce fruit, a direct result from nourishment and pruning.

“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”         John 15:8

Nathanael (Bartholomew) was a devout Israelite and student of prophecy.  Skeptical of anyone from Nazareth, he quickly changed his mind. Found by Philip, He reminds us that bearing fruit is what disciples should do because his call to be a disciple was related to him sitting beneath a fig tree (see John 1:50).