The Work of Discipleship
A disciple is ‘one who wishes to follow and learn from another’. A
disciple believes in and helps to spread the teachings of another.
Jesus gathered disciples around him to help him with his mission. The
number of disciples he chose, twelve, is significant. Jesus links the
twelve disciples in the New Testament and the twelve tribes of Israel
in the Old Testament. This is the connection between the Old and the
New Covenants
When Jesus called them, they instantly left everything to follow him.
Well, Simon (Peter), Andrew, James and John did anyway. The Rich Young
Man could not take the final leap of faith. He had kept the Ten
Commandments since he was young. All he needed to do was sell all his
belongings, give the money to the poor and follow Jesus. But he was
very rich and did not want have a great enough faith. Jesus told Levi
(Matthew) to follow him and he did. Jesus chose twelve men and they
came to him. They were chosen to share in Jesus’ mission, to bring
others into the community and to continue the mission when Jesus was
gone.
The disciples were given a three-fold mission; to heal the sick, to
drive out demons and to spread the word of Jesus. This would be tough
and would involve sacrifice. In ‘The Mission’, Jesus says:
“Don’t take anything with you on your journey except
a stick – no bread, no beggar’s bag, no money in your pocket.
Wear sandals but don’t carry an extra shirt.”
Mark 6.8-9
But they made these sacrifices because in order to join God’s
community they had to drop everything in their life and follow Jesus.
This is the nature of discipleship and shows the urgency of...
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...takes like everyone else but never
give up.
In ‘The Commission’, Jesus reminds the disciples that they must carry
on his work, continuing to spread the Good News. He told them to:
“Go throughout the whole world and preach the
gospel to the whole human race.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Mark 16.15-16
He went on to say believers would be given the power to perform
miracles. He says they will not be harmed by poisons, will be able to
speak in ‘strange tongues’ and will heal the sick. This sums up the
nature of discipleship. They had to make huge sacrifices to join Jesus
on his mission and had to be prepared to suffer and even die. In the
end, even if they had not enough faith sometimes, they had it in the
beginning and in the end.
had great faith in Jesus and teaches us that we should do the same. In
with you at all times. To become a Christian you must try and be the
After reading the chapter on Luke and knowing what I already know about Jesus and his
He sometimes went back and thought about if this was really all worth it. If it was worth all the bloodshed and tears. He used to tell people it was, he used to tell his children that they’ll bleed and fight for them, though that was all they seemed to do. They would come back from missions with
The "I Am" Statements of John When thinking about The Message of the Gospels, there is one that specifically intrigued me more than the others. This Gospel is John. Unlike Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John is not arranged the same with the stories the other Gospels include. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "John is highly literary and symbolic (The Gospel According to John, 2014)." Interestingly enough, symbolism is what captivated me in this book. More specifically, the "I am" statements of Jesus Christ made this Gospel speak to me more than any other of the Gospels. Without a doubt, these statements that Jesus made were for the believers and the church. The "I am" statements are all meant to tell us something different, with the purpose of helping all people to believe in Jesus Christ, so that everyone may have everlasting life with our Father in Heaven.
Simply stated, “the word "gospel" means simply good news.” With that definition, then the good news would summarize all of the information found in the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul recaps the most basic components in the gospel message. These are found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, specifically listed in 15:3-4 (NRSV) “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,”. “These verses, which were an early Christian confession, give us the heart of the gospel” and show the importance of three incidents; that Christ died
He entered a battle when he had just learned of the uncertain odds, he nearly sacrificed the lives of his family while trying to act the hero in front of them, and he recovered from the death of his wife unnaturally quickly when faced with the prospect of leading a voyage. Though his experiences seem to depict the worst of them, he hints at evidence that he learned from these experiences and emerged a better person because of
Throughout the first 400 years that Christianity was present in the world it changed dramatically. It started small in an area near the eastern Mediterranean area but within these 400 years, it grew to encompass the whole of the Mediterranean and its surrounding. Throughout this time of growth, there was also much change within the beliefs of Christianity with the main belief centering around Jesus Christ. While Christianity grew and made it to new areas it was introduced to new people that interpreted the different scriptures and preaching of what it meant to be a Christian. Some of the most influential writings in these years came from Irenaeus of Lyons, a second-century writer, Christian, theologian, and bishop. He expressed his beliefs of what made a Christian a Christian within his writing. One of his most famous writings, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, highlights the idea of the Holy Trinity and the Rule of Faith in the interpretation of the bible. Irenaeus believed that the Rule of Faith was ultimately necessary and required when reading and interpreting the word of Christianity saying, in the words of Isaiah, “If ye believe not, neither shall ye understand” (paragraph 3). In the eyes of Irenaeus, the Rule of Faith is one of the main things that makes a Christian a Christian.
Discipleship and Mark's Gospel Mark's Gospel can tell us the entire truth about discipleship, telling Christians about the faith, responsibility, and sacrifice involved in following Jesus. Some may even say that we glimpse a harsh reality of what it really means to be a true Christian disciple and to have complete faith. Although in saying this, it is important to note that Mark's Gospel does also cover the rewards and the actual meaning of discipleship. This is important to include as Mark's Gospel was written at a time when Christians endured much persecution. They may have wondered why they should tolerate this treatment without any kind of reward and so Mark included this in his gospel.
Philosophy of Ministry: God's desires come first, I must always live my ministry God's way. I must live as a Christian (1 Corinthians 9:27) I must have a proper relationship of surrender to the Leader. In my personal life or in the Church I must understand that Christ is Head and Chief Shepherd (Ephesians 1:22, Hebrews 13:20). The “management” of Church is about relationships with God and Man, not just maintaining a social organization.
The central teachings of traditional Christianity teachings were created to assure that man could work out his salvation. Therefore, making man responsible for finding his way to God, so that he could have a personal relationship with his Savior through Jesus the Son of God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2017). Jesus Christ attracted followers who eventually took his teachings throughout the Roman world and beyond. Jesus, who was born to Mary and Joseph in Judea teaching methods placed him in conflict with prevailing Jewish beliefs and authorities; nevertheless, Jesus message inspired a small group of followers, who believed he was the Messiah (Matthews et al., 2014). However, the meaning of Jesus’s
When Jesus called His disciples, His invitation was simple. He invited them to follow Him. The same is true today. In Matthew 28, Jesus gave His last charge to His disciples, and the charge was simple. He called his followers to go and make disciples. Much effort has been placed by Christians to fulfill this charge, commonly referred to as the Great Commission. Jesus chose to fulfill the implementation of the New Covenant through 12 men who He called, appointed, and commissioned, and he only had a few short years to prepare them for the task (Willson, 1990). His methods were unconventional and were revolutionary for that time. His disciples were to be trained extensively by Jesus, living with Him for three years prior to His ascension. He taught about servant leadership and its meaning for both the leader and follower Matt. 20:25-28). From the beginning, Jesus put in place a careful plan, and an examination of His actions in the Gospels showed that Jesus left behind the pattern to be replicated. His methods, which included the incorporation of three different levels of discipleship, included His interaction with Peter, His closest three (Peter, James, and John), and finally the group of 12. This paper identified and analyzed the three levels of discipleship Jesus modeled, these discipleship methods were then measured against modern leadership theories, and Jesus’s level of involvement and interaction with his disciples were critiqued in light of these modern theories in an effort to determine the effectiveness of this approach.
The known world was impacted by the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which was done by the first century church with great passion. These early followers of Christ set the world on fire, by relaying the Good news of Jesus Christ, first to the nation of Israel then to the gentile world. The Bible tells us that the Apostle Peter was commissioned to bring the announcement of Christ’s death and resurrection to his Jewish brethren, whereas, the Apostle Paul was chosen by Christ to bring the Gospel message of salvation to the gentile world. The early works of the church are recorded in a series of letters that have become known as the scriptures of the New Testament.
In the divine religion of Christianity, the life of Apostle Paul set a legendary example of devotion, loyalty, and commitment to the Holy Christ and the church. He was the true apostle of Jesus Christ who tried his level best to spread the Divine mission of peace and love to all civilizations and different cultures. Unlike other apostles he was the one who enlightened the Asia world with the great teachings of Jesus Christ through his ceaseless endeavor in the form of preaching. His mission was to bring humanity closer to the blessings of Christ by means of apostolic charity so as not to be confided to one race or culture but to the whole mankind (Feingold, 2009).
The following questions are based on Chapter 3 in Yount’s The Teaching Ministry of the Church: