RABBONI...which is to say, Master

I am not sure we have a clear picture of what a disciple was in Jesus’ day or a really good understanding of what Jesus meant when He said, “…go and make disciples of all the nations.” Matt. 28:19. It involves first of all “being” a disciple and then “making” disciples. There were a lot of Christ followers, but not all of them were disciples. Multitudes followed, but not all were disciples. As I look around today I am not the sure that the picture is much different, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. It was from this pool of followers that the disciples came. But at some point their agenda changed. Their reason for following Jesus changed from observers, to participants. From admiring what they saw to seeking to become like what they saw. It was not just learning what the teacher knew; it was becoming what the teacher was.

Jesus encountered basically two kinds of people, the religious and the irreligious. From those who chose to follow Him came a third kind of person, a disciple. Unlike the irreligious, they loved God, and unlike the religious they loved the irreligious. Paul describes this transition this way, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” II Cor. 5:17-21.

In the first century “Christian” was a deserved title in that it was descriptive of how these disciples lived their lives in the world. It was not a title chosen by them; it was given by those in the world based on observation. In the above verse Paul adds that when we become a new creation we are reconciled and then given a title and a ministry. We are Ambassadors (representatives of) Christ, and our ministry is to appeal and implore others to accept the reconciliation offered by the Father through surrender of theirs lives to Christ. As disciples our lives are to be an example of that surrender.

We are often prone to be “decision” conscious, getting that person to make a “decision” for Christ. But unless that decision event leads to life transformation into the image of the Son of God, it was little more that a detour on a long road to no where. Disciples are to be a living translation of the Scriptures to the point that folks ask “Why”, and then they tell their story and invite the questioner to join them in a wonderful journey of transformation.