A Disciple's Journey (pt 1)From series The Disciple's Journey.
A disciple has a quest
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing our world today is that of understanding what it is to be a human being and, as human being, what it is to be part of society. This Disciple’s Journey attempts to describe this timeless quest. Interestingly the clues are all around us but we just don’t notice. I can recall as an officer cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst reciting the words from the collect:
Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ, the Lord of all life, came not to be served but to serve, help us to be masters of ourselves that we may be servants of others and teach us to serve to lead, through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen.
It was only years later that I really began to understand their power. The collect, deeply embedded in all who graduate from what is one of the world’s foremost centres of leadership, provides the essence of the disciple’s journey. It highlights the word ‘service,’ reminding us that the short ministry of Jesus Christ was about service to others. As aspirant disciples, the first step is to find the humility to become masters of ourselves so that we may be servants to others. By so doing we are able to become passionate leaders in a world that is crying out for Christ-like leadership: leadership that is in service to the common good.
What does Jesus ask of a disciple?
Equally, the famous invitation from Jesus to follow Him is one of the most quoted passages in the New Testament. But do we really understand its significance in our lives as Christians?
'Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person, according to what he has done." ' (Matthew 16:24-27)
A disciple's first and paramount responsibility
We will not understand what it is to be a human being by sitting at home reading a book; nor will we discover the secret by pursuing worldly ambitions or wealth. We will only begin to unravel the mystery of life at the point that we are prepared to lose everything and follow the promptings of our soul. To follow you can’t stand still. It requires action. It begins with personal leadership through which we deny those often very attractive sinful aspects of ourselves in order to step into the glory of new life. The first and paramount responsibility of anyone who aspires to discipleship is to lead and manage self: one’s own integrity, character, ethics, knowledge, wisdom, temperament, words and acts. It is a complex, never ending, incredibly difficult, often avoided task, requiring the individual to step out of their comfort zone with great humility and become salt and light to the world.
A disciple confronts and reveals
In taking the first step into discipleship we begin the tough journey of confronting those aspects of our nature that do not serve us as leaders: pride, greed, envy, anger, laziness, gluttony and lust, and begin to reveal the virtues listed in Colossians – mercy, kindness (compassion), humility, gentleness and peace, forgiveness and above all love (Colossians 3:12-14). And by revealing all of these in ourselves we bring hope; not only hope through the way we are subsequently, but hope to others who may be encouraged by us to do the same.
Visit Simon's websites: Releasing Leadership Through Mentoring and The Disciple’s Journey to read more about discipleship.
(Part one of a three part series).