A True Disciple
“Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalm 25:4-5)
Hello Saints,
Are we teachable? Throughout my life I’ve done a fair bit of teaching as a profession. The best students are those who want to learn. If a child comes to class because they have to, and not because they want to learn, that individual will be easily distracted and prone to distract others. Sure, that particular child may be a “hands on learner”, but before any of that practical application can take place, there needs to be foundational teaching of elementary principles. You can’t write stories until you know the alphabet, nor calculate fractions until you know your numbers. To be a servant of God, one must be a learner; a disciple who is willing to sit at the Master’s feet, disciplined enough to receive the discipline (instruction) being taught.
In Psalm 25, David is a disciple of the Lord. He has humbled himself by submitting himself to the Lord’s teaching (vs.9). He is ever a learner of the things of God for his desire is to know God and walk in His ways. To know God is eternal life (John 17:3). The follower of Jesus is a disciple; one who has submitted him/herself to the teachings of Jesus and is willing to obey them (John 8:31). No one will submit to a teacher they really don’t want to learn from. In the case of the true Christian, the subject of the lesson is not necessarily a doctrine or specific discipline, it is a person – “I want to know Christ” cries the apostle Paul (Phil. 3:8-10). The goal of the Christian life is not to gather information, traditions, song lyrics and doctrines, it is to know the living God in a personal and intimate way (John 17:3). The true follower of Jesus humbles him/herself and submits and postures him/herself as David did, “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God” (Psa. 25:1-2). To ‘lift up my soul’ is to completely surrender your whole being, inner person, desires, passions, emotions, and very life to God and learn from Him. To confess, “in you I live and move and have my being, and without you I am nothing…teach me what I need to know to have true life!”. He who has the Son has life (1John 5:12) – teach me all about Jesus!
Jesus, in His short three years in ministry, taught His disciples to become life-long students of His. They learned the foundational teaching as they sat at His feet, and they learned the practical application as they went out and did what He was doing – preaching, teaching and healing, etc. When He would no longer be physically with them, He sent them Holy Spirit to continue teaching them “all things” (John 14:26). The Spirit of Truth was to take over the ministry of teaching the disciples what they needed to know to fulfill their mission and calling (John 16:13-14). We can read the effects of the ministry of Holy Spirit in the disciples’ lives by reading the Book of Acts and the letters to the churches. Peter, James and John, simple fisherman, were transformed into powerful evangelists and instructors of the faith who knew Jesus intimately. The Apostle John who had incredible revelations of Christ, the Church and the plan of God wrote, “You have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you all things, and what He teaches is true-- it is not a lie. So, continue in what He has taught you and continue to live in Christ” (1John 2:27 NLT). The early church was characterized by sitting at the apostles’ feet to learn (Acts 2:42) and we know that they preached and taught Christ from the Old Testament scriptures. God specifically gave the church pastors/teachers to have the church attain “unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13). The goal of all teaching was to know Christ and become like Him. Is that our goal?
The last words of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel are “go make disciples”, which literally means “make learners or students”. And then He said, “teaching them to obey” where ‘teaching’ is a continual, ongoing process. It’s pretty clear…the Master Himself wants those who follow Him to be as King David, life-long learners who continually offer themselves as students learning from Jesus, for one purpose, to know Him and make Him known by imitating His life. To assure that we live out our calling, He has given us Holy Spirit to continue teaching us and guiding us into all truth. The ultimate question then is, “What kind of student am I?” Every day of our lives, we are in the classroom with Jesus, learning to know Him and be like Him; that is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Do we have a teachable spirit? Do we think we have arrived and know everything we need to know? Let’s humble ourselves and submit to the Master’s lesson as true disciples, who can teach others to be disciples.
You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others. (2Tim. 2:2 NLT)
Have a great week!
"Advancing the Kingdom of God by releasing Spirit-filled followers to serve Jesus in freedom and joy."
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