Beyond Following Jesus – Into Apprenticeship

“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The verse above did more than catch my attention before I wrote my first book. The one below Matthew 5:20 urges me onward each day.

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

As I pondered whether to write a second book, these two became powerfully tied to the verses in my mind and heart.

In Matthew, Jesus announces here that He has all authority here on earth, and has commanded us to GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES, TO BAPTIZE THEM AND TEACH THEM TO OBSERVE ALL HE SAID WE ARE TO DO – and that if we do not do that it will be a reflection of the lack of sincerity of our walk (righteousness).

The consequences for that, God alone can and will determine for us each individually. 

Those verses raised questions that had me look at church as it is done today and moved me forward to research for a second book. My next book, if published, will be the result of that research. (See a tad bit of the research in my November 2019 blog on the church today)

What I discovered is that church today focuses mostly on God’s Grace, which is good, but only one aspect of His character. There is also a strong focus on baptism and in the churches that I’m acquainted with – most often either exegetical and topical teaching. What seems to be missing in many churches is a focus on the other parts that talk to us about our obedience and the making of disciples who will go on to be disciplers. Those aspects all combine toward a transformation of our character that enables us a life that fulfills the commands of Jesus.

A friend of mine recently commented on the foundational need for those of us who are serious about being in the world, but not becoming part “of” it. In essence, he said that self-awareness and self-discipline are required for being intentional about our growth as related to spiritual formation. A seminary class on spiritual formation Mark had taken was an exercise in self-examination through prayer, study, and feedback from others. Character and leadership development go hand in hand and spiritual formation is an essential element of character development. He recalled it as foundational. It is the stuff of Discipleship and Apprenticeship.

In bygone eras there were three primary ways to your future: you were born into wealth, you were apprenticed into a career, or through circumstances of choice, yours or others, you found yourself indentured. If you were apprenticed, it might have been by your parents or guardians, or by your choice to learn a trade. In the 17th century, it was not uncommon for a court to indenture someone for non-capital crimes. One of my ancestors arrived in America indentured to an emigrating family because she had run afoul of the law in England.

This blog deals with a future because of self-choosing to be apprenticed to a known master in a specific calling.

It is most probable to see one’s self as a Christian, and yet not be a disciple or a follower of someone and not end up like that person. Choosing to move beyond being a believer, even follower, to becoming discipled apprentice to Jesus is a life-altering decision in our maturing – for by poor choice we may ultimately move decidedly away from our Christian beliefs – as we understand them now.

Recall again Matthew 5, verse 20, where the Master told His followers: 

“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

So it is for us if we want to know our Savior face-to-face in an interactive way – we too must go beyond the normally expressed ways of a church-going or societal-following believing Christian. Following the “trends’ of our society, we could easily find ourselves following, linked, even apprenticed to someone harmful to our growth and sanctification.

For example, apprenticing ourselves to a prosperity-gospel televangelist, politician, gambler, or another nefarious being maybe a sure road to losing Jesus in the process. We don’t have to look too widely to see those who have “apprenticed” themselves unhealthily.  

Earlier in his life, Charles (Chuck) Colson might have been a good example of apprenticeship gone bad. Mr. Colson is also a good example for us that God can redeem even those who have become unquestionably lost by choice.

As Dallas Willard suggested, most of us have a purposed desire to do right things before God, but keep a back door so that we can sin if we need to.

Stop! Ponder that thought. Think about it in your life and I suspect you’ll find, as I have, that our lives confirm what he said. And yes, we frequently find we “need” to, even though at any one time we can choose with the power of Christ’s blood to say no and avoid sinning. (That does not mean we can be sinless — that is Jesus alone).

Just as we’ve read above, being a Christian in our thinking and becoming an apprenticed disciple are not the same and have vastly different outcomes.

The New Testament book of Luke recorded for us:

“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40).

That’s the whole point of being a disciple of Jesus: we imitate Him, carry on His ministry, and become like Him in the process. So much of our success in becoming a whole-life disciple depends on the apprentice’s attitude, thinking and motive.

“The Christian stands, not under the dictatorship of a legalistic ‘You ought,’ but in the magnetic field of Christian freedom, under the empowering of the ‘You may.’” Helmut Thielicke

To summarize an apprentice’s journey: becoming an Apprentice to Jesus takes us beyond what is normally thought of today as being a Christian.  

It is a choice we individually may make that requires:

• A life-vision for an interactive walk with Jesus 
• An attitude of humility
• Repentance, Confession and Surrender
• Intentional Effort 
• Self-awareness
• Self-discipline of an Athlete
• Dedication of a Soldier
• Diligence of a Farmer
• Exercising the Spiritual Disciplines
• Practicing the Presence of Christ
• Prayer
• Study & Meditation
• Interaction with fellow believers
• Feedback 
• A plan

Let the journey begin.