Page 13 - The Gate and the Way

Must a Christian be a Disciple?

I believe the early apostles would be quite amazed to find that the teachings of Christ
have been so altered in the centuries since the church was birthed that the terms Christian
and disciple have been divorced from one another. A false mindset has been propagated
throughout Christendom. People are told that Christ came to die for their sins and that they
need to believe and confess their faith in His atoning work. Yet, any mention of committing
to a new paradigm where Christ directs the course of one’s life is omitted, or left for a later
time. If the call to discipleship is ever brought up, it is often presented as optional.
As the previous chapter declared, Christ only gave one invitation. He invited men and
women to be His disciples by taking up THEIR cross and following Him. He presented no
second option where a person could confess Him, but remain in a self-directed life. Indeed,
Yahshua reproached people for acting hypocritically by calling Him “Lord” when they were
not living to do His will and pleasure.

Luke 6:46
"Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?”

Yahshua did not actually repeat the word translated as “Lord” twice as it is recorded
above. In the Greek language in which the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament exist,
a word is repeated to denote emphasis. Repeating a word was the equivalent of putting an
exclamation point after it, or putting it in bold type. Christ was saying, “Why do you call me
‘LORD!’ and do not do what I say?”
This question, posed by Christ, has at no time been more appropriately asked than at
present. Multitudes of people have been introduced to Christian belief apart from any
emphasis on the need to adopt Christ as the Head and Ruler of their life. These same ones
accept Yahshua as Savior, eagerly embracing His atoning work on the cross of Calvary, but
placing their lives wholly at Christ’s disposal to be lived as He would choose is omitted.
One of the plainest Biblical witnesses of Christ’s call to discipleship is found in His last
words to His followers before He ascended into heaven. It is in that passage that is referred
to as “The Great Commission.”

Matthew 28:18-20
And Yahshua came up and spoke to them, saying, "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."

The Great Commission spoken by Yahshua was not to “go and make Christians,” nor
to “make confessors.” The commission was to “make disciples.” We need not wrangle over
what is implied in the use of the word “disciple,” for Christ clearly defined what He intended
by the use of this word.

Matthew 10:24-25
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the