If it is belief that separates the disciple from the unbeliever, what happens when we no longer live like we truly believe in Jesus?

We have hit critical mass in the western Christian world. Study the news for a few days to see what kind of impression Christ’s “disciples” are leaving on the world. Televangelists are hitting everyone up for money. Priests are abusing children. Preachers are turning away from the Gospel of Christ to preach a gospel of the world. In our attempt to make Scripture palatable to the unbeliever, we have turned our backs on the Bible. We live in a world that values pluralism and relativity and we have sought that world’s opinion over the approval of our Master. There is so much popular culture within the church that they are virtually indistinguishable. The church is like the small child who underestimates the ocean’s tide and finds himself dangerously far from the beach. We have drifted so far out that we can barely see our Father. At this distance, the face of our Lord and Savior blurs in with the crowd.

What then can we do? First, we must ask ourselves if we truly believe. Are we Christians because we truly believe or do we just go to church because that’s what Americans are supposed to do? Does Christ really reign supreme in our lives or do we use Him to support our pet causes or our favorite politician? Have you sought out a pastor who uses Scripture as the basis of his sermons? I’m not asking if your pastor mentions the Bible. Rather, does he begin with the Bible and throughout his sermon teach it in a way that reproves, rebukes, and encourages? Or does he preach a different gospel and occasionally use Scripture to back up what he is saying?

Many of have fallen into a snare that we can’t even see. We call ourselves disciples yet we have no clue what it means to truly disciple Christ; however, it isn’t too late. We have a gracious God who has communicated to us through Scripture. There is still time for us to study the Bible and press the global reset button on our discipleship. But to learn what discipleship truly is we must go to the Word.

The word discipleship(s) occurs in the New Testament over two hundred times. It comes from the Greek word mathetes. It is defined as a learner or pupil. It can be argued that we are all disciples of someone. We have all learned how to live our lives from someone. It may be our parents, our school teachers, our friends, or even reality television. We all disciple someone.

In the case of Christians, we have chosen to learn from Jesus Christ. We have chosen Christ as out Master because He is worthy. This choice is of vital importance. Matthew 10:25 says that if your master is called Beezlebub, those who follow him will be called even worse. Not only was the name Beezlebub another name for Satan, it was also the name of the Chaldean dung god. Roughly translated this means that if the master you choose is a piece of crap, you’ll be an even bigger piece of crap! Jesus is worthy of our discipleship. We can rest assured that our choice of Jesus as Master is well placed.

Once we’ve chosen Jesus, the Bible also teaches us how that choice should be demonstrated in our lives. Based on Scripture, we can create a profile of the perfect disciple of Christ:

• First, the perfect disciple recognizes that he is not above his master (Mat 10:24). The perfect disciple must maintain a humble spirit and continually recognize his master’s authority over his life.
• The perfect disciple must love his master above all other things including his wife, parents, children, brothers, sisters, and even himself (Luke 14:26). If one of these people is standing between us and Christ, we must hate them as compared to our feelings for Christ. Many people have a problem with the prospect of loving Christ more than their family. I can relate. I love my wife more than I love oxygen. There have been times in my life when my children were what inspired me to keep going. However, if I truly believe in Jesus, than I have to believe that He will teach me the best way to relate to and love my family. The perfect disciple puts Christ first and allows all other relationships to fall into order.
• The perfect disciple must be willing to carry heavy burdens in her pursuit of Christ (Luke 14:27). The perfect disciple isn’t perfect because she has never suffered. Rather, she is perfect because she follows Christ in the midst of her storm regardless of how difficult it is. She carries her own cross in pursuit of Christ.
• The perfect disciple is willing to give up all that he has to follow Christ (Luke 14:33). Discipleship to Christ is the most valuable part of the perfect disciple’s life. Think of your most valued possession or relationship. Imagine what it is that you treasure the most in your life. The perfect disciple would give that treasured item up in a heartbeat to continue in discipleship to Christ.

This concept of the perfect disciple seems a little daunting. After all, if any of us were capable of being the “perfect” disciple to Christ we probably wouldn’t be visiting a blog titled “The Imperfect Disciples!” We can take heart, however, in that we serve a gracious and merciful God. The apostle Paul likened our discipleship to a marathon. I’m going to liken it to something a little different. In southern Ohio there is an annual bicycle event called the Tour of the Scioto River Valley (TOSRV). Every year, on Mother’s Day weekend, cyclist set out from Columbus in central Ohio and pedal all the way to the Ohio River. The next day, these crazy cyclists make the return trip totaling over two miles by the end of the weekend. All of us that live along the TOSRV’s route find great amusement in those cyclists that get lost along the way. They may all set out from the same point and with the same destination, but there are always a few that get lost along the way and find themselves way off course. This is how our discipleship works. We all begin with a belief that Christ is a Master worthy of discipleship. Along the way, some of us get lost. We may not pedal as fast as the other disciples. We may not all be prepared physically and emotionally for the trip, however, we all have to cross the same hills. It takes effort. We may even have to get off of the bike and walk. However, if we strive to keep Christ as our master and to make our discipleship to Him our most important relationship, we will all reach the river!

There may never be a “perfect” disciple to Jesus Christ. Peter’s belief faltered. Thomas doubted. Paul referred to himself as the chief of all sinners. The point is that even Lance Armstrong crashes his bike every once in awhile! Thankfully, Scripture teaches that discipleship to Christ is a process.  Luke 6:40 says that when we are fully trained we will look like our master. We are all still in training, however, if we all profess to believe that discipleship is a journey worth taking, we must begin by making the right decisions now. We must begin by evaluating ourselves and living as if we truly believe Christ is our Lord.

For without belief we are no different than anyone else.

This I believe. I believe in almighty God. I know that simple sentence might seem small, dated or cliché, but it is the one true thing that I believe in more than anything else. I believe in the God that hovered over the waters looking into the soon to be heavens and spoke, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” I believe in the God that created something that he called GOOD in man on the first try. I believe in the God that flung the stars into their orbits by the simple spoken declaration of will. I believe in the God that provided this perfect place for us to dwell, it might not be the Garden of Eden (thank you Eve.),but it sure beats the heck out of Jupiter (especially this time of year).

I believe in the mighty God that we see displayed in the Bible. The God of creation we see at work when he performed the amazing act of will that was creation in six days. I believe in the God of Holiness who could not abide the fall of man in the garden, the time of the flood, or in Sodom. I believe in the God of compassion who acted to part the Red Sea, provided the ram to spare Issac, and ravens to feed Elijah in the wilderness. I believe in the God of mercy that relented and gave Hezekiah, currently on his death bed twenty more years of life. I believe in the God of forgiveness that we find for the murderer in Moses, the adulterer in David, the liar in Abram, and the weakness in Peter.

I further believe that this God has not wandered off to some more interesting bauble or is somehow uninterested in the affairs of men. I don’t believe in an inattentive maker that created everything we see and hear and then somehow became more interested in playing the back nine at Augusta, because as God he gets an awesome tee time. I believe in an active interventionist God. The God that intervened to save his people in Egypt still exists. The God that sought out the confrontation with his people at Mount Carmel still exists. The God that sent his people into slavery not once but twice in an effort to bring them back into a right relationship with him still exists. The God that placed a Queen in the right place at the right time to save her people from genocide still does that very thing. The God that placed a sea of flaming chariots around his prophet to protect him from those who would blindly seek his destruction still works that way. I believe in the God that placed an angel in Balaam’s path to kill him if he failed to heed the warnings of a talking ass.

I know all of this to be true, because God has provided mercy and compassion in my life countless times. Through amazing mercy I found the path out of alcoholism. Had this path not materialized when it did, I would either be a mindless gibbering idiot or dead. God granted me mercy when I fell asleep at the wheel of my Beretta for thirty or so miles in the desert at seventy plus miles an hour without incident. This same God drove me into the wilderness by joining the Navy which was the equivalent of slavery. He brought me home again without any lasting scars at the end of my tour.

God saved my life when I was hit with high voltage power of the active sonar system of the submarine when I made a mistake in doing a voltage check. This mistake drove me across the torpedo room of the submarine like a rag doll in the gaping maw of a rabid dog. Luckily this knocked me unconscious either from the force of the electricity or from the blow to my head as I smacked the business end of torpedo. I laid there in a crumpled heap with a smoking beard and everyone wondered when I came around how I survived.

This same God blessed me beyond measure with my wife. He has taught me what it really means to love unconditionally as I have taken on the role of both husband and father. I didn’t earn any of this. I don’t deserve any of this by any means. I have been and continue to be the fortunate and grateful recipient of his mercy and favor.

So the issue of my belief all boils down to this simple set of statements. I believe that the power that turned on the sun still resides in the very being of God. The mercy that granted Adam and Eve clothing still resides in the arms of God. The compassion that parted the Red Sea still resides in the hands of God. The forgiveness that was experienced by the thief on the cross still resides in the mouth of God. If we as Christians had but mustard seed sized faith in the God we profess to believe in, imagine the things that could be accomplished. God stands at the door waiting for us to seek him, He stands at the door of our faith waiting for us to be the hands and feet of his mercy and grace.