When Does Discipleship Begin?
"And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him." (Matthew 4:18-22, NKJV)Jesus called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew to follow Him and they immediately left their nets and followed. They were not going on sightseeing with Jesus; they decided to follow Jesus for as long as He remained on earth. They gave up their livelihood and strove to become fishers of men. Could they have followed Jesus and remained fishermen? No way. When did they become disciples of Jesus? One thing is clear: except for Judas Iscariot, they were still disciples at the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. In other words, from the moment they decided to follow Jesus, they were involved in a life apprenticeship program with Him. Judging from the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:19, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”, there was a process between the commencement of following Jesus and Jesus making them fishers of men. The 'making' process was not a sprint but rather a marathon.
With regards to Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, it is important to note that they had a prior encounter with Jesus in John 1. The Bible says: "One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone)." (vs. 41-42)
Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist and after he met Jesus, he told his brother Simon about Him. The interesting thing here is that both of them (Simon and Andrew) seemed to be anticipating the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Later on in Matthew 4, Jesus called them to follow Him after fasting and praying for 40 days and 40 nights.
The narratives in Matthew 4:19 and Matthew 5:1-3, indicate that by the time Jesus began preaching the Sermon on the Mount, Simon Peter, his brother Andrew and others were already disciples, presumably at the early stage of their discipleship. Does it make any difference when one becomes a disciple?
There are many individuals who claim to be Christians and who say they have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. Most of them are sincere but their lives portray a lack of total surrender to Jesus, a lackadaiscal approach to spiritual matters, a blaise attitude towards Bible Study, Prayer, and Evangelism. They embrace easy believism (a belief that they are saved because they said a prayer with no real conviction of sin or repentance). Many nations that are experiencing a proliferation of churches are experiencing harsh economic situations, corruption, nepotism, tribalism, etc. The question is: why are these nations experiencing such economic woes, political turmoils, corruption in high and low places when the rise in the number of churches should indicate a rise in righteousness? The truth of the matter is that true discipleship is not measured by an increase in church attendance or a proliferation of churches. People atttend churches for a variety of reasons including spiritual growth, fellowship with the brethren, and unfortunately false doctrine. Many churches and ministries perpetrate compromised teachings in order to attract members.
Peter and his brother Andrew may not have understood everything but they followed Jesus, not just physically but with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind and all their strength. They let go and let God. The one who really desires to follow God will grow in leaps and bounds ireespective of challenges. Discipleship begins at the point of total surrender to Jesus. It is unprofitable to hold anything back from Jesus. Have you surrendered 100% to Jesus? Is He your Master? Are you following Him obediently, unreservedly and unwaveringly? Do you realise that you can do nothing without Jesus? If you can answer the above questions in te affirmative, then you are a disciple of Jesus. Remember, a disciple is a perpetual learner and grows exponentially in the Christian faith.
May God bless you as you internalise this message and enable you to be a true disciple of Jesus. God is ggood and Jesus is Lord.
