"As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed Him"
-Matthew 4:18-20
A major part of regular church attendance is hearing the fact that you need to be Jesus' disciple. A disciple is defined in the English dictionary as a "follower." In the Greek texts, in which the New Testament books were written, disciple most nearly means "learner." Which makes sense, because we need to follow Jesus and learn what He teaches.
To me, there always has been something maybe not inherently wrong, but something inherently missing in the English and Greek definitions. If I say that a disciple is a "learner" and "follower," how is that any different from today's teacher-student relationship? Being a follower only requires being within sight of the object being followed, and God calls us into an intimate relationship with Him. That doesn't fit in at all. For being a "learner," what do you really do in your relationship with your teachers at school? You learn what they know, then flush it all away and not bother with it again after the exam. That doesn't fit at all with what God wants from us. In the Bible, God wants relationship with us.
Naturally, the question then is "But then what is a disciple?" Put it this way; in the Hebrew text, the word for disciple (I believe it is "tel-mid," but I'm not too sure on that) means someone who aspires to be exactly like his Rabbi. In other words, if you were my disciple, you would do what I do, eat what I eat, and try to by like me. And that, my friends, is God's calling to us.
Let me put that definition of a disciple into context for you. In ancient Jewish culture, children started, from a very young age, to memorize the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament. They are tested on the Torah at ages 10-13. Only those who knew Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy perfectly were allowed to move on to memorize the rest of the Old Testament, which is 39 books long. 39 books! To think that I have trouble memorizing one verse!
After they memorized the Old Testament, the aspiring disciple would then go to the local Rabbi and ask the Rabbi a question that would go like this: "May I follow you?" The Rabbi would then proceed to test the aspiring disciple with questions like, "What are the birds listed in the Old Testament?" and things like "Recite the book of 1 Samuel to me." If the aspiring disciple impresses the Rabbi, the Rabbi would say something like, "Come, follow me."
If anything, the question "may I follow you" and the accepting response "come, follow me" may seem somewhat odd. But then think about what we just said a disciple is. A disciple, a tel-mid, is someone who wants to be identical to his Rabbi. So really, the question being asked is, "do you think I have what it takes to be exactly like you?" And the response really means, "I think you have what it takes to be exactly like me."
Now let's take a look at the passage in Luke again, when Jesus is calling His disciples. He really is saying, "I think you have what it takes to be identical to me, the Son of God!"
It's really crazy, right? Even Simon Peter thought so, when he says in Luke 5:8, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" He knew that he could not possibly be identical to Jesus Christ, who is the only man to have lived a sinless life. God knows this and thus, He sent His Spirit to live in our hearts to change us to be like Him.
That's what it really means to be a disciple of God. That we strive to be identical to Him, that we might live be His example by Jesus Christ. That is the calling of a disciple of God.
