Making the Grade

I’ve been thinking a lot about discipleship lately.  More importantly, I’ve been thinking about being a disciple.  In general, like most Americans who call themselves Christian, I like to think of myself as a pretty good disciple.  It’s not very often, however, that we actually grade ourselves on whether or not we really are good disciples.

Recently, I was having a one-on-one discipleship session with a young man at church and the idea came up to give ourselves a grade on how good or bad a disciple we are. Of course this requires knowing the discipleship qualities against which we are to be graded.  So we dug into the word to find out what Jesus said about those who call themselves disciples.  How might you grade yourself against these discipleship qualities?

Cross Bearing (Matthew 10:38, 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, 14:27).  Jesus says that anyone who wants to follow Christ must take up their cross.  It’s kind of hard to grade oneself against bearing your cross unless you know what your cross is.  Jesus’ cross came as a result of his contemporaries rejecting him and his message of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus also said on numerous occasions that the world would hate us because of him.  I don’t like that.  I don’t want the world to hate me. And honestly, I can't say that my boldness for Christ (or lack thereof) has caused enough ripples that I would say I have been persecuted for Christ.  How about you?  Are you being persecuted for your faith?

Hate Your Father and Mother (Luke 14:26). Yikes!  Jesus said that we can not be his disciples unless we hate our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and children.  I definitely do not hate my dad, or my mom.  I don’t have any brothers, but I don’t hate my sisters, and I definitely do not hate my kids.  Fail.  Of course when Jesus said “hate” it was more or less a figure of speech implying that our love and devotion for Jesus must be so far above all other loves in our lives that is seems like hate by comparison.  I’m not sure that clarification helps me in any way.  I’ve really been convicted by this one over the last few months.  Sure, I can say that I love Jesus, but that is just words.  Do I really love Jesus?  Do I love him so much that my considerable love for my family seems like hatred in comparison?  I just don’t know.  How about you?

Renounce all you have (Luke 14:33).  Come on now, are you kidding me? Jesus actually said we have to renounce everything we own in order to be a disciple. Admittedly, there was a time when I “worshipped” my truck, my big house, my pool, etc.  Fortunately, I got over that.  My truck got old and I no longer have the big house or the pool.  However, I still have a very nice house and lots of “stuff” to go with it.  How willing am I to give any or all of it up?   Certainly, Jesus will not ask everyone to actually give up all that they own, but he certainly will ask some of us to do it.  Am I willing to be one of those he does ask to give it all up?  I think I would… and you?

I’m not doing so well thus far…

Continue in God’s Word (John 8:31).  This is one we can be more objective about.  Jesus said that his true disciples would continue in his word.  I can get a better grade on this one.  I love God’s word and I love to spend time in God’s word.    I imagine I would get an A or at worse a B+ on this one.  God’s word is living and active and has the power to transform our lives.  Even if you didn’t do so well on the first couple of attributes, and even if you haven’t done so well on this one in the past, then this is one that we can all do better on.  Just do it.  Read the word. More importantly, doing better on this one makes us better at the others.

Love one another (John 13:35).  Now we are getting somewhere.  Love one another.  We can do that, right?  Love, love, love.  It’s all about the love.  But like our love for Jesus that’s just words unless we can back it up somehow.  Saying we love one another is one thing, but loving one another the way Jesus said to love one another is something totally different.  Jesus said that if we loved one another, we would serve one another.  Jesus said that the greatest love we could have for one another is to lay down our lives for one another.  Maybe we can all give ourselves a good grade on this one and pat ourselves on the back because more than likely not many of us have had to actually lay down our lives for another.   I just wonder how will we respond when that particular opportunity arises?  When my nephew’s wife decided to give one of her kidneys to a neighbor, there were more than a few people – many of them God-loving Christians who would grade themselves as an “A” on the whole love one another thing – who couldn’t understand why she did it.  I can.  She understood this quality.  Her decision reflected “love one another” in action – the way that Jesus really meant it. 

Bearing fruit (John 15:8).  Jesus said a true believer bears fruit, but what fruit?  There is the Fruit of the Spirit for certain. Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, faith, and self-control.  How would we grade ourselves on each of these individually and collectively?  Truthfully, there was a time – even when I claimed to be a Christian – when I wasn’t very good at any of these.  I have gotten better.  More recently, I would have been content that I was doing better at some of these but less better at others.  However, as a disciple, we are to bear all of the Fruit of the Spirit, not just bits and pieces of it.  How could I say that I was a good disciple but was not bearing all of this fruit?  We all need to do better in this.  Additionally, bearing fruit is more than just the Fruit of the Spirit.  Jesus’ very last command to us was to go and make disciples of all peoples.  We are to bear fruit by making more disciples.  Are you bearing fruit?  Am I?

So many qualities… it seems so hard.  Well, I guess being a disciple wouldn’t require discipline if it was easy.  And unlike grade school, being a disciple of Jesus Christ is a life-long process.  We never stop learning, studying, or growing.  Besides, it is not by our own strength that we do these things, but through the power and strength of the Holy Spirit living in us. 

So how did you do?  What is your grade?