The 10th chapter in total is our Lord's preparation and sending of the twelve, and so it is in the context of the training of the twelve that He gives this general teaching about discipleship. He starts out for example in chapter 10 with just the twelve, and then the chapter begins to telescope, and it telescopes outward until finally it embraces all men in all times, in all places who will name the name of Jesus Christ. It starts with the twelve and even names them. But it begins to move outward, and I think the key is verse 23, the end of the verse mentions, "till the Son of man be come." In other words it talks about the second coming, and that is the key to seeing this instruction as pressing all the way through all time until Jesus comes again. Some of what He says in the first 23 verses is explicitly to the twelve, some of it begins to reach beyond them, some of it is explicitly for that time and that place, and some of it begins to reach beyond, but by the time you hit verse 24 it is a full-orbed general instruction on the matter of being a genuine disciple. He uses general terms such as, the disciple, or the servant, or whosoever, or he that, and He says, he that, he that, he that over and over, it could be any he, any whosoever, anyone who calls himself a servant or a follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ.
And so in a sense then we're looking at something that was for them and for us, what a marvelous thing that the Lord should have such a clear word on discipleship that it embraces all people in all time and all places. This is the genius of Scripture, it knows no limitation as to date, it touches us as profoundly as it touched them in their own lifetime.
Now basically speaking it is written to a disciple, verse 24, and a servant of the Lord. That would be anyone who follows Jesus Christ.
Anyone who lines up to go after Jesus Christ. Anyone who decides that he wants to belong to Christ. Now having said that, it is important that we learn the marks of a disciple so we can tell the true from the false, right? And what are they? Well the hallmark is in verse 24 and 28. "The disciple is not above his teacher, the servant is not above his lord. It is enough," in other words it is sufficient, "for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord." And you remember we talked about Luke 8:40 where it says, and when a disciple is fully matured he will be like his teacher.
The goal then of a true disciple is Christ likeness, that's the basic hallmark. First John 2:6, "If we say we abide in him then we ought to walk as he walked." In other words if you say you are a Christian it ought to be manifest in the way you live, right? And if it isn't then you're not very convincing, and you may not be a Christian at all.
This is the message of the Scripture, I'm absolutely appalled at how many people miss this message. But the Scripture is inevitably saying, you say you follow Christ then show me your Christ likeness. Is His character manifest in you? It has to be if you're genuine, it has to be. For you are in the process of becoming like your Lord, it doesn't mean that there aren't some lapses, oh there are. There are times when we fail but there is a flow and a pattern of Christ likeness, there.
So the first thing is that we are called to be like Him, that is the meaning of discipleship. So when somebody comes along and says as J.p. Murray of Trinity College Dublin once said, "I am a Christian but inoffensively so." What do you mean by that? Well I mean that I don't want it to interfere with anything. Then that's not what Christianity is. There is this basic Biblical principle that if you follow Jesus Christ, you will be becoming more and more like Him.
Again, there is much more to discipleship in Chapter 10 but I am stopping here because I want to remember someone who was a disciple for Christ. You may ask me how I know and I know because of the fruits of her life. I want to introduce you to Sarah Sullivan, a young woman who recently went home to be with the Lord. I have never met her but as a sister in Christ had the privilege to pray for her, her husband and newborn. Even in death, her life in Christ has the ability to change lives.
http://bandssullivan.blogspot.com/2009/09/happy-birthday-sara.html
"the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." 1John 2:6
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