The Character of a Disciple
1 John 4:16-17
“Would you tell me which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get,” said the Cat.
“I really don’t care where” replied Alice.
“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
- from the “Alice in Wonderland” Movie
When scientists decided to put a man on the moon, they didn’t think, “Well what do we need to get from Earth to the Moon?” Instead, they imagined the landing and then worked their way backwards in terms of the processes, procedures and equipment needed to accomplish that goal. In other words, they started with the end in mind. The Cat was trying to tell Alice, which road you take depends a great deal on where you want to end up. That makes the point: we need to begin with the end in mind. When you think about it, that’s pretty sound advice to plan anything: your finances, your life, even your career. Perhaps nothing is more important than beginning with the end in mind when it comes to your spiritual life. In other words, what do you want to be when you reach spiritual maturity? Or to put in the form of a questions we all encounter as children: what do you want to be when you grow up, spiritually?
Put quote on scree Steven Covey writes, “Are you--right now--who you want to be, what you dreamed you'd be, doing what you always wanted to do (and I’m going to add, ‘spiritually)? Be honest. Sometimes people find themselves achieving victories that are empty--successes that have come at the expense of things that were far more valuable to them. If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster.” Covey says that all things are created twice. There is first a mental creation, and second, a physical creation. The physical creation follows the mental. Take for example the building a home which always begins first with the creation of a blueprint. Here’s the point he makes: if you don't make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what God wants for you in your life, then you will empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default. What we need to do is connect again with God’s plan for our life as a follower of Jesus. Granted, each of us will have different expressions of being a follower of Jesus based on your spiritual gifts, abilities and passion, but all of us are called to become like Jesus. But what does that look like? John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, asked a similar question and answered it in a 1742 short pamphlet titled “The Character of a Disciple”. In it, he asked, “What does it mean to be a Disciple?” and answered it based solely on Scripture, the guide for our life and in Jesus, the example of our faith. He went on to identify the biblical characteristics of a follower of Jesus Christ and thus a Disciple. From this, he created a discipleship system to build such qualities and characteristics in the people called Disciple. In other words, Wesley began with the end in mind and then worked his way backward to bring about such transformation and results in a disciple’s life.
Today we’re going to look at Wesley’s “Character of a Disciple” and then in the following weeks, we’re going to look at the Means of Grace or the spiritual disciplines of a Disciple which develop that character. These are the means through which God’s grace works in our life. Throughout this series, the hope is that you’ll wrestle with the question, “Am I really a really a Disciple?” Wesley identified three movements of God’s grace in our life. First is prevenient grace. This God’s love at work in our life before we know Him as Savior which is loving us and wooing us seeking a response. Second is justifying grace which we receive when we confess our sins and accept God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ. That’s the beginning of the journey of faith and becoming more and more like Jesus. This is God’s sanctifying grace at work in us to developing our character, heart and mind to become like His Son. From this point on, we seek to lead a life of holiness. For God is holy, and calls his people to be holy. Leviticus 11:44 says, “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” When we respond by consecrating ourselves entirely to God, it is by God’s grace that we become more holy. Wesley named 2 kinds of holiness. First is personal holiness which is avoiding sin and developing the character of Christ. As we do, our lives show evidence of the Fruit of the Spirit which is “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.” Also evidenced in our lives is a growing love for God and others. This then leads to social holiness which is meeting the physical, mental and spiritual needs of people. In Wesley’s time, these needs were a lack of good education and health care, poverty and of course, receiving the good news.
Being a Disciple is not just about what you do, it’s about who you are. Wesley wrote: “Many sincerely think that the sum total of Christianity is not harming anyone, doing good, and practicing Church Rituals (going to church). You may live this way and have no salvation at all! May God preserve you from this kind of poor, starved religion! The following….will illuminate for you the holy character that is God's will for all mankind. These characteristics are present, in various degrees, in the life of all who are born again. The Holy Spirit working in a person’s life will always lead them toward this fullness. The perfection of character here described can only be a constant reality in a believer when he or she is constantly under God’s sanctifying influence. God wants all believers to have this fullness.” This is why Wesley always encouraged Disciples to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” The following are Wesley’s identified characteristics of a Disciple.
A Disciple loves God with your whole being. “Love the Lord your God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength.” Matthew 22:37 God is the single most important thing in your life because you recognize that there is no one and nothing greater to give yourself to. God is the strength of your heart, and your portion forever.
A Disciple is filled with joy in all circumstances. For we are called to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Our joy is not derived from the circumstances of our life but from Jesus Christ because we have been forgiven and now attained everlasting life. Realizing the depth of our sin and the separation it has caused in our relationship with God, we now have a full understanding of the forgiveness we have received, resulting in a joy that overflows our soul because we are now a child of God. We also rejoice because whenever we look to the future we have the hope of eternal life. Our joy cries out in everything we say and do because of the abundant mercy we have received and the promise of eternal life, an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that does not fades away, and is reserved in heaven for me!”
A Disciple in Everything Gives Thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 All good comes from the hand of God and thus we cheerfully receive it. And whether “the Lord gives or takes away”, we know we are equally blessed, for we have “learned to be content I every circumstance.” Whether we have or have not, in ease or pain, in sickness or health, in life or death, we give thanks to God who we know makes “all things works together for good to them that love God.” And so we are “not anxious about anything,” but “casts all our cares upon Him that cares for us.”
A Disciple Prays Without Ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 This does not mean we are always on our knees in prayer or crying aloud to God. True prayer is lifting up our heart to God. It is on ongoing conversation of the mind, heart and spirit with God. God’s thoughts become our thoughts. His spirit is our spirit. And no person or thing hinders or interrupts that. In solitude or the company of others, in recreation, business, or conversation, our heart is focused on the Lord and our mind is on God.
A Disciple Loves Everyone. Mark 12:33 says, For “he who loves God must love his brother also.” He loves everyone as a child of God: friend, acquaintance and stranger alike, even those you may disapprove of or who repay good works with hatred. We “love our enemies, even the enemies of God. Even moreso, we pray for them, for their eternity and for God to bless them.
A Disciple is Pure in Heart leading to a life of holiness. Matthew 5:8 The love of God has purified our heart from all revengeful passions, from envy, malice and hate, from every unkind temper or abusive passion. No longer is pride and arrogance in our lives because we are now clothed himself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience:” Colossians 3:12 “We forgive others as the Lord forgave us.” Colossians 3:13 We have given up the sins and desires of the world because we are dead to that. The one motive of life is “not to please ourselves but to please God” and be “obedient to Christ” in everything we do.
A Disciple Keeps God's Commandments, not some, or most, but all of God’s commandments, from the “least” to the greatest. Our obedience is our expression of love for God. 1 John 5:3 Whatever God has forbidden, we avoid; whatever God has instructed, we do; whether it is little or great, hard or easy, satisfying or not. Our sole desire is “to do the will of God on earth, as it is done in heaven,” it is the highest privilege on earth and in heaven.”
A Disciple Serves God with all His Strength. We continually “offer our soul and body a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” Romans 12:1 Entirely and without reserve, we devote ourselves, all we have, and all we are, to God’s glory. All the talents and spiritual gifts we have received, we constantly use according to the Master’s will. We willingly give our body as a living sacrifice because it is now God’s instrument of righteousness.”
A Disciple Does Everything for the Glory of God 1 Corinthians 10:31 In all our various activities, we not only intend this, but actually attain it, in work as well as recreation. Our life’s purpose to bring glory to God. “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17 For as he thinks, speaks, and acts, our goals is “making the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”
A Disciple does good unto Everyone As We have Opportunity. Galatians 6:10 We work in every possible way for the good of neighbors, strangers, friends and even enemies. He not only cares for their bodies by “feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting those that are sick or in prison;” but above all labors to do good to their souls.” For those who don’t believe, we seek to lead them to belief. For those who do believe, we labor to “spur (them) on toward love and good works.” We pour ourselves into others “like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of their faith,” so that they may “all attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Philippians 2:17
I’d like to close with John Wesley’s own words, “Whoever fits the above description is sanctified wholly, not in name only, but in heart and life. He is inwardly and outwardly conformed to the will of God…He thinks, speaks, and lives, according to the pattern laid down in the revelation of Jesus Christ. His soul ‘is renewed in the image of its Creator,’ ‘to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.’ ‘Having the mind of Christ,’ he ‘walks as Jesus did.’…“may God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”
Do you sincerely “press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of you?” Do you love and serve God? That is enough. I give you the right hand of fellowship. Now let us “bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.” Together let us “go on unto perfection.” “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion;” then “let us stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel.” Let us “live a life worthy of the calling we have received. Being completely humble and gentle; being patient, bearing with one another in love. Making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
