The 500th Anniversary of the New Testament in the Language of the People 1522 – 2022
The Digital Disciples Series
TRUSTING – Step 10
Are you a Believer in Jesus Christ, a Student of Jesus Christ, or a Disciple of Jesus Christ?
Why is it important to be a disciple? How does a person become a 21st century disciple?
Matthew 28:19–20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
These two verses are some of the most famous ones in the Bible and are also referred to as The Great Commission. These are the closing words in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus sends his 11 apostles to spread the gospel after He has ascended to heaven. Jesus specifically tells us what he means to become a disciple: baptizing people and teaching them to obey his commands. The first steps are baptizing, teaching, and obedience!
Martin Luther tells us that disciples must believe with our heart, look with our eyes, and listen with our ears before serving others.
“In holy and divine matters one must first hear rather than see, first believe rather than understand, first be grasped rather than grasp, first be captured rather than capture, first learn rather than teach, first be a disciple rather than a teacher and master of his own. We have an ear so that we may submit to others, and eyes that we may take care of others. Therefore, whoever in the church wants to become an eye and a leader and master of others, let him become an ear and a disciple first.” –Martin Luther, Lectures on the Psalms II, in Luther’s Works, Volume 11, 245-46.
The perspective below includes excerpts from the Rev. Dr. Robert Kolb, a Reformation scholar:
The first element of Luther’s understanding of discipleship focused on how God communicates with us and the trust that defines human life by defining Him as the source of all good and as a refuge in every time of need—the ultimate source of our core sense of identity, security, and meaning. On the basis of this redefinition of what a Christian is—a hearer of God’s Word, one who trusts in Him through Christ, and who lives a life as a joyful child of God in Christ.
The second element of Luther’s understanding of discipleship stems from his placement of repentance—being turned from false gods to Jesus Christ—at the heart of daily Christian living. Luther’s conception of how human life proceeds within God’s greater history of dealing with his people shaped the reformer’s understanding of daily life. Indeed, “the whole life of the Christian is a life of repentance,” of daily dying through the surrender of sinfulness to the buried Christ and the daily resurrection to a new life defined at its core by trust in the one in whose footsteps faith dares to follow.
A third element in Luther’s understanding of faithful hearing and following in Christ’s footsteps emerged from his supplanting of the medieval exaltation of “sacred” activities and the entire religious realm over the “profane,” the everyday. He did not ignore those activities that reflected faith in Jesus, such as prayer and praise, but he emphasized that everything done in faith is God-pleasing (Romans 14:23). Thus, to the instruction he gave in carrying out God’s commands and practicing human virtues, he added the framework of service in the responsibilities, the callings, of everyday living in home, economic activities, and the wider society.
A fourth observation is the development of the relationship of love and trust in God, as He has revealed Himself as Jesus Christ, through daily repentance and the cultivation of new obedience through the motivation of the gospel through the use of God’s Word.
For Christ died and rose to give life and deliverance also from all that others do to us to make us victims of their sins. In a world in which speech is recognized as performative, the additional insight of how God’s speech re-creates and renews is one of our easier tasks. Luther’s affirmation of the God-pleasing goodness of life in this world, in all its realms and situations, is also tailor-made for adaptation to twenty-first century hearers. Like Luther, we follow in Christ’s footsteps, pushed along by the Holy Spirit, into the world that belongs to our Father, and we are moving to reclaim it and its inhabitants for the family.”
https://concordiatheology.org/2012/03/discipleship-in-the-lutheran-tradition/
http://www.lutheranquarterly.com/uploads/7/4/0/1/7401289/26-2-mattes.pdf
Comments: hbitten@reverendluther.org
Bible 500 