Miller Brewing Company launched an advertising campaign in 1973 that introduced a new product to the beverage market: light beer. It had fewer calories and carbs, but would it taste as good? The advertising featured athletes and celebrities bantering over whether it was the new beer’s taste or caloric lightness that made it so good. It became one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history, making “Great taste…Less filling” an iconic slogan.
Discipleship has become a popular buzzword in many churches today, and it’s a good one. Although the word is not found in the Bible, it is the universal understanding of being trained—or discipled—to be like someone. It’s not just about knowing what they know, but living in a way that reflects who they are at the core of their being (Luke 6:40).
Two thousand years ago, Jesus chose twelve men who are referred to in the Gospels as the disciples. If you've ever wondered what the finished product of being discipled by Jesus looks like, all you have to do is look at the results. Their lives were completely reoriented around God’s heart for the redemption and restoration of the world. Discipleship not only changed their character and relationships: it changed their identity and purpose.
Yet too many today are settling for discipleship lite: something that tastes great but is less filling. It has little to do with becoming like Jesus in His purpose and a lot to do with becoming like Him in being a better spouse, a better parent, better in the work place, better in money management, and better in planning for a secure financial future.
But finding an example of Jesus being good at any of these is a real stretch. He never married, was never a parent, never owned a business or was employed in the marketplace, owned virtually nothing, and was betrayed and executed at thirty-three. You probably won’t find many standing in line to become like Jesus in any of these.
The only example of Jesus’ followers being identified as looking like Him—the point of discipleship—was when Peter and John were arrested for preaching the Gospel. After spending nearly three years with Jesus, here's how they concluded their defense:
There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
I wonder where they got that idea?! We then read this in the next verse:
When they (their accusers) observed the confidence of Peter and John…they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)
What being discipled by Jesus had taught them, above anything, was that God loved the world and didn’t want a single person to perish. It altered their purpose and priorities and, just like the one who’d trained them, ultimately cost them everything.
The first mention of a discipleship class in the New Testament is in Acts 19. The new followers of Jesus in the city of Ephesus met with the Apostle Paul every day to be taught, and the outcome is recorded in verse 10:
This went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
Any understanding of discipleship that misses this central focus can easily become nothing more than spiritualized narcissism: the Jesus Way to a better, easier, and more comfortable life.
Don’t settle for discipleship lite. Become like Jesus not only in His person but in His purpose. Let His heart for the world be the driving force that shapes your marriage, parenting, finances, work, and future.
If you do, you just might be accused of looking like Jesus.