If you have been at Harvest Bible Chapel for any length of time, you are familiar with our model of a disciple of Jesus being someone who Worships Christ, Walks with Christ and Works for Christ. Last Memorial Day weekend, I came across another model for a disciple of Christ. Kim & I were worshipping at a small church (Community Church) in Fish Creek, WI. The pastor was a Moody grad who I estimate had been faithfully serving the Lord for going on 5 decades of full-time ministry. And that was such an encouragement to both Kim and me since our youngest son, Alex, had just the month before been accepted to Moody to study to become a youth pastor. This man had just been at Moody’s pastor conference and had a renewed zeal for the gospel and for leading his church to make an impact for Christ.
For whatever reason, I hung on to the bulletin from that service. And I noticed another model for a disciple of Christ at the bottom of the bulletin:
“A disciple is someone called to live IN Christ, equipped to live LIKE Christ, and sent to live FOR Christ.”
(Apparently that model is from Patrick Morley. I haven’t read his Man in the Mirror books but I found this same model on his web site.)
But what really struck me about the model at the bottom of the bulletin was that it was followed by a question: Are you a disciple of Christ?
While there is the all-important, eternity-defining, Jesus as Savior and Lord, gospel portion of that question, there is a different way for those of us who know the Lord, who belong to the Lord to look at that question. Do I fulfill the job description? Am I living for Christ? Am I going back to Him and to His word to be continually equipped? Would someone else looking at me take me for a disciple of Jesus Christ? More importantly, would my Master, the One I say I follow say I am His disciple?
I think of Jesus asking Peter in Matthew 16:15, “But who do you say I am?” That is the most important question we will ever answer. But for those of us who have by the grace of God already answered that question with a resounding “You are the Christ!” how would we answer the question posed at the bottom of that church bulletin? Can you answer it positively today? How do we answer it daily?
Are you a disciple of Christ?
For whatever reason, I hung on to the bulletin from that service. And I noticed another model for a disciple of Christ at the bottom of the bulletin:
“A disciple is someone called to live IN Christ, equipped to live LIKE Christ, and sent to live FOR Christ.”
(Apparently that model is from Patrick Morley. I haven’t read his Man in the Mirror books but I found this same model on his web site.)
But what really struck me about the model at the bottom of the bulletin was that it was followed by a question: Are you a disciple of Christ?
While there is the all-important, eternity-defining, Jesus as Savior and Lord, gospel portion of that question, there is a different way for those of us who know the Lord, who belong to the Lord to look at that question. Do I fulfill the job description? Am I living for Christ? Am I going back to Him and to His word to be continually equipped? Would someone else looking at me take me for a disciple of Jesus Christ? More importantly, would my Master, the One I say I follow say I am His disciple?
I think of Jesus asking Peter in Matthew 16:15, “But who do you say I am?” That is the most important question we will ever answer. But for those of us who have by the grace of God already answered that question with a resounding “You are the Christ!” how would we answer the question posed at the bottom of that church bulletin? Can you answer it positively today? How do we answer it daily?
Are you a disciple of Christ?
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