Discipleship is a central issue within the Gospels. You can hardly read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John without seeing a mention of Jesus calling a disciple to Himself or calling disciples to make disciples. Discipleship is central to what it means to be a Christian. To be a disciple means you are a learner, pupil, or student of Jesus.

What Biblical Discipleship Means and Requires

Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31). Jesus does not say they “will be” His disciples if they abide in His word, in His teaching, but “you are truly my disciples” if you abide in the Word. We do not earn the status of “disciple” by following Jesus, though following Him is necessary. Instead, when we turn to Christ in saving faith, we receive and rest in Him as Lord and Savior. And the result is that we abide in His Word. True disciples of Jesus follow Him, not just at the beginning, but also to the end. John Calvin comments, “He distinguishes his followers from hypocrites by this mark, that they who falsely boasted of faith give way as soon as they have entered into the course, or at least in the middle of it; but believers persevere constantly to the end.”

True disciples are marked not by sinless perfectionism, but by abiding in the words of Christ. They do not just confess Jesus with their mouths, but they trust in Him with their hearts and prove it by seeking to do His will—repenting where they fall short and returning again and again to Him to learn His way. Biblical discipleship requires being grounded and shaped by the Word of God.

The Word of God and Cultural Discipleship

By understanding first what discipleship is, we can most clearly understand how the idea of discipleship is used not only “out there” in the world, but also in the professing Church today.

In an article published on May 31st, 2022, titled, “Methodist Church’s First Drag Queen Pastor: ‘God is Nothing’”, The American Spector provides commentary on Isaac Simmons’ poem, in which the self-described “dragavangelist” exclaims, “God is nothing,” a refrain that repeats throughout the poem, followed by, “the Bible is nothing” and “religion is nothing”. In the end, Simmons concludes that God and the Bible are nothing “unless we wield it into something”. He states that the poem is “directed to those who actively and passively cause harm against the LGBTQIA2S+ Community due to their understandings of Scripture.”[i]

Commenting on Simmons’ statements, Dr. Albert Mohler, in the article titled, “’Doctrinal Annihilation’: Theologian Blasts Methodist Church For Pushing Drag Queen Pastor, Claims ‘Two Religions’ Forming Over LGBT Issues” published by The Daily Wire said, the United Methodist Church’s decision to make Simmons a certified candidate for ordination was “an intentional refutation and revolt against the very order of creation that God has given us, and a direct violation of the clear teachings of Scripture concerning the fact that those whom God has made as men should identify as men.”

“This is open revolt,” Mohler reiterated, “and of course, you’re going to see a division between those who are appalled by it, deeply troubled by it, deeply concerned by it and opposed to it on the one hand, and those who celebrate it and say that it’s arrived far too late on the other hand.”[ii]

In an article written September 25, 2022, titled, “Trans Religious Leaders Say Scripture Should Inspire Inclusive Congregations”, says:

“Shannon TL Kearns is the first openly transgender man ordained in the Old Catholic Church, a denomination that split from Rome after the first Vatican Council in the 19th century. He’s co-founder of QueerTheology.com and author of the book titled, In the Margins: A Transgender Man’s Journey with Scripture. “The world of gender in the Bible is much more complex than I was taught growing up as an evangelical,” says Kearns, pointing to numerous stories of biblical figures transgressing gender norms. “We have women who are judges. We have men who spend their time in the kitchen. There are eunuchs, which were considered this kind of other third gender,” he says… “I think that we all read ourselves into scripture,” Kearns says. “I think the kicker is that folks from marginalized communities are being honest about the fact that that’s what they’re doing.””[iii]

The main problem with Kearns’ statement is that he is engaging in what is known as “eisegesis”, which is reading yourself into the Scripture. In the case of Simmons, his statements of, “The Bible is nothing” and “Religion is nothing”, are expoused ironically since he preaches his own version of “theology” as a “pastor”. Because of how Christians supposedly use the Bible, Simmons directs his poem at those, “who actively and passively cause harm against the LGBTQIA2S+ community due to their understanding of Scripture.” But let’s ask a question here. Is speaking the truth in love from the mouth of the Creator a personal attack as Simmons claims? Is speaking what God has said about how He made man first, and then from man’s rib made Eve? Is that unloving? Or is it not what God has said? How else can we know God other than as He is revealed in the Word?

As Christians, we believe that the Bible is the reliable, trustworthy, sufficient, clear, and binding Word of God. So, when Scripture speaks, we are to believe what it says and obey all it teaches. In Simmons’ case Scripture is not enough for him, nor is it binding. In the words of Kearns, “We all read ourselves into the Bible”, but what these two statements reveal is the wrong view of the Bible. When you view the Bible in the wrong way you will always get the wrong interpretation of what the Bible says. This is why the word hermeneutics means “the art and science of biblical interpretation”. Biblical interpretation is fueled by a right view of the Bible as the inspired, inerrant, infallible, sufficient, clear, and binding Word of God. So, because we believe the right things about the Bible, we will aim to rightly interpret the Bible in context, and to rightly handle the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15). It isn’t only among those like Kearns and Simmons that we see Scripture and biblical discipleship under attack. It is also inside the walls of our churches.

The State of Theology statement No. 29 shows how those who strongly agreed with the statement that gender identity is a matter of choice, rose from 54 percent to 67 percent from 2016 to 2020. The percentage of those who strongly agreed fell from 24 percent to 15 percent in the same period.

Ligonier Ministries’ biennial State of Theology survey provides key findings on what Americans think about God, truth, the Bible, worship, and ethical issues. Conducted with LifeWay Research, this survey polled a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. The full results for the 2020 survey are now available at TheStateofTheology.com.

The State of Theology reports:

“The unbiblical concept of relative truth has influenced every sphere of life in the United States, including ethical issues such as sexuality and gender that continue to be at the forefront of public debate. In 2020, 73 percent of U.S. evangelicals reject the arguments of “gender fluidity,” while 22 percent believe that “Gender identity is a matter of choice.”[iv]

The report states:

“As the broader culture in the United States increasingly embraces relativistic views of human identity, data from the State of Theology survey exposes a need for Christians to receive clear teaching from the Bible on the image of God, the creation ordinance of marriage, and the purposeful distinction between male and female gender.”

Dr. Stephen Nichols, chief academic officer of Ligonier Ministries and president of Reformation Bible College, said:

“Children down to the earliest ages are now being told that they have the autonomy to determine whether they are a boy, a girl, or neither. Not only does this threaten an entire generation with lifelong trauma, but more ultimately this message is one of treason against the supreme authority of God.”[v]

Scripture and Biblical Discipleship

Christians must listen and submit to God’s steadfast Word in all that it teaches. Even so, the 2020 State of Theology survey suggests that many American evangelicals are instead listening to the changing voice of culture. This is why Christians must understand what biblical discipleship is. When people make claims about what the Bible says, we do not need to be intimidated by those claims. We can respond to those claims by refuting what they’ve claimed the Bible says by explaining—in context—what the Scripture means.

Halfhearted discipleship is anathema to our Savior. Indeed, Jesus will have all of us, or He will not have us at all. There is not one aspect of our lives that we may refuse to hand over to Jesus.

Some of the clearest teaching on the subject comes from the lips of Jesus Himself. Mark 8:34-35 gives a particularly clear description of the cost of discipleship. Peter, speaking for the disciples, rebuked Jesus for teaching that He would have to suffer and die, reflecting the common Jewish belief that the Messiah would be a conquering king to overthrow the Romans (Mark 8:31-32). Undoubtedly, Peter’s rebuke also reflected his own fears. If the work of the Messiah meant rejection, suffering, and death, surely the followers of such a Messiah would suffer as well. After all, Jesus said in another context that “a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master”, indicating that His followers should expect the same treatment from the authorities that He would receive (Matthew 20:24). Thus, it is understandable that the notion of a suffering Messianic King would be unnerving to Peter, particularly when suffering via crucifixion was the most shameful way for a person to die in the first century.

But truth is determined by Jesus Himself, not what unnerves His followers. Lest Peter and the disciples be mistaken about what the Messiah’s suffering would mean for their lives, our Lord called the disciples to Himself to explain that suffering is a distinguishing mark of the Christian life and that it’s also inseparable from Christian discipleship.

Note that in doing so, Jesus called a larger crowd to Himself and taught them the same thing (Mark 8:34). The point is that Jesus’ teaching on this subject was not for the Twelve alone. Bearing the cross—the shame and persecution this world heaps upon believers—is the mark of a true disciple.

True, not every believer is called to the same kind of suffering. The disciples bear this out. Some, like Peter, were martyred for their faith. Others, like John, lived to a ripe old age, even though they suffered imprisonment and other trials at times. Yet both men suffered, so no Christian should expect a life free of trouble related to his profession of faith and attempts to live out the commands of Jesus. This will bring hatred from the fallen world, and at times even from others who profess faith in the Savior. Those who remain true to Jesus and are willing even to die for Him, if necessary, will paradoxically find that death for His sake leads to eternal life (Mark 8:35).

Conclusion

Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his commentary on Mark that “the Christian life is a throwaway life.” We must be willing to lose all we have now in order to gain everything in the world to come. This does not mean we merit eternal life by giving up everything, or that the degree of suffering is the same for all Christians. It does mean that true faith in Jesus—the kind of faith that saves us—will renounce everything, even this life, for the sake of Jesus and His glory.

This is the kind of discipleship that the cultural disciple makers of our day, typified by Kearns and Simmons, will never accept because it counters their claims by explaining that it is not their version of truth or sexuality that matters. The Lord defines and regulates the meaning of all these terms because His Word is the final, and complete on all subjects—from discipleship to marriage, sexuality, and everything in-between.

References

[i] https://spectator.org/methodist-church-first-drag-queen-pastor-god-is-nothing/

[ii] https://www.dailywire.com/news/doctrinal-annihilation-theologian-blasts-methodist-church-for-pushing-drag-queen-pastor-claims-two-religions-forming-over-lgbt-issues

[iii] https://www.npr.org/2022/09/25/1124101216/trans-religious-leaders-say-scripture-should-inspire-inclusive-congregations

[iv] TheStateofTheology.com

[v] Ibid.