Being a Disciple Requires Discipline

“The problem with everyday life is it’s so daily.” I don’t know who said that originally, but I’ve thought it many times. Life seems easy during the exciting moments – special events, lavish parties, vacations, travel to exotic locations. But the mundane functions of daily living can be hard. 

 

Emerging bed in the morning, getting cleaned up, eating a quick breakfast (if you have time), going to work, carrying out responsibilities and trying to solve problems, heading home to decompress from the day’s demands, then going to bed to do it all over again in the morning. Indeed, everyday life is so daily!

 

The spiritual life is similar. We might have a ‘mountaintop experience’ from time to time, we might hear a sermon that inspires us or hear a song that stirs our heart, but the reality of living for Jesus Christ every day doesn’t ensure thrills every minute. It’s a matter of obedience, faithfulness – and discipline – in the midst of what’s mostly mundane.

 

I like how my favorite devotional writer, Oswald Chambers, expressed it: “[it requires] the supernatural grace of God to live 24 hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus…. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy in the ordinary streets, among ordinary people – and this is not learned in five minutes.”

 

What Chambers is talking about is discipline, a determination of heart and mind to pursue God no matter what distractions or obstacles we encounter. Jesus offered a succinct description of what this looks like: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). To “deny himself and take up his cross” means to die to oneself, to say no to anything and everything that could steer us off course in our walk with the Lord.

 

We’re in the middle of football season, and those of us who are fans spend considerable time watching games featuring our favorite teams. We admire the speed, athleticism and skill on display (hopefully more by our team than the other). But what stands out most – or should – is discipline.

 

Offensive linemen get into their set positions and remain still until the ball is hiked. If they don’t, the referees are quick to toss their yellow penalty flags. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers all take their positions as well. Once Mr. QB has the ball, everyone moves as the called play dictates, seeking to move the ball toward the opponents’ goal line. The running back must go in the right direction and receivers must follow their prescribed routes. Without discipline, the play won’t succeed. 

 

However, much of the discipline football players exert goes unseen, taking place long before game day. Practice, practice, practice. Doing the same things over and over until they become second nature. Add to that the hours of physical training, lifting weights, meetings, memorizing the playbook. Daily drudgery, designed for success on the field.

 

This principle is vitally important for all who desire to be disciples of Jesus Christ – true followers, learners, and spiritual reproducers. Just before His ascension to heaven, Jesus commanded, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). And to make disciples, as He instructed, one must first be a disciple. And you can’t be a disciple without discipline.

 

Unlike football or other sports, following Jesus isn’t a pastime, or a casual pursuit. As the apostle Paul wrote in Acts 17:28, “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” These days we hear a lot of talk about one’s identity. For followers of Christ, He should be our identity.

 

For Paul, this was his passion, his motivation, the thing that drove him through the ups and downs of life – and he experienced many of both. Writing to believers in ancient Philippi, Paul expressed what we might consider his mission statement: “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11).

 

But Paul was quick to note that he hadn’t arrived, that his everyday goal of becoming more and more like Christ – and less and less like the person he was before encountering Him – was yet to be achieved. With honesty and humility, he stated: 

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it…. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).

 

Whether we’ve been following Jesus for a week, a few months, a year, or many years, we should take Paul’s words to heart. We’re still ‘in process,’ and therefore we must press onward.

 

The psalmist wrote, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). Whatever the day brings, we can have confidence that it’s another day God has given to us. With discipline we can grow in our faith and revel in opportunities to serve the Lord and those He sends our way.  

Time to Confront the Commitment Problem?

Have you heard the story about the pig and chicken walking past a restaurant that advertised a breakfast special of bacon and eggs? The chicken glances at the sign and swells with pride, but the pig can’t conceal his sadness.

“What’s the matter?” asks the chicken. “Well, you see, for you that sign represents a contribution,” the pig explains. “For me it means total commitment.”

This silly little story highlights a virtue we seem to be losing in our society. Workers increasingly have little or no commitment to their employers, just as employers don’t seem very committed to their workers. The days of 40-year careers with a single company culminating with a gold watch have become about as common as dodo birds. Marriage is in the midst of a commitment crisis as well. With the divorce rate hovering around 50 percent, familiar vows of “better or worse…as long as we both shall live” aren’t worth much more than a grain of salt. 

Young people, growing up in fractured homes, often lack positive examples of what commitment means, so they’re quick to abandon ship when things get tough or something more appealing arises. The head football coach at one major university came under fire recently when he referred to this in discussing the NCAA’s newly created “transfer portal.”

Observing that more than 650 collegiate football players had elected to transfer over the past two years, rather than complete their eligibility at their original school, the coach bemoaned, “We have a problem with our society. We don’t have a problem with our program.” Apparently when the going gets tough, it’s simply time to go elsewhere.

Things don’t seem much different spiritually. These days, it’s more common for churches to grow through “transfer growth” – people moving from one congregation to another – than the addition of people new in their faith. We see people making professions of faith, whether by walking an aisle, raising a hand or being baptized, then drifting away, no longer seen in church – anywhere. 

On several occasions I’ve met with men in discipling relationships, feeling encouraged by their zeal and apparent spiritual growth over weeks or months. Then something came up, perhaps a problem they encountered within the church, or deciding the cost of discipleship was higher than they were willing to pay, and they no longer wanted to meet. Sad, but it happens.

This problem is hardly new. The Old Testament repeatedly tells about commitment issues the ancient Israelites had. One day they were vowing, “You and us, Lord, all the way!” Then the next they started complaining, “God, what have You done for us lately?” And before long they were making golden calves or building altars for false gods. The grass seemed greener on the other side of the tabernacle.

Jesus Christ knew well the fragile commitment levels of His fickle followers. In the Gospel of John, we read that when some of His teachings became difficult, many who had been pursuing Him decided it was time to go home. “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66). They wanted to believe – but only if it was easy. 

We have the tragic example of Judas Iscariot, who decided Jesus wasn’t meeting his expectations. So he betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver. The other 11 disciples weren’t so obvious in their betrayal, but when Jesus was arrested and led off to a mock trial, they dispersed as well. Confronted about whether he was among Jesus’ followers, Peter denied Him – three times.

Have you ever had times when your faith felt weak and you began questioning what you believed? We’ve probably all had moments like that. Commitment to anything long-term is difficult, especially a walk of faith. But its rewards are beyond compare.

King David explained why in one of his most honest psalms: “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun” (Psalm 37:3-6). 

There are times when all hope seems lost and we’re tempted to lose heart, but David advised we should hang in there. The best is yet to come: “Wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it” (Psalm 37:34).

This hope is anchored in one simple truth. Although we all struggle with commitment, God has no such problem. He makes this promise to each of His children: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). If we just take time to reflect on the Lord’s total commitment to us, even to the point of going to the cross to atone for our sins, maybe it will become easier to reaffirm our total commitment to Him. We won’t settle for just making a temporary contribution.