Practicing The Way Will Be Costly
Jesus’ command to the first disciples is surprisingly simple. Matthew 4:19 -“Come and follow me”.
Here is one of my hunches, most of us who identify as Christians do not do this. You see, in the context of this passage, Jesus is inviting these men into orienting their whole lives around learning from Jesus at great cost to themselves. The following verse shows their response: “At once they left their nets and followed him.” (v20) They left everything.
Every sphere in your life from your time to your money to your relationships to your work to your dreams and aspirations is to be oriented around following Him.
Is Jesus calling the vast majority of us to quit our jobs to follow Him? No. Is Jesus calling all of us to reorder our whole lives to revolve around Him? Yes. Do most of us? No. We revolve some parts of our lives around Him, but not all.
The First century way
I’ve been reading John Mark Comer’s book Practicing The Way lately, he gets the title from the book of Acts, where many disciples describe themselves as following the “way”. These early followers of Christ based this on Jesus’ statement in John 14:6 that He is “the way and the truth and the life.”.
The implication is that they followed not only what Jesus believed, but what He did. Do you?
In Comer’s book, he describes the form of disciple/apprentice and rabbi relationships:
Jewish kids started school around five years old at the local bet sefer (“the house of the book”), which was the equivalent of the elementary school. Normally the bet sefer was built onto the side of the synagogue and run by a full-time scribe or teacher. The curciculum was the Torah, and in an oral culture, at the age of twelve or thirteen, most kids would have the entire Torah memorized. At that point, the vast majority of students went home [and learned their family profession].
But the best and brightest would go on to a second level of education, called bet midrash (“The house of learning”), where they would continue their studies. By the age of seventeen, they would have memorized the entire old testmanent. [Crazy right?]
Now, at this point, the overwhelming majority were done and were basically told to “go make babies, pray that they become rabbis, and ply your trade.” But the best of the best of the best would apply to apprentice under a rabbi. Now, this was really hard to get into. Apprenticeship programs were the equivalent of the Ivy League today but even more exclusive. You had to find a rabbi whose yoke you were drawn to and then beg to join his band of students. The rabbi would grill you: “How well do you kow the Torah?” “What’s your take on the Nephilim in Genesis 6?” “Do you side with Hillel or Shammai on Deuteronomy 24?” “Tell me, how often do you pray?”
And if he thought you had the smarts, the work ethic, and the chutzpah to one day become a rabbi yourself, he would say something like “Come, follow me.” or “Come, apprentince under me”.
According to Comer, there were three driving goals all disciples of a rabbi oriented their whole lives around:
To be with your rabbi
To become like your rabbi
To do as your rabbi did
This was the disciple/rabbi system in which those early people hearing Jesus’ words of discipleship would have lived. So when Jesus called us to become his disciples, he didn’t mean a simple agreement on his theological beliefs. A checklist-type religion of church-attending and some bible reading. He meant for us to orient our whole lives around being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus, and doing as Jesus did in our unique and individual lives.
Not only this, but the invitation was to anyone, not simply the elite or intelligent.
Does this describe you?
If you envisioned your life but replaced yourself with Jesus. How would he go about living your life, in your job, with your family, in your town? Would he pray more? Give more? Forgive more? Offer more silence? Be bolder? Be more kind? Be slower? Be more disciplined? Watch less TV? Laugh more? Cry more? Go to therapy? (He’s human, right?)
When you consider your life, if you identify as a Christian, is your whole life oriented around following your rabbi and savior? To be with Him. To become like Him. To do as He did?
Or do you just settle for a few prayers here and there and give money to a helpful ministry? Jesus is calling you to a completely new way of living life. I am not trying to guilt anyone who feels like they aren’t doing enough for Jesus in their life. Guilt is not a helpful motivator.
Rather, I am trying to show you a supreme joy that comes in following Jesus with everything you have.
What things in your life have crowded out your following Jesus? How do you need to change or orient your life in such a way to become a better disciple? Commit to praying and reading your bible more? Commit to joining a local church as a member? Seek forgiveness for your sin against someone? Confess your sin to God and leave a sinful practice behind?
Jesus is inviting you to follow Him, but to do that we have to let go of all kinds of things. That may seem like a loss, and it surely is. But in following Jesus there is unfathomable gain. Deeper relationship with the one who can satisfy your soul.
Working to become a better disciple of Jesus,
Josh.
