Become Like Jesus
Discipleship to Jesus is misguided at best, pointless at worst, if we are unclear on what exactly it means to follow Him.
To be a disciple—in Hebrew—is this word talmidim. A better translation could be, “an apprentice” (more on that in a moment).
So what does it mean to follow Jesus?
Paul lays this out for us in Romans chapter 12. He writes,
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2, NIV).
In view of God’s mercy (in light of what Jesus has done for us by giving us new life) we need to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
Well, what does that mean?
Offer our bodies as a sacrifice? Sounds kind of scary and weird, Micah.
What Paul is getting at is that when we choose to follow Jesus, we must train ourselves to instinctively deny ourselves of things of this world that we value, so that we may become more like Jesus.
He’s saying that when that sinful nature creeps up, attempting to convince us to, “do what we do not want to do” or, “to do what is evil” (see Romans 7) our job is to resist.
But how?!
Paul, didn’t you say that you’re still doing those things? Doing the things you don’t want to do? Doing things that are evil? If you—Apostle Paul—are still struggling with this, then what are we supposed to do?
The answer lies in the transforming of our minds.
To practice self-control is only possible with a transformed mind. A mind that is submitted and obedient to the Way of Jesus.
In the New Testament, we’re called to apprentice under Jesus. This word, “disciple” in the Bible, is in Greek, this word, “mathētēs.”
It’s popularly translated as, “disciple” but a more accurate translation would be, “an apprentice.” To apprentice under someone may seem like a foreign concept to many of us so let’s put on our thinking caps and go back to like medieval times.
In those times, it would be common in your community to find; a locksmith, a stone mason, a baker, and a cobbler (or a shoemaker). Nowadays, we have occupations like electricians, carpenters, boilermakers, and the like.
In each of these fields, there’s a master and there’s an apprentice. There’s a teacher and there’s a student.
To apprentice under someone would mean to learn everything there is to know about that skill, that trade, that occupation. You would be with, watch, and study this person—your master, your teacher—to the point that you’d begin to become like them by doing things they do.
You’d order your days like them.
You’d talk like them.
You’d organize like them.
You’d dress like them.
And eventually, you’d then carry on the trade or the craft with the same level of excellence, the same level of precision, the same level of quality that your master once did.
This is what our call is to Jesus. To apprentice under Jesus. To be with him, to study him, to watch him, to read about him, and then to become like him by doing what he did. By becoming a person who reflects the character qualities that he possessed: compassion, selflessness, gentleness, respect, courage, boldness, wisdom, leadership, etc.
To live lives in such a way that others go, “what’s different about you?”
That we live, love, and lead out of a place of rest and security rather than anxiety and people-pleasing.
That we practice peace in a world of division.
That we practice simplicity in a world of materialism.
That our will, our desire for life is superseded by God’s will and his desire for our life.
That our mind is transformed from the ways of the world into the Way of Jesus.
This is what it means to apprentice under Jesus. As one of my heroes, John Mark Comer states, it is, “To be with Jesus, to become like Jesus, and to do what Jesus did.”
May it be so in us, we pray.
Be encouraged, my friends!
