Role: A Disciple of Christ

Pastor Jon gave the first lesson in our 2024 series, “Godly Excellence in a Man’s Roles.”  In 2024, we will be encouraged how to fulfill our responsibilities as believers and men with excellence, in our various roles such as being a member of the body of Christ, a husband, a father of young children or adult children, a friend, a leader, an employee, and as a citizen. 

In this lesson, Pastor Jon covered our role as “Disciple of Christ.”

He first defined the term “disciple” as one who is a follower of a teacher/master, with “follower” being not just metaphorical in terms of learning the teachings, but literally a “follower” because the disciple would walk with the teacher day to day.  He pointed out that the Christian’s life is called a “walk” throughout the new testament.     

He indicated that this “walk” cannot be evaluated based on a moment in time or circumstance, such as how we act in Church on Sunday,  but instead must be evaluated through the pattern of habits and character that is seen through our decisions, attitudes, desires, and activities. 

To explain what is necessary for an excellent, Godly walk as a Disciple of Christ, he turned to Colossians 2:6-7, which says “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”  He explained that this passage gives us five specific commands as we seek excellence as a Disciple of Christ:

• We must have received Christ as our Lord, to be “in Christ.” We must be saved!
• We must be grounded in Christ, and “firmly rooted” like a giant redwood. We must stand secure in Christ, despite the difficulties and uncertainties that we inevitably face here in a fallen world. 
• We must be growing in the knowledge and wisdom of our Lord (Proverbs 1:7, 2 Peter 3:18), and we need to be continually becoming more like Christ in the qualities set forth in 2 Peter 1:5-8.
• Our walk must be guaranteed by Christ with our works and manner and transformed lives reflecting our Saviour to the world. We need to walk the talk, and be genuine. 
• We must be grateful for Christ, and in fact overflowing with gratitude, as a response to what God has done in our lives!