What is Discipleship? (John 1:40-42)

by Rev. Jeremiah Cheung

After Andrew recognized Jesus to be the Messiah, the first thing he did was find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah (Christ).”

When Simon was brought to Jesus, Jesus looked at him. This was not an ordinary look; Jesus looked with great attention, and then the Lord said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas, meaning Peter.”

“You are… You will be,” this is life transformation.  Simon means listen, Peter means rock. Jesus sought to transform Pete into a rock.

Galatians 2:9 “James, Cephas, and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me.  They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.”

James, Cephas, and John were known as pillars of the Church.  Peter really became a rock. There was a twenty-year time gap from John chapter one to Galatians chapter two.  Twenty years earlier, the Lord called Simon “Peter”; twenty years later, Peter had become a pillar of the church in Jerusalem. What happened to Peter in those 20 years? The answer is Discipleship.

We have a lot of misconceptions about Discipleship.  Let us examine the five misconceptions of the church regarding Discipleship.

1. Discipleship happens automatically

2. Discipleship happens when we attend church services

3. Discipleship is for new believers

4. Discipleship is for the spiritually mature

5. Discipleship is a curriculum, a kind of meeting