5 Characteristics of a Disciple of Jesus

1. Life and Doctrine.

My fear for his generation is that we are becoming a generation full of great worship, great teachings, great talent but little internal transformation. Information should lead towards transformation. There shouldn't be a disconnect between what we say we believe and our lives. We cannot allow our youthfulness to be an excuse for being spiritually immature. Disciples of Jesus have a life that resembles the gospel they claim to put their hope in.

2. Worship.

A true disciple is someone who is a worshiper. And to be a worshiper, you have to have an accurate view of that in which you worship. Worshipers will come against spiritual attack. The way we fight is through worship, because God has already claimed victory. We don't fight for victory, we fight from victory.

3. Evangelism.

Jesus says that as we follow him, as we become his disciples...He turns us into something. He turns us into fishers of men. And that freaks us out because typically we are thinking of methods and not the mission. The mission is clear and the methods are easy. Matthew 18 says when we gather Jesus is with us, and John 1 says we should just invite people to come and see Jesus through our gathering. Whether it be 2-3 people or 200-300 people, when we gather, Jesus is among us.

4. Serve.

John 13 Jesus goes and washes his disciples and he says that he does that as an example for us to do likewise. So serving is a major part of being a disciple of Jesus. But what do we have to offer? Not much...However in John 6 we are not called to change the world; thats God's job. Rather we are called to offer what little we have and entrust that to Christ and allow him to multiply our efforts to fulfill his mission.

5. Genuine.

All of us wear a mask. We've been trained in this since salvation. We have been trained in the Christian community that Jesus makes bad people good. But that's bad theology. Good theology says that we are all bad, Jesus is good and through faith He gives us his righteousness. So, how do we fight the mask? How do we fight the temptation to make ourselves seem to appear more holy than we actually are? We let love be genuine. Hate the evil in our hearts and cling to things that make us good. (Romans 12:9)

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