discipleship - a lost calling?

what ever happened to the focus on discipleship? did the word scare people because it was to churchy? did the idea grow old so people abandoned it for more flashy terms?

no matter what, Jesus called disciples, is calling disciples, and left us with the mission to make disciples.

i realized this past week why i haven't focused on my calling as a disciple. i came to relate to discipleship with following rules or the law. the focus on grace by many of my teachers and pastors led me to eschew focusing on the commands in the Bible. even moreso, one teacher explaned of the sermon of the mount as being a sermon to people who were still under the law, and, therefore, not meant for us to live up to. his point was to show that Jesus was setting up the people to ask the question "what must i do to be saved?" and that Paul would later bring the gospel of grace in order to account for the unreachable commands.

this led me to, consciously or unconsciously, disregard the entire sermon on the mount as a source of commands that i was expected to obey. an entire set of commands on anger, lust, telling the truth, loving enemies, going the extra mile, prayer, fasting, and more and more was lost. this led to an overall discounting of many of the commands of God in order to avoid falling into the trap of the law. "christianity is a relationship, not a religion" is the phrase that came to represent this thinking.

there are elements of truth to that pastor's explanation of the sermon on the mount and to the view of Christianity as a relationship. the danger, however, is that people will focus only on God's grace without realizing that they are called to discipleship which includes obedience. the pharisees hid from God behind the law. i more easily hide from God behind grace. each person needs to consider which one, and to what degree, he or she uses to hide from God. right now, i am on the grace-heavy side.

what opened the door on these thoughts? Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 that he did not come to abolish the law and the prophets but he came to fulfill them. Jesus fulfilled the law. if I am in Christ, then I am connected (vine/branches) to the one who fulfilled the law. this means that i am now capable, with God's working, to live out the law as well. granted, i will fail but that possibility or, better put, opportunity is available.

this is not the following of commands in order to earn adoption. this is an opportunity to grow as a disciple after a person is part of the body of Christ.

disciples learn from their leader. disciples grow into their leaders.

do i take Jesus' commands seriously? my prayer is that i will do so.