Disciple of Jesus: What It Means to Follow, Be Changed, and Join His Mission
- Mark 1:17 gives a clear definition of a disciple as someone who follows Jesus, is changed by Jesus, and becomes committed to the mission of Jesus.
- True discipleship is not only learning about Jesus but being transformed by the Holy Spirit into the kind of person Jesus would be if he were living our life.
- Mature disciples join Jesus in making more disciples, because becoming like Jesus means participating in the same mission Jesus gave his church.
What is a disciple of Jesus?
The answer we commend is that a disciple is somebody who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and committed to the mission of Jesus.
There’s a passage of Scripture, Mark 1:17, that makes this clear. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
If you scour the New Testament and try to summarize everything in a really brief picture that captures the heart of Jesus and the New Testament, this passage from Mark is a really good one. In his invitation, Jesus gives us a good way to define a disciple: “Follow me”—following Jesus. “I will make you”—being changed by Jesus. “Fishers of men”—being committed to the mission of Jesus.
Let’s unpack each of those three parts.
1. A Disciple Follows Jesus
The Greek word for disciple is mathētēs. It refers to an apprentice, somebody who basically commits his or her life to learning a vocation through the knowledge, expertise, wisdom, training, time, and relationship of being formed by somebody.
That helps us understand what it means to follow Jesus. Being a disciple isn’t simply believing certain things about Jesus. It means committing our lives to following him and learning from him.
But a lot of people stop there. Following Jesus is essential, but Jesus also tells his disciples, “I will make you…” There is a change that God wants to bring about in our lives. He wants us to become a certain kind of person.
“Being a disciple isn’t simply believing certain things about Jesus. It means committing our lives to following him and learning from him.”
2. A Disciple Is Changed by Jesus
God desires to make us into the image of Jesus. When we look at the New Testament, we see that the real work of the Holy Spirit is the formation of Christ in our lives, so that day by day we learn to do what Jesus did and to become the kind of person Jesus would be if he were living our lives in our bodies. 
Think about James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were called by Jesus from their nets, and they dropped them and followed him. They were hard-nosed guys when Jesus called them. They even had a nickname: the “Sons of Thunder.”
Does that mean they had an anger problem or a temper? Probably. We’re not sure. But remember the time when Jesus was going through Samaria and James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven? They were basically saying, “Jesus, can we just call down fire from heaven and zap them all?”
In our culture today, they might have been shunned and never heard from again because they had been haters. But Jesus pulled them closer.
By the end of John’s life, he was known as the apostle of love. What we discover is that we can’t change ourselves, but Jesus can change us into his image.
“God desires to make us into the image of Jesus.”
3. A Disciple Is Committed to the Mission of Jesus
This takes discipleship to the next level. A lot of people think discipleship is simply following Jesus and being formed into the image of Jesus. But the more we become like Jesus, the more we will do what Jesus did.
Jesus spent much of his ministry making disciples, and at the end of his earthly ministry, he gave his followers the commission to make disciples.
We’re not really mature as disciples of Jesus unless we’ve grown to the point where we’re joining this mission and seeking to make disciples the way Jesus made disciples. Making disciples is the core mission of the church.
So what is a disciple of Jesus?
A disciple is somebody who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and committed to the mission of Jesus.
