When we talk of discipleship we often think of discipleship courses and gaining knowledge and although that is important that is not the heart of discipleship, a disciple is a follower of the Lord. When we start to look at this way we realise that we are talking about a personal relationship with the living God, this means that we are not talking about abstract ideas but living in the real world in the presence of God. Here I believe is the link between a living relationship with the Lord and knowledge about him, when we enter any relationship we want to get to know that person better and this should apply to our relationship with the Lord. The early believers in the book of Acts were people who were committed to the Lord in every way possible, listen to how Luke describes that in Acts 2;42ff,

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The disciples showed their commitment by devoting themselves to 4 key marks of a disciple, 1st The Apostles teaching,2nd The Fellowship,3rd the breaking of bread and 4th prayer. Very often we think of discipleship in terms of just the first being devoted to the apostles teaching, this indeed is important but the teaching is not just about abstract things but rather lays the foundation and the direction of the Christian life. It is vital that we see the wonder of salvation by grace alone, but knowing about it is useless without a relationship to the living God. We need to know more about the God we worship so that we might honour him and enter more fully into all that he for us. We need to be passionate about truth not just as a system of thought but by pursuing truth we can serve God better. The authority of the Scriptures must never be displaced and we must submit our lives to its teaching. This is where the second point comes in discipleship is never solitary but rather takes place within the fellowship of the people of God, we need our fellow believers to stimulate us as we follow the Lord. We can learn so much from Christians who have more experience of the Christian life than we do. When I was a young Christian an elderly couple invited me to their home most Sunday evenings, we shared about our life experiences, we read the word of God and we prayed together. I am sure that those two lovely Christian people helped me to grow in my knowledge of God. As long as we live we need the fellowship of others to encourage us and at times to correct us.

The Disciples were also devoted to the breaking of bread, in the communion service we realise the presence of the risen Christ as he applies to us his finished work, we set before us the bread and wine, these elements remind us of the centrality of the death and resurrection of Christ for salvation and godliness. We need to remember that Christ is at the centre, we follow him and we belong to his body the Church. It is in the context of the church that our lives are lived out when we put Christ at the centre.

The 4th thing they were devoted to was prayer, this is absolutely vital as this is the way we manifest our dependence upon God. The Lord’s prayer is a pattern of prayer that honours God and seeks first his kingdom. Without prayer discipleship is a farce, an outward show that has not the reality of godliness within. But a life that depends upon God and seeks his face in prayer will be a life that is transformed from one degree of glory to another.

So then when we think of discipleship we must think in terms of following Christ being in fellowship with him and his people and by our prayerful dependence upon him we will grow more and more into the image of Christ.