Learning to Be a Disciple: The Way of the Master

By Luella Campbell

Discipleship and sonship are intimately connected. Jesus was a Son to His Father and a rabbi to His disciples. His goal was to teach His disciples how to be sons by introducing them to the Father and calling them to follow Him and imitate Him as Gods beloved Son. They were to be His replicas on earth, training others to follow Him.
Jesus was a Jew, born and raised in the Jewish language and culture of His day. Out of this richness He invited and trained uneducated men to take His yoke, learn from Him and go into the world to set people free from their yokes of bondage.
Westernization has obscured the Biblical meaning of discipleship and spawned believers who have lost the truth and simplicity of following Jesus. The church has been fragmented by theology and tradition instead of being united by the Spirit of Jesus.
Jesus stripped Judaism of its impositions by taking people back to the Torah and explaining what God meant, not what rabbis imposed on it.
This book is an attempt to re-introduce believers to Jesuss yoke by teaching them to embrace the spirit of Torah, which reflects, not rules or religion but mercy, based on the love of the Father.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Sep 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482808896

Luella Campbell

She is a trained nurse and has a diploma in theology and in ministry. As pastoral assistant, she teaches, writes teaching materials, articles for her church magazine, and daily blogs on four websites. Her first book, Learning to be a Son, was published in January 2015.

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PROLOGUE

The Journey Begins

L ife’s a journey.

I’m sure you’ve heard that many times. But it’s true. Life is a journey. We all start somewhere and end somewhere.

My journey began on 28th August, 1940 when I made my appearance in the big world into a family which already had a three-year-old son.

My growing-up years were relatively uncomplicated. We were an average family with an average income, living in an average house. Sounds boring, doesn’t it! My father was an astute businessman and my mother a stay-at-home mom who cooked, baked, sewed and knitted with excellence and did everything for her family. She taught me to do the same.

My brother and I were educated at the boys’ and girls’ schools respectively in our town. After my brother left school, he fell in love, dropped out of university and joined my father in the wholesale business. I trained as a nurse and midwife, went to Bible School and married soon afterwards. My marriage produced four sons and finally ended in divorce in 1991 after twenty six years.

Although my spiritual journey began at the age of fifteen, my real journey took a long time to get going. The early years of my marriage were taken up with child care. I had four boys in quick succession – the first in 1967 and the last in 1972. My dream for a daughter was shattered two years later when my little girl was stillborn at thirty five weeks gestation. Another two pregnancies ended in miscarriages and I eventually decided to call it a day.

At that time I was just too busy to take time for God. He was always there, in the background somewhere, but my life was too filled with cooking, cleaning, caring for and ferrying children to and fro single-handedly to have time for Him. My emotional pain was deeply buried, and I would not let it get hold of me because there was just too much to do. This pattern continued until my youngest son was two years old when once again I was pregnant and desperately hoping for a girl.

The death of my unborn daughter was a bitter-sweet experience. In my grief I felt the presence and comfort of God my Father like a warm blanket wrapping me up and cushioning me from the terrible pain that threatened to rip me apart. I lay in a private room in the maternity hospital after her birth listening to the wails of healthy new-borns who were cradled beside their mothers while I only had empty arms.

This was my first real taste of the Father’s love in the midst of my busyness and neglect. To have felt a love like that was almost worth my loss. The memory of it lingers still and tinges the sorrow of never having a daughter in my home with the sweetness of a Father’s compassion for His hurting child.

But not even that experience would set me on course to discover the reality of my heavenly Father’s love and His longing for fellowship and union with me, His daughter. It would take many twists and turns in my life and many more hard experiences before I would come to realise that I am God’s deeply loved, greatly blessed and highly favoured daughter.

After my divorce, I struggled with the inevitable guilt associated with believing that divorce for a child of God was the unpardonable sin. God slowly convinced me that divorce was not unforgivable because He was also a divorcee. Imagine that! How liberating it was to discover that God had divorced His people and sent them away into captivity for seventy years because they had committed spiritual adultery with the pagan gods of the surrounding nations.

Although unfaithfulness was not in the equation in my relationship with my husband, we could no longer live together. I had no option but to leave and make a new life for myself somehow. Fortunately three of my four sons were already out of the house and my youngest was a soon-to-leave-school teenager whom I thought would be able to cope. Little did I know how much emotional damage our divorce would do to him. Unfortunately I had to leave him because I had no home to which to take him.

In many big and small ways God proved to me during those years of struggle and readjustment that He was, indeed, a real Father who had pledged to care for me. He provided a place for me to live; He gave me work in the local hospital that helped to restore my self-confidence and self-esteem; I had friends who loved me as I was and a church family that stood by me in my brokenness …

Let’s fast forward to 1996. I had been divorced for five years, and had been working in the hospital for seven and a half years. Life at work was becoming very challenging. My country had gone through its first democratic election since the dismantling of apartheid in 1994. We had a new majority government and the previously disadvantaged people were enjoying their new-found freedom.

However, together with freedom came the attitude that freedom meant do as you please. Authority in the hospital was breaking down because of the power of the unions. Workers loved being union members because being part of the masses gave them the power to force and manipulate authority for their own ends. As a white South African, and in spite of being in charge of the maternity unit, I was now among the minority who were told what to do. Without order and authority in the hospital, things quickly became chaotic. Theft was rife, disobedience epidemic, and life at work became intolerable.

I had long cherished a dream to run my own Bed and Breakfast. It was time for me to make that dream a reality. Through much prayer, God brought about a miracle and I, who worked for the government and had nothing with which to set up my B&B – Reflections – had the title deeds, debt free, to a five-bedroomed house in my hands on 1st April 1996. Thus began an eight-year adventure into the tough world of business which I could never have navigated without the help and guidance of my ever-present and loving Father.

I emerged from that season of my life richer for the experience of business, human beings and the faithfulness of God. In spite of my complete ignorance of the hospitality business and the stiff and cut-throat competition in the world of ungodly people, I came out of it at the age of sixty four with a small profit to fund a trip to the USA to visit my eldest son, enough assets from the sale of my property for my retirement and another dream in my heart.

In spite of many years of being a child of God in His care and under His protection, I still had little understanding of what the significance of being His daughter really was. I enjoyed the benefits without thinking much about it. I was rather like an unappreciative child who is happy to take from a parent without giving anything back in return. But somehow, in spite of my selfish and irresponsible attitude, I was still on my journey with God.

We had a stormy passage through those eight years at Reflections – God and I! There were many occasions when my finances were so tight that I was afraid to buy a loaf of bread in case I put my overdraft into overdraft! In spite of my crying to God for help, He said nothing and did nothing. It seemed as though He were either deaf or indifferent to my pleas. But God was still there, and little did I know that He was painting on a bigger canvas than I could see.

It was only two years after I had sold my business that I understood what God was doing. My brother had bought the house for cash on the strength of an investment my father had made with me as his beneficiary, which would pay out after five years. The amount paid for the house appeared in my books as a loan. According to the revenue office, I was liable for capital gains tax on the loan after I sold my business. Although I did not understand how it all worked, I learned that I would have to pay a whopping R27 000.00 on the sale of my property, according to a lawyer for the Receiver of Revenue.

I was devastated. ‘O God,’ I cried, ‘I need a miracle.’

Several weeks later I received the dreaded window envelope. Imagine my joy when I read in the column that said: Due by you – R00.00! How did that happen? In the years when my business made a loss because of stiff competition and, in spite of my thinking that God was not listening He was way ahead of me. My losses cancelled out my gains and left me with no debt to pay! Once again my heavenly Father was acting for me.

My next dream was one that I had cherished in my heart long before I ever set up my Bed and Breakfast. I longed to work full-time in the church. I have a heart to teach God’s people His Word. Retirement at the age of sixty four was the ideal time to ‘re-fire. I could not think of going into retirement with nothing to do all day. I offered myself to my pastor as a volunteer member of staff. Without argument he accepted my offer and with it came a small apartment in the house which is part of our playschool, and an office at the church.

I had no idea where my grand function| as pastoral assistant would take me, but God knew. As the years have unfolded, my journey as a daughter of God has become richer and my understanding has grown in an environment of loving co-operation and unity between the school and church staff and me, and an incomparable pastor with whom I work closely as an associate and elder in leading this body of believers.

My children gathered for a reunion in 2008 after being scattered from the time they left school. It was a special time of getting to know each other again as married men, fathers and friends. During our time together in a beautiful spot in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands, all sixteen of us, father, mother, brothers, sisters-in-law and grandsons enjoyed fun, laughter and plenty of good food.

During this time I secretly struggled with a physical condition which caused me increasing alarm. On my return home, my visit to the doctor revealed the suspicion of a malignant ulcer which needed a specialist’s confirmation after tests. I cried out to God for a miracle. After two days of prayer and three days of fasting, the specialist could find nothing except a small area of scar tissue. A biopsy confirmed that there was no ulcer and no malignancy!

From then on I prayed David’s prayer:

Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. (Psa. 86: 11)

Little did I know where this simple prayer would take me! My healing miracle happened in January, 2008. Just two months later, I was invited to attend an evening service of a conference led by a young preacher from the USA. He was unknown to me at the time but my friend urged me to attend because she had been blessed by his teaching. Thus began God’s answer to my prayer – Teach me your way, O Lord.

This young man brought a completely new perspective to my understanding of God’s Word. He had, at that time, spent eight years under the tutorship of a rabbi who also happened to be a Messianic Jew and a Pentecostal minister. Through his teaching, new understanding began to dawn on me as I read the Bible from a Hebrew language and cultural perspective.

I was very excited. The Bible made sense to me as never before. I was shaken right out of my old ways of thinking and into a new world of Paleo Hebrew – the ancient Hebrew language – and Hebrew culture and traditions. This did not mean that I had to become a Hebrew scholar. Far from it! I leaned heavily on the scholarship and teaching of others. It did mean that my mind was opened to receive what I had prayed for, new insights into God’s ways.

As my understanding of God’s Word changed and grew, I began to realise what Jesus meant by being His disciple. It was much more than being a faithful church member, paying my tithe to the church, reading my Bible, praying and witnessing to non-believers about the need to receive Jesus so that they would not go to hell when they die!

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons I learned from the young American preacher was doing money God’s way. His teaching opened my mind to the bigger responsibility I have to be more than just a person who tithes to the church; but one who is a steward of what God has entrusted to me, and who is to take care of those for whom I am responsible. I learned how to live in a circle on a square as the Hebrew people were taught to do, giving twenty percent of my income away and living on eighty percent.

Through the prophet Malachi, God rebuked and gave a double-sided promise to His people:

‘Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.

‘But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

‘Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.’

‘But,’ you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’

‘In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Then all the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land,’ says the Lord Almighty. (Mal. 3: 7b-12)

What I learned from this Scripture was that failure to do money God’s way is to rob Him of what is rightfully His. He challenged me, as He did Israel, to put Him to the test, which I have done since 2010. He did not promise to pour money out of heaven! What did He promise? He promised to open heaven’s windows. What does that mean? An open window lets in fresh air and light. Air is breath or spirit. Light is understanding and enlightenment. I discovered that faithful stewardship was the key to the blessings of supernatural favour and revelation.

He also promised to rebuke the devourer i.e., the seed eater. In agricultural terms, He was referring to the birds which walked behind the sower to eat up the seed.

Like everything else in my experience of doing life with God, it has been a partnership of faith. When I did my bit, God supernaturally did His. This is the amazing thing I have come to experience. No matter how little I may have, when I obey God’s directions, I always have enough and even more than enough! And there’s more …

Since I began to obey all the facets of His economic policy I have received more enlightenment than I can actually handle. By the way, it is foolishness to dismiss His instructions simply because we find them in the section of His word called torah. God’s teaching, whether we find it in the Old Testament or the New, is His wisdom, and it works! This has been a very big part of my journey.

I longed to share what I had learned with my fellow believers. I spent many hours studying and writing a discipleship training manual. Finally, on its completion I offered a discipleship training course to the church. I began with twelve excited and enthusiastic people, some of whom fell away for various reasons. Five have remained and we have journeyed together on an adventure into discipleship which in its sixth year.

Out of my studies on being a disciple there grew a new perspective on being a child of God. As I explored the implications, I began to realise that sonship was what Jesus was about. He came to earth as the Son of God to reveal the Father, to remove the obstacle of sin through His death and to take us to the Father so that we can be reinstated in His family as His beloved sons and daughters.

I could not keep this to myself. I realised that the people of God, many of whom are still living as orphans and slaves, need to know that Jesus has done everything to bring us back to God’s house and into His family. Thus my first and imperfect book was born. It was like a pregnancy. God had impregnated me with His word through His Spirit. After many months of gestation, the book came into being and is now on the market in paperback and e-book formats.

But that was not the end. Another book was conceived in the womb of my spirit – this time an attempt to unlock the meaning of being a disciple. Sonship and discipleship are inextricably linked together. Jesus is a Son to the Father, and a rabbi – a teacher – to His followers. We are sons to our Father and disciples to our rabbi. As their rabbi, Jesus taught His disciples what a son was and how to live like sons.

What I plan to present to you in the rest of this book is the product of seven years of reading, learning, praying, studying and growing in my understanding of how we relate to Jesus and what we learn from Him as His disciples. He called us to wear His yoke. What is His yoke? What did He mean by taking His yoke? As we journey together through this book, we will explore the meaning of His invitation:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matt. 11: 28-30)

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

F or those of my readers who have not read ‘Learning to be a Son’ (© 2015 , Partridge Publishing), I have included this part of my introduction to put you in the picture because what it presents is important to help us understand what it means to be Jesus’s disciple. For those who have read the book, it will do no harm to revisit the information.

On one occasion a religious leader met Jesus and asked permission to follow Him. Instead of welcoming Him, Jesus put him off with these surprising words:

Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head. (Luke 9: 58)

It seems as though He was trying to discourage him because following Him would have meant a hard life of deprivation and poverty.

This does not make any sense if one considers that He had already called twelve men to follow Him. Why would He invite some and discourage others from being His disciples? Was it because a group bigger than twelve would be difficult to manage or was it perhaps because of His limited resources?

When we read this text from a Hebrew perspective, it takes on a different meaning. Jesus was speaking figuratively; in other words, what do foxes do in holes; what do birds do in nests? Foxes do not sleep in holes and neither do birds sleep in nests. Holes and nests are used for reproduction. Therefore, Jesus was speaking about reproduction.

What was He getting at?

Would it not make sense to understand that He was referring to Himself as the head, but that as yet He did not have a body on which to place His head in order to reproduce Himself? He was in fact advising the prospective disciple that He was not ready to take on a crowd. The man was to be patient because the time would come when He would welcome all those who would be part of a reproducing body, called the church, of which He would be the head.

This leads me to the next thought. If true discipleship is about Jesus reproducing Himself through His body, why would He want to do that? To find the answer we have to examine the core reason why He came from God to become a human being.

If I were to ask a group of Christians why Jesus came to earth, I would probably get as many answers as people in the group. The most popular answer would probably be, To save us from our sins, and that would not be incorrect. In fact, none of the responses would be wrong but, to find the real answer, we have to ask Jesus.

Where will we find a statement of His core purpose? People usually say important things on their deathbeds.

John must have recorded as carefully as possible Jesus’s final prayer before His death, which would have shown us what was uppermost in His mind. He was aware that time was up. He wanted His Father to know that He had accomplished His mission and that He was ready to face His final task before returning to His place in glory. When we read the gospels and especially John’s Gospel, we realise that Jesus had one passion in His heart, to make His Father known.

I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world … (John 17: 6)

Why was this so important to Jesus? The religious climate in which He functioned was a rigid system of rules that brought people into bondage and obscured the nature of the God who had originally called Abraham into a covenant relationship with Himself. It was through Abraham that God would build a nation that was to show the world what He is like. The nation failed and turned God’s Torah into a religious system which they could not and did not want to obey. Jesus had to come to show them what the Father is really like, minus all the rigmarole.

Even the death of Jesus would have been misinterpreted by His followers without a thorough understanding of God’s nature and motive.

Jesus’s parting instruction to His disciples before He returned to the Father was to reproduce Him throughout the world as they went from place to place and as they conducted their daily lives in the world.

Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ (Matt. 28: 18-20)

They were to make disciples of all nations just as they had been Jesus’s disciples. They were to make replicas of Jesus by baptising them into identification with Him in His death and resurrection, and teaching them to obey everything He had taught them. An uncomplicated mission if ever there was one!

Unfortunately, our idea of what a disciple is has obscured the Biblical picture. To many of us a disciple is a church member who faithfully attends Sunday services and whatever meetings are appropriate for him or her during the week. He is one who tithes to the church and keeps away from the sins of his community. Being a disciple may include witnessing by giving out tracts or telling people about the Four Spiritual Laws, but that is usually left for the on fire Christian.

Is this what Jesus lived and died for?

To understand what being a disciple is about, we must first understand Jesus’s mission and our mandate and then we need to go back to the Bible and to the culture and nation in which God’s plan was born.

JESUS’ MISSION

In Matt. 16: 18, Jesus stated His mission – to build His church – against the backdrop of Caesarea Philippi, the red light district in northern Israel where both Caesar and the goat-god Pan, among others, were worshipped.

Caesarea Philippi

"Caesarea Philippi is a large archaeological site containing elaborate building projects erected by Herod Philip and Agrippa II in the area of Dan, at the foot of Mount Hermon in northern Israel. In addition to magnificent Roman structures, Caesarea Philippi is also known for Banias, a collection of springs and pagan worship sites linked to the cult of Pan. The centrepiece of this ancient worship site is a huge cliff and grotto, which contains the remains of numerous altars, caves, temples, and courtyards. This is the location at Caesarea Philippi where Jesus met with his disciples and finally asked the question, Who do you say that I am?

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one