Follow Me: Discovering Identity and Purpose Through Discipleship

By Luke Shackelford

Follow Me approaches discipleship with the themes of identity and purpose in mind. In this book, Shackelford examines the identity of God and the teachings of Jesus in order to present a framework through which we can correctly understand discipleship. He argues that identity and purpose are only truly found in following Jesus. As we follow Jesus we are transformed into the image of God. What we find is that to be the image of God means to bring forth restoration to the earth as He did and that we exist to carry on the life and work of Jesus. Beyond exploring what it means to be a disciple, this book seeks to reveal who we are and why we exist, which are in fact synonymous.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664294110

Luke Shackelford

Luke Shackelford is the Associate Pastor at Free Church in Orlando, Florida. He has spent years as the outreach director in various ministries and as the president of a transitional housing program for the homeless. His experience with church and encounter with Jesus has given him a unique view of what it means to be a disciple. Finding purpose and identity in Jesus has inspired Luke to teach others about the same Jesus that transformed his own life.

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Copyright © 2023 Luke Shackelford.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9409-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9410-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9411-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023904098

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/19/2023

Contents

What is Discipleship?

SECTION ONE

Preface

Chapter 1: Who Is God?

Chapter 2: The Unique Identity of Christ

Chapter 3: The Spirit of God in Us

SECTION TWO

Preface

Chapter 4: The Sermon on the Mount Part One

What Does God Expect of Us?

Chapter 5: The Sermon on the Mount Part Two

Chapter 6: The Sermon on the Mount Part Three

Conclusion

SECTION THREE

Preface

Chapter 7: Responding to the Call

Chapter 8: The Image of God

Call to Action

If you had the opportunity to discover the meaning of your existence, the reason that you are alive, or the why to your life, would you take it? These fundamental questions enter all of our minds at one point or another throughout our lives. Who am I, and what is my purpose? Some may think that the answers to these questions are found in their careers, relationships, or hobbies. While all these things are part of us, they are not where we find our true identity and purpose. There is one place alone where we can find the answer to these questions: Jesus.

My own thoughts on the matter are similar and my story has a bit of irony to it. I grew up around the church my entire life. My family was always involved in ministry and church was just a way of life for me. Despite this, I was never sold on the idea of following this man named Jesus. During that time, I witnessed the corruption and hypocrisy of the church and its leaders and felt that all of it was simply a money-making scam. Therefore, I swore that I would never become involved in ministry in any way. The last thing I wanted was to be involved in ministry or have anything to do with Jesus. I suppose that part of my problem was that I equated church with Jesus. I allowed the church and its leaders to define Jesus for me instead of allowing Him to speak for Himself.

Another thing about me is that I am very purpose driven. For as long as I can remember the questions of purpose and identity have been at the forefront of my mind. I have never been infatuated with money, relationships, or anything else that people chase and find purpose in. I have always sought to discover who I am and why I exist, and I felt that there had to be something more to this than the world offers us. The irony of my story is that the one thing that I was searching for was found in the very thing that I was running from and swore to never have anything to do with.

I’ve taken on the project of this book to help people discover the why of their existence by unraveling what it means to follow Jesus. What we will find is that these two statements are interdependent; what it truly means to exist, is found in following Jesus. My hope and prayer are that throughout this book, Jesus will make Himself known to you and that through His identity, you will discover your own. This is exactly what He did in my life, and He never stopped pursuing me even while running as far as I could from Him. Jesus is our path to true life and the only way to discover who we are and why we exist.

What is Discipleship?

To begin our exploration of what it means to be a disciple, it will be helpful to explore the meaning of discipleship or what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Of course, this book will more fully develop the sense of discipleship. First, however, it is essential to consider what the Bible communicates regarding the characteristics of a disciple to understand the concept of discipleship as a whole. This introduction aims to orient one’s mind around what they should strive towards as they read this book. We are trying to familiarize ourselves with who we should be at the end of this book and prepare for what is to follow over the coming chapters. The goal is to make Jesus the center of our lives and strive to move towards that center every moment.

Discipleship, at its core, is being Jesus-centered. That means rooting our identity in Jesus and who He has called us to be. We become disciples of Jesus by following His way of life in order to bring forth the kingdom of God that He began in His time here on earth. Through following Jesus, we discover who we are and why we exist. Therefore, discipleship, in part, is about identity and purpose. A follower of Jesus believes that in putting their focus on Him, everything else in their lives falls into place. Jesus, when made the center of our lives and focus, becomes a gravitational force that everything else revolves around, similar to how the planets revolve around the sun.

Following Jesus is not simply a philosophy nor a moral guidebook. Instead, learning who Jesus is and choosing to follow Him defines our entire lives and how we perceive the world around us. No standard of living leads us to Jesus. It is Jesus who sets the standard by which we live. Jesus is the source from which everything in our lives is defined and given its true meaning. This book is about discovering our purpose and identity. It is about who we are and why we exist. We will find that the reason we live is not simply for our sake alone but for the sake of God’s kingdom and the well-being of others. We will see that Jesus has called us to follow Him for reasons much more significant than ourselves. The moment that we allow Jesus to define our lives is the moment that our lives truly begin.

Neither the life of a disciple nor the Bible are designed to be a guidebook for responding to every situation we encounter. Both are undoubtedly relevant to every life situation, but their relevance is much more fundamental than we often think. If we approach following Jesus as a rulebook, we become religious behaviorists like the leaders of Jesus’ time. In this, we leave room for the principles of religion to take the place of an organic relationship with Jesus. Our goal is to be transformed internally on a fundamental level. It is to be molded into the likeness of God’s character and allow His law to be written upon our hearts as He promised through the prophets Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:33 and Ezequiel in Ezequiel 36:26-27. In this, we become predisposed to be like Him in all we do and do what is right automatically. We no longer need a law or rulebook to tell us how to act because it is within us and dictates our living already.

What is striking about being a disciple of Jesus is that we do not simply reflect who He is; we literally participate in His life. We carry forth what Jesus began by becoming vessels that bring the kingdom of God to the earth, intending to restore creation. We will find that the Bible or God’s plan for creation is cohesive. It is one unified story that is coming around full circle. Through us, God is carrying out a plan that began with Jesus to restore creation to its original state in the Garden of Eden, a place where heaven and earth overlap. We will find that God’s work is rarely separate from a human agent and uses humans to enact His will on the earth. The story of the Bible is about the restoration of creation back to what it was intended to be. Jesus enacted this when God’s kingdom arrived on the earth through Him. As His disciples, we must carry this movement forward as we await His return to establish it fully. As followers of Jesus, we must be obsessed with bringing forth the kingdom of God by participating in the life of Jesus.

What is a Disciple?

A disciple, by definition, is a follower or a student of a leader or teacher. A disciple is a devoted follower of their leader’s teaching and example. As disciples of Jesus, it is essential that we exclusively bind ourselves to Him and nothing else. Following Jesus permeates every aspect of our lives, and can not be forced to compete with anything else. Following Jesus requires everything that we have and demands our total devotion. It is a way of life that defines everything else that we understand.

A disciple is not just a student but a follower. One that not only listens but applies what they have learned. Following Jesus means nothing if we keep what we have learned to ourselves. What we learn from Jesus’ teachings must be applied in our lives in order to transform the lives of others. Thus the natural role of a disciple is to create disciples. A disciple of Jesus shares Him in both words and actions. As followers of Jesus, we are to communicate who He is to others, in all we do and through every communication medium. We are to let His influence permeate every part of who we are and let it flow through us to change the world around us. A disciple is not influenced by the world but is instead an influencer of the world.

Being a disciple means that we are to love and that everything we do must come from the source of love. God does everything from the source of loyal love or the word khesed in Hebrew. If we are called to participate in His character, we must live and flow from this loyal love. Jesus summed up the heartbeat of God’s kingdom and the law with the statement, love God and love others. In fact, we express our love and devotion to God through our love for others, especially when they do not deserve it. According to Jesus, the life of a disciple is characterized by love, as He states in John 13:35, By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

A disciple is a constant learner and is in a continual state of repentance. It is not the type of repentance where they grieve over the things they have done, but one where they constantly reflect on their actions and analyze how they can be more like Jesus. They do not allow themselves to get away with behavior that does not reflect Jesus. This constant state of repentance encourages a disciple because they know that when something about them needs to be corrected, it moves them closer to Jesus. They see recognizing their faults and failures as the first and most crucial step to being transformed by Him and becoming like Him.

A disciple is a servant; they are not selfish but rather selfless. They find joy in giving of themselves and their own well-being for the sake of others. They know they will and can only be refilled and provided for by God. A disciple understands that life is not about what they get but what they can give. Therefore, they live for the sake of God and others.

Being a disciple means constantly being molded by and conformed to the image of God that we find in His son Jesus. It is a constant process of change and moving towards His likeness. Our goal as disciples is to become like the one we follow.

Disciples of Jesus carry forth His mission which He began in His life here on the earth. Following Him means working to bring forth the kingdom of God as we wait for Jesus to bring it forth in its fullness and establish it in its finality. Although we must wait for Jesus to bring forth this kingdom in its fullness, we still have the privilege of playing a crucial role in bringing a little bit of heaven to earth right now. Jesus’s command to follow Him was a command to carry on the work that He began and, in the end, will finish.

We, of course, cannot talk about what a disciple is without talking about the very first people to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. It is in their lives that we discover what discipleship of Jesus means. The first disciples of Jesus gave up everything to follow Him. Right on the spot, they heard the words of Jesus, follow me, and immediately dropped what they were doing to follow Him. They renounced their former lives and identities at the command of Jesus; for the sake of the kingdom of God. The fact that their response to the call of Jesus was without hesitation is essential and something we explore in detail in the book’s later chapters. They did not try to rationalize their decision to follow Jesus or consider what they might gain from it. They responded to Jesus in the only rational way to respond to the God of all creation, with single-minded and complete obedience.

Jesus’ first disciples did not derive joy from their circumstances or possessions. They rooted all they were, including their joy, in Jesus alone. They did not hoard their possessions or money but lived daily in trust and confidence in God’s provision for them. In fact, when blessed with more than they needed, they used it to bless and provide for the needs of others. They understood each day and its provision as a gift. These disciples understood that they were not exempt from suffering or difficult times; however, they understood that God was with them no matter what they went through and that their blessing was not in the form of their circumstances. Their blessing was their relationship with Jesus and the perspective of life that comes with it. The first disciples committed and gave their lives to the call of Jesus and the kingdom of God, and they considered the giving of themselves as their reward.

Disciples of Jesus do not respond or act according to what happens to them or is happening around them. They are not reactive but rather proactive to the events around them, prepared to respond to anything that happens based on their character, which is rooted in Jesus. All in all, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus is to become like Jesus Himself.

The Problem with Discipleship Today

Following Jesus faces two main issues in today’s world. First, as humans, we try to define following Jesus for ourselves. We approach it in a way that we find acceptable or in a way that prioritizes what we gain from it. Without too much investigation, we can see how this completely contradicts the concept of discipleship. Discipleship is about following Jesus, not Jesus following us. The second issue is that we treat following Jesus as a rulebook for life intended to give us the definitive answer to every possible scenario. While this is a more innocent mistake than the first, it is just as damaging as this approach to following Jesus misses the root issue that He seeks to resolve within us.

The path to resolving the first issue that discipleship faces is recognizing that Jesus is not meant to be defined by us. Instead, we are to be defined by Him. It seems that we seek to follow Jesus in a way that we think is cool or in a way that we feel fits our identity, and we can see how fundamentally wrong that is. Instead, we should allow Jesus to define our identity and submit to His call to follow Him. Instead of following Jesus as He has called us to, we want Him to follow us wherever we want to go. Therefore, something to constantly reflect on and seek after is sincere and total submission to Jesus, laying aside everything and following Him.

The second issue that discipleship faces is one that the people of ancient Israel also faced. That is, they treated the law of God as a rulebook. In making God’s law reactive to situations, we create room for it to be manipulated and used in ways it is not intended. The law and following Jesus are meant to transform us on an internal level. Following Jesus is meant to resolve the root issues plaguing each of us, which is our hearts’ prideful and corrupt condition. In other words, discipleship is a proactive response to life instead of a reactive one like a rulebook. When these root issues are addressed, there is no longer a need for any rules because we are automatically predisposed to do what God intended. That does not mean being perfect or making the right decision in every moment. However, this does involve being self-critical and diligently striving toward the perfection of Jesus. This second issue that discipleship faces can be solved, at least to an extent, by redefining our perspective and understanding of following Jesus. It is not a rulebook to use in response to the situations in our lives. Instead, it’s to dictate our response to the things that happen by transforming the condition of our hearts and who we are at a fundamental level. Discipleship, in part, is a journey of self-discovery.

How to Be Successful as a Disciple of Jesus

To be successful in the pursuit of Jesus, we must do the following:

• Stop defining Jesus for ourselves and allow Jesus to define us.

• Let go of our expectations and stop considering what is in it for us. Instead, we must allow God to define our expectations as we move through the process. Responding to the call of Jesus with anything but simple obedience is a misunderstanding of the meaning of the call itself.

• Understand that this is a lifelong process of growth and learning. We will constantly be going through the process of failing, recognizing where we went wrong and addressing it. We must be in a constant process of dying to our flesh.

• Stop treating God’s word as a rulebook and allow it to do its transformative work within the heart. God’s word was not given to us to address the situation, but it addresses the root issue that is the source of every situation. His word addresses who we are internally.

• Let go of what we have been taught or what others have told us about God and allow God to speak to us for Himself through Jesus.

• Recognize that following Jesus is not simply about or for us personally. Being a disciple of Jesus is a life of loving and serving God and others. Therefore, we must sacrifice whatever it takes for those two things.

Being a disciple can mean a lot of different things. Above all, being a disciple has to do with identity and purpose. Following Jesus is what it truly means to be human and a vessel to usher in His kingdom. Being a disciple of Jesus is overwhelming and a seemingly impossible task and that is precisely the point; however, we must allow the Holy Spirit the time and space to work in our lives. Once we allow that, then the process of identifying God and who He revealed Himself to be through His Son, can help us discover ourselves and what it means to exist. We must commit to this process and give it time to develop within us.

Following Jesus means carrying forth His message of the kingdom of God. The message is that God’s kingdom has arrived on earth through Him, and He has begun God’s plan to restore creation to what it was meant to be. We follow Jesus, in part, by creating more followers of Jesus. We create more followers of Jesus by participating in His life and sharing the message of who He is. We leave the rest of the process to God: transforming our heart, mind, and spirit and dealing with the root condition that has infected them. Any other way of getting people to follow Jesus, whether by manipulation, fear, guilt, or empty promises of getting all that one desires from God, is ineffective and harmful to God’s reputation.

This book is designed to equip us to follow the steps of Jesus and, if we do that correctly, create more followers of Jesus. In doing this, rather than bringing death and destruction to God’s world because of the corrupt condition of our hearts, we can bring life to it as he has transformed our hearts. We can fulfill our purpose as humans and have the privilege of playing a role in God’s story and purpose for all creation.

To be a successful disciple of Jesus, we must approach His call to follow Him correctly and in a way that allows us to be rebuilt. This involves a healthy measure of humility. To learn, we must first acknowledge that we do not know. We must be comfortable with the fact that there is something for us to learn and that we, in fact, do not have it