Distinguishing Discipleship from the Initial Gift of Eternal Salvation
We do not become a disciple of Christ in order to become a Christian, or in order to “get saved.” Salvation precedes Discipleship. Neither do we take Scriptures that are dealing with Discipleship and try to make them applicable to salvation as many do.
For the sake of this study, I am using the word “salvation” in the sense of our initial receiving of Christ as our Savior with the resultant gift of eternal life for the spirit.
That which Jesus referred to as being “born from above” (John 3:3), and expressed in his words in John 5:24: “Truly, Truly, I say to you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life.” In John 4:10, Jesus calls it the GIFT of God, and makes clear that this gift IS “everlasting life.” I need not go into the many scriptures which show that this “eternal life” for the spirit is the present possession of all who have truly repented and sincerely believed with their heart in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and their Savior.
IF we are to receive the greater benefits of Christ’s Kingdom; even as I pointed out earlier, the “gospel” (good news) of the Kingdom involves far more than just the message of the GIFT of eternal life.Discipleship is in fact all about the ongoing salvation of the soul beyond eternal spiritual rebirth.
I want now to focus your attention on a KEY scripture which, I believe, presents Christ’s two-fold call or invitation: first to SALVATION, and then, secondly to DISCIPLESHIP. The scripture is found in Mt. 11:28-30. For the sake of illustration I will divide the Scripture as follows:
SALVATION
“Come to me, all that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mt. 11:28)
DISCIPLESHIP
“Take my yoke on you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt. 11:29-30)
Notice that there are two distinct invitations and two promises of “rest.” The first “rest” Jesus promises to ”give” would certainly relate to those who come to Him laden with their great burden of sin and guilt, receiving from Him that which He is willing to give: forgiveness of all their sins and the gift of eternal life. Thus the first invitation is to come to Him for salvation.
The second “rest” is that which He will enable those who respond to “find,” providing they fulfill the conditions. The first condition is to “take my yoke on you,” and the second is “learn of me.” Now, immediately following, Jesus states two things about Himself which are parallel to the two requirements He gives. Let me “pair” them as follows to show what I mean.
“Take my yoke on you”
“I am meek.”
“Learn of me”
“I am lowly in heart.”
There is no way we can understand these statements of Jesus about Himself unless we see them in terms of His relationship to His Heavenly Father. Thus, Jesus is asking us to relate ourselves to Him, in the same way that He is related to the Heavenly Father.