Disciple Apprenticeship... The Spiritual Art of Christ-like Measurement

Disciple Apprenticeship...
The Spiritual Art of Christ-like Measurement
By Mary Ann Wray

With the renaissance of the Holy Spirit being poured out in these last days as prophesied in Joel 2: 28 and as the Apostle Peter addressed before the crowd in Jerusalem after the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 14-21)  there has been much interest and emphasis on giftings, callings and talents. While this is powerfully prophetic and part of our New Covenant inheritance, something else of equal and great importance has suffered lack in the Body of Christ. Now more than ever, with the increasing moral landslide happening all over the earth and deteriorating Biblical values in family and social life, character development is extremely critical for any child of God to become effective for Jesus Christ on a long term, lifelong basis. We need both of these godly attributes emphasized in a holistic way, if we are to continue in the Christian Journey for the long haul. My Pastor wisely says, “Your gifts will get take you there; your character will keep you there.” This kind of character development occurs through many disciplines i.e., crucifying our flesh daily, applying the principles of God's word, being filled with the Spirit continually,  holding ourselves to a standard of moral excellence in the home and workplace and ongoing discipleship. The last discipline mentioned here is the purpose and emphasis of this narrative.

You see saints, we must never stop learning and growing in Christ (Ephesians 4: 11-16). To lose the spiritual thirst and curiosity that calls us deeper into the things of God only creates a spiritual dryness and barrenness. Many questions and answers have already been discovered by elders in the faith if we would just tap in and drink. To tap into the wells of another takes great humility. There’s something in all of us that causes us to independent of others rather than interdependent.

For this reason, along with a western culture that has produced self-centered thinking and living, discipleship is somewhat of a lost ‘art’. You see, it doesn't take place on a prayer line or through a personal prophecy. It doesn’t happen through forming emotional or soulish attachments with people we feel comfortable with or with whom we have mutual interests or backgrounds in common. While these types of friendships are nice, they are not the basis for discipleship. Actually, the people we may not ‘like’ may be the very ones God wants to use to help shape our character and sharpen us. Discipleship takes place in a myriad of ways: through Godly trusting relationships, yoking up with other believers who have the same spiritual vision and passion as you for Kingdom work, and reality based conversations, as a ministry friend Prophet Kevin Leal says. The primary and best way modeled in scripture is through other spiritual mentors.

Prophet Leal also teaches that the Hebrew model of discipleship was really more like an apprenticeship. An apprentice is one who is tutored by a journeyman in a particular trade until they are knowledgeable enough through hands on training along with theory, to practice on their own. This is exactly what Jesus did with his twelve disciples: mentoring and training them through teaching, transferring spiritual gifts, giving them His authority, and allowing them to try, fail, learn through their mishaps, and get back up again. As a result, they were able to carry on Jesus’ legacy, and continue His work long after He left the earth. They learned through His example to keep the cycle of Spiritual Life and fruitfulness going through impartation and discipling others. You see, Jesus commanded them to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations; not believers. Jesus said that even the demons believe and tremble. A disciple is a doer, not a sitter who may believe the word, but has no follow through. Without discipleship spiritual reproduction stops!

Hebrew boys and girls were mentored by their mothers and fathers along with elders in their community. The term elder is tribal. If a father saw that his son had a desire to learn a particular trade and the father wasn’t skilled in it, he would ‘lend’ his son to another family in the community who could help develop him/ her in his ‘bent’. These elders would invest their time, wisdom and instruction as if the child was their very own. This usually occurred after the child was 13. This was and is the purpose of the Bar/ Bat Mitzvah to this day. ‘Bar’ means son; ‘Bat’ means daughter. ‘Mitzvah’ means commandment. Under Jewish Law, children are not obligated to observe the commandments, although they were and are encouraged to do so as much as possible in order to learn the moral obligations they will have as adults. At the age of 13 (12 for girls), children became obligated to observe the commandments. The “Bar Mitzvah” ceremony formally, publicly marks the assumption of that obligation, along with the corresponding right to take part in leading religious services, to count in a minyan (the minimum number of people needed to perform certain parts of religious services), to form binding contracts, to testify before religious courts and to marry. It marks the beginning of adulthood.

On a practical level, Jesus learned the trade of carpentry from his step Father Joseph. However, Jesus needed no spiritual mentor except His Heavenly Father. Remember how Jesus left his father and mother and remained in the temple at the age of 12? This occurred when they went to Jerusalem to observe the Passover Feast. After three days his parents found him in the temple courts, sitting with the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. When they saw Him, they were amazed due to the fact this sort of thing wouldn’t normally happen. His mother, asked Him “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” You see, up until the Bar Mitzvah, the mothers were primarily responsible for raising sons in the Jewish tradition. So Jesus answered his mother with a question, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know I must be about my Father’s business?” Jesus was declaring his own Bar Mitzvah! (Luke 2: 41-49)

We are not born of Divine Origin as He. Therefore, not only do we need the Spirit to teach us, we need the wisdom of other men and women of God along the way. God never changed this model because it works! (See 1 Cor. 4: 15, 1 Timothy 1:2, Titus 2: 3, 1 Timothy 5: 2, Titus 1:4, 2 John 1: 4, 3 John 1: 4, Proverbs 15:22, Psalms 73:24, 1 Peter 5: 5-6).

Every one of us, no matter how long we've been walking with the Lord, need a Paul, Barnabas and Timothy in our lives for 1. Accountability, coaching and counsel 2. Serving together while provoking one other to love and good works 3. Pouring our lives into someone else in the Lord by investing our time and resources with them (respectively).

This was the model Jesus implemented with his twelve. The Apostle Paul, who was raised a Jew, practiced and modeled this paradigm with Timothy, Titus, Philemon and others. If we don't have an ongoing relationship with a senior elder, or a spiritual mother or father, we’re missing out on what the Father has designed for us in order to develop into the full measure of the stature of Christ. We can sit and listen to wonderful sermons via TV, Livestream and such, but without one on one dialogue and practicum with more seasoned elders we will develop intellectually but be dwarfed spiritually. The Greek model centered learning primarily on lectures. This produced intellectual philosophers and stoics, not disciples. This is the same method employed in Western Culture today.

I believe with all my heart a spiritual mentor(s) is something we should pray for, because it is no longer a normal part of the Christian Culture especially in the West. God always has a remnant and He will lead spiritual mentors to us or lead us to them if we ask. On a personal level, I studied for four years to become an elementary teacher. I had a lot of theory but very little practicum. I struggled for years trying to find a method of teaching I was comfortable with. It wasn’t until the principle of a school assigned a ‘mentor’ to me that I discovered my teaching ‘bent’. The term mentor was something unfamiliar to me before then. This teacher took me under her wing and taught me everything she knew about teaching. She shared her resources and materials with me. We met almost every afternoon in the beginning as I sat, listened and learned the ‘how to’s’ through one on one coaching and observing her in the classroom. At first my pride was hurt because someone thought I needed a mentor; after all, I had taught for five years so it wasn’t really necessary so I thought. This principle was wise enough to understand someone ‘new’ in the system needed special attention and guidance. Needless to say, I learned more in that one year than I had in the previous five years of teaching on my own and four years of attending college.

I also learned to be mindful of my mentor’s time and schedule and not demand more than what was reasonable and practical. It was during these times when she was not available or when I was solo in the classroom that I experimented and practiced what she taught me. The next time we would meet, I would ask questions and share concerns or difficulties. This mentor along with two other first grade teachers and myself, formulated our ‘team’. Each one of us had unique talents that we all gleaned from and became a stronger team because of it. At the end of the year we actually won an award in recognition for “An outstanding example of Teamwork!” It was a wonderful learning experience that I will never forget.

You see, the Father wants to provide this for us in His Kingdom, but we’ve got to recognize the need for it and seek it out. One word of caution: don't jump into a mentoring relationship with just anyone. Be patient and let the Father do the leading and directing, otherwise you may find yourself unequally yoked in terms of what God wants to do in your life. A person can't take you where they've never been before and if they don't have the same vision, the result will always be di-vision (two conflicting views). A person can have great Bible knowledge but that in and of itself is not the same thing as mentoring you as a spiritual father/ mother. Someone can’t teach you how to drive a car if they never driven one. They can’t teach you to cast out a devil if they’ve never done it themselves. You need more than theory and book knowledge. Our church has a motto…“Raising up spiritual fathers and mothers to produce spiritual sons and daughters to become spiritual fathers and mothers.”

In John 14 Jesus explained to His disciples that He came to show them the Father. We live in a fatherless generation and as a result, there are millions of broken lives with huge identity issues. Many people are seeking for significance and identity in what they ‘do’ rather than whose they ‘are’-God’s Child. They’ve replaced ministry for identity and title for transparency.They believe since they are gifted in certain areas these giftings is what makes them acceptable and operating in them gives them a sense of approval from others and significance before the Father. This kind of mentality produces a vicious cycle of more dysfunction and imbalance. The purpose of spiritual mentoring is to help restore identity, trust and dependency on Abba Father as they model Christ likeness before us. The end result is that we find our identity in the Father through Christ alone. Out of that identity comes a rest, intimacy and place of abiding where spiritual fruit is automatically produced (See John 15).  

In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul told the Corinthians, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ…Another version puts it this way, “You should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” Paul told Timothy, his spiritual son who he won to Christ himself, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”  (2 Timothy 1: 13).

This is just as important for us today. We don’t need spiritual superstars as role models; we need spiritual fathers and mothers. I was spiritually dwarfed for many years because this was lacking in my life. Honestly, I had some bad experiences with spiritual leadership over the years who had huge character flaws, were aloof to the sheep, or made promises to me that they didn’t keep. Therefore, I developed trust issues. I came to a place, not meaning to, where I thought I could get everything directly from the Holy Spirit without the assistance of other mature men and women of character in Christ. As a result, I became wise in my own eyes (Proverbs 3: 7) and ‘retarded’ in my spiritual stature. In the Father’s mercy and much later in life, He led me to a place where Disciple Apprenticeship has become a reality and I praise God for it. The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable but we need others to assist us in the process of maturation.

Attending church services, listening to sermons, reading books, going to spiritual growth seminars and Bible College can’t take the place of discipleship. I did all of that, but many things were still lacking. While these things are important it’s not enough. Corporate meetings are designed for worship, exhortation and doctrine but not hands on mentoring. Disciple Apprenticeship occurs mainly behind the scenes with other ‘shepherd’ type disciples who will invest themselves and time into the lives of others. They’ll tell it to you straight without the hype. We need to get this back in the Church, not only for new converts, but because there are so many adult Christians who have an orphaned spirit. I know because I was one of them and I see it everywhere I go. I am so grateful to the Father for leading me to a place where this is being implemented after so many years of wandering and wondering. Now, I’m able to impart and invest into the lives of others more effectively because I no longer wonder, “Is this all there is?” Unequivocally I can say, “No it isn’t, because I’ve discovered there is more!”