Character of the True Disciple of Christ

By Moabi Pitsi

Matthew 9:37-38 “Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”

Today I wanna speak about working for the kingdom of God and true discipleship. Original Disciples. God’s disciples. Christ Disciples. People’s disciples. Praying Disciples. Free Disciples. Flexible Disciples. Effective Disciples. Changed Disciples. Building Disciples. Unselfish Disciples.Powerful Disciples. Accountable Disciples. Radical Disciples – these things makes you true disciples. Only true disciples of Jesus Christ, harvest!

There are also fake disciples. Satan’s disciples. People-hating disciples.Unpraying disciples.Inprisoning/Jailing disciples. Inflexible disciples. Ineffective disciples.Untransformed disciples.Destroying disciples.Selfish disciples.Powerless disciples. Complaining disciples.Disciples who follow spiritual formality.Unaccountable Disciples – these are characteristics of fake disciples. Their aim of this type of disciple described in John 10:10: To steal, to kill, to destroy”. But Jesus came so that we have life (activated, free, flexible, etc).
Discipleship is not membership. Membership= rights, responsibilities and privileges. True discipleship give unconditional cheerful gift to God.

• True disciples are apostolic. Disciples look outside, based on their inward understanding: Disciples who go to people and advanced the Kingdom of God – are true disciple. They follow the path set by Jesus. They true disciples of Jesus changed their minds about people. They were influenced by the Holy Spirit to be free from selfish interest. They lived for Christ, not themselves. Thus they were called to follow Jesus and make disciples who also love and follow Jesus.
• They stood up for their rights, as believers and as individuals. They accepted that not everybody should be like them. There are plenty of needs that we must meet for others. They went out to check who can they be a blessing to, in order to advance the Kingdom of God. Their concern was on how to make life easy for each other. Only true disciples harvest followers of Jesus Christ in truth and spirit.
• True disciples are flexible and know who they are in Jesus. If you want good harvest, you must be flexible: Flexible disciples make flexible flow of the spirit. They encourage spiritual freedom and God’s “Suddenlies”. They adjusted their leadership style and approach to win people for Christ.They did not prescribe how things should be done. Jesus sent disciples out to people they did not know. They did not sit in a church all the time, waiting for people to come to them. They did not wait until they were perfect to pray, heal, sing. God gave them the power and ability to do great things. Jesus delegated his power to them. Jesus did not hold all the power to Himself. Jesus knew that power is only powerful when its shared. And for the Kingdom to advance until today, He needed disciples. Disciples knew John 10:27 “The sheep that are My own hear My voice and listen to Me; I know them, and they follow Me”
• True disciples accept themselves and God’s call. True disciples accept their role. They acknowledge God’s power and the authority. We live in a world where people don’t accept others, don’t accept themselves and don’t accept authority. They understand who they are in God, and know that God understands them. God is our Creator. The Creator knows best the product. That is why the Psalmist says Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:23
•  True disciples understand that Jesus is greater than religion. Religious people, for example, the Pharisees followed strict rules. One step outside the rules meant punishment.Jesus changed that. He brought grace (favour of the Lord). We don’t have to condemn ourselves everytime we do something wrong. God is not sitting with a hammer, trying to check every little wrong thing we do.
• True disciples are radical: they were not dormant. They were growing Mark 16:17 says” And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues. They found miraculous provision when the advance the Kingdom of God/Gospel. Even the devil, saw that these people had the DNA of Jesus. They had an identity of the real church, a church that grows. They were apostolic, with fresh anointing oil and fresh wineskins. 
• May God help you to become a true disciple.Amen.