The Calling of a Disciple

The Calling of a Disciple

“The Lord has given Me the tongue of a disciple, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning. He awakens My ear to hear as disciples hear.” Isa. 50:4-5.

The calling of a disciple is an exalted and holy calling; it is the greatest calling in a person’s life. Jesus Himself was a disciple of His heavenly Father. His ear was awakened every morning so that He could hear as disciples hear. No one has ever been as poor in spirit as Jesus. He did nothing of Himself; He only did what He heard from His heavenly Father. Therefore He began His Sermon on the Mount with these words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Only in this poorness of spirit could they be taught by the Master and be filled with His fullness. The apostles served according to the strength and grace that God gave them. They could not boast of anything in themselves.

One can be among disciples, both seeing and hearing, without actually being a disciple oneself. No one hears such glorious things as a disciple hears. The tongue of a disciple can speak comforting and refreshing words. A person can be in the church for years and still be discouraged and downhearted. Then he has not heard as a disciple hears. A disciple hears the call: “There is hope; there is comfort; there is help; there is an eternal inheritance and glory to be obtained.” The prophets saw, and rejoiced; Jesus looked into the heavens and rejoiced in the midst of patiently enduring the cross, not considering the reproach. In the new covenant we have the gospel concerning a glory that will never pass away.

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation.” We will not be spared sufferings and tribulation, because it is precisely through these things that the image of Christ is formed in us. Part of the disciple contract is to suffer, hold out, bear, and endure all things. Jesus pours out the love into our hearts that endures all things, forgives all things, and hopes and believes all things.

There is a need for disciple tongues as never before—tongues that speak from a disciple heart. Tabitha was a disciple. There is a great need for such wholehearted disciples with disciple tongues who can refresh their fellow sisters with what they have seen and heard in fellowship with Christ and the saints. They are able to speak edification, exhortation, and comfort. 1 Cor. 14:3.

There were many women who heard the apostle’s message, but only Lydia had ears and a heart that were awake so she could understand what Paul was saying. She was so hungry for God’s Word that she asked them to come to her house so that she could hear more. Acts 16:13-15.

Most people only have an ear when it concerns their own interests and are not open to anything more than a few opinions of what people think about their achievements. The disciples hear so that they can receive something that can mold them to be like their Master. He works with His living Word in order to get His image, His life, and His nature, into us. In the beginning He sees all kinds of strange images in us. However, if we listen and are obedient, the Master can shape and mold us. Then we will all be transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor. 3:18.

A disciple has cast his anchor into heaven itself—not into people, houses, automobiles, and other things. Therefore his joy and peace are unshakable. Through obedience to Jesus’ words he will partake of Jesus’ joy in its fullness. John 17:13.

Jesus can only perform His glorious work in disciples. They are finished with this world and the things of this world, and they hate themselves.

When Paul spoke boldly in the synagogue for three months concerning the things of the kingdom of God, some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way of God before the multitude. Then he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. Acts 19:9-10. People will listen if you speak about the atonement, but if you speak about the way of the cross and self-denial, you will soon have many opposers. In the first church they spoke so much about the way that they were called the “Way,” and those who opposed it called this way of God a sect. Acts 24:14. We must not water down the truth in order to keep the multitudes, but rather separate the few disciples and instruct them in the way of God, which is the new and living way through the flesh. Jesus separated the disciples from the masses when He spoke the Sermon on the Mount to them. He spoke from His own life, and His desire was that the disciples should partake of that same life. They did partake of it and they proclaimed it. 1 John 1. This is also the disciples’ message in our days.

Oh, that many believers might be apprehended of the calling of a disciple, to see it as the only thing that is great and glorious!