This is my coursework for GCSE RE and as I was bored, I decided to post it here...
Describe how a Christian may follow the call the discipleship in daily life and work.
During the first three centuries after Jesus’ death, many Christians became martyrs for their faith. Today Christians are not persecuted as extremely as they were in the past, so there is no need for Christians to suffer in this way. There are a number of other ways that a Christian may follow the call to discipleship in their daily life and work in 2008.
Firstly, a Christian disciple should spread the good news of the gospel to others in the world. The commission tells us that this task is the responsibility of all disciples and that we should ‘baptise’ others in the name of the Lord, make others Disciples of Christ and teach people to follow God’s commandments. "Go then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples." Today there are young men and women who become missionaries and preach God’s word in remote parts of the world. These missionaries are following their call to discipleship by doing so.
Secondly, Jesus taught his disciples that a feature of discipleship is to love your neighbour regardless of their race of beliefs. When Jesus was asked "Who is my neighbour?" he replied with an informative parable: The Good Samaritan. The parable tells the story of a man that was beaten up and left for dead by robbers. As he lies in the street, men pass him by and ignore him, except one: the Samaritan Although the injured man was a Jew and Samaritans were supposed to be enemies of the Jews, the Samaritan still stopped to help him and find the man accommodation. "But a Samaritan who was travelling that way came upon the man... his heart was filled with pity." This taught the disciples that loving your neighbour meant that they could not choose who they helped as everyone was their neighbour. There are still people today that perform acts of compassion towards their supposed enemies. For example, an American soldier was gunned down by a man in Baghdad whilst the soldier tried to protect an Iraqi hospital. Despite the hatred between some Iraqi and American people, the soldier still tried to protect the injured Iraqi's.
As well as these two ways, the parable of Jesus show us that, to be a true disciple we must bring God's kingdom onto earth, despite the sinners around us. For example, in the parable of the yeast, Jesus tells us about the kingdom of heaven works: "A woman takes some yeast and mixes it with forty litres of flour until the whole batch of dough rises." The 'yeast' in this parable are the few Christian disciples that will change many people, just as the yeast transforms a large amount of dough. In the world today, there are man people that act as 'yeast' : missionaries convert dozens of people, nurses and doctors care for hundreds every week and priests serve their congregations.
Although discipleship involves leading other onto the right path and being a 'Shepard' to the people of the world, disciples should not act like typical leaders. Christian leaders should be willing to serve rather than be served and be ready to give up their lives for God. "Like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served but to give his life to redeem many people." We can serve others in the modern world just like Jesus did, by doing charity work, giving shelter to the homeless and comforting the dying. When we are serving other people, we are serving God.
Furthermore, christian disciples should be concerned with justice and achieving reconciliation of themselves and others. To be a disciple of God, we must strive to forgive others of their sins just as Jesus did. For example, Jesus told his followers that they must forgive others that repent and be reconciled with them. He tells them this through the parable of the lost son. In this parable, a young son is tired of working at home and asks his father for his share of the inheritance. After spending all his money in the city, the son if forced to return home. He seeks work as a labourer, but his father forgives him and throws him a party in celebration of his reconciliation. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." This parable shows us that we must offer forgiveness to everyone, regardless of their actions. A modern day example of this would be the mother of murdered teenager, Anthony Walker. She publicly offered her forgiveness to her son's killers. This woman showed true christian discipleship.
Also, Christians can follow the call to discipleship in their everyday lives by showing complete respect for all people. A christian should never treat people of 'higher' social classes or different races better or worse than others, as all men and women are equal in the eyes of God. "as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, you must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearances. Christians should respect all people: they should not show favour to the wealthy as God has shown favour to the poor. We can follow this call to discipleship in our everyday loves by being an example to other Christians by not judging other by their appearances, not treating famous or rich people with a higher regard and showing the same christian values to all people on earth, despite their race or beliefs.
As Christians, we all have the responsibility to use the gifts that God has given us to serve those around us and God. Our special abilities and gifts should not be kept to ourselves and 'kept safe'; they should be shared with other people and used for christian purposes. This particular call to discipleship is explained in the parable of the Talents, another story that Jesus told to illustrate this point. This story tells of a ruler who gave his servants a talent (or in this case, a large amount of money) and went away to another country. "To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability." When the ruler returned he rewarded the servants that had used their talents to make more 'money' and punished those who had kept their talent safe. " 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant" The 'ruler' is God and the money in the story is the gifts we are given. If we use our gifts to serve God and to make the world a better place, then we will be rewarded with a place in heaven. But if we do not use our talents for the good of mankind, we will be punished. We can use our gifts for good in our everyday lives by choosing jobs that suit our gift and also do the work of God. For example, those with the talent of public speaking could preach the word of God, an individual that has the talent for science could become a doctor and help to heal the sick and needy.
In addition, Jesus told his disciples and followers about the end of the world and the judgement that will be passed on all humans. Just as a Shepard sorts the sheep from the goats, God will sort the good from the bad and allow those he deems as worthy to enter his kingdom. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in," The 'good' people are those who helped the hungry, gave shelter to the homeless and comforted the dying. Jesus tells the people that when they refuse to help starving and the homeless, they are refusing to help him, because God is in all of us. This shows that we must help the people that Jesus told all Christians about, namely the sick, poor, starving and homeless. We can do this by giving money to charity and helping people in these situations when we encounter them.
As well as this, we must be willing to 'take up our cross' just as Jesus did when he was crucified to save us from sin. In other words, we must be prepared to make sacrifices for our Christianity. Sometimes, to serve others and God, we must sacrifice our own happiness/money/time, etc in order to help others. When we do this, we are being a true follower of God as we are following in the footsteps of Christ.
Finally, to follow the call to christian discipleship in our everyday lives, we must pray to God when we are suffering and ask member of the church to anoint us when we are sick. James, one of Jesus' disciples wrote about this in the Bible as advice to fellow Christians. " Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him." Christians today should both pray for the well being of the sick and help them practically as well. For example, if an elderly relative is ill and housebound, a christian should take care of their house, feed them, wash them and generally serve them.
In conclusion, to follow the call to christian discipleship in our everyday lives, we should look at the life of Jesus and try to replicate the many duties he performed on his time on earth, as well as the looking at the scriptures. Christians should spread the word of God, be a Shepard to other Christians, offer reconciliation to other and ultimately love our neighbour as we love ourselves.
