Later on that same evening of the Last Supper, Jesus gave one more statement on the evidence for true discipleship. He was comparing himself to a vine, with the disciples as the branches. His focus was the goal of fruit-bearing. Branches that bear fruit are pruned so that they will bear even more. Only those branches that remain in the vine are capable of bearing fruit. And God is glorified when much fruit is borne. But more than that, abundant fruitfulness is the mark of true discipleship. This is the fourth mark of a disciple [Read John 15:5,8]. A little further on, in verse 16, Jesus says, “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” What is fruit? It is what the vine produces when it is healthy and mature. Fruit includes the character qualities of Jesus listed in Galatians 5, where the apostle Paul says...

Jesus' next statement about discipleship is found in John 13, on the night of the Last Supper [Read John 13:34,35]. The third mark of a disciple is love for fellow-disciples. The command to love is not new in itself— back in Leviticus 19:18, God said "Love your neighbor as yourself."  But the measure of that love is new. The standard is no longer the natural self-love that all of us are born with. The measure is the self-sacrificing love that led Jesus to wash the feet of the disciples. It is the love that led him to death on the cross for their redemption. Jesus was calling his disciples to display this love so consistently and openly with one another that even people outside the community of faith would recognize Jesus as the source...

The second mark of the disciple is found in John 8. Here Jesus is talking to Jews who had believed in him. But their belief was very shallow. They were offended by the statement that Jesus existed before Abraham as the eternal God, the one who revealed himself to Moses in the great name "I Am." So Jesus raised the issue of true discipleship [Read 8:31,32]. The second mark of a disciple is faithfulness to God’s Word. Jesus knew that there were those who associated with him, yet who were not really...

One of the most familiar verses in the Bible is Jesus' command in Matthew 28:19 to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” But what did Jesus mean by the word “disciple?” The Greek word translated “disciple” comes from the verb, which means “to learn.”  So the basic meaning is “learner.”  A disciple of Jesus is someone who has come to learn from him. The gospel writers sometimes use the word “disciple” in this broad sense to refer to the crowds who followed Jesus. But other times they are referring only to the Twelve whom Jesus chose to be with him constantly. In the Greek world, the word "disciple" was used...