" 'You are my friends if you do what I command.' "
- John 15:14
Yes, Jesus is the 'boss' of all of us disciples. There's no middle
ground on this; no room for vacillation on this point.
Continuing on with John, read what Jesus says:
" '...I no longer call you servants, because
a servant does not know his master's business.
Instead, I have called you friends, for every thing that I learned
from my Father
I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but
I chose you
to go and bear
fruit - fruit that will last....' " -
John 15: 15 - 17
Disciples are both friends of Jesus, but at the
same time, his employees. Disciples have a job to do in the world, and
that is to spread the salvation message of the Gospel, to comfort and
heal the sick, and to confront evil. There's really nothing anywhere
in Jesus' words throughout the New Testament ordering the disciples to
'convert' people from their currently held beliefs, but to go forth
and preach the Gospel and perform baptism.
How 'conversion' works is that once the words of
the Gospel enter the ears of the hearer, and the hearer is convinced
in his or her heart that what Jesus has spoken is indeed the truth,
the Holy Spirit enters the hearer and begins the process of
conversion. Sometimes, the process is quick and dramatic, but in most
evidenced situations, there begins a spiritual growing process that
can take weeks, if not years.
Even the Jewish leader, Saul, after he was transformed on the road to
Damascus, initially declared to all within earshot
that Jesus was the Son of God. He was unprepared, though, to carry out
the greater demands and mission of his upcoming duties. Shortly after
his Damascus experience, Saul struck out for Arabia, the Jordanian
desert area in and around Petra for three years, (Galatians 1:17) and later returned to
Damascus. Then, Saul returned to Jerusalem (Galatians 1:18). Saul, now known as Paul,
declared his statement of faith in Jesus Christ to Peter and James,
the brother of Jesus. James accepted Paul's confession of faith;
Peter remained skeptical.
Three years in the desert... the same time period of spiritual
transformation that was required of the disciples who were with
Jesus... this Paul underwent. The desert... that place where Paul
became 'seasoned in the Spirit' and came to know better that dynamic
force he met on the road to Damascus: Jesus.
It has been observed today that many who come to Christ at the moment
of their confession of faith, and receive the salvation he purchased
for us, they are overcome with the aura of acceptance. That is, the
newly converted gladly accept God's gift of salvation of their souls
which were redeemed by Christ on the cross and his resurrection; and
they are gushingly euphoric about it. Meet those same converted three
years later and a different, spiritually-matured person will be
encountered. They have transitioned from a person who was overwhelmed
with having received the gift from God to a person who has come to
realize the call of discipleship and most are eager to extend themselves
spiritually to others.
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