The Jesus Model

The Jesus Model ― Jay Zinn

TRUE CONVERSION ISN'T a decision to join a cause, a church, or a religion; it is the ongoing process of changing from one way to another until one’s life reflects the expressed image of one's teacher and mentor. Jesus chose twelve men to turn their day's prevailing worldview into heaven's culture. He intended to turn earthlings into otherlings, just as he was not of this world but from another.

To obtain such a conversion requires something more radical than our contemporary methods. The modern church subtly changed the words “disciple” and “discipleship” to define something different than what Jesus meant when he charged his disciples to make disciples of all nations. Jesus expects us to become apprentices of his teachings and way of life.

True conversion develops most effectively through the practice and patience of discipleship. Discipleship is a long-term commitment to training that will accelerate the process of mastering a disciple's life. Becoming born again makes you a son or daughter of God who believes in Jesus and is now a part of his family. It qualifies you for discipleship to build on the foundation of your salvation.

The twelve men Jesus picked to be with him were men who initially believed in him but didn’t know him—not entirely. So, for three years—as “disciples in training”—they got to know him intimately. He became their teacher. They became his students. But it came at a cost—the painful process of being confronted by Jesus to change old habits into kingdom habits.

Here are two examples of how that looked:

When the disciples desired promotion for the greatest among them, Jesus taught them the opposite—i.e., demotion to servanthood. Servanthood was the only way they could find promotion in God’s kingdom. For citizens in the king’s domain, the way up is down.

When the disciples thought, “Let’s get even,” as the Pharisees had taught (i.e., eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth), Jesus altered this worldview and taught them to forgive the offenses of others and let it go. Their spirit of revenge was not the way of a disciple—not the way for his kingdom citizens.

When we examine the Sermon on the Mount more closely, we see that it conflicts significantly with the worldviews of our day. Who among us can live out the principles in that Sermon without God’s grace? Such radical changes won’t happen in a weekend retreat or seminar with Jesus, which is why he invited the disciples to be with him all the time, every day, to observe how he lived what he taught.

In a relational setting like this, the disciples were close enough to their mentor-master-teacher to be challenged, held accountable, and witness God’s kingdom’s radical insertion on earth as it is in heaven—i.e., a revolution that would upset religious strongholds, expose hypocrisy, and turn over the tables of the moneychangers in the temple. True discipleship is more than learning about a process or a method; it’s a model that creates an internal revolution in our hearts that will upend the tables of our worldview.