Discipleship in the early NT church was that believers came to understand themselves as followers of Jesus in the world. We have made discipleship about learning more doctrine and one more Bible study rather than actually putting into practice the imitation of Christ and pursuing His likeness in our lives. Jesus condemned the scribes and Pharisees for their brand of discipleship that shaped proselytes liked themselves and making them “twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15 ESV). It is easy to be a disciple of a Jesus that we have shaped to be like us and our kind. It is hard to take up our cross and follow the Jesus revealed by the Spirit in the NT. If we would Christianize Christianity, we must get back to the pure pursuit of Christlikeness.
“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)
