I read Anita Opoku’s post.
The first time I read it (and the corresponding part 1) I was a bit confused, but a little more thought helped me realize she was not talking about the same thing I think of when I hear the word discipleship. To me, discipleship is the relationship I have with the Savior—my striving to learn of him and develop the attributes he has. What she uses the word to mean is what I would call ministering—the relationship we have with those around us. Jared Halverson introduced me to the symbolic use of the cross to relate the two great commandments. The vertical piece represents our relationship with God, or the first great commandment. The cross beam represents our relationship with others, or the second great commandment.
Obviously, discipleship and ministering are intimately linked. You cannot have one without the other. The scriptures spend a lot of words teaching us to “mourn with those who mourn … and comfort those who stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:8-10) here tied explicitly with the baptismal covenant which represents the entry into The Way. “Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.” (Jacob 2:17) and use any riches God gives you “to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.” (Jacob 2:19) “Succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” (D&C 81:5) King Benjamin gives us a beautiful description of how loving God naturally leads to loving our neighbor:
9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.
11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.
12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.
13 And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.
14 And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.
15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.
All of this is to say that it is impossible to be a disciple of Christ without also being a minister: “but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28) As Paul wrote to the Ephesians: we are all in this together.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
We cannot walk The Way alone: We need our Savior. And we need each other.