He looked at me and said, “I’m a Christian. I believe in Jesus.” Then he proceeded to tell me everything else he believed in, a melting pot of religions, all filtered through his feelings.
Another, at a different time: “I’m a Christian. I was baptized as a child.”
Since the term originates from the Bible, perhaps it is the Bible that should exclusively define the term.
“…the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). Who were called “Christians”? Those who merely express a belief in Jesus? No, “the disciples” were called “Christians.” A Christian is a disciple, or learner, of Jesus. Unless you are actively and continually following Jesus and learning more about Him, you are not a Christian.
What does the Bible say a disciple/Christian looks like?
A disciple/Christian is becoming like Jesus (Matthew 10:24,25).
A disciple/Christian regards Jesus above family, possessions, and life (Mark 8:34; Luke 12:22; 14:26,27,33).
A disciple/Christian makes other disciples/Christians (Matthew 28:18-20; John 15:8).
A disciple/Christian keeps Jesus’ words (John 8:31; Acts 6:7).
A disciple/Christian loves all other disciples (John 13:35; Acts 11:29).
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3 comments:
Yes.
And we have been commanded to go and "make" disciples.
There is of course the balance of responsibility between the "making" and the willingness of "learning" to be a disciple.
"Motivation" is always the razors edge...how can we motivate one to desire to "become?" Alas, for sure, the truth must be taught/proclaimed before it can be grasped by the masses.
Yahweh, fill this one with the desire and passion of Christ...for like brethren.
my reproach-less and beloved shadow-master xntyoda, enshrouded in the shadow surrounding the Master (Ex. 20:21), nailed to the cruciform X and tabernacled in the body of a 900-year-old Chihuahua:
How to make disciples, and hence, Christians?
The commission given to the unconvinced (“some were doubtful”) eleven (not twelve) states: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:20). How? Baptizing. Immersing in the death of Jesus (Romans 6:3-11), in a begging for a clean conscience in Jesus’ life (1 Peter 3:21), and in the name of the Trinity (Matthew 28:19). Also, “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
How do we make them want to learn, to be disciples, to be true Christians?
We cannot. We immerse and teach and model. Only One (in Three) can make them love the testimonies of Jesus.
Thus, the new covenant: “‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’” (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16). They are not His people until He has written His Word on their hearts. Compare also with Ezekiel 36:25-27.
Our High Priest prayed for us, not to preachers (we fools in the royal court of heaven), but to the Father: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). He may do it through us, but we are powerless to do it ourselves.
Paul, writing of enemies of the truth (which we all are until changed from above): “The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 24-26). Prior to God’s granting, they (and we) are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Our job? Gently correcting.
What of our role, most loved xntyoda? A mere stylus. “You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:2-6).
Forgive me for saying these things you know far better and have lived far longer. Often our masters and teachers are sounding boards that help us think through our folly into an awareness of our own ignorance. Thank you.
Ah, yes, DRofMorgan, the ol' pigs ear is loving the rats rantings.
It does get so weary...often feelings of "casting pearls" comes to mind...?
Is it any wonder the word says the the Spirit is roaming to and fro looking for one with a perfect heart toward Him?
When it all comes down to the last vestiges of trust in any human...I am always forced back into the Sovereignty of the One in Three.
There and only there is our trust secure...as you well know.
It's OK...or should I rather say...It is delightful to remind each the other that which we both well know.
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