Would They Call You a Christian?
Keith Watson
What is a Christian?
Miriam Webster’s online dictionary defines Christian as “one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ.” The website gotquestions.org defines Christian as, “… someone who has been born again by God (John 3:3; John 3:7; 1 Peter 1:23) and has put faith and trust in Jesus Christ.” For many, being a Christian means that we have “accepted” Jesus, believing that through his life, death, and resurrection our sins are forgiven and we are made children of God, one day to be with him in heaven.
Notice something of these definitions with me. Many modern definitions and understandings of being a Christian are concerned primarily with an event like believing or being born again, or a rather abstract idea like having faith and trust in Jesus. It is as if the whole of Christianity is wrapped up in a single decision or event and then heaven, leaving out the rest of life. Being a Christian certainly includes being born again and believing Jesus, but is that ALL it means to be a Christian, making a decision, being born again and waiting for heaven?
The people who made up the early church were first called Christians in Acts 11. They were called Christians because they were followers of Christ. Some had been direct disciples of Jesus and others were indirect disciples who had come to believe the good news of the gospel and all that it meant through those first disciples - disciples through disciples. Christians were, in the first churches, simply disciples of Jesus. That is the short definition of “Christian,” a disciple of Jesus.
If a Christian is a disciple of Jesus, what is a disciple of Jesus?
In the culture and context of Jesus’s life and the early church, a disciple was someone who followed a certain teacher and his teaching. The idea of “following” meant much more than giving mental assent to the teachings of another. It meant learning from the teacher everything that could be learned. It meant understanding the teaching and the applications of his teaching. It meant a life attached to the teacher and his teaching, and a life of becoming a replica of the teacher. In the end the disciple’s thinking, teaching, and entire life becomes like the teacher’s. The disciple takes on the image of the teacher.
“The disciples came to be called Christians in Acts 11 because their lives looked so much like the life of Jesus.”
Dallas Willard said this of being a disciple, “Trusting Jesus and becoming his disciple is the same thing. I like the word apprentice because it means I'm with Jesus learning to do what he did.” This is an analogy that we might all connect with. An apprentice studies under a master or teacher in most trades. A plumbing apprentice spends his days with a seasoned plumber learning things like what the plumber does, how he repairs, and what tools he uses. The apprentice learns from the master tradesman how to evaluate a job and think through problems and challenges. When the time is right, the apprentice begins doing plumbing work under the watchful and guiding eye of the master. As time and practice continues, the day will come when the apprentice knows the trade and understands the ins and outs of plumbing, so much so that he or she can work on their own. The apprentice takes on the knowledge, understanding, and functions of the master tradesman. He or she “looks” like their teacher! A disciple of Jesus is an apprentice of Jesus.
This is what discipleship with Jesus was like with his disciples! He prepared his apprentices to do the work of the Kingdom as he would and did! The disciples were connected with their master teacher in such a way that they began to reflect his thoughts and ways. The disciples came to be called Christians in Acts 11 because their lives looked so much like the life of Jesus.
In his book, One Eighty, A Return to Disciple-Making, Jeff Vanderstelt looks at this apprenticeship with Jesus and his first disciples as well as those disciples with the next generation of disciples. Being a disciple meant much more than simply “believing” the teacher:
“A disciple of Jesus is committed to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did and is doing.
A disciple of Jesus worships Jesus, is being changed by Jesus, and obeys everything Jesus commands.
A disciple of Jesus follows Jesus, is transformed by Jesus, and joins Jesus on mission in the world.”
John Mark Comer writes similarly in his book, Practicing the Way, “To follow Jesus is to become his apprentice. It’s to organize your entire life around three driving goals:
Be with Jesus.
Become like him,
Do as he did.
Apprenticeship to Jesus - that is, following Jesus - is a whole-life process of being with Jesus for the purpose of becoming like him and carrying on his work in the world.”
“Disciple of Jesus” was more than a description for early Christians. It was their identity. It was who they were, who they became when they believed. And each generation of disciples after them also became disciples of Jesus. They spent time with Jesus, learning from Him, doing the things that he did, worshipping him, keeping his commands, and joining him on his mission because of who he was, their King, their savior, the Son of God, the human we were all meant to be.
The same is true today. Disciple is who we are, what we are meant to be when by faith we believe who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Like those first disciples, who we are flows out of our faith in who he is. We spend time with Jesus, learning from him, doing the things that he did, worshipping him, keeping his commands, and joining him on his mission because we believe who he is and what he has done. He is our King, our savior, the Son of God, the human we are all meant to be. Doing the things of a disciple was for them and is for us, the fruit of faith in him. It is by being with him, and learning from him, practicing his ways, through faith that the Holy Spirit works to shape us into his image, the people we are meant to be.
While the modern understanding of the word falls far short of what was perhaps biblically understood, a Christian is a disciple of Jesus, as those early disciples were called. And a disciple of Jesus was and is an apprentice of Jesus. If this is true, then we could substitute “Christian” for “disciple of Jesus” in Jeff Vanderstelt’s description:
A disciple of Jesus Christian is committed to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did and is doing.
A disciple of Jesus Christian worships Jesus, is being changed by Jesus, and obeys everything Jesus commands.
A disciple of Jesus Christian follows Jesus, is transformed by Jesus, and joins Jesus on mission in the world.
How would you answer the question, “Would they call you a Christian?”
Please hear me.
I don’t mean to question your salvation! Ephesians 2 makes it very clear that we are saved by God’s grace through our faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and not by doing disciple-like things! But we are not only saved FROM sin and condemnation, we are saved TO many things, including this apprenticeship to Jesus, being his disciple.
My intention is to challenge you as I have been challenged.
I am challenging us, you and me and the church, to seriously consider that Jesus had more in mind for us than a single event of faith and a life of waiting for heaven. He is calling us to be with him, become like him now, and do what he did and is doing. He is calling us to see him for who he is and worship him, be changed by him, and walk in his commands. He is calling us to an apprenticeship with him, following him, being transformed by him, and joining him on his mission to the world.
I am challenging us to a new perspective on what it means to be a Christian that includes being his disciple, an apprentice of Jesus in every area of life.
I am challenging us to respond rightly to the call of apprenticeship to Jesus, a lifetime of abiding with him, learning from him, doing the things that he did, so much so that we mimic him, our master teacher.
I am challenging us to life with Jesus as it was meant to be, life as a disciple, the kind of life that would leave no doubt that we are Christians.
Suggested Reading: The Kingdom Life, One Eighty, Practicing the Way
New City, we’ll be digging into this in the days to come with the hopes of seeing our personal lives, MC lives, DNA lives shaped and reshaped to apprenticeship with Jesus and to be disciples who make disciples.
