Disciples Are Not A Special Class of Christian
Just the other day, I invited someone to join a group centered on the fundamentals of being a disciple of Jesus and making disciples of others. I was shocked by her response. Usually people tell me that the group is not at the right time or day for their schedule. Sometimes they are already committed to another gathering.
But what I was told this time was: “I’m not ready for it.”
A person who would actually state that they are a Christian said they weren’t ready to be a disciple. It was almost as if they were saying that being a disciple is different from being a Christian. It left me confused.
Yet, this kind of strange idea has been floating around churches for a while now. It’s the idea that you can choose what type of Christian you are going to be. You can choose to be a regular average Christian or you can choose to be one of those special super Christians.
The difference between the two is that the regular average Christian has a certain set of requirements to be satisfied and then he is free to live his life however he wants to. You’ve seen this type of Christian before. Maybe you are one or have been one.
Meet Melissa.
Melissa goes to church every Sunday. She pays her tithes. She faithfully serves in a church ministry. Melissa has checked all the “average Christian” boxes. She’s done her religious duty. She may someday even go on a short-term mission trip as a bonus. This will be enough to appease both the pastor and appease Melissa’s conscience.
Her life is kept neat and tidy. She doesn’t bother or offend anyone (except on social media). The only way anyone would know she was a Christian would be the “Jesus Loves Me” keychain she has or the bumper sticker she put on the back of her minivan.
Melissa is still in control of her life. Although religious, she does not necessarily have an abiding walk with Jesus characterized by obedience to His commands.
The problem is that God doesn’t ask us to just do our religious duty. He asks us to give our lives to Him. It’s not enough to check all the boxes.
The definition of a disciple is someone who obeys Jesus and makes other disciples of Jesus. This is more than just checking external boxes that other churchgoers can look at. This is the same kind of thinking as the rich young ruler in Matthew 19.
The Rich Young Ruler
A rich young ruler approached Jesus with one question on his mind: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus let him know that there’s only one who is good, and that’s God. He also gave him the second half of the 10 Commandments, which can all be assessed by someone else.
When Jesus asked him if he had kept the law, he answered in the affirmative to the whole list. All of the things he obeyed are external. But he came up short on the matter of his heart posture. Jesus asked him to give up his wealth, and he couldn’t do it. His heart was full of the idol of money.
Even though he checked all the boxes, he still hadn’t checked the box of a surrendered life. This is not a once-and-for-all thing. This is the box a disciple checks daily. Mark put special emphasis on this aspect when he recorded Jesus’s call to take up the cross of discipleship:
“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Mark 8:23)
It’s not a one-time thing you did at a Billy Graham meeting or when you were 13 at a youth camp. The call to surrender happens every time you open your eyes to a new day. This is what it means to be a disciple.
And, contrary to popular belief, it’s not for a special class of Christian. Jesus’s invitation to the disciples is for all of us:
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” (Matthew 4:19)
This is not a call to add Jesus as a condiment to the rest of your life burger. It’s a call to surrender and be changed into a different person—the kind of person who leads other people to follow Jesus. It’s a lifelong everyday thing. I would dare to even say it’s a moment-by-moment thing.
This doesn’t mean that if you fail to do this for one day or one minute then you’re outside of the Kingdom. God is not an angry petty judge waiting for you to slip up. It’s more about the general tone and direction of your life. It’s about striving to do this daily and having the mindset of pushing toward obedience.
And this call to surrender and obedience is for every disciple … not just for the missionaries and pastors. Some think it’s only for a special class of Christians. Instead, it’s for every follower of Christ, whether they are a plumber or a pastor, a marketer or a missionary.
It doesn’t necessarily mean you move your family to the Amazon or into the inner city, although it could mean that. But it will almost assuredly mean crossing the street and befriending your neighbor. It could mean giving away one of your prized possessions because of a Gospel story you read. In other words, when you live a lifestyle of obedience, you put yourself in a position to leave everything and follow Him on a daily basis.
The opposite way is to think like the rich young ruler. It’s the stance of “I’ll do whatever the church group requires and no more. Once I’ve satisfied the requirements I’m free to live my life how I want to. Anything more than this is for the super Christians.” This is not discipleship. This is not Christianity.
How we got here
Thinking that there is a special class of Christians is not how the Church began. When the Church emerged in the first century, the outside world was hostile to it. Just to be a Christian meant a life of surrender and obedience. This obedience was to death. It didn’t matter whether you were a teacher or a bishop or an apostle. Everyone was a follower of Jesus. And sometimes followers of Jesus were fed to the lions or burned at the stake.
This made it easy to be identified as a disciple. You were a part of those weird people, and there was a social stigma on being an “atheist” (they actually called Christians atheists because they didn’t believe in the long list of Roman/Greek gods).
Then Constantine gave Christians religious freedom. Subsequent emperors made Christianity the religion of the empire. Suddenly, it was not only tolerated, but it was cool to be a Christian. Being a disciple didn’t come with high stakes. There was no danger or stigma associated with being a follower of Jesus. This change diluted the faith.
This dilution was the stimulus for monasticism. Starting with St. Anthony, monastics pressed for a more rigorous pursuit of surrender and obedience. They left into the desert and dedicated themselves to a life of work and prayer. And this was the beginning of separating normal everyday Christians with “super Christians.”
When the church becomes upstanding in the eyes of society, it relaxes requirements. Surrender and obedience are optional. In this type of setting, people align themselves with the Church for a variety of reasons.
It could be for monetary gain. If the majority of the people in your community are Christian then it's good for business. It could also be for political power. We can see how this plays out even in 21st-century America. It could also be the sovereign act of being born into a family that is Christian. No matter what the reason, if your life isn’t characterized by taking up your cross and living a life of surrender and obedience, then you are not a lower level of Christian. You are not a Christian at all.
Conclusion
This is not to diminish being saved by grace through faith. This is just an assessment of what we call genuine faith. For example, Jesus called the disciples to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men. The disciples responded by leaving everything and going on a three-year apprenticeship of learning what it means to follow the Rabbi Jesus: Everything.
Now we don’t leave everything like them because a) Jesus is not bodily present with us and b) Jesus wants us to mostly remain in our present vocations and cultural contexts. But the general point is that the response to Jesus’s invitation is surrender and obedience.
To put it plainly, there are no hobbyists or amateurs in discipleship. You are either following Jesus or you’re not. This is the natural outgrowth of a genuine saving faith. Being a good church member is a cheap substitute.
Checking the boxes of what it means to be a church member does not make a disciple. These boxes can be different no matter what Christian tradition you’re a part of: giving, church attendance, serving, small group attendance, etc. In some more strict holiness traditions it’s about whether you smoke or curse. In others, it’s about mentally assenting to the right doctrines. This all amounts to meeting the requirements of the group.
No matter what group requirements you meet, you are always invited to more. This more is found in daily surrender and obedience. And that’s not just for super Christians. It’s for everyday folks who have decided their relationship with Jesus is the most valuable thing in the universe.
This post originally appeared on: https://thepeoplestheologian.substack.com/p/fyi-disciples-are-not-a-special-class