Follower or Disciple?

When you read through the gospels you immediately get the picture of how popular Jesus was.  Mind you – popularity can be a negative dynamic or a positive one.  Mother Teresa is popular and household name. Osama Ben Ladin is a popular household name.  You get the picture.  You’re smart enough to understand where this is going already.

It was the popularity of Jesus that got Him killed.  It was men attracted to Jesus for the wrong reason that killed Him.  And yet there were thousands who were attracted to His ministry.  He fed people.  He healed people.  He delivered people.  He had compassion on people.  He taught people life lessons.  He exclaimed truth as no one else had or would ever.  He uncovered sin.  He touched the untouchable.  He ate with those who were scorned. He liberated women.  He confronted the traditionalists.  He embarrassed the cultured.  He astounded the academicians.  He startled the secure.  He threatened the politicians.  He uplifted the common and destroyed the religious.  He taught with parables.  He traveled inside simple circles of life.  He challenged the sophisticated. He confused the wise.  He left his mark on all He came in contact with.  And it cost Him his life.   He was committed to the cause and call of His Father.

He was anointed to “preach the gospel to the poor, release the captives, recovery of sight for the blind and set free those who were oppressed” (Luke 4.18).  Mission accomplished!  He did all that and then some.   He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3.8).  Sometimes we think this means going one on one with Satan. John writes that Jesus came to destroy the “works” of the devil.  He came to destroy the labor or the efforts of Satan.  He does that by connecting with you and I.  He does that by sending you and I out to do our job.  This is where a break down starts to occur.  He came to call and make disciples.  What He wound up with is more followers than disciples.  It ain’t getting the job done my friend.

Followers are different from disciples.  Followers connect with a crowd mentality.  They like the atmosphere.   They like the activity.  They like the noise, the clamor.  It satisfies the flesh in that they’re not at home – they are “in” the crowd.  They don’t have to commit.  If someone notices they’re not in the crowd for an event – no big deal.  They are mere followers.  They control how close they get, how committed they are and just how far they are willing to go.   Jesus had thousands of followers.  My question is where did they all go after the ascension?  There were only 120 in the upper room.  Something significant happened to all of those followers – and it wasn’t good.

Then there are the disciples.  Disciples are the disciplined and committed converts of Christ.  They sacrifice, they pay a price for intimate relationship.  They are not their own.  They realize life isn’t theirs to control.  They go where He tells them to go, do what He tells them to do and say what He tells them to say.  They love Him and they keep His commandments.  They are deeply connected spiritually to their Savior and their Lord.  They are willing to give up their life for Him.  They are willing to charter unchartered territory.  They are willing to endure affliction and share in the sufferings of Christ.  They understand fellowship.  They know what it means to climb the stairs to the upper room for intimacy in a city that hated their Savior.  They know how to go back down those stairs and face a community that opposed their faith.  They were disciples.  Like Jesus – He entered the wilderness full of the Spirit and left the wilderness in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4).  Disciples climb the stairs into the upper room full of the Spirit but exit in the power of the Spirit.  They are willing to pay a price a mere follower will not pay.

We are a blessed nation.  We have been evangelized to the furthest degree.  We have Bibles on sale at Wal-Mart.  We have Bible’s in hotel night stands.  We have Bible’s printed for the illiterate and the theologian.  We have original language Bibles and we have urban dialect Bibles.  We have bill boards advertising churches.   We have schemes to market our churches that Wall Street moguls can only envy.  We have crusades, conferences and seminars.  We have multiple service venues throughout the week to accommodate every angle necessary for attendance purposes.   We have lights, camera and yes, we even have some action once in a while.  We have security and check in procedures for children.  We can contribute on-line, at a kiosk in the lobby, with a check and yes, we still take cash.  We have made “church” so relatively easy that we have actually removed any semblance to being a disciple from our faith culture.  We just aren’t producing disciples.

Several years ago I created a Discipleship Institute for our congregation.  We had a handful sign up.  It was fun and challenging.  But I realized that we aren’t really interested in becoming disciples.  Too costly.  Too time-consuming.  Too much work.  Too much reading.  Too much interference with life in general.  After all we play softball on Monday, watch the kids play on Tuesday, maybe go to church on Wednesday, leave Thursday open for those “just in case” issues, do groceries on Friday night and spend Saturday doing chores.  Sunday is plenty for most of us!   Just too much to do to really be a disciple!  All of this boils down to a lazy western minded church that is very comfortable in our state of being…well…mere followers.  I am praying about this.  I want His wisdom and knowledge on this one.  I really think the Lord is calling us to a renewed sense of discipleship in our faith communities.  There is a stirring taking place.  I can only trust that the church climb the stairs of commitment and experience in greater numbers than they did in the New Testament.  I’m hoping there is a divinely motivated shift from a follower-ship to a discipleship movement.  Will you join me in praying that in these last days we see disciples being made?    It’s the old “keeper of the aquarium” verses “fishers of men” theory.   Which one are you?  Follower or disciple?