In a previous article on preaching and normalizing “King Jesus,” I argued that we want to avoid the false dichotomy of “King Jesus” vs. “Savior Jesus” by integrating and synthesizing the two. That is to say that Jesus can only be a savior because He is first the King.
What I mean when I say “preach and normalize being a disciple of Jesus” is something similar. We want to dispel the false dichotomy of “Christian” vs. “disciple” and explain to the people of our churches how they are actually the same thing; there is no difference between these two terms. A “Christian” who is not a “disciple” would have been foreign to New Testament Christianity—this was a concept that came along much later with the advent of cultural Christianity.
The New Testament Is about Being a Disciple of Jesus
If you have read a few discipleship books, you probably know by now that Christian only appears in the Bible 3 times, but disciple appears 267 times. Also, if you look at the first instance of the use of Christian, there is more involved than what you might think. In Acts 11:26 (NIV), Luke wrote, “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” Who were called Christians? The disciples. Just a few verses later, Luke goes back to using the term disciple and doesn’t use Christian again until he quotes an unbeliever using the term in Acts 26.
In fact, in first-century Greek, Christian literally meant “a disciple of Jesus Christ.” You might think about the modern term Swiftie. Here’s what you get if you look up the word on the internet:
The term Swiftie refers to a fan of musician Taylor Swift. It is commonly used as a self-identifying term by Swift fans and by others to refer to Swift fans. Calling someone a Swiftie often implies that they are a very passionate and loyal fan—as opposed to just a casual listener.
If someone calls themselves a Swiftie, or if you call someone a Swiftie, it implies that they are a devoted follower of Taylor Swift, they know the lyrics of her songs, and most likely live by the philosophy found in her songs. If someone called themselves a Swiftie but didn’t know her songs, we might not believe they were telling the truth.
“If someone called themselves a Swiftie but didn’t know her songs, we might not believe they were telling the truth.”
If mentioning Taylor Swift and Swifties is not the best example to use in your church, you can use the example of the philosopher Epicurus and his disciples being referred to as Epicureans.
If you preach exegetically, you can preach through the Gospel of Mark and point out the use of disciple while you are teaching about the Kingdom of God. There are a couple of key points about disciples that you can emphasize in the book of Mark. In Mark 2:18, the author wrote about the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees. This is a good place to point out that being a disciple of someone was a common concept in the first century and that everyone would have understood what it meant to be a disciple. You can insert the example from Acts 11:26 at this point to demonstrate that Christian simply meant “a disciple of Jesus.” It is also a good place to make the point that all churches, religions, and cultures are making disciples of someone or something. We need to make sure that we are specifically making disciples of Jesus.
Some might counter that Paul doesn’t use disciple in his letters, and this is true. However, it is only because Paul uses familiar terms such as brothers and sisters for other believers because he holds them to literally be his family members. More importantly, the Gospel of John uses the term disciple more than any other book of the Bible, and it was one of the last books written near the end of the first century. Therefore, the term disciple was still in use at least 60 years after the life of Jesus.
“The term disciple was still in use at least 60 years after the life of Jesus.”
Being a Disciple of Jesus is Mandatory—Not Optional
King Jesus only ever invited people to Himself in terms that could be understood as becoming His disciple. Whenever He invited people to “follow” Him or “believe” in Him, He was inviting them to leave behind their previous way of life and become His disciples.
When Jesus preached the gospel, He gave two conditions for salvation: “Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15a, NIV). Repent, or turn from our former way of life (whether religious or irreligious), and place our faith/belief/trust/allegiance in the good news that “the kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:14-15, NIV).
When you dig a little deeper into what it means to “repent and believe the good news,” it can be summed up as being a disciple of Jesus. To repent means to turn from how we have been living our lives before Jesus, whether we have been “good” people or “bad” people. As we turn from how we have been living our lives previously, we must turn instead toward the gospel of the kingdom of God as found in the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. To be “saved” is to become a disciple of Jesus.
“As we turn from how we have been living our lives previously, we must turn instead toward the gospel of the kingdom of God as found in the person and teachings of Jesus Christ.”
A Soldier in the Army of King Jesus
The best way that I have found to explain what it means to “repent” and become a disciple of King Jesus is by comparing it to joining the Army. Before joining the Army, recruits come from very different walks of life. Some have been good citizens; some have been not-so-good citizens. Most importantly, they have all been living out their lives with different goals and for different purposes. In the same way as these recruits, before becoming a Christian someone might have been a good or a not-so-good person. However, just as both the good citizen and the not-so-good citizen had to “repent” of merely being a citizen to become a soldier, everyone (good or not) must repent of their former life in order to follow King Jesus as His disciple.
As Paul wrote to Timothy:
“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” (2 Timothy 2:3-4, NIV)
“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”
Once you become a soldier, you have a common purpose and mission with your fellow soldiers. You learn how to live and act as a unit to accomplish that common mission and goal. Likewise, once you become a soldier in the army of King Jesus, you leave behind your previous goals and purposes to join together with other disciples of King Jesus to accomplish the goal and mission that He left us: to be and make more disciples of King Jesus!
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18b-20, NIV)
And just in case we don’t understand what it means to be a disciple of King Jesus, He clarified it in His instructions: “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
This reminds me of what I consider one of the least taught, most important passages in the Bible, 1 John 2:3-6 (NIV):
“We know that we have come to know [Jesus] if we keep His commands. Whoever says, ‘I know Him,’ but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.”
“Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.”
Notice that John (Jesus’ earthly best friend) wrote that only two things prove that someone knows Jesus: they obey and imitate Him. It just so happens, that is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The apostle John wrote that knowing Jesus is only proven by being a disciple of Jesus.
If you are looking for a resource on how to explain that being a Christian is the same thing as being a disciple of Jesus, The Discipleship Gospel by Bill Hull and Ben Sobels and the accompanying workbook are good resources that tie together being a disciple of Jesus to the gospel of King Jesus. Walk through the workbook with church leadership and staff to get everyone on the same page.
Start small and move slow. Remember to give your people time to acclimate to new ideas and accept that something different is going to have to be both taught and done in order to accomplish the mission that King Jesus left for us to complete before He returns.
Excerpted from Curt Erskine, The King Jesus Revolution: Overlooked Advice for Making Disciples.
