Fact-Check: Are you a “Christian” or a Follower of Jesus?
The label “Christian” is understood by many in solely a cultural context. But to be a follower of Jesus means a total transformation.
Tim Gustafson
The above statement by Tim Gustafson raises questions as to who is a Christian. He seems to be saying Christianity means different things to different people depending on where you are in the cultural spectrum. In other words, an American Christian is not the same as a Russian or a Nigerian Christian, neither is a Japanese Christian the same as an Iranian or an Israeli Christian. He distinguishes between the term “Christian” a label used to describe different groups in different cultures, and a “follower of Jesus.”
Many, like this writer, would assume that a “Christian” is a “follower of Jesus.” But if Tim is correct in his definition, it follows that there are millions or perhaps billions around the world who fit into his definition of a Christian but are not followers of Jesus. You and I might want to know where we belong — a Christian in the cultural context or a follower of Jesus. However, given its cultural coloration, it becomes easy to identify groups with the label “Christians” while it is incredibly difficult to identify one who is following Jesus.
The question is Who is a follower of Jesus? And what is total transformation?
Before we figure out what it means to follow Jesus, let’s take a look at those who pass as Christians in today’s world. Christians come under a variety of labels — as denominations — Catholics, Anglicans or Episcopals, Baptists, Methodists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and a host of others, with each developing its unique traditions. Identifying with unique traditions becomes the marker of where you are in the Christian-cultural spectrum. Indeed, some claim to be Christian because they were born and raised in a family of churchgoers. Currently, the trend is for churchgoers to identify as Catholics, Baptists, Anglicans, etc., rather than be known as Christians — which speaks to the confused perception of who is a Christian as opposed to a follower of Jesus.
To fact-check, let’s go back to the Scriptures. What did Jesus say about his followers? What were the apostles’ teachings about following Jesus? And how many of our churches are still on track — preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus?
A casual observation of the practice of Christianity and the lifestyle of those who identify as Christians in today’s world reveals a sharp contrast to the examples of followers of Jesus in the first century of the early Church. These believers earned their Christian label as they lived out their faith and commitment to obeying Christ. Thus a Christian for the observer out there is a follower of Jesus. He or she earned the label by following Jesus.
Following Jesus involves the total being of a person — impacting and reflecting in every facet of one’s life — the heart and mind of the individual. It is the meaning of transformation: The old is gone, the new is come. Jesus called it “born again” — a spiritual rebirth (John 3). It is not about joining the membership of an organization called a church. Joining a church doesn’t necessarily make one a follower of Jesus. Right?
The gap between following Jesus and the conventional perception of Christianity began to be created soon after the birth of the early church. It is marked by wrong teachings and wrong portrayal of Jesus and the gospel. The apostle Paul had to confront the phenomenon in his letter to the Galatians:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1: 6–7).
Paul also alerted the Corinthian Christians to the danger of being misled by the “super-apostles” who infiltrated the church with their perverted gospels:
But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough….” (2 Cor. 11:3–4).
A “different Jesus,” “a different spirit,” and “a different gospel” were what the “super-apostles” ditched out to the people.
Paul says “you put up with it easily.” They should be able to see the difference and deal with it easily, he suggests. On the contrary, the church easily took in the wrong teachings and false doctrines. Paul was saying to them that the doctrines that sounded to them like the true Gospel of Jesus Christ were in reality counterfeits. So from the beginning, the apostles were engaged in contending for the faith.
But the struggle to maintain the purity of the Christian faith suffered serious setbacks over the centuries such that by the twenty-first century, the church had completely lost touch with the true gospel preached by the apostles.
The apostle Jude saw the urgency of defending the gospel in his letter:
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord (Jude 3–4).
Condemned individuals — ungodly people — perverting the grace of God, had left their imprint on the church till today, and have continued to have a field day in turning the church from focusing on the Gospel of Jesus to teaching the philosophies and traditions of men.
Jude’s appeal to Christians to contend (defend and protect) the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people is as relevant today as it was in the first-century church. Sadly, the difference is there remains very little in today’s church worthy of defending. The church needs a revival — a total transformation to get back to the basics of the Christian faith.
Jesus taught the disciples and set before them the climate under which they would live and carry out His commands. Here is some of what he said to them:
I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me … I lay down my life for the sheep,” “They will not follow a stranger,” “I have told you these things so that in me you will have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart I have overcome the world.” Jesus prayed to the Father “I have given them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of the world even as I am not of it. Sanctify them (set them apart) by the truth, your word is truth (John 10:11–18, John 16:33, John 17: 14–17).
True to His words, the first-century followers of Jesus were rejected and persecuted, thrown into the lion’s den, burnt at the stakes, and banished from civilization. Notwithstanding, they stood their ground and died for what they believed in.
Now think about it. Do we share the same faith with them? Are we seeing what they saw? Are we working toward the same goal? And are we ready to give up just anything for the sake of Christ and His kingdom?
My brother and sister here’s food for thought. We are going to leave all of these behind to give an account of our stewardship to the One who sent us into this world for a purpose. Have you found your purpose in life?
Sure, this is not a selling point for a preacher or a gospeller today in the way it was not popular with the first-century disciples of Jesus. The irony is the present generations of Christians have slid beyond the realm of compromise of their faith to go as far afield as to compete with unbelievers in their cravings for worldly fame, power, and material wealth.
This writer is well aware of the unfriendly sentiment his writings are likely to invoke in most readers because they are not what they want to read.
But for real, I am in good company. What about you?
PS: Please do me a favor. Role up the page to the end of the article to show that you read it. Give me the pleasure of knowing. Thanks.
