The technical term for "disciple" means a learner. However, by extension, it has the idea of becoming a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, what the modern church has done is to redefine what it means to be a fully committed or fully devoted follower of Christ. One of the problems in the modern Christian culture is that somehow it has deluded itself into thinking that the gospel needs to be made more appealing. I.e., as a church what can we do for you and what are you looking for in a church? We make everything convenient for people. We tell them that they can wear blue jeans and that we will give them various "worship" options - contemporary, blended, or traditional. We provide nice buildings with multiple programs to choose from for every age group. Churches can do all of that and more, but the question that needs to be asked is whether or not they have really helped someone to become a fully committed follower of Christ. Just providing all of these secondary things for people may in essence simply make not being a disciple easier for them. In a very subtle way it removes the concept of being fully committed and substituted an unbiblical definition of commitment that both embraces and enhances spiritual mediocrity. In essence, the modern church has redefined what it means to be a disciple.
It seems that when Jesus spoke to people that rather than drawing them to Himself, He seemed to make them not want to follow Him. One day three people came to Him and let Him know that they wanted to follow Him. However, Jesus told them that they had the wrong idea of what it meant to be a disciple and that they needed to go and do something else. Certainly we remember the story of the rich young ruler and how unappealing Jesus made the message of discipleship and salvation to him. Jesus never diluted what it meant to be a fully committed follower of Christ.
Many church goers are simply spectators. They come to church, watch the pastor, say hello to other Christians, and go home. Nothing is required and no sacrifice is needed. However, Jesus clearly defined that if someone was going to follow Him, that it would require sacrifice, surrender, foregoing personal pleasures, and restructuring personal and family priorities. He used words like denying yourself, taking up a cross and following Him, and He never backed off of that standard - never. Why was that? Well, He knew that people who were not really interested in following Him would still be glad to tell everyone that they were. He knew that people would be satisfied with a Christianity without a cross if they could get by with it. He knew that the church would make cultural compromises. He knew that people would be more than willing to substitute good intentions for genuine commitment. He knew all of those things, so rather than lowering the bar He was always raising the bar.
If someone is ever going to be a fully devoted follower of Christ, then there will have to be significant changes in their life and in their lifestyle. Peter left his fishing business. Matthew left a lucrative tax collection business. Paul gave up all of his religious trappings. People seem to want a no-cost Christianity. However, that simply does not exist. What many churches have today are pseudo believers, but not genuine followers. They get decisions, but not conversions. However, there is no genuine believing apart from following. We never seem to make the connection that believing in Christ involves following Christ. How could it not? Why was it that at the end of His three year ministry filled with the supernatural that Jesus only had a handful of disciples? It was because He never compromised on what it meant to be a disciple. He never lowered the bar to accommodate people. As professing believers we all need to ask ourselves the hard questions relative to whether or not we are truly fully devoted followers of Christ. We can put the fish symbol on our back windshield, wear a cross around our necks, listen to Christian music, and put on a Jesus shirt, but none of that properly defines true disciples. The greatest tragedy in all of life is to be wrong about the most important issue in life.
As the church we are stewards of the life-changing message of the gospel, salvation, and complete devotion to Christ. We are the ones who have been given that message, and to deny it, to ignore it, to redefine it, to soften it, or to simply not speak it is a travesty of the greatest proportions. It is only when we let go of our own personal lives and yield ourselves fully to Christ that we will ever experience genuine life. Everything else is an illusion.
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