Are you a Disciple of Jesus Christ?
Are you a Disciple of Jesus Christ?
John 8: 31-32: “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Let me start by saying that this article is not to condemn anyone. It is to help people understand what it means to KNOW Jesus. Especially people who are so close to salvation but not realizing that they have not yet entered it. I was that person, and what pain and torment it would have been for me to show up in hell and find out that I just needed to make one decision and I would be in heavenly bliss for eternity? I am hoping to help a lot of people reexamine their heart and make the decision for Jesus Christ.
So close: There are many people who think of themselves as christian. (I used to be one of them). Like I was, a lot of these people are just genuinely deceived.
The thing with being deceived is that you do not know that you are deceived. Of course if you did, you would reject it and you would not get deceived or you would end the deception and you would no longer be the deceived.
In the western world where Christianity has been around for a while, the issue for some people is not that they have never heard of Jesus or that they have not heard about Christianity. They probably have heard some version of doctrine that is connected to or thought to be christianity. Depending on what people have been exposed to, there is ample opportunity for misinformation and deception.
So when you ask someone, do you know Jesus? They may think, “have I heard something about Jesus before?” and then they answer you, “yes”. But you meant: “are you having an ongoing vibrant, intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus that has stemmed from your salvation belief in Him?” So both parties have miscommunicated. And maybe an opportunity for salvation is missed.
What does it mean to be a “Christian”? A follower of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
I can tell you this, the English dictionary, Wikipedia, and a lot of “christian” articles are not the place to go looking for the definition of what a christian is. Most of them simply reflect what the culture says, not what God Himself says about things.
Let’s go to the Bible first for all things about Jehovah God and Jesus Christis.
We read in Acts 4: 13, that the Jews could tell that Peter and John had been with Jesus – because being unschooled they knew the scriptures and were bold to live it out and practice it in spite of opposition.
The followers of Jesus, and His teachings were initially called people of the Way. Jesus had said I am the way” (John 14:6). This persisted even when Paul was also preaching Jesus (Acts 24: 14).
Acts 11: 26: “And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch”.
The term “christian” first shows up in Acts 11:26. “Christians” is the Greek word “christianos” meaning “Christian, a follower of Christ”. (the “law of first mention”)
For the sake of biblical definition, note the characteristics of those who were called christians. They were people who were “disciples”, or followers of Christ.
And who is a disciple? What does it mean to be a disciple?
John 8: 31-32: “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Jesus Himself defines who a disciple is:
First they were people “who believed Him”. They were not just believing what someone else had told them about him, but they also got to know Him themselves and believed Him. They believed when He said, I am the Son of God. I do the will of God. I say what God says. I do nothing of my own. I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father through me. They believed everything He said. And because of what they believed, they changed all of their lives in accordance with what they believed Him about, in accordance with what He was teaching. I always use the analogy. If you truly believe that a house is on fire, you will probably run out of there to save your life.
So to become a disciple of Jesus in order to qualify for being called a Christian, you first believe Him.
Romans 10: 9 – 10 puts it this way: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.””
You believed with your heart, which caused you to talk about (confess) Him with your mouth.
A believer believes with their heart (wholeheartedly) Evangelist Philip tells the Ethiopian Eunuch.
Acts 8: 37 “Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Believing in Jesus is not this casual, mental or verbal acknowledgement that it has come to mean. It was a wholehearted belief. It involved packing up your life, leaving behind any obstacles or cause for delay (even pending burial ceremonies) (Matthew 8:22), and following Him without looking back.
Matthew 16:24-26:
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The word “follow” in verse 24 is “akoloutheō”. Strong’s defines it as “the same way with”, “to accompany”.
Thayer definition: “to follow one who precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him. 2) to join one as a disciple, become or be his disciple. 2a) side with his party
If you believe Jesus you become His disciple. You believe His whole teaching. You stick with Him wherever he goes, accompanying Him, serving HIm as His attendant, you side with His party. It was interesting that one of the definitions says “side with his party’
We cannot say we are followers of Jesus or christians (“christianos”), but we pick and choose what to believe or obey. We do not accompany Jesus. Jesus is at the north and we are at the East of a situation or location. Jesus is in party A, and you are in party B. we are not siding with his party. This would be Jesus becoming our follower not we following Him!
Essentially, Christians are to find out what Jesus stands for, agree with that, deny ourselves and follow Him. Period.
The next thing is that Christians abide in His word:
There was a time that I was hearing Christians say that the word of God (the contents of the Bible) is so powerful and has everything you need. The problem is that I did not grasp the significance of that statement. Therefore, for a long time, I did not have a disciplined habit of being in the word, so my spiritual results were also inconsistent, unpredictable and discouraging. A believer should know basic principles of how to “rightly divide” the word of God. We should have a disciplined habit of being consistent in Bible reading. You do not need to know Greek or Hebrew. People who are barely literate in third world countries, when they love reading the word of God and relying on its precepts for life, they glean enough to live powerful, effective lives for the gospel. Take advantage of a Godly Bible college if God points you there, but we don’t all have to go to Bible College. Holy Spirit is our first and best Teacher. However, let us make the determination to love the word of God, to hear God for yourself through the Bible, and to rely on it for life guidance.
This is a way to abide in the words of Jesus. He is the word of God (John 1:1-4)
The next thing is that because you are having a relationship with Jesus as His follower, you are loving, abiding and depending on His word, that you know the truth according to Jesus, and that truth sets you free.
Apparently these days, people say there are different truths? Well, according to Jesus, there is one truth. “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:7
It is tempting to give people a superficial presentation of the gospel or what it means to believe it. This Is a form of deception. What we end up creating is worse than an unbeliever – you create unbelievers who think they are believers. People who are not really believers, because they really do not believe. ( I was in this population). They have not been taught what it means to believe. But they think that they are believers. Some live with this deception all their lives. Sometimes, they are suffering with things the gospel could have helped them with, but they have not even passed through the front door of the gospel mansion. Their own salvation may even be jeopardized. In addition, people may look at their unregenerate lives and think that it is what Chrisitanity is about.
Another deception comes from other misunderstandings of what it means to be a christian. Some people think being a christian is being a good person – you are nice to others, you help people and you do charity work. (this is one of the definitions you find in the dictionary).
Some may think it means not not having vices (smoking, drinking, drug use, lying etc).
Some think coming from a christian family or a “christian nation” makes them a christian, .
Some think because they go to church, and participate in church activities this makes them a christian. It’s as if you were asking, Are you a Rotarian? (member or Rotary International). But although going to church is something Christians do and should do, it does not make you a Christian.
How do you become a Christian?
Having received the message of the gospel: that Jesus is the Son of God, and He is God. That because of the love of God towards all humanity, Jesus representing God, came to the earth in human form. He died for our sins, was buried and resurrected. That He is alive today. That if we believe this wholeheartedly, and we say so with our mouths, we are saved. Usually you know when you made this decision. You may not remember the date if you didn’t write it down, but you remember the circumstance and the location. It is a heartfelt decision. A decision that should be followed by actions that reflect that decision., (John 3: 3-18; I Corinthians 15:1-8). I always tell people if you are not sure that you are saved, then just get saved now,and put the doubt and insecurity to rest.
Usually, this seems like something you just do in the natural, except it is quite spiritual. When you pray sincerely to ask Jesus into your life, He comes in as Holy Spirit and takes lives in you, never to leave unless you. Sometimes you don’t feel anything but others can see the peace and joy in your countenance. There may also be more dramatic experiences: one is not better than the other, Holy Spirit just does what is needed for each person, and as they can take at the time. Some people get healed in the process, some get baptized in the Holy Spirit at the same time, some speak in tongues, some prophecy, some get delivered of addictions and bondages, some feel heavy weights lifted off their shoulders, they feel free etc. it is an awesome experience, and I highly recommend it.
There are organized ministry movements set up to intentionally corrupt the gospel. They teach and propagate error as being the truth of God, with the plan to hopefully pollute, adulterate or extinguish Christianity. They are out to deceive those who would like to believe in God so that those people can stay in sin and stay as followers of their ideology. These people say they are being loving, but they lie to people and keep their souls in bondage.
They do not like what the word of God says about their lifestyle or ideology so they write their own bible, set up their own “bible schools”, ordain their own ministers, set up their own churches in order to propagate their agenda. They have highly educated, eloquent professionals to represent them, and they sound like they should know what they are talking about, this way people are deceived and follow them. It’s like they are saying: I do not like what God says, but since you insist on looking for God, I am going to make “God” say what I want said, so that you are not really following God but following me.
People get deceived by them, because they look to these movements for their life guidance. For various reasons, people open themselves up to these communities, and to their indoctrination.
It’s what the Bible calls, choosing teachers who will tell us what their itchy ears want to hear.
2 Timothy 4: 3 – 4 “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear”.
Watch out. It is our responsibility to make sure we are not deceived. Whoever has deceived us will have their own compensation from God but in truth, at some point God God reveals to us that this was a deception. It is our responsibility to leave it, and to choose to let it go.
We have to seek God as He is in the Holy Bible. Look for “King James version”; “New King James version” or The New Living Translation.
I am coming to the conclusion that instead of asking someone, “are you a christian? Or Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? maybe better questions would be “are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? Or Who is Jesus in your life? Or who is Jesus to you personally?
For a true believer who has a vibrant relationship with the Lord, you would usually see their face light up, and they can’t stop talking about the Lord.
I encourage you today, if you are a true believer of Jesus Christ, to follow after Jesus hard, so that deception and destruction can’t catch up with you. Learn to be submitted to Him, and to have a relationship with him. By His Holy Spirit in you, He will keep you from deception. So that when another believer asks you: “do you believe in Jesus?”, that joy will beam across your face. That alone is a great answer.
Application:
Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior and have you become His disciple?
If you have never done this or you are not sure, then today is the day of divine appointment between you and Jesus Christ. Yes, right on the pages of this article.
John 3: 16-17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
God loves you. God wants to have the opportunity to lavish His love on you.
Romans 5:8
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God loves you dearly. God’s heart yearns for a loving relationship with you. God wants to be reconciled to a friendship relationship with you.
So how will you respond to Him?
After considering these facts and agreeing with this truth. If you believe Jesus with all your heart, then, pray to invite Jesus to come into your heart, your life. Change your life. Take control of your life, Give you a love for His word and strength to stand against sin, deception and evil. Make you useful for His kingdom.
Prayer of Salvation Jesus, I believe with all my heart that you died for my sins, that you were buried and that on the third day, God raised you from the dead.
I agree with what all that God says about you, and I openly speak with my mouth that You are Lord. I receive You as my Lord and my Savior. Jesus come live in my heart, and change my life. Thank You for loving me so much and saving me. Lord, by faith in your word, I receive salvation now.
I am so happy for you. Welcome to the family.
I also pray that you can learn a lot more from our ministry whether on this website or our other online platforms. The assignment of this ministry is to lead people to Jesus, to help new believers grow as disciples of Jesus, for them to be able to live life as Jesus would.
NB: All scripture quotations are taken from the New King James version, unless otherwise stated.
