More than a Christ-follower

“I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you…”

“On hearing it, many of His disciples said, ‘this is a hard teaching, who can accept it?’…From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”

John 6

The designation “Christian” has become, for some Christians, a pejorative word. Because so much damage has been done in the name of false Christianity, these believers have decided to rebrand themselves simply as Christ-followers. It seems, to them, just a little more clear—because of culture and history, unbelieving folks may have confused notions about what defines a Christian, but it’s fairly simple to picture that a Christ-follower is someone who is walking after Jesus.

But changing words impacts more than branding, it can also shift definitions. When we consider that a disciple is one who follows after Jesus, we have to recognize that it’s just as easy to stop following as it is to follow. Human nature stirs in us the desire to jump on the latest bandwagon, to pick up the latest craze, and to celebrate the team that is in the lead; we follow a strong leader until that leader does or says something we don’t like (at best) or does or says something stupid or abusive (at worst).

Self-determination can be a powerful and a good thing. I’m glad that I can teach my kids to refuse to go along with the crowd when the crowd is heading the wrong way or to say “no” to an authority figure if that person is asking them to do something that isn’t right.

But following Jesus is different. Following Jesus is all or nothing. We can’t decide to follow Jesus when it suits us, and then, like a fickle Facebook friend, unfollow Him when He says or does something we’re not so sure about.

That’s why the term “Christ-follower” has certain implications to me that I’m not ready to embrace. Anyone can decide to follow Jesus—to follow his words, or try to reflect his positive actions towards the poor and broken—but turning back can happen at the drop of a dime, too. When we tell people they don’t have to become Christians to follow Jesus, I wonder if folks get the impression that they can jump on Jesus’ bandwagon like they would get excited about a band, or a politician, or the Green Bay Packers (well, until this week)?

Because copying Jesus (the perfect man) is a pretty decent humanistic idea, but hitching your wagon to Jesus (the perfect God) is impossible to do in the flesh. In fact, the whole story of the Gospel—the good news—hinges on the idea that since people couldn’t just decide to follow God, God became human to die on a cross and raise from the dead so that we could die to ourselves and He could live in and through us in resurrection life and power.

Following Jesus without being regenerated is impossible! I’m convinced that had the Holy Spirit not come, that even Jesus’ disciples, who spent 3 intimate years watching Him, would have fallen apart and Christianity would have only been a footnote in history.

So whether you call yourself a Christian or have adopted the term Christ-follower know that nobody can simply decide to follow Jesus, but they must come to the cross of Christ, die to themselves, and be made alive through the regenerating and life-sustaining power of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, being a Jesus-fan is one thing; being a sold-out, all in, no turning back believer is something altogether different!