By definition, a Christian — a disciple of Christ — is a follower of Christ. In Acts 11:19-26 we read that it was in Antioch that the disciples of Christ were first called “Christians.”
19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. (Acts 11:19-21)
Notice, here we have a case of evangelism, faith, and conversion. The apostles, however, knew that this was not enough. Follow-up care was needed. And so they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. (Acts 11:22-24)
Barnabas was a “good man,” he was a shepherd, he was a “gifted encourager,” but he was not a teacher. And for the making of stable followers of Christ a teacher is needed, someone who will build up their convictions. So Barnabas went to look for the apostle Paul, who at that time was still called Saul.
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11:25-26)
Notice, they met together for a whole year. Even for Paul and Barnabas, the making of disciples was not an easy or simple task. And here we read that it was precisely here in Antioch that the “disciples” were called “Christians.” But being called “Christians” did not make them stop being disciples. On the contrary, they went on being disciples of Christ, yet they wanted to underline that they were not just any kind of “disciples,” but that they were “Christians” — disciples of Christ, followers of Christ. You see, whereas today students study subjects (like literature, mathematics, or biology), in older times a person studied not so much information as a particular person and that person’s worldview. That is why attaching oneself to a specific teacher was the very essence of discipleship. The Pharisees and John the Baptist had their own disciples (Mark 2:18). The Jews, for their part, considered themselves disciples of Moses (John 9:28). In the same way today, to be disciples of Christ we attach ourselves to Him and follow Him.
But how can we follow someone we neither see nor hear? Jesus’ disciples asked themselves the same question when Jesus told them that He was leaving them, yet they would still be able to follow Him. In John 14:18-26 we read:
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” 22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25 All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:18-26)
As Christians, as disciples and followers of Christ, we can follow Him in five different ways.
FOLLOWING JESUS BY LEARNING MORE ABOUT HIM
Who is Jesus? What is He like? Where is He now? What is He doing? For us these are important questions if we want to follow the Lord. There are important things concerning Jesus that we need to know: His history, His ministry, His future, and His identity. Where can we find the answers to all these important questions? In the Bible. It is God’s Word and revelation to us. In it — and more specifically in the Gospels — we can find the history of Jesus, His teachings, and how He fulfills His mission.
Already in the Old Testament we see how God describes the coming Messiah through the prophecies He gives about Him. They describe both the work of Jesus on earth and His future eternal kingdom. Gradually, over a period of about 1,600 years, God revealed more and more details about the Messiah — where He would be born, how He would die, what His character would be, what He would have to accomplish. In the Old Testament God gave us the portrait of the Messiah, because He wanted everyone to be able to recognize Him when He came.
Who is Jesus? We can find this answer even in the themes of the books of the Bible:
- In Genesis — Jesus takes part in creation
- In Exodus — He is the Redeemer from bondage
- In Leviticus — He is the Lord who sanctifies us
- In Numbers — our Guide
- In Deuteronomy — our Teacher
- In Joshua — He is the Mighty Conqueror
- In Judges — He gives us victory over our enemies
- In Ruth — He is our Kinsman-Redeemer, our Beloved
- In 1 Samuel — He is the Root of Jesse
- In 2 Samuel — the Son of David
- In 1 and 2 Kings — King of kings and Lord of lords
- In 1 and 2 Chronicles — He is our Intercessor and High Priest
- In Ezra — He is the temple, our House of Prayer
- In Nehemiah — the mighty wall protecting us from our enemies
- In Esther — He stands in the gap to deliver us from our enemies
- In Job — He is the Arbiter who not only understands our struggles but also has the power to do something for us
- In Psalms — He is our song and our reason to sing
- In Proverbs — He is our wisdom, helping us make sense of our lives and live them well
- In Ecclesiastes — He is the meaning of our lives, freeing us from vanity
- In Song of Songs — He is our Beloved — the Rose of Sharon
- In Isaiah He is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father, and much more. In short, He is everything we need!
- In Jeremiah — He is the balm of Gilead, the soothing salve for our sin-wounded soul
- In Lamentations — He is the Ever-Faithful One on whom we can rely
- In Ezekiel — He is our “wheel within a wheel” — the One who brought the dry bones to life and made them “a vast army”
- In Daniel — He is one like a son of man who comes to the Ancient of Days and reigns over the eternal kingdom of God
- In Hosea — He is the faithful husband who always calls us to return to Him — even when we have forsaken Him
- In Joel — He is our refuge, keeping us safe in the time of trouble
- In Amos — He is the Farmer of whom we can be sure that He will always be on our side
- In Obadiah — He is the Lord of the Kingdom
- In Jonah — the salvation that brings us back into His will
- In Micah — He is the judge of the nations
- In Nahum — He is the Jealous God
- In Habakkuk — the Holy One
- In Zephaniah — the Witness
- In Haggai — He strikes down the enemies
- In Zechariah — He is the Lord of Hosts
- In Matthew — the King of the Jews
- In Mark — the Servant of God
- In Luke — He is the Son of Man, feeling what you also feel
- In John — the Son of God
- In Acts — the Savior of the world
- In James — He is the power behind our faith
- In 1 Peter — He is our Example, in whose steps we are to walk
- In 2 Peter — He is our purity
- In 1 John — our Life
- In 2 John — our Pattern
- In 3 John — the One who motivates us
- In Jude — He is the foundation of our faith
- In Romans — the righteousness of God
- In 1 Corinthians — the Rock that accompanied Israel
- In 2 Corinthians — the Triumphant One who leads us in victorious procession
- In Galatians — our Freedom, our Liberator from the law
- In Ephesians — He is the head of the church
- In Philippians — He is our joy
- In Colossians — our Fullness
- In 1 Thessalonians — our Hope
- In 2 Thessalonians — our Faith
- In 2 Timothy — our Steadfastness
- In Philemon — our Benefactor
- In Hebrews — our Sanctification
- In Revelation — He is our coming King
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17)
FOLLOWING JESUS BY BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is God, the third Person of the Trinity. As disciples of Christ we learn to be led by the Spirit. Romans 8:14 says:
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (Romans 8:14)
The only way to follow Jesus is to follow the Holy Spirit. Therefore, as disciples of Christ we must ask God every day to fill us with the Holy Spirit and to help us learn how to follow His leading and guidance in our lives. Being filled with the Spirit, following His promptings, and walking in His power make us able to follow Jesus.
Speaking before a large crowd, Dwight Moody once held up a glass of water and asked, “How can we get the air out of this glass?” One man called out, “Suck it out with a pump!” Moody replied, “That would create a vacuum in the glass and it could shatter.”
After a few more suggestions Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass. “Look,” he said, “now all the air is out of the glass.” Then he went on to explain that victory in the Christian life is not achieved by “sucking out sins here and there,” but by being filled with the Holy Spirit. (Moody Bible Institute’s Today in the Word, September 1991, p. 30)
On another occasion Moody said, “I firmly believe that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled.” (Taking the Guesswork Out of Applying the Bible, J. Kuhatschek, IVP, pp. 153ff)
FOLLOWING JESUS BY LEARNING AND OBEYING THE TRUTH
Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well that God is seeking those who would worship Him “in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)
We can follow Jesus only by walking in the light of the truth. In John 8:31-32 the Lord Jesus Himself said:
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)
You see, without the truth we are in darkness, without the truth we are slaves of sin. Without the truth we cannot see or know God. Do you remember the beginning of the Gospel according to John (John 1:4-5; 17-18)?
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:4-5)
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. (John 1:17-18)
Every sin is rooted in some lie, in some untruth. When people see the truth and obey it, they will be set free from their sins.
FOLLOWING JESUS BY SUBMITTING TO SPIRITUAL AUTHORITIES
The fourth way we can follow Jesus is by submitting to the spiritual authorities He has placed in our lives. Who are the authorities established by God?
- The husband. In the family God has set the man as the head of the woman. In three places in the New Testament it says that it is “fitting in the Lord” (Colossians 3:18) for wives to submit (1 Peter 3:1) and to submit to their own husbands as they do “to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22).
- Parents. Children, in turn, are to obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1).
- Elders. In the church we have spiritual guides who keep watch over our souls, and to whom we must submit (Hebrews 13:17).
- Employers. Workers are to obey those in authority over them (Ephesians 6:5; 1 Peter 2:18).
- Governing authorities. We are all obligated to submit to the governing (governmental, municipal, judicial, and other) authorities that God has placed over us (Romans 13:1-7).
God uses spiritual authorities to direct us, to protect us, to reveal His will to us, to guard us from evil, and to teach us to live a holy life. These authorities are means of God’s grace toward us. The disciple recognizes the value of God’s authorities and strives to maintain a right attitude toward them and right relationships with them.
FOLLOWING JESUS BY PRACTICING THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES
A discipline is an activity or practice whose repetition makes us able to begin to do what before we could not do by our own effort, talent, or strength. A discipline is doing something you can do in order to develop your abilities to a level at which you begin to do things you could not do before. The spiritual disciplines are things we do consistently in order to grow in our relationship with Jesus. They are actions of our mind and body that we perform deliberately in order to grow in Christlikeness — to become more and more like our Lord — to be transformed into His image. The benefit of the spiritual disciplines is that they help us set our mind, our emotions, and our will in their right, God-appointed condition, in which the spirit can overcome the flesh. Although there are a number of spiritual disciplines, five are essential for our following of Christ. These five disciplines are:
- Prayer and personal communion with God
- Systematic reading and study of the Bible
- Stewardship / giving (which includes the giving of the tithe). Here I would like to tell you the sevenfold blessing of the tithe:
- The tithe blesses the heart by making it receptive to the will of God.
- The tithe blesses the life by lifting it to a higher level of grace.
- The tithe blesses the hands by making them willing to do God’s work.
- The tithe blesses the mind by giving it the satisfaction of doing something right and good.
- The tithe blesses the nine-tenths that remain, because God has been honored through it.
- The tithe blesses the person who gives it by making him a part of God’s work in this world.
- The tithe blesses the church by enabling it for a greater ministry.
- Fasting — fasting is a day on which a person humbles his soul.
- Serving (to do something for someone else without expecting them to repay you — it helps us to be freed from envy, resentment, from the desire to impose ourselves, and from a strong sense of ownership).
If we learn to do these disciplines well, we will grow in our relationship with the Lord and will be able more easily to hear His voice and to understand His will.
Charles Finney describes how God gave him mighty fillings with the Holy Spirit: “It seemed to go through me, as it seemed, both body and soul. Then I would immediately find myself clothed with such power from on high that a few words spoken here and there to certain people became the means of their immediate conversion. It seemed as if my words pierced like sharpened arrows into people’s souls. They cut like a sword. They crushed the heart like a hammer.
Multitudes could testify to this. Sometimes I felt myself largely emptied of this power. Then I would go out visiting and would find that I made no saving impression. I would exhort and pray with the same negative results. In such cases I would set aside a day for personal fasting and prayer. After I had humbled myself and cried to God for help, the power would return upon me with all its freshness. This has been the experience of my life.” (Touch the World Through Prayer, W. Duewel, OMS, p. 232)
You see, the spiritual disciplines restore the real sense of God’s presence in our lives. They increase the anointing and the grace in our lives.
In the 1880s a young man who was a zealous Christian found work in a pawnshop. Although he felt an aversion to his job, he did it faithfully, “as unto the Lord,” until a more favorable opportunity appeared before him. In order to prepare himself for a life of Christian service, he wrote the following resolutions on a scrap of paper: “God, I promise You that I will rise early every morning to spend a few minutes — no fewer than five — in personal communion. I will strive to conduct myself as a humble, meek, zealous follower of Christ, and with earnest witness and warning I will try to bring others to consider the needs of their immortal souls. I pledge to read no fewer than four chapters of God’s Word every day. I will cultivate within myself a spirit of self-denial and will give myself up to be a prisoner of love to the Redeemer of the world.” This young man was William Booth, who later brought thousands to Christ and founded the Salvation Army. (Our Daily Bread, June 28, 1989)
You see, when we practice the spiritual disciplines, we follow the example of Christ. For while He was on this earth, He too prayed, worshiped the Father, studied the Scriptures, and fasted. By doing these same things, we become more and more like Him, and this helps us to follow Him.
And so, as Christians we are followers of Christ. But how do we follow Him when we do not see Him?
- By learning more about Him
- By being filled with the Holy Spirit
- By learning and obeying the truth
- By submitting to spiritual authorities
- By practicing the spiritual disciplines