Random Thoughts on Followers and Disciples and the Difference Between the Two

Follower or Disciple: What's the Difference? That's what I'm been chewing on.

WARNING: Random thoughts ahead.

Over the last several years, it seems, the word Christian (especially with the word Evangelical placed before it)  is seen by our culture more as a politicized term used to describe a group of people and what they are against, rather than someone committed to becoming like the master Teacher Jesus.

When people ask the question, "Are you a Christian?" it can be pretty loaded. It could be a question  of your religious affiliation..or a euphemism for "how do you vote?" or "what's your stance on homosexuality and abortion?"

Many churches, pastors, communicators and others - me included - have tried to move away from that word in our everyday vocabulary. Don't get me wrong, I'm not ashamed to associate with Christ. I'm not embarrassed to be called one. It's not because the term is bad or untrue, but because it's been so misunderstood; it's lost its weight and significance and context. It's become its own brand, genre of media, it's own political agenda. Ironically, the word was always intended to be a noun and was never intended to be an adjective. Yet we have Christian bookstores, Christian music, Christian T-shirts (oh, don't get me started on that one), Christian radio stations, etc, etc, etc...
It's not all bad (I did go to a Christian college and loved the experience). But it can create a worldview of "us/them" if we're not careful.

So many of us have replaced that word with what we believe to be other more contextually accurate or less negative terms such as follower of Christ or Christ follower. I've liked that because it strips away the political (capital and lower case "p") baggage associated with it.

However, I was reading Matthew 4:23-25 the other day and was struck by the difference in the text between followers and disciples. Maybe I'm reading into it a bit too much on this one, but I see a difference at least. Especially verse 25: "Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him."

Based on the context of Mark and the chapter in which these verses take place there seems to be a level of fascination - even curiosity - with those who were following him, not necessarily a conviction, a radical, transformational life change of the crowd. I wonder if many of those 'followers' stopped following and fell away - it reminds of the parable of the Sower of the seeds that fell on good soil, grew up a little bit, but were eventually choked out.

Jesus had many, many followers as Mark records. But he had very few disiples - the twelve that we know about...and I'd probably include the Marys, Martha, Lazarus, Zacchaeus and a few others sprinkled throughout the gospel texts.

Again, I am not trying to split hairs here. While I believe there is a difference between being a Christian (as 85% of Americans claim they are) and being a follower of Jesus, I also believe there is (or should be) an important distinction between following Jesus and wanting to be a disciple of him - an apprentice, as Dallas Willard would say.

Which makes me wonder: am I a follower of Jesus or a disciple? And how would I determine that? How would others determine that by what they see in my life?

Comments

[Stan]

I think you can break it down even into steps and transgression.
I was in the company of a young woman a few months ago at a concert. I had not seen her since she was a child and in catching up she told me she was a “Christian”. I’ll drop most of the details here, but many truck drivers behave better and have a more tame mouth. I said, wow, I would have never guessed.
And stop me here if you like, because I am not a fan of making judgments, but trying to recite here more of just personal observations.
Then there is this very large group, that I fear uses the church, their expression of faith, or whatever part of what they think makes them a “Christian” to fill in the gaps, but I wonder just where they, (I) draw the line at making a true commitment.
Would you (I), sell everything, have enough faith to give up the security that you have become accustomed to, if you really felt that God was asking you to make that big commitment. In a way, Jesus really told us that is what he desires, even if our wealth is not monetary like the Rich, Poor Man. I ask myself often, if I am not really in this group. Jesus expresses this attitude of true commitment, in Matthew 8:21-22. and makes apparent what is really important. And do we have enough total faith to be followers, as Jesus points example to in Matthew 6:26, with the birds, and when he tells us where our hearts really need to be in Matthew 6:19-24. And so then does that then make us a follower ?, but too, how about a true disciple?
Would you leave your wife, small child, friends, etc. to follow Jesus? We cling to these things for security, but they are of this world. Would I even ever consider sacrificing the life of my own son, like Abraham with Isaac? Ask yourself these things honestly, then look at yourself and think about how halfway in the middle we stand.
Then after my head starts to hurt from thinking too hard, I find myself taking a giant step back and looking again.
Sometimes, maybe we are over thinking what we should be or do, and then overlook the small details and really do not do what we are called to do. Jesus seemed to be aware of every little thing around him, the details of the often overlooked, not going for the big bang and destroying evil with his power, but healing and calling the apparent unlikely. Maybe we get too farsighted, and the answers are closer than we see, in the little things that are too easy to overlook. Some days it may be as simple as taking the time to answer an unasked question, and not building a new church in a poor region in Africa.
It all leads to some good thought and some deep personal reevaluation.

[J.R.]

Good thoughts, Stan. I appreciate your willingness to ask tough questions.

I wonder about what Jesus said in John 15 about bearing much fruit. As we're christians/followers/disciples, we're told, we'll be identified by the fruit that we bear (Jn 15, Gal 5:22).
I wonder about the fruit that we bear. People will ask, 'Is is all about works?' No, but I then wonder about the faith and works controversy found in the beginning of the book of James.

Can people say what was said of Peter in Acts 4:13 - 'they took note that these men had been with Jesus'?
That's what I'd like to be remembered for...and I have a long way to go!

Thanks again, Stan.

[Craig Miller]

Hey JR, it was great visiting your ministry over J-term. I enjoyed hearing about the path God has led you on to get to where you are now. Anyways, i really like what you have to say about referring to yourself as a follower of Christ instead of a Christian. It's amazing the negative connotations that the word Christian can have when Jesus' primary message he preached was love.

[Craig Miller]

Hey JR, it was great visiting your ministry over J-term. I enjoyed hearing about the path God has led you on to get to where you are now. Anyways, i really like what you have to say about referring to yourself as a follower of Christ instead of a Christian. It's amazing the negative connotations that the word Christian can have when Jesus' primary message he preached was love.

[nate]

Wasn't Jesus' call into discipleship simply "Follow me"? If you truly are following Jesus, you're a disciple (the Twelve would have thought so).

[nate]

Wasn't Jesus' call into discipleship simply "Follow me"? If you truly are following Jesus, you're a disciple (the Twelve would have thought so).

[Lesley Johnson]

or is it "take up your cross and follow me daily" I think we forget the whole take up your cross thing... so then what does it mean to take up your cross? maybe that's a question worth answering?