Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:24-25 NIVUK
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27 NIVUK
The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
Acts 11:26 NIVUK
I haven't seen it in shops for a while, but it's hard to forget the sunflower oil spread that boldly proclaimed 'I can't believe it's not butter'.
I doubt the dairy industry would agree.
You see, these days there is a huge fight caused by people who want to alter grammar and semantics and adjectives to suit and support their lifestyles. They want the world to bend to their will.
Of course, not everyone agrees. But then again, we should be used to people doing things like this. They've been doing it in churches for centuries.
As one wag pointed out, going to church makes you no more a Christian than hanging out in a barn makes you a cow.
One particular aspect that marks every Christian out - and always has done since Christ walked earth - is that they are followers.
Go to the Gospels. Look at the call of every disciples. What was it? Come and join my church? Come and overthrow the powers-that-be? Come and be a part of my community?
No. They might have been different in nature, but every one of them contains just two words: 'Follow me'. Without exception.
Now, it's here where our argument about semantics and meaning comes to the fore. Because nowadays a follower can be someone who clicks a box on a screen to receive alerts for videos or podcasts from a creator.
But the Bible disagrees.
When I was younger, before the days of social media, people could subscribe to receive newspapers or magazines through their postbox. Then they could do it with newsletters in their email. No-one called them 'followers'. Instead, they were subscribers.
What's the difference between a follower and a subscriber?
A subscriber has a passive relationship with the people who create the information or content they consume. They click to receive something. They receive it. They consume it. That's it. Nothing is required of them.
A follower, however, has an active relationship with the people who create the information or content. The disciples are a big example of this.
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-22 NIVUK
As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
Mark 2:14 NIVUK
Do you see this? A subscriber might have a connection to their content provider. But this connection is weak. It is passive. A follower, however, has commitment. Their relationship is strong. In fact, it's so strong that nothing can break this commitment. Nothing comes before it:
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But he replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No-one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’
Luke 9:57-62 NIVUK
There is little doubt that modern culture has tried to redefine many things, and the meaning of the word 'follower' is definitely one of them.
However, even a cursive reading of the Gospels will tell you what it meant when Jesus called His disciples to follow Him. They abandoned everything. Most of them lost their lives for the cause. Only one died of old age. They would not have known this at the time, when they made their choice to follow Jesus. But these were dangerous days. The Bible is clear that they were following Jesus not just because they thought He was a good Jewish teacher because they thought He could be the Messiah (Matthew 16:16; Mark 1:1; Luke 9:20; John 4:29). Since the Roman army were dominating the Jewish people at the time and had already dealt harshly with anyone who rose up against them, believing that anyone was the Messiah was a truly dangerous thing to do.
And for many millions of people, it still is.
Following Jesus, rather than simply receiving information from Him, was enormously risky for the disciples.
It still is.
But the disciples faced far more than risks to their safety and security. They also faced considerable risks to their lifestyle. Everything changed for them. Tax collectors abandoned a highly profitable trade. Fishermen abandoned their livelihoods. Women of ill-repute abandoned their bohemian ways. Everyone had something to lose. And - it's very important to say this - they lost it.
Even the great Christian leader Paul incurred serious losses. Only He didn't see them as such:
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Philippians 3:7-9 NIVUK
You see, a follower of Jesus Christ hasn't just lept in with both feet without thinking first. They are not so impulsive. As Jesus describes in the Parable of the Sower:
The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
Matthew 13:20-21 NIVUK
No, they have first weighed the risks of following Jesus against the risks of not following Him and then decided to follow.
This is a way of thinking that is actually commended by Jesus Himself:
‘Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, “This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.” ‘Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Luke 14:28-33 NIVUK
He encourages us to count the cost before we follow Him so that our commitment is genuine.
And this commitment produces obedience.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24 NIVUK
To follow Jesus means to make changes. And these changes are not always small. Sometimes they are radical.
When I went to Romania as a missionary, I learned something interesting quite quickly. Evangelical Christians there have been given a nickname. At first, it was derogatory - like the word 'Christian' was initially for the Early Church. But then it became a badge of honour - something to be worn with pride.
That nickname is the word 'pocăit' - 'one who repents' in English.
And that is what we are. It's what we all are. Not just once in our lives, but all the time. Every time we realise that we are out of line and no longer following Jesus, we repent. We turn away from our sin and we follow Him once more.
Among the crowds that physically followed Jesus, He would have known that there were many whose hearts were not with Him at all (John 2:24). They were fickle. Even among His own disciples there was a Judas.
It might seem completely shocking to us that the crowds which welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem bayed for his blood just a matter of days later. I don't believe it was a surprise at all to Jesus. You see, He knew that some of them were subscribers: there to see the latest news and hear the latest gossip. They had no intention of actually obeying Him or following Him.
I don't doubt for a second that there are many such people in our churches. They have no desire at all to do what God tells them. They may be in church for a million different reasons - some of them at least with a veneer of legitimacy. But they have no desire to actually follow Jesus. It's just not on their agenda.
But all of us - every one - has the responsibility to ask ourselves the difficult, challenging question: Am I just a subscriber? Or am I truly following Jesus?
How we answer this question, and how we respond to it, will determine if we are a real Christian or not.
After all, what is a real Christian but a follower of Jesus Christ?
Questions
1) How committed are you to Jesus? Is there anything you wouldn't sacrifice for Him?
2) Do you believe it's possible to be a Christian and not be a follower of Jesus Christ?
3) Would you say that you are a subscriber or a follower in relation to Jesus?
Being a follower of Jesus for many people is highly risky. Recently there have been whole families killed because they were believers. We are blessed being able to be a follower without persecution. Jesus sacrificed his life for me, so as a believer I will continue to follow his ways.