No trick questions here just a simple old-fashioned Bible quiz (with a little sarcasm thrown in)…
- Read the verse and reflect on the ‘reality’ of the underlined words.
- Then replace the incorrect (italic words) with the correct version BEFORE you read on.
- When you’re done, ponder with me again for the first time what it means to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus.
- Go and make disciples teaching them to… say the prayer and do their own thing.
- Come, follow Me and I will make you fish for something to put in the offering plate on Sunday morning.
- Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in your own way, you are truly my disciples.
- For I have set you an example that you also should do whatever you like.
- By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for yourself and your stuff.
- You are my friends if you do whatever feels good.
So how did you do? What’s my point?
Here are the correct verses so you don’t have to look them up (that would be too much work- yes, that is another sarcastic comment!).
- Go and make disciples teaching them to …obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19
- Come, follow Me and I will make you fish for people. Luke 5:10
- Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples. John 8:31,32
- For I have set you an example that you also should do as I have done to you. John 13:15
- By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35
- You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15:1
And what has the Lord commanded?
“The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
The second is equally important: ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Jesus, Mark 12:29-31 (See also Matthew 22:36-40, Luke 10:27)
Discipleship and Barcodes
Funny how we miss that when we talk about what it means to be a Christian. I’m guessing that many of us — as has been done for centuries now — define or describe being a Christian, a disciple, in terms of what we believe. We consider ourselves Christians because we assent to certain faith statements like “Jesus is the Son of God” or “Christ died for our sins, rose from the dead and is coming again.” Amen? Amen.
Having said what we believe, we receive the benefits plan – the gift of eternal life – and are good to go! And that’s it.
Dallas Willard calls this barcode Christianity—we’ve “bought the plan.” We’ve purchased what we need to pass through the “great scanner in the sky.” We’re Christians. And as crass as that may seem, much of Christianity today is lived accordingly. Our faith, if we’re really honest, doesn’t really affect how we live or make us much different from those around us.
But Jesus said, come and follow me—take up your cross, become my disciples.
Yes, “The Life” is a gift but, to be received, perhaps the life must be lived!
After all, the very definition of a disciple is one who obeys, listens, learns and follows… becoming more and more like his/her teacher, leader, the one whom he/she looks up to, loves, trusts, wants to learn from and wants to be like.
So simply knowing the right stuff about Jesus isn’t enough. In fact, quite frankly, these days, I am less and less sure if I know or will ever know ‘The right stuff.’
With quotes like these, authors Duffy Robbins and Eugene Peterson, (among others,) have had me thinking about what it really means to be a disciple for awhile now…
“The real indication of discipleship is a continued pattern of obedience, even when no one is watching or listening.”
Duffy Robbins, The Ministry of Nurture
“Real discipleship is marked not by the monument, but by the footprint. The biblical picture of discipleship is a picture of forward motion: a pilgrimage, a marathon, a journey not an arrival.”
Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
To think about it is one thing, to actually do it is another.
I might be able to ‘correct the verse’, but can I live it?
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