Now Trending: Designer Christianity 

Now Trending: Designer Christianity 

Styling Your Own Private Label Christianity 

The rising preference for smorgasbord Christianity is a troubling trend in our postmodern culture. The authoritative teaching of Scripture has been reduced to a buffet of offerings where believers serve up their own self-styled Christianity. These cafeteria Christians selectively browse through God’s word picking what they like and ignoring what they dislike. Clearly, this is not what Christ meant when He proclaimed The Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations.”

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

What Is A Disciple?

Jesus never used the term Christian to identify His followers, He used the Greek word mathētēs (Mat. 16:24; Luke 14:33), which embodies the meaning of one being instructed, learning, and following. The transliteration of mathētēs is “disciple.” A disciple is a student who receives Christ’s instructions or teachings, learns and comprehends the meaning of these teachings, and fully embraces Christ’s teachings for the express purpose of following and adhering to what their Lord has commanded. There is no wiggle room here for picking and choosing which teachings of Christ we will accept or ignore. The follower of Christ is not free to design their own self-styled beliefs. We are not a liberty to ignore His instruction to follow our own desires and appetites. Instead, we are to incorporate Christ’s teachings into every aspect of our thinking, beliefs, actions, and life choices. Jesus said, “go and make disciples [mathēteuō] of all nations,” and teach them to obey all things, not just some of the things they like.

All this is a far cry from today’s convenience store Christianity where believers occasionally drop by to pick up a gallon of salvation, a six-pack of mercy, two quarts of forgiveness, a small loaf of grace, and a large box of eternal life. Jesus instructed the Apostles to “make disciples,” believers that would learn, obey and follow all of His teachings.

Teaching Them To Obey Everything

Does Jesus really expect us to obey all of His teachings or just what we consider relevant? The short answer is yes, all of His teachings. This is the only plan set forth in the Scriptures. There is no alternative or plan B. There is no place for a designer label Christianity. We are not a liberty to style our own version of Christianity. We are called to learn of Him and His ways.

Then Jesus said to his disciples [mathētēs], “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

Discipleship begins with self-denial. We must acknowledge the inferiority of our own ways, beliefs, and practices that are unacceptable to Christ or we will never hunger to know and follow His teachings. It is His will, His ways, and His truth that we must embrace and follow. We cannot embrace both; either we will deny our own will, truth, and practices or we will deny His, which is sin (James 4:17). To truly be His disciple we must submit our lives to the Lord in full-blown humility, understanding that we are desperate to learn of Him.

Prior to my conversion, I had no knowledge that I needed God’s salvation, much less His knowledge, wisdom, and truth. However, almost immediately, the Holy Spirit revealed that my ways were woefully insufficient. The more I came to know Him, the more I realized just how much I needed to learn about Him. It was the beginning of a relationship, sitting at the feet of Jesus and learning His spiritual truth that would forever change my thinking, attitudes, behavior, and way of life. It became obvious that I was truly desperate to know His ways which are beyond natural comprehension.

All believers are commanded to learn and follow all the teachings of Christ because His ways and truth are exceedingly superior to our own. Our lives must be built upon Christ, the rock of our salvation, and not the sands of human knowledge and wisdom.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew  7:24-27)

Have you heard of The Great Commission?

In this age of seeker-sensitive preachers serving up an eclectic buffet of easy believeism, the vast majority of churchgoers are astoundingly clueless as to what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Nevertheless, discipleship is the official mission of the church that Jesus set forth in The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). Tragically, about 51% of all churchgoers have never heard of The Great Commission, and only about 17% of those surveyed knew its meaning, while 25% had heard the term, but didn’t know what it meant, according to a 2018 Barna Research Group survey. Moreover, we find mentioned in the making of disciples the command of water baptism as the first step of discipleship, a subject that has come under much debate as to its importance and necessity by both those in the pulpit and pew. How then can a believer move forward in discipleship when they can’t even follow the Lord’s command to be baptized in water?

The Making of a Disciple

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)

In Matthew 16:24 Jesus taught that self-denial was a prerequisite to becoming a true disciple. Here in Luke 14:26, Jesus expands the requirements of discipleship by employing paradoxical language. All followers (disciples) of Christ are called upon to hate their family and even their own life or else they cannot be His disciple. The appearance of absurdity leaps from the scriptures with a resounding, not so Lord! However, the word hate (Gr. miseō) is not a mistranslation. It means hate, but not in every sense of its meaning. The apostle John tells us that hatred of a brother or sister is like murder (1 John 3:15), and a believer who hates his brother is still living in darkness (1 John 2:9). In Luke 6:27 Jesus tells us “love your enemies,” and what about “love thy neighbor?” How is it that a disciple of Jesus is commanded to hate his family and his own life, but love his enemies? Obviously, the word hate has many shades of meaning and it is essential that we “rightly divide the word of truth.”

In what sense are we to hate our lives as disciples of Christ?

By definition, hatred means a strong passionate dislike for someone or something. In this sense, I hate the sinful desires of my carnal nature, the sinful nature itself, and the shameful thoughts that I think. The ungodly words and things I say and do, I despise. My unkindness toward others is embarrassingly wrong and brings dishonor to the Lord, this too I hate. The unbelief and lack of faith that paralyzes me and keeps me from trusting the Lord is shameful. I hate the fact that I know more truth than I practice. I hate that I am not more spiritually minded. I despise that my free will often lead me away from God’s will. I hate that my fears keep me from walking in faith. The truth be told, without Christ I would be an evil wretched walking corpse, only fit for the flames of eternal punishment. In coming to Christ in full and complete repentance I came to see and hate what I truly was, apart from Christ. I came to hate my old self and hungered to grow in the newness of life found only in Christ. It is in this sense that we must despise all family, friends, and self that would desire to keep us from Christ. How many believers have had to struggle with family and friends ridiculing and mocking their faith in Christ as though they had joined a cult? We cannot shun Christ to appease others. On the contrary, we must cast aside all that seeks to keep us from following the Lord. We are instructed in Hebrews 12:1-2:

…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

All born-again believers are called to a life of discipleship. We are commanded to learn, comprehend, and follow the Lord’s teaching as true disciples of Christ. It is wrong to view Christ’s teachings as a smorgasbord of choices that are optional. It is wrong to ignore certain portions of His teaching we might dislike while selecting a plate full of easy believism. We are not free to reject Christ’s teaching as so many do. We have been called to follow the Lord’s teachings, and these teachings are not negative, joy-killing, or burdensome things that make our lives miserable. On the contrary, God’s truth is positive, powerful, and life-changing knowledge and wisdom that will enrich our inner beings and bless all those around us as we follow His teachings. Discipleship is not something we admire in others, it is what we are called to become in and through Christ.

Our minds and spirits are in desperate need of His teaching and truth. To reject discipleship is to set oneself up for failure.

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