For and Against What

What is a Christian? Scot McKnight used to answer this question incorrectly.  In his book One.Life: Jesus Calls, We Follow (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), he used to say: “A Christian is someone who has accepted Jesus; and the Christian life is the development of personal (private) practices of piety, separation from sin and the world, and a life dedicated to rescuing sinners from hell” (p. 13). This answer is driven by what he calls the plan of salvation. This is what Christians believe; this is the way we live out the “gospel.” Very unfortunate, of course.

The danger of limiting the gospel of Jesus to accepting Jesus, practicing personal spirituality (e.g. bible reading, prayer, etc…), and waiting to get into heaven is as follows: “Every time the single-moment act of accepting Christ becomes the goal instead of the portal, we get superficial Christians. And every time personal practices of piety wiggle away from the big picture Jesus sketches before his followers, it becomes legalism” (p. 14).

As a result, we are either superficial or become a bunch of legalists.

What is a Christian?

His new answer:

“A Christian is someone who follows Jesus” (p. 15).

It sounds simple. But when I ponder upon it, it sounds radical. What if I follow the teachings of Jesus in the four Gospels? If the gospel that I believe is much more than the plan of salvation, if the gospel is the story of Jesus as the completion of the story of Israel, if…if…if…then I am called to follow Jesus and do what Jesus did and taught. The four Gospels always put the emphasis on “following Jesus,” not just “believing in Jesus.” Following entails trusting; trusting may not involve following. How many professing Christians are there in the church? I used to say that Jesus calls us to be disciples, not believers. We are called to follow him, not to believe him. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19). Jesus calls. We believe. But do we follow? 

I really like what Scot McKnight writes about what it means to follow Jesus and live a Justice.Life:

Jesus was a Galilean prophet. The top two lines on every prophet’s job description look like this:

Speak openly and clearly about what God is for.

Speak openly and clearly about what God is against.

The third and fourth lines look like this:

I [God] am with you.

Have courage.

Often you can learn what a person is for by listening to what they are against. I’ll give you what Jesus was against, and you can infer what he was for:

Jesus spoke against authorities who ignored oppression.

He spoke against the tax collectors who ripped people off.

He spoke against his disciples when they ignored the children.

Once you determine what Jesus was against in these lines, you can determine two things: what he was for and why Jesus came to earth. There’s nothing wobbly about Jesus when it comes to what he was for and why he came—he’s for proper uses of power, for justice, for the value of everyone. He knew God was with him, and he had courage (p. 59).

Openly and clearly we know what Jesus was for and against in the Gospels. As Jesus’ followers, what are we for and against? One of the great sins that we commit and do not repent is that we are silent (or we are indifferent to a lot of things) and no one knows what we are for and against.

You can tell people that you are a Christian. But if you don’t know where you stand or you are afraid of speaking openly and clearly about what you are for and against, who cares?

You are saved, but you are definitely not following.