What is the difference in being a "Christian" and being a "Disciple of Christ"?

Just to clear things up before I get started...there is not supposed to be any difference! However, this is not the case in the modern church. Let me explain what is happening in the church today...

The church is being filled with many false converts! This is being done through pastors who are preaching a false gospel. They are preaching a "different" Jesus than the one that is proclaimed in the Bible! What is happening today is that Jesus is being proclaimed as someone Who is the means to our own ends. He is portrayed as some sort of "Divine Butler" (thanks to Ray Comfort for that title). We are being taught that WE are so important that God cannot do anything apart from our works. It's like He is waiting for us to do His work! This is contrary to what the Bible says! Jesus said that His Father was always at work (John 5:17 - 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."). So then, according to Jesus, God is ACTIVE and always at work! He is not passive and is certainly not waiting for us to do anything! What we are hearing is a man-centered, self-centered gospel. This is certainly not the gospel that Christ Himself proclaimed! Let us now look at what Jesus said concerning the requirements, costs and rewards of following Him.

Jesus spoke of the requirements of discipleship and of following Him in Matthew 10:37-42 (NASB)

(37)He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

(38)And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

(39) He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

(40) He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.

(41) He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.

(42) And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

So then, does this sound like the members of the modern church? If not, why not? I'll tell you why...it's because the modern church is not proclaiming the true gospel of Jesus Christ! The modern church is in the business of making it easy to become a Christian (i.e., "easy believism) to increase their numbers without ever telling you what it means to be a Christian and a disciple of Christ. Jesus never hid the costs of following Him. He always told the truth about the costs and drove away the false converts...something that the modern church will not do. It's a numbers game that is giving millions of people a false sense of eternal security in Christ as well as a false impression of Who our Lord really is and how we, as Christians, are supposed to act.

We are supposed to love Christ more than anything else...including our spouse, children and parents. We are supposed to carry the burdens of others and to love others like we love ourselves. We are supposed to lose ourselves (our lives) for the sake of Christ for the glory of God. We are supposed to be selfless, helping others by receiving them, helping them and loving them. What do we see happening within the walls of the modern church? Self-centered people thinking only of themselves, being told how wonderful they are and leaving the church feeling so good about themselves. I used to not understand the meaning of Amazing Grace when it was being sung at church. I didn't understand why the song said "to save a wretch like me." Why? Because I didn't consider myself to be a wretch. I thought that I was a good person and certainly not a wretch. Let me tell you...God dealt with me and showed me that not only was I a wretch, but that I was the worst sort of wretched, miserable person imaginable. You may think that this sounds strange and can't relate. Believe me, if you belong to God, you will find out. Not only that, but you will also praise Him for breaking you and showing you your depravity. Only then can God mold you into something that He can use. He has to strip you of our pride, self-reliance, biogotry, addictions and any other sin that is weighing you down before He can start to begin conforming you into the image of His precious Son, Jesus.

After He begins your life-long transformation, He will begin showing you who He is. For a good look at who God is, read Isaiah 6 (the entire chapter). I promise that it will give you an image to behold, that will bring you to your knees. Where does this take you? Does it take you to a weak-minded church that wants to entertain you while it takes your tithe? No. You will not be satisfied with that type of church. When God has stripped you, He will not leave you that way. He will clothe you, but not in the clothes that you used to wear. He will clothe you with a white robe and will ascribe the righteousness of Christ to you.

Are you a true disciple of Jesus Christ? Do you hunger for the things of God or do you hunger for the things of the world? Do you care for others or do you only care about yourself? Re-read Matthew 10:37-42 above and ask yourself if these verses describe you. If not, maybe you need to re-evaluate yourself, your walk with God and the church that you attend. Remember that the road is wide that leads to destruction and the road that leads to eternal life is narrow. If everyone is doing it, does that make it the right thing to do? Pray that God will show you the truth of who He is and for yourself that you will be obedient to His commands. Become a true disciple of Jesus Christ by doing what He said to do, not what a power-hungry pastor told you to do. Read your Bible, pray, fast, sing Psalms and hymns, meditate on the Word, fellowship with other believers, give to others generously and then teach others what you have learned. Be a disciple of Jesus Christ or be a disciple of Satan. There is no middle ground. Choose this day whom you will serve.

What is wrong with Christians today?

I ask this question because of what I have observed in the behaviour of so-called "Christians" today. It seems that many who claim to be Christians certainly don't act the way that one would expect.

What I have observed is that many "Christians" act one of two ways; (1) they act no different than non-Christians or (2) they act like they are superior to everyone who doesn't attend their church (whether Christian or non-Christian).

Let us first talk about those that claim to be Christians acting no different than those who are not Christians. What does this say about them? In 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, Paul tells the Corinthian believers: 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." 17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (NIV) So, we are told to "come out" and to "be separate." I don't see many Christians doing this today. It seems that Christians are in love with the world and are fascinated by the things of and in the world. In 1 John 2:15-16, John tells us: "15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world." (NIV) So, according to scripture, if we love the world, we do not possess the love of the Father. In other words, if we love the world, we are not true Christians (i.e., false converts).

Now let's address the issue of Christians with a superiority complex. I have personally witnessed these people and it seems that they actively try to recruit Christians that attend other churches more than they share their faith (if they do this at all). When they talk to people who are not saved, they seem to always ask these people to "come to my church" instead of sharing the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. These people seem to think that their pastor and church are the way to salvation instead of believing upon Jesus Christ. What is wrong with this picture? Are we so in love with our pastor and our church that we forget who we should be following? Do we tend to put our pastor on a pedestal and believe every word that comes out of their mouth as if it were the voice of God? It seems to me that many people are content with living in ignorance and spiritual infancy by blindly following the teachings of a preacher instead of reading their Bible and spending time with God in prayer every day. They may know their pastor and the members of their church, but they certainly do not know the Living God.

In 2 Peter 2:1-3, Peter gives this warning concerning false teachers: "1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping." (NIV) You may think that there are no "destructive heresies" being introduced in your church, but how would you know? Does your pastor "bring the way of truth into disrepute"? If you never read your Bible or spend time with the Lord in prayer, how do you know what the Truth really is? Would you recognize false teaching if you heard it?

The bottom line is this: If we have never read our Bible (and don't read it every day) and never spend time with God in prayer, how can we claim to know Him? How can we claim that we have a relationship with One in whom we never communicate with or never read His Words? If the Bible is God's love letter to us and we never read it, doesn't that say that we really don't love Him? If we live a life of prayerlessness and never pray for anything unless it's something that we want, doesn't that say that we really don't know how to pray and that we don't have communion with Him and that we don't abide in Him?

If you have read this and feel conviction, I plead with you to repent and start following Christ. You would do well to remember that Christ is the head of the church, not your pastor. Read your Bible every day and do what it says to do. You need to know for yourself what God requires of you and you can only do that if you know God's Holy Word. Here are some verses to remember:

1 John 2:3-6 3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (NIV)

James 1:22-25 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. (NIV)

Do these verses describe you? If so, please repent and change your lifestyle and follow Jesus Christ. He is the ONLY way to God:

1 Timothy 2:5-6 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. (NIV)

Watered down theology

Welcome to my blog. If you're wondering why I named it "Watered Up," it's because of my strong dislike of the watered down theology that is being "preached" in the majority of churches today.

I plan to blog from time to time about such things as what God has done in my life and what the Bible says about prayer, fasting and other subjects of interest (depending on what God puts on my heart).

Why blog? Because I want to share what the Bible says about various subjects that preachers are not teaching in their churches. I also have a desire to blog about subjects that preachers ARE teaching, but not biblically.

We are living in the days of false teachings, false prophets, prosperity preaching and humanistic self-centeredness within our churches (just to name a few things that turn my stomach). It is my desire to post the truth of God's Holiness, the wrath to come, biblical repentance and being hidden in Jesus Christ (which is the polar opposite of humanistic self-centeredness). Unlike Oprah Winphrey, I believe that there is only ONE way in which to enter the kingdom of heaven and that is through my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He said it, He meant it and I believe it!

If you don't like it when someone speaks of sin, hell or God's wrath, then this will not be a comfortable blog for you to read. The gospel message is not necessarily one of comfort and joy, but it is necessarily one of picking up our crosses, fearing God and living our lives in daily obedience to Christ.

Please feel free to post your opinions and to check back from time to time for new posts. Thanks for reading!