What Does it Mean to be a Christian?

For me what it means to be a Christian is simple. Yet it can be very complicated if you are stuck to using old definitions or looking at things in the same way we have for the last 100 years. Simply put being a Christian means that a person is following in the way of his Master – Jesus. I use these words on purpose. It is always how I have seen my spiritual and Christian life. I have decided that Jesus in the Master I am choosing to lead me on the path to God and find meaning in my life. There are many choices, but I have decided to choose Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus must be my Master and I his disciple, much like I would have a Master, a Sensei, or a teacher to help school me in the way of karate, playing the guitar, or my chosen career field. Jesus teaches me the way to live my life. As I live and practice the life Jesus teaches me I become more and more of an expert and I begin to teach this to others who want to walk and live their life in the way of Jesus. Today we use words like discipleship or spiritual formation, but in short I would help someone live a life in a manner that God had created them for. As they lived their life in the way of Jesus (as they become disciples in this way) they too would experience joy and peace from God their creator.

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:18-20

Being a Christian means that I see Jesus as my Master in life. Not in the sense that I am a slave bound to a life of servitude, but I have chosen this master because I believe his ways are the ways that lead me to a life in God. I want Jesus to teach me, I do bow to his authority as a Master Teacher, and I submit myself to doing the things he calls me to, whether they make sense or not to me. A slave is brought along unwillingly and begrudgingly does his duties so that he will not be punished or hurt by his master. Willingly submitting to my chosen master is a daily, sometimes moment by moment decision that I take seriously. It effects every interaction I have with others, every thought I have, every decision that I make, and is a life that is lived on a conscious level rather than an unconscious level. I have not chosen this master only to get my “ticket” stamped “accepted” so that I no longer have to worry about how I interact, think, or decide how to live my life. That would cheapen and void the grace that I was given that allowed me to pick Jesus as my master that I did not deserve. It means that I do not concern myself with looking good on the outside and making sure that I “do” right behaviors, but that I am totally immersed in issues of my heart.

Jesus replied, "You, too? Are you being willfully stupid? Don't you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It's from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That's what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that's neither here nor there."

Matthew 15:16-20

This gets me to exactly what is the way that the master is teaching me? Jesus’ way was one that did not join any tribe, clan, or presupposed action. Jesus did not join in with the Pharisees, the Zealots, the Essenes, or anyone else that thought they knew what “Messiah” would look like. He was also not a “Christian.” There were no such terms for him when he lived, he was not even known as the Christ. There were just people who chose to follow his way of living. The way of Jesus went against every way that people thought would be the way. His was not to get along with the Romans, or to take them over by force, or to avoid the world altogether and hope they would go away. Jesus’ way was one of kindness, compassion, love, grace, creativity, and expansiveness that brought a power that no one was expecting. He was kind to people who the Pharisee thought were the very people holding up the coming of God’s king because of their sin. (John 8:2-4) He called for peace and love, not joining in with the anger of others, and attempting to overcome by force. (Matthew 5: 38-40) He was active and involved in all matters in his community, never avoiding the chance to bring others into the story of God. (Luke 19:4-10)

So to be a Christian is to be a follower of this way. It is for me to be a diligent learner, a disciple, of the way that Jesus lived and replicate it to the best that God empowers me to. To be a person that brings peace, love, light, and salt to the world around me through each interaction I have with others, the things that I think, and the decisions that I make. It is to become a “little Christ” - a Mini Me of Christ if you will. In doing this others will be attracted to Jesus, God, because Jesus is lifted up in this way. Others will want to be a part of such a great and glorious story and they do will ask Jesus to be their teacher, their master, their Lord. They will learn, have a formation in, the way of Jesus through others who have gone before them. This process continues until the world has been redeemed through the way of Jesus. Jesus’ revolution, his kingdom, comes to earth right here and right now.

Namaste'