What Do Christ Followers Do?

Asking what a disciple of Jesus does may seem like an odd question. But what comes to mind may not be the same as what scripture tells us. Jesus invites us to follow Him. But what does that mean? Do you say a prayer for forgiveness and attend church the rest of your life?

Actually what Christ followers do is obey Him! Jesus said “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.” Which commands was he talking about? All of them? Wouldn’t that be a little extreme? But he does say if we are willing to obey Him he will give us a Helper, which is the Holy Spirit. In truth the Bible is full of commands and we are not free to selectively set any of them aside just because they are hard to do or because we have other things in life we want to do. A Christ follower is one who obeys Christ. A disciple hears his master speak and then does what he is instructed to do. This includes hearing Him through the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us. It also includes the commands that Christ gave us in scripture.

One clear command of Jesus is “Go make disciples.” If we love Him, that command isn’t optional. In fact I think that next to loving God with all our hearts, making disciples is to be our central purpose and focus while we are on the earth. If we love Him we will go make disciples. Jesus said that if we love Him and obey Him, He will give us the Holy Spirit to help us. That is a promise, so we have no real excuse.

This was the main point that Jesus left his followers with before he left the earth. In Acts 1:8 He said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” He was telling them that as they go and obey the commission, He will send the Holy Spirit to help us testify and provide first hand reports of what God has done for us. If we love Him, that’s what we’ll do!