Radical Discipleship

John Stott’s Radical Discipleship

In the preface Stott talks about the need to be called disciples over being called Christians. I like this train of thought. As a Christian it is more like an assumption of who you might be, a disciple is active. A disciple is one that has a purpose and lets us have an attitude of always growing, always needing to be connected to the vine. I think if you are titled a Christian, then it is a stagnant position. It is almost like you are a bus boy at a restaurant. We all know what a bus boy does. He cleans up the dishes after you eat. He cleans up around the restaurant. If the bus boy has a title by his name, say as a intern, we know that the person is looking for this experience to be building into something more. I want to be an intern of Christ. I do not want to be labeled as the world sees a Christian. I want to be a student of Jesus. The second part of this statement is to be radical. To be radical is to be a reformist. To be radical is to let your roots run deep and to let want to see change happen. To not let the status quo go on any longer.

The first chapter is about being a non-conformist. I think the quote that will stick with me the most from this chapter is when Stott quotes Malcom Muggeridge

“only dead fish swim with the current,”

thus why i chose the name of this blog I will use for my thoughts from what I am learning during my sabbatical

The world all around us wants to dumb us down. We get bogged down by sexual images, materialism, the idea that we are all our own gods. We all act as lemmings doing what the world expects of us. We are constantly looking at the next person, wanting to be in the know. We read peoples facebook and twitter messages and get emotionally over charged, looking for acceptance, looking for love, we are trying to connect ourselves with so many things to fill this emptiness in us that we don’t realize that we are neglecting the one thing that we really need. We need the Spirit of the living God to come and fill us. We are all like the woman at the well looking for fulfillment, and Jesus is right there letting us know that He has water that we can drink that will satisfy us. I want to be that fish going against the stream. I hope you will join me.