Welcome to Day 2114 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Becoming A Radical Disciple 1 – Nonconformity – Daily Wisdom

Putnam Church Message – 08/01/2021 Becoming a Radical Disciple – Nonconformity Over the past couple of weeks, we moved from radical choices, to a radical teacher, and now the title of this new series Becoming a Radical Disciple. Thinking of yourself as radical may make you uncomfortable. For others, it may be empowering. So let’s say I have a radical element in me, but I suspect that most of you also do in some area of life. First, why am I using the term “Disciple” instead of “Christian”? It surprises many people to discover that the followers of Jesus Christ are called “Christian” only three times in the New Testament. Luke’s comment in Acts 11:26 was that it was in the Syrian Antioch church where Jesus’ disciples were first called “Christians.” This is significant because Antioch was known to be an international community. Consequently, its church was an international community too. Therefore, it was appropriate that its members were called “Christians” to indicate that their common allegiance to Christ overcame their ethnic differences. However, as a matter of trivia, the term Christian means “Little Christ” and was used by outsiders in more of a derogative manner. The other two occurrences of the word “Christian” prove that it was beginning to be more commonly used. When Paul was on trial before King Agrippa and challenged him directly in Acts 26:27, “Agrippa interrupted him. ‘Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?’” Then the apostle Peter, whose first letter was written against the background of growing persecution, found it necessary to distinguish between those who suffered “as a criminal” and those who suffered “as a Christian” in 1 Peter 4:16, “But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!” Both words (Christian and disciple) imply a relationship with Jesus, although perhaps “disciple” is the stronger of the two because it inevitably means the relationship of the pupil to teacher. During his three years of public ministry, the Twelve were disciples before they were apostles. As disciples, they were under the direct instruction of their teacher and lord. In some ways, it would be better if the word “disciple” had continued into the following centuries so that Christians were self-consciously disciples of Jesus and took seriously their responsibility to be “under discipline,” which means continuing to learn. My concern is that we who claim to be disciples are not serious enough in our commitment to the Lord Jesus, which will provoke him to say again,“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). For genuine discipleship is passionate discipleship; this is where my next word comes in. So, secondly, why “radical”? Since this is the adjective I am using to describe our discipleship, it is crucial to indicate the sense in which I am using it. The English word “radical” is derived from the Latin root word radix. Initially, it seems to have been applied as a political label to people with liberal and reformist views. Then, it was used generally to those whose opinions went to the roots and were unrelenting in their commitment. We are now ready to put the noun and the adjective together and ask our...