Characteristics for a disciple of Christ?

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Marie5890

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What are the characteristics for someone who is a disciple of Christ, and not merely a believer.

Would love to have scriptural references, too.

(Don’t have time at the moment to post scriptural references, but what comes to my mind at the moment are the following)

Sacrifice for others.
Picking up and carrying our crosses (i.e. suffering)
Following the Sermon on the Mount
Loving our enemies
Humility
Worshipping of God
Not seeking after the riches and honors of men, but doing God’s will
 
Marie5890 said:
What are the characteristics for someone who is a disciple of Christ, and not merely a believer.

Would love to have scriptural references, too.

(Don’t have time at the moment to post scriptural references, but what comes to my mind at the moment are the following)

Sacrifice for others.
Picking up and carrying our crosses (i.e. suffering)
Following the Sermon on the Mount
Loving our enemies
Humility
Worshipping of God
Not seeking after the riches and honors of men, but doing God’s will
Click to expand...
John 13:35 “By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
 
A disciple of Christ will display the fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
 
Luke 14:26
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple …
 
“Believe it, Live it, Learn it, Give it”

*Live openly as a follower of Christ (I know, seems like a no brainier but not frequent).
*Practice the faith (Mass, Personal Prayer, Practice Charity, Receive the Sacraments)
*Study the faith (Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest)
*Work to bring others into the faith.

Simple, not easy. Great question, thanks for asking it.
 
Marie5890 said:
What are the characteristics for someone who is a disciple of Christ, and not merely a believer.

Would love to have scriptural references, too.

(Don’t have time at the moment to post scriptural references, but what comes to my mind at the moment are the following)

Sacrifice for others.
Picking up and carrying our crosses (i.e. suffering)
Following the Sermon on the Mount
Loving our enemies
Humility
Worshipping of God
Not seeking after the riches and honors of men, but doing God’s will
Click to expand...
here is a start

just from 1 John we find
"If one finds that he is walking in the light (1:7),
confessing his sins (1:9),
obeying Christ’s commands (2:3-5; 5:2,3),
loving fellow believers (2:9-11; 3:14-17; 5:1),
believing in Jesus as the incarnate God (2:22,23; 4:1-6; 5:1,5),
and practicing righteousness (2:29; 3:6-10)

also

Scripture teaches that real faith inevitably produces a changed life (2 Cor. 5:17).
Salvation includes a transformation of the inner person (Gal. 2:20).
The nature of the Christian is new and different (Rom. 6:6).
The unbroken pattern of sin and enmity with God will not continue when a person is born again (1 John 3:9-10).
Those with genuine faith follow Christ (John 10:27),
love their brothers (1 John 3:14),
obey God’s commandments (1 John 2:3; John 15:14),
do the will of God (Matt. 12:50),
abide in God’s Word (John 8:31),
keep God’s Word (John 17:6),
do good works (Eph. 2:10),
and continue in the faith (Col. 1:21-23; Heb. 3:14).
 
A Christian seeks out those who have strayed from the faith whether through:
  1. ignorance (Lost Sheep - Luke 15:3-7)
  2. neglect (Parable of the Lost Coin - Luke 15:8-10)
and also a Christian rejoices when one who knowingly departed and returns (Prodigal Son - Luke 15:11-32)
 
Marie5890 said:
What are the characteristics for someone who is a disciple of Christ, and not merely a believer.

Would love to have scriptural references, too.

(Don’t have time at the moment to post scriptural references, but what comes to my mind at the moment are the following)

Sacrifice for others.
Picking up and carrying our crosses (i.e. suffering)
Following the Sermon on the Mount
Loving our enemies
Humility
Worshipping of God
Not seeking after the riches and honors of men, but doing God’s will
Click to expand...
Excellent question! 🙂

I think the other posters (yourself included) have already provided excellent answers, but I’d humbly submit that I think it also must encompass 1 Corinthians 13:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends…” 🙂
 
ChurchSoldier said:
“Believe it, Live it, Learn it, Give it”

*Live openly as a follower of Christ (I know, seems like a no brainier but not frequent).
*Practice the faith (Mass, Personal Prayer, Practice Charity, Receive the Sacraments)
*Study the faith (Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest)
*Work to bring others into the faith.

Simple, not easy. Great question, thanks for asking it.
Click to expand...
Had time to look up a few verses for you.

*Live openly as a follower of Christ (I know, seems like a no brainier but not frequent).
Acts 1:8 NASB
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

2Tim1:8 NASB
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

And of course the Nicene, Apostles and Athanasian Creeds are public professions of faith.

*Practice the faith (Mass, Personal Prayer, Practice Charity, Receive the Sacraments).
1 Timothy 2:8 (NASB)
8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…

James 5:16 Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other that you may be healed.

1 Corinthians 11:26 - For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come

1 Corinthians 11:28
“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

James 2:14What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? 17So too, faith by itself, if it is not complemented by action, is dead.

*Study the faith (Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest).
2Tim3:15-17…15From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.…

1Peter3:15-16 NASB
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

*Work to bring others into the faith
Acts 5:42 (NASB)
42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

John 15:8 (NASB)
8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

Matthew 28:19-20 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
 
Thanks to all of you for your help! It’s so appreciated, and very helpful
 
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