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Question 5

Jesus’ most repeated directive is summarized as “Follow me,” while later church leadership shifted the focus to “Study me”; where do you see that shift in your own Christian formation (sermons, small groups, books, podcasts), and what has it produced in you—kingdom fruit or doctrinal confidence, or something else?

Another way to ask: Jesus often said “Follow me,” but later leaders emphasized “Study me.” Where have you seen that shift in your own Christian life, and what has it produced in you—life change, “kingdom fruit,” confidence in ideas, or something else?

Direct Answer Bercot’s point is that Christian formation can drift from practical discipleship (“Follow me”) into primarily informational religion (“Study me”), producing doctrinal confidence while weakening obedience and “kingdom fruit.” The transcript doesn’t evaluate any one person’s formation, but it calls readers to examine what their inputs are producing.

Support from Transcript:

“The directive that Jesus gave most often… ‘Follow me.’”
Jesus’ kingdom would be “better understood by intellectual babes than by learned academians.”
When theologians came to power, the focus changed from “Follow me” to “Study me.”
The church was expected to “sit back and accept what the theologians told them the Scriptures really meant.”
The result: “Bearing kingdom fruit was no longer the important thing. The essential thing was to subscribe to the correct doctrines.”

Discussion Follow-ups What would it look like to measure your growth by obedience and fruit rather than by how much theology you can explain? Are your main teachers calling you to follow Jesus’ commands or mainly to master arguments?

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