Discipleship Done For Me

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”  (John 15:7,8 ESV)

The promise of the first half of this promise seems too good to be true,  like  a magic formula to unlock endless power and influence.  And yet there it is: God will do stuff for us, if we would simply ask from a place of abiding in Christ and letting his words abide in us.

Certainly it is this abiding business that tempers the things we would ask for by aligning our requests with fruitful, eternal things rather than silly distractions like fame and fortune.

Still though, too often I approach prayer backwards by asking myself, “What would be a good, Godly request that He would surely answer and therefore prove that I am a good Christ-abiding citizen of the Kingdom?”  Ha!  How manipulative I so easily lean.  No, first comes the abiding, then the asking.

The other curious, naturally religious tendency of mine is when I try to imagine good prayers that surely God would answer, they are typically external prayers: requests for someone’s health, for someone’s salvation, for the success of some ministry.

Surely there is a place to pray prayers like this.  But what God is after is His glory.  And according to this passage, His glory is simply me bearing fruit.  It seems Christ is calling me first to pray internal requests; prayers that when answered bears fruit in my life …love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (Gal 5:22,23).  Then, as John 15:8 points out, it is this fruit that proves I’m a disciple of Christ.

It is mind bending enough to think that God will do stuff for me.  But it is a holy mystery that the evidence of my discipleship is fruit that is ‘done’ for me.  When I think discipleship, I  often think gritting teeth and will power to do the right thing.  But here it is: my responsibility is to abide; God’s responsibility is making me bear fruit.

Nice.  But practically?

This morning, while still lying in bed, I prayed prayers of determination to not waste any time today on iPhone games.  A few hours in and I failed.  But then taking time to work on my John 15 memorization, my prayer of response was hi-jacked by a divine command to simply remove the offending app from my phone.  I considered.  I wanted to keep the option and figured I could control the app usage.  But clearly, what really is there to control?  Why keep the option to be fruitless in my life?  And so, I obeyed and deleted the app.

Frankly, this is a little embarrassing to write.  But I must give credit where credit is due.  Maybe there are people out there who can will-power themselves to do the right thing.  But I can’t.  The words of Christ abiding in me brings such clarity that bearing fruit — in this case, self-control — becomes the most natural thing ever.  Naturally divine, in the same way any healthy fruit-bearing tree gives glory to a God of sweet generosity.

Maturity through Speaking

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…”

(Eph 4:15, ESV)

The typical emphasis in this verse is on the word, ‘love’.  “When you’re going to tell someone the cold, hard facts you better tell them in love, otherwise they’re just not going to hear you.”  Sure, this is true.  But learning this verse in context, it seems that Paul is making a much more significant point.

The ‘rather’ with which this verse begins sets itself up in contrast to the concept of the previous verse: that of being children tossed to and fro by every wave.  Either we live as anchor-less children, or we grow to mature manhood (vs 12) in the likeness of Christ.  We start as vulnerable children.  Our calling is to look like Christ.  The way to grow up is to speak the truth in love.

Suddenly this “speaking the truth in love” is no longer just a strategy for making hard-headed people hear me.  Properly understood, the aim of speaking the truth in love isn’t so much to transform other people as it is to transform me.

I can see that.  Somehow the commitment of verbalizing a truth does something inside me.  The very act of speaking a truth makes me believe it more.  The more I believe a truth, the more my life lines up with it and the more I begin to look like Christ.

“We are called to be the holy temple of God,” is a truth emphasized in the first half of the book of Ephesians.  If I am to free the full potency of this fact in my life and in the lives of those around me, there is no better way than to talk about it lovingly.  Keeping this truth as a conversation topic does two things:  first it re-aligns my internal value system; secondly it leads me to think of its implications and practical ways to live it out.  Then these two transformations play off each other:  since I internally start to value this ‘holy temple calling’, I actually have the desire to start living out these implications.

There is yet another way in which speaking the truth in love grows me up to be like Christ.  It is the very act of practicing this truth and love filled speech that matures me.  The best way to be a better piano player?  Play the piano.  The best way to be a better pray-er?  Practice praying.  The best way to be like Christ in speech?  Speak like Christ.  Practice is never easy.  It is an unglamorous path filled with failed attempts.  But it really is the only way; no short-cuts to personal perfection.

So, what areas of my life need transformation?  What relationships have I that can use more Kingdom presence?  First, let me seek out the appropriate Biblical truth that longs to flourish in that life situation.  Then, let me practice speaking it lovingly and let the transformation begin with me.

Discipleship and Reconciliation

Yesterday’s Sunday morning message at my church was an excellent call to the making of disciples.  Two of the Bible passages Jim referenced caught my attention.  Both very familiar passages, it was their juxtaposition that really got my mind revving.  The first was Matthew 28:18-20 — the great commission — where we are instructed to make disciples of all nations.  The second passage, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, explains that we have been entrusted by God with the message of reconciliation.

Now although he didn’t come out and say it, by teaching these two passages the way he did, Jim implied that discipleship and reconciliation to be very nearly the same thing; or, at least integrally related.  This profound connection is what I can’t get out of my head until I write about it.

Reconciliation is simply the drawing of two parties together.  To be reconciled, one or both parties must move towards each other.  But  the distance between God and mankind is not one of physical distance.  Just because two people are in the same room does not mean they are reconciled.  The distance between us and God is instead one of righteousness.  He’s got it and we don’t.

Mystery of all mysteries, it was God who made the first move in Christ: becoming like us in sin that we might become like Him in righteousness.

What is discipleship, except for a life of becoming like God in righteousness?  Jesus, in the great commission, clarifies his call to make disciples by saying that we ought to teach people to observe all that he has commanded.  By expecting us to not only know his commands but also to observe them, Jesus is expecting life change.  And as we observe more and more commands, our life gets aligned with His ways.  Like the reconciling our check book against the bank statement — slowly but surely, line by line, everything must match up.

In the 2 Corinthians passage (v.19) we see how Christ is the primary agent in our reconciliation with God.  Our job is simply to bring the message.  And in the great commission, we see how Christ is again the primary agent — the source of all the commandments with which we need to align our lives.  Our job is simply to teach Christ and His commands.

Or put another way, it is in both directions that Christ is key to reconciliation.  He is the one who first moved towards us, becoming like us in sin.  And moving us back towards God, it is again Christ who leads through His instruction in discipleship.