We all want to be loved. Love is the ultimate expression of relationship, and more than anything else, we were created to be in relationship. This became so clear to me when I was pondering about being a disciple of Jesus.
God is spirit (John 4:24). We also are spiritual beings (1 Corinthians 14:14-15). The spiritual world is real. God is love (1 John 4:8), and we are fully capable of being loving creatures as He is. Trish and my newest grandchild is just eight months old. His name is Elroy which means "God who sees me". Elroy knows love, and, even though we do not see each other very often, I know that he loves me and trusts me completely. I am a great believer that children learn about their world while they are still in their mother's womb; they get to know the voices of the people close to them, and to know if theirs is a peaceful home or one with disagreements, anger and tension. The kinds of music that is played around them has a lifelong effect on the baby; this is why so many musicians' children become musicians themselves, a mix of nature and nurture.
This flows
from the Creation; God is family, the first family of Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus is "the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations,
but is now revealed to the Lord's people" (Colossians 1:26), and this
is enough for me. Elroy and I are family just as God and I are family now that
I have been made a son (1 John 3:1) as Jesus is a Son (Psalm 2:7; Hebrews 5:5).
All this enables us to truly know that we are made in the image and likeness of
God Himself (Genesis 1:27).
I spend time with recovering addicts, people who were abusive alcohol and drug users, (though happily most have been "clean" for a long time). It is amazing how grateful they are to have been rescued from what they had come to know as "the life", (using these words, "the life", suggests that there is something special about this group of people, that the "normal" rules of society can be suspended for them. It is only when they begin to recover that the addict sees the truth, that they were deluded and causing great pain and harm, particularly to people who love them).
Often they will tell that they really gained hope for their recovery when they identified with Father God and His Son Jesus who they now know as their Saviour. It is in identifying with Jesus, (not simply that they have received salvation), that they begin to know who they really are and their value and their potential, and that they are worth saving because they were given life by and for this same Jesus (Colossians 1:16) who came and rescued them, and even now continues to rescue them daily (Hebrews 7:25).
Disciples
Here we see the beginnings of discipleship: "Jesus said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men'" (Matthew 4:19). Discipleship can be said to comprise three elements: Jesus' call, ("Follow me"), Jesus changing us, ("I will make you"), and Jesus bringing us into participation in His work on the Earth, ("fishers of men”).
And then the response of those who became Jesus' twelve disciples: "Immediately they left their nets [or tax booth ..] and followed him" (Matthew 4:20). Later Jesus assured them (and us, each one): "And behold, I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20).
Jesus loved His disciples, He taught them about His Father, (now our Father (Matthew 6:9)), and the Kingdom of God (Luke 8:10), and He gave them power (Luke 10:9) and authority (Luke 10:19) to be His voice, His hands and His feet in the world after He went to be with our Father in Heaven (John 14:12-14).
Paul wrote about the object of discipleship: "This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1). As we learn and apply ourselves we grow as people and as Christians.
And we can work this out ".. by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).
The "renewing of our mind" is where discipling can be so helpful. We all have biases and prejudices; a mature Christian walking with us can help us to see these and "renew" so that we come to have a Christian worldview and "the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16), and be aware of spiritual truths.
Paul was a tireless worker for Jesus, often amidst great difficulties (2 Corinthians 11:16-33). He encourages us: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1); Paul was imitating Jesus who was always ready to do our Father's will (Matthew 8:20; John 15:10).
I have a friend who disciples. He is fully committed to Jesus and to serving Him. He leads a house church, is a busy intercessor and disciples a number of people in three Asian countries and here in our city. He travels overseas when he can, otherwise he spends hours at a time in international phone calls. It is truly awesome to see how the disciples have grown over the years; many face incredible difficulties in places violently hostile to Christians yet they maintain their Christian witness faithfully. Awesome. The fruit of a dedicated teacher living for and teaching Jesus (1 Timothy 4:6).
We can see that all this is not just Sundays, and it is not just one facet of our life, but rather we become Christian through and through. We truly do "identify with Jesus" (1 Corinthians 12:12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3; 1 Peter 2:9). Having someone encourage and teach us over a period of years is so precious.
Ideas
I see that much of being discipled in Jesus is that we learn who He is, and who we are, all this with a clear understanding of The Kingdom of God, and of this world, our home, our place that God has made for us.
Plato and Aristotle were famous thinkers more than twenty-three centuries ago. They developed two opposing ideas about reality which are still important, and vital that we understand.
Plato argued that beyond everything in the world there must be something else, something absolute by which everything else can be measured or tested. Thus ideas and meaning can be known or can be measured against a plumb line (Isaiah 28:17; Amos 7:8) or anchor (Hebrews 6:19). We Christians know this "absolute" to be God, our God who is personal to each one of us, the unchanging and infinite God of all the Creation and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
Aristotle, on the other hand, said that the individual and ideas are the centre, and that there is no final thing for us to relate to, just us and our ideas, ideals and behaviours which change with the fashions and the generations.
Ideas that are presently growing in the Western democracies are ideas of humanism (which may sound fine but in reality is a toxic form of religion). A tiny unelected minority of people we do not know have decided that "inclusion", "diversity", and "tolerance" are keys to a perfect world. They have redefined these words from what has been understood for generations. They also decide who may not be included and who has the wrong kind of diversity, and those whose tolerance is unacceptable so are to be shut out and excluded, and may have their career cut short and their reputation destroyed. This is the opposite of God's plan.
I have never understood this kind of thinking. I see that humankind are now building a new form of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). People in leadership are destroying our Western democratic cultures to make way for an unknowable future utopian class system ruled by "the state", where those same people will still be the elite who have open access to the wealth and privilege. We saw this in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and in China under Mao and in many African, Asian and South American countries where totalitarianism has been forced on the people, then failed at huge cost in suffering and deaths.
Jesus is truth. Discipling will bring biblical truth into its right place in Christian minds and hearts. "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers" (1 Timothy 4:16)
Today
"Mentor" is likely the term we use today for what the Bible calls "disciple". I know some Christians who have been mentored, always over a period of years, and they have been hugely blessed. As they tell of their experience you can see that they have grown to love their mentor, and they know that they are loved by him or her. This has been a deep and rich experience for those few that I have met, they have grown in Christian understanding and in commitment because of the love shown them and the growth they have experienced.
As I read my Bible I see that discipleship is a theme,
especially in the New Testament, with Jesus leading off by commanding us to ".. make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them .. and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded
you" (Matthew 28:19-20). We can see that it would be good were we all
disciples, each with a mature Christian teacher and guide, while we, as we grow
in Jesus, were drawn to "younger" Christians so we can disciple, or
"mentor" them.
As I think about all this I see that Trish and I disciple one another, as do the men in the men's group I am delighted to be a part of. As a married couple and as seven caring guys we really do know love; we have seen much answered prayer, healing and growth as Christians and as people. Our group is wonderful; we men arrange our week to be sure to join our Tuesday evening meeting, we meet where we can as circumstances change, this just takes a little determination (and sometimes Internet technology).
I notice too that I now come alongside some of my new acquaintances and share something of our Saviour's heart that is particularly for them. Perhaps it is this new form of sharing that has got me thinking about disciples and helping Christians to grow.
My own journey has been long, with mostly slow growth. Sometimes in January I would look back over the past year and see just the tiniest improvement, (but praise Jesus, never none at all); I can see now that a discipler or Christian mentor would have been such a treasure to me.
Our church structures do not lend themselves to such individual ministry. We have professional pastors who seem to be very busy all the time, administering the programs, services, buildings and infrastructure of the "church" institution they are paid to care for. And the rest of us fit into this scheme of things. As I read my Bible, particularly the final verses of Acts Chapter 2, I cannot see any of a typical pastor's rôles, but rather people living their lives in fellowship with their new-found Jesus at the centre as they one-another one another.
In the 1960s and '70s the hippies used to say, "tune in, turn on, drop out". They recognised that the world around them was becoming more and more conformist with poor values. They may have been onto something (even though, to my mind, their direction was wrong). Perhaps we could learn something from them and "drop out" of our 21st century worldly culture and seek life in Jesus and His people.
I spend time with recovering addicts, people who were abusive alcohol and drug users, (though happily most have been "clean" for a long time). It is amazing how grateful they are to have been rescued from what they had come to know as "the life", (using these words, "the life", suggests that there is something special about this group of people, that the "normal" rules of society can be suspended for them. It is only when they begin to recover that the addict sees the truth, that they were deluded and causing great pain and harm, particularly to people who love them).
Often they will tell that they really gained hope for their recovery when they identified with Father God and His Son Jesus who they now know as their Saviour. It is in identifying with Jesus, (not simply that they have received salvation), that they begin to know who they really are and their value and their potential, and that they are worth saving because they were given life by and for this same Jesus (Colossians 1:16) who came and rescued them, and even now continues to rescue them daily (Hebrews 7:25).
Disciples
Here we see the beginnings of discipleship: "Jesus said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men'" (Matthew 4:19). Discipleship can be said to comprise three elements: Jesus' call, ("Follow me"), Jesus changing us, ("I will make you"), and Jesus bringing us into participation in His work on the Earth, ("fishers of men”).
And then the response of those who became Jesus' twelve disciples: "Immediately they left their nets [or tax booth ..] and followed him" (Matthew 4:20). Later Jesus assured them (and us, each one): "And behold, I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20).
Jesus loved His disciples, He taught them about His Father, (now our Father (Matthew 6:9)), and the Kingdom of God (Luke 8:10), and He gave them power (Luke 10:9) and authority (Luke 10:19) to be His voice, His hands and His feet in the world after He went to be with our Father in Heaven (John 14:12-14).
Paul wrote about the object of discipleship: "This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1). As we learn and apply ourselves we grow as people and as Christians.
And we can work this out ".. by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).
The "renewing of our mind" is where discipling can be so helpful. We all have biases and prejudices; a mature Christian walking with us can help us to see these and "renew" so that we come to have a Christian worldview and "the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16), and be aware of spiritual truths.
Paul was a tireless worker for Jesus, often amidst great difficulties (2 Corinthians 11:16-33). He encourages us: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1); Paul was imitating Jesus who was always ready to do our Father's will (Matthew 8:20; John 15:10).
I have a friend who disciples. He is fully committed to Jesus and to serving Him. He leads a house church, is a busy intercessor and disciples a number of people in three Asian countries and here in our city. He travels overseas when he can, otherwise he spends hours at a time in international phone calls. It is truly awesome to see how the disciples have grown over the years; many face incredible difficulties in places violently hostile to Christians yet they maintain their Christian witness faithfully. Awesome. The fruit of a dedicated teacher living for and teaching Jesus (1 Timothy 4:6).
We can see that all this is not just Sundays, and it is not just one facet of our life, but rather we become Christian through and through. We truly do "identify with Jesus" (1 Corinthians 12:12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3; 1 Peter 2:9). Having someone encourage and teach us over a period of years is so precious.
I see that much of being discipled in Jesus is that we learn who He is, and who we are, all this with a clear understanding of The Kingdom of God, and of this world, our home, our place that God has made for us.
Plato and Aristotle were famous thinkers more than twenty-three centuries ago. They developed two opposing ideas about reality which are still important, and vital that we understand.
Plato argued that beyond everything in the world there must be something else, something absolute by which everything else can be measured or tested. Thus ideas and meaning can be known or can be measured against a plumb line (Isaiah 28:17; Amos 7:8) or anchor (Hebrews 6:19). We Christians know this "absolute" to be God, our God who is personal to each one of us, the unchanging and infinite God of all the Creation and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
Aristotle, on the other hand, said that the individual and ideas are the centre, and that there is no final thing for us to relate to, just us and our ideas, ideals and behaviours which change with the fashions and the generations.
Ideas that are presently growing in the Western democracies are ideas of humanism (which may sound fine but in reality is a toxic form of religion). A tiny unelected minority of people we do not know have decided that "inclusion", "diversity", and "tolerance" are keys to a perfect world. They have redefined these words from what has been understood for generations. They also decide who may not be included and who has the wrong kind of diversity, and those whose tolerance is unacceptable so are to be shut out and excluded, and may have their career cut short and their reputation destroyed. This is the opposite of God's plan.
I have never understood this kind of thinking. I see that humankind are now building a new form of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). People in leadership are destroying our Western democratic cultures to make way for an unknowable future utopian class system ruled by "the state", where those same people will still be the elite who have open access to the wealth and privilege. We saw this in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and in China under Mao and in many African, Asian and South American countries where totalitarianism has been forced on the people, then failed at huge cost in suffering and deaths.
Jesus is truth. Discipling will bring biblical truth into its right place in Christian minds and hearts. "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers" (1 Timothy 4:16)
Today
"Mentor" is likely the term we use today for what the Bible calls "disciple". I know some Christians who have been mentored, always over a period of years, and they have been hugely blessed. As they tell of their experience you can see that they have grown to love their mentor, and they know that they are loved by him or her. This has been a deep and rich experience for those few that I have met, they have grown in Christian understanding and in commitment because of the love shown them and the growth they have experienced.
As I think about all this I see that Trish and I disciple one another, as do the men in the men's group I am delighted to be a part of. As a married couple and as seven caring guys we really do know love; we have seen much answered prayer, healing and growth as Christians and as people. Our group is wonderful; we men arrange our week to be sure to join our Tuesday evening meeting, we meet where we can as circumstances change, this just takes a little determination (and sometimes Internet technology).
I notice too that I now come alongside some of my new acquaintances and share something of our Saviour's heart that is particularly for them. Perhaps it is this new form of sharing that has got me thinking about disciples and helping Christians to grow.
My own journey has been long, with mostly slow growth. Sometimes in January I would look back over the past year and see just the tiniest improvement, (but praise Jesus, never none at all); I can see now that a discipler or Christian mentor would have been such a treasure to me.
Our church structures do not lend themselves to such individual ministry. We have professional pastors who seem to be very busy all the time, administering the programs, services, buildings and infrastructure of the "church" institution they are paid to care for. And the rest of us fit into this scheme of things. As I read my Bible, particularly the final verses of Acts Chapter 2, I cannot see any of a typical pastor's rôles, but rather people living their lives in fellowship with their new-found Jesus at the centre as they one-another one another.
In the 1960s and '70s the hippies used to say, "tune in, turn on, drop out". They recognised that the world around them was becoming more and more conformist with poor values. They may have been onto something (even though, to my mind, their direction was wrong). Perhaps we could learn something from them and "drop out" of our 21st century worldly culture and seek life in Jesus and His people.
Ask
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it" (John 14:13-14)."
If you believe that discipling would be helpful for you, ask in prayer; our Father wants every one of us to have full understanding and a full life (John 10:10). Also, look to the people around you, ask Jesus to show you a person, then ask him or her would they be prepared to disciple or mentor you. Or, if you are a mature Christian, that He will show you someone you can come alongside and help. Pray that Jesus will guide you and help you. You both will be so enriched!
May I also suggest that you do not try to start a program or movement in your local church or denomination. This is Jesus' work; He will help with a one-on-one learning process, unique to each discipler and disciple.
Thankfully too, Jesus is always ready to continue His discipling of us, each one. We can always look to Him and His Word, the Bible.
Bless you dear Jesus, bless us all. Amen.
"If you instruct the brothers of these things, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which you have followed" (1 Timothy 4:6).
"A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40).
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17); a verse well known to us in our men's group :-)
Amen.
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