FROM my last posting:
THERE is an axiom that says, that which does not expand contracts, or what does not grow dies. We may not like to hear this, but the fact is, merely maintaining a status quo takes little effort, and in the dynamics of life and changing circumstances a status quo mentality can sometimes have detrimental effects from the three-fold encroachments of our sin filled surroundings….
TODAY we start the next chapter in our study of Principles of Spiritual Growth titled Discipleship. I recall a faithful pastor once providing a simple definition of a disciple as a “learner follower,” emphasis on both learning AND following what was learned. That brings to mind another axiom that the Bible was not given to entertain or satisfy our curiosity, but to change our lives. The early converts to Christ were termed disciples, by definition those who placed themselves under his teaching, following in the path of obedience.
THIS idea is consistent with how we have come to understand this word. The etymology of disciple finds its root meaning “pupil, student, follower,” “to take, accept” and “to grasp intellectually, analyze thoroughly,” having the idea of instilled new capability or capacity from what was learned. But it is not a one-time thing. As we have been seeing, it is a process, a continuous growing in taking root and producing fruit. A disciple is one who continues to grow in grace and in knowledge (2Pet 3:18). Again, that which does not expand contracts, or what does not grow dies. Lessons from the garden make this fact very clear. I can always tell when a plant in my backyard is in distress or succumbing to some attack or deficiency by watching its growth or lack thereof. I have learned that this is true of all of life, especially for those who profess to be Disciples of Christ.
WELL, there is more I could say on this. But it is time for us to make our way into this next chapter of study and the topic of Discipleship.
With highest regards in Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa 30:15, Jas. 1:2
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Chapter 13—Discipleship – Part 1
A disciple is one who first maintains the fellowship of the cross, which results in fellowship with his Lord: discipleship. “The atonement of the cross and the fellowship of the cross must be equally preached as the condition of true discipleship.” “Christ is the answer, but the cross is needed to clear the way for Him.”
In spiritual progress our Lord never pushes. He is our file leader (see Heb. 12:2), and He leads us step by step. We struggle and fail (self-effort), which sets up a yearning for the answer to this depressing failure. In time we see the scriptural facts of deliverance in the cross (identification), and that in turn produces the required hunger to enter into that freedom, freedom for fellowship with the answer—our risen Lord Jesus.
“Nothing can set us apart for God, nothing can make us holy, except as the cross is working in us, because the cross alone can keep the hindrances to holiness in the place of death” (G. Watt). “Back of all successful work for the lost is an inward spiritual impulse; and back of the impulse is the Holy Spirit who reproduces Christ in us; and the brand mark of it all is the cross, the living experience of which must both enter and control the life before we are fit for service” (J.E. Conant).
Nowhere was our Lord Jesus more explicit and firm than when He mentioned discipleship. “And he said to them all, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me’” (Luke 9:23). “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (14:27). His reason for this is simple: Self cannot and will not follow Him, but taking up one’s cross results in death to self and newness of life in Christ Jesus.
A disciple is one who is free from the old and free for the new. In other words, scriptural words: “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (Rom. 6:11). And for this the Lord Jesus clearly states that each must take up his cross. Here is the ultimatum, so now to the “how.”
But first, how not to take up one’s cross … to be continued
