In the world, but not of the world…
Lately, I have been meditating on the following passage:
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler-not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” (1 Cor. 5:9-13)
This passage has been very convicting to me. As I have written previously, I usually live within a Christian subculture. As I look around, I see many Christians living within a Christian bubble. This is not the way that we are meant to live. We are meant to interact with the world: to be in the world though we are not of the world.
The interesting thing about the passage above is that we are taught to spend time with unbelievers-even with those who are sexually immoral, greedy, swindlers, and idolators. God expects us to spend time with them. However, we are told not even to eat with someone who calls himself a brother and lives in this manner.
This is not natural for me. I do not want to be around the sexually immoral, greedy, swindlers, and idolators. So, tonight I asked some of my brothers and sisters to hold me accountable to act just as Paul instructs us to act. In other words, I asked them to confront me if I am not spending more time eating with people who are not part of the kingdom of God. That seems strange even thinking it.
But, I know that it is God’s will. How do I know that it is God’s will? Well, besides the fact that Paul said so in 1 Cor. 5:9-13, I have a better way of knowing that it is God’s will for me to hang around lost people. I know it is his will, because that’s what he did.
Go and Make Disciples…
Tomorrow, Thursday, December 14, my PhD mentor, David Alan Black and his wife, Becky, are leaving for Ethiopia to share the gospel and edify the church. I have been greatly encouraged to read how God has used them to minister to the believers in Ethiopia. Most importantly to me, the Blacks felt God calling them to Ethiopia, so they went. They did not wait for support or approval from a mission board. God is all the support and approval that they need.
Please pray for them over the next three weeks as they travel and minister to people who need the gospel and discipleship.
Here is more information about their previous trips and plans for their current trip.
Representative obedience?
A few questions that I have been pondering:
1. Who is responsible for making disciples?
2. Who is responsible for teaching?
3. Who is responsible for serving?
4. Who is responsible for showing hospitality?
5. Who is reponsible for carrying out the “one anothers” in Scripture?
6. Is that person accepting these responsibilities, or relying on others to carry them out?
Just some food for thought for the church…
Discipleship 2…
I’ve enjoyed the discussion in the comments of my previous post on discipleship. From the various commenters, I’ve compiled the following list of observations concerning discipleship. I’ve summarized and changed wording to simplify the list.
Discipleship…
- is primarily the work of the Holy Spirit.
- is not done in a group but one-on-one.
- is based on an intimate relationship that takes time.
- is not simply teaching biblical truths.
- demonstrates a pattern of biblical living by a more mature (older) believer.
- encourages believers to become more Christ-like and live out biblical precepts.
- requires fellowship, discernment, and obedience.
For the most part, I agree with these observations. Since I agree that the Holy Spirit is the primary agent of making disciples, I would not require “one-on-one” interaction for discipleship, sometimes disciples are made through small, intimate groups – such as Jesus and the twelve, or Paul and his companions. Also, there are several instances in Scripture where someone is discipled without an intimate relationship with another believer (at least at the beginning). Finally, there are times when an older or more mature believer is not available. Should an immature believer wait for a more mature believer to come along before beginning to disciple others? Can that same immature believer be discipled by those of the same (or even less) maturity than himself? I continue to struggle with some of these questions.
Also, making disciples is required of all believers… or, perhaps I should say, making disciples is required of all disciples. There is not a point where a believer stops being a disciple and becomes a discipler. A disciple is a discipler, and a discipler is a disciple. Paul is a great example of this. He began teaching and persuading others immediately after his conversion (Acts 9:20).
Disciple-making has more to do with a person’s obedience to the work of the Holy Spirit than with that person’s knowledge, talents, gifts, or abilities. Jesus said that he would build his church (Matt 16:18). Christ provides gifts to the church through the Holy Spirit in order to work through the believers that are part of the church to build the church up (Eph. 4:1-16; 1 Cor 12). (Note: I am not using “church” here to signify a particular group such as XYZ Church. Instead, I mean Christ working through all believers.)
I do agree with the commenters that discipleship is not a large group study; however, a large group study can be part of discipleship. I think this is best seen in the life of Jesus. Notice that Jesus’ disciples were with him when he spoke to large crowds, and when he taught large groups, even in the synagogues. Jesus would then teach his disciples in a more intimate setting, more fulling explaining the things that they saw and heard. I’ve noticed while studying the book of Mark especially, that the large group settings seem to be a part of Jesus’ plan for teaching his disciples. (I think this is the reason – along with the amazing work of the Holy Spirit – that many of us have learned and grown through large group programs and Bible studies.) This does not deny the importance of the intimate setting; in fact, I believe the intimate setting is more important.
I am still investigating one idea that Isabel suggested in her post. She mentions that she lived with other believers for an extended time, and yet there was little fellowship or discipleship. (Maybe I’m misreading here.) She has suggested that this is because the discipleship was “arranged” as opposed to “spontaneous” (I like those terms better than “forced” and “natural” – see the comments from her post.) Today, many of the things we do as the church are “arranged” instead of “spontaneous” (that is, directed by the Holy Spirit).
So, these are my continuing thoughts on discipleship. I am not ending the discussion, however. I would appreciate your comments.
Discipleship…
Jim Petersen begins his book Lifestyle Discipleship (I’m not supposed to be reading this book… I have too many other things to read… sshhh… don’t tell anyone.) with the following:
If you have been around the Christian community at all, you know about discipleship. It is there on the right-hand side of the page of the church bulletin. The discipleship group meets on Thursdays for breakfast at Underwood’s Restaurant. In our bigger churches, we have pastors of discipleship. Our Christian bookstores always have a section reserved for discipleship materials. There you will find everything from a study booklet for new believers to complete courses in discipleship. Many of us have taken the course.
Petersen also states (in all caps), “Thirty years of discipleship programs, and we are not discipled.”
What’s wrong? Why are our discipleship programs not working? What does work? How do we disciple? Who do we disciple? Why do we disciple? Where and when do we disciple?
Please comment…
Discipleship and a lawn mower
Last week, we moved from seminary housing to an actual house. We had lived in the seminary duplex for 3 1/2 years. Don’t misunderstand me, the duplex was a good place to live. But our family had outgrown it long ago. Once we decided to stay at Southeastern for a few more years, we also decided to begin looking for houses.
Yesterday, I mowed the lawn at the new house – the first time I had done yard work in 3 1/2 years because the seminary pays a company to cut the grass… occasionally. (Now, it is true that some residents keep a lawn mower in order to cut the grass when it gets too high. We just waited out the grass cutters.) Yesterday was another first for our family as well. Jeremy (my 12 year old son) used a lawn mower for the first time. He was too young to use a lawn mower before we moved to North Carolina. And, as I stated above, he had no reason to use one until we moved into this house.
I taught him how to start the mower with the pull cord and how to overlap a little so he didn’t miss anything. I taught him how to turn corners with a mower that preferred to go straight. I taught him how to watch for rocks and sticks and other things that don’t mix well with lawn mowers.
As I was watching him push the mower, I began to think about discipleship. Today, discipleship is often thought of as a class or book. But, discipleship should be more like learning to cut grass. I had to show Jeremy how to do it, I couldn’t just talk to him about it. Also, I could not teach him from a distance – it took face-to-face communication and a relationship. It also takes patience and perseverance and endurance. Jeremy only cut about a quarter of our grass yesterday. Next time, I’ll watch him again, give him more pointers, show him a few others things, and perhaps ask him to cut a larger section of the yard. Eventually, he will be mowing the lawn by himself, but only after much help and practice. This is discipleship.
Actually, even mowing the lawn is discipleship. I’m teaching Jeremy how to care for his house and family once he is married. Somehow, mowing the lawn didn’t seem as tedious as the last time.
Church…
Well, it has been over a week since I’ve posted on this blog. It has been a busy time for me… without much time for contemplation or study. Lately, my thoughts continue to revolve around the church. “Church” is not something that we do, its something that we are. It is my goal to learn how to live as the church with those believers God has placed in my life. This goes far beyond a weekly gathering. It goes far beyond a membership list. It has little to do with “preaching” and much to do with love. It has little to do with “pastors” and much to do with brothers and sisters. It has little to do with “worship sevices” and much to do with hospitality. It has little to do with “programs” and much to do with discipleship.
I have much to learn about what it means to live as church with other believers. However, I have learned some… and what I have learned, I must practice.
Willing to be impacted by others?
A commenter made the following statement at The Interrelational Church:
I think that the problem we encounter is that most people are readily willing to impact others lives, but are not as willing to be impacted by the lives of others.
Can true relationship exist between two people if one or the other refuses to be impacted – changed – by the other person? This is a question that the church must answer. Biblical fellowship is not “shake hands with three people around you.” Instead, biblical fellowship is sharing in each other’s lives… something that cannot happen in two hours on Sunday morning.
Vulnerability… that seems to be key here. Are we willing to allow other people to see us at our worst? Are we willing to allow the Spirit of God to work through other people to affect change in our lives? These two questions are related… Can we have fellowship with one another if we are not willing to impact the other person’s life, and to be impacted by the other person?