Discipleship – Intro: Discipleship and the Need for a Spiritual Revolution

SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION
When I first started writing publically about the church, I started this blog, “21^st Century Reformation”. That was 2003 or about 10 years ago. In those years, the emphasis was simply to take seriously the teachings of Jesus and to apply them in a practical way. I was pastoring a church and later participated in a church plant. Both communities evolved into something that, in light of my reading of the scripture, did not look like the early church. Many of my friends encouraged me to meet people half way and to be more “realistic”. The last few years I have tried that half-measured approach for myself, and I have found this road does not make me happy. Therefore, today I return to my first love and am beginning a new quest to walk a road of continual spiritual revolution. Personally, my heart will only find its home in the midst of a community committed to this spiritual revolution.  Let the journey and the struggle begin anew.

God Plan for Human Community Remains the Same

⁴² They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer⁴³ Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all those who had believed^]were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵ and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. ⁴⁶ Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

And again in Acts chapter 4, the church is described as “³² And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. ³³ And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. ³⁴ For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales ³⁵ and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

The biblical description of the early church depicts a community that is both spiritual and revolutionary. Can this be said of the church today? Is the church spiritual? Martin Lloyd-Jones, one of the greatest preachers of the 20^th Century, described the church’s greatest problem as “superficiality”. Is not superficiality in opposition to spirituality? Spirituality seeks to heal what really ails us. A healthy spiritual community develops a spiritual program that helps others find this healing, this freedom, this truly happy and heavenly quality of life. Are today’s Christians distinctly more spiritually healthy and beautiful than the non-Christian? Are our behaviors and attitudes distinct?  Would the on-looker describe the peace and endurance of the modern Christian as stunning and awesome? If not, then, we are not yet spiritual.

Likewise, would anyone describe the church of today as revolutionary? The early church lived communally, “had all things in common”. “There was not a needy person among them, for all who had lands or houses would sell them…and they would distribute to each as any had need”. Does this describe the church today? Is not the church a staunch defender of the status quo? Is the church meeting the material needs of the world in a revolutionary way? Is materialism a problem in the church as it is in the world? Is simplicity the norm? Is our generosity extravagant? Is the church revolutionary like the early church was?

By revolutionary, I mean a community that is living by an entirely different set of ethical rules than the world around us. To be revolutionary always requires a revolutionary relationships with material goods and a revolutionary concern for others. This is exactly what is described in the early church. Plainly, poverty and inequality is a problem in the world and always has been. This problem of inequality was solved in the revolutionary lifestyle of the early church. We cannot call ourselves a biblical community unless we are similarly living a revolutionary lifestyle.

The church is neither radically spiritual nor radically revolutionary, and, unless we become both spiritual and revolutionary, we cannot be the solution to the human problem. Yet, this is exactly what it means that Jesus is the Christ and that we are His disciples. Jesus came to solve the human problem of injustice and man’s inhumanity to man, and this solution is to be shining forth in the church.

What the world needs is a spiritual revolution. Our spirituality must set us truly free, and this freedom must express itself in a distinctly Christlike ethical response to the world we encounter. Our world is drowning in injustice and in need of a people free enough to make personal material sacrifices which meet this injustice with compassion and empathy.

The early church is a description of the prototype of the church as fashioned by the disciples of Jesus. These men and women, discipled in the footsteps of Jesus, lived radically distinct lives filled with spiritual power and material generosity. The early church lived in a state of spiritual revolution bringing a revolutionary lifestyle of worship, prayer and simplicity to a world filled with violence and poverty. Until the church looks like the early church, we will not change the world like the early church changed the world. Until the church makes disciples like Jesus made disciples, the church will not look like the community of the disciples of Jesus.

It is not time to move the deck chairs on the Titanic. It is time for a spiritual revolution.

The Human Problem and the Kingdom (Part 1)

In the last Discipleship 101 post, The Kingdom Solves the Human Problem - Intro, I introduced the revolutionary concept that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The human problem is met with the immediate availability of the Kingdom of heaven. The motto of Christianity that “Jesus is the Christ” means precisely that a new heavenly quality of life, which was previously unavailable to human beings, is now “at hand”. The kingdom is available. This is a revolutionary claim, and, to understand the true revolutionary content of this promise, this gospel, we must see with the human problem with God’s eyes. From God’s perspective, what is wrong with human life?

To understand God’s perspective on humanity, to see with God’s eyes, we must must accept one preeminent truth: God is a God of compassion. The living God is the defender of the weak. The second truth we must accept is like the first. This God of compassion has a global perspective. The living God sees the oppression and suffering of the world’s poor, and He hears their cry. To understand the kingdom of heaven and its promise, we must see with the eyes of God and feel with the love of God or we will miss the proper application of the kingdom of God. How can we live in the solution if we do not understand the problem? Only if we know the compassion of God will our perspective look at a world of incomprehensible suffering and define the human problem as God defines the human problem. 

The human problem is suffering. This suffering is the result of man’s inhumanity to man and this violence and oppression is the result of man’s sinfulness. Looking deeper, we find that this violence and oppression is the result of man’s alienation from God. But before we dig into solutions, solutions that include a deeper relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we must look at the problem and, indeed, the problem is oppression and suffering. 

A Word on Problems and Solutions

When I speak of the term “problem”, I am using this word in an almost technical sense. By "problem", I mean the observable concrete circumstance that people find themselves in. By problem, I specifically do not mean the causes or the root causes of these objective problems. For example, war and violence is part of the human problem. I make this distinction between problems and causes because unless our theology solves these ultimate outcomes and observable problems, our theology is worthless and irrelevant. If our "solution" does not solve the "problem" how can we call our solution an actual solution. Our so-called solutions are mere theory. 
Human existence has very concrete problems which prophets and philosophers have attempted to solve for centuries. The Christian faith is that the solution to the human problem is Jesus Christ. The promise of the bible is that God will bring salvation to solve the human problem that is ever before the eyes of all reflective human beings. We are all aware that humanity has a problem. We are cruel and heartless to one another. If the 20th century taught us anything, it is that something is profoundly wrong with humanity. To say that Jesus is the Christ is to say that Jesus has the solution to these self-evident problems. 

A Quick Look at the Root Cause of the Human Problem

In the paragraphs ahead, I will look at the details of the human problem by looking at the first chapters of genesis, but for now I would like to simply outline where we are going. 

I have already stated that the human problem is suffering. I have given violence as an example. While describing the human setting, the setting of fallenness, Genesis presents the story of Cain and Able. In the prototypical human family, one brother killed another brother. Genesis is showing us that violence is an ugly problem that is endemic to the human character. Violence is part of our fallen DNA. This is a problem the Christ and His kingdom solves. 

From the Problem to the Root Cause
One way to look at a problem is to start with a problem definition and then ask ourselves “why”. We repeat the “why” question until we are satisfied that we have arrived at the root cause of the problem. Genesis both describes the human problem and answers the “why?”s for us. 

Problem: Broadly speaking the problem is suffering. 

Why: Why is there suffering? 

Cause: Suffering exists because people are fighting in order to “survive”. 

Why: Why do people fight? 

Cause: People fight because they fear the future. 

Why: Why do people fear? 

Cause: People fear because in a world of scarcity and doubt, we lack a great enough peace to overcome our fear.

Why: Why do people lack a peace about the future that is greater than our fear? 

Cause: The answer to this fear problem has to be intimacy with God. 

Why: Why do people lack intimacy with God 

Root Cause: The answer to this problem is Discipleship...

The road to an enduring conscious contact with God that is powerful enough to produce fearlessness and to grant to the believer the courage to cease fighting for one’s self interest is discipleship. Jesus teaches us how to live in this quality of life that the world needs and needs to see in the church. This courage is available because the Kingdom is available. This intimacy with God leads to courage. This courage leads to generosity and self sacrifice, and this generosity and self-sacrifice meets the problem of suffering. 

peace

Notes on: The New Social Order Called the Church

The following are my notes/abstract on my intro to a Section on Kingdom Theology in Discipleship 101. 

POINT: If we see the goal of the Gospel as an observable Morally Beautiful Community (an earthly expression of the kingdom in this age), then we submit all discipleship and mission to this goal. The root cause is spiritual and the outcome is a new social order called the church. 

Key idea: A person must see the observable problem of violence, man’s inhumanity to man, marital strife and poverty as the problem and the kingdom as the answer to this observable problem. Therefore, if the kingdom has come, then the solution to this observable problem is being displayed in the church. Human society in its common state is the problem and the church in it’s glory in this age is the solution. 

I will used the simplest of illustrations to explain the main point of this chapter to understand the true extent of the goodness of the good news. The illustration is a simple arrow going from the proverbial point “A” to point “B”. The principle is that we must begin with the end in site, We must know where we are and where God intends to bring us here in life in this age. The proclamation that the kingdom of heaven is within our reach is stating that humanity is at a place of great need and the kingdom of heaven meets this great need. Humanity, all human beings, have a problem and the kingdom of heaven is the solution to this problem. 

How we define this problem will determine how good we see the good news. How we define this problem will determine what problem we have faith for the Gospel to solve.

A Description of the Goal. 

The biblical description of the end to which we aim to arrive at is most clearly and practically depicted in Acts 2 and Acts 4. I will begin the passage with the conclusion of Peter’s sermon. 

Acts2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

 43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 4:32 And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. 34 For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales 35 and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

36 Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), 37 and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Thesis: The Church, the eschatological expression of the in braking of the kingdom, is a community with a radically distinct social order. The church is to be a clear and distinct expression of a new social order. This social order directly and distinctly solves the fundamental human problems of alienation from God and alienation from one another. The church as the community of the Christ vividly presents to the world a clear solution to the problem of wealth inequality and greed as the outcome of the rule and reign of the Christ in the life of the believers. 

The Extent of the Kingdom - What Quality of Life Ought We to Expect? Opening Paragraph

That the kingdom is at hand is not such a revolutionary idea. What is revolutionary is to find the means to actually enter into the kingdom in this life. When one person says the kingdom is immediately available, “the kingdom is at hand”, he means something quite different than someone else proclaiming the same message. One has a high expectation of a new and beautiful quality of life, while the other expects merely an assurance of heaven and only a future deliverance.  Yet, still another believes something in between these two options. The question is whether or not the coming of the kingdom in our life can have a truly revolutionary effect. Can we be free of all self interest and hoarding to such an extent that we live a simple and generous life, a life of daily faith in the provision of the Father? Is the life of communion with God, a life set free by grace and love, available? Is this the life of the few or is this blessed life available to all the followers of Jesus, the single, the married, the young and the old? Can our temperaments be tamed? Can we live without concern for the opinions of others, undisturbed by their judgments and slanders and threats? Can we love our enemies, our enemy-neighbors, even in the midst of the conflict? If we picture the highest ideal, a  life fully delivered from the human predicament, and then believe for something even greater, are we describing the kingdom that is available in heaven or the kingdom that is available on earth? To what extent is the kingdom available to us in this life? This is the question. How we answer this question defines the nature of our faith? How we understand the extent of the kingdom that is available in this life determines the trajectory of our life, our expectations, our approach to the faith. 

Discipleship 101 - An Outline (Part 1)

Over the past month or so, I have been meditating on the theology and principles that make up a kingdom approach to discipleship. It is the church’s primary job to deliver a kingdom quality of life, a truly happy and heavenly quality of life, to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the path into the kingdom is rarely, if ever, mapped out in the church’s ministry program. As I wrote earlier, Dallas Willard says, “I know of no current denomination or local congregation that has a concrete plan and practice for teaching people to ‘do all that I commanded you’”. In other words, Willard knows of no church that has a discipleship program that leads people into the kingdom. This is a bold claim but it has been my experience as well. 

The quality of life which Jesus offers, as those who have tasted it know, is significantly distinct from the quality of life one can attain apart from the Gospel. When the power of the Kingdom comes upon us we have a significantly higher quality of life in terms of righteousness, peace and joy. I am not saying that the believer abides in this place continually or even consistently, but as one learns and grows, we can learn how to pull ourselves out of our forgetfulness and revive the presence and power of God in our lives. 

What follows is a very brief outline of, first, a kingdom theology and, subsequently, a kingdom approach to discipleship. My intension, though I rarely am able to follow through on my original intentions, is to write multiple posts on each postulate, hypothesis, and principle using this post as a basic outline. At some point, I will write a post with the remainder of the outline of the principles that give the believer a more complete understanding of the teachings of Jesus. So, in fact, what I hope to accomplish is a somewhat complete mapping of a discipleship process. These principles have been of great spiritual value to me and to others who I have had the privilege of walking with as friends and co-workers in the kingdom.

I will outline this path using terminology that works for me. The terminology may or may not be best, but, certainly, that is not the point. It is our practices that make any approach to the faith actually work especially when we define “working” as bringing to people the promised kingdom quality of life. So here we go: 

Postulate 1: Jesus is the Christ

In the Old Testament, God promises His failing people that He will send a Christ who will usher in a new covenant. This new covenant will not be like the old covenant which they could not follow. Instead, this new covenant will empower the people of God to obey his ways. The believer will be given a new heart, a tender heart. No longer will one person say to another “Do you know the Lord?” for every one will have an intimate and conscious awareness of God. This experiential knowledge of God will enable the people of God to obey God and, ultimately, this new covenant will enable the people of God to become the morally beautiful people that God has envisioned for His people. They will become a light on a hill and a city that cannot be hidden. Faith for the fulfillment of these promises, in our lives and in our churches, is what it means to believe that Jesus is the Christ. 

Postulate 2: Since Jesus is the Christ, by definition, the kingdom of heaven is within our reach. 

The kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven is best described as a truly happy and heavenly quality of life. This kingdom quality of life is the quality of life available in heaven. This heavenly quality of life is available today through faith in Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. This quality of life is available because the best part of heaven, God Himself, is available to us today. The kingdom is the answer to every evil that plagues humanity. The human plight, the dread of human existence, the existential angst of human experience, finds its resolution not in our death, but in the death of Jesus on our behalf. We have access to a significantly superior quality of life because Jesus, the Christ, has died and is alive, and His kingdom is immediately present to those who repent and believe this Good News. 

Hypothesis 1: We enter the kingdom quality of life by putting into practice the teachings of Jesus. 

This is the basis of all discipleship. Jesus’ call to His disciple in the bible and to His disciples today is “follow me”. To believe that Jesus is the Christ and that we are to enter the kingdom through faith in Jesus means that we are to follow Jesus and he will lead us into this kingdom quality of life. All the centuries of confusion regarding faith and works is solved when we begin with a theology of the kingdom and the promise of an altogether superior quality of life. Faith is to follow Jesus into the kingdom. Because the kingdom is the solution to our present living, to have faith in Jesus is to believe that through the grace of God we can behave and live differently today. To experience victory in life, we must follow Jesus’ program and teachings. This truly happy and heavenly quality of life is founded entirely on faith in Jesus’ teachings and His modeling of who God, the Father, is. Therefore, as we will see, following Jesus begins and is immersed in an understanding of the love and grace of God. We learn to immerse every aspect of our lives with this love as we learn to follow Jesus into a life of infinite forgiveness, fearless faith, and unconditionally love. 

Hypothesis 2: The source of power which enables the believe to walk in the kingdom quality of life, that is in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, is conscious contact with God. 

The bible teaches us that the joy of the lord is our strength. We are morally strong when we are joyful. We can only have a morally powerful joy when we are in living from the presence of God. The power to be meek when we are tempted to be angry is the real knowledge of God and ourselves as His child. We can trust Him because our affections and emotions have been transformed through our life in the presence of God. No other path gives us the moral strength to be generous and loving and gentle and calm. There is only one thing needful and that is a close walk with God. 

Hypothesis 3: Conscious contact with God is maintained through an orientation of absolute surrender with respect to the teachings of Jesus. This is the life of repentance.

The path to conscious contact with God is repentance. The key to maintaining the witness of the Spirit that we are children and therefore heirs is repentance from the heart. This absolute surrender is not merely an orientation in prayer but a commitment to follow through with obedience. This life of repentance requires a life of rigorous honesty and the cultivation of a tender heart. The life requires the work of the Holy Spirit, humility before the Word of God, and intimate, authentic community with other followers of this path of discipleship. Jesus taught us that the kingdom of God suffers violence and violent men take it by force. This zeal requires a life of rigorous honesty and confession. This life of rigorous honesty is the narrow road that, in reality, few are willing to follow in order to experience the kingdom life in this life. 

Principle 1: The first teaching of Jesus, a teaching which must remain an element of every Christian practice, is that without the provision of God’s power and grace  we are spiritually poor. All the resources we need to attain to this kingdom quality of life are a gift of His grace. This grace is needed moment by moment if we to experience righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus taught and lived and told parables about the grace of a loving Father. Jesus began His teaching life by saying, “Blessed are the spiritually bankrupt, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. We are all without the ability to take one step toward God apart from His provision. He pardons, and He enables. All the theology of Paul is to be understood as an exposition of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught us through His words, His religious symbols, His life and ultimately in His death and resurrection that we need God’s grace and loving power toward us who believe. Baptism, the Lord’s supper, the parables, and the life and death of Jesus are all elements of the story of the Father’s provision for His children. Of all the teachings of Jesus, grace must remain front and center. Without being immersed in grace, we will fail to live a beautiful life. Of all the practices we need to learn receiving forgiveness and grace is first and foremost. As disciples, receiving grace from God needs to be a well worn path. 

This kingdom life is attainable and God intends for us to understand how to follow Jesus into a truly happy and heavenly quality of life. Principles and theology help us to develop a daily cycle and an approach to life and prayer that we can learn and live. 

Matthew 5:43-48 - Pray for Those who Persecute You

The teachings of Jesus are so very practical. Matt 5:43-48 defines for us what spiritual maturity looks like. 

 Matt 5:43"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.'

 44"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

 46"For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

 47"If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

 48"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus is calling us to love our enemies. This teaches us to give and serve and bless those who are not giving and serving and blessing us. The actions of these people, our adversaries, make us less secure and less at peace, and, yet, we are to assist and to help secure their peace and well-being. Secondly, we are to pray for those who persecute us. For me, this command has proven to be ultra-practical. This command tells us that if another person is harming our reputation, we are to act to bless their reputation. So if, for example, a person at work goes to our boss and maligns us, we, the Christian, are to resolve in our heart, through prayer, to only say positive things about this person. This act of surrender is the way of peace. We surrender to God’s will and resolve to speak highly of everyone. We are to never speak ill of anyone. This is our goal and here in lies the path to conscious contact with God. 

peace, brad

Discipleship 101: The Church as a Disciple-Making Community

“Who are you discipling?” “Who is discipling you?” “What method do you use?” and specifically “what method of prayer do you teach?”

How we and the members of our church community answer these four questions reveals quite succinctly the health of the discipleship program in our churches and the intentionality of our lives as followers of Jesus. Often when preaching in churches, when I ask these questions, my point is simply to reveal to the church that they do not have a discipleship process at all. People look bewildered. “Who am I discipling? Ahhh...??...no one I guess. I have never looked at it that way.” “What method do I use? We don’t use methods. What is he talking about? And who does he think he is anyway?” “What method of prayer do we teach. What??? We aren’t buddhist. What is he talking about?” 

So I ask you, the reader, “Who are you discipling?” “Who is discipling you?” “What method do you use?” and “What method of prayer do you teach people?” 

The fact that most christians cannot answer these questions in detail nor carry on a discussion about what methods of discipleship work and do not work reveals to us that we have a crisis in discipleship in the church of the master discipler, Jesus Christ. Dallas Willard in the book “The Great Omission” speaking on the topic of the great commission concludes by saying, “I know of no current denomination or local congregation that has a concrete plan and practice for teaching people to ‘do all that I commanded you’” (72-73). Dallas Willard, after mentoring pastors and preaching in conferences around the world for his entire life, came to the conclusion that not one congregation has a definitive discipleship plan that attempts to fulfill the great commission to “make disciples of all people teaching them to obey everything I commanded you”. It has taken maybe centuries to get to this place of total abandonment of our calling. This maybe a harsh observation but I contend, and with Dallas Willard as my witness I am utterly convinced, that the church is in crisis with respect to the process of discipleship. 

Jesus often used economic analogies to make his point clearer. The economic system of the day was almost exclusively farming. For example, to bring clarity and urgency to His followers, Jesus told parables that depict His followers as farm workers working for a farm owner. The owner, Jesus taught us, expects a profit from his farm. When the farm owner returns, he will say to us “show me the money”. 

I have spent my career in the aerospace industry, so let me make a more modern economic analogy using airplanes. Picture a incredibly complex organization like an airplane manufacturer. The organization has literally 1000s of engineers and 100,000 employees. The process of designing and building an airplane takes years. When everything comes together the plane is sold to a customer and the plane does one thing very well: it flies. Imagine that this incredible endeavor produced a product that was perfect in every way except for one detail. The planes could not fly. Picture the first test flight. ABC manufacturer produces a plane, but it cannot fly. Imagine the press conference. The CEO steps up to the microphone and says, “ We do not consider this to be a problem. Our airplane is beautiful. It seating is state of the art. Every seat has its own private entertainment system. The interior sound levels are unrivaled. We have come to the conclusion that flight is not possible and therefore not to be a primary characteristic of airplanes nor a realistic goal for the airplane manufacturer.” This illustration describes the current state of the church. We are a disciple-making community and yet we do not know how to make disciples nor do we see this as a terribly urgent problem. 

Dallas Willard on Scripture Memorization

I wrote about our family's two primary disciplines, reading the bible one page a day and scripture memorization at a pace of 2 verses a day. We have revised this to 10 verses a week, but anyway. Often people think scripture memorization is too "elementary" or too rote. Isn't bible discussion and bible story telling more effective and, well, cool?
Dallas Willard is a pretty smart and critical thinking kinda guy, and this is what Wilalrd says about scripture memorization in The Great Omission, p 58:

Bible Memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to - and of course I don't have to - choose between all the spiritual disciplines of the spiritual life and take only one, I would choose Bible memorization. I would not be a pastor of a church that did not have a program of Bible memorization in it, because Bible memorization is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what we need, "To have the book of the Law ever before us" (Joshua 1:8)

Simple as it sounds, a few verses a day and rehearsing these verse to and from wherever we are going is fundamental to spiritual transformation.
peace,

An Example of Spiritual Discipline - Scripture Memory - Two Verses a Day

Here is a very simple challenge. A lifelong discipline of scripture memory is an easy and effective way to a thorough knowledge of the New Testament. If a believer memorizes two verses a day, he or she can memorize the entire New Testament every ten years. If instead of memorizing every verse and only memorize key passages, in three or four years, a total mastery of the New Testament can be obtained.

Another benefit is that scripture memory gives a way to bracket the day with one thought with morning and evening meditation. Another benefit is that a single topic can be contemplated for about a week or so as most paragraphs are 8-12 verses long. Over the course of say 3-4 months, your meditation has been centered on one book of the bible, and, though this is a slower method to proceed through the New Testament, it is far more effective in learning the thoughts of the author.

Also, this is something, we can do with a friend or a spouse. This practice is my commitment this year, and, hopefully, by God's grace and the encouragement of friends, a commitment I could keep for the rest of the decade or even the rest of my life.

Matthew 6:19-34 and the Decision to Not Accumulate Wealth

One of the most profound errors in protestantism is the misinterpretation of Matthew 6:19-34. I have spoken concerning this topic many times. The bottom line is that when Jesus says "do not store up treasures on earth where moth or rust destroy but, instead, store up treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is their is your heart" He is calling the Christian to make a decision. This "not storing up treasures" is not a matter of the heart but is a call to not store up wealth in durable goods and money. Money is a form of a durable good like a house in that it can be stored without the value spoiling. This durability is the purpose for money. It is the durability of gold (gold doesn't rust) that led to gold being used as currency. Jesus is clearly playing with the idea of the seeming durability of money in light of more eternal and spiritual, i.e. kingdom, realities.

Many people interpret the passage "for where your treasure is their your heart is also" as saying "for where your heart is there is your treasure also" but that is not what the passage says. It is not where your heart is that determines where your treasure is but where your treasure is that determines where your heart is. If we have treasures on earth then that is where our heart is. If we have durable items stored on earth in the form of money and homes or land, then we must accept that our heart is worldly and carnal and void of the love of God. Therefore, the Christian, the follower of Jesus, is called to make a decision as to whether he or she will seek wealth.


The Problem of Wealth
The human ability to be selfish is manifested in the invention of a means to store up treasures beyond what is natural. This man made means was the invention of currency in the form of durable metals and money. This ability to quantify our wealth in currency has allowed us to "store up treasures on earth". This invention exasperated the problem of inequality. The problem of wealth and unnatural accumulation has been a human problem for a long time. Jesus is not a revolutionary. He is not calling on us to change this reality of the world as it is. Jesus is calling us to live differently and to make a decision.

John Locke was aware of the problem of unnatural accumulation but outside of religion he knew that the state couldn't and shouldn't try to solve this problem. It is just a fact of life that due to the existence of money people can horde wealth. This storing is the primary means that ALL humanity pursues happiness. This storing is ultimately a source of incalculable human suffering. Jesus is calling on Christians through our individual decisions to profoundly impact this most fundamental human problem. the problem of inequality and hoarding. Our response to this teaching of Jesus is central to the mission of the church and the witness of the church.

Jesus is calling the Christian to be different in a real and practical way. We are to make a concrete decision to not store up wealth. This concrete decision to give away our wealth and to refuse to store up money in accounts is the challenge of the passage.

The Decision and the Discipline of Mind
The Christian is called to forsake the accumulation of wealth through his or her labor. This decision is the most counter culture decision of all that the Christian makes. Because this passage is so counter culture and so contrary to all that is around us, precisely because of this affront to our worldview, this passage has been misinterpreted. The Christian must be a critical thinker in order to understand this passage. I have found in life that very few people have the discipline of mind to read the bible for what it actually says especially with respect to Jesus' teachings. The compliant mind assumes that what they have heard from other Christians or from the pulpit is true. This assumption that the church you are in is somewhat correct is the essence of compliant thinking. We must in all things be critical. Because the church is so wrong on this particular issue, we ought to wrestle with this and other hard passages of scripture in the privacy of our own devotional life. This wrestling alone with the text is the essence of being a critical thinker. This takes intellectual courage. What is needed is courageous thinking followed by courageous decisions.

Christians are called to be distinct. We are called to make difficult decisions. These decisions are made not out of fear or compulsion but out of love for God and His ways. We are called to walk by faith. We are called to be courageous. Of all the difficult and courageous decisions we are called to make, I believe this decisions to sell our durable goods and give to the poor is the biggest and hardest decision of all. This decision to empty out our bank accounts and give to the needs of others is a big decision and it is a decision that needs to be made many times over the course of our Christian life. This decision not to save for a retirement of leisure is a big decision, but is there any other way to read Matthew 6? I believe there is not.

The Four Story House of Discipleship

One of the most striking deficiencies in the church today is our seeming inability to deliver the kingdom life to our community members. The gospel promises us that the kingdom of God is within our reach. The kingdom is a life that is striking in it's moral distinction. The beautiful and distinct life that is the kingdom is rarely experienced in our churches. Of course, there are numerous reasons for this deficiency including a stunning lack of understanding of the teachings of Jesus and the process through which Jesus leads us into the kingdom life. I call the teachings of Jesus, the wine.

While the teachings are the wine, the diagram above is an illustration of the wineskin. 

The wineskin is the system of institutionalized practices that enables the community to deliver the wine of the teachings of Jesus to the individual. The institutional practices described in this illustration accomplish the task of immersing the members in the words of Jesus and the presence of God. Thus, the foundational concept that this illustration rests on is the reality that the community member needs to be totally immersed in the word and spirit in order to be socialized into this new way of life. Needless to say, these practices are almost impossible to institutionalize in the context of 21st century life. 

The ground up process. 

The other key to this illustration is that the various practices are both synergistic and sequential. The lower layers are more foundational and fundamental than the upper layers (sequential), but in order to perfect the lower layers, we need the assistance of the upper layers (synergistic). The life of private devotion is most important in the life of the believer but the other modes of relationships are necessary to grow in these private disciplines. 

In this blog and in ministry in general, the ultimate goal is to build Morally Beautiful Community. To accomplish this task requires both institutional practices, the wine of the teachings of Jesus, and the power of the Gospel of grace. Hope against hope. One day at a time. 

peace,

brad

Blessed are the Merciful and the Discipline of Mercy

The teachings of Jesus are immersed in a handful of foundational principles. One of these principles is that the follower of Jesus is to be an expert at showing mercy from the heart. The source of this mercy is our abiding awareness of God’s mercy toward us and our continual, frequent and recurrent need for mercy. 

Foundational Principles

Before, we jump into the discipline of mercy, let’s review Jesus’ way of discipleship. First, the first principle of all Christianity is that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus taught us that it is upon this rock, this first truth, that He will build His church. To believe that Jesus is the Christ is to have faith that the answer to the human predicament is solved by Jesus Christ. Jesus came to set the world right. Our faith is that by believing and following Jesus, we will experience a new quality of life. This quality of life is called the “Kingdom of Heaven” or the “Kingdom of God”. This kingdom is from the inside out. Jesus’ teachings center on heart management and life transformation. He teaches us to love our enemies from the heart. He teaches us to be humble and meek and merciful. By following Jesus, the King, we enter and experience His kingdom. This process of following Jesus and experiencing the kingdom is called discipleship. We experience the kingdom as we begin to pattern our lives through the teachings of Jesus. Therefore, we apply the teachings of Jesus in order to enter the quality of life called the kingdom. 

Confident in the Care of the Father - Matt 6:25-31

In our first post, we looked at the Challenge of the Teachings of Jesus. Jesus teaches us saying, and I paraphrase, "Do not store up treasures on earth", "Do not seek these things like the pagans do", and "Do not worry about them". These sayings are quite literal and quite challenging. How can we meet the challenge Jesus and voluntarily live a materially vulnerable life? How can we live in a world filled with uncertainty and not store up our own own safety net of financial "security"? This challenge is truly the road less traveled. It is all extremely challenging.  

How to Meet the Challenge

We can meet this challenge of Jesus only if we are confident in the care of the Father. 

In this passage, Matt 6:25-31, Jesus teaches us saying, 

25"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'

Jesus teaches us that the only way to live a life unbuffered with wealth is to be aware of the fact that the Father cares for lesser creatures and that, by comparison, we are exponentially more valuable than a bird or a flower to Him. "If your heavenly Father cares for them, will He not MUCH MORE care for you"

In order to know of the Father, we must accept that we are valuable, important, and precious to the Father. All humans see a regal mountain or an awesome sunset and our whole being responds with "Wow, that is beautiful". By comparison, Jesus teaches us that we are far more wonderful and valuable and beautiful that these things. It is hard to say, "I am beautiful", when throughout our whole life we have been conditioned to criticize ourselves and to live in fear of other people's opinions of us. But the fact is the Father clothes us with more beauty and majesty than Solomon was able to cloth Himself.

Not only does God value us, but He is aware of our every need. Jesus teaches in Matt 10:29-31,

29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

We are to fear nothing because our Father is aware of every hair that falls from our heads. He thinks we are precious and valuable and He is aware of us and conscious of every scratch or bruise we might experience to both our bodies or our emotions.

Only if we understand these truths can we live as Jesus challenges us to live. Is it possible to live with no wealth stored in a bank or without any unnecessary luxury items as Jesus teaches us? Following Jesus in this way is the only way to live in a manner that displays our faith in the care and power of the Father. If we trust in wealth like the world, what distinction do we have? Our religions is impotent to glorify God. But if we  give wisely to the needy and if we give when we behold our brother in need, then the world will see the good works of Christ through us to the glory of God.

We can only meet this challenge if we are, by the Holy Spirit, aware and confident in the care of the Father.

Matt. 6:19-24 - Do Not Store Up Treasures On Earth

The teachings of Jesus are the most neglected scriptures in the bible. Of all the central passages of scripture, the clearest and most neglected and misunderstood of all is Matthew 6. Here is close to 50% of the central teachings of the Messiah, here is the path to blessedness and yet the church by and large has entirely neglected or worse refused to preach the simple truth of the way of the Savior.

Jesus, our Christ and Lord, teaches us saying, "Do not store up treasures on earth where moth or rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves cannot break in and steal". The treasures Jesus is telling us not to store up, or amass, are treasures that:

1. Moths can eat.

2. Rust can destroy

3. Thieves can steal. 

This teaching is simple in its clarity. Jesus indeed was brilliant in His ability to illuminate and illustrate His principles. Moths eat clothes, so do not store up clothes in your closets. Rust destroys metals so do not have valuable items in your garage or other so called semi-durable goods. And do not acquire the type of treasures that thieves can break into our houses or our banks and steal. Christians are to amass none of these type of things. We cannot have assets in banks and homes and cars and clothes. We are to not store up or amass monetary assets at all. Why? Because we are followers of the Messiah. If moths can eat it. Don't have a storage place with a lot of it. If rust will destroy it. Don't have an expensive one. If a thief could steal it, do not have much of it. 

Is this what Jesus means by these teachings. If we are not clear, Jesus clarifies and explains. 

Jesus continues to illustrate His way of blessedness saying, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. And if the light in you is darkness. How great is that darkness?"

Jesus is clear. Our vision for our life is what directs our life. If our vision is single and focused and correct, then our entire life will bring glory to God and the spirit in us will be Godly. But if our goals are mixed and double-minded or double-sighted, then our whole life will be one big deception and our spirit is actually evil. If our spirit is evil, trust Jesus, it is worse than you could imagine. 

Do not be deceived. Jesus continues just in case we do not yet understand. Do we think we can have two goals in life. Can we emus wealth and serve Jesus. Can we have expensive homes and closets full of nice clothes and fancy luxurious cars? 

"You cannot serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money or the god of wealth".

Serving money and seeking wealth is like serving an idol. Is there a buddah in your home? Is there a buddah in your church? At the alter? Of course there isn't. Well, then in the same way, there must not be wealth and greed in the church. You cannot have it both ways. You either hate wealth and love God or you hate God and love money. There is no safe middle ground. You cannot love God and kinda like money. If you kinda like money, you hate God. If you really love God, you must hate wealth and greed like you would hate an idol in your church. 

Therefore, do not store up treasures on earth where moth or rust destroy. Do we believe Jesus? Are we followers of the King? Do we teach and observe these commands? If we do not we are like fools who built our houses on the sand. But if we observe these teachings of the Christ, the Son of God, and teach others to do likewise, like Jesus, then we are wise indeed. 

Matt 6:19-34 – Safe in the Care of the Father

Matt 6:19-34 – Safe in the Care of the Father
In order to meet the challenge of the teachings of Jesus, we must know how to abide in the safety of the Father’s care.
The Challenge of the Teachings of Jesus:

1. Do not store up treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy or where thieves break in and steal.
a. What are the treasures on earth that moth can destroy?
b. What type of things (treasures) that a thief might steal?
c. So what are examples of the treasures Jesus is speaking of?

2. For where your treasure is there your heart is also.
a. This saying can mean one of three things. Which option best fits the grammar of the saying. For where your __________ is there your __________ is.

i. Where your love is there your wealth is?
ii. Where your wealth is there your love is?
iii. Where your love is there your love is?
What can we do to meet this challenge?

Safe in the Care of the Father

In order to meet the challenge, we must have faith in the care of the Father.

What does it mean to be clothed better than the lilies which are clothed better than Solomon?

How will God cloth us better than Solomon?

Why does it matter that we are more valuable than sparrows and lilies? (What is the promise Jesus is making?)

Jesus teaches that “the very hairs on our head are all numbered”(Matt 10:30). What does this say about the Father’s care for us?

Are you actually safe enough in the care of the Father to not store up treasures on earth?

Do you believe in your “heart of hearts” that you are safe enough in the care of the Father to not store up treasures on earth?

What can we do to know that we are safe in the care of the Father so that we can resist the temptation to store up treasures on earth?

Small Groups as an Enabler of Discipleship

(I am writing some stuff for our church and thought I would share my thoughts here)

In everything we do as a church, we function to expand the kingdom by making disciples. This purpose focus our community and gives us a way to reflect upon whether or not we are “doing church” according to the way Jesus has directed us to “do church”. The same purpose directs our meetings in small group and in our 1x1 discipleship relationships.

Even more foundational than the purpose of small groups is the faith that motivates our meetings as a church and as small groups.

We believe that the kingdom is within reach. we believe through faith in Jesus Christ that people can find a path to an abundant life. We believe that Jesus provides the way to live a life of righteousness, peace and joy in the holy spirit. We believe this is expressed in joy-filled families, love filled life long monogamous marriages, and lifelong mutually supportive and fulfilling friendships.

We believe that these are the outcomes that the discipleship process delivers for people . These outcomes of health lives and healthy loving relationships glorifies God.

We believe that discipleship is the process to deliver these fruit and these kingdom experiences to people that they may from the heart have a testimony of the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their life. These kingdom testimonies are the fuel of our mission. It is through our testimonies of the joy and satisfaction that Jesus has given to us that we are compelled to serve Jesus by sharing His compassion and grace with others.

Small groups are a central part of this discipleship process and our understanding of how Jesus taught us to make disciples informs the way we will do small groups. So in summary, the following beliefs inform how we do small groups:

1. We believe that the kingdom is available
2. We believe the kingdom is experienced through discipleship
3. We believe small groups are a central place to implement and model discipleship and
4. We believe discipleship, the application of the teachings of Jesus, is about:
1. Heart Management (Matt 5-7) - inward
1. in small group
2. 1x1 relationships
3. in devotion
2. Encouraging devotion - upward
1. In small group
2. in devotion
3. Leading in service and the gifts of the spirit- outward
1. as a congregation
2. as individuals
3. in 1x1 relationships
4. as a small group

A Life of Being Surprised By God

I have once again been surprised by the unbelievable grace of God. Lately, I have noticed that my prayer life is at a very low ebb. I know as well that as I look at my life, I have quenched the Spirit. My experience of God is suffering as well. Lately, I have been reflecting on the fact that not only is my spiritual condition low but my faith in a better spiritual condition in the future is quite low.

So in the last few days, I have been asking the Lord, “Can you help me out even though I have no faith and no merit to commend Your response? It is almost if I am praying, “Lord, help me out here but I will understand if you don’t”. So what I decided to do was to go through a time of praying and blessing whoever comes to my mind. ….These are very tiny little random prayers of forgiveness and blessing. I also spent some time (very little time like 10 minutes) reflecting on how God has shown compassion to me in my life. I have been doing these tiny prayers of giving and receiving compassion for about two or three days….

Well, today at work I have been surprised, once again, by the clear presence of God. For me this experience feels like being in the zone feels to an athlete. If you have ever played basketball for example, there are times when everything just seems to go in. It is uncanny. As the game progresses, you just seem to get more and more confident. Athletes call this being in the zone. Well, today, I am experiencing this but with respect to being kind and joyful. Then, as always happens in such situations, the moment I reflect and say to myself, “Wow, I am in a loving, joyful place. I love this feeling”. At that moment, I sense the presence of God and the clarity that, “Oh my Lord, this is You. This is the answer to those prayers”. The Spirit bears witness with my spirit that God is a God who answers small weak prayers and the result of this grace is a joy unspeakable and full of Glory.

I have had this happen literally every time. I find that every time I move a little toward God in the exercise of faith in the Grace of God in Christ and obedience to the simple path of unconditional love that He surprises me with an unspeakable joy. So truly I can say, faith in the Christ and His path of love is the key to life.

How To Survive a Mid-Life Crisis

(this is part of a larger essay...It starts by explaining why the ego of a person starts to fight for survival in the mid forties)

What is a Mid-life Crisis?

The human self develops a heightened view of itself which he or she desires to project out into the world. For men, this projection of the ego is accomplished through achievements. Throughout life, a tension exists between what the person is in life in the present, his status and accomplishments, and what he would like to be or thinks he ought to be recognized as. This psychic tension must be resolved. Throughout life, we most often resolve this tension of our current position and circumstances and what we desire to be by projecting our vision of our self out into the future. We may not be accomplished and strong and victorious but we can conceive that we one day might accomplish all that our ego sets out to do in the world.

A crisis occurs at 45-55 when a man realizes that the resolution of his shame and pride, the desires of the self, through the acquisition of a preferred future is not likely. Time is running out. At this point in life, the strategy of using a projection into the future of a better you or better position or circumstances is no longer tenable. The psychic tension is irresolvable using the future projection method. It is not likely that the self will be able to affirm itself through future accomplishments. The ego begins to go into crisis. If a man is not well practiced in the process of voluntary death to self, he will not know how to put his ego to death. Instead, his ego will fight to create, before time runs out, the preferred future or vision of himself. The ego refuses to die and begins to seek affirmation in manic fashion.

Death to Self

When encountering a person or developing a relationship with a person, if one is well versed in the problem of human pride, it is not difficult to predict that this man will have a mid-life crisis. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to follow me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Everyday provides opportunities to die to self. Life is social and men are constantly managing their place in the politics of their social networks and relationships. The disciple hates this jockeying and managing one’s power and position and the perceptions of others. To live on a spiritual basis is to actively cease participation in this worldly dynamic. When a person disrespects us, which happens many times in a given day, we actively allow this person to hold this opinion. We forgive and we cease managing people’s perceptions. We are not in management. Only God is in management. It is easy to see and observe if a person knows this practice of death to self. Death to self has thousands of permutations because life provides thousands of opportunities and different circumstances to die to self, to allow our ego to be humbled both before others and before ourselves. But most men are continually acting according the to the worldly system through which the individual attempts to project himself as successful, mature, wise, healthy and kind.

‘Wow, he is skilled and together. I wish I was like him”. This is how every man wants to be perceived, and in the minute relationships of life, at home, at work, in church, we size up ourselves and the other men. In each encounter with another person, egos are present and seeking power and recognition of some sort. This is the process which the disciple of Jesus is actively disengaging from. The disciple must be aware of the process, and, in this awareness, it is easy to observe other men acting out according to the desires of the pride and ego. So it is easy for a follower of Jesus to be aware of whether another man is attempting to follow the teachings of Jesus in the midst of our interactions with them or whether they are following the motivations of their self, their ego. Are we “denying our selves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus” or are we following the desires of our self?

So here is the first key to surviving a mid life: We must start learning how to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus in the small areas of life, many years before we reach this critical age of our mid-forties.

Learning to Deny Self Daily

1. Seizing the Opportunity (in the moment): The Actual Game
2. Silencing the Self
3. Asking for power and faith to deny self - Mediating the situation with the presence/intimacy with Jesus Christ.
1. Strength to resist the persistent ego (refusal to die)
2. Faith to see it as the cross (obedience to God)
3. Compassion for your adversary (he is sick; this battle is sick; the whole war is sick)
4. Comfort and affirmation as a child of God
4. Death to Self in the Big Opportunities (reflection) : Practice
1. Sober moment of reflection
2. Thorough inventory

Rigorous Honesty - Enabler to Discipleship

The Enabler of Rigorous Honesty

The key enabler of discipleship is a friendship of rigorous honesty. Though the discipleship process is fundamentally informal in that we do not go through a book or a set of principles in a formal order, the process does have a few key characteristics. The key characteristic that is most central is that the relationship is one of rigorous honesty. The two or three people that make up this intimate friendship are rigorously honest with each other. The reason that rigorous honesty is so central is because of the nature of discipleship itself.

Discipleship is the process through which Jesus expands his rule and reign over the motivations of our inner person or spirit. Our spirit is here defined as the hidden driving forces that motivate our behaviors. For example, I find myself being over bearing and easily disturbed by the rowdy behavior of my children. I try to be more patient but I find myself speaking forcefully to my children to get them to behave. I easily lose my patience. My behavior problem is my speaking forcefully and even out of disgust, but this is not my motivational or spiritual problem.

In the context of my intimate friendships, the discipleship process, we would discuss why I behave the way I do. My impatience is merely a fruit of my spiritual condition and motivation. If I attempt to fight the impatience with my children directly, I will always fail because I am not dealing with the root cause, the motivation or spirit behind the behavior. Our problem is ultimately a spiritual problem and therefore requires a spiritual solution. My fruit is easily observable and therefore easy to confess, but the real sin beneath the surface is my own little secret. This inner life motivation is both much more difficult discern and when discovered much more difficult to admit. At this point, in order to grow and in order for Jesus to rule over my heart, I need to be rigorously honest with myself and let the Holy Spirit guide me to discern my spiritual condition. In fact, I might need my friends help as well, but they need to be gentle about it.

So, continuing this example, I would quiet myself and answer the “why” question. Why do I get so easily disturbed by my children’s energetic behavior? The fact is that I am embarrassed. They are violating a social rule. Well-behaved children are orderly, and good parents have well-behaved children (or so the social rule says). I do not want to be judged by others. I fear their judgments, and so, I am willing to violate meekness in order to get my children to obey the unspoken social rules. As a result of this motivation, I lose my patience and show disgust for my children’s behavior out of a spirit of fear of people’s opinions of me as a skilled parent. I want to be seen as wise and mature and functional and therefore I shame my kids. I am trying really to put on a show before others as a neat and tidy family. It is all motivated by hypocrisy, pride and fear of people not love for my kids.

The fact is that this understanding of family and parenting is a fairy tale of how life works and living in a fairy tale of religion is a horrible burden for children to be raised under. Such a religion of social norming pressures is bad religion. Do I really want to raise my children under this toxic legalism? If I do not want my children to be raised under this fear of people’s judgmentalism, then I need to confess the driving motivation of fear of other people’s opinions and realize that this is the real motivation for my impatience. I need to describe this condition of my heart to my friends and surrender this pettiness as the root of so much of my religious life. I want to be seen by others as mature and together, and this insecurity and fear is the real reason that I get impatient with my kids. God deliver me from acting out of this fear, help me to see it and direct my children with love, patience and meekness, not fear and impatience. Admitting that I am so petty and motivated by other people’s opinions is a blow to my ego and quite humbling to confess before my friends, but these are the sinful motives that Jesus wants to deliver us from through the process of discipleship.

In the above example, I hope I have illustrated the role that rigorous honesty plays in the discipleship process. Rigorous honesty is the confession not of our behavior but our inner motivations or our spirit, the driving force behind our behaviors. It is far more revealing and difficult to say that much of my religion is for show and that I am driven by my fear of people’s opinions than to simply state the obvious: that I get impatient with my kids. The deeper confession of our real motivation requires a death to self. My projection of my desire to be seen as mature is crucified by the act of confessing that in reality I am a religious hypocrite who is often motivated by a desire to appear mature and in order to keep up this act I shame my kids. The very act of confessing this motivation reveals my spiritual poverty which is the very thing my ego is trying to hide. Rigorous honesty is the taking up of the cross and crucifying my ego and how I want to use religion to appear to have dignity and spiritual health. The fact of the matter is none of us have any spiritual dignity or health apart from abiding in grace and an awareness of our own spiritual poverty. Herein lies the cross and the self-denial that is required for Jesus to rule over our hearts. Rigorous honesty is the cross of discipleship. It is this process of rigorous honesty that our ego resists, but it is precisely this rigorous honesty that enables the process of discipleship.

I use this example as one of many that I could use. We all have sexual problems and the root motivations of these problems is all tied up in a sordid lot of motivations that are quite alarming to us when we allow our motivations to come into our awareness. We all get angry and resentful for all sorts of reasons. We are motivated by a million forms of self-centered fear.

So how are we to lead?

Here is the great lesson. First, this process of discerning our real motives and exposing them to the light of our own awareness and the rule and reign of Jesus is a process that the disciple needs to maintain throughout his or her life. Life is filled with trials and these trials lead us into anger and self-pity and a myriad of other sinful attitudes. Because this process is on-going Christians need these discipleship relationships in their life throughout their life. I personally call and meet with my ministry partners multiple times a week for honest discussion about my spiritual condition. Because of this on-going need and because this process is to be the life of the church, any effective leadership team needs to maintain relationships immersed in this level of rigorous honesty. For, if the discipleship method of the church is one of rigorous honesty with respect to our hidden motivations, those calling others into discipleship must be thoroughly acquainted with this process. How often the church’s leaders who design the discipleship process of the church are themselves unaware of their own spiritual condition and unable to discern the motives that drive their behaviors. We do not live in such a level of honesty pursuit of God to model this process to others but to understand discipleship and know the process intimately. With such a thorough commitment and understanding of what it means to have one’s spirit under the dominion of Jesus Christ will greatly affect the tenor of all a leader teaches and preaches. Unless the ministry leaders of a congregation themselves are transparent and rigorously honesty, there is no way to build a disciple-making community.