Discipleship is one of the most important themes in the New Testament.
The New Testament is comprised of books about disciples, written by disciples, for other disciples of Jesus.
The word "disciple" occurs 269 times in the New Testament, while the word "Christian" is used only 3 times. In fact, the word "Christian" was first introduced to describe Jesus' disciples. "And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11.26).
Why the language of "Christian" has come to dominate our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, I cannot answer (perhaps it has to do with the institutionalization of the Christian religion?). Whatever the reason, I am most concerned with the reality to which our language points. In the words of Dallas Willard, the truth is:
"For at least several decades the churches of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship. Contemporary American [and Canadian] churches in particular do not require following Christ in his example, spirit, and teachings as a condition of membership - either of entering into or continuing in fellowship of a denomination or local church...So far as the visible Christian institutions of our day are concerned, discipleship clearly is optional" (The Great Omission, 4).
The view that discipleship is optional is foreign to the New Testament. The model of life that Jesus demanded of his followers is the way of discipleship - the way of sacrifice, the way of suffering love, the way of the cross and resurrection.
My reflections that follow are a small effort to challenge today's church to return to both the New Testament's language and way of discipleship.
The making of disciples, with a view to enroll people as Christ's students, was at the core of the early churches missionary vision. The goal that Jesus set for his earliest disciples was that they use his power and authority (manifest through the living presence of the Holy Spirit) to make disciples from all nations. This would include baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28.19-20).
So, a follower of Jesus is a special type of person. A disciple is someone who has encountered the Spirit of God and, thus, has been transformed at the core of their being. A disciple has looked, in faith, to the Faithful One - Jesus of Nazareth, who is both the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world. And a disciple is someone who is committed to a life of faithfulness and fidelity to Jesus, which includes an ongoing humble devotion to live out Jesus' teachings about discipleship.
What does this look like you ask? Nothing less than a pattern of dying and raising again.
"If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a person, to gain the whole world, and to lose or forfeit his life" (Luke 9.23-25).
And in Romans 6, the apostle Paul says, "For if we have become united with Christ in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin...Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive unto God in the Messiah Jesus...present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."
This is the New Testament's picture of a disciple of Jesus (ie. a Christian). A disciple is someone who follows the way of the cross and experiences the power of Jesus' resurrection, all the while looking to the future resurrection of the body. Sacrifice, obedience, suffering, and hope apply to Jesus' disciples no less than to himself.
"For Christ's sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3.8-11).
Consider now, these words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Just as Christ is Christ only in virtue of his suffering and rejection, so the disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares his Lord's suffering and rejection and crucifixion. Discipleship means adherence to the person of Jesus, and therefore submission to the law of Christ which is the law of the cross" (The Cost of Discipleship, 87).
What I have described here (in the words of Scripture and the testimony of the later church), is not the deluxe, first rate model of the Christian. This IS the Christian. Surely much more, but no less!
March 26, 2009
February 25, 2009
Ash Wednesday
For those who are not too familiar with the Christian calendar, today is Ash Wednesday. This is the first day of the season of Lent and occurs forty-six days (forty days not counting Sundays) before Easter. It falls on a different date each year because it corresponds to the date of Easter. This year Easter is on April 12.
Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of Christians as a sign of repentance. The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are gathered after the Palm branches from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned.
In the Ash Wednesday worship service, people come forward and receive the sign of the cross on their foreheads. As the minister or priest does this, he recites the words: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." This is taken from Genesis 18.27, where Abraham came before God and referred to himself as "dust and ashes."
In the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, Ash Wednesday is also observed by fasting. Other Christian denominations (ie. the Christian Reformed Church) do not mandate a fast on Ash Wednesday. The main focus is on confession of sin and repentance.
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and contemplation. The Old Testament teaches us that ashes were used in ancient times to express grief, mourning, and lament. Jeremiah told the nation of Israel to mourn over its coming destruction by rolling in ashes (Jeremiah 6.26).
In the context of Temple worship, the ashes that were produced by burning a red heifer were used to bring about purification among God's people (Numbers 19.9-10; Hebrews 9.13).
Dusting oneself with ashes was also the penitent's way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. An ancient example of this is found in Job 42.3-6. When speaking to God, Job said, "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."
In this light, let us come humbly before the Lord our God on this holy day, and acknowledge his unfailing love and compassion, and receive his saving grace into our lives once again.
Ash Wednesday Prayer:
God of all joy,
Create in us a new and contrite heart.
Fill us with your Spirit and give us grace.
In this season of Lent,
Remind us of your triumph over the tragedy of the cross,
And your victory for us over the powers of sin and death,
So that we may reflect your glory as disciples of Christ.
Amen.
Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of Christians as a sign of repentance. The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are gathered after the Palm branches from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned.
In the Ash Wednesday worship service, people come forward and receive the sign of the cross on their foreheads. As the minister or priest does this, he recites the words: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." This is taken from Genesis 18.27, where Abraham came before God and referred to himself as "dust and ashes."
In the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, Ash Wednesday is also observed by fasting. Other Christian denominations (ie. the Christian Reformed Church) do not mandate a fast on Ash Wednesday. The main focus is on confession of sin and repentance.
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and contemplation. The Old Testament teaches us that ashes were used in ancient times to express grief, mourning, and lament. Jeremiah told the nation of Israel to mourn over its coming destruction by rolling in ashes (Jeremiah 6.26).
In the context of Temple worship, the ashes that were produced by burning a red heifer were used to bring about purification among God's people (Numbers 19.9-10; Hebrews 9.13).
Dusting oneself with ashes was also the penitent's way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. An ancient example of this is found in Job 42.3-6. When speaking to God, Job said, "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."
In this light, let us come humbly before the Lord our God on this holy day, and acknowledge his unfailing love and compassion, and receive his saving grace into our lives once again.
Ash Wednesday Prayer:
God of all joy,
Create in us a new and contrite heart.
Fill us with your Spirit and give us grace.
In this season of Lent,
Remind us of your triumph over the tragedy of the cross,
And your victory for us over the powers of sin and death,
So that we may reflect your glory as disciples of Christ.
Amen.
February 14, 2009
From Anxiety and Greed to Milk and Honey
In a recent article in Sojourners magazine, theologian Walter Brueggemann discusses the issue of what the Bible has to say about bailouts.
He says, "Biblical faith invites us out of self-destruction toward God's generosity and abundance."
Brueggemann continues, "So far as I know, the Bible says nothing explicit about subprime loans and the financial implications of such risky economic practice. There is a great deal, nonetheless, that the Bible has to say about such a crisis as we now face. I will comment in turn on a biblical perspective of an analysis of the crisis and a biblical perspective for an alternative economic practice.
While the specifics of the current market collapse are peculiarly modern, biblical perspectives are pertinent because the fundamental issues of economics are constant from ancient to contemporary time, constants such as credit and debt, loans and interest, and the endless tension between haves and have-nots."
With whit and imagination, Brueggemann then identifies three dimensions of the theological-moral foundations of the current economic crisis: autonomy, anxiety, and greed. His conclusion is that we must move to an alternative way in economics: "from autonomy to covenantal existence, from anxiety to divine abundance, and from acquisitive greed to neighborly generosity."
Although this article is, at times, overly simplistic in how it deals with very complex issues, it should function to stimulate positive dialogue both inside and outside of the church!
To read the whole article, go to:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0902&article=from-anxiety-and-greed-to-milk-and-honey
He says, "Biblical faith invites us out of self-destruction toward God's generosity and abundance."
Brueggemann continues, "So far as I know, the Bible says nothing explicit about subprime loans and the financial implications of such risky economic practice. There is a great deal, nonetheless, that the Bible has to say about such a crisis as we now face. I will comment in turn on a biblical perspective of an analysis of the crisis and a biblical perspective for an alternative economic practice.
While the specifics of the current market collapse are peculiarly modern, biblical perspectives are pertinent because the fundamental issues of economics are constant from ancient to contemporary time, constants such as credit and debt, loans and interest, and the endless tension between haves and have-nots."
With whit and imagination, Brueggemann then identifies three dimensions of the theological-moral foundations of the current economic crisis: autonomy, anxiety, and greed. His conclusion is that we must move to an alternative way in economics: "from autonomy to covenantal existence, from anxiety to divine abundance, and from acquisitive greed to neighborly generosity."
Although this article is, at times, overly simplistic in how it deals with very complex issues, it should function to stimulate positive dialogue both inside and outside of the church!
To read the whole article, go to:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0902&article=from-anxiety-and-greed-to-milk-and-honey
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