True Discipleship

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

1 μιμηταί μου γίνεσθε καθὼς κἀγὼ Χριστοῦ.

Paul makes quite a bold statement here as he links arguments together. He uses the imperative γίνεσθε to command the Corinthians to imitate him. We need to be careful not to stop reading there, though I’m afraid that is easy to do. What I think is interesting is the phrase καθὼς κἀγὼ.

This same phrase starts off 1 Corinthians 10:33 and is translated “just as I am.” By itself, the word καθὼς carries the idea of “as” or “even as.” The word κἀγὼ is a combination of και and εγω and has the idea of “and I.” Putting these words together creates kind of an odd construct to an English reader because we don’t have anything quite like this. Unpacking it a bit might be something like, “Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.” The genitive form of Χριστοῦ is what makes it “of Christ” instead of just “Christ.”

The point is that Paul is telling them to imitate him, but he is doing it in the sense of how he imitates Christ. In other words, he is not saying that he is perfect and that he is worthy of imitation because of his perfection. Rather, he is telling them to imitate the way he imitates Christ.

This is a vital distinction for us. We live in a world where we want to worship celebrities. Some young guys want to preach like Mark Driscoll. Or maybe it’s John Piper. Maybe we want to imitate the reckless sacrifice of Francis Chan. These are fine role models. However, there is a problem because they are all sinners.

Instead, we should imitate John Piper’s pursuit of knowing God. We should imitate Mark Driscoll’s focus in saving the lost within the community he has targeted. We should imitate Francis Chan’s willingness to cast everything aside for the sake of knowing Christ. But we should not imitate them as men.

And if you ever plan to be in Christian ministry you need to make this distinction clear with your people. They should not be imitating you. They should be imitating you as you follow Christ. They should imitate your pursuit of Christ. However, ultimately they need to pursue Christ.

This means that we need to give them a model to follow as well. But fortunately it is not up to us to save them. It is up to the Lord that we are trying to imitate. Let’s focus on Him and the rest will fall into place.

Proper Discipleship

2 John 12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

12 Πολλὰ ἔχων ὑμῖν γράφειν οὐκ ἐβουλήθην διὰ χάρτου καὶ μέλανος, ἀλλὰ ἐλπίζω γενέσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ στόμα πρὸς στόμα λαλῆσαι, ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡμῶν πεπληρωμένη ᾖ.

This is the penultimate verse in this very short book. John does not want to write any more, but he wants to speak face to face. Literally, this is "mouth to mouth," so I'm pretty sure that it is an idiom. The point is that he would prefer a conversation in person over exchanging letters. He then explains his reason with a ἵνα clause. He wants to do this so that our joy πεπληρωμένη. This is a passive perfect participle. Very woodenly, this would be "having been completely filled." Obviously the ESV is more smooth.


This is a verse that I have glossed over many times as I've read this short book. I tend not to concentrate quite as hard at the end of my sections of reading, to be honest. But I think that this is an important verse for discipleship here in 2011.


We are now a digital people. I like email, but I realize that makes me a 20th century dinosaur. Texting has replaced actual cellphone conversations as the preferred way to communicate. We update our friends with 140 character tweets. We update and interact with Facebook statuses. We write blogs. These are all inherently asynchronous ways to communicate.


Obviously John did not have all of these means at his disposal. However, he did have good old fashioned paper and ink. He had the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so he could write a letter like this one under His inspiration. Yet he still preferred to come and talk to the lady face to face. That was what it would take for their joy to be complete.


Why is that? There is something different about meeting with someone face to face. You can't read body language over texting, for example. This is especially true when you start abbreviating everything. I think of this in terms of discipleship. Obviously John was in a position to disciple this lady. It would appear that face to face was the preferred mode for this.


I struggle with this because it demands my time and energy. I can write emails on my own time. But being with someone requires being with someone. It is more messy and more risky. But I can't escape the clear witness of Scripture on this. It's not as if this is the only passage either. Refer to the end of Acts 14 sometime. We need to spend time with each other if we are to grow in godliness. Are you willing?

Authorities

John 7:48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?


48 μή τις ἐκ τῶν ἀρχόντων ἐπίστευσεν εἰς αὐτὸν ἢ ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων;

This is the question the Pharisees asked the "officers" who they sent as something of a goon squad to arrest Jesus. The officers refused to do this because they heard the power of Jesus' preaching. They understood something that the Pharisees could not grasp. Jesus was special and His preaching demanded a response.

The problem of course is that Jesus threatened the Pharisees' way of life. If He was right then they were clearly wrong. You don't just take a group of people who have made it their business to be the most right of all the people in society and then expect them to gracefully step aside. The Pharisees weren't going down without a fight. In a couple of chapters we will see how it all comes together.

This is clearly evident in the church today. It started with Rome and the Reformation. You expect to take a corrupt Pope like Leo and threaten him with the Bible? I sincerely doubt that he cared about anything beyond his own glory if the history about him is even partially true. But if Luther was right then that would destroy his whole way of life.

And lest we get on our Protestant high horses about this, take a look at the average megachurch. I just heard a story about a megachurch that could only offer $350/month to a church-planter because of budget issues. This was coming from a senior pastor's office that had a glass wall with a view of the Rockies. I suspect that most megachurches have the same problem. A severely obese person's heart works as hard when he is sitting as mine does when I go out for a run. Because I'm in decent physical shape I can push my body a little bit to run up a hill, climb stairs, etc. The obese person is always in a state of being pushed, so there is nowhere for his body to go.

I hope that the illustration is clear. To embrace the ideas in David Platt's Radical or even Francis Chan's Crazy Love is a threat to the way of life set up by today's churchianity. Why should we have small churches focused on discipleship? Does Mark Driscoll do it that way? How about C.J. Mahaney? John Piper? James MacDonald? No! They all have big churches with home/life/fellowship/small groups. Why should we do small churches.

Well, despite the success of these men's ministries (and I do think that they are all doing great works) I think that we need to let the New Testament guide us instead. Please hear me that I do not think that they are Pharisees either. My point is simply that the leaders and authorities of the day should always be trumped by Jesus. There is just no other way to look at it.

Who is your authority?

How is Your Soil?

Matthew 13:23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."


23 ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν καλὴν γῆν σπαρείς, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων καὶ συνιείς, ὃς δὴ καρποφορεῖ καὶ ποιεῖ ὃ μὲν ἑκατόν, ὃ δὲ ἑξήκοντα, ὃ δὲ τριάκοντα.

I would maintain that this is one of Jesus' more misunderstood parables in the evangelical church.  It is very well-known, but I'm not sure that we get it because we read this through American eyes.  To us, we see three soils that are Christians and one that is not.  But I don't think that is what Jesus is getting at here.

You don't have to read very far in the gospels to see that Jesus sets the bar very, very high.  The expectation is that we will bear fruit.  In fact, He tells us that a tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.  I think the same goes for the parable of the soils.  There are those who will just reject the gospel as seen in the first soil. There are those who will immediately receive the gospel with joy, but will reject it when trials come. And there are those who seem to receive the gospel, but they don't bother to remove the weeds in their lives and they cannot grow.

It is difficult for me to reconcile how the shallow soil and the thorny soil could indicate someone who is saved.  The Christian life is one that bears fruit.  We may not always bear a ton of fruit, but we should be bearing fruit.  Weeds may come in, but as we notice them we pull them.  We may sometime need deeper soil and fertilizer, so we spend more time in the Word, in prayer, in fellowship, etc.  We all go through some ups and downs, but the Christian life should be a fruit-bearing one.

How is yours?  Do you need to pull some weeds in the garden?  Do you need to put a few yards of topsoil down?  Or are you bearing fruit?

Found Worthy

Matthew 10:38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.


38 καὶ ὃς οὐ λαμβάνει τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀκολουθεῖ ὀπίσω μου, οὐκ ἔστιν μου ἄξιος.

There is a trend started by men like Charles Finney and DL Moody to hold "revival meetings."  They are different in style today, but the underlying form is the same.  You get a bunch of people together, have them sit under a charismatic speaker, and get them to make a "decision for the Lord."  You then count up the incredible harvest and feel good about the work you're doing for the Lord.  Of course, some have perverted this for selfish gain, but I believe that in general the folks who have meetings like this mean well.

The problem is that "making a decision" is antithetical to the gospel proclaimed by Jesus.  In a few weeks we're going to get to the commission with which Jesus left the church.  There is nothing easy about any of this.  Becoming a Christian is easy in the sense that it is all about grace.  But it is difficult in the sense that we need to repent of our pasts and turn to the Lord.

There is no mystery in the Greek here either.  Jesus calls us to radical discipleship.  It is not a matter of simply filling out a card or raising a hand during a corporate prayer time.  No, Jesus is serious about this.  We are to follow Him with all we've got.

Where are you?  Are you playing games with the Lord?  Or are you pursuing Him with all you've got?  Understand that we will still do this imperfectly.  We will have times when we feel like we aren't even Christians. I am not saying that Jesus demands perfection.  However, He does demand that we take up our cross and follow Him.

The Value of Teaching

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

3 Ἔσται γὰρ καιρὸς ὅτε τῆς ὑγιαινούσης διδασκαλίας οὐκ ἀνέξονται ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας ἑαυτοῖς ἐπισωρεύσουσιν διδασκάλους κνηθόμενοι τὴν ἀκοὴν 4  καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν ἀκοὴν ἀποστρέψουσιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς μύθους ἐκτραπήσονται.

Paul has just finished explaining the value of Scripture in 3:16-17 and now he is explaining his admonition to Timothy that he preach the word.  This is the reason why.  There will be a time when people will not endure sound teaching.  You don't have to look very far to realize that this clearly speaks to our society today.

Sadly, this even permeates our churches.  You can find folks reading Joel Osteen, yet they identify themselves as evangelical.  T.D. Jakes is a bestseller, despite the fact that he denies the Trinity and is a Oneness Pentecostal.  Joyce Meyer's particular blend of psychology, self-help, and Word-Faith theology packs out coliseums around the country.  Why?  These so-called teachers tell people what they need to feel better about themselves.

Of course, the Bible is full of promises that help us to feel better.  But the difference is that they are promises that make us feel better because of who God is and who we are in Him.  The Bible is about Jesus, not about us.  If we just read it like a fortune cookie we may think that it is all about us, but it's really His story, not ours.

This is why it is important to study and teach theology.  We need to look for answers to the fundamental questions of life.  Who is God?  Who is man?  What does man need to be reconciled to God?  If we are reconciled then how should we live as a result of this reconciliation?

Read your Bible that you may know God.  Everything begins to fall into place after that.

Perfection

Matthew 5:48

(48) You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This is one of those really loaded verses. Is Jesus saying that we need to keep the Law perfectly to serve Him? Is He saying that it really is about what we do rather than what He has done? How does this work with Paul's statements about how we are all sinners?

The Greek word translated "perfect" has a range of meaning with words like "complete" or "mature" as alternative understandings in English. This is still no solace to the one who feels like he has to work to merit God's favor though. What do we do with this?

I think that it is explained with the Reformed view about the need for an alien righteousness. We cannot attain this "perfection" on our own. Therefore, we need something external to us to complete us. That is what happened in Jesus' life, death, burial, and resurrection. This command means what it appears to mean, but when we are ultimately judged we will be seen through Christ's life. Our life is hid in Christ on high.

However, this does not get us completely off the hook. If we believe that we can be saved without the pursuit of holiness then we are not really saved. If we have no desire to be more like Jesus then we do not really understand what it means to know Him. The idea of salvation without ongoing sanctification is foreign to the Scriptures.

Where are you with this? Are you working to be more like Jesus? Are you working out your salvation with fear and trembling? Or do you think that knowing Jesus is just a matter of cosmic fire insurance? Where are you with this?

Training the Next Generation

Titus 2:1-6
(1) But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
(2) Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.
(3) Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,
(4) and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,
(5) to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
(6) Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

This passage is a beautiful example of what mentoring relationships should look like. It pains me a little bit because I need to have more of these in my life. It also pains me because I am aware of how my pride keeps me from seeing some wise older men as possible mentors for me.

On a more academic note, I am surprised by how many people take this passage to mean that this is all that older women are to do. We know that women are not to be pastors in churches. However, does this passage mean that women should only be doing that? I think that there is still a place for women's Bible studies. Unfortunately, much of it is necessary because the lack of men who step up to lead their homes.

And, sadly enough, that would describe me too. I think Lily is about ready for us to have some kind of family devotion. Maybe we can read through a book of the Bible at dinnertime and talk about what we read. If nothing else, that might help to distract from some of the dinnertime mayhem that sometimes ensues.