Archive for the Discipleship Category

The Discipline of Learning by Donald S. Whitney

Posted in * Favorites, Discipleship with tags on December 4, 2011 by Harry

The Christian life begins with learning – learning the gospel.  No one is made right with a God about whom he knows nothing.  No one is made right with God unless he learns about Him and His message to the world, a message of good news called the gospel.  To know God, people must learn that there is a God (Heb. 11:6), that they have broken His law, and that they need to be reconciled to Him. They must learn that God’s Son, Jesus, came to accomplish that reconciliation and that He did so by means of His sinless life and His death on the cross as a substitute for sinners. They must learn of His bodily resurrection and their need to repent of their sins and to believe in Jesus and what He has done.   Apart from people learning these things, “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” (Rom.10:14).

Intentional learning is implied in Jesus’ offer in Luke 9:23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” So from the very start of discipleship, to follow Jesus implied learning from Him, for as did Peter, John, and the others, anyone would certainly learn from Jesus if they would follow Him. But Jesus is even more specific about learning from Him in Matthew 11:29: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  To accept the yoke of a disciple of Jesus means to commit to a lifetime of learning about Jesus and from Jesus.

To emphasize learning as essential to following Jesus is not advocacy for egghead Christianity. Like Jesus, we want both a heart for God and a head for God. Remember that the Great Commandment emphasizes loving God both with all the heart and with all the mind, as well as with all one’s soul and strength (Mark 12:29-30).  As R.C. Sproul once wrote, “Burning hearts are not nourished by empty heads.” God’s truth — which must be learned — is the fuel for the spiritual fire that flames in the Christian heart.

LIFELONG LEARNING
The Christian life not only begins with learning, it proceeds through a process of lifelong learning. This includes deeper discoveries of intimacy with God, an ever-growing grasp of the Bible and its doctrines, a greater awareness of our sin, an increased knowledge of the person and work of Christ, further implications of what it means to follow Him, and more. A mature understanding of these things does not come quickly or without effort. Simply put, it is impossible to grow into a Christlikeness one knows nothing about.  By the Spirit’s power, we must learn what Christlikeness means and how Jesus wants us to follow Him. We learn this through the Bible, of course, but it involves learning nonetheless.

Those whom the Bible considers wise and intelligent understand this. According to Scripture, “The wise lay up knowledge” and “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge” (Prov. 10:14; 18:15). So the primary measurement of wisdom and intelligence is not your IQ or GPA but whether you pursue knowledge, that is, whether you discipline yourself to continue learning the things of God throughout your life.

INTENTIONAL LEARNING
A hunger to learn the Word of God, the ways of God, and the will of God expresses a hunger for God Himself. Those who love God long to be taught about Him and from Him. That doesn’t mean all Christians are to manifest an affinity for learning exactly the same things and in identical ways. But it is true that apathy toward learning the things of God is a mark of those who do not know God.
We are blessed to live in a time when the means of and opportunities for expressing a love for God through learning greatly exceed our ability to take advantage of them. But all these profit little if a person doesn’t pursue them. This is why learning must always be a discipline, for a person can be surrounded by wisdom and knowledge yet live without their riches if he or she does not possess the discipline to learn them.

Thus, learning is indeed a gospel-driven spiritual discipline; those who are not exerting themselves to learn the things of God will gain spiritual and biblical knowledge only by accident or mere convenience. By contrast, intentional learners will seek to learn the things of God and will do so individually as well as with the church, disciplining themselves to learn from those who are gifted by God and recognized by the church as teachers.

  • Article is from November 2011  Tabletalk Magazine
  • Dr. Donald S. Whitney is senior associate dean of the school of theology and professor of biblical spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
    • He is also founder and president of the Center for Biblical Spirituality

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God is Love by John Piper

Posted in * Favorites, Discipleship, Love on January 30, 2011 by Harry
  • “You don’t honor fully what you don’t enjoy.  God is not glorified fully by being known rightly.  He is glorified by by being known and so enjoyed that our lives are transformed into the kind of lives that display his infinite work.”
  • From Together for the Gospel Conference 2006

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Oswald Chambers – My Utmost for His Highest

Posted in Discipleship, Will - Our on January 1, 2011 by Harry

“20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:20–21

My Utmost for His Highest. “My eager desire and hope being that I may never feel ashamed.” We shall all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus on the point He has asked us to yield to Him. Paul says—“My determination is to be my utmost for His Highest.”

To get there is a question of will, not of debate nor of reasoning, but a surrender of will, an absolute and irrevocable surrender on that point. An over-weening consideration for ourselves is the thing that keeps us from that decision, though we put it that we are considering others.

When we consider what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He does not know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point; He does know. Shut out every other consideration and keep yourself before God for this one thing only—“My Utmost for His Highest.” I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and for Him alone. My Undeterredness for His Holiness. “Whether that means life or death, no matter!” (v. 21). Paul is determined that nothing shall deter him from doing exactly what God wants. God’s order has to work up to a crisis in our lives because we will not heed the gentler way. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him, and we begin to debate; then He produces a providential crisis where we have to decide—for or against, and from that point the ‘Great Divide’ begins.

If the crisis has come to you on any line, surrender your will to Him absolutely and irrevocably.

  • Chambers, O. (1993). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (NIV edition.). Westwood, NJ: Barbour and Co.

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Moralistic Therapeutic Deism – the New American Religion

Posted in Discipleship, Theology on August 15, 2010 by Harry

Moralistic therapeutic deism, sometimes abbreviated MTD,[1][2] is a term coined by authors Christian Smith at the University of Notre Dame to describe the common religious beliefs among American youth.[3] Their research project, titled the National Study of Youth and Religion, was funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.[4], a private organization known for its support of Protestantism. The pair found that many young people believed in several moral statutes not exclusive to any of the major world religions:

  1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
  2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
  3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
  4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
  5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

These points of belief were compiled from interviews with approximately 3,000 young teenagers.[5]

The authors concede that “no teenager would actually use the terminology ‘moralistic therapeutic deist’ to describe himself or herself,” acknowledging instead that “that is our summarizing term.”[6] The authors say the system is “moralistic” because it “is about inculcating a moralistic approach to life. It teaches that central to living a good and happy life is being a good, moral person.”[6] The authors describe the system as being “about providing therapeutic benefits to its adherent” as opposed to being about things like “repentance from sin, of keeping the Sabbath, of living as a servant of a sovereign divine, of steadfastly saying one’s prayers, of faithfully observing high holy days, of building character through suffering…”[6]

And last, the authors say it is “about belief in a particular kind of God: one who exists, created the world, and defines our general moral order, but not one who is particularly personally involved in one’s affairs–especially affairs in which one would prefer not to have God involved.”[6] Although a God that is available to intercede in our lives is classically theistic, the authors choose to call this a form of Deism. The coining document says that “the Deism here is revised from its classical eighteenth-century version by the therapeutic qualifier, making the distant God selectively available for taking care of needs.” It views God as “something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist: he’s always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, professionally helps his people to feel better about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in the process.”[6]

The authors believe that “a significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually only tenuously Christian in any sense that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition, but has rather substantially morphed into Christianity’s misbegotten stepcousin, Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”[6]

Damon Linker suggested in a 2009 blog post that Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, while theologically “insipid,” is “perfectly suited to serve as the civil religion of the highly differentiated twenty-first century United States,”[7] a contention that was disputed by Collin Hansen, Ross Douthat, and Rod Dreher.[1]

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Don Carson on Self-Righteousness

Posted in Discipleship on June 26, 2010 by Harry

How self-deceived we humans are when it comes to matters religious. So many things that start off as incentives to repentance and godliness develop into vicious idols. What starts as an aid to holiness ends up as the triple trap of legalism, self-righteousness, and superstition. So it was with the bronze snake in the wilderness. Although it was ordered and used by God (Num. 21:4–9), it became such a religious nonsense in later times that Hezekiah destroyed it (2 Kings 18:4).
So it sometimes is with other forms of religious observance or spiritual discipline. One may with fine purpose and good reason start “journaling” as a discipline that breeds honesty and self-examination, but it can easily slide into the triple trap: in your mind you so establish journaling as the clearest evidence of personal growth and loyalty to Christ that you look down your nose at those who do not commit themselves to the same discipline, and pat yourself on the back every day that you maintain the practice (legalism); you begin to think that only the most mature saints keep spiritual journals, so you qualify—and you know quite a few who do not (self-righteousness); (c) you begin to think that there is something in the act itself, or in the paper, or in the writing, that is a necessary means of grace, a special channel of divine pleasure or truth (superstition). That is the time to throw away your journal.
Clearly, fasting can become a similar sort of trap. The first five verses of Isaiah 58 expose and condemn the wrong kind of fast, while verses 6–12 describe the kind of fast that pleases God. The first is bound up with hypocrisy. People maintain their fasts, but quarrel in the family (58:4). Their fasts do not stop them from exploiting their workers (58:3b). These religious people are getting restless: “We tried fasting,” they say, “and it didn’t work” (58:3). At a superficial level they seem to have a hunger for God and his way (58:2). The truth is that they are beginning to treat the fast as if it were a bit of magic: because I’ve kept the fast, God has to bless me. Such thinking is both terribly sad and terribly evil.
By contrast, the fast that pleases God is marked by genuine repentance (58:6–12). Not only does it turn away from self-indulgence but it actively shares with the poor (58:7), and intentionally strives “to loose the chains of injustice,” “to set the oppressed free and break every yoke” (58:7), to abjure “malicious talk” (58:9). This is the fast that brings God’s blessing (58:8–12).

  • Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God : A daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. Volume 2 (25). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

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R.C. Sproul on the Struggle of Spiritual Growth

Posted in Discipleship on May 28, 2010 by Harry

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D.A. Carson Expounds “Guard Your Heart” Prov. 4:23

Posted in * Favorites, Discipleship, Proverbs with tags on March 17, 2010 by Harry

“ABOVE ALL ELSE, GUARD YOUR HEART, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
(1) In contemporary Western symbolism, the heart is the seat of emotions: e.g., “I love you with all my heart.” But in the symbol-world of Scripture, the heart is the seat of the whole person. It is closer to what we mean by “mind,” though in English “mind” is perhaps a little too restrictively cerebral.
(2) So “guard your heart” means more than “be careful what, or whom, you love”—though it cannot easily mean less than that. It means something like, “Be careful what you treasure; be careful what you set your affections and thoughts on.”
(3) For the “heart,” in this usage, “is the wellspring of life.” It directs the rest of life. What you set your mind and emotions on determines where you go and what you do. It may easily pollute all of life. The imagery is perhaps all the clearer in this section of Proverbs because the ensuing verses mention other organs: “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead.… Make level paths for your feet” (4:24–26, italics added). But above all, guard your heart, “for it is the wellspring of life.” It is the source of everything in a way that, say, the feet are not. Jesus picks up much the same imagery. “You brood of vipers,” he says to one group, “how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him” (Matt. 12:34–35, italics added). So guard your heart.
(4) Make this duty of paramount importance: “Above all else, guard your heart.” One can see why. If the heart is nothing other than the center of your entire personality, that is what must be preserved. If your religion is merely external, while your “heart” is a seething mass of self-interest, what good is the religion? If your heart is ardently pursuing peripheral things (not necessarily lustful things), then from a Christian perspective you soon come to be occupied with the merely peripheral. If what you dream of is possessing a certain thing, if what you pant for is a certain salary or reputation, that shapes your life. But if above all else you see it to be your duty to guard your heart, that resolve will translate itself into choices of what you read, how you pray, what you linger over. It will prompt self-examination and confession, repentance, and faith, and will transform the rest of your life.

  • Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God : A daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. Volume 2 (25). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

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Living in an Ungodly World

Posted in * Favorites, Discipleship, Perseverance, Trials and Suffering on September 5, 2009 by Harry

spurgeonWOE TO ME, THAT I SOJOURN IN MESHECH, THAT I DWELL AMONG THE TENTS OF KEDAR. – PS. 120:5

As a Christian you have to live in the middle of an ungodly world, and it is of little use for you to cry, “Woe to me.” Jesus did not pray that you should be taken out of the world, and what He did not pray for, you need not desire. It is far better to meet the difficulty in the Lord’s strength and by doing so to glorify Him. The enemy is always watching for inconsistency in your conduct; therefore be very holy. Remember that the eyes of all are on you, and that more is expected from you than from other men. Strive to give no occasion for blame. Let your goodness be the only fault they can discover in you. Like Daniel, compel them to say of you, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”‘ Seek to be useful as well as consistent. Perhaps you think, “If I were in a more favorable position I could serve the Lord’s cause, but I cannot do any good where I am.” The worse the people are among whom you live, the more they need your exertions; if they are crooked, all the more need for you to set them straight; and if they are perverse, they need you to turn their proud hearts to the truth. Where should the doctor spend his time if not among the sick? Where is honor to be won by the soldier but in the center of the battle? And when you are weary of the strife and sin that meets you on every hand, consider that all the saints have endured the same trial. They were not carried on couches to heaven, and you should not expect to travel more easily than they. They had to risk their lives on the battlefield, and you will not be crowned until you also have endured hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong!

  • Charles Spurgeon from Morning and Evening, September 5th a.m. entry

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Spurgeon Morning and Evening June 3rd a.m.

Posted in * Favorites, Discipleship, Discontentment, God's Plan, Peace with tags , , , , on June 3, 2009 by Harry

spurgeonTHESE WERE THE POTTERS [WHO] LIVED THERE IN THE KING’S SERVICE.  – 1 CHRONICLES 4:23

Potters were among the ranks of manual workers, but the king needed potters, and there fore they were elevated to royal service, although the material upon which they worker was nothing but clay. In the same way we also may be engaged in the most menial part ol the Lord’s work, but it is a great privilege to do anything for the King; and therefore we will play our part, hoping that, although we live among the pots, we will soar in the service of our Master. These people dwelt among plants and hedges and had rough, rustic hedging and ditching work to do. They may have wanted to live in the city, amid its life, society, and refinement, but they kept their assigned places because they were doing the king’s work. There is no ideal place for us to serve God except the place He sets us down. We are not to run from it on a whim or sudden notion, but we should serve the Lord in it by being a blessing to those among whom we live. These potters and gardeners had royal company, for they lived with the king, and although among hedges and plants, they lived with the king there. No lawful place or gracious occupation, however menial, can keep us from communion with our Lord. In hovels, run-down neighborhoods, and jails, we may keep company with the King. In all works of faith we can count upon Jesus’ fellowship. It is when we are in His work that we may reckon on His smile. You unknown workers who are serving the Lord amid the dirt and wretchedness of the lowest of the low, be of good cheer, for jewels have often been found among rubbish, earthen pots have been filled with heavenly treasure, and ugly weeds have been transformed into precious flowers. Dwell with the King and do His work, and when He writes His chronicles, your name shall be recorded.

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Spurgeon Morning and Evening – April 6th a.m.

Posted in * Favorites, Discipleship, Sanctification, Worldly Pursuits with tags on April 6, 2009 by Harry
  • We must not conform to this world

APRIL 6 MORNING
THEREFORE LET US GO TO HIM OUTSIDE THE CAMP. – HEBREWS 1 3 : 1 3
Jesus, bearing His cross, went to suffer outside the gate. The Christian’s reason for leaving the camp of the world’s sin and religion is not because he loves to be isolated, but because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his Master. Christ was “not of the world.” His life and His testimony were a constant protest against conformity with the world. Although He displayed overflowing affection for men, He was still separate from sinners. In the same way Christ’s people must “go to him.” They must take their position “outside the camp,” as witness-bearers for the truth. They must be prepared to walk the straight and narrow path. They must have bold, unflinching, lion-like hearts, loving Christ first, and His truth next, and Christ and His truth more than all the world. Jesus desires His people to “go … outside the camp” for their own sanctification. You cannot grow in grace to any high degree while you are conformed to the world. The life of separation may be a path of sorrow, but it is the highway of safety; and though the separated life may be painful and make every day a battle, yet it is a happy life after all. No joy can excel that of the soldier of Christ: Jesus reveals Himself so graciously and gives such sweet refreshment that the warrior feels more calm and peace in his daily strife than others in their hours of rest. The highway of holiness is the highway of communion. It is in this way we shall hope to win the crown if we are enabled by divine grace faithfully to follow Christ “outside the camp.” The crown of glory will follow the cross of separation. A moment’s shame will be well rewarded by eternal honor; a little while of witness-bearing will seem nothing when we are forever with the Lord.

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TFL: To Marry or not to Marry, Part 2, A” *

Posted in Discipleship, Giving with tags , on January 26, 2008 by Harry
  • v29-31
    • Culture, possessions, happiness, death, relationships
  • v29 – Responsibility of marriage should not reduce the believer’s responsibility to do the Lord’s work
  • Most people state their priorities as: God, Family, Lord’s work, job, leisure
    • But it should be: God, Lord’s work, family, job, leisure
  • New abuse is deification of marriage, family, and denigration of the Lord’s work
    • Not unlike Luke 14:26
    • 6″If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
  • You cannot do God’s work in your life and find it detrimental to your family
  • Paul is not saying celibacy is more spiritual, he is saying, in light of the context, it is more sensible
    • This is not grounds for what Catholics have done

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TFL: “A Summary of Christian Duty, Part A” ****

Posted in Discipleship, Giving, Love, Old Testament, Sacrifices with tags , on January 18, 2008 by Harry
  • Our duty as a Christian is a privilege
  • 3 type of duties:
    • Spiritual duty with respect to God
    • Moral duty with respect to men
    • Ecclesiastical (of or associated with a church – especially a Christian Church) duty with respect to Christian leadership

Spiritual Duty:

  • In OT structure, Sacrifices not simply for sin, ie propitiatory or expiatory
    • Expiation and propitiations are terms used in Christian theology that directly correlate and define the nature and effect of the atonement in relation to God and believers
    • The terms have somewhat different meanings and are sometimes placed in opposition to each other by theologians, though it is also possible to see them as complementary
    • Expiation speaks of the process by which sins are nullified or covered
    • Propitiation, taking a personal object, speaks of the appeasement of an offended party , specifically God from wrath or anger
    • Stott (The Cross of Christ) pg 166
    • But also for offering dedicatory sacrifices to express thanksgiving to God
  • In the same way Christians must continually offer sacrifice, ie ourselves – Romans 12
    • 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
  • What is our duty?
    • To bring daily our lives as an an offering to God in the same way a Jew brought a sheep in thanksgiving for everything for which God has done
    • By prayer, singing, reading, etc.
  • This sacrifice is only offered through Jesus, not saints, the virgin Mary, or anyone else
    • They did not suffer in our place, only Jesus did
    • We are not to seek access to God through any of these other methods, except through Jesus
  • We must worship God in a way that engages our minds, stirs our hearts, and flows from our lips
  • Praising God at all times is our responsibility, not just when it feels good

Moral Duty:

  • Do good to others
  • God did not give us everything we have so we could store it up, kick our legs back and congratulate ourselves on a job well done

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TFL: “Essentials of Christian Maturity” ****

Posted in Discipleship, Giving, Law, Old Testament, Temptation with tags , on January 14, 2008 by Harry
  • Hebrews 12
  • 1. Keep strong and keep straight
    • Referring to Is 35:3 where the prophet describes holiness and peace
  • 2. Pursue harmony and holiness
    • Do not compromise holiness for harmony with others
    • We must me different: There must be a change of heart so that people can say that this person is different and is not just the same as us with an interest in holy things
  • 3. Grow in grace and not in bitterness
    • We may miss the grace of God by the soil on our own souls, for example: bitterness, envy, etc.
    • If we miss God’s grace, it is not because it is not accessible to us, it is that we are not availing ourselves to it (not taking the opportunity God has given us)
    • Physical appetite meant more to Esau than his birthright so that he sold out in a moment for immediate pleasure
    • Every inroad that sexual immorality would make into our hearts and minds is to be resisted; Not in order that God may accept us, but because we are aware that God in His grace has accepted us
    • Just “see to it” that this garbage can of immorality is out of your life (analogy of kids being told to take the garbage out)
    • We are not taken to heaven because of our see to list, we are taken to heaven on the basis of His son and we are “seeing to it” because that is what good sons and daughters do
  • 4. Don’t quit
  • Mt. Sinai: Represents the giving of the Law
    • Legalism
  • Mt. Zion
    • Represents the coming of the gospel and Jesus Christ
    • You were at Mt. Sinai before
    • You were afraid of God
    • You were doing all these things because you thought God would accept you for doing them
    • You were trying to earn your own way to heaven
  • When you came to Mt. Zion it suddenly made sense to you
    • We do not have to earn our way to heaven
    • Jesus died on the cross and we go to heaven on the strength of what he has done – this was radical for the readers of Hebrews
    • You cannot do it on your own, we need Jesus
    • You are right there – don’t quit – it is there available to you
  • 5. “see to it that yo do not refuse him who speaks
    • The prophets were ignored by people for ages because they did not tell people what they wanted to hear
    • We want to go to church and have a nice time
    • If God did what he did to those who did not receive the prophets what lays in store for those who do not accept His son
  • 6. Worship God in awe

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TFL: "What will it profit a man?" ****

Posted in Discipleship, Temptation on December 8, 2007 by Harry
  • Luke 9:25
    • 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
  • Forces us to think about our existence and whether we are living life for ourselves or someone or something else
  • If we regard life as nothing more than our physical frame and if we are consumed with getting out of it everything we can, then Jesus says we lose life in the fullest sense
  • We are existing without living
  • Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes
    • Pleasures of the flesh are like salt water, the more you partake the more you want and it dries your insides out
  • Possessions
  • Jesus explains how to be His follower:
    • 1. Come after as your rescuer and ruler
    • 2. Deny yourself: Get off the throne of your life, enthrone me
    • 3. Take up your cross everyday and follow me: Deny to yourself everyday

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