No Discipleship?
As God’s people, we talk a lot about our church’s programs and the scope of our missions around the world. This is a good thing. After all, Jesus sends us out to be salt and light in our desperate and lost world. I’ve recently made part of my daily prayer that God would use me to expand His praise (2Cor4:15), renew His worship in the church, and disciple others, especially artists into His kingdom cause. These have been the pillars of our ministry over the years. Some years have focused more on one aspect more than another, but these days I’ve sensed God's Spirit impressing more to make disciples.
The need for expanding His praise (outreach) is overwhelming because huge populations of people are lost and disconnected from God. The need for the Church to be renewed to authentic worship is overwhelming too.It seems the majority of us, at least in the U.S. are distracted by lesser gods and disengaged from a life of worship. What will bring the needed change in both of these areas? And what is the role of discipleship in all of this?
I believe spiritual change in any of our lives doesn’t ultimately come from determination or self-reformation. I’ve discovered (and the Scriptures testify) that true change only comes through the gift of the gospel. The gospel is the best news for the lost and it's the best news for the distracted. It holds the keys to new life and zealous worship. If our hearts really grasp a who Jesus is and what He did - forgiving our sins and raising us to new life - we will live changed lives. (Eph 3:14-21) His grace truly is irresistible and life altering!
But how does the Gospel get to the lost and the wayward Church?
We westerners have tended to make sharing the gospel a production, a publication or a program. And while I think these have their place, when I consider how I came to Christ and how I’ve grown, it's been mostly through a trusted friend who demonstrated and shared the words of life with me.
Was it a mistake that Jesus said “Go and make disciples" rather than build big synagogues or mass produce tracts? I think not. If we take making disciples out of the equation, reaching the world falls flat on its face. And let’s remember that discipleship to Jesus was life-on-life. It was about a personal relationship with Him. It was about a Rabbi and his followers.
If there’s no discipleship, there’s no God-glorifying, word and deed proclamation of the gospel. Or at best it produces “inch deep” (half-hearted) Christianity which doesn’t please God. Rev3:16
If artists are not discipled, godly beauty is taken out of the world.
God’s gift of the arts and music are meant to bring beauty. The arts speak to us - to our hearts - and they help us process, grow, be restored to discover His awesomeness. Just as our artistic God creates beauty in creation and our our longing for Him is exposed, so artistic disciples share their redemption story through their art and people can be drawn to the beauty of the gospel. If artists are not discipled, proclamation of the gospel is taken out of the world.Whenever any believers are not discipled, their impact on the world is lost! This is why discipleship is so important.
In our post-modern, post-Christian, relativistic culture, artistic expression is even more strategic. The artist's seed-sowing and watering mission is to give glimpses of God’s heart that His Spirit will use to draw people to Himself. Oh how we artists must grasp this. Oh how young and old artists, alike, need to be discipled into His kingdom cause.
So, what am I saying?
- We must value discipleship because Jesus did. It was, and is still, His strategy.
- We must value discipleship because discipled people are God's means of sharing the gospel.
- We must value discipling artists because God uses authentic artistic expression to expand His kingdom and bring glory to His name.
What is a disciple? Simply put, it's a follower of Jesus. But it's completion is when we observe all He commanded. It's an identity and a lifestyle. We may identify as a disciple but do we observe all He's commanded. And are we making disciples who do the same? Certainly this is a tall order, a life-changing order… and that's His point!
Are you committed to your own discipleship? What are you doing about it?
Are you committed to making disciples? What does that look like?
Let’s not forget His last words. In fact, let's make discipleship something a life-long study. Something we fully understand and apply to our lives. Jesus expects this. People's lives at stake!
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt28:18-20
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David's One Thing (pt 2)
"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
"For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock."
"And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord." (Ps 27:1-6)
One thing. Having declared that the LORD (Yahweh) is his light and salvation, David responds with the one thing he knows he wants - to dwell in the house of the LORD, that he might gaze upon His beauty and to meditate in His temple.
As we saw earlier (part 1,) the passion to be in intimate relationship with God gave David the conviction that he, in God, could face any obstacle and not fear! He goes on with more reasons why he feels this way:
"For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock..”
David knew God would hide him, conceal him and lift him high upon a rock! (Ps 40) And this, along with his knowledge of God, gave him confidence over fear. He had experienced God’s protection and care so much in the past that he could declare he would not live in fear! He took God at his word - and so can we.
Our fears are always pointing to a hopeless or disappointing future, but with God we can replace our fears with the reality of His presence, the promises of God’s protection, stability, peace and love - things He gives us when we dwell in His presence.
In this New Testament era we’d call it “walking in the Spirit” or “walking in the light.” One cornerstone verse from the New Testament on fear comes from Phil 4:6,7 This well known passage comes with the promise of God’s peace when we “let our requests be known to God.” But don’t forget what precedes verse 6: “The LORD is at hand (or near)” Paul is reminding us to begin our prayer in His presence. Dwelling in God’s presence is foundational to not “being anxious.” When we live in His presence, believing God’s love and trusting our requests into His hand, His peace can rule and guard our hearts rather than our fear. Col3:15 I like what one author said, “Fear may be in the car but it’s not driving.” Of course we may recognize fear, just as we recognize the ongoing presence of our fleshly nature, but we don’t have to give our fears or our flesh control of our lives.
For David the 'one thing” of being in God’s presence was key and foundational to experiencing all the other blessings and promises of God. He then declares:
"And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.”
This is amazing. Not only is he saying he will fear nothing but that his head will be lifted above his enemies and he will offer worship to the Lord, making sacrifices of praise, joy and worship. He is saying nothing will stop his worship of the Lord - not his enemies, his circumstances, or anything else. Nothing!
Is this our experience today? Do we let nothing stop our worship of the Lord, whether in our intimate “spirit and truth” times or worship (John 4:23) or our acts of “spiritual service?” (Rom 12:1)
We should strive to set the bar this high for our good and God’s glory!
Oh, but we let so many things interfere don’t we?
We get distracted or tempted and stop living a life of worship. I need not go into detail here. But let’s always remember the action we must take when we realize we’ve sinned. We must to go back into God’s presence in repentance and confession, asking Him to restore our fellowship with Him and to be filled again with His Spirit. (Ps 51, Eph5:18)
It gets back to the ONE THING. Living fearless lives is only possible as we make living in His presence our one thing, letting nothing else interfere. I think David learned this the hard way too - just like me and you. When we don’t make living in God’s presence - in His Spirit, our primary focus, we miss a multitude of blessings He has for us and those around us miss that chance to see Christ in us.
How different the world would be if we walked as men and women of God’s peace (Phil 4:7) rather than of anxiety, fear and worry.
Holy Spirit, revive your people to pursue this ONE THING.
Let us declare against our fears, "The Lord is my light and my salvation." Amen
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