Master 235: Ann & Voskamp, Part 1

So this is my latest art project. I'm officially blaming Matt, Christy, and Kate for inspiring it. Basically I'm designing the cover of a graphic novel for a story (unwritten, and probably never to be written) entitled Ann and Voskamp. At this point it's still a bit of an inside joke. I'll explain in later posts just how the idea came about.

The point of this couple of posts is to chronicle the production of this piece through its various parts. (I didn't mean for that to be alliterative, but was compelled by the end to replace "stages" with "parts".) I absolutely love it when an idea grabs my imagination and moves me to draw and paint. I absolutely love it.























































As indicated on the cover-page, my profuse apologies to the author of One Thousand Gifts.

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.

Master 234: Good Friday Meditation

Here is a (slightly edited) copy of a series of readings that I got to deliver at one of the Holy Week services at my church. Thanks to my pastor and the worship leader and everyone else who helped for this opportunity and for putting together a great service. And perhaps others will find these reflections to be helpful in this season of celebration and solemn remembrance. (Scripture quotations are from the NASB, unless otherwise indicated.)

Good Friday and Happy Resurrection Sunday to you all!

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On Good Friday, we focus on that event towards which all the events of this Passion Week and of Jesus' entire life and ministry, were moving: His crucifixion and death. To do that, we'll look at the Seven Last Words or Statements of Jesus, spoken by Him as He hung on the cross. They all come from different gospels, but we bring them together in order to reflect and meditate on them, to consider what they reveal about what Jesus accomplished and what that means for us.

The cross stands at the center of what Jesus came to do on earth. At several places throughout the gospels, Jesus spoke of His future trials and sufferings. On one such occasion, we're told:

'...He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and [on] the third day He will rise again."' (Luke 18:23)

And everything unfolded, just as Jesus foretold. But what does it all mean? Jesus' disciples didn't know; they only came to understand after everything had taken place. So we look to the words of Jesus, from the cross, and the events surrounding those words, to remind ourselves of what He did on that cross for us and for our salvation.

As we read and meditate, remember that these are not just words—a bunch of things that Jesus happened to say. But they reveal truths about what Jesus did, what He experienced, and what He accomplished on the cross for you and for me.


1. The first three of these last statements of Jesus draw our attention to His forgiveness, mercy, and compassion. The first of these comes from the gospel of Luke. There he reports that, on the night that He was betrayed, Jesus was led before the Jewish Council of Elders. After being questioned there, He was taken to Pilate, the Roman governor. From there He was sent to King Herod of Galilee and then back to Pilate, who, even though he could find no basis for a charge against Jesus—no law that He had broken, no good reason for sentencing Him—finally consented to the crowd's angry demand and ordered that He be crucified.

On His way from one trial to the next, Jesus was subjected to multiple beatings and abuse. We're told:

'The men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him, and beating Him, and they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, "Prophesy, who is the one who hit You?" And they were saying many things against Him, blaspheming.' (Luke 22:63-65)

We're told that Herod and his soldiers mocked Jesus and treated Him with contempt, even dressing Him in a gorgeous robe before sending Him back, beaten and bloodied, to Pilate. And while He was on the cross, we're told:

'...even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His chosen One." And the soldiers also mocked Him... saying, "If You are the King of he Jews, save Yourself!"' (Luke 23:35, 37)

And Luke writes: 'But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."' (Luke 23:34)

We may marvel at the humility, meekness, and heart that would look on these wicked, evil, cruel, men and pray for their forgiveness. But when you stop to think about it, in that oh-so-natural impulse to judge them, do we not judge ourselves? In condemning their blasphemy, villainy, and corruption, do we not condemn ourselves?

And aren't you glad that when Jesus looked down from heaven on a world in rebellion—full of people who had rejected Him, full of people obsessed with their own concerns and goals—, at a world that placed Him no higher than second place—that refused to acknowledge the rightful lordship and sovereignty of the one true God—, aren't you glad, that He chose to do what was necessary to bring us forgiveness.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that in Jesus "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." (Ephesians 1:7) And he writes in his letter to the Romans, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners [and in rebellion against Him], Christ died for us." (5:8)

We get a glimpse into the heart of God, the heart of Jesus, when, as He hangs on that cross, having endured that mockery and those brutal beatings, He prays, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."


2. Jesus offers that forgiveness, that gift of mercy and hope of reconciliation to everyone. No one is beyond its reach. He offers it to the broken and diseased, the outcasts of society, to tax collectors and prostitutes, to Samaritans and Gentiles. He even offers it to the convicted criminal hanging beside Him. Luke records:

And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Jesus, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!" But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." (23:39-41)

What thoughts must be running through the mind of that man as he hangs there beside Jesus, looking back on his life, facing imminent death? What thoughts and questions come to him? Things like: How did I end up here? What have I done with my life? I never thought it would end this way? Looking back on squandered potential, wasted opportunities, bad decisions, a self-centered life, all the people that I've hurt and for what. And now it's just going to end.

Then to look at Jesus and recognize that this Man, who had devoted Himself to loving and caring for others, healed the sick, delivered those wracked by demons, preached a message of grace and forgiveness, was full of the Spirit of kindness and compassion, who had never done anything wrong—to realize that He is being subjected to this very same punishment—one that He doesn't deserve...

And he knows what he wants to say. He knows what he must ask. And I wonder how long he struggled before finally laying it out there. Jesus, I really messed up. I know that sounds so stupid to say. And I was always chasing after one thing or another but now I see that it was all a waste. And I've got nothing. I've done nothing, except take what God has given me and toss it in the dirt. Jesus. Jesus, I know I have no business asking you. I know I have nothing to offer you. I know I've only made a mess of everything I've ever been given, but I've got no hope and nowhere else to turn. Jesus, please, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!

And Jesus, through the pain and the anguish, the torture and the agony, says to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:39...)


3. When Jesus looks down from the cross, he sees the people who came to view the spectacle, He sees the religious leaders who mock and deride Him, the Roman soldiers who play dice for His clothes, He sees the disciple John, standing with some of the women who had followed Him, and He sees His mother, Mary, at the foot of that cross.

Jesus has assured that convicted criminal beside Him that they will be together in Paradise on that very day. But what about the rest of His followers? And what about His mother? What is she to do, once He is gone. He knows there will be a resurrection in three days but forty days after that He'll go up into heaven. And who will take care of those who are left behind to make their way in this dark and broken world.

Did Jesus overlooked that point? Did He have a plan for that? He did. During that last supper, on the night He was betrayed, He told His followers: "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth." He told them, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:16, 18) Jesus made sure to provide for His followers. He made sure to provide for you and me.

And He made sure to provide for His mother too. The apostle John writes:

When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household.


4. We see Jesus' forgiveness and mercy, His grace and compassion, His gentleness and provision. But do we understand what it cost? Do we understand the cost?

At about noon, the middle of the day, the gospel writers report that darkness covered the entire land for about three hours. In the middle of the day when the sun was at its peak, the whole sky became like night. And yet as bizarre, and unsettling as that must have been, it was nothing compared to the darkness that closed around the heart and person of Jesus Christ. Sin had to be atoned for. For there to be real forgiveness, real reconciliation, to really defeat the power of guilt and shame to separate us from God and us from one another, sin must be atoned for.

That's why Jesus went to the cross: to be that spotless sacrificial Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Paul says to the Galatian Christians, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (5:21) The prophet Isaiah, speaking six hundred years earlier about what Jesus would accomplish, wrote:

'Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
Yet we considered him stricken by God,
Smitten by Him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way
And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.' (53:4-6 NIV)

King David, when he spoke about his own sin and wrongdoing said,

'Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
My bones have no soundness because of my sin.
My guilt has overwhelmed me
Like a burden too heavy to bear.
My wounds fester and are loathsome
Because of my sinful folly.' (Psalm 38: 3-5 NIV)

If that's how King David described the experience of carrying around just His own sins, what must it have been like for Jesus to receive the weight of the sins of the world—of lies and deception, lust and envy, slander and gossip, sloth and indifference, malice, anger, bitterness, resentment, contempt, greed, pride, and arrogance... to name a few. And you know the pain that comes from these things: from betrayal, abandonment, abuse, rape, murder, torture, violence, enslavement. All of that was laid on His shoulders, and on top of that the loneliness and despair, hurt and pain, grief, sorrow, agony, anguish, torment, darkness, despair, confusion—"My God! My God! Why have you forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34)


5. Did God really forsake Him? Did God really abandon Him? That's hard to say. The author of Hebrews tells us that on the cross, Jesus offered Himself to His Father, through the Holy Spirit. (9:14) But even with His Father there, those were certainly His darkest and most lonely hours.

That's what sin does? It separates husbands from wives, parents from children, brothers from sisters, friends from friends, neighbors from neighbors. It separates us from God. Sometimes it's our own sin that creates that separation. Sometimes we may actually be at the center of God's will for us—as Jesus was—and still, because of someone else's sin or just because we still live in this broken, fallen world, God seems so distant. And we cry out in confusion and we beg for a touch from Him, for some relief. Jesus felt that too.

Jesus' torment on the cross was not an act. There were no Hollywood props and no Hollywood make-up. The blood and sweat and tears were real. Jesus felt. Jesus understood—what it's like when hard times have hit and just seem to keep on hitting us, when years go by and we're still alone, when you've been without a job for nine months, twelve months, eighteen months, when the doctor's appointments are just filling up your calendar, or the funerals, and you wonder when it will stop and you beg for some relief. Jesus understood that.

Think about this: angel's don't experience physical pain. Spirits don't hunger for food or drink. But Jesus wasn't like that. He was a man. And we're reminded by these next simple words that He knew what it was like to suffer, to keep on suffering, and to beg for even the slightest relief from these physical needs, when He said, "I am thirsty." (John 19:28)


6. Three hours of suffering and torture--longer and more severe than anything you or I have had to endure or ever will have to endure. But He did it for a purpose--for you and for me. He took our sins on Himself, so that sin would not have the final word in our lives. He endured our suffering, so that our suffering would not have the final word in our lives. So that the loneliness and brokenness that comes from sin would not have the final word.

And so even in His weakened, broken, bleeding, dying state, He could pronounce triumphantly, though only a few probably heard Him say it on that day, words that have echoed down through history--words of hope that are heard today by everyone who receives what He has given: "It is finished." (John 19:30)


7. He has given His all, to His heavenly Father, through the Holy Spirit, on our behalf. What now? What do you do when you've given everything you had to give, when you've got nothing left, when you're so exhausted and broken that you can no longer even lift your head? You do what Jesus did?

His body is broken so that nothing in nature or even the best medicine can possibly restore Him. There's no natural way for Him to come back from that. No amount of rest and recuperation, bandaging or physical therapy can restore the flesh and blood that have been shredded and drained. So what does Jesus do? The same thing that He's been doing every day of His life on earth. The same thing that He's been doing since before the foundation of the world. He surrenders Himself to His God and Father—the God and Father to whom He prayed, "Forgive them," the God and Father to whom He cried when He felt abandoned and alone: that is the same God and Father to whom He now surrenders Himself totally. He's not able to hold Himself up any more and so He says: "Father, into Your hands, I commit My spirit." (Luke 23:46)

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.

Master 233: Discipleship manual, Part 1 of 4

The following is something that I wrote up for the leadership team of my church on the topic of discipleship. I'm very thankful for the helpful feedback that I've already received on it. The document is dense and presupposes a great deal in terms of understanding of biblical ideas; fair warning to all prospective readers. My goal was to begin to connect the various dimensions commonly associated with discipleship and Christianity into a coherent picture. I was also responding to the particular proposal that my church leadership team has been considering, so my remarks are not completely general but tied to that particular context. Still, for those who are interested, I hope that these remarks will be helpful.

If you're interested in a more concise presentation of the main point, I would recommend reading "Is Christianity Hard or Easy?"--a chapter from C.S. Lewis' deservedly famous book, Mere Christianity. He sums up, in about six very accessible book-size pages, the basic point that I have tried to unpack in ten single-spaced 8.5" x 11" pages. I was absolutely floored when I read them last night.

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What follows is an attempt to expand upon and further develop a proposal made to the Missions Leadership Team of the Riverside Free Methodist Church. That proposal is to structure (and restructure) this church's ministry programs around a single process that is defined by and clearly articulates the way in which we want to see people grow and mature in their relationship with God as followers of Jesus Christ. The proposed process has three stages: loving God, transforming lives, and impacting community. In what follows, I want to try to get clearer about what each of these stages consists in, how they are related to one another, how they are related to the larger project of living and walking with God, and what moving through such a process might look like and involve practically.

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Part One: How should we think about a (the?) discipleship process?

There are a number of different ways in which we might structure a discipleship (or "people-flow") process. (A) We might do so in terms of the goals that we want to achieve: start by moving people into a loving relationship with God, then work on transforming their lives, and end by encouraging them and giving them opportunities to impact their community.

(B) We might structure the process in terms of the different programs that are available for them: start with the Sunday morning worship service, then move people into participation in smaller groups and Sunday school classes, and finally get them involved in long-term service projects.

(C) We might structure the process around the transition from being a passive recipient of teaching to an b in one's own walk with God: people begin by receiving teaching and instruction but later are encouraged to take some deliberate action steps, which may involve joining a class or study, a prayer group, or other more service-oriented activities.

The relationships between these different ways of structuring a discipleship process are complex and there's no straightforward way in which to layer them one on top of the other. For instance, developing a loving relationship with God does not correspond exclusively or exhaustively to the aim of the Sunday morning worship service. And transforming lives is not the special concern just of small groups.

Also, moving to a new stage in a discipleship process does not entail that one has completed or "mastered" the previous stage. Underlying the "process of discipleship" is a real and dynamic loving relationship with God. This relationship is to be ever-growing and ever-deepening. And given God's infinite, inexhaustible, and incomprehensible (in the sense that our minds are not able to grasp the totality of God) nature, we should expect that there will always be more to learn and experience at every level and regarding every facet of our relationship with Him.

This is an important dimension of the discipleship process that is not well-captured by a three-step or four-step sequential structure. That is not to say that we should avoid such structures. It is just to remind us that what we are aiming at is far more and far bigger than can be captured in such a series of steps. Impacting community may be the last step in our process, but it is not the final goal of discipleship. Impacting community (by itself or understood just in terms that the world would find intelligible) is a goal far too small and far below the high calling that God has placed on our lives. So we want to begin by trying to understand how discipleship fits into God's larger purposes and intentions.

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The goal of discipleship, like the goal of sanctification (of which discipleship may be seen as a part) and the goal of God's entire redeeming work (of which sanctification is a part) is nothing less than life in fellowship, community, and union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That may not seem a very "practical" definition, but I think it is important to keep in mind. At the very least, it may help us to guard against settling for inadequate means and confusing our interests and aims with those of the world.

Now this last point might lead some to worry that any discipleship process we come up with will inevitably appear inadequate when measured against that high calling and standard. And I think we should acknowledge that that is correct. No curriculum that we develop, no program that we set up, no process that we implement can be, in itself, adequate to the task of moving people into the life that God has and intends for us. Jesus said, "I am the way". (John 14:6) Jesus posited Himself as the path to God--not the things that He did, not any program that He set up, not any set of beliefs about Him, but the Person. He also promised to send the Holy Spirit, a Person, to help and teach us. So, I think, our discipleship process should focus on bringing people into interactive relationship with these Persons. No discipleship process, by itself, can transform people. Our goal in the first stage of this process, then, should be to bring people before the Person who can transform them.

What does that involve, one might wonder? Well, it must involve more than just a cold introduction (or its spiritual analogue): "Jeremy, meet God. God, meet Jeremy." Life-transformation, understood biblically, only happens in the context of a relationship with God. Our goal is relationship (fellowship, communion), and relationship involves some informed commitment on the parts of both individuals. To help facilitate the forming of such relationships then, at a very basic level, we will need to inform people about who God is and what He is like. We will need to talk about what He has done, including both the works of creation and of redemption. We will need to talk about His power and authority, His justice and righteousness, His grace, love, compassion, and mercy. We will need to talk about what He has done in the past and how He is working now, His relationship to this world, His desire for relationship with us, the sin that stands as a barrier to that relationship, and what God did in Christ Jesus to overcome that barrier. We should put the invitation to walk with God clearly before people, giving them the opportunity to know God, to come to love Him, and to decide to follow Him. Should they choose to take those steps, that will open up a setting in which God can work to transform those individuals' lives.

This first goal, and the steps involved in achieving it, may then be seen as roughly corresponding to the first stage in the discipleship structure: loving God. A lot more could be said about how to go about this, but I will say more about that in part two. (Also throughout the rest of this first part, I'll periodically make remarks connecting the later stages back to this first stage.)

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Biblical life-transformation (to be treated here and more extensively in part three) only happens in the context of a relationship with God. This relationship need not be long-standing or very mature, but there must be some relationship--some decision on the part of the individual to follow. But to what end? How should a person, so related to God, expect to change and be changed?

The goal of spiritual transformation is our becoming like Christ. I'll offer only a few indications here of what that looks like and will treat more of the details in the third section; but I want to get this big picture before our minds. God's desire is that we should become like Christ--that we should share in the family resemblance and live as His sons and daughters.

In our fallen condition the shape of our lives is naturally inconsistent and incompatible with God's character and nature. Indeed, the manner in which we have molded and structured our lives just is directed at the goal of living without God. We have devised various ways and methods for coping with this world and carving out our own place in it. These techniques are built on the following presumptions: (1) either that God does not exist or else that He has no claim on our lives, (2) that we are autonomous and independent, (3) that we are responsible for guiding our lives, and (4) that any chance of our surviving and thriving in this world depends on our own ability to manage resources, people, and ourselves. Certainly a life guided by these principles must fail to align with God's plans and purposes, as well as require us to act in ways contrary to His will.

The return from our fallen condition back to relationship with God depends wholly on the grace of God--on His taking the initiative to reach out to us, even in the midst of our rebellion, and opening the way for reconciliation. Every stage of that reconciliation requires God's direct involvement, through the work(s) of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

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The first stage of a person's incorporation into this reconciliatory work comes in conversion. (Some theologians may point to earlier stages, but this should work for our purposes.) There are a number of elements connected with conversion. One is the acceptance of Jesus Christ's propitiatory and atoning sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Upon receiving this gracious gift, the convert is justified--declared righteous before God--and received into fellowship with God. But this is not the end of the story. The goal of God's redemptive work is not just that we should be forgiven of our sins and placed in good standing before Him. The goal of God's redemptive work is to bring us into fellowship, relationship, and life with Him. In the same way that marriage is just the first stage in a new kind of life, so also with conversion. It's import and implications necessarily reach beyond the limits of a single moment or a single act.

So conversion also involves deciding to make Jesus the Lord of one's life--to follow Him and submit to Him in obedience. It involves establishing a trajectory for one's life, the end-point of which is Christ-likeness, sharing the family resemblance, and living as sons and daughters of God.

The shape of our lives apart from God presupposed God's irrelevance to our lives and the idea that we must secure our own survival and success. So the shape of our lives with God should presuppose God's absolute relevance to (and preeminence in) our lives, along with the idea that the surety of our life and well-being rests in Him. Molding our lives in this new way will certainly require us to un-learn a number of the habits, techniques for living, and ways of thinking that we developed in our time apart from God. Some of that un-learning will have been accomplished through teaching at the first stage (see above and in part two), though that will also be an ongoing process. Some of the un-learning may be worked instantaneously by the Holy Spirit. But there are other (I would suggest, the majority of) elements of this process in which God invites us to be more actively involved.

How do we become actively involved in the process of life-transformation and sanctification? The answer being offered here is discipleship or apprenticeship to Jesus. What is meant by that is our following Jesus in order to become like Him; our learning from Him how to live as a son or daughter of God.

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Obviously I've used the label "discipleship" already to describe this entire process, including stage one (above). Why, then, am I also using "discipleship" to characterize this second stage in particular. In my view, this second stage is the heart of the work that we have to accomplish--with respect both to our own lives and the lives of those to whom we minister, contextualized within the larger redemptive work that God is accomplishing, with full reliance upon the gracious provision of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit--: this process of walking alongside Jesus, looking at His life, speaking to Him, listening to what He has to say, taking direction from Him, following His example, aligning our lives with His life, and so coming to share in the same dynamic love relationship that He enjoys with His Father and the Holy Spirit, along with all the fruits and outward manifestations of that relationship that we would expect to see. This is the stage at which deep life-transformation happens and the center of this entire process.

Once we get that clearly in view, we'll see that the first (above) and third (below) stages of this process are inextricably connected to it and really just moments in it. It is impossible for us to become disciples of Jesus without knowing and coming to love Him (see above and in part two). It is impossible for anyone to decide to follow Jesus into the second stage of this process if they have no idea who He is or don't really believe that His kind of life is a good one and worth pursuing. That's why the information conveyed and decision made at the first stage is so important. And one of the fruits of walking with Jesus and becoming like Jesus that we would expect to see is a love for and commitment to helping people around us, including our community (see below and in part four). These moments derive their significance from their connection to this second step. So it is right to say that this whole process is a "discipleship" process because the second and central stage of that process is all about "discipleship."

Remember, though, that "discipleship" is not just a general term for any process that moves people toward deeper relationship with God. Discipleship is not the same thing as sanctification. Discipleship is not the same thing as life-transformation. Discipleship is one aspect of the larger works of sanctification and transformation, but I think that it is a central one. If our goal is to become like Christ, to live in and enjoy fellowship and relationship with Him, His Father, and the Holy Spirit, our point of access can be none other than Jesus Himself. Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection opened the way, but it is in discipling (apprenticing) ourselves to Jesus that we actually learn how to walk in that way and live the kind of life that God intended for us.

Let me make one more point about the relationship of the first step (above) to what we are looking at now and one of its implications: Salvation and redemption come to us not just through what Jesus did, but through Jesus Himself--because everything that Jesus did, He did because of who He is and His relationship with God. So as we seek to facilitate the process of spiritual transformation, our focus should not be on what people do, primarily, but rather on who they are. Just as Jesus' actions--including His sacrifice on the cross--issued from His character and relationship with His heavenly Father, so our goal should be that the actions of the spiritually transformed person also arise from his or her character and relationship with God.

Many of the world's methods for transformation (and even the approaches of some "Christians") neglect this crucial element. They focus on the modification of external behavior without considering the character and internal condition of the person or his relationship to God. Such an approach is wholly incompatible with biblical teaching (Matthew 23:25) and largely ineffective for producing transformed individuals. This is why we must not neglect the first step (above) of this discipleship process. Modification of behavior motivated by social pressure, bare conformity to a set of precepts, and even appropriate fear of punishment (human or divine) is not the kind of transformation that Jesus offered. The successful modification of mere behavior is not the hope that the apostles celebrated.

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So how do we help to facilitate genuine personal transformation? How does that look in our church and congregation? Considering the various ways in which we have learned to cope with this world apart from God may serve as a useful starting point. At one level there needs to be some basic teaching about what God requires and expects of those who follow Him. His commands, as articulated in both the Old and New Testaments, should be made clear. But remember, our goal here is not just to secure conformity to a list of rules--and that wasn't Jesus' either. Becoming the kind of person who easily and routinely does what is good and right--that is the goal. Pursuing that requires a significant reorientation along with a high level of commitment on the part of the individual.

Here's an example to consider: how does one become the kind of person who easily and routinely speaks the truth--for whom open, honest, and loving words come naturally? First, the disciple will have to alter, fundamentally, her way of looking at the world. In a world and life apart from God, lying and deception are basic techniques for survival. Living in truth is dangerous because the truth is sometimes uncomplimentary, truth is sometimes uncomfortable, and truth can sometimes make life difficult. Living well apart from God depends upon our being able to mold our world in certain ways that are inconsistent with what is actually true. The techniques that we develop, in the world, for doing that are very deeply engrained. The tendency to try to manage our own lives and problems in this way comes very naturally to us. If we are to become the kind of people who easily and routinely speak the truth, all of this will have to change.

How do we change that? First we must bring the truth about reality before the disciple's mind. God is the one true source of life and well-being. He is the God of truth. We cannot walk with Him and fellowship with Him while hiding in the darkness of untruth. God is good and faithful, and He has promised to provide for us as the Good Shepherd and loving Father. This is the beginning of a teaching component but more will naturally be required. People may wonder, "But what about this situation...?" or "What if things don't work out...?" or "But if I were to tell the truth in that setting then this bad thing might happen." We should help people to understand how the concerns that they have (many of which arise from their being so thoroughly enmeshed in the world) are and should be related to what is truly good and valuable in God's sight. We should cite many, many examples, from the life of Jesus, and from the rest of the Bible and the history of the church, of men and women who lived in truth. We should hold those up as models and examples, being open and honest about the good and bad consequences that came from them. Our goal, in this, is to help people to see that the way of truth truly is the good way. In spite of the real bad consequences that may issue from it, but also because living in truth is part of living with a God who can and does act in our lives, living in truth is a good thing. This is an important foundation for bringing up people who not only tell the truth, but for whom telling the truth is the easiest and most natural thing.

There is no room for shortcuts at this stage, and any hints of coercion must be avoided. We want people to see that the way of truth truly is the good way. If they see that it is the good way, then they will want to live in that way and they will be (at least) open to doing what is necessary to move in that direction. But if they don't actually see that--if we just tell them that it is so or if we pressure them into verbally acknowledging that it is so, then the deep transformation will not work. We may get them to the stage where their external behavior matches up (or appears to match up) to what we expect, but there will not be the deep transformation that is the whole point of God's redemptive work, sanctification, and discipleship. We must lay the foundation first. (Some of this foundation will be laid in stage one (see above and in part two) and some in the course of activities (e.g. teaching) similar to those involved at stage one.)

Of course, even with this foundation, telling the truth will not come easily and naturally to people, especially at the beginning stages. Teaching is a part of working this deep transformation, but it is not enough. The people we are discipling will likely still work with, hang out with, and spend the majority of their time with people who don't value truth in this way. And it is hard to move against that grain. Still, if a person is to change in such a way that truth-telling comes easily and naturally, she will at some stage have to push against that grain. At this second stage, a person, recognizing that living in truth is the best thing (even if she has occasional doubts about that) must begin to actually speak the truth--even in difficult settings. But notice, at this stage, that such truth-telling is not yet the product of a transformed character but only an exercise--one step on the way to becoming a transformed individual. There is a danger is that we will look at a particular episode of truth-telling at this stage and just give approval or disapproval based on the action performed. If we fail to take each episode as a teaching opportunity, then we will just have fallen back into the project of reinforcing external conformity to rules. A person who struggles within herself to speak the truth in an uncomfortable situation may find that speaking the truth produces unexpectedly good results. That needs to be talked about and related to the teaching that went before. A person who struggles within herself to speak the truth in an uncomfortable situation may find that things go very badly as a result. That also needs to be addressed, because that experience will automatically tend to reinforce the worldly conviction that living in truth is actually detrimental to life and well-being. If, at this point, the young disciple is left to herself without the support of a loving community that will help to draw her attention back to what is true and real, we should expect that her commitment to truth will waver and wane.

Throughout this process we must be careful not to lose sight of that relationship with God--for which a foundation is supposed to have been laid at the first stage (see above and in part two) of this discipleship process. Apart from a relationship with God, there is no point in speaking the truth. Apart from a relationship with God, lies and deception are absolutely necessary for survival and success. If we push people to speak the truth while neglecting to emphasize their relationship with God, while neglecting to draw the connection between truth and relationship with God, and while failing to support and uphold them through this difficult learning process, then we will be pushing an incoherent (and unbiblical) agenda. (Many Christians have taken this route and so come to the point of abandoning the way of truth and settling for the mere appearance of truth-living.)

Apart from God, it is impossible to live in truth. Let me say that once more: apart from God, it is impossible to live in truth. So when we encourage and challenge people to speak the truth, even in uncomfortable circumstances, we should also encourage and challenge them to look for God in those same circumstances. If all the focus is on performing the action and none on where God is in the midst of that, then we should expect that a person will not be able to sustain life in truth. Even with that understanding, we should still expect that speaking the truth in the early stages of discipleship will be very difficult. But as the young disciple intentionally and deliberately seeks to follow Jesus--to walk alongside Him, look at His life, speak to Him, listen to Him, align her life with His life--we should also expect that Jesus would meet her, help her, speak to her. The witness of Scripture and testimonies of other people may go a long way, but nothing can replace God's entering into the life of the disciple. That is what reinforces and solidifies deep conviction in the goodness of God and the goodness of living in truth. The experience of this truly distinct and altogether supernatural kind of life is what will enable a person, even in the midst of this crooked and misguided world, to become and be the kind of person who easily and routinely speaks the truth in love.

My suggestion is that the basic model that I've illustrated in the case of truth-telling can be applied to the transformation of people's lives in connection with any number of issues--marriage, raising kids, overcoming addictions, controlling one's anger, coping with loneliness, finding freedom from greed and lust, dealing with enemies, conquering fear and anxiety, reaching out to the needy, building and rebuilding relationships, conflict management, mastering money, living with integrity, and impacting community. Teaching will have to be combined with opportunities for real practical application. Assessment and evaluation of how the disciple responded to those opportunities should be combined with encouragement and exhortation. The disciple should be encouraged to look for Jesus in all circumstances. And through this all, the church community must support that disciple as he or she deals with the consequences that come from altering the shape of his or her life to bring it into conformity with the life of Christ.

What will be called for or required with a particular individual in a particular situation may vary from case to case. I doubt that a single one-size fits all method can be made to work where discipleship and life-transformation is concerned. That will also be true for evaluation and assessment of a particular individual's progress. But hopefully this illustrative case gives an idea of some of the main contours of the process and a discipleship program can be built around those. Ultimately what we want is for a person's everyday conduct to be informed and motivated by his character and relationship with God--not just in the sense that he takes seriously God's commands as guiding his conduct, but also in the sense that His awareness of God's goodness and abiding presence with Him, promise of faithfulness and constant interaction, will serve as the foundation of his entire outlook on the world. That is certainly what Paul and Peter, the other apostles, and the early Christians had.

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Now we turn to consider the third stage of this discipleship process: impacting community. As indicated earlier, impacting community is not a further step in the process of discipleship (something that only long-time disciples can do, for instance), nor is it a goal or project altogether distinct from the earlier stages of this larger process. Impacting community is just one of the results that we should expect to see from the life of an individual who has been significantly transformed by the grace and redemptive, sanctifying work of God.

But if that is the case, one might wonder, why are we giving special attention to this particular fruit of transformation as opposed to one of the others. Why is the third stage in this discipleship process "impacting community" and not "speaking the truth," or "controlling one's anger"? One reason why it is appropriate to focus on impacting community is that doing so draws our attention back to a value that is at the very center of God's overarching purpose and plan for human beings, and that is love. In fact love is the distinguishing and defining attribute by which Jesus says people will recognize His followers. "By this all men will know that you are My disciples," He says, "if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)

In Colossians 3, Paul gives instructions about how members of the church should conduct themselves having put on the new self (i.e. having been transformed). He says, "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. ... [P]ut them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another... . [A]s those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you." (excerpts, vv. 1-13) Then, in v. 14, he writes: "And beyond all these things put on love, which is the uniting bond of perfectness." The Amplified Bible puts it this way: "And above all these put on love and enfold yourselves with the bond of perfectness which binds everything together completely in ideal harmony." Here love is presented as the supreme virtue that holds together and completes all the others.

1 Corinthians 13, where Paul addresses himself to a church that was very rich in spiritual gifts but poor in love, is another place where the preeminence of love is emphasized.

I said earlier that the goal of discipleship, sanctification, and God's entire redemptive work is to bring us into life in fellowship, community, and union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Also, I said that God's desire is that we should become like Christ, that we should share in the family resemblance and live as His sons and daughters. But actually God's vision for us extends even farther than that. In His high priestly prayer, Jesus offered this request to His Father:

"I do not ask in behalf of these [the apostles] alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me." (John 17:20-23)

Jesus was not only concerned with our individual relationships with God but also with our relationships with other people. Actually, what Jesus is talking about here seems not so much to be something separate from fellowship with the Trinity as an extension outward of that Trinitarian fellowship.

The point is that love is at the very center of God's intention for human beings--not just love of God but also love of people. In fact, the two are inextricably connected. (1 John 4:20) We were created to live in loving relationships with God and people. So we should expect that the person who has been transformed into Christ-likeness will be one who not only loves God but also loves people.

[I will address more directly, in part four, the question of whom we should love. Jesus' teachings in Matthew 5:43-48 and Luke 10:25-37, for instance, clearly indicate that our love should extend beyond the community of faith. But I am concerned that some people who emphasize this point have been sloppy in their use of Scripture. My purpose in citing the above Scripture passages in this summary is just to emphasize the importance of love of people to God's purpose for human beings. Working out the details of that point will come later.]

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But, of course, we can't assume that loving others is just going to happen automatically in the course of transforming all the other areas of our lives. To become the kind of person who loves in the way that Jesus loves should be one of the goals that we pursue--just as we pursue becoming the kind of person who naturally speaks the truth and controls his or her anger. How do we do that? We should follow the same model as that illustrated in the case of truth-telling. We will need to begin by looking at what love is. The world has all kinds of mixed-up notions about what love is, and for those of us who have grown up in the world and developed all the habits and techniques for coping with the world apart from God, those confused ideas about love have become deeply embedded. Once we begin to understand what true love (agape) really is, I expect all of us will be forced to acknowledge that we are really no good at loving. Through teaching and instruction then, we want to help people come to see that the life of love really is the good life. By looking at Jesus' example and the lives of His followers (past and present) we want to bring people to a point where they can make the decision: I want to become a loving person.

Practice and exercise will enter at this point. People should be moved into situations where they are challenged to love people and to do what is loving. This will involve engagement with people both inside and outside of the church. Assessment of the results of those experiences and further teaching and instruction should all be part of building up a person in such a way that, eventually, the most easy and natural thing for him to do is love people and act in loving ways. If a person is transformed in this way, that will certainly result in the lives of the people around him being affected. That is one place where community impact comes in.

But community impact is not just one of the results of transformation, it is also one of the arenas in which discipleship training happens. A person cannot learn how to love people without actually interacting with them, just as a person cannot learn to serve people without actually doing stuff for them. So we should expect that reaching out to and touching the lives of people will be as much a part of the second stage (above) of this process as the third. But we must also keep in mind how the community impact at these different stages differs.

There is a big difference between (1) helping someone as part of a training program for becoming a loving person, (2) helping someone as an automatic expression of one's mature loving character, and (3) helping someone as a way of conforming to some standard of right conduct or just in order to make people believe that one is loving. Again, we must not confuse these. Actions like (3) have no place in a biblically-grounded discipleship program and are no part of the fruit of such a discipleship program. And if we confuse (1) and (2), we will probably fail to help and support young disciples in their journey toward maturity and true loving character.

Further reflection on (3) should remind us to carefully guard against watering down our understanding of what is involved in community impact. It is possible to (positively) impact a community without loving the people. It is also possible to (positively) impact a community without loving God. But neither of these can be part of the life of a person who is mature in Christ. This is just to return to the point that loving God, knowing God, and relationship with God (discussed in connection with the first stage of this process, above, and in part two) are absolutely indispensable to this process of biblical discipleship and biblical life-transformation. While there is an important sense in which we should expect that community impact will be one of the fruits of a transformed life, it is still the case that impacting community (even though it is the third step in the process) is not the goal of this discipleship process. This is especially true if impacting community is understood in a way that is wholly intelligible to and compatible with a worldly sensibility.

Within the context of a discipleship program, then, there are basically two reasons for a person to be reaching out to and touching the lives of people: (1) these forms of outreach express a mature life with God and (2) these forms of outreach are part of growing into a mature life with God. How we set up our discipleship process should be sensitive to this point. More will be said about how impacting community relates to the discipleship process and how to get people to that stage in part four.

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We've already covered a lot of ground. (And this was supposed to be the summary introduction to the more extensive treatments.) My goal was to get a bit clearer on what each of the stages in the proposed process consists in, how they are related to one another, and how they are related to the larger project of living and walking with God. My special concern with the last of these aims has led me to repeatedly emphasize the centrality of the disciple's relationship with God to every stage of this process. In the three remaining sections, I want to expand on all these points and look in more detail at what each stage might look like and involve practically. I'll close this section, then, just by reiterating these few foundational points:

The goal of the discipleship process (also sanctification and God's entire redemptive work) is nothing less than fullness of life in loving fellowship, community, and union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, where that community (by God's gracious design) has been extended to include all who have been adopted as His sons and daughters. The goal of discipleship is that we should become like Christ, that we should share in the family resemblance, possess His loving character, and live as sons and daughters of God. This life in us will manifest itself in all sorts of outward fruits and actions. We will come to put on the loving character of Christ (that is, of sons and daughters of God), in part, through intentional discipleship and apprenticeship to Jesus Christ--which includes taking up particular practices and activities. What that looks like practically will be treated more extensively in the following three sections, as we look more closely at each of the three stages that compose the proposed discipleship process: loving God, transforming lives, and impacting community.

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Part Two: How can we help people to come to Love God?

Part Three: How can we facilitate the process of Life-Transformation?

Part Four: How does biblical life-transformation lead to Loving and Impacting Community?

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.

Master 232: Desire fulfilled

I'm convinced that my brain is positively stuffed full of ideas that I would love to blog about, but the times when it actually flows coherently from my mind to the page seem frustratingly scattered, and I simply don't have the time to dedicate to ten-page postings. (Ha!)

Anyhow, here's a really quick thought. I've had two conversations in the last month, both with guys about my age, about the purpose of life, what we should be aiming at, what is really worthwhile and valuable. Of course I think about stuff like that all the time, but I often wonder just how much "normal" people do reflect on those big questions. Most people who have reflected on these points, I take it, have tended to conclude that the worthwhile life is one aimed at something larger, longer-lasting, and more significant than one's own gratification and mere desire-satisfaction. And this seems right, or at least it seems to move in the right direction.

But I think a problem can emerge if what one aims at is something the fulfillment or completion of which is essentially beyond one's reach. And this places one in a curious paradox. Human experience seems to teach that aiming just at attainable goods will not satisfy. For every accomplishment and milestone that we achieve, there is always one more to be attained. There's always a step that we haven't yet reached. And certainly one of the hardest thing for a person, having actually reached the top of one of these ladders, is to learn that it's been leaning against the wrong building all along.

But it doesn't seem better to reach only for what is unattainable. The constant deferral of satisfaction is frustrating and becomes more frustrating with time. I would suggest that the protracted deferral of satisfaction or fulfillment is a bad thing. (In connection with this point, I think it would be good for Christians to reflect on how they think about and frame the hope of heaven and eternal life that is spoken of in the Bible.)

Solomon, it seems, agrees with me, for he writes:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But desire fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)

Now the great thing about proverbs is the way in which they present (or don't present) the truth. The meaning isn't always obvious and requires some work to get at. In fact, you might want to stop and reflectively read through Proverbs 13 before continuing.

On the surface, it looks like Solomon is advocating the pursuit of desire-fulfillment. 'If you have a desire, you should seek to fulfill it, to satisfy it. Don't wait. Don't delay. That will just make your heart sick. Get it now!' Isn't that just the philosophy that so many in our world advocate?

But wait a minute: there's a problem! There is a whole lot of people seeking to fulfill their desires and it's not working well for them. Even when they fulfill those desires they're not satisfied. And the relentless pursuit is wearing away at them. Was Solomon simply mistaken then? What could he possibly mean?

The key to understanding this proverb, I think, lies in recognizing that the way of the world is actually not the way of "desire fulfilled" but rather of "hope deferred." You might think that getting that job or that raise, that marrying that girl, moving to a new area, making some new friends, finding a worthwhile hobby, or whatever else will satisfy you, but the truth is that it won't. You'll find you need still more money, that she's not as perfect as you thought (and neither are you), that your problems have followed you to your new residence, that the feelings of loneliness still haunt you, and that boredom keeps on sapping you of strength and vitality. Those things were supposed to satisfy you, but they actually don't. And as long as you're chasing after those sorts of things, you're going to be running down the road marked "hope deferred."

That's the only thing you'll find if you run down that road--the only thing that you'll get for all your trouble: hope deferred. If you want desire fulfilled, you've got to look elsewhere. And if you do that, if you earnestly seek, you'll discover that the thing you really wanted has actually been sitting right next to you all along. (Acts 17:22-29.) You can share in and enjoy a dynamic and interactive relationship with the creator of the cosmos, who because of His love for us and the overflowing abundance of His grace, sent His Son and the Holy Spirit to dwell with and in us, that we might partake of that tree of life continually, enjoying the fruits of fellowship, peace, love, and mercy, from now into eternity.

Of course I would like to go more into the "tree of life" image, and explore the context of the surrounding proverbs, and write in more careful detail about the meaning of life, but then I'd be aiming at a ten-page post, and I don't have time for that. This will have to do for now.

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.