Four Days of Happily Ever After

Our wedding was gorgeous; the day, bright, sunny and warm for early Spring. The celebration among my family and friends, who had waited and prayed 20 years for my handsome prince to come, was more fun than winning the Rose Bowl. We even got a standing ovation when the preacher pronounced us “man and wife.” We broke the barriers for old stogie Presbyterians and learned to dance, so we could dance together at our reception. What fun–we didn’t miss a beat.

Then my knight in shining armor whisked me off to a private beach hotel just outside of Cancun, Mexico. Every morning before dawn they raked the pristine beaches and removed any vagrant seaweed that might spoil the effect of the talcum powder sand. We had four days of bliss and guacamole, and memories to last a lifetime. But only a short lifetime?

On the fourth day of our honeymoon I began to experience a severe pain in my abdomen. We managed to keep it at a low level with pain meds until we returned to the States a few days later. Eventually, the dread diagnosis was made “Colon Cancer”. The surgery went well, but they could not get all the cancer from nearby lymph nodes so chemo treatments will begin as soon as I recover from the surgery.

So what are we to do with all of this? The “Daily Light” reading for today starts with Psalm 50:23, “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me.” I can certainly thank Him for those four glorious days.  But can I, should I, thank Him for the cancer? If we are to “contnually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God… the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name,” (Heb. 13:5) then even though it requires a sacrifice of my comfort and health, I thank God for what He is doing in my body. It’s like He is cleansing the temple, my temple this time. We are finding many things to thank Him for, and are trusting that He will use this whole experience, not only for our good, but for the good of many others who are called according to His purposes.

“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

Incarnation and Regeneration

In church this past Sunday, we sang Rory Cooney’s “Canticle of the Turning” and I wondered if the line “and the world is about to turn” was in any way included in Mary’s song in Luke 1. She did say, “from now on all generations will call me blessed”. That made a point in time where at least what people thought about Mary changed. But so much more did change, and thus time is counted from BC to AD, and though atheists want that to change, there is little possibility that it ever will.

Anyway, this got me thinking of how important the incarnation was, and I began a list of all the ways our lives have changed because of what Christ did on Christmas and the years that followed.

Jesus partook of our flesh and blood that we might partake of His divine nature.

He became meat and bones that we might become living spirits.

He tasted death that we might taste life eternal.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us that we might become the sons of God and dwell with Him forever.

He became a man of sorrows that we might be filled with joy.

He endured the cross despising the shame that we might share in His glory, rejoicing in His praise.

I hope and pray your world has been turned by faith in all that Christ has done for you.

Engagement

Yesterday, our pastor, Jonathan Hays, preached an advent sermon on engagement. His passage was Isaiah 61:10-62:5. He said Christ had clothed us with a garment of salvation (a robe of righteousness) like a bride adorns herself with her jewels. So he compared an engagement ring, and the way a woman boasts of her bridegroom when someone notices the beautiful ring, to the way we should boast of Christ when others notice our righteousness. He challenged us to wear “our ring” as a way to share our story and tell others of Jesus.

It was special to us because Pastor Hays used our story as an illustration. Phil Proctor asked me to marry him last week and gave me a beautiful ring. Jonathan told how many single women think they must search the internet or move to a bigger church to find a man, but God can do even better things. He brought Phil to our little church and brought us together, in His perfect plan and mercy. We both believe God has moved sovereignly in both our lives to prepare us for this special bond (though I thought a little slowly, after 20 years of being single.) But it has been well worth the wait.

Please bear with me as I boast a little of both my bridegrooms. Phil is a godly man who shares many of my values and passions in life and ministry. He was involved with Bible Study Fellowship for many years and was recently convinced that, to be most effective, Bible study should be carried out by the local church. He has taken the position in our church of Parish Group Coordinator and writes the Bible study questions each week for all the groups who meet in different communities where our people live. He loves to talk and write about his love for me (which I thoroughly enjoy), but even more importantly, about his love for Christ. Even before we met, he had come to the conclusion that spiritual growth comes from speaking the truth we see in Scripture with one another. So, he was delighted to find out I had written a Bible study on making disciples in community, which grew out of that same conclusion. Our Bridegroom, Christ, has brought us to the same place in more ways than one. He has been most gracious to us in not only giving Himself and His righteousness to us, but giving us each other. It is a picture of what He does throughout His church. May His name be praised.

Finding Mistakes

There is a new comment after the August blog that is exactly what I was hoping for on the Leader’s Guide dialogue. Of course, it is not always joyful for someone to point out an error in one’s thinking, and especially if it is published for the world to see. But Char’s comments helped me realize how my methods of trying to get people to think about a passage in new ways can lead to false conclusions. I am so glad she said that their group would always ”search the Scriptures more for correct truth” when something I said raised red flags. That is what I am after.

It is also why I would rather respond to direct questions than try to imagine what people might think. Actually, I have trouble enough figuring my own thoughts out. For example, let’s look at the question that Char brought up, “One example is page 115 where you indicate that Christ lived to please His neighbor.  Scripture teaches that He came ‘to do the will of the Father who sent Him’ (John 4:34) and to please Him (John 5:30, 8:29).  I’m sure that is what you believe also, and it would be very helpful to include that in your comments.” Until I looked at the context of my comment, I thought “Of course I agree with her. Did I say that? What was I thinking? That’s gotta be wrong.  How did that get by all the editors?”  I see now, instead of making such a bold statement, that can easily be pulled out of context, I should have phrased it in such a way that the reader would have to grapple with what Paul meant by using Christ as his example of how we are to “please our neighbor.” Or maybe ask a question about how living to do the Father’s will and always pleasing Him would at times please His neighbors, and other times offend them, but always be working for their good and edification. That could lead to a better understanding of what Paul meant by “let each of us please his neighbor.” (Romans 15:2) Maybe the key idea is one of getting away from our natural bent of living to please ourselves.

Anyway, I would love to know what other red flags were raised, and have a chance to dialogue about them. I know my editors did their best to catch the fallacies and wrong directions I can be tempted to take, but I welcome comments from my readers. My publisher once said, “The first edition is really a rough draft, and it is your readers who will help to find all the mistakes.” So, please write and tell me more about those red flags. If this study ever goes to a second printing, I would love to correct the mistakes and misleading statements, to make it a better tool for God to use in the lives of my readers, as well as my own.

Discipleship: Transformation by the “Word Implanted”

 

“Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21

 

While meditating on James 1:2, I wondered what it meant to humbly receive the word implanted. I soon started thinking about the Beatitudes and 2 Peter 1:5–7 and how they might help to explain it. I remembered a chart I had once developed to contrast our human nature with the renewed heart the Beatitudes describe, and I wondered if a third column between the two would help to show the transforming process. James 1:21 tells us our souls are saved by receiving the word implanted, and this made me think of Paul’s similar description of the growth process in 2 Peter 1. Could partaking of the divine nature be the same thing as receiving the word implanted? Perhaps Paul and James simply used different ways to describe the process of absorbing truth and resurrection life into our souls.

 

Below is the chart I put together as a result of my pondering.

 

Original Sin (human nature)	Receive the Word Implanted (the divine nature)	Transformation (a renewed heart)
Pride	Faith	Poor in Spirit
Denial/Pretense	Excellence	Mourning
Independence	Knowledge/Intimacy (surrender)	Meekness
Materialism/Sensuality	Self-Control	Hunger for Righteousness
Stingy/Unforgiving	Perseverance	Merciful
Sinful Desires	Godliness	Pure in Heart
Hiding/Quarrelsome	Brotherly Kindness	Peacemakers
Self-Centered	Love	Persecuted

 

 

So, for example, we start out thinking that our pride and self-sufficiency are what we need to make us happy and fulfilled, but Jesus tells us we won’t be happy unless we are poor in spirit. The gospel explains that nothing we do or bring to God can save us, rather we must receive the gift of faith. Or we use denial to cope and at least pretend happiness, but Jesus tells us blessedness comes with mourning and repentance. Peter tells us we need to partake of the divine nature of excellence rather than pretend self-righteousness.

 

It amazes me, not only how these lists line up with parallel ideas, but also how they affirm some of the ways I interpreted the words in 2 Peter. For example, I believe  knowledge in verse 5 refers to the knowledge of Christ mentioned earlier in the chapter in 2 Peter 1:2&3, and has more to do with intimacy than intellectual pursuit. The surrender intimacy implies easily parallels with the meekness Christ taught. It is our independence and need to control our own lives that keeps us from taking on Christ’s yoke. See Matt. 11:29.

 

In Renewing the Heart, we study how God changes the hearts of characters in the Bible to reflect the Beatitudes, and in Making Disciples in Community, we explore how the changes are worked out in our own lives and communities. Both of them take us deep into the Word so that we not only get into it, but it gets into us. The Word is implanted as we partake of it together and live it out in community.

Leader’s Guide for Making Disciples

For all of you who may be looking for the Leader’s Guide, I’ve got both good and bad news. The bad news is that early on in the negotiation phase with AMG they stated they would not publish a Leader’s Guide for Making Disciples in Your Community, and so I have not written one. They felt the studies I write are mostly self-explanatory and few people have purchased Leader’s Guides for my earlier books in the Discipleship Series. The good news is that I would love to correspond with anyone leading a study in Making Disciples. I am setting up a Leader’s Q&A on this site and welcome any and all questions and comments. Hopefully, this can be a guide for us all. I will depend on you to come up with good questions, and the Lord and my other advisors to find the answers. Hopefully, it will help us all to serve our King more effectively.

Just to start you thinking about all the questions you need to grapple with, the following is something I wrote early on when I thought a Leader’s Guide would be needed. It is for the first lesson.

LESSON ONE

PETER’S BLUEPRINT FOR DISCIPLESHIP

BEFORE THE FIRST SESSION

•Pray about your goals for this study. Is your faith community ready to reach out to its neighbors? Or do they need intentional discipleship to learn how to love one another first? Do you want to take your faith community through the entire study to prepare them and then guide them toward building more communities that include their unsaved neighbors? Or will you implement an outreach plan as you go?

•Decide if you will use this material in a nine week format, expecting those in the group to do the Bible study, and using your time together to discuss their responses. Or, would you rather opt for a full year of studying together, using one day’s lesson each week.

•If you decide to implement an outreach plan as you go, you may choose to send the members of your group out two-by-two to start community groups in their neighborhoods, work places, or places where they interact with their communities. This leader’s guide will supply extra discussion questions that will give Christians ideas for interacting with those they hope to disciple and opportunities to share what they are learning.

WHAT TO EXPECT
Because our culture is based on the individual, expect some resistance to the idea that we grow best in community. It is possible that some of the recent translations come out of that emphasis on individuality, thus reflecting that presupposition. Try to help those in your group have an open mind as you explore the possibilities of meaning that come out of a closer look at the original Greek.

THE MAIN POINT

Jesus not only commissioned us to make disciples, He lived out an example of how we are to do it. When Peter, as one of His disciples, writes to the early church he has that example in mind, along with a full realization that we only grow as we partake of Christ’s very nature.

DURING THE SESSION

•Opening prayer: It is important to invite the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and minds as we study this lesson.

•Opening Illustration: To get the discussion going, ask what they think of the idea of spiritual midwives.

•Main Objectives: It will be helpful to identify your main objective for each day’s lesson and keep it in mind throughout your discussion.

Growing Together

Are we doing discipleship right? Is it really best to separate men and women in the process of spiritual growth? Do we miss anything important when we always learn, train, disciple, and retreat in gender-specific venues? Obviously there are important times and places for men to minister to men and women to women. But as a general rule, I believe teaching and training in righteousness was and is best accomplished in the mixed community of the body of Christ.

Men and Women Are Different

Our differences are not all a result of the Fall. Some differences were designed by a wise God and are part of His plan and purpose. Differences not only challenge us, they can also bless us. When we choose to separate the sexes to avoid the challenge, we lose the blessing.

Before Christ came men and women were divided in Jewish training. The biggest issue was probably the fact that the women were not educated, so there were different levels of understanding. Also, there was a cultural division between the sexes that Christ sought to abolish.

Christ’s Example

Paul tells us in Galatians 3:28 that in Christ “there is neither male nor female.” Christ taught Mary and Martha and many other female disciples as they followed Him with the men. In calling women to sit at His feet and follow Him, He was breaking down the cultural practice of excluding women from theological training. When He revealed Himself after His resurrection to a woman first and told her to go tell His disciples, He elevated the role of women to credible witnesses. Prior to that, women were not even allowed to testify in court. Christ was counteracting the effects of the Fall. He was combating the division of the sexes that came about because of sin.

In the Early Church

Priscilla and Aquila worked together to train Apollos (Acts 18:26). Each of them had something to offer that the other could not give. The fact that Paul had to ask the women in Corinth to save their questions until they got home (1 Corinthians 1:34–35) tells us they were together with the men in the churches. But the women needed extra training in order to catch up in their knowledge, having been excluded prior to Christ’s coming. Also, both men and women were included in the lists of believers at the end of many of the epistles, and were commended for their participation in body life.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul listed various gifts given to both men and women and he taught the early church that every person and every gift is needed by the body of Christ. When churches separate men and women, or deny women opportunities to use their gifts, the body suffers. If we do discipleship separately, half the church is bereft of the gifts of the other half.

Titus 2 Ministries

But what about Titus 2:3–5, where Paul clearly directs older women to teach and train the younger women? Is this not a clear call for gender-specific training and discipleship? It definitely is, but it is interesting to note the topics to be addressed are all gender-specific topics. They focus on relationships women have and need training for and on specific pitfalls and temptations women face. These things, in addition to general discipleship, need to be taught. So even though this passage encourages and mandates women’s ministry, it does not say all of their discipleship and training must be done by women. Or that once this training is accomplished, a woman knows all she needs to know to be an effective part of the kingdom.

I had an interesting dialogue with one church that was using Woman to Woman, a Bible study I wrote on Titus 2. In researching the Greek word kalodidaskalos, I found that a reasonable alternative translation could be “teachers of beauty.” This particular church did not accept that possibility and decided to rewrite the chapter on “teachers of good things,” interpreting it to refer to doctrine and theology. This would make a case for discipleship for women to be done exclusively by women. But I still contend that Paul would not have needed to coin a new word, made up of the common word for beauty and the word for teacher, if that is not what he meant to say. Most people agree that beauty is a special category women are drawn to. I believe it is part of the way they were created. Maybe women are given the privilege to reflect that part of God’s image in a special way. And the call to be teachers of beauty would simply encourage them to share with one another what they have learned about it.

The Whole Community Disciples the Whole Community

In his excellent book, Ancient-Future Evangelism, Robert Webber calls the church a womb for disciple making. He makes a strong case for the community of a church being the place where people are both drawn to Christ and nurtured to maturity. Small group Bible studies made up of men and women of different ages accomplish a number of key goals. Communities focus more on disciple making than social interaction. Seekers experience Christian faith, love, and interdependency that the Bible teaches and the Trinity exemplifies. Both men and women are free to contribute their gifts and insights. Interaction with both the Word and one another increases and deepens our knowledge of Christ. Inter-generational connections are made and relationships developed. Truth is spoken and lives are changed and enriched.

Presumption

I am shocked by George Barna’s latest statistic that 66% of the adult population in the U.S. today are what he calls “Casual Christians.” He describes them as “minimally active born again Christians and moderately active but theologically nominal Christians.” I wonder about both the cause and cure to such a frightening state of spirituality in our country. If only all these people understood the precarious position their presumption of salvation puts them in.
The same week I heard Barna’s statistics, my son Daniel read to me from Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections. Edwards was dealing with similar spiritual lethargy in the Puritan church and was making a case for basing the assurance of salvation on the affections the Holy Spirit always works in the hearts of true believers. Edward’s included a quote from another pastor in his day that got me thinking about a possible cause of rampant spiritual presumption.
“When may a Christian take a promise without presumption, as spoken to him? The rule is very sweet but certain; when he takes all the Scripture and embraces it as spoken unto him, he may take any particular promise boldly.” Thomas Shepard, 1853
Too many Americans have been convinced that they can claim the promise of salvation but ignore all the other promises in Scripture. If Shepard was right, those who claim to be Christians based only on the fact that they have received the gift of salvation are presumptuous in claiming that promise. It is true that the gift of eternal life is given to those who believe, but if that is the only gift we are interested in receiving, we presume too much to think we have truly believed.
One of the reasons I am excited about my new study, Making Disciples in Your Community, is that it leads Christians into exploring, embracing, and practicing critical gifts that God promises to give us in community. Jesus did not say to go into all the world and make believers. He told us to make disciples. Merely having the right answers to important questions about going to heaven does not make a disciple. It creates a huge population of nominal Christians who have been assured that if they believe, they are saved.
The loss of the importance of community in the church has furthered the false assurance because it removes the vitality and accountability of body life. If Christianity is experienced merely as a personal and private relationship with God, there are many promises of important gifts that are being overlooked.
Those of us who truly know Christ need to blow our trumpets and try to warn those who think they are safe because they have claimed a promise or two. There are many more promises offered in Scripture. A true believer cannot say to God, “I will accept some of the gifts you offer, but you may keep the ones that don’t interest me.” We can’t say we’ll take eternal life, but not want the gift of the Holy Spirit. We can’t accept “all we need for life” but refuse “all we need for godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). We might like grace and peace but have no desire for meekness or hunger for righteousness—but that is not the message of the gospel.

It is Here

Making Disciples has been released and is now available at Amazon, Chrisianbook, and all your favorite Christian book stores. The easiest way to order is to click on the highlighted title (Making Disciples in Your Community) in February’s blog and it will take you directly to Amazon’s order page.

I am hoping and praying that the study will encourage thought and discussions about the best way to not only grow deeper in our relationships with God and one another, but also how to reach out to our neighbors in our communities. Although its title is “Making Disciples” it is also about partaking of all the promises and gifts God offers. I wonder if our evangelistic efforts would be more complete if we told people we were offering more than a sure way to heaven, but also, all the gifts God gives to His adopted children here and now. I hope that as people study the gifts listed in 2 Peter 1:5–7 they will get excited about sharing what they are learning with others in their neighborhoods. Please let me know how God directs you and your community, and use this website to discuss insights and ideas He gives to you with other readers and communities.

Orlando

 

I just returned from Orlando where I attended an excellent conference called Synergy 2009. I enjoyed meeting many amazing women who are in leadership positions all over the country. Both the workshops and plenary sessions were excellent. I especially enjoyed hearing from Alice Matthews and Carolyn Custis James. You might be interested in checking out their website at Synergytoday.org.