Today is a busy day in our household. Tomorrow there will be a wedding. Today, there is a rehearsal and other activities. Kathy is outside on the deck reading her Bible and doing her devotion. I have already completed my time in the Word for the day. Both of us have had the habit of daily time in the Word for longer than we can remember. It is just a part of our daily routine. This fall, we will be part of a small group Bible Study. We try to do this every year. Spending time in the Word is just a part of our daily lives.

A characteristic of a committed disciple is commitment to spend time in the Word. To be a disciple is to be centered in Holy Scripture  and on the One of whom Scripture speaks. Most of what we can know about about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Christian life we learn by listening to the voice of God in Scripture.

In Acts, Paul leaves Thessalonica for Berea. Initially, the Thessalonians were resistant to the Good News and did not want to hear Paul’s message. Later in Berea, things were different. Luke records: “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men” (Acts 17:11-12). Those who earnestly hear the gospel of Christ are almost always eager to study their Scriptures.

In perhaps his last letter, Paul underscores the importance of Scripture as he writes young Timothy:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:14-17).

We read our Bibles not to memorize verses or to understand Jewish or Christian literature, but to hear God speak to us, to give us the kind of minds that are “wise unto salvation,” to be taught, convicted of our sins, rebuked for falling short, corrected when we have gone astray, and trained so that we can be representatives of Christ. When we become disciples, we are like little children: We need to learn how to survive the Christian life. It is the Word of God and God speaking to us through Scripture that will accomplish this task.

Transformed By the Word

As Christians study Scripture and meditate upon the One revealed in its pages, we encounter the God who is revealed to us in the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul says in Romans, “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Later, in Colossians, Paul urges Christians to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). As we listen to others in a Bible Study or Sunday School Class, God’s word enters our hearts through the window of our minds. Slowly, but surely, we are transformed into “little Christ’s,” participants in the life of God and vehicles through which his Wisdom and Love enters the world.

Having a Good Bible Study

There are many ways to center your growth as disciple on Scripture. There was a time when there was a lack of good small group Bible Study materials. This is no longer true. There are many, good printed Bible Study guides ranging from Sunday School materials; guides to the study of books of the Bible; topical Bible study guides in areas such as prayer, marriage, finances, child raising, coming to Christ. All of these help a group to center itself on Holy Scripture. Any good Christian bookstore has many studies. Not only do resources exist in printed form, but there are many ways to use materials to be found on the internet or in electronic media. Some of thie material is free. [1]

Most of our Christian growth will not come from sermons or large, lecture-oriented Bible studies. The key to a good Bible study is its personal character. This is why small group Bible studies are so important. They give us time to share with others what we are learning in Scripture. We can ask questions, give our opinions, be corrected in our understanding and correct others. I have been a Christian pastor for a generation and led countless Bible studies over thirty-five years. Even today, most of my growth is in a small group study. They mean more to me than any number of Greek word studies or words of commentators in my private time of study.

A life transforming Bible  study has  three basic characteristics.

Group Discussion. People remember about 10% of what they hear and about 80% of what they say. Therefore, lecture is not the best method for Bible Study. The best method for life transforming Bible study involves/personal interaction among people. This means conversation not didactic teaching.

Open-ended Questions. It is always best in leading the study to ask questions that enable group members to answer correctly whatever their relative level of Biblical knowledge. Questions like, “What did this passage mean to you” are always better than questions like, “What does Calvin say this passage means?” The term “Open Ended Questions” means questions that lead a person to disclose their understanding without embarrassment or discouragement.

Focus on Application. One of the most important things to remember that, as disciple-makers, we are more interested in what people put to work than we are in what they remember. It is always a good idea to end the study of a passage with a discussion of the question, “How am I going to live differently now that I have studied this passage?”

EXAMPLE: Don leads a Bible study. The study uses Serendipity resources, a relational Bible Study material. Donna, a member, remarked one evening, “I love this study. Most of my life, I listened to a Bible teacher. I never asked questions and no one ever asked me what I thought. In this study, I get to give my opinions and ask questions. And, it is practical.”

Basic Bible Study Rules

Here are some helpful rules in developing your Bible study skills:

Use the Bible. Everyone must have a copy of the text the group is studying. In some Bible study materials the text will be reprinted. In others, people must have a Bible as well as the guide. It is also helpful if everyone is using the same version of the Bible.

Read the Bible. Much of the Bible began as an orally transmitted message of faith. Therefore, it is always a good idea to begin by reading the selected passage aloud. This allows the modern hearer to experience soemthing of the oral tradition from which Scripture emerged. Stick to the text at hand. Avoid cross-referencing other biblical texts unless it is absolutely necessary.  Too much cross referencing confuses people, takes up time, and tends to make people shy about expressing their opinion.

Opening Question. Think out before hand the first question you will ask. The first question is always the most important of all. It will open the discussion and will often determine the character of the group’s interaction for the evening. This kind of question most often can take the form of, “What aspect of this verse made an impression on you?” or “What did you find most interesting about this passage?”

Reflective Study Questions. In reading this passage of Scripture or book, here are some questions you may want to ask yourself about the text as you prepare to lead the group:

What immediate message do you hear?

What feelings are you having in reading this?

What was helpful?

Prepare more questions than you’ll actually need. This will help you overcome a fear of not having enough material to use the time allotted.

Let Questions Guide the Study. Ask questions which are clearly tied to the text and build logically upon one another. If a question is not understood, restate it in different words. Limit initial comments to key information and definitions. Focus on the most important aspects of the passage. Try not to answer your own question. If a question does not gain response, move on to another next question. After the first response to a question, ask if anyone has a different or additional response. Don’t exhaust a question before moving to the next verse or question. Let the group set the agenda.

Involve the Imagination. One of the most important techniques that a teacher can use is to the whole person: sight, sound, touch, thought in the study. For example, as the text is read aloud, have the individuals visualize the scene. Ask the group to imagine how they would have reacted if they had been present.

Share Personal Meaning. In a small group Bible study, the most important thing to know is what the text means to a person. This does not mean ignoring commentaries or historical understanding. It just means that what changes a life is a personal experience of the power of the Word.

Don’t Be Afraid. One of the greatest barriers to some people exercising gifts for leadership in Bible Study is a fear of not knowing the answer. “I really do not know” is always a good answer. If you do not know, offer to study the question next week and give an answer at the next meeting. Even pastors do not know all there is to know about the Bible. Therefore, you should not be afraid to say you don’t know.

Stay in One Passage. One common mistake is to play “Bible Hopscotch.” Most people do not have a ready familiarity with the Bible and flipping pages makes them nervous. Sometimes to get a clear idea of what Scripture means, we need to study more than one passage. Much of the time, however, this is not ncessary.

Use Various Methods. Any Bible Study method when overused gets old. Variety is the spice of life, and we should use a variety of teaching tools and methods.

Sample Study Questions

There are some basic kinds of questions that laypersons can use to help others connect with the Bible and learn from the text. Some of these are:

What does the Text Say? The first level of any text is a rendering of what it literally says. Some questions that will help get the basic meaning out are as follows:

• What did you hear the author (or character or Jesus) saying as the text was read?
• What is the context where this is said?
• What was frustrating, unclear, or difficult?

Personal Involvement. The next stage is to help people get personally involved in the text. Some helpful questions here are:

• With whom or what do you identify with in the story?
• What past feelings does this restore?
• What personal experience does this bring to mind?
• What pain or hurt does this bring to mind?

3. Personal Application. Remember that personal application is the most important thing in any small group Bible study. Therefore, we should always leave adequate time for application. Some personal application questions are:

• What is God asking you to do?
• What hope does this give you?
• What relationship does this impact?
• What will you do differently because of this study?

Let God Work

Leading a home Bible study or a study in a Sunday School Class can be nerve racking for some people. It is good to remember that the Holy Spirit will be attending your Bible Study! Times of silence, disagreements, uncertainties about the text, questions that cannot be answered, they are all part of the way in which people learn. Years ago, I participated in what would be one of the most important Bible studies of my life. It was not perfect. Not everything that was said was totally correct. However, God worked in the text and in the relationships being formed to change lives.

People who study small groups often note that it the relationships people have in the groups more than the information that is shared that matters. Sometimes, people say this as if it exposed a weakness in small groups. Actually, it is not surprising that a God who exists in community created human beings who learn best in communities. It is not surprising that the community can often be more important than the text. God is  busy building a community–the kingdom of God–and he uses Bible studies as one of the ways in which that Kingdom is built!

The goal of our Bible studies is not to create hundreds of Christian Bible scholars but to help make disciples living together in a community of love, sharing that love with others, and expanding the reach of God’s Kingdom of Wisdom and Love. Bible study is not an end. It is a means. It is one of the ways God brings us into a life changing relationship with Him through his Word.

Copyright 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved.

We miss our friends and look forward to being with you soon in our Salt and Light study!!

 

 

[1] When downloading materials from the internet it is important to remember that not all the materials found on the internet are sound. Many individuals put up materials that does not reflect either the spirit or the words of Christ or the experience of the Church over the centuries.

This week, our post is early, as we hope they will be for the next two weeks. Please accept our thanks for all comments. We have not been responding to all of them, but we have read and considered all of them!

The title of these lessons is “Salt and Light: Everyday Discipleship for Everyday Christians.” About the time we began preparing these lessons, God convicted me that much of our teachings about evangelism and discipleship implicitly indicates to people that to be a good disciple of Christ you need to be “radical.” There are a lot of Christian teachers who emphasize this aspect of Christian faith. A negative of this approach is that it implies that ordinary people who have ordinary lives and spend most of their time with family, at work, and among friends must completely alther their lives and change what they are doing in order to be true, disciple making, followers of Christ. Part of what these lessons are intended to do is to allow people to see that they can incorporate being a motivated disciple of Christ into their existing way of life.

This does not mean that we do not need to change some things about how we live, work, and relate to others in our day-to-day lives. What we do need to do is live wisely, love others unconditionally, and follow Jesus. As we follow Jesus, our lives will change and take a different direction, but that may or may not mean that we change our careers, friendships, location, and the like. In fact many, if not most, Christians, will continue to live where they now live, in the career and occupation they now have, supporting and sharing God’s love with their family, neighborhood, community, friends, and fellow-workers.

People of the Way

Acts tells us that the earliest name for Christians was “People of the Way” (Acts 9:2).  The first Christians were primarily Jews, who had lived by the Law of Moses, and who had found in Christ a new way of relating to God. This way was not merely following external laws and rules. It was primarily a relationship with God in Christ, a relationship in which they were filled with the Holy Spirit to live wisely and in loving relationships with God and others. As people of the Way, their ordinary, day-to-day lives were to shine with the power of God’s Spirit of Love. The earliest Christians saw in Jesus not just a new way to experience forgiveness of sins, but also a new way of living in relationship with God and others.

Jesus summarizes this way of life as characterized by loving God and others by telling us that we must love the Lord our God with all of our hearts and all of minds and all of our wills and our neighbors as ourselves. When asked what was the greatest of the commandments, Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Acts 22:37-39). Living out the love of God in our day-to-day lives is the primary duty of the Christian. Everything else flows from this first decision—the decision for unselfish, self-giving love.

Salt and Light

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has these words for his disciples:

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16).

These words remind us that it is not just what we say that matters; what we do matters even more. Salt is a physical mineral. It is a strong preservative and antiseptic. It preserves and heals. Light illuminates the world and allows us to see where we are going. Jesus described himself as “The Light of the World, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). To be a disciple is both to walk in the Light that is Christ and to reflect that light into the world (Matthew 5:14). Jesus wants us to live in such a way that we are a preservative and healer of the brokenness of the world. He wants us to have a kind of wisdom in the way we love others that that we become a kind of light. It is that light, the light of God shining in our lives that can and should attract people.

A Matter of Grace

All of this sounds pretty legalistic until we remember that we are saved by grace and it is God’s grace that empowers us to live the Christian life. In fact, in my experience, and in the experience of many Christians, the first step towards hypocrisy is to forget the role of grace, God’s mercy and gift of the Spirit in our daily Christian life. When we forget how dependant we are on God’s grace, sooner or later we lose that intimate fellowship with God that allows us to live in the Way of Christ and share that way with others. We cannot live the Christian life without the power of God sustaining our spiritual life.

If we are going to be the salt and life of the world, then we will reflect the light and healing power of God in our day-to-day lives. Obviously, this is something that takes a lifetime to accomplish. Obviously, we fail and fall short not only from time to time, but almost all the time! Nevertheless, if we can remain in Christ, and continue to live on the basis of Grace, if we can continue to ask God to enter our lives and transform us, we do make progress in the Christian life.

When I am teaching about this life of grace, I like to say, “I am not the person I ought to be, but thank God I am also not the person I used to be!” This is what we should all aspire to daily-we are not the people we were yesterday, or last week, or last month, or last year. We are making progress because of the Spirit of God working in us. We will never be perfect, but we can be better.

Means of Grace

Theologians, have ways of talking about how God allows us to grow in Christ. They talk first about the “Means of Grace.” The Means of Grace is a way of describing how God works in our lives so that we grow in Christ. We can put ourselves in a position to grow and sense the power of God in our lives if we do these things.

Christ in Us the Hope of Glory

Of course, the primary means by which we become and grow as a disciple is in a relationship with Christ. Jesus called his disciples into a relationship with him, and Christians ever since have called people into a relationship with Jesus. This relationship changes us from the inside out. Paul begins his letter to the Colossians by reminding the Colossians who Jesus was and is. He is the very image of God (1:15). He is the vehicle through whom the universe and everything in it was made (1:16). He is the head of the church, those called out by God to proclaim his glory (1:18). He is the one who reconciles creation and people to one another so that God’s peace can prevail (1:1:19-20. He is the source of forgiveness of sins and fellowship with God the Father (1:21). In Christ, our old life is put to death and we receive a new life 3:1).

In response to what God has done, believers are to live a different kind of life because a different kind of life, the life of God, is growing up inside of us. This putting on of a new life is described both as a dying to an older kind of life, characterized by passions, immorality, evil desires, greed, covetousness, malice, slander of others, and obscenity and the like. As we overcome the dark side of our personalities, we begin to experience a new kind of life. Here is how Paul describes this new life:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:12-17).

Notice that it is not primarily behaviors that Paul urges on the Colossians but spiritual qualities they receive by remaining in a relationship with Christ. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love are spiritual qualities we receive by grace as we allow Christ to work in our hearts. Growing in Christ involves behaviors, however, most importantly it involves developing new spiritual qualities.

Baptism

God works in our lives through his Word, that is through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. God also works in our lives through what are called, “Sacraments” or “Sacred Acts.” When we come to believe in Christ, we are baptized. In some groups, parents baptize their children when quite small as a sign that God is already working his salvation. If a new believer has never been baptized, they should be. In many cases, a believer who has already been baptized will want to renew that baptism in a Renewal of Baptism service that can be much like a baptism, except that it is a renewal of a prior baptism and not a baptism. [1]

In any sacrament, there is an outward sign. In the case of baptism the physical sign is water. Some groups immerse, some groups pour the water on a new believer, and some groups sprinkle. However the water is administered, it signifies our leaving our old life and the new life we have in Christ because of the cleansing power of God.

One of the first things we should do when we become a Christian, and encourage others to do when they accept Christ, is to experience the sacrament, the sacred rite, the mystery of baptism, as we celebrate the new life we have in Christ. If we were bapatized as children or even earlier in our lives as adults, it may be important to “own” the new life we have received by publically renewing our baptism.

Some years ago, a lady in our congregation married a man who had been in her life some years earlier. She had always remembered and loved him. Years later God brought them back together and him back into the community of faith. This person became a friend of mine, a prayer partner, and and a fellow worker in our congregation and in a Christian ministry in our area. One of the great priviledges of my life was the day we baptized my friend! We see each other almost weekly, and once or twice a year, we take time to remember that “sacred moment” in his life when he publically declared his faith in Christ and his commitment to be a disciple of Christ.

Word-Centered Worship

In classical Reformed theology, there are three means of Grace, the Word, the Lord’s Supper, and Baptism. When the Word of God is read and taught, God works profoundly in the human mind and heart. This is why Paul says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). This “hearing” is not any hearing, but a hearing of the Gospel, the Good News of God’s love. Reading and hearing the word of God, studying the Bible, memorizing Scripture, and allowing Scripture to form the way we see and react to the world is such an important part of discipleship that it will receive a separate treatment later in this series of lessons.

Although hearing the word read in Scripture is of supreme importance, hearing it preached and taught is also important for Christians. This aspect of growing in discipleship reminds us that it is not enough to simply read the word on our own, but to hear it in the company of others who are also growing in discipleship. Listening to the Word of God in Scripture allows us to hear the word of God and its meaning for our lives through the voice and in the words of another person, often the pastor or teacher of a Bible study. It allows us to respond with others who have also heard the word together with us. Finally, hearing the word taught or peached by another person who may know more about this particular passage, and who probably studied the passage in connection with preparing to speak, reminds us that our private interpretation and response to Scripture, as important as it is, must be disciplined and clarified by the opinions and responses of others.
All of this means that a disciple will be regular in worship and in attending studies, at least from time to time. We cannot enter the communal life of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, without living in community with people who have responded to God’s call to show his light and love in the world. Although in Protestant worship services the Word is at the center of worship, it is like a jewel in a precious setting. The calls to worship, the songs and hymns sung, the prayers of the people, the common confession of sin, baptism, the Lord’s Supper—all these things deepen our walk with Christ.

When was younger, I went through a period when I did not attend worship and was not a part of a Christian community. Not surprisingly, I drifted away from the Way of Christ. While we believe that it is possible to live the Christian life without living within and worshiping as part of the community of faith, ordinarily, this cannot and should not happen. Most of us can take time to worship God regularly. We can hear the Word in community with others. We should thank God we can, for there are those who because of age, infirmity, or other necessity cannot.

The Lord’s Supper

Once you are a part of a Christian church, sooner or later you are almost certain to participate in a communion service. Different groups have different names for such services. In Catholic Churches it is called the “Eucharist.” In Protestant congregations it is called the “Lord’s Supper” or “Communion.” In one way or another, Christians believe that their faith is strengthened and they are changed by this service of remembrance and participation in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. God is present to believers by the power of the Holy Spirit in a special way when we share the Lord’s Supper together.

Just as with baptism, different groups have differing ideas of what is happening when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. For the purpose of growing as a disciple it is not so much important which group is correct concerning how the Lord’s Supper acts as a means of grace but the sheer fact that it does. Some congregations celebrate communion weekly. Others celebrate communion monthly, quarterly, or on some other schedule. Disciples make every effort to receive communion whenever it is offered in a way consistent with their particular tradition.

Some groups have a service called a “Love Feast” in which small groups within their fellowship celebrate a meal during which the love of Christ and the unity of the group are celebrated. Love Feasts are not communion services for those groups in which an ordained clergy cannot be present. In whatever case, remembering and contemplating the love of God present in Christ strengthens our faith.

Public and Private Prayer

Because the life of discipleship is a life of relationship with God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, the life of a disciple is strengthened and deepened by the habit of prayer. Once again, prayers should and will be part of worship,  small groups, and other places where Christians gather. Nevertheless, private prayer is one of the most important ways in which we grow in discipleship.

In the beginning of our Christian walk, our prayers may be selfish and even a bit simple. That is fine. When a small child begins to talk, his or her words are not complicated or deep. However, as a child grows and matures, his or her ability to communicate grows and deepens. This is true also of the life of faith. Once again, this particular part of the Christian life is of such importance that it is discussed in detail below. For now, it is important to encourage the practice of communal and private prayer in the life of every disciple.

Works of Love

It was not long before Jesus began to involve his disciples in his own work. The Gospels and Acts reflect the disciples doing acts of healing and of mercy towards others. Although God is interested in our spiritual growth, we are physical creatures,  and love must be enacted. Therefore, disciples develop the habit of serving others. These acts of service can be both personal, such as giving to the needs of others, personal actions of mercy, visiting the sick, caring for those in need, and the like, and public, such as being involved in solving social problems, overcoming injustices, etc. As we change our priorities and move out of a life of selfish self-seeking and into a life of loving service to others, we grow in discipleship.

Walking the Walk as Well as Talking the Talk

If we are to lead other people, and especially new believers, into a deeper walk with Christ, we must be attentive both to our own discipleship and to ways in which we can draw others more deeply into a life of discipleship. Assuming we regularly attend church, one sure way for us to help another person internalize the Word and participate in the Sacraments is to simply invite them to join us. The same is true of Bible studies, prayer groups and other Christian ministries in which we participate.

There is, however, a deeper sense in which those we disciple “catch” more than they are “taught” what it means to be a disciple. If we regularly visit the sick, give to the needs of the less fortunate, manage our lives with wisdom and prudence, are involved in making our neighborhoods, cities, and nation a better, fairer, and more just place to live, those we know, including those we are discipling are sure to see what we are doing.

Many years ago, as a layperson and an elder in a local congregation, I had the habit of visiting people who were sick in our Sunday school class. I did not always visit, but I did visit a good bit. Over the years, people have mentioned to me how much that meant to them. Years later, when I was in seminary, one of our members had a very serious heart attack. Although I wrote a card, I could not visit. I was heartbroken that I could not visit my friend. Other people in his Sunday school class did visit my friend and his spouse. Others saw what was being done, and I am sure that many years later, people are visiting the sick without being told or asked because they saw it modeled.

Hidden for All the World To See

Why be different? The answer is, so we can be salt and light. Unless we are different than everyone else around us, they will not notice that difference and ask the question, could my life be different, better, more loving, wise, and fruitful. This is why Jesus tells us that we should not hide our light. Hidden light does no one any good. It is the candle on the table that lights the room.

Being filled with the love of Christ, worshiping God fearlessly, being baptized as a sign of our new life, sharing in communion, praying often, and studying the Word, these are not only ways we are changed, they are ways that we shine, and in shining illuminate, preserve, and heal the world.

 

Have you ever been alone in a strange place without family or friends? Do you remember how it felt? This lesson is one of the hardest for contemporary, Western Christians to grasp. We were never intended to be alone as Christians. We were meant to be a family. We were meant to live in community with other Christians, sharing our successes, our failures, our hopes and dreams, our dashed hopes and dreams, our worries and and our cares.

The Bible uses many metaphors for the church. The Church is Body of Christ; it is the City of God; it is the People of God; it is the Family of God. We began our study of everyday discipleship noting that, when Jesus came to be among the human race to display for us the wisdom and love of God in human form, he did not do it alone. He did not primarily rely on mass preaching events, though he preached to crowds. In the end, he chose a group of disciples, followers, and poured his life into them. He created a community of disciples. When he ascended into heaven, that little discipleship group became the church. A fundamental principle of this study is that believers, and especially new believers, need to be in a discipleship group. They need the experience of growing in Christ in an intimate fellowship of other people who are trying to grow in Christ as well.

Commitment to Discipleship
In the ancient world, a disciple was a learner, someone who followed a teacher around and learns from them. The process of learning was twofold: First, the disciple learned the information that teacher knew. Second, the disciple came to model the lifestyle of his teacher. For example, Plato^, a disciple of Socrates later taught his disciples, one of which was Aristotle. In this way, the teachings of the master were passed down. Our Salt & Light study tries to recover this ancient way of teaching people and changing lives. It is very important to remember that we are not called merely to transmit information to people. We are called to help them live a new kind of life as a disciple of Jesus.

All our married life, Kathy and I have been members of what we call “discipling groups.” We met in a Bible study. When we were a young couple, we were in Bible studies with other couples. Each of us has been a part of small discipling groups with men and women separately over the years. When Chris worked, he had a small group in his law office. When we went to seminary, Chris met weekly with a group of fellow students. Since entering full-time ministry, both of us have always been part of discipling groups.

Some years ago, we became part of a renewal movement that encourages the formation of small discipling groups, and over the years we have been members of such small groups. We’ve led T4T and other discipling groups in our home and at church. We’ve always been members of Sunday School and other discipling classes. We’ve attended special groups to learn special skills such as child raising or how to manage our money. Each one of these groups changed our lives in some important way. Along the way, we’ve grown, helped others, made many life long friends, and experienced the joy of Christ.

Just as Jesus was lifted up into heaven, most of these groups disbanded as people moved along in life, but each person in each group remains a precious memory. I meet with several men weekly. We’ve been meeting for over about fifteen years. For many years, I have taught a year long Bible Study. Those groups meet for nine months. Often, our church sponsors short-term groups that meet for six or so weeks. The size and length of the group is not what matters. It is the love of the group that matters.

Just last evening, we met a couple for an outing that we’ve known for over thirty years. Chris has known the husband for a bit longer. We’ve never attended the same church. In fact, we belong to different denominations. However, when we were young, for just a few weeks we had a weekly Bible Study in our home. Recently, we had the opportunity to share some time together. The deep love that was created years ago emerges every time we are together. The day before, a couple dropped by our house with their grandchildren. Once again, we met in a discipling group many, many years ago. Today, we are still Christian friends, helping one another grow and face the new challenges of a new stage of life. The love of discipling groups is a kind of love that never ends because it was not primarily a human love but a divine encounter.

Personal Relationships are Essential

When we become a Christian, one of the most important things for us to do is to become part of a local church. As mentioned last week, we need to be in a place where we can worship God in community, hear the Gospel preached and taught, pray and with others and serve God as part of a local congregation. In fact, we cannot really grow as disciples, reach out effectively as disciples, or use the gifts God has given us unless we are part of a local fellowship of believers. The local church is the basic unit of Christian discipleship.

As Christians, we celebrate a God who exists in a transforming relationship. God not only reveals himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in some mysterious way, God exists as one essential being in three distinct persons. These persons exist in an unbroken relationship with one another in the perfect love of the Godhead. In other words, God exists in a community. This has profound implications for the Christian life:

1. If God exists in a relationship of love, then there is no being a Christian without being in a relationship of love. As persons who are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), we were made for deep, loving, wise, and powerful life changing relationships – with God, with other persons and with creation.
2. The church is to be made up of people who are in relationship with one another. A church that is merely a place for so inclined people to meet on Sunday morning sit in pews, sing and listen to a talk, is not the kind of church God God meant the church to be a place where people are in relationship with God and with one another. A church is not a worship service. A church is a group of disciples called to live together and demonstrate to the world God’s love.
3. Since God is love, and the same love he showed when he “sent his only son” (John 3:16) exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, it is only as we exist in communities of love that the Church can be the body of Christ it was intended to be. This love is not a love based upon attractiveness, or other human qualities or worthiness. It is a pure self-giving love, which Jesus demonstrated for us on the cross.
4. Finally, the very names of the divine person: Father, Son and Holy Spirit encourage us to see God existing as a family. This is exactly the relationship Jesus claims and models with his disciples. When Jesus says that he desires the disciples to be one just as the Father and he are one (John 17:20-21), he is praying that we might enter the family of God and become participants in the self-giving love of God. In other words, he is making us part of his family. When John calls believers, “Children of God” (I john 3:1), he indicates that by faith in Christ and participation in his body, reflecting the love of God in our lives and in our life together, we become part of God’s family.

Jesus: Our Model

Jesus was the greatest and most productive discipleship group leader in the history of the world. He called twelve average people. He saw their potential. He trained them. He lived with them. He loved them. Then, he set them loose to change the world. How did he do this? Here are some concrete things he did:

1. He called the group into being (See Mark 1:17).
2. He shared his life with them (the entire Gospel).
3. He prayed for them (John 17:6ff).
4. He taught them (Mark 1:21).
5. He loved them (John 13:39).
6. He rebuked them (Mark 9:36-39).
7. He allowed them to lead (Mark 6:6-7).
8. He gave his life for them (Mark 10:45).

In all of this, one fact stands out: Relationships were central to Jesus. His mission was conducted in and through relationships with people. It is how Jesus conducted the most central part of his ministry: getting a small group of men and women ready for the day when they would be leading others to faith in God the Father, who Jesus called “Abba” or “Dad,” by the power of the Holy Spirit. The life Jesus lived with his disciples was that of a family. This is not surprising, since the disciples were being called to become part of the family of God.

Jesus lived as part of a discipleship group with the Twelve and others who learned to be a part of God’s family and walk in the Way of Christ through their life together. It follows that every Christian should have a similar life transforming experience. Small groups of believers call people into relationship with Christ, allow people to share their Christian walk, deepen the prayer life of their members. These small groups are a source of Christian teaching, become places of loving care, are a source of guidance in difficult times, and a source of new leadership for a growing fellowship of Christians.

Becoming a Part of the Family of God

God’s intention from the beginning was to create a special people, his family, which would bless the entire world. God called Abraham for just this purpose (Genesis 12:1-4). In Genesis, God calls Abraham to bless not just himself, but his family, and even the entire world (Genesis 12:1-3). The history of Israel is really the history of God’s dealings with this one family. He wanted Israel to be a kind of prototype for what all families and all nations should be like. Even once Israel becomes a nation, one of the most common images the Bible uses for them is “The Sons of Israel”—a family. God’s family, however, was called to be different than the other peoples around them. They were to be holy just as God is holy (Leviticus 19:2). The word “holy” means “separated” or “different.” The way in which God’s people were to be different is that they were to show forth the wisdom, goodness, and love of God in a special way, so that the entire world might come into fellowship with the God of Love.

The Apostle Peter put it this way:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (I Peter 2:9-10).

Those of us who have been called to be disciples are called to be a special, set apart people, called to declare to the world the mercy and love of God.

The book of Acts begins with Jesus saying goodbye to his disciples. The first discipleship group was disbanded when Jesus ascended into heaven. No longer would they be meeting together daily, physically in the presence of the Word Made Flesh. Instead, Jesus was going to be with the disciples as they shared the Good News throughout the world by the invisible power of the Holy Spirit. He asked them to return to the city and await the coming of the Spirit (Acts 1:8). They went back into the city, met together in the Upper Room as a group, and planned for the future until the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:12-25).

On the day of Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit came upon the church, and the disciples were filled with its powerful presence (Acts 2:1-4). They began to share the Good News with all those gathered in Jerusalem that day, and by the end of the day, about 3000 people were saved (Acts 2:5-41). What did they do next? They met as a small group! The apostles discipled a new group of believers in Jesus just as Jesus discipled them! Here is how Acts describes it:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).

The early church was like a family, intimately sharing their life together. They shared meals . They kept a common purse for expenses of the group. They contributed to the needs of the group. They worshiped, learned, and prayed together. God called us into a family, and God desires that we share our lives like a family.

This is hard to do in our society. We are so individualistic that we have difficulty maintaining physical families, much less a church family. We are so busy that it is hard to find time to share our lives with others. We are so consumed emotionally by the needs of family, career, social life, and the like that making time for deep relationships is not easy. Nevertheless, this is exactly what God has asked us to do.

Discipleship Groups

The passage we from Acts we read a moment ago gives a complete description of what a discipleship group entails. We need to think about the description of what the church should be like, so we can disciple people in ways that mirror the way Jesus discipled people. A discipleship group is a personal, face-to-face gathering of men and women who are committed to meet regularly in order to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Each aspect is important considering the scriptural model given to us in Acts 2:42-47:

A discipleship group is Intentional: “they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching.” The apostles and the new believers intentionally committed themselves to grow as disciples by listening to the apostles teach. We will not grow as disciples unless we are willing to intentionally become batter disciples.

A discipleship Group is Personal: “all believers were together.” Fellowship is not an optional part of the Christian life. It is central. God desires us to become part of a community of believers who are sharing their lives and their faith together. God wants us to be in a personal, close relationship with others in his community.

A discipleship group meets Regularly: “daily.” A discipleship group meets once a week, every other week, or once a month, or on some other regular basis. Frankly, for most of us in our culture, a daily meeting is impossible except perhaps in our family or with one or two other people we normally see in our daily lives. Groups that meet monthly are normally unable to produce change. For most Christians, a weekly group is what is needed.

A discipleship group meets to Learn: “to the apostles teaching.” A discipleship group is made up of people who desire to grow in the knowledge, imitation and reverence for Christ. It is not a social gathering. Although the Christian faith is more than learning information, it is impossible to grow as a Christian disciple without learning information.

A discipleship group is committed to Exciting Fellowship: “Everyone was filled with awe.” Christian fellowship is life giving, exciting and life changing. If people in our culture are to be filled with awe, then we must show the wisdom and love of God by the lives we lead and by the community of love we create.

A discipleship group intends to Grow: “and the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” The purpose of a discipleship group is to grow the kingdom of God by growing disciples. Many small groups in our culture exist primarily for group members. A true discipleship group exists not only for current members but for future disciples of Christ.

The Holy Spirit: Our Source of Real Community

Discipleship groups are more than a program. These groups are a God-given opportunity for disciples to live the kind of life God intended for all human beings. Once we understand this, we understand human ingenuity is not sufficient for true discipling community. Only the Holy Spirit can create a community that models God’s wisdom and love in the midst of a fallen, broken, and diseased world. Only the Holy Spirit can help us live out lives of true agape love toward others. The Holy Spirit transmits to us the love of God in several ways:

Knowledge. It is the Holy Spirit that allows us to understand who God is and what God is like.

Fellowship. It is the Holy Spirit that draws us into fellowship with God by faith in Christ.

Church. It is the Holy Spirit who creates the church and draws us into relationship with others.

Where Real Community Grows

The church is a place where we can grow and be nurtured in our faith. In an individualistic society, it is hard, very hard, to remember that we are called to give up a bit of ourselves for something that will transform our lives. When we give up a few hours on Sunday, and perhaps a couple of more hours in a week, to grow in fellowship with others, we receive blessings we might never have received by getting a raise, or a new dress, or a point or two off our handicap. We receive the blessing of community, real loving community. As we grow in that community of love, our families, our neighborhoods, our businesses, our cities, even our nation and world can be changed. God’s love, God’s wisdom, God’s peace are all created and shared in little communities of love.

Copyright 2015, Chris & Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

We are spending a bit of our summer working on a series of lessons for our church. We invite comments. We read them all and all are included in subsequent drafts, one way or the other. God bless you all!

Dear Friends: This week, we are taking time for a brief review of the first part of our study before beginning to look at the second part. The first part of the study was previewed this spring with two small groups. The second part is new. It is about what kind of person we must be to be a disciple, the importance of a small group that is a part of the family of God and reflects the character of the Kingdom of God, and how we can lead others in a life changing discipling relationship. Blessings to all!

Before we move forward, we need to stop and take a brief look backward. This summer, I had an opportunity to walk the Camino De Santiago in Spain. Every morning, my colleague and I got up with a goal in mind. We even had a map and some instructions. Yet, every day we needed to review where we were and how far we had come. At least a few times we had managed to stray from the path and needed to remind ourselves of the way to our destination. This is just such a pause.

Sometimes it helps to know both where you are headed and where you have come from to make real progress. T4T uses a wonderful graphic called, “The Four Fields Graphic” to outline the entire T4T idea. [1]

There are for fields shown, and we have now covered two of them in some detail: Who is Your Mission Field? and What Do You Share? The second part of this study concentrates on the last two questions, “How do you Disciple” and bringing new disciples into an existing church (Group) and developing them as disciples in community. Finally, we need to both be leaders (disciple who can train disciples) and be aware of developing the leadership ability of those around us (How).

Our Mission Field (Who)

Each disciple of Jesus is called to disciple people somewhere, and that somewhere is wherever we are! However, it is not enough to know our geographic location. We have to know whom it is we know and are called to disciple. Some people have used a Greek term, “Oikos” (which means household”) to describe the social sources of people we might disciple. Others call it our “social network.” In any case, all of us live within a network of human relationships in which we meet people who are open to God. Here is one way to graphically represent this aspect of discipleship:

We all have connections to a lot of people, some more important and
more fruitful than others. Therefore, within our social networks, we are especially looking for People of Peace. People of Peace are those people we think are open to the Gospel for one reason or another. One thing we need to remember: We may not know if a person is a Person of Peace. The Apostle Paul was a Person of Peace, but he was also a persecutor of the church. When I was reached by a lady at a law firm in Houston, I was not looking for God, and did not display many of the obvious characteristics of a Person of Peace. Therefore, we share wisely and loving with those we can leaving it up to God who responds.

The Gospel We Share

Once we have an awareness of whom we should share the Gospel with, we need to have in our minds two very important things:

1. A simple statement of the Gospel; and
2. Our own personal Statement of Faith (our Testimony).

We also need to know as many Bible stories as we can remember, just in case we are able to share a story in the course of a conversation. We also need to be mindful of times in ordinary conversations when people we know may be signaling openness to the Gospel. This is the “What.” The “What” is an understanding of the Gospel, a personal Testimony, and a little understanding of the Bible and the story of God’s Love it tells.

Many people do not think that they are competent to share the Gospel, but they are. We have learned and shared on particular way of sharing the Gospel that is used all over the world. It is embodied in a very simple graphic.

This graphic illustrates in a very easy way the human condition, the bridge that God has provided in Christ so that we may return to close intimate fellowship with God, and the goal of our faith, which is to be untied with God in Christ. We are all separated to one degree or another from God, from our true self, and from others. God, in his wisdom and love, filled with mercy and a desire to repair our relationship provided such a way in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Jesus we see the wisdom and love of God in human form and by faith we can be filled with the Spirit of Love and Wisdom in a life changing relationship with God through Christ.

How To Disciple People

What happens once we share the Gospel with another person and they are brought near to God in Christ? Bibllical discipleshipmaking is concerned with making Great Commission disciples not just getting people to verbally accept Christ. Remember: Jesus said go make disciples (i.e. active followers of Christ, not just believers or admirers of Jesus). This means our job is not done when we have given your testimony, explained a bit about the Christian faith, and helped another person to receive Christ. In fact, in some ways, it has just begun!

When I (Chris) was a new Christian, I belonged to a small group of Christians about my age that met on Friday evenings. We had the very creative name, “The Friday Night Bible Study.” We met about 7:00 on Friday nights. It began with a time of singing and worship. Then we prayed and shared a bit. After a few minutes we broke up into small groups and discussed a Bible lesson. After a bit longer, we came together for prayer requests and a brief closing song. It was in that little group that I first learned what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus. A part of the importance of the group was the Bible study. Yet, a bigger part of the experience was watching more experienced Christians and learning something of how they lived.

If new Christians are to grow, they need a church—a worship congregation—to attend worship with weekly. However, more importantly they need a small group of people to share their Christian life with and with whom to grow in Christ. Therefore, the very first and most important things to do once a person has come to faith in Christ is to bring them into the church and connect them with a small group of disciples with whom they can share the Christian walk.

Expanding the Kingdom of God

The founding pastor of our congregation constantly remarked that the Christian faith was always only one generation from extinction. This was a reminder to our congregation that we cannot just sit on our laurels. The kingdom of God is something that should be constantly expanding. If this is to happen, Christians cannot just sit and be satisfied with our own salvation. We must be constantly expanding the Kingdom of God by bringing others into God’s kingdom of love. This means that we must continue to train others to share the gospel just as we have been trained to share the gospel.

For this to happen, we must be on the lookout for disciplers—people who are able to share their faith with others and who can form and lead discipling groups. American churches, and especially mainline churches have been slow to understand the necessity for going into the world, sharing the Good News, bringing others to faith, and then discipling them to Christian maturity. This means that we must have a way of continually sending those we have empowered into the world as Christ commanded. This requires leadership.

We live in challenging times for Christians. Our culture is not helpful in empowering us to share the Gospel in Word and Deed. Nevertheless, we are called to be faithful in our time. It may not be easy, but it is the most life transforming, life enhancing thing we experience possible–not just for ourselves but for other people as well. God bless you this coming week!!!

 Copyright 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] This graphic is from www.CoopersOnAMission.com (downloaded April 8, 2015).

 

Here is the latest installment of the lessons on evangelism and discipleship. Please comment. I am printing in an order, but in the lesson plan we are developing, this lesson may be before the lesson for last week. Kathy and I thank you for all your help”

Copyright, 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Many, perhaps even most Christians are shy about sharing their faith. This can be especially true of average Christians in older denominations. We are worried that we will say the wrong thing, annoy people, face rejection, and be unable to answer questions and the like. We don’t want to come off as a religious fanatic. These fears are completely understandable. However, we do need to think about how we will actually approach people and what we will say. In a way, we are already prepared; however, it might be a good idea if we could review what we’ve already learned. In the last chapter, we talked about telling people our personal story of faith. Telling our own story of faith is very important. People love to hear stories about how another person’s life was changed for the better.

Many Christians have difficulty sharing their own story. Even more people are not sure that they could tell another person what it means to be a Christian. This is nothing new. Christians have always struggled to tell others of the love of God we see in Jesus Christ. However, to be completely equipped as disciples to share God’s love with others we need to have two things in our minds

1. A testimony of what God has done in our own lives.
2. We have a simple understanding of how to explain the Gospel to another person. Here it is again

This chapter is designed to be sure you are prepared to share the gospel with others in a short way, so that they will understand what it means to be a Christians.

The New Testament is literally littered with examples of the Gospel. Peter, Paul, and the other disciples shared the Good News. Naturally, when they wrote letters or gave advice, their testimony concerning the Gospel was implicit is all they said. Sometimes, they were very clear about the content of their Gospel. In First Corinthians, Paul describes his gospel as follows:

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born (I Corinthians 15:1-8)

In this paragraph, written relatively early in the career of the Apostle, he tells the Corinthians the essence of the Gospel. Jesus Christ died for our sins. God vindicated him in by raising him from the dead. Finally, this was no private affair, but a matter of public record.

In letter after letter, Paul shares this gospel in many forms, some longer, some shorter. Near the end of his life, Paul shared another form of his gospel with Timothy:

So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News (2 Timothy 1:8-10, NLT).

A little later on, Paul goes tells Timothy to remember his Gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ who was of the house of David, and therefore qualified to be the Messiah, died, and was raised from the dead (2 Timothy 2:8). In these verses, Paul speaks of the power of God shown in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

These various testimonies, and a number of others in the New Testament, give us an idea about what a good explanation of the Gospel needs to say. First, any short gospel presentation needs to center on Jesus: on his life, his death, his resurrection, and his continuing work in the people of God who believe he is the true revelation of the mercy of God. Second, a good testimony includes some notion of the human need for God—the fact that we are mortal, doomed to physical death, and often sinful, doing things we know to be wrong and to deserve punishment. Third, to be good news, a presentation of the Gospel needs to assure hearers that a wise and loving God has provided us a way to fellowship with him, forgiveness of sins, and a kind of life we can only imagine.

If I were to write out a short gospel presentation, it would go something like this:

Everyone I know, including myself, often feels alienated from God. We have done things that we know are wrong. The people I know who have tried to overcome their sinful nature by hard work have failed. Some gave up entirely, and some became hypocrites trying to appear better than they were. What we need is inner transformation. God  loved us enough to send his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to show us what a truly wholesome life would be like, to teach us God’s ways, and to die for our sins, showing us the extent of God’s amazing grace. God raised this Jesus from the dead, and then he promised to send his Holy Spirit to us when we believe, forgiving us and changing us from the inside out.

This testimony says who Jesus is, who we are, and what God has done for us in Christ. It centers expresses our need to accept Christ by faith.

For many years, Christians have used a graphic to describe the work of Christ. This little graphic is set out below. Some sophisticated Christians make fun of this graphic, but I think that it meets a need. Here is the graphic:

There are other ways of thinking about what we would say to another person who is far from God and needs to become closer. This lesson helps us overcome our fears by thinking again about what we might say to a person who needs to become closer to Christ. Here are the elements of the Gospel that this lesson accentuates:

Everyone is a sinner. In the Old Testament, the word for sin connotes an arrow that has missed the mark. We can all relate to this: however good or bad we have been, all of us have fallen short of being the person we were meant to be and treating others as God wanted them treated. In this sense, we are all sinners.

Sin has a Price. Just as we are all sinners, we all know sin has a price. Our relationship with God, others, and God’s creation is broken by our sin. As a result, we suffer a kind of death. Not only are we not the people we should be, we are also incapable of becoming the people we might have been. The penalty of sin is death—death in this world and death in the world to come. Spiritually, we are all dead because of our sin and far from being the people we might have been.

God is Holy and Perfect. God, on the other hand, is not a sinner nor does God experience sin. In my mind the most beautiful statement of God’s perfection comes in James where the author says, “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all he created” (James 1:16-18). God is perfect, without sin, and our sin can’t be blamed on God.

There is a Chasm Between Us and God. Because we are sinners and God is perfect, there is a chasm between God and the human race—a chasm we cannot cross because the chasm represents a fundamental difference between us: we are sinners and God is perfect and therefore fundamentally separated from the darkness within us. The chasm between God and the human race is our alienation from the very source of our being, alienation described in Genesis as a hiding from God and others because of human shame.

God has Provided a Way of Reconciliation. The Good New is that in Christ God has provided a way to bring sinful people into a relationship with a sinless God. By becoming one of us in the person of Jesus Christ, God adopted our human limitations, yet lived a sinless life. By taking on our sins on the cross, God paid the eternal price for our sins and a way for us to recover our broken relationship with him. This is the Good News.

Some years ago, I was in my office on a Friday. I got a call from the front desk because a disturbed individual was there asking for help. I went up and brought the person to my office. Without going into detail, this person was in a sinful lifestyle, taking mind-altering drugs, and in a relationship of abuse. She was not highly intelligent and she had been drinking. I knew that whatever I said to her had to be simple. The only thing I knew to do was share the gospel in a short form. I took out a piece of paper, drew the little diagram above, and shared the basic elements of the gospel. My guest had been raised in a poor, minority church. She knew the basics of the story. As I shared the Gospel with her, her eyes lit up. She prayed for forgiveness. We spoke of other, more urgent things, and our congregation helped her with a physical need. In the end, this short sharing of the Gospel was exactly what this person needed.

The Power of Prayer

Many years ago, in my first church, I created a little card that described the process of leading a person to Christ. It all begins with prayer. It would be nice if it were easy to determine who is a person of peace and who is not. It would be great if it were possible to tell who will receive the Gospel with joy and who will not. Fortunately, God does know. Therefore, the best place to start with discipling people is exactly where we should start every day anyway—by praying.

One important thing about prayer is that it leads us to unlikely people. Think of the Apostle Paul. On the surface, he did not seem to be a person of peace. Here is how he describes his own conversion:

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus (Galatians 1:13-17).

Paul was not interested in being a Christian. He was interested in being a Pharisee. He was not overtly open to the gospel. He was a persecutor. However, God warmed his heart. In Acts, we are told that the early church did not easily accept Paul. They feared him with good reason. Yet, Paul was a person of peace—a person God had prepared to respond to the Gospel. Paul’s story reminds us to keep an open heart and open mind and to look beneath the surface. His story also urges us to be patient.

Be Open To God and To Circumstances

One of the most important things we can be is open to God and to circumstances. If every interruption in our daily routine or plan for the week is seen as negative, we will miss a lot of chances to share Christ with others. Many of our best opportunities to share the Gospel with others will come when we planned to do something else! Therefore, we have to remain open to the work of God in unforeseen and sometimes bothersome circumstances.

Overcome Fears

The single most difficult thing for most people to overcome is fear. When I was in seminary, some well-intentioned professor warned us never to pray for people without asking. He was afraid that we would offend people. After more than twenty years of ministry, that event has never come up. The fact is, people are not as easily offended as we think. People in trouble almost always appreciate a prayer, even non-Christians.

This does not mean that we do not need to be sensitive to others. We do. However, most of the time our normal human sensitivity to others will be sufficient to protect us from making terrible mistakes. What is needed in offering prayer and in offering our testimony and the Gospel is good sense and discernment. If we are other-centered, trying to understand and help another person, our ordinary common sense is likely to lead us in the correct path.

Speak Plainly

Many of us think we cannot share with others because we are not eloquent. This is simply not a problem. Most of those we meet will accept, understand, and enjoy our testimony precisely because it is not eloquent, practiced, professional and the like. Plain words, plainly spoken are better than practiced speeches. This is why it is important to put your testimony and gospel presentation in your own words.

On the other end of the spectrum are people who are eloquent and even a bit learned who say too much and speak in an overly-theological language. The moment of conversion is not the time to use words like “Predestined” or “Total Depravity.” These are theological words with complex meanings. It is enough to know God is at work when we come to Him and we need God because we all do things we know we ought not be done. One very important rule is to never use a word you cannot explain to someone who knows little or nothing about the Christian faith. Finally, of course, it goes without saying that one should never use a word the speaker does not understand.

Don’t Worry About Results

Much of the time, we want people to respond immediately. Some people do and will. However, others will not. Some people like to ponder what they have heard and only react after a time of thinking. We are part of a Presbyterian weekend retreat held four times a year. At this point, we’ve seen hundreds of people go through an extremely intense weekend of spiritual growth. Some people react immediately and emotionally. Some people do not. What we’ve noticed over the years is that some of those who react immediately and emotionally return to their normal lives unchanged in just a few days. Some of those who barely reacted at all during the weekend after a few weeks are changed forever. The Holy Spirit works according to God’s timetable not ours.

Keep Praying

As we work with people, it is important to continue to remind ourselves that God is in charge. We cannot bring people close to God; only God by the power of the Holy Spirit can bring people into a life-changing relationship with the Living God. We can, however, keep praying for people. Both of us have people we have been praying for a long, long time. It is discouraging to pray for a person for years without a response, but sometimes it happens. On result of believing in the Sovereignty of God is that we believe that God is in charge of who and when comes near to God. We are servants. Our job is to pray, share, and love others. We do not know what God may be doing in the life of another human being. Therefore, we must continue to pray.

A Short Method of Helping a Person Receive Christ

There is not single formula for becoming a Christian. Nevertheless, people are called upon to assist others in making a decision to become a disciple of Jesus. Here are six questions that you might ask yourself or another person if the circumstances were appropriate:

1. Do you believe in a personal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who created and sustains all things?
2. Do you believe that human beings in general, and yourself in particular, are spiritually and morally flawed?
3. Do you believe that God has acted to undo the effects of sin (spiritual and moral flaws) in your life by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus?
4. Do you accept Jesus Christ as your savior (the one you will lean upon as having delivered you from sin) and Lord (the one you will try to follow and emulate in your daily life)?
5. Do you commit yourself to a life of discipleship as part of a local body of believers (a church) who are trying to live on the basis of God’s love shown in Jesus Christ?
6. Do you hope for eternal life in fellowship with God and believe in God’s ultimate victory over sin and death?

There are other ways to lead a person to Christ, but this is one way to help people feel certain that they are a Christian.

What Do I Do Next?

The next steps you take with a new Christian are very important. If a person has made a commitment to Christ, he or she is initially only a Baby Christian. New Christians need a community of believers in which they can mature and grow. In other words, a new believer needs a church and to become a member of a small Bible study or discipleship group. Therefore, there are two things that you must do immediately after a person decides to become a Christian:

1. Bring them to church and see that they get baptized or that they confirm their baptism if they were baptized as a child.
2. Help them become a part of the church, the body of Christ, a local fellowship of Christians.
3. Help them become involved in a discipleship group, preferably one you lead. [1]

Remember the great Commission? Jesus said:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

This tells us exactly what we must do: Be sure new believers are baptized and taught the essential basics of the Christian life. In Presbyterian Churches, only the teaching elders (or ministers of word and sacrament as they are sometimes called) can administer baptism. Therefore, make an appointment to see your pastor and be sure that the person is able to be baptized or make a public statement of their new faith as soon as possible. This is important for them and for the church.

Second, it is of vital importance that they become involved in a small group (a discipleship group), preferably one you lead! If that is not possible, you need to get them into a Sunday School Class, Bible Study, or other small group. But, to reaffirm: it is best if you become their coach as they grow in Christ.

Imagine a parent who gave birth to a child, but never fed, trained, parented, or otherwise helped the child become a mature adult. We would not think that person was a very good parent. When you lead another person to faith in Christ or are instrumental in their decision to become a follower of Jesus, you become their spiritual parent. It is important, therefore, that you continue to meet with them and study the Bible and pray with them as they mature in Christ.

The Order Does Not Matter

Right here we come to a place where differing groups have different ideas about leading people to Christ. The last thing I mentioned is to bring people to a small group in which they can grow in Christ. Much of the time, this may be the first thing to do. People should be invited into our Bible Studies and fellowship groups just as soon as we think they will respond. It is a big mistake. Invite people to your home, to a Sunday School class, to a Bible study, to worship. Many, if not most people need to enter the church and begin to feel comfortable in church even before they are Christians.

[1] This is the primary reason that we have created a training guide for Presbyterians. In our way of doing church, a Teaching Elder or Minister of the Word or Sacrament or other elder authorized to baptize new believers should baptize people in a local congregation.

This is Lesson Four of a training manual Kathy and I are writing. We would very much enjoy any comments for improvements and corrections anyone has. We will be teaching this training program for 26 weeks this next year. Please help us by subscribing to this blog, commenting on each post, and telling your friends about it so they can join in too.

Copyright 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Looking for People of Peace

Once we know what to say,  we are ready to sow some seeds. Perhaps you have already been sharing God’s love by sharing the Good News and your personal testimony with other people. Maybe they have not responded as you wish they would. Perhaps you feel like you are just not the kind of person who can or should share their testimony with others.

Some people become discouraged when sharing their testimony. Please do not. Remember the basic principles that we shared right at the beginning:

1. Go and tell people. Do not wait for them to come to you.
2. Share with everyone, not just some.
3. Concentrate on making disciples in long-term relationships, not just new members for a church.

Nevertheless, there are some sharing’s that are more likely to bear fruit than others. Jesus, as he was beginning his ministry and his training of his disciples told the following story:

Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” (Mark 4:3-9).

In this parable, Jesus describes the human heart as like different kinds of soil with differing interest and capacity to absorb the Gospel and grow.

When Jesus and his disciples were alone, they asked Jesus to explain the parable, which he did saying:

The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” (Mark 4:14-20).

As we go out into the world, we are going to meet four basic kinds of people:

1. People whose hearts are as hard as rock and who simply will not hear the story.
2. People who are spiritually shallow who will follow Jesus for a while but when times are tough the will fall away.
3. People who could be really powerful disciples but who are so immersed in the things of this word, their day-to-day activities that their faith never matures.
4. People who have a deep spiritual capacity and who grow in Christ and become disciples who make other disciples and bear fruit for God.

Our problem is that we do not know which is which until we sow the word. Sometimes people who we think have no interest in God and in Christ at all turn out to be the best disciples. Conversely, people who we thought would be the greatest disciples turn out to be big disappointments. This is why the first principle of D4D is to “Share the good news with everyone, not just some.” When we share liberally, we do not leave anyone out.

Looking for Good, Deep Soil

Farmers are always on the lookout for good soil. For a time, we lived in a farming community. Good farmers are always on the lookout for good land to farm. This same thing is true for us. Sure we share with people who are hard-hearted, shallow, or self-involved. Nevertheless we are looking for those who will receive the Gospel with joy and share that Gospel with others enthusiastically. We are looking for deep soil that will bear a produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown” (Mark 4:20).

The Bible has a term for people like this. It calls them “People of Peace.” When Jesus sent out his disciples on a training mission, he told them to look out for persons of peace. Here is the story as Luke tells it:

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you” (Luke 10:1-6).

Who is a “Person of Peace? Luke gives us a few clues.

1. A Person of Peace is a person we meet as we go into the world as we have been asked to do by Christ.
2. A Person of Peace welcomes us and in welcoming us welcomes the Gospel and Christ into their lives.
3. A person of Peace is someone who welcomes the Gospel so that the peace of Christ enters the life and relationships of that person.

David and Paul Watson describe Persons of Peace as follows in their book Contageous Disciple Making: “Persons of peace have three primary characteristics. They are open to a relationship with you. They hunger for spiritual answers to their deepest questions. And they will share whatever they lean with others.” [1] Open to you. Open to God. Open to share. These are three important things to look for in a Person of Peace.

We don’t use the phrase “Person of Peace” often in our daily lives, and we all think of peace as the absence of conflict. So we might think that a Person of Peace is simply someone who doesn’t react negatively to the Gospel. This is true, but there is a deeper characteristic of a Person of Peace. The Hebrew word for “Peace” is “Shalom.” Shalom is more than the absence of conflict. Shalom is a situation in which everything is as it should be. It is a situation of harmony and blessing. Jesus says that he brings a peace unlike the world brings (John 14:27). This is a peace created by the Spirit of God. It is a peace that transcends our physical, emotional, or mental wellbeing. A Person of Peace is a person upon whom the Spirit of God rests and in whom God has found a home. Such a person is bound to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.

Take a few moments and think about who are the People of Peace in your life. These would be people who are not yet close to Christ, but who you think might be searching for his Shalom and ready to receive it.

 

 

[1] David L. Watson & Paul D. Watson, Contageous Disciple Making: Leading Others on a Journey of Discovery (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2014.

Copyright, 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Once again, I am a bit late because of the Special 4th of July post. This is Lesson Three of the training manual Kathy and I are writing. We would very much enjoy any comments for improvements and corrections. We will be teaching this training program for 26 weeks this next year. Please help us by subscribing to this blog, reading each entry, and getting your friends to do so as well. All Blogs deal with the subject of how to live wisely a life of love for others.

Copyright 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Jesus came bearing witness to his relationship with the Father. Jesus’ disciples went into the world bearing witness to their experience of the crucified and risen Christ. The four Gospels are essentially remembrances of the story of the disciples personal relationship with Jesus. One reason we must read our Bibles, and particularly the Gospels, is that we need to remember and be able to tell the stories of Jesus. One reason that Disciplers are asked to memorize Bible stories is so that we can tell them to others. However, there is more to disciple making than telling stories from the Bible. We must be able to tell our own story of what God has meant to us.

The Apostle Paul was able to tell his story to people in order to bring them to Christ. His testimony is recorded in Acts and again in Galatians. In Acts, Paul tells his story at length to his fellow Jews. Here is the story as Paul tells it:

I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, “Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” I asked. “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.  “What shall I do, Lord?” I asked. “Get up,” the Lord said, “and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.” My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight!” And at that very moment I was able to see him. Then he said: “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. “Quick!” he said. “Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.” “Lord,” I replied, “these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.” Then the Lord said to me, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:1-21).

This famous testimony of Paul’s has three features that any good testimony has:

1. It tells us what kind of a person Paul was before he became a Christian.
2. It tells us how Paul became a Christian.
3. It tells us what happened as a result of Paul becoming a Christian.

Before Paul became a Christian, Paul was a persecutor of Christians. He hated Christ and the Christian faith. He met Christ on the Road to Damascus on his way to persecute the Christians in that city. As a result of his conversion, Paul became a missionary to the Gentiles. All good testimonies have these three characteristics:

1. Who I was before I came to Christ
2. How I came to Christ
3. What a difference it has made in my life.

Take a moment and write out your testimony in these three categories:

1. Who I was before I came to Christ.

2. How I came to Christ

3. What a difference it has made in my life.

Dramatic and Nurtured Testimonies

Some Christians are hesitant to share their story with others because they feel it is not good enough, powerful enough, dramatic enough, or whatever. This is a big mistake. In our marriage, Chris has a dramatic testimony of how God came into his life. Kathy, on the other hand, has been a Christian almost all of her life. It is very important, therefore to remember that there are as many different testimonies as there are persons and there is more than one type of testimony.

People sometimes talk about the difference between dramatic conversions and nurtured conversions. A dramatic conversion usually occurs when someone has been far from God and is brought close to God in a single dramatic event or series of events. A nurtured conversion usually involves a parent, grandparent, or some other significant person who gradually nurtured the believer as a Christian. Once again, In Chris’ case, he was far from God, not really looking for God, when he suffered a series of failures and losses. At an important moment, a young co-worker reached out and invited him to a Bible study. Over several months the members of this Bible study nurtured him until he came to believe in Christ in a dramatic moment of commitment. Kathy grew up in a Christian family, was nurtured as a Christian by her parents, accepted Christ at an early age. She can, however, remember a time at a Christian camp when she drew near to God.

Think about your Christian walk. Then answer the following questions:

1. What elements of nurture do you see?

2. What elements of dramatic commitment do you see?

3. How can you put these two elements together?

God’s Continuing Work in Your Life

People love to hear the story of who someone came to Christ. These stories are very important. However, our conversion story is not our only testimony. Since the time we came to believe in God and came close to Christ, other things have happened to us. Everyone has faced times of challenge, times of doubt, times of social pressure and the like. One of the most powerful testimonies any Christian can give to another person is to tell a story of a struggle in your life that is similar to a struggle they are having in their life. Once again, people like to hear stories of what God has been doing in the life of people they know are Christians. Once again, these stories do not have to be dramatic. In fact, sometimes they are more powerful if they are not dramatic.

For example, suppose that you were let go from a job and it took a long time to find a new one. Suppose you prayed, reached out to other Christians, and went to a Christian ministry that helps people find new jobs. Then, after several months of looking, you found a new job! That testimony would mean a lot to a person who was just laid off. Suppose you have had a struggle in your marriage or in parenting where you prayed and sensed God’s presence in solving the problem. That testimony would be powerful to someone who is struggling in his or her marriage or with a child.

We might call these kind of testimonies “Continuing Testimonies.” God continues to work in our lives day by day after we are Christians forming us into the people he wants us to be. This forming process, both pleasant and unpleasant is part of our testimony. It is also an important witness to what God can do in the life of ordinary people like us.

Think about times in your Christian walk when you felt God at work. Jot down some notes below about how you might describe it to another person:

Putting It All Together

We ask every person to prepare a three or minute testimony. If you wrote it out, that would be about one typed page, double-spaced in length. Your testimony needs to be unique to you. It needs to be your story. Of course, it needs to be factually correct. It also needs to be constructed so as to have all the elements of a good testimony:

1. Who I was before I came to Christ
2. How I came to Christ
3. What a difference it has made in my life.

If it is a vignette from your past, some moment when God acted in your life in a special way, then the three elements might look like this:

1. The problem I faced in my Christian walk.
2. How God entered my life in my circumstances
3. What a difference it has made in my life.

Take time now to write out   your testimony.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, we were in Fredericksburg, Texas to dedicate a plaque to my Dad and Granddad on the wall of the Nimitz/Pacific War Museum. Set out below is approximately what I said.

“I am a pastor, and so I get to teach Psalms periodically at our church. People who have never studied Psalms are often amazed at how many Psalms are simple retellings of the history of Israel. (See for example, Psalm 78). The Jewish people knew from bitter experience the importance of remembering the past.

In Psalm 77 the psalmist says the following:

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds” (Psalm 77:11-12).

One of the frequent teachings of Scripture is this: The people of God are inclined to forget the mighty acts of God and his merciful provision and thereby bring judgment upon themselves and their societies. This is a principle with secular as well as spiritual application. When a people forget what has been done for them by prior generations a curious pride and foolishness—a taking for granted of blessings—develops. The result is misery. We live in a time when rediscovering the importance of honoring the past and what has been done for us is an important priority.

There are a lot of men and women honored on these walls. We have come to honor two of them, who happen to be Tim’s and my father and grandfather. According to family lore, Dad joined up first being about eighteen years old. My grandfather, who was too young for World War I and forty years old when the war broke out, followed later. Apparently, he did not want to stay home while his eldest son fought.

My grandfather died before Tim and I were born. We know that he served in four campaigns in the Pacific and earned a Purple Heart. He died at about 49 with shrapnel still in his body. My father did not like to talk about the war. I have only a few memories of things that he said. After the war my father met my mother and served as an FBI agent until retirement. After he retired he was a city councilman and mayor of Springfield, Missouri. He spent all his adult life serving his country and community. He did not like violence, although he had two occupations, soldier and FBI agent, where there were always the danger of violence. In the midst of this, he was a peaceful guy.

I believe my grandfather was a hero and probably knew it. My father on the other hand never thought of himself as a hero. Not long ago, on The Military History Channel there was a program concerning Iwo Jima. They returned a number of survivors to the island. When the commentator described them as hero’s to a man they declined the honor. One ex-marine put it this way, “I am not a hero. The heroes never left this island.” I think my father felt this way about his own service.

In dedicating this plaque, we honor two members of the greatest generation who in a moment of danger to our nation and its freedoms gave up the comforts of home, went to war to protect our freedoms from a threat, and then returned home to build the nation they loved. Millions of young men and women did the same thing during World War Two. They are all heroes, and they should be remembered and honored for what they accomplished.

Today, our family remembers Dad and Granddad. I hope our children and grandchildren will remember them and their sacrifice. As the psalmists knew long ago, those who forget their family or national story are doomed to lose it. Those who remember the faith and deeds of their ancestors have a better shot at maintaining the legacy of their faith and faithful deeds. Our parents and grandparents were not perfect; but we owe them a lot and should honor them.

Let us pray.”

This is Lesson Two of a training manual Kathy and I are writing. We would very much enjoy any comments for improvements and corrections anyone has. We will be teaching this training program for 26 weeks this next year. Sorry for the delay. I experienced some technical difficulties last week and until now!!

Copyright 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Whenever a problem is solved, someone sees the problem, decides to solve it, figures out a solution, and gathers people to carry out the solution. For the gospel to spread, someone has to take responsibility to do what needs to be done. Someone has to take responsibility for sowing the seed of the Gospel in human hearts. For the kingdom of God to expand, for a church or Bible study to grow and prosper, someone has to step forward to and lead. In God’s Good News mission to the world, it is a person willing to disciple others, in this case a “Sower.”

When missionaries enter a mission field the need is vast. There is almost no one except the missionaries to meet that need. Something has to be done. The founders of the Church Growth Movement saw the need, but knew that traditional solutions would either not work or would take too long. One missionary working six days a week, twelve hours a day, can only reach so many people with the Gospel of wisdom and love a year or in a lifetime. Compared to the number of people who are far from God and who need to hear of God’s wise love, the number of people that can be reached by one or a few people in a year or even a lifetime is small. What is needed is a way for a visionary to lead a few, who lead a few, who lead a few, until the mission field is reached. Today, in the formerly Christian West, as well as in the traditionally unreached places of the world, the number of people who need to be reached are so great that a new method needs to be found. Focusing on people discipling people is that method.

Jesus: Our Guide As a Discipler

The best discipling leader who ever lived was Jesus. He was the best discipler and leader because he was totally related to God and totally committed to his disciples. In Luke, Jesus tells the following parable:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:1-7).

Jesus was was a loving shepherd. He had a heart for the world. The world needed Good News. If we have a heart for the lost, we will also be loving shepherds. What does a loving Shepherd do? He or she rescues sheep. Returning to the need for sowers, the first and most important thing Christian disciples do is share the Gospel and their faith in God. Sharing the Gospel is the first and most important step in rescuing sheep. But, it is not the only step. People have to be loved, nurtured, encouraged, and taught to be disciples. True sowers are more than just speakers of the word. They, like Jesus, become related to people for a long time as they grow and mature in Christ.

The Kind of Sowers God Needs

God needs sowers because there are a lot of people who have never heard the Gospel or if they have heard the Gospel they either never truly received it or they have drifted far away from God and from God’s people. We cannot know exactly who or where these people are. Therefore, we have to treat the world as God’s field and we have to learn to sow the Gospel wherever we are. We sow God’s word in at least two major ways:

1. We share the Gospel in Words
2. We share the Gospel in Deeds.

In order to effectively disciple people, we must first be disciples. In order to share the Gsopel in Word and Deed, we have to both know something to share verbally and live out our faith in deeds of love. To do this, we have to grow vertically (in relationship to God), internally (in relationship to one’s true self) and horizontally (in loving relations with others). Such persons want to experience:

Vertical Growth In Relation to God – An effective discipler is a person who cares deeply about his or her relationship with God as revealed in Jesus Christ and seeks to deepen it through prayer, active church participation, study of God’s Word, and above all humility. Such a person is positioned to reach others.

Internal: Growth: In Relation to Self – The Bible tells us that Christians should grow in faith, hope and love, and in the fruits of the Spirit, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, kindness, goodness and self-control. People who are not growing in maturity and self-confidence are prone to pride, gossip, and other forms of insecurity. Good disciplers, while not nearly perfect, exhibit maturity, self-understanding, and poise. They have or are developing well-integrated personalities. A person who has self-knowledge and who is in the process of overcoming sin and self-centeredness in his or her self is positioned to help others find God and grow in a relationship with God.

Horizontal Growth: In Service to Other^–s – An effective discipler is a person who is growing in his or her love for others and willingness to reach out to others in word and deed. John 3:16 Jesus shares the Gospel with Nicodemus in this form: “For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son so that whosoever believes in him will never perish but have eternal life.” God loved the world. Therefore, God reached out to the world in word and in deed by the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He reached out in loving service to a lost world.

If we are going to sow the seeds of the Gospel in the lives of other people, the first thing we must do is be sure we are growing in relationship to God, to our true selves, and to others.

Jesus had a relationship with God, who he called “Abba” or “Father” or even “Daddy.” Nothing is more important to being a good discipler of others than having a strong personal relationship with God through Christ. Second, we must be in the process of becoming more like Christ. To do this, we have to mature in our faith and overcome the sins of pride. Finally, we will not sow until we we have the same love for others that God has for the lost world.

Entering Your Field

A sower cannot sow until the sower gets into the field. Therefore, it is important to come to an understanding of what kind of field God is calling us to enter and into which we show the Gospel. This is where we need to take a moment and think about a Greek term, “Oikos.’ The word in Greek means “Household.” In the ancient world, families included parents, grandparents, children, servants, extended family members and often others. All of these persons were a part of the household. In contemporary language we would call an “Oikos” a “Social Network.” Our mission field is not so much a place as it is the people we know and with whom we can share Christ.

In the first Century, the Gospel grew very rapidly, primarily though sharing the Gospel within households and human relationships. There were no church buildings. There were no church programs. Churches did not sponsor concerts and other community activities. The Gospel was shared person to person, primarily through households. Slaves shared the Gospel with other slaves and with their masters. Masters shared the gospel with their farm workers. Family members shared the Gospel with other family members. Friends shared the gospel with friends. Students shared the gospel with other students. In the end, almost every Christian shared the gospel with someone close to them. Many people who have studied the church today think that we need to return to this “Household to Household” method of sharing the Gospel.

Set out below is a graphic of what it means to have an “Oikos” or “Social Network” within which the Gospel can be shared.

We all have friends, relatives, neighbors, coworkers, school friends and others we see regularly. These persons make up our social network within which we can most effectively disciple people.

It takes a while to really understand the implications of the notion of evangelizing a social network For example, most of us would not think of our hairdresser or barber, our yard men or repairmen, the people who check us out at the grocery store, the barista at Starbucks, the people at the gym or on the running trail—all the many, many people with whom we come in contact every day as part of our household, but they are. We all know a lot of people with whom we can share the gospel if only we reflect on who and how to share.

If the Christian faith is to grow in our culture and in other cultures, Christians will beed to return to the notion that the Good News is important for everyone. It contains the secret to a happy life for all people. It was never meant to be a private thing that Christians possess. Christian faith is meant to be shared with others. Sharing was never meant to be something a few talented evangelists do. It is meant to be something all Christians do to the best of their ability.

Take a moment and think about people you know with whom you can share the Gospel:

 

Family members:

 

Friends:

 

Neighbors:

 

Co-Workers:

 

Schoolmates

 

Others:

This is Lesson One of  the training manual Kathy and I are writing. We would very much enjoy any comments for improvements and corrections anyone has. We will be teaching this training program for 26 weeks this next year. Please help us by subscribing to this blog, commenting on each lesson, and encouraging your friends to do so as well. This blog is dedicated to helping people on the journey of life, living a life of wisdom and love.

Copyright 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2). In any discipling movement, Christians are asked to hear God’s call and go into God’s field to share the gospel in word and deed. In order to do this, we must hear the voice of God calling us from our current pattern of life, including our some small portion of our  hobbies, activities, and church activities, into the world which is God’s field to share the message and reality of God’s love with those we find there. God is not asking most of us to do anything radical. Instead, he is asking us to order our lives in love and wisdom to make the world a better place by sharing his love with others.

Jesus came to announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God. He came to announce that God loves people, forgives people, and wants people to receive his Spirit so that they can live in his power. Mark begins his gospel with Jesus saying, “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). To be a part of God’s kingdom, the kingdom of Jesus, someone has to call people to repent, turn around, look at themselves, recognize how far they are from God, and then turn from the kingdoms of this world to his Kingdom of Wisdom and Love.

People will never repent unless they believe there is a better, healthier, more joy filled way of life available in Christ. In other words people must believe and put their trust in the gospel that Christ proclaimed: that God loves us, sent his son to die for us, wants us to be his children, part of his family, members of his kingdom (John 3:16). When we are sent into the harvest, we are sent to proclaim in word and deed the gospel of the kingdom in ways that cause those who are open to hear, believe, and enter God’s gracious kingdom of love.

Our church and other churches are filled with people who have never shared their faith with another person. Some students of discipleship estimate that many, if not most, Christians have never shared their faith with another person. This is too bad. These people are good people. They believe in Christ. They know that their life is better off because of their faith in God. However, they do not have a real heart for those who struggle with a sense of the meaninglessness of their lives. They love their neighbors, but too often miss the emptiness in their hearts and the struggle of their lives.

Romans 8 is one of the most beautiful texts in the entire Bible. Here is the part of what Paul has to say in this lovely passage:

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:14-17).

Here is the idea Paul is communicating: God by his Spirit is calling us. He has made us so that we desire to connect with an ultimate meaning and purpose. We have a longing for the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. We have a longing for God built into all of our souls. This is reflected in St. Augustine’s famous line, “our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” [1] God in his great mercy has made us with hearts that yearn for meaning, purpose, faith, goodness, wisdom, beauty, and love.

The World is God’s Field

In Mark, Jesus tells a parable of the Kingdom of God. He says that his kingdom is like a farmer who goes out into a field that shows seed:

This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk then the head then the full grain in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe he puts the sickle to it for the harvest has come (Mark 4:26-29).

This parable is a story about the kingdom of God and about sharing the Good News. A farmer has a field. In the case of God, the whole world is God’s field. This is why John can say, “For God do loved the world that he sent his Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The world is the place where God intends to plant his kingdom and harvest a great crop of human beings filled with the fruit of the Spirit.

Each of us lives and works in some small part of God’s field. We may live in a large city or in a small town. We may live in the center of a city or in a suburban neighborhood. We may live in a wealthy nation or a poor nation. Wherever we live and work, that is our field.

Like any good farmer, God wants to see the day when his entire field is bearing a crop. Therefore, he sends a sower into his field. Jesus was the first sower of the Gospel, but others, the prophets especially, came to proclaim God’s love and God’s will to the people of Israel. In Jesus case, he came into the world to proclaim and to bring into being God’s gracious kingdom of love. Jesus was, however, not the last or final sower. He has sent us into God’s field with the same commission as he received from the Father.

Sowers in God’s Field

In John, Jesus speaks to his disciples one the night after his arrest, trial, crucifixion, death and resurrection. He records Jesus entering the room the disciples were in and then speaking to them:

Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained (John 20:19-23).

Jesus spent three years with his disciples sowing the Kingdom into their hearts. As his time on earth was ending, he would no longer be restricted by time and by space. He could be present to his disciples by the Holy Spirit he breathed upon them. What did he say? He said, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:22). Jesus had been sent to proclaim the good news of God’s forgiveness of sins. Now, Jesus is sending the disciples into the world to sow the seed of God’s kingdom just exactly as Jesus sowed the kingdom when he was physically present with his disciples. The twelve were going to disciple people, and those people were going to disciple people, and those people were going to disciple people until God’s kingdom grows throughout the whole world.

Jesus never intended building the kingdom of God to be the preserve of a few evangelists or charismatic pastors. God does not want evangelism to be accomplished just by pastors or by specially trained laypeople. The reason God chose twelve ordinary people to be his first disciples is that he intends for all of us, all Christians, to participate in building his kingdom. He wants us to do so where we live, work, play, and meet people, etc.—everywhere we go. Just as God sent Jesus to us, we are sent by Jesus into our world to share the Good News with others. God does not just work through special people to share his love. He works through every heart captured by his love.

The Seed is the Gospel

It is no good for a farmer to have a field and the ability to sow the field if there is no seed. A sower needs seed. In the same way, disciples of Jesus need seed as they go out into the part of the world that is their particular field. The seed is the gospel. Most Christians know of the Gospel, but when asked to put it into words, they do not how to communicate that Good News to others. One of the primary purposes of this study is to equip people to share the good news by developing the ability to communicate it to other people in a simple, concise, non-threatening way.

Jesus came proclaiming the gospel. In Jesus’ words, the gospel was the Good News that the long wait of Israel for the Messiah was over. In Jesus, the Kingdom of God had arrived (Matthew 4:23; Mark 1:15). In Luke, the birth of Jesus is portrayed as being announced by angels in such a way that it is clear that the birth of Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. Jesus begins his ministry proclaiming the Good News, saying:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me  to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-20).

The Good News is that the Messiah has come to undo the effects of sin and oppression in the lives of the people of God. As God’s commissioned disciples, we are called to go into the world and continue building God’s kingdom  of wisdom and love, sharing his Gospel just as the original disciples went into the ancient world.

The first disciples, as they went out into the world to share the gospel, had to develop a way to explain to people the meaning of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Apostle Paul, who was perhaps the most effective of these early missionaries several times tells his disciples what the Gospel is. Near the end of his ministry, writing to Timothy, his beloved helper, he said: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst” (I Timothy 1:15). Embedded in this little sentence is every element of a good testimony. The way to salvation is Jesus Christ. Christ came to save sinners. We are all sinners in need of salvation. Perhaps Paul’s longest version of the Gospel occurs in First Corinthians where he says:

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born (I Corinthians 15:1-8).

In this passage, Paul outlines the gospel in narrative form. He begins by stating the importance of the Gospel. He then tells the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, emphasizing that Jesus died for sinners, just like all of us.

I Corinthians was one of Paul’s earliest letters. 2 Timothy was one of the last. In 2 Timothy Paul speaks again of the Gospel:

So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (3 Timothy 1:8-10).

Although the context and wording is different, the Gospel is the same. God’s appointed savior Jesus the Christ came because of God’s foreknowledge and was apparent in the death and resurrection of Christ. This Gospel provides a means of salvation for everyone who believe in Christ and accept the gift of the forgiveness of sins and new life God offers them.

One thing we will do in this training is to develop the ability to make a short presentation of the Gospel. For the time being, it might be enough to take the time to write out in your own words what you think the Gospel is. Try writing it down in your own words.

[1] At. Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine tr. John K. Ryan (New York, NY: Image Books, 1960) Book 1, p. 43.

This is the introduction to a training manual Kathy and I are writing. We would very much enjoy any comments for improvements and corrections anyone has. We will be teaching this training program for 26 weeks this next year. This is a group project!!!

Copyright 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Jesus gave the Church a commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Making disciples is the God’s supreme desire for the entire church. It involves going to where people are, bringing them into the fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them the things of God, showing them how to live a life pleasing to God.

The Greek word we translate “disciple” refers to one who learns from another person. However, Christian discipleship is not just about learning information. We believe that Jesus Christ is the “the Way, the Truth and the Life.” In other words, the key to abundant living is not an idea, but a person. Because being a disciple involves getting to know a person, we must believe in that person and spend time in the presence of that person. Jesus promised us that, “where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matt. 18:20). If we are to meet Jesus, a person must introduce us to him. If we are to understand what it is like to be a Christian, we must be mentored by someone who is further along the path of discipleship that we are. If we are to learn of Jesus, we must spend time with his people. This means that we need to be a part of a Christian fellowship that is trying to spend time with him. One way we do this is when we become part of a group of people who are seeking to follow Jesus, who is the Way.

“T4T” or “Training for Trainers” and “Discipleship Making Movements” or “DMM” are techniques that have been and are being used all over the world to disciple people, plant churches, and grow the kingdom. [1] Many of these programs have seen great success in growing the kingdom of God by bringing people into small house churches where they can be discipled as followers of Jesus. There is nothing wrong with any of these programs. Many of them are sponsored by independent churches that practice believer baptism, have weekly worship and communion services in small house groups, and conduct their business in ways that are not easy to emulate in the Presbyterian tradition. This set of lessons seeks to outline a way in which Presbyterians can participate in this movement without ceasing to be Presbyterian.

Having said this, it is important to underscore the debt Presbyterians owe to the Church Planting Movement, those who developed T4T and DMM, and the way in which they have been used by God to grow his kingdom. This booklet is not intended to denigrate what these movements have done worldwide. In fact, it is intended to honor that movement as we seek to find a way to appropriate it into the Reformed tradition. Those who envisioned and designed this program did a wonderful thing that has enriched the kingdom of God across the globe.

Finally, it is important to point out that this Presbyterian introduction is not a substitute for the voluminous literature that is already in existence. If one were to undertake to even summarize this vast literature, it would involve creating a book no one would ever be able to read! This work is just a series of chapters that deal with a discipleship in a general way, hopefully in sufficient detail that Presbyterians can become involved more easily than if the manual did not exist. We encourage pastors and congregations who are interested in T4T, DMM, and other Church Planting programs to read the primary sources as well as this work.

Jesus: The Great Example

There is one reason, more than any other why every Christian should either be involved leading people to Christ in some kind of a small discipleship group: Jesus brought people to himself and was in a small group of people he was actively discipling. Other religious figures have written books. Jesus did not. He chose twelve average human beings and lived in community with them for his entire ministry. Their memories of him are contained in our Gospels. It was their memories of Jesus and their time together that propelled them to carry the Good News on a continuing journey to every nation on the face of the earth. The way the early church grew was by reproducing what Jesus had done while he was with them. This is important to us. The best and most authentic way for the Kingdom of God to grow in our communities and around the world is by ordinary men and women bringing people to Christ, calling people together into discipling groups, training new believers, and continually reproducing this process through generations of discipling people.

According to Matthew, when Jesus ascended into heaven he left his disciples with a job to do and marching orders to do that job. Matthew ends his gospel with the following commission for his disciples (and for us):

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

There are several features of this commission that many Christians have forgotten:

We are to go. In fact, we are all going somewhere—to work, to the office, to school, to a social club, to work out, to church, to our homes, to our family, etc. In fact we are going somewhere most of the time.

We are to share. As we are going we are to make disciples of all nations, or as it would be in the original, of all people groups. In other words, we are to share the gospel with everyone and make disciples of anyone who responds.

We are not alone. Christ has not abandoned us. He is with us by the power of the spirit.

In our congregation, we have an older retired pastor who grew up on a farm. Robert is in is 80’s. He has been a pastor and a missionary. He has worked in the area of evangelism. When he translates the Great Commission, he puts it something like this:

As Y’all are going wherever you go, be sure and share the Good News with others and make them disciples. As you do this, baptize those who come to believe. But, don’t stop there. Be sure you teach them all about me and to live the way I have taught you to live. Along the way, don’t be scared. I will be with you all the time, everywhere you go.

You actually have to know a little Greek to understand that Robert has captured the essence of what Jesus is saying. The word “Go” is a participle. It can mean, “Go!” but it also connotes “As you are going” in the imperative. Jesus does not say, “Get people to say they believe in me.” He says, “Teach them so that they can obey.” Too often evangelism programs stop at conversion. This is not what Jesus asked us to do. He asked us to make disciples.

It is very important right at the beginning to get firmly in mind the following principles of the Great Commission:

Go: Coming to church is not what the Christian life is about going into the world making disciples.

Share: Share with everyone you can, not some people you like.

Make Disciples: We are not called to make people Church members; we are called to make disciples. [2]

Jesus: Up In and Out

The essence of discipleship is having a relationship with Jesus. Discipleship involves a kind of triangular relationship. We have a vertical relationship with God that is the ground of all we say and do. That vertical relationship with God in Christ results in deep changes in our inner being as we become a part of the community of Jesus and walk with him and other believers. We become more like Christ. Finally, our vertical relationship with Christ and our inner transformation in Christ causes us to reach out to others with the love of God. We become a part of the Christian community and what God is doing in and through his people. This is important to get straight right at the beginning. God wants a personal relationship with us. God also wants a communal relationship with us through the church, the people of God, the ecclesia, those God has called to be his special witnessing people. Finally, God wants us to reach out and share what we have experienced in Jesus Christ with others.

The life of a disciple must be built around all three points in the triangle: We must be passionately in love with God and willing to follow Christ and obey God’s commands. To do this, we must be part of God’s radical community, the Church, where we can learn to live in wholeness, peace (Shalom) and love as God intended us to live bound together by the Spirit. Finally, we must reach out into our communities with the love of God so that others may experience God’s wisdom and love. [3]

We hope that you will enjoy your training to be a leader in this very important ministry in our church. This manual is for you to use now and in the future and to help you grow in your walk with Christ. We want to thank everyone who made it possible. In particular, we thank the many experts in the field of evangelism, leadership training, and small groups whose works were consulted in preparing this Guide.

[1] There are three main streams within what is sometimes called, “The Church Planting Movement.” T4T, DMM, and what is sometimes called DMS. They are similar, but have different strategies. This lesson book is not a place to talk about the differences. In this guide we draw on strategies and tactics from all three approaches.

[2] See, Steve Smith & Ying Kai, T4T: A Discipleship ReRevolution (Monument, CO: Wigtake Resources, 2011). This book is the single most important source for learning about T4T.

[3] See, Mike Breen & the 3DM Team, Building a Discipleship Culture: How to Release a Missional Movement by Disicpling People like Jesus Did (Pawleys Island, SC: 3DM Resources, 2011). Many churches and congregations use this triangle approach.

John 3 is one of the most important chapters in our Bible. Almost every child and every Christian knows John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, KJV). Yet, perhaps fewer Christians have studied the chapter in detail. The famous quote concerning God’s love for the world comes in the middle of a long conversation between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a “ruler of the Jews”—a member of the Sanhedrin, Israel’s seventy member Jewish ruling council. He was almost certainly wealthy, well-educated, respected, and powerful. Nicodemus appears in Scripture as a just, fair, open-minded, and compassionate man.

Nicodemus also appears in John 7, where he defends Jesus against an early attempt to arrest him (John 7:45-52). Finally, John tells us that Nicodemus assisted Joseph of Arimathea in paying for and assisting in the burial of Jesus (John 19:39-40). Christian tradition holds that Nicodemus became a believer in Jesus, was baptized by Peter and John, lost his position in the Sanhedrin because of his faith in Christ, and was finally forced to flee the City of Jerusalem. [1] If this tradition is accurate, then Nicodemus was willing to give up everything—wealth, position influence, and power—in order to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.

Receiving Grace

I want to ponder in this blog the first seventeen verses of John. They read as follows:

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:1-17).

Questions of the Night

John’s Gospel is much different than the other gospels. It is structured around certain signs and sayings. It leaves out many things the other gospels contain and contains things the other gospels do not mention. In addition, John often uses images and metaphors to convey its message. One image that constantly appears in John is a comparison of the darkness of our world and the light that is in Christ (John 1:4-5; John 3:19-21; John 812; 9:35-41).

John 3 begins with Nicodemus making a visit to Jesus by night. Rembrandt and other famous painters have tried to capture the scene. I have chosen an image that shows the light of a wall candle, perhaps symbolizing the Holy Spirit, illuminating the scene. A lot of ink is spilt trying to explain the reason Nicodemus came by night. Was Nicodemus afraid? Was he fearful of what his wealthy and powerful friends might think? Was he just too busy to make a daytime visit? We will never know the exact reason, but we do know that John uses this night visit to compare the darkness in which Nicodemus lives to the light of Christ.

Nicodemus is portrayed as a man with questions. He has heard of the powerful teacher and miracle worker, Jesus of Nazareth, and wants to believe that this Jesus is a man of God who can somehow illuminate and explain for him the way to God (John 3:2). Jesus seems to understand that Nicodemus is an earnest seeker who wants to know how to have a new kind of life and, perhaps, escape the legalism of the Pharisees. Jesus understands that Nicodemus is a true seeker after God, what Jesus elsewhere calls, a “Person of Peace” (Luke 10:6). Therefore, he says, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). This begins and exchange of questions Nicodemus asks, questions that, in a different way, people continue to ask today.

First, Nicodemus asks, “How can a person be born anew when they are already old?” (John 3:4). In other words, “How can an old guy like me find a new life?” This is a question that people ask today, though in a different way. Sometimes, we do think that we are too old for God to use us or for to find a new life. Sometimes, we think that we have made too many mistakes, done to many things wrong, spent too many years away from God to find a new and better life. Sometimes, we feel too world-weary to begin again. When we feel like this, we are asking Nicodemus’ question.

Second, Nicodemus asks, “Assuming one could be born again, how would it work?” (John 3:4). “Surely a person cannot enter into his mother’s womb a second time. It cannot possibly work that way, can it?” Once again, all over the world in different ways and with different answers, people ask that question. Religions that believe in reincarnation essentially teach that our second chance comes in another life we will have in the future. Their idea is that we simply live life over and over again until we get it right. Skeptics, frankly, answer the question with the belief that it is not possible at all. There is no new life. Materialists ask the question and come up with a formula of diet, exercise, education, self-help, counseling, meditation, and the like that will permit human beings to recover our lost youth. You see, everyone and anyone who believes that they have messed up in life have wondered, “How do I start over?” When we feel like this, we are asking Nicodemus’ question.

One way or the other, all human beings ask the same questions Nicodemus asked Jesus. In moments of darkness, of despair, of failure, of longing for a new and better life, we all wish we could start over. By now, I have counseled so many people that I often cannot remember names, places, or even precise situations. Nevertheless, I do know that this question is one I’ve been asked a lot of times in different ways. There are business people who have done something foolish and asked, “How can I start over at my age?” There are husbands and wives that have failed and asked, “How can we start over given all the water under the bridge?” There are parents who have failed children and children who have failed parents who ask the question, “How can our family find renewal and new life?” Once again, Nicodemus’ questions are universal human questions we all encounter all the time when we get to know people.

Glimmers of Light

Into the spiritual darkness in which Nicodemus finds himself Jesus shines a bit of spiritual light. Of course, no one can physically start over in life. We cannot be physically born again once we have entered this world. We physically cannot start over once we have made certain decisions. We cannot avoid certain consequences of our decisions. We cannot overcome the physical limitations of our genetics and experiences. However, we can have a new life! We can be born again into God’s kingdom of Wisdom and Love. We can experience the blessedness of being a child of God. We can become a part of God’s family.

In answer to the question, “How can I be a New Person?” Jesus answers as follows:

Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:5-8).

In other words, Jesus is saying, “You can become a new person, Nicodemus. You can find a new life. You can eliminate the darkness you feel in your soul. You can have a deep, personal relationship with God. The birth will not be physical, but spiritual. You must open your heart and ask God, who is a spirit, to come into your heart.”

God can give us a new life; however, he gives us a new life that is spiritual in nature. He may not change our circumstances. He may not change our physical condition. He is surely not going to make time go backwards. Instead he gives us his own life, which is different than physical life. It is a life of self-giving love and wisdom that never ends.

In response to this answer of Jesus, Nicodemus goes on to ask, “How can this be?” (John 3:9). In other words, the conversation moves on to the second question, “How can I have this new life?” or “How can this work?” In his response, Jesus says perhaps the most important words in the entire passage, words that most of us have never considered:

You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him (John 3: 10-15).

In the book of Proverbs we find the following:

I am the most ignorant of men; I do not have human understanding. I have not learned wisdom,  nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know! (Proverbs 30:1-4).

This is one of those places where it is hard to believe those who assert that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God, could possibly be correct. Nicodemus was a wise man. He was learned in the Old Testament. He was a ruler of the Jewish people, familiar with the proverbs of Israel that were used to teach those who would one day be in a leadership position. Nicodemus knew what we know as Proverbs 30. He probably had memorized it. In these verses from John, Jesus is saying, “Nicodemus, you know that the only person who could really answer your questions, the only person who has penetrated the heart of the wisdom of God, would be the Son of God. You know that the prophets looked forward to a messiah they called the Son of Man (Daniel 8:13). I am that person, and I am going to be lifted up on a cross just like Moses lifted up the snake in wilderness, so that you and everyone else will know this.” This is where we come to the text we all know. Jesus goes on to say:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17, NIV).

Here is the Gospel restated: The creator of the universe, the giver of the Law to Moses, the God of the Prophets, loves the world so much he is willing to give his son for its salvation. Those who believe in the Son and who receive the gift by faith will enjoy “Eternal Life,” that is the very life of God.

What is the Main Thing in Your Heart

Jesus ends this section of teaching by comparing the Light that He is with the Darkness of the world and of the human heart (John 3:19-20). It is as if he is asking, Nicodemus, and us, “What do you love?” “What do you believe in?” “Who do you really trust?” “Do you believe, really believe that God is love?” “Do you really believe that by my Spirit you can receive eternal life?” “Do you believe the life of faith by the power of the Holy Spirit is the Main Thing?” “Are you willing to trust in me and me alone as the ultimate source of your life?”

In other words, he is asking, “What is the main thing in your heart?” God loves you. God wants you to enjoy his divine life now and in the world to come. All he asks is that you believe in his promise. As I mentioned at the beginning, we think Nicodemus chose to believe in and follow the Christ. May we do the same.

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Ronald F. Youngblood, ed., “Nicodemus” in Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary Rev. Ed. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1986), 895.

This last Sunday was Pentecost. On Pentecost, we celebrate the birth of the Christian church. It is the day the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Jerusalem, the gospel was preached by Peter, and thousands were saved (Acts 2:1-41). It is also the day on which new believers began meeting together, hearing the teachings of the apostles, praying, having communion together, and experiencing the new life of the Kingdom of God (Acts 2:42-47). In the early church, Pentecost was more important than Christmas and nearly as important as Easter. Today is also a reminder that we can participate in the life of God. We do not have to stay as we are; we can be new people by the power of the Holy Spirit. We, like the early Christians, can be filled with the Spirit and changed by our faith.

Not so long ago, I met a person I knew forty-five or so years ago. When we were in High School, this person was skinny, not a good student, and not athletic. He was a party animal. He did not go straight to college, but worked for a while after graduation. I lost track of him. Not long ago, a handsome, confident, obviously kind person came up to greet me. “I hear you are a pastor,” he said. He then sat down and began to tell me about his Christian walk and introduced me to his wife. What a changed person he was! Actually, even today, if I did not know he was the person I knew in high school, I would not believe it was him!

By the same token, I have had the experience of seeing someone I knew in High School who left school, got hooked on alcohol or drugs, drifted into other behaviors, and looked twice their age. What we experience in our lives makes a difference. People change for the better or for worse in life. In this blog, we are talking about God’s power to change our lives for the better.

Come as You Are—But Don’t Stay that Way

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is one of the most important letters in the New Testament. Scholars often reflect on its importance to Christian life and Christian thought. [1] In this letter, we see Christ’s sacrifice and our salvation as a part of God’s eternal plan (Ephesians 1:4-14). Because of the resurrection, Paul believes that Christians can be enlightened and empowered by the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of Pentecost—to know God and to live in the power of God’s Spirit (1:15-23). Then, in Chapter 2, Paul sets out his doctrine of Grace—the Power of God’s Spirit acting in love. Here is how he puts it:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:4-10).

The Nature of Grace

There is no idea of the Christian faith more important than the idea of Grace. There is certainly no idea more important to Protestants, since the idea that we are Saved by Grace through Faith in Christ Alone is central to the Reformation and to all Protestant theology and life. [2] Grace, however, is much more than an idea in theology books. It is a reality that must be experienced and lived. Our busy, work-oriented, frantic, lonely, and isolated culture needs to understand and, much more importantly, experience God’s grace. The therapy of God by the Spirit is of importance to our happiness as well as our salvation! [3]

So, what is God’s Grace? Grace is God’s self-giving love towards us offered freely and without cost. The Greek word, “Charis” is the same word from which we get the word “Gift” as in Spiritual Gifts. The definition of Grace has important implications for Christians:

• We can’t earn Grace: It is a gift not something we earn.
• We can’t deserve Grace: It is a gift not something we deserve.
• We can only receive Grace as a gift. As Paul reminds us in today’s text Grace is a gift we receive by faith, so we have nothing to boast about.

Grace is the most important thing in the world. Grace is not only essential to our salvation; it is essential to a health human life. One reason our culture is characterized by fear about the future and excessive striving to secure our future is that we have forgotten how to rest in God and allow God to work in areas we cannot control and should not control. Thomas Oden puts it this way:

The Christian life comes to us on God’s initiative, not our own. We can choose by God’s grace to put ourselves in those times and places where God promises to be present. We can avail ourselves of the means of grace, but not so as to control them. They remain precisely grace—sheer gift. The teaching of grace stands as a penetrating challenge to all pretensions of self-sufficiency. [4]

We can never make any progress in the Christian life until we get straight on the fundamental principle: We cannot save ourselves. Only God can do that. What we can do is have faith in the love of God and in what Christ accomplished and revealed on the Cross. When I teach about Faith and Grace I put tell the following story. When our children were young, each Christmas Eve we would sit by the tree opening presents. Kathy would pick up a present, read a name, and hand the present to me. Then, one of our children would come up and get the gift. They had not earned the gift. They could not pay for the gift. But they did have to come up and get the gift. Faith is the means by which we receive the gift God has for us.

Grace Accepts Us Just as We Are.

I suppose every child has played in the mud, and every mother has cleaned up a filthy child (usually a little boy) who has found a pool of mud. When I was little, I was always getting filthy playing in dirt, mud, haystacks, piles of leaves, and other places from which Mom probably wished I would stay away. When our son was young, we learned that he had inherited this same quality! Did my mother reject me because I played in the mud? Did Kathy cease to love our son just because he got filthy? No!

The idea of purity is important to Jewish thought. To the Jew, the goal of human life was to become “righteous” by following the law and avoiding all forms of impurity. This explains a lot of the laws the ancient Jews were to obey. It is just contrary to this way of thinking to believe that God can accept us just as we are. God wants us to become pure and cannot accept us as we are.

Jesus changed all this. The Parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke is the best possible example. In the parable, a younger son dishonors his father and family by asking for his inheritance early. Unexpectedly, the father agrees. [5] Then, while the son defiles himself in immorality, the father patiently and lovingly waits for the child to come home. When the son does come home, the father welcomes him with open arms, gives him fresh clothing, throws a party, and celebrates. The older brother cannot understand how a father could possibly act like this, expressing the Jewish discomfort with grace. But the father affirms that the wayward son is welcome because “Once he was lost, but now he is found. Once he was dead, but now he is alive” (Luke 15:11-32).

In this parable, Jesus reveals a God who does not reject people for failing, for doing foolish things, for behaving immorally, etc. Instead God is portrayed in the Parable of the Prodigal Son as a forgiving, loving, restoring God. This is what God showed us in Christ: God loves each one of us unconditionally, like the greatest father any of us might have or dream of having.

This has implications for Advent as a church as well as for Christians. Just as God does not reject people because of their sinfulness, brokenness, and pain, so also God’s church is called to be a place of Grace. We are called to be a place where sinners find a home where the Good News is preached and lived.

Grace Does Not Leave Us As We Are

Grace accepts us as we are, but grace does not leave us as we are. Tomorrow is Memorial Day. I will go out in the yard to do some once a summer work. In the course of a few hours, I will begin to look a lot like a dirty child. Moreover, I will begin to smell like what women sometimes call, “A Stinky Boy.” Kathy will not reject me or banish me from the house because of this. She will not stop loving me. She will, however, demand that I take a shower before dinner. When Tim and I used to get muddy playing outside, Mom did not disown us or stop loving us, but she did make us take off our clothes and bathe. Any mother of a small child who managed to get covered with cleans up her child. God, like any good mother, does not leave us as he finds us! God loves us enough to continue by grace to help us change.

John Burke, Pastor of Gateway Church in San Antonio, has writing a book called, No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come as You are Culture in the Church. In the book, he describes what would happen if one of us found a Rembrandt covered in mud:

“If you saw a Rembrandt covered in mud, you wouldn’t focus on the mud or treat it like mud. Your primary concern would not be the mud at all — though it would need to be removed. You’d be ecstatic to have something so valuable in your care. But if you tried to clean it yourself, you might damage it. So you would carefully bring this work of art to a master who could guide you and help you to restore it to the condition originally intended. When people begin treating one another as God’s masterpiece waiting to be revealed, God’s grace grows in their lives and cleanses them.” [6]

Each of us is like a masterpiece painted by God. Along the journey of life, we may have managed to get covered in mud, but that does stop God from loving us. God reaches out to us just as we are. However, it is not God’s plan to leave us as we are. God’s grace continues to operate in our lives after we accept Christ. This grace, sometimes called, “Sanctifying Grace” helps us become the people God desires us to be.

There is a kind of evangelical Christianity that is not just about grace, it is about what the German martyr, theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, called “Cheap Grace.” Cheap Grace is not really grace at all. It is counterfeit grace—a kind of religious co-dependence. In his book, the Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer decries the Church’s tendency to market Cheap Grace to people. Cheap Grace is grace without a commitment to change, grace without true repentance, grace without awareness and confession of sin, grace without the necessity of discipleship. [7] Cheap Grace is really not grace at all.

Grace Creates What We Shall Be

Bonhoeffer goes on to describe real, Costly Grace. Costly Grace is like the Pearl of Great Price Jesus describes in his parable of the same name. Jesus says that the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Discipleship is like a precious jewel hidden in a field. A reasonable person knowing of such a jewel would go, sell everything, borrow as much as possible, and purchase that pearl (Matthew 13:45-46). Real Grace is Costly Grace. It costs us everything because it is the priceless gift of God. If we have been truly saved then whatever good works we do are not just works of our human strength, but also works of God.

In the early church, there were people who accused Paul of a kind of Cheap Grace. Paul’s doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith and not works was and is subject to misunderstanding. Some people accused Paul of “antinomianism,” or being against the Torah, the law of God. In Romans, Paul specifically defends himself against this charge, saying:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life (Romans 6:1-4).

Christianity does not eliminate the law or the desire of God that we live in holiness. Our problem is, as Paul knows, we cannot obey the law without a new kind of live, a divine life given to us by God (Romans 7:21-25). Our new birth in Christ is like our natural birth. No one of us had anything to do with our physical birth. We received life as a gift from our parents. Similarly, we cannot be “born again” by our own works or by any action we take. Only God can give us a new life. Nevertheless, after we are born again we can and must cooperate with God in discipleship as by grace God transforms us into the people he desires us to be. This is what is sometimes called “Cooperating Grace.” In discipleship we cooperate with God in becoming the people God calls us to be. Grace you see does not end with our salvation. It continues after our salvation as God completes the work he began in our salvation (Philippians 1:6).

Conclusion

There are a lot of folks these days trying to figure our how to live forever. What if there was a way to live forever? What if there was a way not just to live forever, but also to live forever in a state of blessedness human beings never enjoy however much money they have? What if there were a way to live not just as we now live, but as we dream of living, filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, hope and the like? There is. God’s Sanctifying Grace is also God’s Perfecting Grace. We will not fully experience it in this world, but we will experience it. God is in the business of making all things perfect, including us. There will be a New Heaven and a New Earth, and there will be a new you and a new me (Revelation 21:1).

Ephesians says we are saved by grace not by works, yet God has prepared works for us to do. This sounds hard until we realize that the works God has for us to do are simply the works of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, hope, and the like we will do once we are captured by his love and renewed by his grace. The works of which Paul speaks are not something unpleasant or otherworldly. Instead, the works of Grace consist in living our ordinary lives in an extraordinary, loving, grace-filled way. This is the life of discipleship.

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] See Francis W. Beare, “Epistle to the Ephesians” in The Interpreter’s Bible (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1953). I do not agree with Beare regarding authorship but it is a fine commentary.

[2] The Reformation outlined the so-called “Sola’s.” “Sola” means “Alone.” For Luther and the reformers, there were five ”Sola’s”: Sola Christus (Christ Alone), Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone), and Sola Gracia (Grace Alone) and Sola Gloria (Glory of God Alone). Today, the focus is on grace.

[3] See, Thomas C. Oden, The Transforming Power of Grace (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1993. I have relied on this book to guide the theology of grace set out, and especially in crafting the definition of grace set out below.

[4] Id, at 37.

[5] See, Ken Bailey, Poet and Peasant through Peasant Eyes Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1976). Bailey points out that no first century middle eastern father would have agreed to such a request, and Jesus’ hearers would have understood something we miss—the Father’s love us extravagant, unusual, and unbelievable.

[6] John Burke, No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come as You are Culture in the Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), 97.

[7] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York, NY: Macmillan Paperbacks, 1959, 1961 reprint), 45-47.

Last week, this blog was on the value of family in Christian faith and life. Families are important to God and important to wise living. It is in our families that we learn and relearn the most basic skill of wise living—loving other people unconditionally. Family is essential for raising children, passing on values to another generation, and  passing faith from generation to generation. We ended last week with a warning: As important as families are, families are only a part of God’s plan. Our human families merge into God’s family, the church. Our human families fully become what God desires them to be as they become part of God’s family. 

This week at staff meeting, we talked about the church in America and the challenges we face. Tuesday afternoon, four different people sent me an article containing the results of a recent Pew Institute Poll showing that the number of people who claim to be Christians fell seven percent in only seven years, the largest decline in American history. [1] The Los Angeles Times, the BBC, the New York Times, and other major media outlets picked up the study. For a long time, religious scholars have seen a decline in church attendance. It is not surprising that after a long period of decline in attendance, we now see the results in the number of people who claim to be Christians. The Pew researched showed that the number of Americans claiming to be Christian has fallen precipitously in the past few years.

The word “Church” comes from a Greek word meaning “those who are called out”. [2] The Bible teaches that God calls people into his kingdom of wisdom and love. There is an old gospel hymn called “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.” This hymn captures the truth that God calls us in Christ out of the World into his Church. Once Christians are called out, we are called to assemble with other believers as a church. Therefore, the word “ekklesia,” is also a word that translates the Hebrew word for “Assembly,” as when the people of Israel assembled as a nation in the Old Testament. [3] We were called to live together as the church.

Don’t Stop Being Community

This blog’s text comes from Hebrews. Hebrews was written, as the title indicates, to a group of Jewish Christians, perhaps in Rome. [4] The King James Version assumes Paul wrote the letter; however, not very many people actually think Paul wrote it, though he might have. The best candidate is a man named “Apollos” who appears in several of Paul’s letters. Apollos was a master of Greek Rhetoric and scholar of the Old Testament, and seems a likely candidate. Hebrews is written in the best New Testament Greek by someone who knew the Old Testament backwards and forwards. This indicates Paul, Apollos, or someone very similar in background wrote the book. Here is my text for this blog as it comes from the Book of Hebrews:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:19-25).

Prayer: Eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: you live eternally in a fellowship of love and desire for us to live in your church as your called out people proclaiming your love to the world. Help us to value your church and to value the relationships we have here with you and others.

 Christ: The Center of Hebrews

As I mentioned above, Hebrews is one of the most elegant books in the New Testament. Whoever wrote it was a committed Christian, familiar with the Old Testament, a brilliant scholar, and a writer of great skill.  The book is organized like a sermon. As is often the case in sermons, Hebrews  alternates theological arguments and practical implications. [5] In this blog, we are talking about the practical implications. However, it helps to know what the author has said earlier about Christ.

Hebrews begins with the following statement of the importance of Christ:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs (Hebrews 1:1-4).

Here we have a clear statement of the supremacy of Christ. Christ is superior to the prophets (1:1-2).Christ is the means through which God created the universe (1:2).Christ sustains all things by the power of God (1:2). Christ reveals exactly who God is and what God is like. Christ is superior to angels (1:6-14). Christ is superior to Moses (3:1-4). Christ is the great High Priest (54:14-5:6). Christ is the perfect sacrifice for our sins (9:11-28). Christ is the way in which we can have new relationship with God, a perfect relationship with God by his new and living way (10:20). This is the main point the author of Hebrews wants to make: Christ is the center of Hebrews and the center of our faith.

Because of Christ: Our Relationship with God

We began our text with the word, “Therefore.” When an author begins a sentence with “Therefore,” he or she means to let us know that because of everything that has come before there are certain conclusions to be drawn. The author of Hebrews is no exception. Because of who Christ is and what Christ has done, Christians need to be different and live differently than other people. You see, there are implications to Christian faith. Here are a few mentioned in our text:

First of all, because of who Christ is and what Christ has done, we should draw near to God (v.22). In Jesus, it is revealed that God is not an angry judge. God is not out to get us because we are sinners. Christ reveals that God is love and loves us. We have nothing to fear. I have a friend who is a bit gruff. Most of the time people are just a little afraid of him. However, once you get to know him, you find out he is as loving and gentle as can be. God is like my friend. If you only casually know him, he can be scary. But if you really know who God is in Christ, you know he is safe.

Second, we should not be afraid. God is love. God desires to save us. God has paid the full price for our sins. Therefore, we should have faith and have full assurance that God loves us and we are free from our sins and from the guilty conscience we sometimes have from our sins. This is, I think, one of the most important things about faith: We don’t have to carry around our guilt concerning the past. We are cleansed of that guilt and shame from the past (v. 22). Many people live burdened by guilt and shame from the past. It is not necessary. God has provide a way of healing in Christ.

Finally, we should never lose hope. Because Christ is the exact representation of God, revealing God’s perfect self-giving love, we need not fear. I got a note the other day from one of our members. In the note he said, “Don’t worry. We’ve got your back.” God has our back. The just, loving, wise and all-powerful God of the heavens and the earth has our back. We have nothing to fear. Whatever may happen to us on this earth, we can be sure that the God of Hope, who raised Jesus from the dead, loves us and intends to respond to his faithfulness.

Hope is not a feeling or a kind of unrealistic optimism. John Polkinghorne notes that faith creates a kind of hope that is not a feeling, not mere optimism, but an acceptance of the world and its possibilities and impossibilities joined with confidence in the fundamental goodness of God. [6] Later he puts it this way:

Hope lies in the divine chesed, God’s steadfast love, and not in some unchanging realm of ideas or an intrinsic immortality of the human soul. Christian trust in the divine faithfulness is reinforced by the knowledge that God is the One who raised Jesus from the dead. Only such a God could be the ground for the hope against hope that transcends the limits of natural expectations. [7]

In Hebrews one finds a list of the great hero’s of the Old Testament. Some of them received the promises of God in their lifetime; others did not (11:13). Those saints who did not, died looking forward to fulfillment of promises they did not receive. They died looking forward to “a better country” (11:16). Christian hope, therefore, looks forward to the future in confidence, not because it is assured of success in this world, but because the God who is faithful will eventually grant justice in this world or in a better world to come.

Because of Christ: Our Relationship with One Another

Those readers who have been on a Great Banquet during which I was the Head Spiritual Director know that I quote Hebrews 10:25 at almost every closing. “Do not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing” (my paraphrase). Christians were never meant to live out the Christian life in isolation. We may be alone for a time, but we were not meant to live out our Christian life alone. Community is the normal state for Christians. Aloneness is something we endure. “Church”—“Community”—is our natural state. We were meant for one another.

Christians were meant to live in community, and the community we were meant to live in is the family of God, or the community of God, or what we call “the Church.” Just as God lives in a community, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so also God has created the church as a visible reminder of what God is like. God intends for us to be a part of His community of love and live in that community. He never meant it to be made up of people who are passing through relationships with a congregation or one another. He meant it to be made up of people who are in a committed relationship with one another.

My parents belonged to what was known as the “Builder’s Class” of their church. The class was very close. We had picnics, holiday celebrations, like the 4th of July, parties, and the like. That class still exists, though it is quite small. It began somewhere around 1960 or about 55 years ago. At some point during my childhood, one of the members left his wife and family. My Dad, who was an FBI agent, found out where the man was, drove 250 miles, and talked the man into returning to his family. Without their close community and fellowship, it would not have been possible for Dad to do this; however, the man knew Dad cared enough to take a day off, drive 250 miles, and sit down to talk.

In Hebrews 10: 24-25, the author asks us to consider how we can spur one another to good deeds and that we encourage one another. Obviously, there is no encouraging one another without community. The idea of supporting and encouraging one another is the most common idea in the entire New Testament. A prominent Church consultant and author published some fifty-nine such texts in the New Testament. [8] Here are just a few:

• “Be at peace with each other” (Mark 9:50).
• “Love one another…” (John 13:34; John 13:35; John 15:12; John 15:17; I John 3:11; I John 3: 2; Romans 13:83; I John 4:7; I John 4:11; I John 4:12; II John 5; I Thessalonians 4:9’ I Thessalonians 3:12; I Peter 3:8; I Peter 4:8).
• “Be devoted to one another” (Romans 12:10).
• “Honor one another…” (Romans 12:10).
• “Live in harmony with one another…” (Romans 12:16; I Peter 3:8).
• “Accept one another…” (Romans 15:7).
• “Instruct one another…” (Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16)
• “Greet one another with a holy kiss…” (Romans 16:16; I Corinthians 16:20; II Corinthians 13:12; I Peter 5:14)
• “Have equal concern for one another” (I Corinthians 12:25)
• Serve one another…” (Galatians 5:13).
• “Carry one another’s burdens…” (Galatians 6:2).
• “Be patient and bear with one another…” (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13).
• “Be kind and compassionate to one another…” (Ephesians 4:32).
• “Forgive one another…” (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13).
• “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).
• “In humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)
• “Admonish one another” (Colossians 3:16).
• “Encourage one another…”(I Thessalonians 4:18; I Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 10:25; Hebrews 3:13).
• “Build up one another…” (I Thessalonians 5:11).
• “Spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).
• “Do not slander one another.” (James 4:11).
• “Don’t grumble against one another…” (James 5:9).
• “Confess your sins to one another…” (James 5:16).
• “Pray for one another.” (James 5:16)
• “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (I Peter 4:9).
• “Use whatever gift you have received to serve one another…” (I Peter 4:10).
• “…Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another…”(I Peter 5:5).

It is obvious from this list that God want us to live in a community of love with each other, not jumping around looking for the perfect church, but living in a community of love with each other. There will be failures, uncomfortable moments, sin, and the like. There is in every human community. On the other hand, there will be times when the Kingdom of God shines through our human brokenness and we glimpse a bit of what heaven is like. We glimpse the Kingdom that is coming in the midst of the world as it is.

What We Are

I began with the observation that the Greek word for “Church” means “those who have been called out by God.” The church is not made up of especially smart, strong, capable, spiritually mature, loving, wise, or caring people. The church is made up of ordinary people whom God has called to declare his praises to the world and show something of his wisdom, love, character, and perfect will in our world (I Peter 2:9). In this world, no congregation will ever be a perfect church. All churches are made up of ordinary, fallen, imperfect people. Therefore, there can be no perfect church. Nevertheless, we are here to represent God to the world as best we can.

This Sunday is Graduation Sunday in our congregation. I want to close this blog with an encouragement to our graduates and the graduates of each and every church. Many graduates will go off to college or begin careers. Some will join campus ministries. Let me encourage you to also become part of a local church wherever you go, hopefully a church where you will be part of an ordinary congregation filled with ordinary people. Find a church where everyone is not your age, your income level, your race, having your interests. Don’t just be friends with the college students. Find someone who is fifty years older than you are to befriend. Find a normal church and continue to love people as God has called you to love. God wants us to be in a community of love not just when we are young, or when we have children, or when we need community, but always. If you are leaving home this year, go do just that.

Amen

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] See, “America’s Religious Landscape is Changing” www.pewforum.org (downloaded May 14, 2015).

[2] The Greek word is “ekklesia.” This word literally translates “those called out from.” The idea is that Christians have been called out from the world into God’s family, the church.

[3] Gerharad Kittle & Gerhard Friedrich, “Kaleo” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Geoffrey Bromiley ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Erdmanns, 1985), 394-402.

[4] William Barclay, “The Letter to the Hebrews” in The Daily Bible Study Series Rev. Ed. (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1976). I am indebted to Barclay for much of the historical background of this book. See also, John Calvin, “Commentary on Hebrews” in Calvin’s Commentaries Vol. 22 (Grand Rapids, MI Baker Books, 1993).

[5] There are three main ideas of the book that we must get in our mind to understand what is being said in Chapters 10-13: (1) the supremacy of Christ, the priesthood of Christ, and the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

[6] John Polkinghorne, The God of Hope and the End of the World (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002), 48-49.

[7] Id, at 95.

[8] Carl F. George, Prepare Your Church for the Future (Tarrytown, NY: Revell, 1991), 129-131. I have not included the entire list here, but eliminated similar and negative “one anothers”. Others have made similar lists of varying sizes. I have shortened George’s for this blog.

Every year near Fathers Day, we are reminded that Mothers Day is one of the highest attended Sunday’s of the year. When we lived in Brownsville, I learned that the day before Mothers Day is also the busiest day of the year for florists. A member who was a florist had to employ a number of additional helpers to meet the demand of Mothers Day.

Let’s face it. Mothers are important. When Kathy would go out of town when the children were young they always looked forward to her return. The food and cleanliness of the house made a big improvement within minutes of her return! Mothers are also important for Christian faith. I have heard a lot of testimonies over the last 35 years. The most common testimony is of how a mother or grandmother was essential in bringing a child to faith in Christ. Many of these testimonies were by young men who strayed from the Christian faith only to be rescued by the prayers and sacrifice of a mother or grandmother.

Two weeks ago when looking at the importance of Scripture for the wise and loving life, we looked at II Timothy. Timothy is one of the most important people in the New Testament. Timothy’s mother, Eunice, was central to his Christian faith. Paul discipled Timothy, but it was Eunice who brought him to Christian faith. Most Christians know the story of St. Augustine, who was not a Christian until very shortly before his mother’s death. [1] Monica prayed and prayed for young Augustine. Finally, after much wandering, Augustine embraced his mother’s faith in one of the most dramatic and important conversions in all of Christian history.

If Christian faith is going to be passed from generation to generation, then it will be because mothers, fathers, parents, grandparents, and others take responsibility to disciple children seriously. Churches are important in this process, but family is more important—and mothers may be the most important people of all!

A Warning from History

It may seem odd to read from the book of Judges on and near Mothers Day. However, mothers are part of families, and this is a blog on passing along faith in families. Therefore, it is appropriate to ask the question, “What happens if faith is not passed along?” “What happens if our children and grandchildren forget our faith or the faith of their parents and grandparents?” Judges tells just such a story. Our text comes from Judges 2, and I am going to be readying verse 7 and verses 10-13:

The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. … After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them (Judges 2:7, 10-14).

Most Christians seldom read the book of Judges. It is the seventh book in our Bible and tells the story of Israel between the death of Joshua, who led the people into the Promised Land, until the time of Samuel, the last judge. As Judges begins, a godly, wise, and effective leader has led the people of Israel into the Promised Land. Joshua was Moses’ assistant, a great general, and a godly person. Now, Joshua is passing away.

So long as Joshua was alive, the people of Israel followed the LORD. Joshua and the generation Joshua led into the Promised Land remembered their captivity in Egypt. They remembered that God had released them from captivity, led them in the desert, and miraculously delivered them to the Promised Land. However, after Joshua and the members of his generation died, the newer generations did not remember what God had done. They lost their memory of slavery in Egypt, of their suffering, of God’s miraculous deliverance by the leadership of Moses, the long wandering in the wilderness, and their conquest of the Promised Land. They lost their memory, and as they lost their memory of what God had done, they lost their faith. Soon they were worshiping false gods, living immorally, and acting violently. It was not long before they began to lose their blessings as well.

How long did it take? It took less time than the United States has existed as a nation. We need to take a warning from Israel’s history. There is every reason to believe that our nation and our families are forgetting God, forgetting our history, forgetting those who came here seeking religious freedom, forgetting their struggle for liberty.

Increasingly, young people are abandoning the church and the values of our nation. Increasingly, we see signs of religious persecution as elites who have no respect for religion, and even think it dangerous and deliberately suppress and often distort religion’s importance in our history. As individuals, as families, as communities, and as a nation we need to take the threat of losing our blessings seriously. Our nation was formed on the basis of religious freedom and self-discipline. It cannot survive without it.

Our founding pastor used to like to say; “The Church is only a generation away from extinction in every generation.” This is true. If those who went before us had not been faithful in their day, we who are Christians would not be here today. If we do not find ways to be faithful now, in our day and time, then the blessings of the wisdom and love that can only come from God will not be with our children. Worse, the sufferings that come with moral and spiritual failure will be theirs. We see every indication that this is happening in our time, in our nation. The increase in violence, selfish self-seeking, the increase in divorce, increasing incidence of instability, a loss of good jobs, and the loss of respect for human life—all these things coincide with our culture’s drift away from its spiritual, moral, and legal heritage.

Grace from God

Romans 8 is one of the most beautiful texts in the entire Bible. Here is the part of what Paul has to say in this lovely passage:

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:14-17).

Here is the idea Paul is communicating: God is calling us by his Spirit. He has made us so that we desire to connect with an ultimate meaning and purpose. We have a longing for the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. We have a longing for God built into all of our souls. This is reflected in St. Augustine’s famous line, “our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” [2] God in his great mercy has made us with hearts that yearn for meaning, purpose, faith, goodness, wisdom, beauty, and love.

God’s Spirit cries out in each one of us. When we respond and cry out, “Abba Father” or “Father God” we bring ourselves into alignment with the God of Wisdom and Love. When we do that, we are brought into God’s family. From this point, whatever our former condition, the power of God’s wisdom and love is unleashed in our lives to change us, reform us, renew, us, and permit us to live wise and morally, emotionally, and spiritually healthy lives. This can also mean a healing of our human family. I personally know this to be true in my life. My conversion to Christ coincided with a healing in my family. God’s grace is not just for our salvation when we die, it is for our healing and salvation and for the healing and salvation of our families, our communities, our church, our nation, our world, as impossible as that seems.

The first and most important things we can do to have a godly family is to open our hearts to God’s grace, invite God in, and allow God to change us. We won’t make a lot of progress on our own. We need God to help us.

Godly Families

Once we have God in the right place, we come to the place where we can get our human families in order as well. There is an old, old adage that a good marriage has three parties, a husband, a wife, and God.There are times when any family will come apart unless both parties are committed to something more important than their own self-interest. A reason divorce has become prevalent in our culture, even among Christians, is that we often do not remember that there is more at stake in a marriage than our own needs and satisfactions. We forget that God has an eternal purpose in our marriages and families. While God does want us to be happy and fulfilled, God has eternal reasons for the family as a place where children are loved, understood, and nurtured. The family is also a place where the elderly grow old in the care of their children and are respected for their experience and wisdom. This does not always work out; it never works out perfectly. Nevertheless, it is a goal we seek by God’s grace.

When we bring God into our family, it is important to really and truly make God a part of our family. A strength of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is our emphasis on family and on the role of mothers and fathers in the spiritual nurture of children. In a few weeks, we will have Vacation Bible School. All summer long we will have youth and children’s programs. Next fall, we will have EPIC (our midweek children’s program designed after what is called, “LOGOS”). We always have Sunday School. Our church is committed to helping parents in raising Christian children. Yet, the primary place our children learn Christian faith and discipleship is in the home.

A lot of mothers and fathers try to have family devotionals, try to say grace, try to have spiritual conversations with their children, and feel like failures. I urge us not to think this way. Often, we do not see immediate results in discipling children. Sometimes the results of our nurture are long years in revealing themselves. The example of Augustine’s mother, Monica, should always be with us in difficult times.

The Ultimate Family

I wish there were some way to say what I need to say now simply. This is the hardest part of this blog to understand, but it is important. In life there are things that are good in themselves, but they can become harmful when they become ultimate things. Love of country is a good thing—but as we saw in Nazi Germany and in Russian Communism, when love of country is not subject to love of God it can become something terrible. Love of family is the same way. From time to time we see inward-looking families who have no time for others, they are completely absorbed in themselves. Such families are rarely healthy. For a human family to find its place of greatest peace, it must find its true meaning and purpose as a part of the human family and God’s family. Families are part of God’s plan for the wise life, but the family is not God’s entire plan for human happiness.

Over the years, we have been on a few mission trips with our family and other families. Truthfully, I wish we had done more of these. I have really good memories of a few mission trips to Mexico and seeing Hilary, Trammell, Clara or Melanie on the roof of a house being built—and Kathy standing grinning or playing the guitar for a Bible School. On at least one occasion, a couple from Advent came with us and we stayed in the same motel in Mexico. It was a wonderful experience. Serving others, reaching out as a family to help others, getting out of our own selves long enough to see the needs of others is a wonderful and necessary thing.

A couple of weeks ago, the staff attended what is called the “Kainos Conference” in Memphis. It is a special conference that focuses on multi-racial ministry. “Kainos” means “fresh” or “new” in Greek. The idea is that God is doing a new, fresh thing in American churches, as our nation becomes increasingly multi-cultural. Several speakers encouraged us to make friends across cultural and racial barriers. They mentioned that people are uncomfortable with people who are different.

During the talk, one speaker quoted from Revelation a passage wherein we learn that, at the end of human history, we will all be together in heaven—people from every tribe, language group, and nation—all praising God together (Revelation 5:9-10). Then he said, “We are going to be together in heaven; we might as well be together on earth.” It is very true.

My mother is gone now. One promise I hold dear is that I will see Mom and Dad again in heaven. Our family is not over. Our family remains important to God, and he will restore it. In the end, I will meet people in my family, like my grandfather, I never even knew. Furthermore, in heaven, all the dysfunctions and problems of our family will be healed and we will be bound together in a perfect love we never achieved on earth. Finally, as important as my family will be to me in heaven, there will be another family there, the family of God, the Ultimate Family, of which my own family—and yours—is just a part.

Amen

[1] See, At. Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine tr. John K. Ryan (New York, NY: Image Books, 1960).

[2] Confessions of St. Augustine, Book 1, p. 43.

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved