Purpose: To motivate us to appreciate and live in the light of God’s love in a world of darkness.
Scripture: 1 John 2:7-17
This week we start a new series of lessons. This series follows the previous series perfectly. Last quarter we studied how in Jesus Christ we have a perfect image or portrait of God. Most of those lessons were taken from the writings of John in the Gospel of John and the First Letter of John. In this new series we will discover how the Church is called to be a portrait of Christ. These lessons will all be from the writings of John in 1 John and Revelation.
This week’s lesson is from 1 John and follows scripturally directly from our December 17 lesson. That lesson was from 1 John 1:1 – 2:6 and was titled Walking in the Light. The purpose of the December 17 lesson was: To show that the reality of the Incarnation enables us to walk in fellowship with God and one another. This week’s lesson follows thematically directly from last week’s lesson which was taken from John 15:1-17. the purpose of last week’s lesson was: To show that true life is life in Christ and that such life bears fruit worthy of Him.
From John 15:
Joh 15:4-7 ESV Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. (5) I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (7) If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
In the lesson last week I asked several times throughout the lesson these questions:
Jesus said: “Abide in me..”
How do we abide in Jesus?
How can we tell that we are abiding in Jesus?
Our answer was that we abide in Jesus by following His Word and that we can tell that we are abiding by the fruit we produce.
We should have gone back to the December 17 lesson. That lesson gives us a better answer to: How do we abide in Jesus?
1Jn 1:5-7 ESV This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (6) If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
These were the key verses from that lesson and they do contain picture of Jesus as the perfect image of God: In Him is no darkness at all. Do these verses also contain a portrait of believers? In what way do believers portray Christ?
Back to abiding:
1Jn 2:6 ESV ....whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
How do we abide in Christ?
So the new question for this week is:
How did Jesus walk?
How do we go about walking as He walked?
What are some adjectives that come to mind that describe how Jesus walked?
1Jn 2:7-8 ESV Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. (8) At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
Any idea what commandment John is writing about?
We would probably look back and think that he was referring to the statements in verse 6: to walk as Jesus walked. How can we further define walking, abiding, and this old/new commandment.
John is very likely also referring to words of Jesus as recorded in John’s Gospel:
Joh 13:34-35 ESV A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (35) By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
In what sense is that commandment both old and new?
It was old in the sense that it was already there in the Old Testament:
Lev 19:18 ESV ….. you shall love your neighbor as yourself….
The Jews were taught this from earliest childhood. Jesus also taught this as an old commandment:
Mat 22:36-40 ESV "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" (37) And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (38) This is the great and first commandment. (39) And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (40) On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
The command to love each other was also old in the sense that this was not the first time these Christian believers had heard it. John was probably nearly 100 years old when this epistle was written. He had witnessed almost the first century of Christianity. This commandment was taught by Jesus and had been taught by the Church from the very beginning. From the very first day of entry into the Christian life, believers had been taught that the law of love must be the law of their lives. This commandment went a long way back into the history of God’s interaction with man and a long way back in the lives of the Christians to whom John was writing.
So how was it new?
It was new because of the way Jesus made it new. It was new as to who was considered a neighbor and worthy of love. Jesus included even sinners, who under the law would have been hated instead of loved. Jesus included even Gentiles, who under the law were despised. Jesus widened the boundaries of love until there was no one outside it’s embrace.
It was new because of the lengths to which it would go. No lack of response, nothing that anyone could ever do to Him, could turn Jesus’ love to hate. He even prayed for God’s mercy on those who nailed Him to the cross.
1Jn 2:9-11 ESV Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. (10) Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. (11) But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
What did John mean by the words “light” and “darkness”?
If you dislike someone, does that mean you are not a Christian or cannot be a Christian?
Is there any room for hate in a Christian heart?
How are claiming to be a Christian and loving one’s neighbor related?
How do we regard our neighbors?
Do we regard them as negligible? Do we make all of our plans without taking our neighbors into consideration at all?
Do we regard them with contempt? Do we think that they are all fools when compared with our intellectual level, so their opinions should just be brushed aside?
Do we see them as a nuisance? They are here and we have to interact with them or even care for them when necessary. But do we sometimes begrudge that necessity?
Do we see them as enemies? As our competitors?
Or do we see them as brothers and sisters?
If we walk in the light we are in fellowship with God. True?
Who else will we be in fellowship with?
Love and light go together as do hatred and darkness.
Is Christian love just a feeling or something that we can agree to intellectually?
What is required for a feeling or thoughts of love to actually become love?
What love does God hate?
1Jn 2:15-17 ESV Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. (17) And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Verse 15 says not to love the world. What does that mean?
Is the "world" the earth itself?
Are we commanded to not love the earth and all the natural beauty created by God?
Is the world the people of the world?
We have already been told in this lesson that we are to love our neighbor. Is this a reversal? Are we now told that we are not to love the people of the world?
Joh 3:16 ESV "For God so loved the world (the people of the world), that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God loved the world, but we are not supposed to?
So what is John speaking of when he says: “Do not love the world”?
Can I love a beautiful sunset?
Can I love to see a small child grin?
Can I love the family pet?
What is this world that I am commanded not to love?
Eph 6:12 ESV For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
1Jn 5:19 ESV We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
The world in this sense does not mean the world in general, for God did indeed love the world and the people which he had made; it means the world which, in fact, had and has forsaken the God who made it.
What restrictions should we place on our affections?
What things in the world are you tempted to love?
What would you categorize as the “desire of the flesh”?
What would you categorize as the “desire of the eyes”?
What would you categorize as the “pride in riches”?
Why are the things of the world so enticing to us?
What worldly things or values do we substitute for God?
What are some ways that Christians disagree concerning the definition of worldliness?
Friday, March 09, 2007
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Book Study - The Cost of Discipleship - Intermission
We're giving up Bonhoeffer for Lent!
well, not really, but we are taking a break. Our Church is doing a church-wide study during Lent called Serving from the Heart: Finding Your Gifts and Talents for Service and our Book Study Group is taking part. So we'll be back on Bonhoeffer the week after Easter.
well, not really, but we are taking a break. Our Church is doing a church-wide study during Lent called Serving from the Heart: Finding Your Gifts and Talents for Service and our Book Study Group is taking part. So we'll be back on Bonhoeffer the week after Easter.
Sunday School Lesson: Secure Connections
Purpose: To show that true life is life in Christ and that such life bears fruit worthy of Him.
Scripture : John 15:1-17
Joh 15:1-4 ESV "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. (2) Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (3) Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. (4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Jesus commonly used ideas or examples which were part of the religious heritage of the Jewish people. This passage from John 15 is no exception. Over and over in the Old Testament Israel is pictured or described as the vine or the vineyard of God.
Isa 5:7 ESV For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting….
Jer 2:21 ESV Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed……
Eze 19:10 ESV Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard planted by the water, fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water.
Hos 10:1 ESV Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. …
Psa 80:8-9 ESV You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. (9) You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
The vine became the symbol for the nation of Israel. The emblem on the coins of Israel was the vine. One of the greatest distinctive features of the Temple was a great golden vine on the front of the Holy Place. It was considered a great honor to give enough gold to mould even a single grape on that vine. When Jesus used references to the vine He was not introducing something new. Any reference to the vine would have been immediately recognized by any Jew of the time as a reference to Israel and her special place in the vineyard of God.
How do you think Jesus’ statement: “I am the true vine” would be understood by His Jewish audience?
What exactly was Jesus saying with that statement?
If we look closer at the Old Testament references to the symbol of the vine, we see that in the Old Testament the symbols were always in reference to a declined, degenerate, and corrupt Israel.
Isaiah pictured a vineyard that had run wild:
Isa 5:10 ESV For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath….
Jeremiah complained:
Jer 2:21 ESV ….. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?
So what was Jesus’ message to Israel?
Jesus seemed to be saying: “You may think that just because you belong to the nation of Israel you are a branch of the true vine. But the nation is a degenerate vine, as reported by the prophets. It is I who am the true vine. The fact that you are Jews will not save you. The only thing that can save you is to have an intimate living fellowship with me, for I am the vine and you must be the branches joined to me.”
Who we are, which nation we are born into, which church we belong to , etc. will not save us. No external qualification can set us right with God. Only our relationship with Jesus Christ can do that.
Since the Jews had not produced righteousness, God sent the “true vine” to accomplish His work. Jesus replaces Judaism as the means by which people are connected to God. The only way to God is through Christ.
Jesus said: “Abide in me..”
How do we abide in Jesus?
How can we tell that we are abiding in Jesus?
What is the difference between “removing branches” and “pruning branches”?
Pruning is essential to grape production. Grapes are only produced on one-year old canes. Care must be taken to ensure that sufficient one-year canes are on the vine to produce a crop and also that some canes are growing to be the producing canes for next year. All two-year canes are removed as they are past their usefulness. What do you think happens to a one-year old cane that fails to produce?
They are completely removed so that they will drain away none of the plant’s strength which is needed by those that are producing fruit.
A vine cannot produce the crop of which it is capable without much severe pruning – and Jesus knew that.
And what happens to the pruned branches?
They are thrown into the fire. One curious characteristic of the vine is that the wood of the vine is good for nothing. It is too soft and not durable enough for any purpose.
Eze 15:2-5 ESV "Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? (3) Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? (4) Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? (5) Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything!
Who was Jesus thinking of when He spoke of “fruitless” branches?
He may have been thinking of two groups. He may have been thinking of the Jews. They were certainly branches of God’s vine. But did they accept Jesus? Did they “abide” in Jesus? If they did not then their branch would wither and die.
The second group He was thinking of was more general. He was thinking of “fruitless” Christians: Christians whose Christianity consisted of profession of faith without practice of faith, Christians of words without deed. Those are useless branches, all leaves and no fruit. He may also have been thinking of Christians who heard the message and accepted and later fell away.
What is Jesus pruning tool?
In what way has God removed dead and useless branches from your life?
Have you noticed God “pruning” in you life?
What have you learned from the experience?
Joh 15:5-8 ESV I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (7) If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (8) By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
How do we abide in Christ?
How do we know that we are “bearing fruit”?
Is “bearing fruit” limited to bringing others to Christ?
How well do you think we are doing at “abiding” in Christ?
What are some things that we could do to abide in Christ more than we do?
What are the benefits to abiding in Christ?
What are the costs of failing to abide in Christ?
Verse 4: “For apart from me you can do nothing.” What does that statement say to a very good person who is not a Christian?
Is there a such-thing as a “good” non-Christian?
Can a non-Christian bear good fruit?
What is the only way to live a truly good life?
Joh 15:9-11 ESV As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. (10) If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. (11) These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
What is the relationship between abiding in Christ and obedience?
How is joy and love related to abiding and obedience?
What is Jesus’ goal in this lesson?
Do you think most believers enjoy their relationship with God?
How can we come to find complete, continuous joy in God?
Is the joy spoken of in this passage the kind of joy that makes you smile, or is this a deep, deep joy that no one ever sees?
How do we abide in Jesus’ love?
Can we simply tell ourselves over and over that “Jesus loves me”? Is that abiding in His love?
Is it possible to have a warm, loving relationship with God if we don’t dutifully follow His commandments?
Does the warmth of relationship always go along with the duty of obedience?
Is it possible to be dutifully obedient without being connected in a warm, loving relationship?
How does joy fit into obedience? Can you have joy without obedience?
Do you normally think of joy and obedience as going together?
Is it important that we be joyful or just that we are obedient? Is it ok to be obedient but grumpy?
Joh 15:12-15 ESV "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (13) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (14) You are my friends if you do what I command you. (15) No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
Who did Jesus say were His friends?
Why does Jesus call His disciples friends?
Can you command love? Is love that is the result of a command true love?
What does it take to be a friend of God?
As followers of Christ shouldn’t we be called servants?
We are called to obedience, but not called servants. Why?
Do we sometimes struggle to love others as Jesus has loved us?
In what ways is it hard to be Jesus’ friend?
Joh 15:16-17 ESV You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (17) These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
Did the disciples choose to follow Christ of their own free will?
We like to think of our relationship with Jesus as something we decided to do. Is this true? Do we choose to follow Christ of our own free will?
Why did and does Jesus choose His disciples?
What is Jesus’ commandment?
Homework:
Imagine yourself as a branch on the vine of Christ. What do you look like?
Are you a healthy branch?
What do you need? More water, fertilizer, sun?
What do you need from Christ to nourish you so that you become an outstanding specimen and bear much fruit?
Scripture : John 15:1-17
Joh 15:1-4 ESV "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. (2) Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (3) Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. (4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Jesus commonly used ideas or examples which were part of the religious heritage of the Jewish people. This passage from John 15 is no exception. Over and over in the Old Testament Israel is pictured or described as the vine or the vineyard of God.
Isa 5:7 ESV For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting….
Jer 2:21 ESV Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed……
Eze 19:10 ESV Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard planted by the water, fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water.
Hos 10:1 ESV Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. …
Psa 80:8-9 ESV You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. (9) You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
The vine became the symbol for the nation of Israel. The emblem on the coins of Israel was the vine. One of the greatest distinctive features of the Temple was a great golden vine on the front of the Holy Place. It was considered a great honor to give enough gold to mould even a single grape on that vine. When Jesus used references to the vine He was not introducing something new. Any reference to the vine would have been immediately recognized by any Jew of the time as a reference to Israel and her special place in the vineyard of God.
How do you think Jesus’ statement: “I am the true vine” would be understood by His Jewish audience?
What exactly was Jesus saying with that statement?
If we look closer at the Old Testament references to the symbol of the vine, we see that in the Old Testament the symbols were always in reference to a declined, degenerate, and corrupt Israel.
Isaiah pictured a vineyard that had run wild:
Isa 5:10 ESV For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath….
Jeremiah complained:
Jer 2:21 ESV ….. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?
So what was Jesus’ message to Israel?
Jesus seemed to be saying: “You may think that just because you belong to the nation of Israel you are a branch of the true vine. But the nation is a degenerate vine, as reported by the prophets. It is I who am the true vine. The fact that you are Jews will not save you. The only thing that can save you is to have an intimate living fellowship with me, for I am the vine and you must be the branches joined to me.”
Who we are, which nation we are born into, which church we belong to , etc. will not save us. No external qualification can set us right with God. Only our relationship with Jesus Christ can do that.
Since the Jews had not produced righteousness, God sent the “true vine” to accomplish His work. Jesus replaces Judaism as the means by which people are connected to God. The only way to God is through Christ.
Jesus said: “Abide in me..”
How do we abide in Jesus?
How can we tell that we are abiding in Jesus?
What is the difference between “removing branches” and “pruning branches”?
Pruning is essential to grape production. Grapes are only produced on one-year old canes. Care must be taken to ensure that sufficient one-year canes are on the vine to produce a crop and also that some canes are growing to be the producing canes for next year. All two-year canes are removed as they are past their usefulness. What do you think happens to a one-year old cane that fails to produce?
They are completely removed so that they will drain away none of the plant’s strength which is needed by those that are producing fruit.
A vine cannot produce the crop of which it is capable without much severe pruning – and Jesus knew that.
And what happens to the pruned branches?
They are thrown into the fire. One curious characteristic of the vine is that the wood of the vine is good for nothing. It is too soft and not durable enough for any purpose.
Eze 15:2-5 ESV "Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? (3) Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? (4) Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? (5) Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything!
Who was Jesus thinking of when He spoke of “fruitless” branches?
He may have been thinking of two groups. He may have been thinking of the Jews. They were certainly branches of God’s vine. But did they accept Jesus? Did they “abide” in Jesus? If they did not then their branch would wither and die.
The second group He was thinking of was more general. He was thinking of “fruitless” Christians: Christians whose Christianity consisted of profession of faith without practice of faith, Christians of words without deed. Those are useless branches, all leaves and no fruit. He may also have been thinking of Christians who heard the message and accepted and later fell away.
What is Jesus pruning tool?
In what way has God removed dead and useless branches from your life?
Have you noticed God “pruning” in you life?
What have you learned from the experience?
Joh 15:5-8 ESV I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (7) If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (8) By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
How do we abide in Christ?
How do we know that we are “bearing fruit”?
Is “bearing fruit” limited to bringing others to Christ?
How well do you think we are doing at “abiding” in Christ?
What are some things that we could do to abide in Christ more than we do?
What are the benefits to abiding in Christ?
What are the costs of failing to abide in Christ?
Verse 4: “For apart from me you can do nothing.” What does that statement say to a very good person who is not a Christian?
Is there a such-thing as a “good” non-Christian?
Can a non-Christian bear good fruit?
What is the only way to live a truly good life?
Joh 15:9-11 ESV As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. (10) If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. (11) These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
What is the relationship between abiding in Christ and obedience?
How is joy and love related to abiding and obedience?
What is Jesus’ goal in this lesson?
Do you think most believers enjoy their relationship with God?
How can we come to find complete, continuous joy in God?
Is the joy spoken of in this passage the kind of joy that makes you smile, or is this a deep, deep joy that no one ever sees?
How do we abide in Jesus’ love?
Can we simply tell ourselves over and over that “Jesus loves me”? Is that abiding in His love?
Is it possible to have a warm, loving relationship with God if we don’t dutifully follow His commandments?
Does the warmth of relationship always go along with the duty of obedience?
Is it possible to be dutifully obedient without being connected in a warm, loving relationship?
How does joy fit into obedience? Can you have joy without obedience?
Do you normally think of joy and obedience as going together?
Is it important that we be joyful or just that we are obedient? Is it ok to be obedient but grumpy?
Joh 15:12-15 ESV "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (13) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (14) You are my friends if you do what I command you. (15) No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
Who did Jesus say were His friends?
Why does Jesus call His disciples friends?
Can you command love? Is love that is the result of a command true love?
What does it take to be a friend of God?
As followers of Christ shouldn’t we be called servants?
We are called to obedience, but not called servants. Why?
Do we sometimes struggle to love others as Jesus has loved us?
In what ways is it hard to be Jesus’ friend?
Joh 15:16-17 ESV You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (17) These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
Did the disciples choose to follow Christ of their own free will?
We like to think of our relationship with Jesus as something we decided to do. Is this true? Do we choose to follow Christ of our own free will?
Why did and does Jesus choose His disciples?
What is Jesus’ commandment?
Homework:
Imagine yourself as a branch on the vine of Christ. What do you look like?
Are you a healthy branch?
What do you need? More water, fertilizer, sun?
What do you need from Christ to nourish you so that you become an outstanding specimen and bear much fruit?
Book Study – The Cost of Discipleship, Week 6 – Chapters 14-16
Chapter 14 – The Hidden Righteousness
Mat 6:1-4 ESV "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. (2) "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (3) But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, (4) so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
We have already studied Matthew 5: 13-16 which tells us that our life of righteousness must be seen. The Body of Christ is to be visible in the world and known by it’s righteousness. Salt and light. Here we are told that our righteousness is to remain hidden. Which is it supposed to be? Visible or invisible?
The passage from Matthew 5 left no doubt that our discipleship must be visible to the world. If it is not seen, it probably doesn’t exist. Being a witness to the world is the purpose of discipleship. So, from whom are we to hide our discipleship?
Not from others, but from ourselves. When we begin to notice our own righteousness, we have taken our eyes off of the One who is truly righteous.
How can the visible and invisible aspects of discipleship be combined?
How can, at the same time, discipleship be both visible and invisible?
Bonhoeffer:
“To answer this question, all we need to do is to go back to chapter 5, where the extraordinary and the visible are defined as the cross of Christ beneath which the disciples stand. The cross is at once the necessary, the hidden and the visible – it is the ‘extraordinary’.”
If our “visibility” ever takes the eyes of the world away from the cross, we have crossed the line. If our discipleship ever is seen as “our” righteousness then it is no longer the righteousness of the Cross.
How is the seeming contradiction between Matthew 5 and 6 resolved?
Notice that in the Table of Contents the chapters dealing with Matthew 5 and those dealing with Matthew 6 are separated. Matthew 5 is subtitled Of the “Extraordinariness” of the Christian Life and Matthew 6 is subtitled Of the Hidden Character of the Christian Life.
Bonhoeffer:
“All that the follower of Jesus has to do is to make sure that his obedience, following, and love are entirely spontaneous and unpremeditated.”
Easy for him to say. How can we, if we are “making sure” of anything do so spontaneously and unpremeditated? If we are thinking about it enough to “make sure” it is spontaneous, we have in so doing lost it’s spontaneity.
Chapter 15 – The Hiddenness of Prayer
Mat 6:5-8 ESV "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (6) But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (7) "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. (8) Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Jesus had to teach his disciples to pray. Is prayer a natural thing for man?
Bonhoeffer:
“Prayer is the supreme instance of the hidden character of the Christian life. It is the antithesis of self-display. When men pray, they have ceased to know themselves, and know only God whom they call upon. Prayer does not aim at any direct effect on the world; it is addressed to God alone, and is therefore the perfect example of undemonstrative action.”
Do you agree with the statement that “prayer does not aim at any direct effect on the world”. Isn’t that why we pray? To plead with God to “effect” the world?
John Wesley:
“God does nothing but in answer to prayer. Even people who have been converted to God without praying for it themselves (which is extremely rare) were prayed for by others. Every new victory that a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer.”
Who do you agree with, Bonhoeffer or Wesley? Does prayer “not aim at any direct effect on the world” or is every direct effect on the world the result of prayer?
Chapter 16 – The Hiddenness of the Devout Life
Mat 6:16-18 ESV "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (17) But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, (18) that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
How many of you have ever fasted?
Is it wrong to admit that I have fasted, or should my fast remain secret?
I’m sure next week folks will be asking, “What are you giving up for Lent?”
Should we just keep our Lenten fast between us and God?
Jesus doesn’t tell the disciples to fast. He takes it for granted that they will.
Bonhoeffer:
“strict exercise of self control is an essential feature of the Christian’s life.”
What does this passage say to those who desire a monastic lifestyle? Those who intentionally and very visibly seek suffering as a show of piety?
Bonhoeffer:
“This is a pious but godless ambition, for beneath it lurks the notion that it is possible for us to step into Christ’s shoes and suffer as he did and kill the old Adam. We are then presuming to undertake that bitter work of eternal redemption which Christ himself wrought for us. The motive for asceticism was more limited – to equip us for better service and deeper humility.”
If I do certain things with the intention of showing my humility, haven’t I totally defeated their intended purpose?
Mat 6:1-4 ESV "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. (2) "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (3) But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, (4) so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
We have already studied Matthew 5: 13-16 which tells us that our life of righteousness must be seen. The Body of Christ is to be visible in the world and known by it’s righteousness. Salt and light. Here we are told that our righteousness is to remain hidden. Which is it supposed to be? Visible or invisible?
The passage from Matthew 5 left no doubt that our discipleship must be visible to the world. If it is not seen, it probably doesn’t exist. Being a witness to the world is the purpose of discipleship. So, from whom are we to hide our discipleship?
Not from others, but from ourselves. When we begin to notice our own righteousness, we have taken our eyes off of the One who is truly righteous.
How can the visible and invisible aspects of discipleship be combined?
How can, at the same time, discipleship be both visible and invisible?
Bonhoeffer:
“To answer this question, all we need to do is to go back to chapter 5, where the extraordinary and the visible are defined as the cross of Christ beneath which the disciples stand. The cross is at once the necessary, the hidden and the visible – it is the ‘extraordinary’.”
If our “visibility” ever takes the eyes of the world away from the cross, we have crossed the line. If our discipleship ever is seen as “our” righteousness then it is no longer the righteousness of the Cross.
How is the seeming contradiction between Matthew 5 and 6 resolved?
Notice that in the Table of Contents the chapters dealing with Matthew 5 and those dealing with Matthew 6 are separated. Matthew 5 is subtitled Of the “Extraordinariness” of the Christian Life and Matthew 6 is subtitled Of the Hidden Character of the Christian Life.
Bonhoeffer:
“All that the follower of Jesus has to do is to make sure that his obedience, following, and love are entirely spontaneous and unpremeditated.”
Easy for him to say. How can we, if we are “making sure” of anything do so spontaneously and unpremeditated? If we are thinking about it enough to “make sure” it is spontaneous, we have in so doing lost it’s spontaneity.
Chapter 15 – The Hiddenness of Prayer
Mat 6:5-8 ESV "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (6) But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (7) "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. (8) Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Jesus had to teach his disciples to pray. Is prayer a natural thing for man?
Bonhoeffer:
“Prayer is the supreme instance of the hidden character of the Christian life. It is the antithesis of self-display. When men pray, they have ceased to know themselves, and know only God whom they call upon. Prayer does not aim at any direct effect on the world; it is addressed to God alone, and is therefore the perfect example of undemonstrative action.”
Do you agree with the statement that “prayer does not aim at any direct effect on the world”. Isn’t that why we pray? To plead with God to “effect” the world?
John Wesley:
“God does nothing but in answer to prayer. Even people who have been converted to God without praying for it themselves (which is extremely rare) were prayed for by others. Every new victory that a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer.”
Who do you agree with, Bonhoeffer or Wesley? Does prayer “not aim at any direct effect on the world” or is every direct effect on the world the result of prayer?
Chapter 16 – The Hiddenness of the Devout Life
Mat 6:16-18 ESV "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (17) But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, (18) that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
How many of you have ever fasted?
Is it wrong to admit that I have fasted, or should my fast remain secret?
I’m sure next week folks will be asking, “What are you giving up for Lent?”
Should we just keep our Lenten fast between us and God?
Jesus doesn’t tell the disciples to fast. He takes it for granted that they will.
Bonhoeffer:
“strict exercise of self control is an essential feature of the Christian’s life.”
What does this passage say to those who desire a monastic lifestyle? Those who intentionally and very visibly seek suffering as a show of piety?
Bonhoeffer:
“This is a pious but godless ambition, for beneath it lurks the notion that it is possible for us to step into Christ’s shoes and suffer as he did and kill the old Adam. We are then presuming to undertake that bitter work of eternal redemption which Christ himself wrought for us. The motive for asceticism was more limited – to equip us for better service and deeper humility.”
If I do certain things with the intention of showing my humility, haven’t I totally defeated their intended purpose?
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Sunday School Lesson: Life After Death
Purpose: To explore how Christ is Lord over life and death and what this means for our present and future life.
Scripture: John 11:1-44
Joh 11:1-44 ESV Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (2) It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. (3) So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." (4) But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." (5) Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. (6) So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (7) Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." (8) The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" (9) Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. (10) But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." (11) After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." (12) The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." (13) Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. (14) Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, (15) and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." (16) So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." (17) Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. (18) Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, (19) and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. (20) So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. (21) Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. (22) But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." (23) Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." (24) Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
(25) Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (27) She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." (28) When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." (29) And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. (30) Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. (31) When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. (32) Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (33) When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. (34) And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." (35) Jesus wept. (36) So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" (37) But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?" (38) Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
(39) Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." (40) Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" (41) So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. (42) I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." (43) When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." (44) The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
Do you believe in life after death?
What do you believe about life after death?
What were you taught as a child?
Have you beliefs changed over the years?
What do you believe is the nature of life after death?
What is heaven really like?
Hell?
Questions of life after death at some point in our life haunt all of us. We have all had friends or family who have become ill and we have all probably prayed that God would somehow intervene. We have all probably felt like responding the way Martha and Mary did in this passage:
“Lord, you could have done something about this. You still could…..if you would.”
Why did Jesus wait for Lazarus to die before coming to Bethany?
The raising of Lazarus was not Jesus’ last miracle, but it is the last one recorded by John. This particular miracle was probably chosen by John as the culmination of Jesus’ miracles for the simple fact that this is Jesus’ greatest miracle prior to the Cross. This particular miracle aroused the most response both from Jesus’ friends and his enemies. This miracle was the one, according to John, that pushed Jesus’ enemies from threats on His life to actual plots to take His life. This miracle also caused such a commotion among the people that when Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem a couple of weeks later He was met by crowds waving palm branches and singing “Hosanna!’
Let’s look at this miraculous raising of Lazarus and see what all the commotion was about…
The city of Bethany was located only a couple of miles from Jerusalem. This town was the location of the Mount of Olives. Bethany was not only the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, but also Simon the Leper who is mentioned in both Mark and Matthew. The modern city at this location is called El-Aziriyah, “the place of Lazarus” in Arabic. A church has existed from at least the sixth century on the supposed site of Lazarus tomb here and still offers tours of the tomb.
Was this the first time that Jesus had brought someone dead back to life?
He had brought back the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11-17) and the daughter of Jairus (Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43. Luke 8:40-55).
What was different about this miracle?
One difference is that in both of those miracles, the raising took place immediately following the death. It could be said that those two were more reviving or resuscitating than resurrecting. Those two could have still been alive with just the appearance of death and Jesus may have revived them from a comatose state. Burial in those days in Palestine followed very soon after death because the climate caused rapid decomposition. Archeologists have found evidence that frequently people in those times and in that place were buried alive because of that necessary haste in burial. It could well be that in those two cases, Jesus made a diagnosis that actually saved two young people from a dreadful death of being buried alive.
How was Lazarus’ raising different?
There is no parallel anywhere in Scripture for the raising of a man who had been dead for four days and whose body had already begun to putrefy.
Why did Jesus wait for Lazarus to die?
That was actually a trick question. If we look at the timeline, we see that Jesus did not wait for Lazarus to die. Lazarus was already dead when the messenger reached Jesus. Jesus was across the Jordan, at least a days walk from Bethany. Day 1 – the messenger was sent to Jesus. Day 2 – the messenger returns with the message in verse 4. Day 3 – Jesus and the disciples wait one more day. Day 4 – Jesus arrives in Bethany. So if Lazarus had been dead for four days, he had died on the very day the messenger left and was already dead when the messenger reached Jesus. Jesus knew this when he sent the return message to the sisters.
So why did Jesus wait at all? Why didn’t He return immediately to comfort the sisters?
He stated His reason for delay four times:
Joh 11:15 ESV …. so that you may believe…
Joh 11:25-26 ESV Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
Joh 11:40 ESV …, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"
Joh 11:42 ESV I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me."
His delay was for the sole purpose of enlightening the witnesses.
Let’s picture the scene:
A usual Palestinian tomb was either a natural cave or was hewn out of rock. There would be shelves cut in the rock and on those shelves the bodies would be placed. There were usually eight shelves in a tomb. The bodies were wrapped in grave clothes, which were wrapped round and round the body and impregnated with spices which would embalm the body. These tombs had no door, but had a great circular stone which rolled in a groove across the entrance to seal the opening.
There is a reason for four days delay. It was a Jewish belief that the deceased person’s spirit hovered around a tomb for four days, hoping for an opportunity to re-enter the body. After four days, it was believed, the spirit permanently departed, never to return, for after four days of decomposition in the Palestinian climate, the face and the body were so badly decayed that it could no longer be recognized, even by the spirit of the person who had inhabited that body. After four days there was no way anyone could be convinced that Lazarus was still alive.
Have you ever felt like Martha must have felt? Have you ever felt like questioning God, yet having faith that God is good and whatever God does is right, that we really have no right to question God, regardless the circumstances we find ourselves in?
One of the most human, heart felt speeches in the Bible has to be when Martha said to Jesus:
Joh 11:21 ESV …… "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Do you think that she would have really liked to say: “Why didn’t you come immediately when you got our message?”
“Now it’s too late! Four days! Surely Lazarus’ spirit has left him!”
Yet no sooner had she spoken her near reproach, than there follows words of great faith:
Joh 11:22 ESV But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."
These words show a faith that defied the facts of Lazarus’ death. And Jesus told her:
Joh 11:23 ESV ….. "Your brother will rise again."
There was a debate among the Jewish people at the time concerning life after death. In Old Testament times and in the writing of the Old Testament there is no indication of any real life after death. The Hebrews of the Old Testament believed that every soul, good and bad alike, went to Sheol. Sheol is not Hell, although sometimes it is mistranslated to mean hell. Sheol was not a place of torture and suffering. It was just the place of the dead, the land of shades. Every deceased soul went there and they all lived a shadowy, ghostly existence. After death, according to ancient Hebrew belief, came the land of silence, where human souls were separated from each other and from God.
Yet during the time between the Testaments a new belief in bodily physical resurrection was developed by the Jews. The major disagreement between the Pharisees and the Sadducees was on the issue of resurrection. The Pharisaic belief was in a general physical resurrection of all the dead during the end times. The martyrs of the Maccabeean revolt expected to get back from God even the parts of their bodies which were lost in battle. The Pharisaic belief eventually developed into the hope of a physical resurrection in exactly the form in which a man died, after which will come the judgment. This belief carried so far as to believe that a man would rise wearing exactly the same clothes in which he had been laid in his tomb. There were cases of dying Rabbis who gave minute and detailed instructions regarding the clothes in which they were to be buried.
The numerous statements that Jesus made throughout the Gospels concerning resurrection show that the Jewish beliefs of the time may be at least partially correct.
So Martha’s next statement to Jesus fit perfectly into the contemporary Jewish belief regarding resurrection:
Joh 11:24 ESV Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
How do the Jewish beliefs concerning resurrection compare to Christian beliefs?
What are our Christian beliefs concerning resurrection?
Will our resurrection be spiritual or physical?
When will our resurrection occur?
Where will we live after the resurrection?
What will be our state in the time between death and resurrection?
Joh 11:25-26 ESV Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
What did Jesus mean by that statement?
If I believe in Jesus, I will never suffer a physical death?
Jesus must not have been speaking strictly in a physical sense. It is just not true that those who believe in Him will never die. Christians experience a physical death just like everybody else. So what exactly did Jesus mean?
There is obviously more than a strictly physical meaning in this statement of Jesus. Can you think of any way that Christians are alive that is not true of non-Christians?
One possible meaning of this statement is that Jesus was thinking of the death of sin. We are all, prior to coming to Christ, dead in sin. Our sins create in us a hardness of heart that is equal to spiritual death. Sinners may become so selfish that they are dead to the needs of others. They may become so insensitive that they are dead to the feelings of others. They may become so involved in a sinful lifestyle that they are dead to honesty and integrity. Their lives may become so hopeless that the best way to describe it is spiritual death. No matter the situation, faith in Jesus can bring about a resurrection. There have been millions of just such resurrections.
There is also the resurrection to come. The life to come. As I said earlier, Jesus mentioned the end-time resurrection many times in the Gospels. This was just a theological theory to the Jews who believed in resurrection. To Jesus it seemed to be common knowledge. Jesus brought into the world the certainty that our physical death is not the end. We all die. But in the most real sense, we are not on our way to death, but on our way to life.
How does this happen?
It happens through the One who is “the resurrection and the life”. Jesus’ own resurrection is the cornerstone of all redemption.
So what kind of bodies will we have in our resurrection?
Where will we live?
Was the raising of Lazarus the same as the resurrection we are promised as Christians?
What is the difference between resurrection and resuscitation?
This event with Lazarus is more accurately described as a resuscitation. The same could be said of the widow’s son and Jairus’ daughter. Resuscitation is the act of restoring on who was dead, or very near death, back to life. This life is the same life that one previously had. EMT’s and doctors perform resuscitations every day.
Unlike resuscitation, resurrection is being given, and receiving, a totally new life. Resurrection is not being restored to the old life that one previously had. Resurrection is being “born again.” A resurrected sinner does not return to the previous sinful life. Physical resurrection means beginning a new life, perhaps in an entirely new form.
The only example we have (so far) of a physical resurrection is Jesus Himself. Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18), the two apostles on the road to Emmaus (Luke 21:13-35), even Peter and the others fishing on the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-14) did not immediately recognize the resurrected Jesus. Thomas didn’t recognize Jesus until placing his hand on Jesus’ wounds (John 20:25-28). But when each and every one of them finally recognized Him there was no doubt that He was the Savior.
Thomas:
Joh 20:28 ESV Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus was not resuscitated to the life he had prior to the crucifixion. He was resurrected to a new and different life.
Those resuscitated, like Lazarus, the widow’s son, and Jairus’ daughter, will yet again die a physical death. Once resurrected, we will, like Jesus, never die again. The resurrected will be given a new life, a life everlasting.
The physical resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of redemption, both for mankind and for the earth itself. Without Christ’s resurrection and what it means – an eternal future for fully restored human beings dwelling on a fully restored Earth – there is no Christianity.
1Co 15:17-22 ESV And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (18) Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. (19) If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (20) But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (21) For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Jesus spoke too many times of a physical resurrection for His only meaning to be spiritual. There is absolutely a spiritual resurrection for all believers. There will also absolutely be a physical resurrection for all believers. We will have bodies; whether the same bodies we now inhabit remains to be seen, but we will have bodies. Without bodies, we wouldn’t be resurrected. Our body is as much a part of us as our spirit. The essence of humanity is not just spirit. Humans are only human when their spirit is joined with their body. Our bodies are not just a house for our spirit.
Where will we live in our resurrection bodies?
2Pe 3:13 ESV But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Rev 21:1-3 ESV Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (2) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
We will live on the New Earth. The New Earth will still be Earth, just like our resurrection bodies will still be our bodies. But just like our new bodies, the New Earth will also be changed.
Are Christian’s immortal or just promised resurrection? And what is the difference?
Resurrection is not immortality. Immortality would mean that our spirits could exist without bodies and that when we die a physical death we don’t really die. This belief would mean that when our bodies die, our spirits are set free but still live.
The Christian faith rejects completely the notion of immortality. When we die, we die. Every part of us. Body, spirit, soul. We truly, entirely cease to be. But through the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, we will not be left for eternity in an earthly grave. In the end, not even the death of all of the component parts of human life can separate us from the love of God.
Rom 8:38-39 ESV For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Christian faith is confident that when we are resurrected all of our parts will be resurrected, not just our spirit and soul, but also our bodies. Our bodies may not be exactly the same, but our bodies they will be. In the Apostles’ Creed we do not confess to mere belief in resurrection. Instead, we boldly confess to believe in the “resurrection of the body”.
What does “the resurrection and the life” mean to us today?
It means everything. It matters more than anything else that Jesus is the resurrection and the life for everyone who is dead in sin and dead to God today. Jesus resuscitated Lazarus those many years ago because he loved him. Jesus is the “resurrection and the life” today just as he was then. And Jesus loves us with the same love that He had for Lazarus. And that is all that really matters.
Scripture: John 11:1-44
Joh 11:1-44 ESV Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (2) It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. (3) So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." (4) But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." (5) Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. (6) So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (7) Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." (8) The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" (9) Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. (10) But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." (11) After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." (12) The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." (13) Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. (14) Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, (15) and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." (16) So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." (17) Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. (18) Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, (19) and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. (20) So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. (21) Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. (22) But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." (23) Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." (24) Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
(25) Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (27) She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." (28) When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." (29) And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. (30) Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. (31) When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. (32) Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (33) When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. (34) And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." (35) Jesus wept. (36) So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" (37) But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?" (38) Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
(39) Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." (40) Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" (41) So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. (42) I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." (43) When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." (44) The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
Do you believe in life after death?
What do you believe about life after death?
What were you taught as a child?
Have you beliefs changed over the years?
What do you believe is the nature of life after death?
What is heaven really like?
Hell?
Questions of life after death at some point in our life haunt all of us. We have all had friends or family who have become ill and we have all probably prayed that God would somehow intervene. We have all probably felt like responding the way Martha and Mary did in this passage:
“Lord, you could have done something about this. You still could…..if you would.”
Why did Jesus wait for Lazarus to die before coming to Bethany?
The raising of Lazarus was not Jesus’ last miracle, but it is the last one recorded by John. This particular miracle was probably chosen by John as the culmination of Jesus’ miracles for the simple fact that this is Jesus’ greatest miracle prior to the Cross. This particular miracle aroused the most response both from Jesus’ friends and his enemies. This miracle was the one, according to John, that pushed Jesus’ enemies from threats on His life to actual plots to take His life. This miracle also caused such a commotion among the people that when Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem a couple of weeks later He was met by crowds waving palm branches and singing “Hosanna!’
Let’s look at this miraculous raising of Lazarus and see what all the commotion was about…
The city of Bethany was located only a couple of miles from Jerusalem. This town was the location of the Mount of Olives. Bethany was not only the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, but also Simon the Leper who is mentioned in both Mark and Matthew. The modern city at this location is called El-Aziriyah, “the place of Lazarus” in Arabic. A church has existed from at least the sixth century on the supposed site of Lazarus tomb here and still offers tours of the tomb.
Was this the first time that Jesus had brought someone dead back to life?
He had brought back the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11-17) and the daughter of Jairus (Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43. Luke 8:40-55).
What was different about this miracle?
One difference is that in both of those miracles, the raising took place immediately following the death. It could be said that those two were more reviving or resuscitating than resurrecting. Those two could have still been alive with just the appearance of death and Jesus may have revived them from a comatose state. Burial in those days in Palestine followed very soon after death because the climate caused rapid decomposition. Archeologists have found evidence that frequently people in those times and in that place were buried alive because of that necessary haste in burial. It could well be that in those two cases, Jesus made a diagnosis that actually saved two young people from a dreadful death of being buried alive.
How was Lazarus’ raising different?
There is no parallel anywhere in Scripture for the raising of a man who had been dead for four days and whose body had already begun to putrefy.
Why did Jesus wait for Lazarus to die?
That was actually a trick question. If we look at the timeline, we see that Jesus did not wait for Lazarus to die. Lazarus was already dead when the messenger reached Jesus. Jesus was across the Jordan, at least a days walk from Bethany. Day 1 – the messenger was sent to Jesus. Day 2 – the messenger returns with the message in verse 4. Day 3 – Jesus and the disciples wait one more day. Day 4 – Jesus arrives in Bethany. So if Lazarus had been dead for four days, he had died on the very day the messenger left and was already dead when the messenger reached Jesus. Jesus knew this when he sent the return message to the sisters.
So why did Jesus wait at all? Why didn’t He return immediately to comfort the sisters?
He stated His reason for delay four times:
Joh 11:15 ESV …. so that you may believe…
Joh 11:25-26 ESV Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
Joh 11:40 ESV …, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"
Joh 11:42 ESV I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me."
His delay was for the sole purpose of enlightening the witnesses.
Let’s picture the scene:
A usual Palestinian tomb was either a natural cave or was hewn out of rock. There would be shelves cut in the rock and on those shelves the bodies would be placed. There were usually eight shelves in a tomb. The bodies were wrapped in grave clothes, which were wrapped round and round the body and impregnated with spices which would embalm the body. These tombs had no door, but had a great circular stone which rolled in a groove across the entrance to seal the opening.
There is a reason for four days delay. It was a Jewish belief that the deceased person’s spirit hovered around a tomb for four days, hoping for an opportunity to re-enter the body. After four days, it was believed, the spirit permanently departed, never to return, for after four days of decomposition in the Palestinian climate, the face and the body were so badly decayed that it could no longer be recognized, even by the spirit of the person who had inhabited that body. After four days there was no way anyone could be convinced that Lazarus was still alive.
Have you ever felt like Martha must have felt? Have you ever felt like questioning God, yet having faith that God is good and whatever God does is right, that we really have no right to question God, regardless the circumstances we find ourselves in?
One of the most human, heart felt speeches in the Bible has to be when Martha said to Jesus:
Joh 11:21 ESV …… "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Do you think that she would have really liked to say: “Why didn’t you come immediately when you got our message?”
“Now it’s too late! Four days! Surely Lazarus’ spirit has left him!”
Yet no sooner had she spoken her near reproach, than there follows words of great faith:
Joh 11:22 ESV But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."
These words show a faith that defied the facts of Lazarus’ death. And Jesus told her:
Joh 11:23 ESV ….. "Your brother will rise again."
There was a debate among the Jewish people at the time concerning life after death. In Old Testament times and in the writing of the Old Testament there is no indication of any real life after death. The Hebrews of the Old Testament believed that every soul, good and bad alike, went to Sheol. Sheol is not Hell, although sometimes it is mistranslated to mean hell. Sheol was not a place of torture and suffering. It was just the place of the dead, the land of shades. Every deceased soul went there and they all lived a shadowy, ghostly existence. After death, according to ancient Hebrew belief, came the land of silence, where human souls were separated from each other and from God.
Yet during the time between the Testaments a new belief in bodily physical resurrection was developed by the Jews. The major disagreement between the Pharisees and the Sadducees was on the issue of resurrection. The Pharisaic belief was in a general physical resurrection of all the dead during the end times. The martyrs of the Maccabeean revolt expected to get back from God even the parts of their bodies which were lost in battle. The Pharisaic belief eventually developed into the hope of a physical resurrection in exactly the form in which a man died, after which will come the judgment. This belief carried so far as to believe that a man would rise wearing exactly the same clothes in which he had been laid in his tomb. There were cases of dying Rabbis who gave minute and detailed instructions regarding the clothes in which they were to be buried.
The numerous statements that Jesus made throughout the Gospels concerning resurrection show that the Jewish beliefs of the time may be at least partially correct.
So Martha’s next statement to Jesus fit perfectly into the contemporary Jewish belief regarding resurrection:
Joh 11:24 ESV Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
How do the Jewish beliefs concerning resurrection compare to Christian beliefs?
What are our Christian beliefs concerning resurrection?
Will our resurrection be spiritual or physical?
When will our resurrection occur?
Where will we live after the resurrection?
What will be our state in the time between death and resurrection?
Joh 11:25-26 ESV Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
What did Jesus mean by that statement?
If I believe in Jesus, I will never suffer a physical death?
Jesus must not have been speaking strictly in a physical sense. It is just not true that those who believe in Him will never die. Christians experience a physical death just like everybody else. So what exactly did Jesus mean?
There is obviously more than a strictly physical meaning in this statement of Jesus. Can you think of any way that Christians are alive that is not true of non-Christians?
One possible meaning of this statement is that Jesus was thinking of the death of sin. We are all, prior to coming to Christ, dead in sin. Our sins create in us a hardness of heart that is equal to spiritual death. Sinners may become so selfish that they are dead to the needs of others. They may become so insensitive that they are dead to the feelings of others. They may become so involved in a sinful lifestyle that they are dead to honesty and integrity. Their lives may become so hopeless that the best way to describe it is spiritual death. No matter the situation, faith in Jesus can bring about a resurrection. There have been millions of just such resurrections.
There is also the resurrection to come. The life to come. As I said earlier, Jesus mentioned the end-time resurrection many times in the Gospels. This was just a theological theory to the Jews who believed in resurrection. To Jesus it seemed to be common knowledge. Jesus brought into the world the certainty that our physical death is not the end. We all die. But in the most real sense, we are not on our way to death, but on our way to life.
How does this happen?
It happens through the One who is “the resurrection and the life”. Jesus’ own resurrection is the cornerstone of all redemption.
So what kind of bodies will we have in our resurrection?
Where will we live?
Was the raising of Lazarus the same as the resurrection we are promised as Christians?
What is the difference between resurrection and resuscitation?
This event with Lazarus is more accurately described as a resuscitation. The same could be said of the widow’s son and Jairus’ daughter. Resuscitation is the act of restoring on who was dead, or very near death, back to life. This life is the same life that one previously had. EMT’s and doctors perform resuscitations every day.
Unlike resuscitation, resurrection is being given, and receiving, a totally new life. Resurrection is not being restored to the old life that one previously had. Resurrection is being “born again.” A resurrected sinner does not return to the previous sinful life. Physical resurrection means beginning a new life, perhaps in an entirely new form.
The only example we have (so far) of a physical resurrection is Jesus Himself. Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18), the two apostles on the road to Emmaus (Luke 21:13-35), even Peter and the others fishing on the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-14) did not immediately recognize the resurrected Jesus. Thomas didn’t recognize Jesus until placing his hand on Jesus’ wounds (John 20:25-28). But when each and every one of them finally recognized Him there was no doubt that He was the Savior.
Thomas:
Joh 20:28 ESV Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus was not resuscitated to the life he had prior to the crucifixion. He was resurrected to a new and different life.
Those resuscitated, like Lazarus, the widow’s son, and Jairus’ daughter, will yet again die a physical death. Once resurrected, we will, like Jesus, never die again. The resurrected will be given a new life, a life everlasting.
The physical resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of redemption, both for mankind and for the earth itself. Without Christ’s resurrection and what it means – an eternal future for fully restored human beings dwelling on a fully restored Earth – there is no Christianity.
1Co 15:17-22 ESV And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (18) Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. (19) If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (20) But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (21) For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Jesus spoke too many times of a physical resurrection for His only meaning to be spiritual. There is absolutely a spiritual resurrection for all believers. There will also absolutely be a physical resurrection for all believers. We will have bodies; whether the same bodies we now inhabit remains to be seen, but we will have bodies. Without bodies, we wouldn’t be resurrected. Our body is as much a part of us as our spirit. The essence of humanity is not just spirit. Humans are only human when their spirit is joined with their body. Our bodies are not just a house for our spirit.
Where will we live in our resurrection bodies?
2Pe 3:13 ESV But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Rev 21:1-3 ESV Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (2) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
We will live on the New Earth. The New Earth will still be Earth, just like our resurrection bodies will still be our bodies. But just like our new bodies, the New Earth will also be changed.
Are Christian’s immortal or just promised resurrection? And what is the difference?
Resurrection is not immortality. Immortality would mean that our spirits could exist without bodies and that when we die a physical death we don’t really die. This belief would mean that when our bodies die, our spirits are set free but still live.
The Christian faith rejects completely the notion of immortality. When we die, we die. Every part of us. Body, spirit, soul. We truly, entirely cease to be. But through the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, we will not be left for eternity in an earthly grave. In the end, not even the death of all of the component parts of human life can separate us from the love of God.
Rom 8:38-39 ESV For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Christian faith is confident that when we are resurrected all of our parts will be resurrected, not just our spirit and soul, but also our bodies. Our bodies may not be exactly the same, but our bodies they will be. In the Apostles’ Creed we do not confess to mere belief in resurrection. Instead, we boldly confess to believe in the “resurrection of the body”.
What does “the resurrection and the life” mean to us today?
It means everything. It matters more than anything else that Jesus is the resurrection and the life for everyone who is dead in sin and dead to God today. Jesus resuscitated Lazarus those many years ago because he loved him. Jesus is the “resurrection and the life” today just as he was then. And Jesus loves us with the same love that He had for Lazarus. And that is all that really matters.
Book Study – The Cost of Discipleship – Week 5 – Chapters 10-13
Chapters 9 – 13 contain Bonhoeffer’s discussion of the section from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:21-48. According to William Barclay, “This section of the teaching of Jesus is one of the most important in the whole New Testament.”
In this passage Jesus put before Christian disciples a startling standard of behavior.
Barclay:
“Jesus said that in God’s sight it was not only the person who committed murder who was guilty; the person who was angry with another person was also guilty and liable to judgment. It was not only the person who committed adultery who was guilty; anyone who seriously entertained unclean desire was also guilty.”
“It may be that we have never struck another person, but can we say that we never wished to strike someone? It may be that we have never committed adultery, but can we say that we have never experienced the desire for the forbidden thing? It was Jesus’ teaching that thoughts are just as important as deeds, and that it is not enough not to commit a sin; the only thing that is enough is not to wish to commit it. It was Jesus’ teaching that we are not judged only by our deeds, but are judged even more by the desires which never emerged into deeds. By the world’s standards, people are considered good if they never do a forbidden thing. The world is not concerned to judge people’s thoughts. By Jesus’ standards, we can only aspire to goodness when we never even desire to do a forbidden thing. Jesus is intensely concerned with our thoughts.”
Does this seem to contradict the whole idea of discipleship according to Bonhoeffer? According to Bonhoeffer, a mere intellectual acknowledgement of faith (thoughts) is not enough and we will be judged by actions. Yet in this passage, Jesus seems to say that we will be judged by our thoughts. So, which is it? Either, or, or both?
Last week we discussed the first section of this passage where Jesus declared anger as equal to murder. That was the first example of the new standard which Jesus places on Christian disciples. Let’s move on to the second new standard:
Chapter 10 – Woman
Mat 5:27-32 ESV "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' (28) But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (29) If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. (30) And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (31) "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' (32) But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Bonhoeffer:
“Adherence to Jesus allows no free reign to desire unless it be accompanied by love.”
What would you think if you saw a new ad on TV – a surgeon who claimed to have developed a procedure that would cure you from all impure thoughts? Doesn’t sound possible, does it? We would likely label that surgeon as a quack and demand a State Board investigation. But isn’t that what Jesus prescribes? A surgical cure to lust?
The wording used is quite interesting. The phrase “causes you to sin” (other translations “causeth thee to stumble”, “offend thee”, “proves a stumbling block”) is translated from the Greek word “skandalizo” which is a form of the word “skandalethron” which literally means ‘the bait stick in a trap’. Think about that for a moment. If you are at all familiar with traps of any kind, you know that there is always a trigger or trip and the trip is always baited. Even fish traps, which are basically cages with no moving parts, must be baited. Even a fish hook is a type of trap and must be baited. What happens to any type of trap that is not baited? An un-baited trap may catch its intended prey, but if it does it is pure luck.
What is the purpose of bait? To lure the prey to the trap. It causes the prey to stumble into the waiting trap.
So are we to think that Jesus meant that we are to literally remove our eyes or limbs?
Do our eyes lure us into lust? Or is it the object seen by our eyes?
What is it that we are to surgically remove in order to protect us from sin?
Barclay:
“What they mean is that anything which helps to seduce us to sin is to be ruthlessly rooted out of life. If there is a habit which can be seduction to evil, if there is an association which can be the cause of wrongdoing, if there is a pleasure which could turn out to be our ruin, then that thing must be surgically excised from our life.”
So what do we do? Do we identify the causes of our lustful thoughts and just refuse to think about them?
What happens when we attempt to stop ourselves from thinking certain thoughts? The more we say, “Don’t think about it” the more we do in fact think about it.
Does that indicate that a vow of chastity is in fact a very dangerous thing?
So what do we do? How do we go about surgically removing our stumbling blocks?
We fill our mind with Jesus.
Bonhoeffer:
“Jesus does not impose intolerable restrictions on his disciples, he does not forbid them to look at anything, but bids them look on him. If they do that he knows that their gaze will always be pure, even when they look upon a woman. So far from imposing on them an intolerable yoke of legalism, he succors them with the grace of the gospel.”
But we must remember that no sacrifice is too great if it removes whatever keeps us away from Jesus. We must deal with our temptations as drastically and radically as necessary, and cut off or pluck out whatever bait may be leading us into a trap.
Chapter 11 – Truthfulness
Mat 5:33-37 ESV "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' (34) But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, (35) or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. (36) And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. (37) Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.
Does it seem that Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount was just giving the disciples and the crowds a review of what they already knew?
Surely they all knew that the law forbade murder, adultery, and lying?
Can we make oaths, or are they forbidden?
What about in court?
What if we hold an office that requires an oath?
What about the “Pledge of Allegiance”?
What do oaths prove?
Bonhoeffer:
“The very existence of oaths is a proof that there are such things as lies. If lying were unknown, there would be no need for oaths.”
What does Jesus do, according to Bonhoeffer, by forbidding oaths altogether?
Bonhoeffer:
“Jesus destroys the lie... ..the lie must be seized by Jesus in the very place to which it flees, in the oath. Therefore the oath must go, since it is a protection for the lie.”
Do oaths make lying easier?
If oaths are eliminated, does this mean that we are no longer answerable to God for our lack of truthfulness?
Bonhoeffer:
“This is not to say that the disciples are no longer answerable to the omniscient God for every word they utter, it means that every word they utter is spoken in his presence, and not only those words which are accompanied by an oath. Hence they are forbidden to swear at all. Since they always speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth, there is no need for an oath, which would only throw doubt on the veracity of all their other statements. This is why the oath is ‘of the evil one’.”
Bonhoeffer:
“For the Christian no earthly obligation is absolutely binding.”
Does this mean that we should not “pledge our allegiance” to earthly nations?
I think that if a Christian aligns himself with a political entity, an oath or pledge is not necessary. His “yes is a yes”.
Chapter 12 – Revenge
Mat 5:38-42 ESV "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' (39) But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. (40) And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. (41) And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. (42) Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Barclay:
“Few passages of the New Testament have more of the essence of the Christian ethic in them than this one. Here is the characteristic ethic of the Christian life, and the conduct which should distinguish the Christian from others.”
Are there different “degrees” of Old Testament laws? In other words, are there some that are binding on Christians and others that only applied to the Jewish people of Old Testament times?
Are the Ten Commandments more important than the other Old Testament laws?
Is the law of “eye for eye” also known as the law of “tit for tat” binding on Christians?
Exo 21:23-25 ESV But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, (24) eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, (25) burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Lev 24:19-20 ESV If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, (20) fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.
Deu 19:21 ESV Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Are we to accept these as laws that we must follow?
Bonhoeffer:
“Jesus will not countenance the modern practice of putting the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) on a higher level than the rest of the Old Testament law. For him the law of the Old Testament is a unity, and he insists to his disciples that it must be fulfilled.”
So what do we make of this? Do we place “tit for tat” on the level with “thou shall not murder” or “thou shall not commit adultery”?
The world probably places “tit for tat” on a higher level, but what are Christians to make of it?
What happens when Jesus turns “tit for tat” into total “active”, nonviolent, non-resistance?
Bonhoeffer:
“This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law… the church … is different: it has abandoned political and national status, and therefore… must patiently endure aggression.”
Has the Church in America “abandoned political and national status”?
What happens when a Christian disciple meets with injustice?
Bonhoeffer:
“At this point it becomes evident that when a Christian meets with injustice, he no longer clings to his rights and defends them at all costs.”
“The only way to overcome evil is to let it run itself to a standstill because it does not find the resistance it is looking for. Resistance merely creates further evil and adds fuel to the flames. But when evil meets no opposition and encounters no obstacle but only patient endurance, its sting is drawn, and at last it meets an opponent which is more than its match…..Then evil cannot find its mark, it can breed no further evil, and is left barren.”
How do these statements reconcile with the fact that Bonhoeffer was part of a “resistance” in Nazi Germany?
Bonhoeffer:
“There is no deed on earth so outrageous as to justify a different attitude. The worse the evil, the readier must the Christian be to suffer; he must let the evil person fall into Jesus’ hands.”
Is the call to active non-violent non-resistance only binding on persons? Are we freed from this obligation of discipleship when we see a “duty”?
Such as:
True or False:
A Christian husband and father has a “duty” to protect his wife and children, even with violence if necessary.
A government employee or official who is also a Christian has a “duty” to defend those he is charged to protect, even with violence if necessary.
If my home is invaded, I have a “duty” to defend my life and property.
Bonhoeffer:
“…this distinction between person and office is wholly alien to the teachings of Jesus…..the precept of non-violence applies equally to private life and official duty….when it comes to practice, this distinction raises insoluble difficulties. Am I ever acting only as a private person or only in an official capacity? If I am attacked am I not at once the father of my children, the pastor of my flock, and e.g. a government official? Am I no bound for that very reason to defend myself against every attack, for reason of responsibility to my office? And am I not also always an individual, face to face with Jesus, even in the performance of my official duties? Am I not therefore obliged to resist every attack just because of my responsibility for my office? Is it right to forget that the follower of Jesus is always utterly alone, always the individual, who in the last resort can only decide and act for himself? Don’t we act most responsibly on behalf of those entrusted to our care if we act in this aloneness?”
“How then can the precept of Jesus be justified in the light of experience? It is obvious that weakness and defencelessness only invite aggression. Is then the demand of Jesus nothing but an impracticable ideal? Does he refuse to face up to realities –or shall we say, to the sin of the world? There may of course be a legitimate place for such an ideal in the inner life of the Christian community, but in the outside world such an ideal appears to wear the blinkers of perfectionism, and to take no account of sin. Living as we do in a world of sin and evil, we can have no truck with anything as impracticable as that.”
“Jesus, however, tells us that it is just because we live in the world, and just because the world is evil, that the precept of non-resistance must be put into practice.”
Chapter 13 – The Enemy – The “Extraordinary”
Mat 5:43-48 ESV "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' (44) But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (45) so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (46) For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (47) And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? (48) You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
What one word, according to Bonhoeffer, sums up the whole message of the Sermon on the Mount?
What one word, according to John Wesley, sums up his doctrine of “Christian Perfection”?
Love.
Bonhoeffer:
“Here, for the first time in the Sermon on the Mount, we meet the word which sums up the whole of its message, the word “love”. Love is defined in uncompromising terms as the love of our enemies. Had Jesus only told us to love our brethren, we might have misunderstood what he meant by love, but now he leaves us in no doubt whatever as to his meaning.”
Wesley:
“What is then the perfection of which man is capable while he dwells in a corruptible body? It is the complying with that kind command, "My son, give me thy heart." It is the "loving the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind." This is the sum of Christian perfection: It is all comprised in that one word, Love. The first branch of it is the love of God: And as he that loves God loves his brother also, it is inseparably connected with the second: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:" Thou shalt love every man as thy own soul, as Christ loved us. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets:" These contain the whole of Christian perfection.” (Sermon 76, On Perfection)
Barclay:
“To the ordinary person, this passage describes essential Christianity in action, and even the person who never darkens the door of the church knows that Jesus said this, and very often condemns the professing Christian for falling short of its demands.”
What does Jesus mean by “loving our enemies”?
Is this love a passive emotive response toward our enemies?
How do we get rid of our enemies, according to popular notions?
Bonhoeffer:
“From now on there can be no more wars of faith. The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving.”
“To the natural man, the very notion of loving his enemies is an intolerable offence, and quite beyond his capacity: it cuts right across his ideas of good and evil. More important still, to man under the law, the idea of loving his enemies is clean contrary to the law of God.”
Who are our enemies?
Bonhoeffer:
“By our enemies Jesus means those who are quite intractable and utterly unresponsive to our love, who forgive us nothing when we forgive them all, who requite our love with hatred and our service with derision.”
“Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy’s hatred, the greater his need of love. Be his enemy political or religious, he has nothing to expect from a follower of Jesus but unqualified love. In such love there is no inner discord between private person and official capacity. In both we are disciples of Christ, or we are not Christians at all. Am I asked how this love is to behave? Jesus gives the answer: bless, do good, and pray for your enemies without reserve and without respect of persons.”
What does it really mean to be a Christian?
What separates, more than any other quality, Christians from the rest of the world.
Christians are “peculiar” in that they love their enemies.
Bonhoeffer:
“When we love those who love us, our brethren, our nation, our friends, yes, and even our own congregation, we are no better than the heathen and the publicans. Such love is ordinary and natural, and not distinctively Christian. We can love our kith and kin, our fellow countrymen and our friends, whether we are Christians or not, and there is no need for Jesus to teach us that.”
How does the extraordinary quality of the Christian life work out?
The extraordinary life is described in the beatitudes and is done by the followers of Jesus.
And then there are the Christians who justify their actions with thoughts that if we truly love our enemies we show them by dropping bombs on them.
In this passage Jesus put before Christian disciples a startling standard of behavior.
Barclay:
“Jesus said that in God’s sight it was not only the person who committed murder who was guilty; the person who was angry with another person was also guilty and liable to judgment. It was not only the person who committed adultery who was guilty; anyone who seriously entertained unclean desire was also guilty.”
“It may be that we have never struck another person, but can we say that we never wished to strike someone? It may be that we have never committed adultery, but can we say that we have never experienced the desire for the forbidden thing? It was Jesus’ teaching that thoughts are just as important as deeds, and that it is not enough not to commit a sin; the only thing that is enough is not to wish to commit it. It was Jesus’ teaching that we are not judged only by our deeds, but are judged even more by the desires which never emerged into deeds. By the world’s standards, people are considered good if they never do a forbidden thing. The world is not concerned to judge people’s thoughts. By Jesus’ standards, we can only aspire to goodness when we never even desire to do a forbidden thing. Jesus is intensely concerned with our thoughts.”
Does this seem to contradict the whole idea of discipleship according to Bonhoeffer? According to Bonhoeffer, a mere intellectual acknowledgement of faith (thoughts) is not enough and we will be judged by actions. Yet in this passage, Jesus seems to say that we will be judged by our thoughts. So, which is it? Either, or, or both?
Last week we discussed the first section of this passage where Jesus declared anger as equal to murder. That was the first example of the new standard which Jesus places on Christian disciples. Let’s move on to the second new standard:
Chapter 10 – Woman
Mat 5:27-32 ESV "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' (28) But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (29) If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. (30) And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (31) "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' (32) But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Bonhoeffer:
“Adherence to Jesus allows no free reign to desire unless it be accompanied by love.”
What would you think if you saw a new ad on TV – a surgeon who claimed to have developed a procedure that would cure you from all impure thoughts? Doesn’t sound possible, does it? We would likely label that surgeon as a quack and demand a State Board investigation. But isn’t that what Jesus prescribes? A surgical cure to lust?
The wording used is quite interesting. The phrase “causes you to sin” (other translations “causeth thee to stumble”, “offend thee”, “proves a stumbling block”) is translated from the Greek word “skandalizo” which is a form of the word “skandalethron” which literally means ‘the bait stick in a trap’. Think about that for a moment. If you are at all familiar with traps of any kind, you know that there is always a trigger or trip and the trip is always baited. Even fish traps, which are basically cages with no moving parts, must be baited. Even a fish hook is a type of trap and must be baited. What happens to any type of trap that is not baited? An un-baited trap may catch its intended prey, but if it does it is pure luck.
What is the purpose of bait? To lure the prey to the trap. It causes the prey to stumble into the waiting trap.
So are we to think that Jesus meant that we are to literally remove our eyes or limbs?
Do our eyes lure us into lust? Or is it the object seen by our eyes?
What is it that we are to surgically remove in order to protect us from sin?
Barclay:
“What they mean is that anything which helps to seduce us to sin is to be ruthlessly rooted out of life. If there is a habit which can be seduction to evil, if there is an association which can be the cause of wrongdoing, if there is a pleasure which could turn out to be our ruin, then that thing must be surgically excised from our life.”
So what do we do? Do we identify the causes of our lustful thoughts and just refuse to think about them?
What happens when we attempt to stop ourselves from thinking certain thoughts? The more we say, “Don’t think about it” the more we do in fact think about it.
Does that indicate that a vow of chastity is in fact a very dangerous thing?
So what do we do? How do we go about surgically removing our stumbling blocks?
We fill our mind with Jesus.
Bonhoeffer:
“Jesus does not impose intolerable restrictions on his disciples, he does not forbid them to look at anything, but bids them look on him. If they do that he knows that their gaze will always be pure, even when they look upon a woman. So far from imposing on them an intolerable yoke of legalism, he succors them with the grace of the gospel.”
But we must remember that no sacrifice is too great if it removes whatever keeps us away from Jesus. We must deal with our temptations as drastically and radically as necessary, and cut off or pluck out whatever bait may be leading us into a trap.
Chapter 11 – Truthfulness
Mat 5:33-37 ESV "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' (34) But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, (35) or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. (36) And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. (37) Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.
Does it seem that Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount was just giving the disciples and the crowds a review of what they already knew?
Surely they all knew that the law forbade murder, adultery, and lying?
Can we make oaths, or are they forbidden?
What about in court?
What if we hold an office that requires an oath?
What about the “Pledge of Allegiance”?
What do oaths prove?
Bonhoeffer:
“The very existence of oaths is a proof that there are such things as lies. If lying were unknown, there would be no need for oaths.”
What does Jesus do, according to Bonhoeffer, by forbidding oaths altogether?
Bonhoeffer:
“Jesus destroys the lie... ..the lie must be seized by Jesus in the very place to which it flees, in the oath. Therefore the oath must go, since it is a protection for the lie.”
Do oaths make lying easier?
If oaths are eliminated, does this mean that we are no longer answerable to God for our lack of truthfulness?
Bonhoeffer:
“This is not to say that the disciples are no longer answerable to the omniscient God for every word they utter, it means that every word they utter is spoken in his presence, and not only those words which are accompanied by an oath. Hence they are forbidden to swear at all. Since they always speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth, there is no need for an oath, which would only throw doubt on the veracity of all their other statements. This is why the oath is ‘of the evil one’.”
Bonhoeffer:
“For the Christian no earthly obligation is absolutely binding.”
Does this mean that we should not “pledge our allegiance” to earthly nations?
I think that if a Christian aligns himself with a political entity, an oath or pledge is not necessary. His “yes is a yes”.
Chapter 12 – Revenge
Mat 5:38-42 ESV "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' (39) But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. (40) And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. (41) And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. (42) Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Barclay:
“Few passages of the New Testament have more of the essence of the Christian ethic in them than this one. Here is the characteristic ethic of the Christian life, and the conduct which should distinguish the Christian from others.”
Are there different “degrees” of Old Testament laws? In other words, are there some that are binding on Christians and others that only applied to the Jewish people of Old Testament times?
Are the Ten Commandments more important than the other Old Testament laws?
Is the law of “eye for eye” also known as the law of “tit for tat” binding on Christians?
Exo 21:23-25 ESV But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, (24) eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, (25) burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Lev 24:19-20 ESV If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, (20) fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.
Deu 19:21 ESV Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Are we to accept these as laws that we must follow?
Bonhoeffer:
“Jesus will not countenance the modern practice of putting the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) on a higher level than the rest of the Old Testament law. For him the law of the Old Testament is a unity, and he insists to his disciples that it must be fulfilled.”
So what do we make of this? Do we place “tit for tat” on the level with “thou shall not murder” or “thou shall not commit adultery”?
The world probably places “tit for tat” on a higher level, but what are Christians to make of it?
What happens when Jesus turns “tit for tat” into total “active”, nonviolent, non-resistance?
Bonhoeffer:
“This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law… the church … is different: it has abandoned political and national status, and therefore… must patiently endure aggression.”
Has the Church in America “abandoned political and national status”?
What happens when a Christian disciple meets with injustice?
Bonhoeffer:
“At this point it becomes evident that when a Christian meets with injustice, he no longer clings to his rights and defends them at all costs.”
“The only way to overcome evil is to let it run itself to a standstill because it does not find the resistance it is looking for. Resistance merely creates further evil and adds fuel to the flames. But when evil meets no opposition and encounters no obstacle but only patient endurance, its sting is drawn, and at last it meets an opponent which is more than its match…..Then evil cannot find its mark, it can breed no further evil, and is left barren.”
How do these statements reconcile with the fact that Bonhoeffer was part of a “resistance” in Nazi Germany?
Bonhoeffer:
“There is no deed on earth so outrageous as to justify a different attitude. The worse the evil, the readier must the Christian be to suffer; he must let the evil person fall into Jesus’ hands.”
Is the call to active non-violent non-resistance only binding on persons? Are we freed from this obligation of discipleship when we see a “duty”?
Such as:
True or False:
A Christian husband and father has a “duty” to protect his wife and children, even with violence if necessary.
A government employee or official who is also a Christian has a “duty” to defend those he is charged to protect, even with violence if necessary.
If my home is invaded, I have a “duty” to defend my life and property.
Bonhoeffer:
“…this distinction between person and office is wholly alien to the teachings of Jesus…..the precept of non-violence applies equally to private life and official duty….when it comes to practice, this distinction raises insoluble difficulties. Am I ever acting only as a private person or only in an official capacity? If I am attacked am I not at once the father of my children, the pastor of my flock, and e.g. a government official? Am I no bound for that very reason to defend myself against every attack, for reason of responsibility to my office? And am I not also always an individual, face to face with Jesus, even in the performance of my official duties? Am I not therefore obliged to resist every attack just because of my responsibility for my office? Is it right to forget that the follower of Jesus is always utterly alone, always the individual, who in the last resort can only decide and act for himself? Don’t we act most responsibly on behalf of those entrusted to our care if we act in this aloneness?”
“How then can the precept of Jesus be justified in the light of experience? It is obvious that weakness and defencelessness only invite aggression. Is then the demand of Jesus nothing but an impracticable ideal? Does he refuse to face up to realities –or shall we say, to the sin of the world? There may of course be a legitimate place for such an ideal in the inner life of the Christian community, but in the outside world such an ideal appears to wear the blinkers of perfectionism, and to take no account of sin. Living as we do in a world of sin and evil, we can have no truck with anything as impracticable as that.”
“Jesus, however, tells us that it is just because we live in the world, and just because the world is evil, that the precept of non-resistance must be put into practice.”
Chapter 13 – The Enemy – The “Extraordinary”
Mat 5:43-48 ESV "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' (44) But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (45) so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (46) For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (47) And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? (48) You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
What one word, according to Bonhoeffer, sums up the whole message of the Sermon on the Mount?
What one word, according to John Wesley, sums up his doctrine of “Christian Perfection”?
Love.
Bonhoeffer:
“Here, for the first time in the Sermon on the Mount, we meet the word which sums up the whole of its message, the word “love”. Love is defined in uncompromising terms as the love of our enemies. Had Jesus only told us to love our brethren, we might have misunderstood what he meant by love, but now he leaves us in no doubt whatever as to his meaning.”
Wesley:
“What is then the perfection of which man is capable while he dwells in a corruptible body? It is the complying with that kind command, "My son, give me thy heart." It is the "loving the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind." This is the sum of Christian perfection: It is all comprised in that one word, Love. The first branch of it is the love of God: And as he that loves God loves his brother also, it is inseparably connected with the second: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:" Thou shalt love every man as thy own soul, as Christ loved us. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets:" These contain the whole of Christian perfection.” (Sermon 76, On Perfection)
Barclay:
“To the ordinary person, this passage describes essential Christianity in action, and even the person who never darkens the door of the church knows that Jesus said this, and very often condemns the professing Christian for falling short of its demands.”
What does Jesus mean by “loving our enemies”?
Is this love a passive emotive response toward our enemies?
How do we get rid of our enemies, according to popular notions?
Bonhoeffer:
“From now on there can be no more wars of faith. The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving.”
“To the natural man, the very notion of loving his enemies is an intolerable offence, and quite beyond his capacity: it cuts right across his ideas of good and evil. More important still, to man under the law, the idea of loving his enemies is clean contrary to the law of God.”
Who are our enemies?
Bonhoeffer:
“By our enemies Jesus means those who are quite intractable and utterly unresponsive to our love, who forgive us nothing when we forgive them all, who requite our love with hatred and our service with derision.”
“Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy’s hatred, the greater his need of love. Be his enemy political or religious, he has nothing to expect from a follower of Jesus but unqualified love. In such love there is no inner discord between private person and official capacity. In both we are disciples of Christ, or we are not Christians at all. Am I asked how this love is to behave? Jesus gives the answer: bless, do good, and pray for your enemies without reserve and without respect of persons.”
What does it really mean to be a Christian?
What separates, more than any other quality, Christians from the rest of the world.
Christians are “peculiar” in that they love their enemies.
Bonhoeffer:
“When we love those who love us, our brethren, our nation, our friends, yes, and even our own congregation, we are no better than the heathen and the publicans. Such love is ordinary and natural, and not distinctively Christian. We can love our kith and kin, our fellow countrymen and our friends, whether we are Christians or not, and there is no need for Jesus to teach us that.”
How does the extraordinary quality of the Christian life work out?
The extraordinary life is described in the beatitudes and is done by the followers of Jesus.
And then there are the Christians who justify their actions with thoughts that if we truly love our enemies we show them by dropping bombs on them.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Diversity of Discipleship
It only takes a glance around the room at any church function to realize that we are a very diverse bunch. Go to a community wide church service and the diversity becomes even more apparent. There is not only diversity in the human aspect of various believers. The Body of Christ is also very diverse in belief and practice. Many people, outside and inside the church, point at our diverse opinions and doctrine as a sign of weakness in the church. Our diversity could and should be a means of strength, yet we sometimes forget our Lord’s second greatest commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Even those of us who do not love others as we should can at least acknowledge that it is our duty to love all humankind. Yet it is our very human nature that makes us very selective about those whom we share our spiritual life. We maintain a courteous and even cordial social contact with casual acquaintances, but we are very careful about those in whom we share the intimacies of our faith. Rather than concede our diversity as a sign of weakness, I contend that in our diversity lies our strength. Strength through diversity of gifts and graces given by God. This is true not only of the Body of Christ as a whole, but of individual congregations of believers as well.
Our strength lies in the one thing we all have in common, the love of Jesus Christ. While there is no limit to the range of characteristics, temperaments, interests, habits, beliefs, and convictions. God has made no two people exactly alike. Human beings have an infinite diversity. Yet all Christians can answer one question exactly the same. The question: “Is your heart true to Jesus Christ?” We must maintain an open mind and a catholic spirit and realize that as long as “your heart is true to Christ as my heart is true to Christ” then we all can maintain a unity of love and affection that truly meets the commandment of God to love our neighbor as ourselves. Though we may all think alike, we can absolutely all love alike. Though we may not all be of one opinion, we can absolutely become one in heart. Though we may not all look alike, sound alike, sing alike, or praise alike, we can be thankful that God does not care how we look, sound, sing, or praise, only that we do so with one love.
We are all of one heart, one Lord, one Savior. Yet our Savior has chosen to bless us with a wide range of gifts and graces. The diversity of qualities is undeniably and unquestioningly the work of God’s grace in our lives. Every one of us has gifts and talents which, in addition to making us unique human beings, gives us tremendous potential in our Christian discipleship.
As Jesus’ earthly ministry was coming to an end, He began to prepare His disciples for the time when they would be called upon to carry on the work He had started. Jesus was returning to God, but He promised the disciples they would not be left alone. The Holy Spirit would come and teach the disciples all they would need to know in order to continue His ministry:
Joh 14:12-18 ESV "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (13) Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (15) "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (16) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, (17) even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (18) "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Joh 14:26 ESV But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Joh 15:26-27 ESV "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. (27) And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come and empower His disciples to carry out His commission to the ends of the earth. On the day of Pentecost, just weeks after Jesus ascension to Heaven, the Holy Spirit came with great power and three thousand people were made Christians on that day. The church was born. Those first followers of Jesus Christ received gifts of the Holy Spirit once they accepted Christ as their Savior. References to those gifts appear throughout the rest of the New Testament.
1Co 12:1-31 ESV Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. (2) You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. (3) Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit.
(Belief itself is a gift of the Spirit)
(4) Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; (5) and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; (6) and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. (7) To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (8) For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, (9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, (10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (11) All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (12) For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (13) For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (14) For the body does not consist of one member but of many. (15) If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. (16) And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. (17) If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? (18) But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. (19) If all were a single member, where would the body be? (20) As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. (21) The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." (22) On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, (23) and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, (24) which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, (25) that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. (26) If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (27) Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (28) And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. (29) Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? (30) Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (31) But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit did not end with the Acts of the Apostles. Gifts of the Spirit is still one common thread in all Christians in all places and times.
One task that the church can help us with is in identifying these gifts and graces, and help us to use them in the service of Jesus Christ. Notice that I said “gifts and graces”. Everything we have to offer in service to Christ is not a “gift”. We also have “graces” that we can share in service.
Our gifts and graces fall into three general categories:
1. The first category is those things about us, those qualities and talents, that make each of us a unique human being. These are in the form of natural talents and resources that we bring with us when we come to Christ.
2. The second category is the particular spiritual gifts that God has given each of us that make a unique contribution to the Body of Christ. Note that there is a distinction between natural talents and Gifts of the Spirit.
3. The third is the ways in which the Holy Spirit works in our lives so that the grace of God can make our discipleship more and more a reflection of the Christ we endeavor to honor and obey. This is our individuality, dreams and experiences.
Our church is taking an active role in the near future to help us to identify and use all of these gifts and graces in service to our Lord. We are going to do a church-wide study/assessment called Serving from the Heart: Finding your gifts and talents for Service. Members of the Leadership Committee of the church have already taken the study and will be teaching/leading it for the rest of the congregation.
One of the great weaknesses of congregational life today is that many of our members remain practically anonymous. Not literally anonymous. We do at least know the names of all of our members. But far too many are known only by name, as if that name on the roll alone establishes their identity and their place in the Body of Christ. We are familiar with all the members of the church, but how many do we really know. How many are known for their service to Christ. How many are, through their service, pointing others to Christ. The reality is that most of us know very little about our fellow church members, even in a small church like ours.
The church has made the decision to know it’s members in a meaningful way – a way that is much more than knowing names only. At the same time we will probably learn things about ourselves that we did not realize or acknowledge before. We will learn of our human qualities, our intellectual abilities, our homespun wisdom, our physical talents, our emotional generosities, our patience, understanding, and sympathy, our ambitions, determination, and vision, our willingness to help others, our concerns for social justice, our professional qualifications and accomplishments, our recreational interests, our hobbies. We will come to know a greater richness of talent and human potential than we ever thought existed in our congregation. All that can be put to use in service to our Lord.
These classes/workshops/studies will begin in three weeks and continue through the six weeks of Lent. We thought that Lent was the perfect time to search and assess our faithfulness and discipleship. The study will be given at various times and locations. It will be given during our normal Wednesday night activity time and during our Sunday School time on Sunday mornings. We are willing to schedule the class to fit your schedule. If the planned times are not convenient for you let us know and we will accommodate. Our goal is to have 100 participants during this time.
The backbone of the study is a spiritual resource inventory concept known as S.T.R.I.D.E. We have often heard our spiritual life referred to as a journey. Just as every Christian is different, so is each of our journeys different. We all have the same beginning in the New Birth in Christ and we all have the same destination to become fully sanctified in Christ. In between the two are many twists and turns. We have unique strides. One person walks slowly, and another skips all the way.
The journey of discipleship has four main paths. All four paths must be followed to reach the end of the journey. The paths are Worshipping, Growing, Giving, and Serving. Even on the paths there are various trails and we all travel with a different stride. At every level of spiritual maturity we worship God. Yet there are many ways of worship. We all seek to grow in faith, but each of us grow in a different way. Our giving may begin with small irregular offerings, to regular commitments, to tithing, and even to reverse tithing. The Serving from the Heart study will focus on the Serving trail. Just as there are different ways to worship, grow, and give, so also, there are different ways to serve.
S.T.R.I.D.E. is an acronym we use to describe the ways that Christians are unique as we travel our various paths to sanctification. As Christians we are expected to use our spiritual gifts to serve others and to glorify God. God has created each of us with a specific purpose in mind, giving us Spiritual gifts, Talents, Resources, Individuality, Dreams, and Experiences. All of these are incorporated into every Christian in ways designed to help us extend the “great invitation” and to fulfill the Great Commision.
I urge each of you to seek out one of the study groups (or start your own) and invite others to do so as we examine these six elements of our unique God-design and seek to understand God’s plan for our church as well as God’s purpose for our lives.
As Paul said:
1Co 12:1 ESV Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
Our strength lies in the one thing we all have in common, the love of Jesus Christ. While there is no limit to the range of characteristics, temperaments, interests, habits, beliefs, and convictions. God has made no two people exactly alike. Human beings have an infinite diversity. Yet all Christians can answer one question exactly the same. The question: “Is your heart true to Jesus Christ?” We must maintain an open mind and a catholic spirit and realize that as long as “your heart is true to Christ as my heart is true to Christ” then we all can maintain a unity of love and affection that truly meets the commandment of God to love our neighbor as ourselves. Though we may all think alike, we can absolutely all love alike. Though we may not all be of one opinion, we can absolutely become one in heart. Though we may not all look alike, sound alike, sing alike, or praise alike, we can be thankful that God does not care how we look, sound, sing, or praise, only that we do so with one love.
We are all of one heart, one Lord, one Savior. Yet our Savior has chosen to bless us with a wide range of gifts and graces. The diversity of qualities is undeniably and unquestioningly the work of God’s grace in our lives. Every one of us has gifts and talents which, in addition to making us unique human beings, gives us tremendous potential in our Christian discipleship.
As Jesus’ earthly ministry was coming to an end, He began to prepare His disciples for the time when they would be called upon to carry on the work He had started. Jesus was returning to God, but He promised the disciples they would not be left alone. The Holy Spirit would come and teach the disciples all they would need to know in order to continue His ministry:
Joh 14:12-18 ESV "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (13) Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (15) "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (16) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, (17) even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (18) "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Joh 14:26 ESV But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Joh 15:26-27 ESV "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. (27) And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come and empower His disciples to carry out His commission to the ends of the earth. On the day of Pentecost, just weeks after Jesus ascension to Heaven, the Holy Spirit came with great power and three thousand people were made Christians on that day. The church was born. Those first followers of Jesus Christ received gifts of the Holy Spirit once they accepted Christ as their Savior. References to those gifts appear throughout the rest of the New Testament.
1Co 12:1-31 ESV Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. (2) You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. (3) Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit.
(Belief itself is a gift of the Spirit)
(4) Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; (5) and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; (6) and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. (7) To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (8) For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, (9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, (10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (11) All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (12) For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (13) For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (14) For the body does not consist of one member but of many. (15) If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. (16) And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. (17) If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? (18) But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. (19) If all were a single member, where would the body be? (20) As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. (21) The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." (22) On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, (23) and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, (24) which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, (25) that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. (26) If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (27) Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (28) And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. (29) Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? (30) Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (31) But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit did not end with the Acts of the Apostles. Gifts of the Spirit is still one common thread in all Christians in all places and times.
One task that the church can help us with is in identifying these gifts and graces, and help us to use them in the service of Jesus Christ. Notice that I said “gifts and graces”. Everything we have to offer in service to Christ is not a “gift”. We also have “graces” that we can share in service.
Our gifts and graces fall into three general categories:
1. The first category is those things about us, those qualities and talents, that make each of us a unique human being. These are in the form of natural talents and resources that we bring with us when we come to Christ.
2. The second category is the particular spiritual gifts that God has given each of us that make a unique contribution to the Body of Christ. Note that there is a distinction between natural talents and Gifts of the Spirit.
3. The third is the ways in which the Holy Spirit works in our lives so that the grace of God can make our discipleship more and more a reflection of the Christ we endeavor to honor and obey. This is our individuality, dreams and experiences.
Our church is taking an active role in the near future to help us to identify and use all of these gifts and graces in service to our Lord. We are going to do a church-wide study/assessment called Serving from the Heart: Finding your gifts and talents for Service. Members of the Leadership Committee of the church have already taken the study and will be teaching/leading it for the rest of the congregation.
One of the great weaknesses of congregational life today is that many of our members remain practically anonymous. Not literally anonymous. We do at least know the names of all of our members. But far too many are known only by name, as if that name on the roll alone establishes their identity and their place in the Body of Christ. We are familiar with all the members of the church, but how many do we really know. How many are known for their service to Christ. How many are, through their service, pointing others to Christ. The reality is that most of us know very little about our fellow church members, even in a small church like ours.
The church has made the decision to know it’s members in a meaningful way – a way that is much more than knowing names only. At the same time we will probably learn things about ourselves that we did not realize or acknowledge before. We will learn of our human qualities, our intellectual abilities, our homespun wisdom, our physical talents, our emotional generosities, our patience, understanding, and sympathy, our ambitions, determination, and vision, our willingness to help others, our concerns for social justice, our professional qualifications and accomplishments, our recreational interests, our hobbies. We will come to know a greater richness of talent and human potential than we ever thought existed in our congregation. All that can be put to use in service to our Lord.
These classes/workshops/studies will begin in three weeks and continue through the six weeks of Lent. We thought that Lent was the perfect time to search and assess our faithfulness and discipleship. The study will be given at various times and locations. It will be given during our normal Wednesday night activity time and during our Sunday School time on Sunday mornings. We are willing to schedule the class to fit your schedule. If the planned times are not convenient for you let us know and we will accommodate. Our goal is to have 100 participants during this time.
The backbone of the study is a spiritual resource inventory concept known as S.T.R.I.D.E. We have often heard our spiritual life referred to as a journey. Just as every Christian is different, so is each of our journeys different. We all have the same beginning in the New Birth in Christ and we all have the same destination to become fully sanctified in Christ. In between the two are many twists and turns. We have unique strides. One person walks slowly, and another skips all the way.
The journey of discipleship has four main paths. All four paths must be followed to reach the end of the journey. The paths are Worshipping, Growing, Giving, and Serving. Even on the paths there are various trails and we all travel with a different stride. At every level of spiritual maturity we worship God. Yet there are many ways of worship. We all seek to grow in faith, but each of us grow in a different way. Our giving may begin with small irregular offerings, to regular commitments, to tithing, and even to reverse tithing. The Serving from the Heart study will focus on the Serving trail. Just as there are different ways to worship, grow, and give, so also, there are different ways to serve.
S.T.R.I.D.E. is an acronym we use to describe the ways that Christians are unique as we travel our various paths to sanctification. As Christians we are expected to use our spiritual gifts to serve others and to glorify God. God has created each of us with a specific purpose in mind, giving us Spiritual gifts, Talents, Resources, Individuality, Dreams, and Experiences. All of these are incorporated into every Christian in ways designed to help us extend the “great invitation” and to fulfill the Great Commision.
I urge each of you to seek out one of the study groups (or start your own) and invite others to do so as we examine these six elements of our unique God-design and seek to understand God’s plan for our church as well as God’s purpose for our lives.
As Paul said:
1Co 12:1 ESV Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Book Study - The Cost of Discipleship - Week 4 - Chapters 6-9
In the first section of The Cost of Discipleship laid out his ideological understanding of discipleship, namely the requirement of costly grace. In the next section, he moves into the practical application of discipleship. According to Bonhoeffer:
“...the Sermon on the Mount is there for the purpose of being done.”
These three chapters from the Gospel of Matthew are not just theological discourses. They are in effect the disciples instruction manual. Jesus calls disciples to do His will. Matthew 5-7 gives a clear picture of what that “doing” involves.
Chapter 6 - The Beatitudes
Mat 5:1-12 ESV
(1) Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
(2) And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
(3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(4) "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
(5) "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
(6) "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
(7) "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
(8) "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
(9) "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
(10) "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(11) "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
(12) Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Here we have, according to John Wesley, “the Son of God who came from Heaven...revealing to us the way to heaven.” (Sermon 21, Upon the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount: Discourse 1).
Who is Jesus addressing?
Is the Sermon on the Mount intended just for the disciples? Or for everyone?
According to John Wesley, that “either the entire sermon is to be applied to everyone, or else to no one.”
Bonhoeffer:
But disciples and people are one, for they are members of the Church which is called of God. Hence the aim of this beatitude is to bring all who hear it to decision and salvation. All are called to be what in the reality of God they are already. The disciples are called blessed because they have obeyed the call of Jesus, and the people as a whole because they are heirs of the promise. But will they now claim their heritage by believing in Jesus Christ and his word? Or will they fall into apostasy by refusing to accept him? That is the question which still remains to be answered?
What is the meaning of “blessed”?
Blessed means blissfully happy or contented. Beatitude means supreme blessedness or happiness. Beatus = Latin for blessed.
Why, according to Bonhoeffer, are disciples blessed?
Disciples are blessed because they obeyed Jesus’ call. It is the call itself that made them poor, afflicted, and hungry.
What is the difference between being peaceful and being a peacemaker?
How does one move from the point of seeing a need for mercy to actually being “merciful”?
Who is “pure in heart”?
John Wesley:
“…in Matthew chapter 5 our Lord lays down the sum of all true religion in eight points. (I count nine)…
Some people have theorized that Christ lays out these eight points as successive steps which Christians are to take in their journey to the promised land. Others assume that the eight points that Christ sets down apply to all Christians at all times.”
Which theory do you agree with? Or both?
Chapter 7 – The Visible Community
Mat 5:13-16 ESV "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. (14) "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. (15) Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. (16) In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
What does this passage tell us about discipleship?
Bonhoeffer:
“The disciples…must not only think of heaven; they have an earthly task as well.”
What is the “earthly task” of the disciples?
Disciples are the only hope the earth has.
Can a believer be a disciple in thought only?
What purpose does the “salt” and “light” serve?
The works of believers must be seen so as to speak out and draw all men to Jesus.
Can a disciple make a choice whether they will be “salt” and “light”?
What are those who “put their lamp under a basket” doing?
They are denying the call to discipleship. Jesus does not say, “You ought to be salt and light” or “After you’ve practiced being a Christian for a while, you may be salt and light”. Jesus says. “You are salt and light.”
What are some of the bushel baskets in our lives?
Is it the disciples themselves that are “salt” and “light”?
It is not them but their works that are to be seen. The salt and light are to point to Christ and never to self.
Chapter 8 – The Righteousness of Christ
Mat 5:17-20 ESV "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (18) For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (19) Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (20) For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Does this passage void the Law?
Where does obedience to the Old Testament Law fit into the picture of discipleship?
Are disciples bound to the Old Testament Law?
Bonhoeffer:
“The question inevitably arises, Which is our final authority, Christ or the law? To which are we bound? Christ had said that no law was to come between him and his disciples. Now he tells us that to abandon the law would be to separate ourselves from him. What exactly does he mean?”
Jesus clearly requires disciples to obey the Old Testament Law. In fact, this obedience to the Law is the distinguishing mark of the better righteousness. Why is the disciples righteousness better than the Pharisees?
The disciple’s righteousness is better than the Pharisees because the disciple can obey the Law perfectly? How is that?
The disciple is able to perfectly fulfill the Law because between the disciple and the Law stands Jesus, the one who has perfectly fulfilled it. “Better righteousness” means following Christ in a real and active faith in Jesus’ righteousness. Jesus has given us a new law, the law of Christ.
Chapter 9 – The Brother
Mat 5:21-26 ESV "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' (22) But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. (23) So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, (24) leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (25) Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. (26) Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
What does the modifier “but I say to you” indicate?
It indicates that the previous statement is either being changed or made obsolete. In this instance, Jesus, the author and giver of the Law “You shall not murder” sums up the whole meaning of the Law.
Who is a “brother”?
“Brother” does not mean only family and it does not mean only other Christians. For the Christian, there can be no one who does not qualify as brother or neighbor.
How does anger equate with murder?
Even anger is a violation of the boundary of a “brothers” life.
In what way is anger an attack on a brother’s life?
Anger is an attack on the brother’s life because it interferes with that life, and, by it’s very nature, aims at or seeks the brother’s destruction. A barrier is erected between the angry person and his brother and also between the angry person and God. We must be reconciled with our brother to follow Jesus and follow God.
What component of the “extraordinary” life of the disciple is uncovered in this passage?
This component is reconciliation. The disciple exhibits his “extraordinariness” by resolving anger through reconciliation. The barriers between a man and his brother and a man and God, which are erected in anger, are torn down throught reconciliation.
“...the Sermon on the Mount is there for the purpose of being done.”
These three chapters from the Gospel of Matthew are not just theological discourses. They are in effect the disciples instruction manual. Jesus calls disciples to do His will. Matthew 5-7 gives a clear picture of what that “doing” involves.
Chapter 6 - The Beatitudes
Mat 5:1-12 ESV
(1) Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
(2) And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
(3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(4) "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
(5) "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
(6) "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
(7) "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
(8) "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
(9) "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
(10) "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(11) "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
(12) Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Here we have, according to John Wesley, “the Son of God who came from Heaven...revealing to us the way to heaven.” (Sermon 21, Upon the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount: Discourse 1).
Who is Jesus addressing?
Is the Sermon on the Mount intended just for the disciples? Or for everyone?
According to John Wesley, that “either the entire sermon is to be applied to everyone, or else to no one.”
Bonhoeffer:
But disciples and people are one, for they are members of the Church which is called of God. Hence the aim of this beatitude is to bring all who hear it to decision and salvation. All are called to be what in the reality of God they are already. The disciples are called blessed because they have obeyed the call of Jesus, and the people as a whole because they are heirs of the promise. But will they now claim their heritage by believing in Jesus Christ and his word? Or will they fall into apostasy by refusing to accept him? That is the question which still remains to be answered?
What is the meaning of “blessed”?
Blessed means blissfully happy or contented. Beatitude means supreme blessedness or happiness. Beatus = Latin for blessed.
Why, according to Bonhoeffer, are disciples blessed?
Disciples are blessed because they obeyed Jesus’ call. It is the call itself that made them poor, afflicted, and hungry.
What is the difference between being peaceful and being a peacemaker?
How does one move from the point of seeing a need for mercy to actually being “merciful”?
Who is “pure in heart”?
John Wesley:
“…in Matthew chapter 5 our Lord lays down the sum of all true religion in eight points. (I count nine)…
Some people have theorized that Christ lays out these eight points as successive steps which Christians are to take in their journey to the promised land. Others assume that the eight points that Christ sets down apply to all Christians at all times.”
Which theory do you agree with? Or both?
Chapter 7 – The Visible Community
Mat 5:13-16 ESV "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. (14) "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. (15) Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. (16) In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
What does this passage tell us about discipleship?
Bonhoeffer:
“The disciples…must not only think of heaven; they have an earthly task as well.”
What is the “earthly task” of the disciples?
Disciples are the only hope the earth has.
Can a believer be a disciple in thought only?
What purpose does the “salt” and “light” serve?
The works of believers must be seen so as to speak out and draw all men to Jesus.
Can a disciple make a choice whether they will be “salt” and “light”?
What are those who “put their lamp under a basket” doing?
They are denying the call to discipleship. Jesus does not say, “You ought to be salt and light” or “After you’ve practiced being a Christian for a while, you may be salt and light”. Jesus says. “You are salt and light.”
What are some of the bushel baskets in our lives?
Is it the disciples themselves that are “salt” and “light”?
It is not them but their works that are to be seen. The salt and light are to point to Christ and never to self.
Chapter 8 – The Righteousness of Christ
Mat 5:17-20 ESV "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (18) For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (19) Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (20) For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Does this passage void the Law?
Where does obedience to the Old Testament Law fit into the picture of discipleship?
Are disciples bound to the Old Testament Law?
Bonhoeffer:
“The question inevitably arises, Which is our final authority, Christ or the law? To which are we bound? Christ had said that no law was to come between him and his disciples. Now he tells us that to abandon the law would be to separate ourselves from him. What exactly does he mean?”
Jesus clearly requires disciples to obey the Old Testament Law. In fact, this obedience to the Law is the distinguishing mark of the better righteousness. Why is the disciples righteousness better than the Pharisees?
The disciple’s righteousness is better than the Pharisees because the disciple can obey the Law perfectly? How is that?
The disciple is able to perfectly fulfill the Law because between the disciple and the Law stands Jesus, the one who has perfectly fulfilled it. “Better righteousness” means following Christ in a real and active faith in Jesus’ righteousness. Jesus has given us a new law, the law of Christ.
Chapter 9 – The Brother
Mat 5:21-26 ESV "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' (22) But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. (23) So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, (24) leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (25) Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. (26) Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
What does the modifier “but I say to you” indicate?
It indicates that the previous statement is either being changed or made obsolete. In this instance, Jesus, the author and giver of the Law “You shall not murder” sums up the whole meaning of the Law.
Who is a “brother”?
“Brother” does not mean only family and it does not mean only other Christians. For the Christian, there can be no one who does not qualify as brother or neighbor.
How does anger equate with murder?
Even anger is a violation of the boundary of a “brothers” life.
In what way is anger an attack on a brother’s life?
Anger is an attack on the brother’s life because it interferes with that life, and, by it’s very nature, aims at or seeks the brother’s destruction. A barrier is erected between the angry person and his brother and also between the angry person and God. We must be reconciled with our brother to follow Jesus and follow God.
What component of the “extraordinary” life of the disciple is uncovered in this passage?
This component is reconciliation. The disciple exhibits his “extraordinariness” by resolving anger through reconciliation. The barriers between a man and his brother and a man and God, which are erected in anger, are torn down throught reconciliation.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Book Study - The Cost of Discipleship, Week 3 - Chapters 3-5
Before we even began our first week of this study a question was asked and of which I asked that discussion be deferred until after we had discussed at least the first three chapters.
The question:
Is it all or nothing?
Are we lost unless we totally and completely surrender to the call of discipleship?
Some interesting thoughts on the subject that I have found this week:
From Class Leaders: Recovering a Tradition by David Lowes Watson (1991, Discipleship Resources, Nashville)
The Mystery of Christian Discipleship
Of all the mysteries that confront the Christian disciple - the mystery of sin, evil, and suffering, the mystery of death and resurrection, the mystery of God’s love and redemption in Jesus Christ, the mystery of time and eternity, and the mystery of the coming reign of God - there is nothing more mysterious than Christian discipleship itself...
The mystery lies ... in why so many church members who profess the name of Jesus, who witness to his saving grace, and who take part regularly in so many aspects of congregational life and work, do not seem to take seriously what the scriptures have to say about the cost of discipleship. Jesus made clear that there were conditions to following him.....
It is hard to find a word that is used so widely in the church today yet defined so loosely as “disciple”.... the reality of congregational life in the United States of America would seem to indicate one of two things: either that the great majority of church members are not Christian disciples at all; or else that many millions of Christians in the North American church are in for a rude awakening when they finally discover what they agreed to be and to do when they answered the call to discipleship.
And in a recent post Steve Manskar had this to say:
Two Kinds of Disciples
John Wesley provides some help with identifying types of discipleship in his sermon, “The More Excellent Way.” Here he reflects on the nature of Christian discipleship. He acknowledges a long held belief that there are two kinds of Christians:
The one lived an innocent life, conforming in all things not sinful to the customs and fashions of the world, doing many good works, abstaining from gross evils, and attending the ordinances of God. They endeavoured in general to have a conscience void of offence in their outward behaviour, but did not aim at any particular strictness, being in most things like their neighbours.
The other sort of Christians not only abstained from all appearance of evil, were zealous of good works in every kind, and attended all the ordinances of God; but likewise used all diligence to attain the whole mind that was in Christ, and laboured to walk in every point as their beloved Master. In order to this they walked in a constant course of universal self-denial, trampling on every pleasure which they were not divinely conscious prepared them for taking pleasure in God. They took up their cross daily. They strove, they agonized without intermission, to enter in at the strait gate. This one thing they did; they spared no pains to
arrive at the summit of Christian holiness: 'leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, to go on to perfection'; 'to know all that love of God which passeth knowledge, and to be filled with all the fullness of God'. (§5)
The first group composes the vast majority of Christians. They attend worship in varying degrees of frequency, give money to the church, may attend a Sunday school class, send their children to Sunday school, and do their best to be good, decent people. Their appearance and behavior is virtually indistinguishable from that of their non-Christian and non-religious neighbors. These are the majority of disciples present in any given congregation.
The second kind of Christians described by Wesley are those women and men who have made an intentional, deeply personal commitment to following and serving Jesus Christ in the world through loving obedience to his commandments. They are more disciplined in practicing the means of grace, both the works of piety and the works of mercy. These disciples are deeply committed to Christ and exhibit a way of life that leads to holiness of heart and life.
Wesley is very clear in this sermon to say that both groups are equally “saved.” They all are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Each is following Christ in the way that best suits them at the time. That being said, Wesley also asserts that it is the responsibility of the community of faith and its leaders to encourage and equip the first type of Christians to desire to mature and move toward the second.
Both articles seem to answer the question the same way: it is not all or nothing. All Christians are “saved”. Few Christians are disciples. The job of the disciple is to serve the non-disciple Christians and all non-Christians. The moment that the disciple develops an attitude of superiority is the moment that he ceases to be a disciple.
Chapter 4 - Discipleship and the Cross
Mar 8:31-38 ESV
(31) And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
(32) And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
(33) But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
(34) And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
(35) For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.
(36) For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
(37) For what can a man give in return for his life?
(38) For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
In Chapter 2 we discussed the call to discipleship and in chapter 3 we discussed how the call is a call to obedience. At the beginning of chpater 4 Bonhoeffer notes that in this passage of scripture the call to follow is closely connected to Jesus’ passion. Jesus had to suffer and be rejected. Bonhoeffer went on to state that this suffering and rejection applied to disciples as well. Just as Jesus had to suffer, so disciples must also suffer. One cannot be a disciple unless one adheres to the person of Jesus. Jesus had already demanded a decision when he said, “follow me.” In this passage Jesus calls for a second decision. What is the decision called for in this passage?
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
What does it mean to deny yourself and follow Jesus?
How is suffering involved?
Rom 5:1-11 ESV
(1) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(3) More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
(4) and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
(5) and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
(6) For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
(7) For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--
(8) but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(9) Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
(10) For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
(11) More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Luk 9:23 ESV(23) And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
How do we suffer for Christ?
What is the first suffering that all disciples must suffer?
Denying our self, abandoning worldly attachments.
In what way do we “take up our cross daily”?
Some hypothetical scenarios:
Someone we know, a great Christian, has been diagnosed with a deadly disease. He will have to face many months of agonizing treatments and will still have very little chance of survival. If the disease wins, the death will be slow and agonizing. Is this suffering for Christ, taking up a daily cross?
What is the difference in this man’s suffering and the suffering done by millions of non-Christians every day?
Another great Christian had devoted her life for the last several years to her two beautiful daughters. One day the older daughter, who rode her bike to the elementary school down the block disappeared. The bicycle was found on the sidewalk almost within sight of their home. Vanished without a trace. No clues. No physical evidence. Many years pass and the fate of the daughter is never discovered. The Christian lady’s life had been devastated. She suffered later from addictions and mental disorders. Is this suffering for Christ, taking up a daily cross?
What is the difference in this lady’s suffering and the suffering done by millions of non-Christians every day?
I would be tempted to say, and I think that Bonhoeffer would agree, that this type of suffering has nothing to do with the cross. This type of suffering experienced by all of humanity is a result of the Fall. What is the suffering that we must experience for Christ’s sake?
More hypothetical scenarios:
I have been working very hard nonstop for the past few months at a very stressful job. I am just about ready to take a few days for some much needed rest and relaxation. Some coworkers are planning on a trip to Panama City Beach. They make it sound like so much fun. A long weekend of girls and guys gone wild. A binge that you would never forget, unless of course you drank so much that you can’t remember. What would be the harm in that? What would be the damage of some “innocent” fun? But I am a Christian now. I have accepted the “exclusive attachment to the person of Christ”. I have to search my Christ-formed conscience: In taking on Christ, wherever I go and whatever I do, He is with me. Does He want in on this fun-filled weekend of debauchery? Absolutely not. And if He’s not going then I’m not either. Is this suffering for Christ? Have I just denied self and taken up a cross?
Another:
A family member is down on his luck. Just divorced, lost his job, the repo-man is on the way to haul off his double-wide. I have two choices, actually three, the two good choices would be to either take this family member into my home and help him get back on his feet or to help him financially so that he can keep his own home. The bad choice would be to just ignore his problems and let him handle them the best he can. I love this person, but really don’t want my home disrupted, so I help him out financially. Is this suffering for Christ?
What have I done that most non-Christians would not do for a family member?
Because I am a Christian and because I love that relative, I never even think about how I suffered financial hardship because I helped him. I know that Jesus said that if someone wants your coat, to give them your shirt as well and if someone wants you to carry their load for a mile, to carry it for two, and that if anyone asks you should give. Because I know all these Christian teachings, I have totally forgotten about the money that I gave to my relative. Have I suffered for Christ?
What would the average non-Christian’s feelings be toward this relative?
A few months later my relative scratches off a lottery ticket worth $100,000.
What would be the average non-Christian reaction be now?
Great. Maybe now this dead-beat will pay me back the hard-earned money that I spent on his expenses to help him out in his time of need. But what does the relative do? Well the first thing he does is head off for a wild weekend in Panama City Beach. Weeks, then months, go by with no offer of repayment.
What would be the average non-Christian reaction be now?
Most folks would want to haul this guy off to Judge Judy. We live in a world of lawsuits.
But what would be the suffering way-of-the-Cross reaction?
Can we safely say that every time we face down a worldly temptation that we have suffered for the cross?
Carrying the cross involves the suffering associated with being tempted, and since every believer is tempted every day, then every day the believer must suffer for Jesus Christ’s sake. This is the cross we bear.
“Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship.”
Taking up our cross begins with the abandonment of the world and requires a daily self-denial. Our self-denial has nothing to do with “acts of mortification” or asceticism.
Discipleship means adherence to the person of Jesus, and attachment to Jesus means submission to the teachings of Jesus: The Law of the Cross. The law of the cross calls for the denial of self and the choice to daily take up the cross given to us that day. Enduring the cross is not a tragedy but is the fruit of our exclusive attachment to Christ.
Remember that Bonhoeffer wrote this book while under a Nazi order not to write or publish. The publication of this book put him under risk of persecution. How does Bonhoeffer himself define the essence of self-denial?
“Just as Christ is Christ only in the virtue of His suffering and rejection, so the disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares his Lord’s suffering and rejection and crucifiction.”
What does that statement mean?
Chapter 5 - Discipleship and the Individual
How does the world view individuality?
Is a person made an individual through his own personal effort?
This chapter opens with the assertion that “through the call of Jesus men become individuals.”
How is this so?
Luk 14:26 ASV
(26) If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
We all receive an individual call to be a Christian disciple. But what do we generally do with our call?
We attempt to align ourselves with others who share our beliefs. These alignments may actually even be a barrier which prevents our heeding our call.
“Every man is called separately, and must follow alone. But men are frightened of solitude, and they try to protect themselves from it by merging themselves into the society of their fellow-men and in their material environment...
But all this is only a cloak to protect them from having to make a decision. They are unwilling to stand alone before Jesus and be compelled to decide...”
Could this be an indictment of the people in the German Church?
Why is individualism a necessity for a disciple?
Individualism is the call of Christ to come apart from the world. He wants to be the center. When we receive the call, we realize that our world has been built on an illusion. When we receive his call, we realize that even in such relationships as parent and child, or husband and wife, stands Christ, and no other relationship can be as important as the one with Christ. Christ is our mediator, not only between God and man, but between individuals.
The question:
Is it all or nothing?
Are we lost unless we totally and completely surrender to the call of discipleship?
Some interesting thoughts on the subject that I have found this week:
From Class Leaders: Recovering a Tradition by David Lowes Watson (1991, Discipleship Resources, Nashville)
The Mystery of Christian Discipleship
Of all the mysteries that confront the Christian disciple - the mystery of sin, evil, and suffering, the mystery of death and resurrection, the mystery of God’s love and redemption in Jesus Christ, the mystery of time and eternity, and the mystery of the coming reign of God - there is nothing more mysterious than Christian discipleship itself...
The mystery lies ... in why so many church members who profess the name of Jesus, who witness to his saving grace, and who take part regularly in so many aspects of congregational life and work, do not seem to take seriously what the scriptures have to say about the cost of discipleship. Jesus made clear that there were conditions to following him.....
It is hard to find a word that is used so widely in the church today yet defined so loosely as “disciple”.... the reality of congregational life in the United States of America would seem to indicate one of two things: either that the great majority of church members are not Christian disciples at all; or else that many millions of Christians in the North American church are in for a rude awakening when they finally discover what they agreed to be and to do when they answered the call to discipleship.
And in a recent post Steve Manskar had this to say:
Two Kinds of Disciples
John Wesley provides some help with identifying types of discipleship in his sermon, “The More Excellent Way.” Here he reflects on the nature of Christian discipleship. He acknowledges a long held belief that there are two kinds of Christians:
The one lived an innocent life, conforming in all things not sinful to the customs and fashions of the world, doing many good works, abstaining from gross evils, and attending the ordinances of God. They endeavoured in general to have a conscience void of offence in their outward behaviour, but did not aim at any particular strictness, being in most things like their neighbours.
The other sort of Christians not only abstained from all appearance of evil, were zealous of good works in every kind, and attended all the ordinances of God; but likewise used all diligence to attain the whole mind that was in Christ, and laboured to walk in every point as their beloved Master. In order to this they walked in a constant course of universal self-denial, trampling on every pleasure which they were not divinely conscious prepared them for taking pleasure in God. They took up their cross daily. They strove, they agonized without intermission, to enter in at the strait gate. This one thing they did; they spared no pains to
arrive at the summit of Christian holiness: 'leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, to go on to perfection'; 'to know all that love of God which passeth knowledge, and to be filled with all the fullness of God'. (§5)
The first group composes the vast majority of Christians. They attend worship in varying degrees of frequency, give money to the church, may attend a Sunday school class, send their children to Sunday school, and do their best to be good, decent people. Their appearance and behavior is virtually indistinguishable from that of their non-Christian and non-religious neighbors. These are the majority of disciples present in any given congregation.
The second kind of Christians described by Wesley are those women and men who have made an intentional, deeply personal commitment to following and serving Jesus Christ in the world through loving obedience to his commandments. They are more disciplined in practicing the means of grace, both the works of piety and the works of mercy. These disciples are deeply committed to Christ and exhibit a way of life that leads to holiness of heart and life.
Wesley is very clear in this sermon to say that both groups are equally “saved.” They all are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Each is following Christ in the way that best suits them at the time. That being said, Wesley also asserts that it is the responsibility of the community of faith and its leaders to encourage and equip the first type of Christians to desire to mature and move toward the second.
Both articles seem to answer the question the same way: it is not all or nothing. All Christians are “saved”. Few Christians are disciples. The job of the disciple is to serve the non-disciple Christians and all non-Christians. The moment that the disciple develops an attitude of superiority is the moment that he ceases to be a disciple.
Chapter 4 - Discipleship and the Cross
Mar 8:31-38 ESV
(31) And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
(32) And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
(33) But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
(34) And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
(35) For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.
(36) For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
(37) For what can a man give in return for his life?
(38) For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
In Chapter 2 we discussed the call to discipleship and in chapter 3 we discussed how the call is a call to obedience. At the beginning of chpater 4 Bonhoeffer notes that in this passage of scripture the call to follow is closely connected to Jesus’ passion. Jesus had to suffer and be rejected. Bonhoeffer went on to state that this suffering and rejection applied to disciples as well. Just as Jesus had to suffer, so disciples must also suffer. One cannot be a disciple unless one adheres to the person of Jesus. Jesus had already demanded a decision when he said, “follow me.” In this passage Jesus calls for a second decision. What is the decision called for in this passage?
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
What does it mean to deny yourself and follow Jesus?
How is suffering involved?
Rom 5:1-11 ESV
(1) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(3) More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
(4) and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
(5) and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
(6) For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
(7) For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--
(8) but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(9) Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
(10) For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
(11) More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Luk 9:23 ESV(23) And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
How do we suffer for Christ?
What is the first suffering that all disciples must suffer?
Denying our self, abandoning worldly attachments.
In what way do we “take up our cross daily”?
Some hypothetical scenarios:
Someone we know, a great Christian, has been diagnosed with a deadly disease. He will have to face many months of agonizing treatments and will still have very little chance of survival. If the disease wins, the death will be slow and agonizing. Is this suffering for Christ, taking up a daily cross?
What is the difference in this man’s suffering and the suffering done by millions of non-Christians every day?
Another great Christian had devoted her life for the last several years to her two beautiful daughters. One day the older daughter, who rode her bike to the elementary school down the block disappeared. The bicycle was found on the sidewalk almost within sight of their home. Vanished without a trace. No clues. No physical evidence. Many years pass and the fate of the daughter is never discovered. The Christian lady’s life had been devastated. She suffered later from addictions and mental disorders. Is this suffering for Christ, taking up a daily cross?
What is the difference in this lady’s suffering and the suffering done by millions of non-Christians every day?
I would be tempted to say, and I think that Bonhoeffer would agree, that this type of suffering has nothing to do with the cross. This type of suffering experienced by all of humanity is a result of the Fall. What is the suffering that we must experience for Christ’s sake?
More hypothetical scenarios:
I have been working very hard nonstop for the past few months at a very stressful job. I am just about ready to take a few days for some much needed rest and relaxation. Some coworkers are planning on a trip to Panama City Beach. They make it sound like so much fun. A long weekend of girls and guys gone wild. A binge that you would never forget, unless of course you drank so much that you can’t remember. What would be the harm in that? What would be the damage of some “innocent” fun? But I am a Christian now. I have accepted the “exclusive attachment to the person of Christ”. I have to search my Christ-formed conscience: In taking on Christ, wherever I go and whatever I do, He is with me. Does He want in on this fun-filled weekend of debauchery? Absolutely not. And if He’s not going then I’m not either. Is this suffering for Christ? Have I just denied self and taken up a cross?
Another:
A family member is down on his luck. Just divorced, lost his job, the repo-man is on the way to haul off his double-wide. I have two choices, actually three, the two good choices would be to either take this family member into my home and help him get back on his feet or to help him financially so that he can keep his own home. The bad choice would be to just ignore his problems and let him handle them the best he can. I love this person, but really don’t want my home disrupted, so I help him out financially. Is this suffering for Christ?
What have I done that most non-Christians would not do for a family member?
Because I am a Christian and because I love that relative, I never even think about how I suffered financial hardship because I helped him. I know that Jesus said that if someone wants your coat, to give them your shirt as well and if someone wants you to carry their load for a mile, to carry it for two, and that if anyone asks you should give. Because I know all these Christian teachings, I have totally forgotten about the money that I gave to my relative. Have I suffered for Christ?
What would the average non-Christian’s feelings be toward this relative?
A few months later my relative scratches off a lottery ticket worth $100,000.
What would be the average non-Christian reaction be now?
Great. Maybe now this dead-beat will pay me back the hard-earned money that I spent on his expenses to help him out in his time of need. But what does the relative do? Well the first thing he does is head off for a wild weekend in Panama City Beach. Weeks, then months, go by with no offer of repayment.
What would be the average non-Christian reaction be now?
Most folks would want to haul this guy off to Judge Judy. We live in a world of lawsuits.
But what would be the suffering way-of-the-Cross reaction?
Can we safely say that every time we face down a worldly temptation that we have suffered for the cross?
Carrying the cross involves the suffering associated with being tempted, and since every believer is tempted every day, then every day the believer must suffer for Jesus Christ’s sake. This is the cross we bear.
“Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship.”
Taking up our cross begins with the abandonment of the world and requires a daily self-denial. Our self-denial has nothing to do with “acts of mortification” or asceticism.
Discipleship means adherence to the person of Jesus, and attachment to Jesus means submission to the teachings of Jesus: The Law of the Cross. The law of the cross calls for the denial of self and the choice to daily take up the cross given to us that day. Enduring the cross is not a tragedy but is the fruit of our exclusive attachment to Christ.
Remember that Bonhoeffer wrote this book while under a Nazi order not to write or publish. The publication of this book put him under risk of persecution. How does Bonhoeffer himself define the essence of self-denial?
“Just as Christ is Christ only in the virtue of His suffering and rejection, so the disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares his Lord’s suffering and rejection and crucifiction.”
What does that statement mean?
Chapter 5 - Discipleship and the Individual
How does the world view individuality?
Is a person made an individual through his own personal effort?
This chapter opens with the assertion that “through the call of Jesus men become individuals.”
How is this so?
Luk 14:26 ASV
(26) If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
We all receive an individual call to be a Christian disciple. But what do we generally do with our call?
We attempt to align ourselves with others who share our beliefs. These alignments may actually even be a barrier which prevents our heeding our call.
“Every man is called separately, and must follow alone. But men are frightened of solitude, and they try to protect themselves from it by merging themselves into the society of their fellow-men and in their material environment...
But all this is only a cloak to protect them from having to make a decision. They are unwilling to stand alone before Jesus and be compelled to decide...”
Could this be an indictment of the people in the German Church?
Why is individualism a necessity for a disciple?
Individualism is the call of Christ to come apart from the world. He wants to be the center. When we receive the call, we realize that our world has been built on an illusion. When we receive his call, we realize that even in such relationships as parent and child, or husband and wife, stands Christ, and no other relationship can be as important as the one with Christ. Christ is our mediator, not only between God and man, but between individuals.
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