This is part 2 of a two-part column on the subject of discipleship. This is not a comprehensive or systematic treatment of the subject, it is simply a few random thoughts that I hope will be helpful and will encourage further thinking by others.
Encouraging Daily Personal Bible Study/Devotional Time
The obvious point that has been coming up in current research on discipleship and spiritual growth is the importance of personal Bible study and personal prayer and devotional time, including the discipline of solitude. It seems that many people know the value of these spiritual disciplines but, probably, they don’t know how to go about doing it. Or, it may be that they find it to be boring. Or—it is a discipline, after all—they find it to be hard to do on a regular, consistent basis and they quit.
Part of our church’s job will be to encourage, foster, help and train people to engage in these critical disciplines, on their own, on a regular basis.
Serving
Part of discipleship will involve helping the disciple to find a place to serve the body. We’ve acknowledged that this is not a strong area in our church. I wonder how much of this has to do with our lack of skill at helping people find areas to serve—I know that accounts for some of the problem here. But, is this also, partly, a reflection of the fact that some people really don’t want to serve? Or, they only want to serve under ideal conditions? I think, perhaps, unintentionally, we may have given some folks the impression that serving will always be something that is fun; and joyful; and gets a person excited; and is completely fulfilling. I don’t find that reality when I look in the Bible. And I know, personally, that if I only served the church in areas that I enjoyed, there would be a lot of things that I wouldn’t do.
I’m a firm believer in gift-based serving—how can I not be, it’s biblical? But, the simple truth of the Bible is that sometimes serving, even in areas of giftedness, won’t be fun. The most obvious example is a crucifixion.
Please understand, I’m not saying that serving should be a constant drag. I hope it will often be joyful and fulfilling. But if most of the people in a church only serve when it’s convenient for them and only when it makes them feel good, then the picture of serving that you’re likely to get is the picture that we see in many of our churches, these days.
Serving is a “discipline” in which “disciples” engage. As such, I suspect it won’t always, necessarily, be fun and enjoyable and convenient.
By the way, I’ve been thinking a good bit, lately, about the things that we sometimes, unintentionally, do as a church that foster selfishness. The idea of serving only when it’s fun; and easy; and convenient; and exciting; seems like it has the potential of fostering a form of selfishness that is part of what serving is supposed to help diminish in our lives.
Transforming The Mind
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:22-24
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is not hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:1-3
I’ve listed those three passages of scripture, above, because of their reference to our “minds”. The Bible clearly tells us that transformation into the character of Christ, which is a key aspect of discipleship, involves the mind.
We have the freedom to control—at least to some degree—our thoughts. In addition to this, we have some freedom of control over what our minds are exposed to. Certainly, we don’t have complete freedom of control in terms of what our minds are exposed to, but we have “some” control. Again, since transformation into the character of Christ involves the mind, we have to teach disciples about “thinking”. Our discipleship training will need to involve guidance and challenge and instruction on what we put into our minds, what we intentionally think about, and what we “allow” into our minds.
Dallas Willard, speaking of spiritual formation, says, “As we first turned away from God in our thoughts, so it is in our thoughts that the first movements toward the renovation of the heart occur. Thoughts are the place where we can and must begin to change.”
I don’t have a method, here, for the training of our minds, I simply mention it as something that our discipleship training will need to consider. There are some obvious actions that readily come to mind when it comes to positively training and influencing our thoughts.
What needs to go into our minds: Bible study; Bible memorization; worship songs; good preaching/teaching; good Christian reading; loving, positive, encouraging, stimulating, challenging conversation.
What needs to be eliminated, as much as we can control: Certain TV shows, certain images, certain kinds of conversation, certain magazines, that do not encourage and promote within us the light and truth of Christ and His kingdom.
Philippians 4:8 is a helpful thought: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
I think a sober word of caution is in order here: When we begin to talk and teach and train in regard to “what people think”, we are dealing with a very personal and important aspect of who a person is. This is an area where we must be very gentle and extremely humble. It is a significant matter to presume to teach someone “what to think”. We must be careful to defer to Scripture as much as possible. We must be willing to be silent where Scripture is silent. We must be willing to freely admit that there are aspects of the renewing of our minds that we do not completely understand. Arrogance, presumptuousness and ungraciousness in this area can quickly be interpreted in a very negative way as an attempt by “religious people” to try to “control the minds of others”. Let’s be honest, this kind of negative perception has some valid cause for concern when we consider the history of some “Christians” and some Christian groups.
Obviously, it is not our intention to try to “control the minds of others”, our intention is to help people be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ—one of the central purposes for which we were created. But, again, when we venture into teaching and training regarding “what people think”, we are on sensitive ground and we must venture forth lovingly, graciously and very humbly—with strong adherence to Scripture—remembering that our own minds are still in the process of renewal, as well.
I humbly and lovingly submit these thoughts for your reflection.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
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