In His Grip

(this is a continuation of the topic 'On Shepherding and Discipleship' ) So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Jesus, Luke 14:33 ESV) We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. (The Apostle Paul, Colossians 1:28-29 NASB) But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. (The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:10 NASB) You may have noticed that there are many varied definitions of spiritual and church growth floating around these days, but which are truly biblical, that is, growth as God has defined it?  Certainly we would say that we would want to grow 'with a growth that is from God' (Colossians 2:19) and reject ...

(this is a continuation of the topic 'On Shepherding and Discipleship' ) "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart,  who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. (Jeremiah 3:15 NASB) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13 NASB) In the previous blog, 'Disciples: Born, or Made?' we recognized that a Christian is one who is born of God (John 1:12-13) and grows by means of the word of God (1 Peter 2:2) and the discipling of other believers (Matthew 28:19-20).  In that sense, a disciple is both born (initially) and made (continually), both a work of God, but using human agency. We also ...

(This is a continuation of the topic 'On Shepherding and Discipleship' ) So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has  cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33 ESV) And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."  Immediately they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4:19-20 ESV) "Lee, what do the disciples do?", I said to my (then) five year old son.  "They follow Jesus," he said.  Indeed.  Disciples follow Jesus.  There is much that can be unfolded here regarding the cultural context of the Jewish rabbi (teacher), but suffice to say that to be a disciple of someone was to fully submit to following their teaching and way of life.  It was a total commitment. While the Scriptures give no illusion that the life of a Christian is a sinless one (see 1 John 1:8-10), it knows nothing of a Christian whose heart and life are not unalterably changed to become more like Christ.  A journey through 1 John...