Discipleship Letters 9-10

Discipleship Letter 9                                                  May 04, 2008

“Because human sinfulness has clouded our hearts and minds, receiving God’s revelation requires repentance; an increase in our understanding of God’s revelation requires continuing spiritual growth” [Diogenes Allen, Spiritual Theology: The Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today (Cambridge: Cowley, 1997), p. 153.).

A disciple means a learner or a pupil. As Christ’s disciples, we must keep learning God’s revelation as recorded in the Bible—the ultimate source of knowing God in Christ.Whenever we live our Christian lives apart from His Word, “we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5). Jesus said, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you…” (Jn. 15:7). Christian growth has everything to do with His Word. If His Word doesn’t abide in us, we still grow (old), but it is definitely not spiritual growth—“to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).

If we claim to be Christians—followers of Christ, we read God’s Word. Set apart a specific time and space for His Word. Set apart our minds for His Word. Set apart our hearts for His Word. Set apart our money to purchase Christian literatures that help us understand His Word. We must learn how to set apart from secular use. Otherwise, we don’t know how to set apart for sacred use. Set apart from…set apart for.

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Discipleship Letter 10                                                         May 11, 2008

“Whatever the apparent gifts and abilities of people, we must look for those who want to move for Christ. Life is too short to expend excessive time and energy upon apathetic people” [Robert Coleman, The Master Plan of Discipleship (Spire, 1998), pp. 45-46.].

Life is short; time is limited. The basic principle of choosing a disciple is to know whether he/she has a desire to serve Christ with a learning spirit. Why wastes time on those who are reluctant to learn and are afraid of being challenged? After Jesus said that He is the bread of life, many disciples deserted Him (John 6). Jesus let them go. Why? For Christ understood the basic principle.

Jesus only spent three years in public ministry. He made sure that he wisely spent his time. He did spend time to deal with the crowd. Yet, most of the time he kept the main thing the main thing—make disciples. In the four Gospels, you see that He spent enormous time to be with the twelve disciples—to build them up, to train them, to influence them, and to teach them. We don’t know why Jesus chose these twelve men. One of them even betrayed Him. Perhaps, Jesus saw through their broken images and recognized the potential within them.