The Cost and Benefit of Following Jesus

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: August 28, 2005

The Cost and Benefit of Following Jesus
by Dan Trygg

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. 26 For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds." Matthew 16:24-27

In the preceding verses, Peter had confessed that Jesus was the anointed King of Israel, the promised Messiah. Jesus had commended him for voicing this insight, and began to prepare the disciples for the upcoming events, which were going to be difficult. He plainly told them that it would be "necessary for Him to suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day" (16:21). Upon hearing that, Peter took Him aside to rebuke Him, saying, "This shall never happen to You." Jesus immediately turned and confronted Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are not thinking the things of God, but the things of man." It is at this juncture ("then" = "at that time") that Jesus gave this discipleship challenge to His men.

This challenge is one of those statements uttered by the lips of Jesus which continues to resound and reverberate through history. It has not lost its challenge, or its relevance. It remains a fundamental principle of the Kingdom of God. In fact, as the Master's words clearly reveal, denying self and bearing the cross is a universal challenge to every follower of Jesus Christ. We cannot go down the path in pursuit of Jesus without soon coming face to face with a cross with our name on it. It is unavoidably, inescapably part and parcel of what it means to follow Jesus. Without the context, however, we may miss the true thrust of what Jesus was getting at.

What is the cross? The cross was a well known, clearly understood word picture to the first people who heard Jesus' words. To us, however, this symbol has been romanticized, religified and spiritualized to the point where it is almost unrecognizable. To the first hearers, however, the cross was the most awful and dreaded form of capital punishment that they knew. It provided a slow, painful, tortuous death-struggle in the most humiliating of circumstances. The victim was stripped totally naked, attached to the cross beams and post by thongs and/or nails (the nails were designed to increase the torture) and suspended in public view for the purpose of humiliation (and as an example to other potential offenders of the horror of this kind of punishment). As the victim tired, and began to slump, the outstretched arms made it impossible to exhale, so he would be forced to pull and push himself to an upright position to be able to breathe. Eventually, as muscles cramped, and exhaustion overcame the poor wretch, these struggles to breathe became more periodic, but desperate, until finally asphyxiation won out over the victim's innate will to live. Anyone who has ever choked on anything knows the desperate feeling of gasping for air. Place that memory into this scenario and you can understand the evil tortuous design of this form of execution. It was not uncommon for people to last many hours, even to three or four days, in this hopeless death struggle, until all resources gave out and there was nothing but death.

Death by crucifixion was a horrible, long, drawn-out process. There was nothing romantic, or spiritually desirable about it. It does, however, portray clearly the desperate struggle of the self-oriented life to preserve itself. Stamping out sin and selfishness is not the result of a momentary decision. Selfishness dies hard, ...and in long, drawn-out, agonizing fits of desperation, it struggles to preserve itself. The act of crucifixion is in the nailing to the cross. Actual death does not happen until much later, after much struggle for self-preservation. This is the powerful aspect of this word picture that has been covered up and romanticized to near oblivion. Sin-oriented living dies hard. To follow Jesus means that we must voluntarily give our self-life up to this agonizing death-process.

Sound like fun? Eager to sign up? This image was not designed to generate eagerness. It was designed to illustrate what we are up against, and to get us to count the cost before we make commitments. Isn't there more than this morbid word picture? You bet there is! The gospel story is a "good news" message, not morbidity. There is, however, this "dark side of the cross" that we do not often think about. What is the good news in this passage? The good news Jesus offers is that we can save ourselves. Self preservation does not come as we would expect, however. In fact, if we try to preserve our own lives, we will destroy them. If we embrace the cross, and put our natural self-agenda aside in this world out of preference to Christ, we will preserve, heal, and make ourselves whole, as well as keep ourselves from self-destruction.


The cross is different from the everyday trials and difficulties that everyone experiences. Often people confuse the two, and would make them the same. The essential difference between the cross and trials is that the cross is suffering which results from obedience to Christ. Trials are involuntary. They just happen because we live in a fallen world. The cross is voluntary. It is the result of our choice to follow Jesus.

The cross is not simply pain and suffering, either. If we experience pain, hardship and difficulties as a consequence of sin, of disobeying God, this is not the cross Jesus is speaking of (I Pet. 4:15,16). God desires to deliver us from the painful consequences of wrong and foolish choices. That is why He gave us the Scriptures. The Hebrew word for the law, torah, means "instruction". Following God’s word is like following the instruction manual for life. Disregarding God’s instruction manual is like not changing the oil on your car, or driving it in extreme ways that it was never designed to perform. Just as abusing a car will bring on a breakdown, or a crash, in the same way if we live in ways that God says are dangerous and should be avoided, we run the risk of disastrous and painful results. So, if you "crash and burn" because of poor choices, don’t talk about the "cross" you have to bear. That is not a Jesus-cross, that is a "stupid-loss", …consequences of poor and foolish choices.

Not all suffering is the cross, even when we might think it is in "the line of duty".

Sometimes we experience suffering because we go about things the wrong way. We are not mature or skilled enough to avoid hurting others, or getting hurt ourselves. Our own short-sightedness, lack of compassion or lack of understanding gets us into situations where we are offensive to others, and we are rebuffed or even attacked. Sometimes our own selfishness is mixed with proper motives, and we end up creating a "holy mess", and get hurt in the process.

Sometimes we suffer because of over-involvement. It is not the cross, at all. We are suffering because we are trying to do more than God ever asked us to do, and we are spreading ourselves too thin. We, and our loved ones, will pay a price of pain that is caused by a self-agenda, not by God's leading.

Sometimes we suffer when we should confront. There are times when we choose to shrink back from standing up against evil because of the fear and discomfort of confrontation. We are actually choosing to protect ourselves from the scary consequences of being ridiculed, rejected, or harassed, or having to deal with someone else's rage or tantrum, by just keeping our pain and thoughts to ourselves. Here is an example of where we may be trying to preserve ourselves (our immediate comfort), but in the process we actually ruining our potential because we never stand up for who we are, or for what God is showing us.

Denying self to follow Jesus. There is a curious tension in this passage: On the one hand, Jesus tells us we must deny ourselves, i.e., to forget, or lose sight of, one's self and one's self interests. On the other hand, the goal of this whole process, the "good news promise" of this passage, is that we can save, preserve, or heal our selves. Self-preservation, or more accurately, self-actualization is the goal or end that both God and I have in common. Jesus is saying that if I pursue this on my own, I will mess myself up, and my potential will never be actualized. If, on the other hand, I put aside my immediate self-interest and self-comfort to follow Jesus, ...voluntarily embrace what the cross represents, i.e., a painful and humiliating death-struggle of self before a watching world, ...in the end, I will emerge whole, sound and fulfilled. Jeremiah had written that the human heart is "more deceitful than all else, and desperately sick: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). The answer to this rhetorical question is found in the next verse: "I, Yahweh, search the heart, and examine the inner parts, to give to each person according to their ways and according to the fruit of their practices." In other words, God knows what is best for us. He searches us out in order to give us what will work for us, according to our own nature and according to the choices we have made up to this point in our lives. We cannot trust ourselves to figure out our own self-development, but we can trust that God knows what to do to bring about health, fulfillment and fruitfulness in our lives, and blessing for the Kingdom.

Note that this is exactly the context of the verses immediately before and after these I have mentioned. Peter was confronted by Jesus because he was "not thinking the things of God, but the things of humankind". God’s ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not like our thoughts (Isa. 55:8). He has a perspective and understanding which we do not have. We can't trust our reason, or our emotion, to lead us into what is truly "life", but we can trust our God to do so. Sometimes He will ask us to do things that seem or feel like they are only destructive, yet, when we trustfully do them, we find that life, growth, and health is there.

Finally, Jesus does not ask us only to bear the cross. He asks us to follow Him. Being a disciple is an active proposition. He has great plans for us (Jer. 29:11), but we must put aside our plans to begin to discover His. We are on a journey with God, but He is setting the pace and the direction. Our everyday choices affect the outcome.

Rock Turned To Stumbling Block

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: August 21, 2005

Rock Turned To Stumbling Block

"He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16 Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ 17 And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hades will not overpower it.’ … 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. 21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ 23 But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.’" Matthew 16:15-23


"Seek Yahweh while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to Yahweh, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. 8 ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares Yahweh. 9 ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’" Isaiah 55:7-9

From the time Jesus secured a solid confession from Peter, the tenor and content of His teachings began to change. He began to prepare His core group of disciples for what lay ahead, not only for Him but for them, as well. He stated very plainly, and on repeated occasions, that He would suffer at the hands of the chief priests and scribes, that He would be killed, but on the third day He would rise again. Furthermore, they, too, would suffer much, and must be willing to lay down everything in life, even life itself, to be able to overcome all that the enemy has planned. To compromise is to endanger their very souls. To remain steadfast for Jesus may cost them their comfort, and even their lives. To prepare them was necessary, because they would otherwise be crushed with shock, confusion and discouragement, once this backlash would strike them.

Jesus was well aware of what was going to happen. These events did not take Him by surprise. As early as John 1, He was depicted by John the Baptist as being the "Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world" (Jn. 1:29). This was a word picture of a sacrificial or Passover lamb. In either scenario, the death of the animal was required in order to deal with sin. The Lord had spoken of the fact that people hated Him, spoke ill of Him and had persecuted Him, and that His disciples would be treated in the same way (Matt. 5:8-10; 10:16-25; 12:31,32). Although He had already spoken of such things, it is clear that His disciples did not really believe that they would happen, at least not any time soon. Jesus began to repeatedly return to the themes of persecution, death and the need for perseverance, especially speaking of His suffering and death (cf. Matt. 17:12,22,23; 20:17-19,28; 21:33-46; 23:33,34; 24:9; 26:1,2,20-32).

As Jesus began to speak of this, Peter rebuked Him, saying that this would never happen to Him. He spoke out of his human emotion and wishful thinking. In reality, however, he was dead wrong. The language of verse 21 was that "it is necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things…". This is strong language. It was not negotiable. It was not presented as just a morose possibility that the Lord was intimating might happen. Jesus knew that it was required in order that the purposes of God might be accomplished. Peter, however, flush from the praise he had received from the Lord regarding the revelation he had received from the Father, stepped forward to take Jesus aside to correct Him. (How quickly we can turn from receiving our understanding from the Lord, to assuming that we know better than He!) Somewhere between verses 17 and verse 22, Peter had slipped from being tuned in to God to being tuned in to his own understanding and desires (cf. Prov. 3:5). This is a good warning to us. How fickle and unreliable is our own mind and heart! God warns us that it is deceitful and unreliable (Jer. 17:9; Ecc. 9:3). How quickly the spiritual receptivity was lost, and Peter decided to give the God-appointed King a piece of his mind. Pride had entered and the counselee and student dared to become the counselor and teacher to the Son of God! He had stopped listening, and started asserting his own thoughts and emotions.

In Peter’s defense, I think most of the translations paint too strong a picture of what he actually said. He did not say, "God forbid it, Lord!" The entire phrase translated as "God forbid it!" is a translation of mainly one Greek word, which is a derivative from the word for "mercy". A literal rendering would be, "Mercy to you, Lord", but the strong implication was "May God have mercy on You, Lord!", and the meaning was clarified by the next phrase, "Not never will this thing be to you!"

The first part, then, was an exclamation of Peter’s emotion, the natural response of a friend who does not want anything bad to happen to the One he cares for. (The friends of the apostle Paul did the same to him. When confronted with prophecies that depicted bonds and imprisonment for him, they were begging him not to proceed on his journey, even though the Holy Spirit had clearly commanded Paul to go. The warnings were genuine, and were meant to prepare Paul for what he would face. They were not, however, to direct him to avoid the trials that lay ahead, as his friends thought. – Acts 20:22-24; 21:4,8-14. When hearing and interpreting prophetic words, we need to be wary of allowing our emotions to cloud our perception of what God’s purpose for the communication may be.) That was natural, immediate, appropriate, even a cry from the heart to God. It was almost a prayer uttered to the Father. (It was not, however, a Spirit-led prayer. It was more a blurt of the heart than a real entering into communion with God to find out and ask for what He wanted.) It was more of a declaration of Peter’s own desires, couched in religious phraseology, than an actual prayer.

The second phrase, however, came from Peter’s flesh. This was not merely an emotional reaction. There was deliberate choice involved here. He came directly against the word of the Lord. He directly contradicted what Jesus had just told Him. Furthermore, Peter was declaring something that he did not have the power to know, nor guarantee. He was way out of line. He was making a declarative statement as if he knew the future, or as if he could prevent the events that Jesus spoke of. In either case, he was saying things that were boastful, inflated, way beyond the limitations of the human condition. James warns us of the danger of arrogantly boasting of things concerning which we have no control, especially boasting of the future (Jas. 4:13-16). He plainly says, "All such boasting is evil." Peter had an idea in his own head of what their future would be, and what Jesus was saying did not fit with Peter’s agenda. He chose to not believe what Jesus was telling him, choosing instead a version of the future of his own imagination. (How often do we do that? For example, how often do we think we can escape consequences, even when God and others have told us of the dangers of risky behavior? We stubbornly, willfully choose to go on in our own way, ignoring wisdom and truth, believing the self-deception that somehow we will be immune from being caught? Remember what Galatians 6:7 says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; whatever a person sows this he or she will also reap." We may seem to "get away with it" in the short term, but in reality the fruit of our choices just has not caught up with us, yet. There is no sin without consequences. Will we choose to believe that, or will we choose to believe the lie?)

Jesus immediately recognized the source (or likeness) of this statement, and turned to face and deal with the suggestion. "Get behind Me, Satan!" The word, "satan" is carried over from the Hebrew and Aramaic words, which mean "adversary". Whether Jesus was saying that Satan himself was operating in Peter is not clear. Peter certainly was acting the part of an adversary, however. At this moment, just seconds after his great spiritual declaration of who Jesus was, Peter the foundation-stone had now become Peter the stumbling-block. Instead of being aligned with Christ (the cornerstone) and His mission, thereby finding his proper place in the building of God’s spiritual house (Eph. 2:19-22), and becoming an asset to the King and His Kingdom, Peter was like a stone out of place, lying in the middle of Jesus’ path to trip Him up.

Note the subtlety of the temptation. Peter took Jesus aside, where He could change His mind in private, and not feel the pressure of having to save face before His men. Peter’s words first came in a natural human emotional response, clothed in religious terminology. This could serve to confuse what was the clear directive from God, and begin to turn the heart to wish what God did not say. It was playing upon the natural desire for self-preservation (lust of the flesh), and the wish that it would not have to turn out as God had said. Beginning to pray for something that seems reasonable, when God has already told you differently, either directly or through His word, is an easy way for the enemy to turn our focus away from God and His will. We begin to focus on and listen for our desire, hoping that God will bless and honor that. Then, the line of Peter’s argument turned from emotional desire and questioning to a direct assault or contradiction of what God had said. In this case, the lie was directed against the clear message from God that Jesus would have to suffer and die.

Jesus correctly identified the source of Peter’s problem, "You are not thinking the things of God, but the things of men." God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not like ours. He often has an entirely different approach than ours. Temptation and sin always appeal to inner longings and desires (Jas. 1:14,15). We either keep our perspective in tune with God, or we wander off into error and eventually into sin. Jesus would not even begin to go there. Notice that He did not even reason with Peter. He simply said, "Get out of My way. Your thinking is not from God, but from men." He simply rejected the suggestion, and confirmed His commitment to continue in the Father’s plan.

The apostle Paul used the word picture of a soldier leading away a captive at the point of a spear to describe how we are to deal with thoughts that are contradictory to God’s truth, and would draw us away from obedience to His will (II Cor. 10:5). You don’t get "friendly" with the enemy. You don’t become familiar with him. You keep him on the correct end of your spear. You don’t let him wander about, to come back again at another time. You immediately address the wayward thought by calling it what it is (a lie, a "stumbling block"), and ordering it out of your mind. "You are not from God. Devil, you’re a liar! Get out of My way!"

The Importance of Following Through

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: August 14, 2005

The Importance of Following Through

by Dan Trygg

"And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. …For you have need of perseverance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. …Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us… …It is for discipline (training) that you endure"

Hebrews 6:11,12; 10:36; 12:1,7a

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."

James 1:22-25

"[they] captivate weak women having been weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

II Tim. 3:6,7

Last week we talked about discipline, the training process which God brings upon His children. The Lord desires to grow us up into the image of Christ, to make us like Him in character and in our intimacy with Him. From the get-go, Jesus called His followers to "disciplize" the nations, i.e., to make active followers of all peoples by baptizing new adherents and teaching them to do all that He said (Matt. 28:18-20). In other words, Jesus gave His appointed leaders an agenda to work out in training all who would identify with Him. We are all to be baptized as a sign of consecration to Him, and trained to follow Him in every way, …to do all that He said, not to pick and choose what we like and ignore what is inconvenient or distasteful to us.

Those first leaders took this charge very seriously. Jesus did not spell out precisely how they were to do this, but they had a pretty good idea what to do. They learned from Jesus’ example. They did with their disciples what they had experienced Jesus doing with them. It is not surprising, therefore, that we see that when people responded to the message of the Good News in those early days, they were "all upon the same thing" (Acts 2:44,47 in Greek, usually translated as "together" in most English translations).

What were they all doing?

They were devoting themselves (continuing unremittingly) to learning the doctrines of the apostles, to the sharing with one another, to the taking meals together, and to the prayers.

How often were they doing this?

Daily.

Where were they meeting?

In the back porch of the temple (large group) and in peoples’ homes (small groups). (Therefore, more than one meeting a day!)

What did this produce?

As they were instructed, and spent time together, they began to open their hearts to one another. As they became aware of needs among them, those who had the means began voluntarily to share with those who had needs. They experienced joy, and their hearts were filled with praise to God, and, because of their goodness to others, they found favor with people outside of these gatherings. The result: "the Lord added day by day the ones being saved upon the same thing." In other words, every day other people came to follow Jesus and joined these groups of believers who were seriously applying themselves to grow.

We introduced the Greek word, paideia, last week. It means "discipline" or "training". It usually referred to the instruction process of a father toward his children (Eph. 6:4; cf. Heb. 12:5-13), especially regarding the practical life-lesson training that involved both instruction and correction.

The word for "disciple" (mathetes) is from another word for learning, manthano.

Notice that the word for disciple, mathetes, begins like our English word, "mathematics". The unique flavor of the Greek word root is that it implies a methodical, practical, step-by-step, learn-by-doing approach. In the discipline of mathematics, training starts very basic, and builds upon what has been learned, adding new concepts and practicing them until some level of understanding and mastery is obtained (hopefully), then adding another step, etc.

A disciple is to be someone under discipline in two ways:
First, he or she is under the watchful eye of the heavenly Father, who will instruct through life-lessons and consequences (paideia); and secondly, he or she is an active follower who is methodically, day-by-day working a plan to learn, grow and implement truth into daily life (manthano).

This latter form of training and discipline is what we observe the disciples implementing in the early church at Jerusalem. They had a plan, and everyone was working that plan in order to grow and become trained.

The first form of discipline (paideia) is partially involuntary, in that the Father will bring lessons and consequences into the lives of His children, regardless of whether they are asking for them, or paying attention, or not. He exposes (reproves) sin and foolishness, and disciplines in this manner, because He loves us (Rev. 3:19). He wants to keep us from harm, and move us along toward growth, and so He brings these lessons and consequences upon us to propel us toward His will. There is a voluntary side to this, however. That has to do with our response to the discipline (paideia) of the Lord. If we reject this discipline, the consequences will get bigger, and we will experience more grief and loss. That is why the Scriptures exhort us to respond to the Lord’s discipline, so that "the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint (heavier consequences), but rather be healed" (Heb. 12:13). From the examples in the OT, we can observe that if we persist in rejecting the discipline of the Lord, He will increase the consequences upon our lives (e.g., Lev. 26:14-39; Deut. 28:15-68), …or He will give us what we are pursuing in place of Him, and we will experience spiritual dullness and loss (e.g., Psa. 106:15 – "He gave them their request, but sent leanness unto their soul"; Matt. 13:13-15). If we repent, and humbly return to Him and walk in His ways, He will have compassion and begin to open to us both His heart and His hand of blessing (Lev. 26:40-45; Deut. 30:1-20).

By contrast, the second kind of discipline, that is associated with active followers (mathetes) is strictly voluntary. We must choose to participate in those activities which will develop our spiritual life and character, and which will help us grow in our relationship with God.

These include such activities we see the early disciples doing.

(1.) We must devote ourselves (Strong words!) to learning the apostles’ teachings and understanding the Scriptures (II Tim. 3:16,17) so that we can understand who God is, what He has done and will do for us, and what He expects of us. We can learn and profit from the examples of God’s dealing with other people, recorded for us in the Scriptures (Rom. 15:4; I Cor. 10:11).

(2.) We are to devote ourselves to meeting and sharing together with other believers. The word translated as "fellowship" in Acts 2:42 is the Greek word, koinonia. It simply means "sharing", and implies making things that were privately held open and accessible to others. These "privately held" things could refer to either the thoughts and secrets of the heart (Acts 2:46 – lit., "they were taking their meals together in celebration and openness of heart"; cf. Eph. 4:25 – lit., "laying aside phoniness, speak what is real with those near you".) or to one’s possessions (Acts 2:44,45; 4:32-35; II Cor. 8,9). The purpose of church gatherings was originally to be not only a place of instruction, but also a place where we could share our needs, our struggles, our victories and blessings with one another. This was a major part of God’s plan for training His people, utilizing interactive, close-knit groups of support, accountability and service to build up one another. Most of the NT is written to such groups, and if you read the practical sections of Paul’s letters, you will find that most of what He writes addresses relationship issues with one another, because that is where the "rubber meets the road" so to speak. The growth edges of our lives will be revealed and strengthened if we will learn to operate as the Body of Christ together. A natural setting for opening up and getting real with one another was sitting around a table together sharing a meal. Something about table fellowship is different than more formal discussion. We tend to relax, get comfortable, and open up more when we regularly eat together. Acts 2:46 makes the connection between sharing food and sharing our hearts with one another.

(3.) We are to devote ourselves to prayer. We see that this was a significant part of what the early church did together (Acts 1:11-14; 2:42; 4:23-31; 12:5-19; 13:1-3; cf. Rom. 15:30-33; Eph. 6:18-20; Col. 4:2-4).

[One thing that is missing from the NT is the emphasis we have developed on having "worship services". The NT is void of any such concept. Why? Because, biblically, worship is a personal act of submission, reverence and commitment to honor and serve God. This is primarily a personal act, not a group "event". There is no record that the disciples met for "a worship service". When they met, the focus was primarily to build one another up. They sang songs to one another, they ministered by the Spirit to one another, etc., but they did not meet in order to worship God. That notion developed over church history, and comes out of more a sacrificial and liturgical approach to a God who still needs to be approached through sacrifice. Now, that is not to say that worship never happened, or that praising God did not take place (cf. I Cor. 14:25; Acts 2:47). When you study the Scriptures, you find that people bowed low and reverenced God in many different situations and settings. God is not looking for "worship services". He is looking for yielded committed people who will honor Him by their lives and actions, not just by words and songs.]

(4.) True disciples will devote themselves to developing growth and intimacy with God by any number of methods which the Lord may lead them to utilize. Whether it is fasting, giving, serving, solitude, study, or whatever means may be employed, those who are serious about their faith will invest in their spiritual lives to keep themselves stretching, growing and becoming useful to the Lord’s purposes.

In order for disciplines to be effective, they must be done repeatedly and consistently. Any effort is a seed sown toward the things of the Spirit, but we really need to be exercising ourselves to godliness by regular efforts and attendance (Gal. 6:7,8; I Tim. 4:7,8). We need to study the Scripture regularly. We need to be meeting with other believers regularly to share together and minister to one another. They say that 80% of life is showing up. We need (you need) consistency. (It is amazing how easily the enemy will run interference to keep us from showing up for meetings, or to distract us, or make us feel tired or sick, so we don’t follow through on the plan for growth we have been prompted by the Holy Spirit to pursue. These efforts become pretty obvious, when you notice the timing of them. Don’t allow the enemy to get you off track, or stop you from doing what you have sensed that God wanted you to do! Make a commitment and stick to it, "come hell or high water".) We must make the investment of seeking the Lord in prayer on a regular basis, both privately and when we meet together. Whatever plan we have to grow, we need to be working that plan with unremitting continuance. That is, we stay with it, day in and day out, without taking breaks. We keep at it with perseverance, because it is training us and building us.

Just a brief word about the last two references at the top of this study. It is possible to be learning information, and not be growing spiritually. It is possible to be doing religious activities and following spiritual disciplines while still remaining disconnected from practical application and growth. There are two key ideas in these verses.

First of all, we need to be implementing what we are learning. It is a common problem to have a disconnect between our learning and our doing. Some people tend to live in their head, and not make the transfer to their heart. It is a very common defense mechanism. You think and intend to do the right things, but you never actually do them. Just because you learned something, however, does not mean that you have changed anything. Just because you intend to do something different is not the same as actually doing it. The keys to making this transfer from the head to the heart are prayer (God gives the growth, after all – I Cor. 3:6,7) and choosing to put what we are learning into practice. Peter says, "add to your knowledge self-control" (II Pet. 1:6). If you think you may be suffering from this tendency, if you think you are always learning but having little success in making change, then write out a couple things that you really believe God wants you to address. Share that list with someone else who will hold you accountable, and will pray and encourage you through this.

Secondly, we need to deal with past sins and guilt. If not, the pain and denial of not addressing those issues may keep us spinning our wheels, spiritually. The same wall of shame and denial that keeps the pain at bay will keep us from being able to truly allow the grace of God to penetrate and heal our inner wounds. The phrase, "knowledge of the truth" in II Tim. 3:7 refers to a flash-of-insight, grasp-of-reality, breakthrough kind of knowledge (cf. Eph. 1:17; 4:13; Col. 1:9,10; 3:10). The Greek describes these people as "having been weighed down with sins". These can refer to sins having been done to the person, as well as sins they may have committed. Often the scarring of abuse causes us to close off part of our hearts in order to survive. We learn to shut off painful feelings and memories, ...or the messages we received in abusive relationships have distorted our sense of who we are. Unfortunately, those defense mechanisms and internalized shame messages also keep us from really opening up to the revealing work of the Spirit, as He attempts to show us the acceptance, love and grace which God has for us through Christ. God has given the tools and ability to begin to expose and tear down those walls that have been built up inside of us, so the true, healing knowledge of God can be experienced (II Cor. 10:3-5). Often those tools and abilities which God would use to help us are gifts which He has given to others in the Body (I Cor. 12; cf. Eph. 4:15,16), so we need to be open to ask for help. For past victims of abuse, it is often difficult to trust people, but this is one key method that can help us move past the barriers that keep us stuck.

The Chastening Love of God

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: August 7, 2005

The Chastening Love of God

by Dan Trygg

"‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 For you say, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing", not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and eyesalve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me. 21 The one who overcomes, I will grant him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’" Rev. 3:14-22

"It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as children. For what child is there whose father does not discipline him or her? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not His own. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:7-14

Many of us do not have a good handle on the distinction between discipline and punishment. Many of our parents had a punitive approach to dealing with our offenses. That is, the focus was on "if you did this offense, then you would get that punishment". There was more emphasis on the execution of revenge or retribution for our actions than on time taken to guide or instruct us so that a lesson would be learned. The focus was on "you’re gonna get it" or "you’re in trouble", rather than on "why you did what you did" or "what can you learn from this situation".

Because oftentimes parents have had this "punishment approach" and even disciplined in anger, the lesson we learned was more about avoiding punishment than about the importance and value of making right and good choices. We learned to be sneaky and devious. We learned to avoid punishment, …or we learned that we deserved to be punished and came to accept it as inevitable. We did not learn to correct our attitude, beliefs and behaviors so much as we learned to avoid acting out when we would get caught (saving those behaviors for a more private "safe" time).

There are different Greek words which are used in the NT for discipline or punishment.

One word, dike, is the basic word for justice and judgment. It is used in II Thess. 1:9 and Jude 1:7 to describe those who are under God’s judgment as a result of their actions.

Another derivative from this same word, ekdikesis, is used in II Cor. 7:11; 10:6; and I Pet. 2:14. The thrust of this word is even more emphatic than dike, and focuses on revenge and retribution. (In II Cor. 7:11, it is used in a positive sense of the desire to make full amends by righting the wrong.)

Again, the basic root for both of these two words is about justice, restoring an equitable balance, either by paying for damages or by exacting a suitable punishment.

A third word, timoria, refers to the action taken to help or avenge those who have been mistreated. The emphasis is to inflict penalties and punishment on those who deserve to be objects of wrath because of the evil way in which they have treated others. The thrust of the word is the satisfaction of the one inflicting the punishment. In other words, the punishment or painful consequences will continue to be meted out until the wrath of the avenger is satisfied. This word occurs in Heb. 10:29, where the one being abused is Jesus Himself. The writer of the book warns that those who would treacherously turn against the Lord, after having received His blessings, and would disregard the sacrifice of His blood on their behalf, make themselves worthy of such punishment. A very strong and solemn warning, indeed!

Another word, kolazo, was sometimes used in secular Greek for the pruning of vegetation, or for keeping things in bounds or under restraint. It was also used of correction, penalty and punishment. It occurs in II Pet. 2:9 and I Jn. 4:18. In the Peter passage, it is used of those who are kept under punishment until the day of judgment. John, however, tells us that those who really have grasped the reality of God’s love will no longer fear this kind of punishment. "Mature love casts out fear."

Absolutely none of these words are used in the sense of God disciplining or chastening His children. An entirely different word is used to describe that interaction. It is important to see, however, that words that convey more of a punitive orientation did exist in the language of the time, but that the Holy Spirit inspired the authors to not make use of any of these words when addressing the Father’s response toward us regarding discipline.

So, what is discipline, and how does it differ from these other words?

The word translated as discipline is the Greek word, paideia, which has an emphasis on instruction, training, teaching and guiding someone. Instead of simply punishing a bad behavior, or demanding retribution for hurt or damage, the focus of paideia is on developing the person.

The emphasis is on instruction, understanding, and learning a lesson in a healthy way. Not, "I’m going to teach you a lesson!" in an angry, punitive manner. Instead, the good instructor (paideutes) or guide (paidagogos = literally, a "child leader") took the time to draw lessons from life in order to teach and train the child, so that the healthy understanding, mindset and habitual conduct became established within their character and life habits.

The root word, paidion, referred to a child, slave or servant, or to anyone who was "under discipline" or "under training". Obviously, some parents, masters or trainers were more "enlightened" than others. Some were crude and abusive. In its best sense, however, the word, paideia, was not a negative term, but a positive one. The assumption was that the paidion was able to learn and grow, and that what was needed was instruction, drills, exercises, practice, feedback, life-lessons, consequences for poor choices or laziness, encouragement, good examples, affirmation, praise, and repetition.

The paideia was a development process that had an end point in mind. It was intensely practical, and focused on developing life skills, understanding and tested character. There were built-in protections as well as mediated consequences. The goal was not to punish bad behavior, nor even to simply allow the child to make destructive choices and learn from consequences. (Some destructive choices would be fatal. We try to protect our children from those. How often has God protected us from such consequences?) The goal was to develop a person who was equipped for their purpose and calling in life.

When examined from this perspective, both of the passages at the top of this study make a whole lot more sense. Both passages speak of discipline, not as something to be avoided, but as something to embrace. Sure, discipline is not fun. Sometimes it can be boring or even painful, but it is necessary to bring us to the next level in our personal and spiritual growth.

In the Revelations passage, note that the letter was written to an entire group of people, and it was preserved for all believers through the ages to benefit from. Why? Because we all are in danger of slipping into the self-satisfaction that the Laodicean people fell into. It is interesting to see that they did not accurately assess their spiritual condition. This is often the case with immaturity. People tend to think they are more adequate than they really are. They measure themselves by themselves (how much they have changed), or by others (how they compare with their peers), rather than with the true measuring standard, which is the character of Jesus and the intimacy with God He enjoyed (Eph. 4:13). We ought to compare ourselves with our Master, not our fellow-servants, to really see how we are doing (Matt. 10:24,25). Furthermore, the spiritual character and quality of one’s life are the true standards of success, not material prosperity.

[The Laodiceans thought that because they were wealthy and prosperous, they must be spiritually healthy and blessed of God. Instead of being commended, however, Jesus told them how spiritually impoverished they were. Like the rich young ruler, they needed to go deeper, and it was going to cost them something. Note that Jesus said they would have to "buy" what they needed. It was not simply going to drop down out of heaven on them. Possibly they, too, would be required to "sell what they have, and give to the poor", as Jesus had counseled the young ruler (Matt. 19:16-30). It is difficult for a wealthy person to enter the Kingdom of heaven. (Wealth is not always a sign of spiritual health. E.g., Psa. 17:13,14; Lk. 12:15-21. Cf. Matt. 8:20; I Cor. 4:9-13). It is certain that in order to go deeper, they would have to follow Jesus more closely, …and to do that, they had to be willing to give up all their possessions for Him (Matt. 19:21; cf. Lk. 14:27-33; Lk. 5:27,28).]

Another very important lesson to gather from these passages is that God’s discipline is always for our growth and benefit. For the ones having been trained and exercised by it, it will yield the "peaceful fruit of righteousness". It is because we are His children, and He loves us, that He takes an interest in working with us to help us grow and mature. He has high ideals in mind for us. He has saved us for a holy calling, a heavenly calling which begins here on earth (cf. II Tim. 1:9; Heb. 3:1). He wants us to partake of, or receive from, His holiness (Heb 12:10). Peter wrote that God has given us His power, His promises, and shares Himself with us so that we might become sharers of His divine nature (II Pet. 1:3,4). He has given us the "God-breathed" Scriptures to teach us, to expose our errors, to straighten us up again, and to train us (paideia) in righteousness, so that we would be equipped and prepared for every good work. Why? Because only then can we fulfill our destiny and calling. Only then can we accomplish the purpose for our existence. Only then are we able to fully do what He desires us to do here on this planet, and on into eternity. Discipline is a training process. It involves our choice, to a large extent. Peter laid out a series of steps that are necessary to "add to" our faith, in order to grow well (II Pet. 1:5-9).

The writer to the Hebrews tells us to rejoice, because the discipline of God is a sign that we are truly His. If we were not, we would not be convicted of sin, …we would not be nudged and pushed to go harder after Jesus, …we would not find ourselves coming back to face His call upon our lives over and over again. He keeps after us, because we are His, and He wants to grow us up. Furthermore, He knows exactly what He is doing. He is the perfect trainer for our souls. If we would cooperate with Him, we would grow fast and well. If we will not, then either we will experience harsher consequences, to motivate us to come back, or God will give us up to our choices, and we will miss out on His blessings. "Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord" is a warning, but a warning given in love. He wants us to overcome. He wants us to press through. He wants us to mature. Embrace the discipline of the Lord.