i promised myself i'd be in bed on time, so i'll crank through as much of this as i can...
the relationship of grace and discipline has been on my mind a lot lately.
my youngest brother and some of his friends decided to gather high schoolers from church and have a good friday service at our house this year. and i guess they liked it a lot so they decided to have a "good friday" every month. he asked me to talk at it this time around and this is the topic i ended up talking about...
i was trying to think what to talk about a few days before... and these thoughts about grace and discipline all just sort of came together... things i've been learning, old ideas, new ones...
i've also been reading through this book called "the vision and the vow" by pete greig. this guy is one of my heroes. he started "24-7 prayer international" and (to my knowledge) has written two books. the guy is incredible... so wise and yet so ordinary. real. i wish i could meet him in person. or even hear him speak, if he does that sort of thing...
anyways, i'm re-reading his book, and he starts talking about the same thing! last time i read all the way through this book was at the end of high school... before my encounter with navigators, before my discovery of the true meaning of discipleship.
so... all this to say, i want to share a few things that are on my mind...
discipline isn't a fun word. nor is work. particularly hard work. and it can also be a sticky word. wouldn't want to be too legalistic right?
legalism.
something i've always struggled with. both being legalistic and trying to figure out what that really means. can you be a christian and not do anything? for the sake of time i won't elaborate... hopefully you're tracking here. maybe you experience this as well? clearly the bible insists that we are saved by grace alone. but there's something else there... something clearly missing if we stop there.
james said that faith without works is dead- it's not real faith at all. paul says to 'put on' the new self- it doesn't just happen automatically. Jesus said that those who truly love Him will take up their cross and follow Him.
i think i've found answers for these questions over the years. but never have i understood so clearly as i do now.
it's tempting to think of it as a balance. on one end it's possible to rely completely on "faith" (the supposedly dead kind). to focus so much of my heart on God's grace... and forget the rest. on the other hand, it's possible to treat grace as a wage that must be worked for. repaid. so maybe the answer lies in finding the right balance?
that's how i've always been tempted to think. and i finally see how wrong that is.
another of my heroes, dietrich bonhoeffer wrote:
"happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship."
discipleship is the life which springs from grace. wow.
you see, as a child i relied on my parents for everything. and oh how they loved me! they gladly fed me, sheltered me, protected me, played with me, loved me.
yet they expected me to grow up. what kind of loving parent doesn't desire for their child to mature? i am moving into a place in life where i will no longer rely on my parents. every year, every day is another step in that direction. in fact, one day (God willing) i too will have a child. and i will be the one that my child relies on. i will be a father.
this is what discipleship is. this is what so many christians are missing out on.
we preach the grace of Jesus, as we should!
grace is the seed.
yet discipleship is so poorly preached.
and so the church is made up of so many children and so few parents.
children. dependent ones. relying on others for... most everything.
unable to reproduce.
to be parents to others.
in his book pete told a story about a young gifted leader who is having a hard time praying for others. his friends tell him nice things trying to encourage him- telling him not to beat himself up. (which he was partly doing)
but pete calls the guy out. what if God really is challenging the guy to pray more? what if he just needs get on his knees and to do it? Jesus challenged his disciples by degrees as they grew in their understanding and ability to respond. as they matured. and this guy wasn't a child.
this summer i hope to get in better physical shape. i need to eat better. and i need to lift weights and run. it's always something i've dreaded. i have friends- some of you maybe- who love to work out. but i just don't.
however, just because it's unpleasant to me for a time... just because it takes extra effort to make it happen... just because part of me doesn't want to do it... does that mean it's wrong? am i being too hard on myself? of course not!
have you ever seen somebody on a diet and told them they should give up? "you like the taste of doughnuts, why are you trying? it's not what you want, just give up." cause if you did you're a jerk.
the truth is, there is something higher than the discipline itself. some greater good. some higher passion.
for it is by grace i have been saved. ephesians 2 says that God saved me because he loved me. he is rich in mercy... so he made me alive in Jesus. Jesus said that we must be born again, and paul explains that through Jesus "the old has gone and the new has come."
grace is my new beginning. new birth. new life. a new heart.
many new things.
including new desires.
new passion.
but who is born as a wise old man?
all who are born begin as children.
little children.
they must be nurtured at first.
fed milk.
and...
children must mature.
they must be taught discipline.
they must learn to take care of themselves.
don't get me wrong Jesus is forever our bread.
but they learn to get bread for themselves instead of relying on someone else to put it in their mouths.
what kind of gracious father would allow his son to go on living like a little boy forever? what kind of loving mother would breastfeed her son years after he is born? sorry for the imagery... but is that what we want from our Father? is that the kind of grace that you want to live in?
my God has given me a grace bigger than that. it is not just a grace that forgives and makes me new. it is also a grace which disciplines. teaches. rebukes. corrects. trains. it is a grace which makes me a new man- not a new boy. to paraphrase paul, it is a grace which doesn't just begin a new work, but one that carries it to completion until Jesus comes for me.
and one day... the child becomes a man. a man capable of having children of his own.
this is discipleship.
this is where grace leads.
the relationship of grace and discipline has been on my mind a lot lately.
my youngest brother and some of his friends decided to gather high schoolers from church and have a good friday service at our house this year. and i guess they liked it a lot so they decided to have a "good friday" every month. he asked me to talk at it this time around and this is the topic i ended up talking about...
i was trying to think what to talk about a few days before... and these thoughts about grace and discipline all just sort of came together... things i've been learning, old ideas, new ones...
i've also been reading through this book called "the vision and the vow" by pete greig. this guy is one of my heroes. he started "24-7 prayer international" and (to my knowledge) has written two books. the guy is incredible... so wise and yet so ordinary. real. i wish i could meet him in person. or even hear him speak, if he does that sort of thing...
anyways, i'm re-reading his book, and he starts talking about the same thing! last time i read all the way through this book was at the end of high school... before my encounter with navigators, before my discovery of the true meaning of discipleship.
so... all this to say, i want to share a few things that are on my mind...
discipline isn't a fun word. nor is work. particularly hard work. and it can also be a sticky word. wouldn't want to be too legalistic right?
legalism.
something i've always struggled with. both being legalistic and trying to figure out what that really means. can you be a christian and not do anything? for the sake of time i won't elaborate... hopefully you're tracking here. maybe you experience this as well? clearly the bible insists that we are saved by grace alone. but there's something else there... something clearly missing if we stop there.
james said that faith without works is dead- it's not real faith at all. paul says to 'put on' the new self- it doesn't just happen automatically. Jesus said that those who truly love Him will take up their cross and follow Him.
i think i've found answers for these questions over the years. but never have i understood so clearly as i do now.
it's tempting to think of it as a balance. on one end it's possible to rely completely on "faith" (the supposedly dead kind). to focus so much of my heart on God's grace... and forget the rest. on the other hand, it's possible to treat grace as a wage that must be worked for. repaid. so maybe the answer lies in finding the right balance?
that's how i've always been tempted to think. and i finally see how wrong that is.
another of my heroes, dietrich bonhoeffer wrote:
"happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship."
discipleship is the life which springs from grace. wow.
you see, as a child i relied on my parents for everything. and oh how they loved me! they gladly fed me, sheltered me, protected me, played with me, loved me.
yet they expected me to grow up. what kind of loving parent doesn't desire for their child to mature? i am moving into a place in life where i will no longer rely on my parents. every year, every day is another step in that direction. in fact, one day (God willing) i too will have a child. and i will be the one that my child relies on. i will be a father.
this is what discipleship is. this is what so many christians are missing out on.
we preach the grace of Jesus, as we should!
grace is the seed.
yet discipleship is so poorly preached.
and so the church is made up of so many children and so few parents.
children. dependent ones. relying on others for... most everything.
unable to reproduce.
to be parents to others.
in his book pete told a story about a young gifted leader who is having a hard time praying for others. his friends tell him nice things trying to encourage him- telling him not to beat himself up. (which he was partly doing)
but pete calls the guy out. what if God really is challenging the guy to pray more? what if he just needs get on his knees and to do it? Jesus challenged his disciples by degrees as they grew in their understanding and ability to respond. as they matured. and this guy wasn't a child.
this summer i hope to get in better physical shape. i need to eat better. and i need to lift weights and run. it's always something i've dreaded. i have friends- some of you maybe- who love to work out. but i just don't.
however, just because it's unpleasant to me for a time... just because it takes extra effort to make it happen... just because part of me doesn't want to do it... does that mean it's wrong? am i being too hard on myself? of course not!
have you ever seen somebody on a diet and told them they should give up? "you like the taste of doughnuts, why are you trying? it's not what you want, just give up." cause if you did you're a jerk.
the truth is, there is something higher than the discipline itself. some greater good. some higher passion.
for it is by grace i have been saved. ephesians 2 says that God saved me because he loved me. he is rich in mercy... so he made me alive in Jesus. Jesus said that we must be born again, and paul explains that through Jesus "the old has gone and the new has come."
grace is my new beginning. new birth. new life. a new heart.
many new things.
including new desires.
new passion.
but who is born as a wise old man?
all who are born begin as children.
little children.
they must be nurtured at first.
fed milk.
and...
children must mature.
they must be taught discipline.
they must learn to take care of themselves.
don't get me wrong Jesus is forever our bread.
but they learn to get bread for themselves instead of relying on someone else to put it in their mouths.
what kind of gracious father would allow his son to go on living like a little boy forever? what kind of loving mother would breastfeed her son years after he is born? sorry for the imagery... but is that what we want from our Father? is that the kind of grace that you want to live in?
my God has given me a grace bigger than that. it is not just a grace that forgives and makes me new. it is also a grace which disciplines. teaches. rebukes. corrects. trains. it is a grace which makes me a new man- not a new boy. to paraphrase paul, it is a grace which doesn't just begin a new work, but one that carries it to completion until Jesus comes for me.
and one day... the child becomes a man. a man capable of having children of his own.
this is discipleship.
this is where grace leads.
