Committed
David Wildman
Director of Family and Discipleship at The Rock Community Church. Spending my life helping make disciples who make disciples.
I remember the moment I was in love with my wife. We stood outside her apartment staring at each other just waiting for the other one to say it first. Finally, we danced around it long enough and Sarah got me to say it. Some call us crazy to fall in love in a month and be engaged in 3 months. But the old saying holds true, "you know when you know." The moment I fell in love I was committed (heart, soul, and mind). I would do anything for Sarah and all I wanted to do was be with her and share life together.
The question I'd like to propose is: If the creator of all things desires to be in an intimate relationship with us, then why is commitment such a struggle in discipleship?
As I taught in Young Adults Ministry - I like to give the answer upfront and then backfill or state why this is my answer. I would tell them, "You can now leave." but for some reason, they would always stay! Haha!
My Answer: We commit out of love (Matthew 22:37-38) not out of tradition, religion, or authority. If our foundation for discipleship is based on anything other than love (our whole heart, soul, and mind - see Deuteronomy 11) for the Lord our God then we are devoted to discipleship for other reasons. Sure we "love God", but we're there because someone told us we had to attend, or because that's what everyone else was doing, or because that's what is "required" of me.
Side note: As you just read this some might be thinking that the commitment struggle starts at the church level. Dallas Willard said in his book Living in Christ's Presence, "Discipleship is not for the church. Actually, the church is for discipleship. Discipleship is for the world, the world that God so loved, that he has great hopes for and that he is going to bring great things out of. That's where discipleship belongs."
First, let's refrain (hold on a minute) from blaming "the church" for the commitment struggle. I use a saying in discipleship training, "you must own your faith." I can't own it for you i.e. tell you what to do, when to do it, etc. I can walk alongside and encourage, equip, and strengthen all while pointing you towards God's Word, but the individual must own their faith (i.e. they must love the Lord our God with their whole heart, whole soul, and whole mind). If "the church" isn't providing pathways for you to be discipled, then engage with "the church" and ask where can I find a pathway to be discipled.
Second, if you read that quote and said to yourself "I don't need church" then stop right there. Read a little further again... "the church is for discipleship." We cannot divorce the two. The church needs discipleship. The church is discipleship. Everything we do is about engaging one another in highly relational environments to encourage one another to:
Let's focus on "discipleship is for the world, the world that God so loved..."
The world's view of the word commit is one that is met with dislike or hesitation. We're a society that sells no contract commitments and bailouts. In a discipleship training, I asked the group their impressions of the word commit. One person commented, "obedience." Yikes! Let's not even get into the world's view on the word obedience. Commitment and obedience today are merely a suggestion. The world is selling anti-obedience... you be you agenda. No need to obey anything anyone is telling you. But by them telling them to be whomever they feel like being they are obeying (but again... another topic for another day).
Let's compare a biblical definition of commit VS. a secular definition:
The biblical definition starts with ownership - God (owner - authority). God is inviting us into and entrusting us to be His hands and feet if we commit our lives (turn over - be reborn - repent and believe) to His way of living. The world's definition is vague and doesn't signify ownership. It gives freedom to whomever. Anyone can commit to anything, to any length of time (the person sets what they deem as completion), and to whatever varying degree of difficulty or level of morality.
It's no wonder that we struggle with commitment when it comes to discipleship. We're operating on a bad definition of commitment. We're operating on how "I" will commit to Christianity/discipleship and then we jump into the Bible and we start reading about all these laws and regulations leaving us to abandon ship (the person deemed it too difficult to complete).
Commit means:
To follow - we've repented and believe. We not only follow in the footsteps of the spirit (Gal. 5:24-26) but we bear witness to His good news. "Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
To bind - In Deuteronomy 6 Moses calls the people of Israel to love the Lord their God (one god - no golden calves or anything else - see Exodus 32) with their whole being (heart, soul, and mind). They are to bind up all of them with Him so He will be their all-consuming passion and desire. Matthew Henry puts it best in his commentary on Matthew 6:19 - "We must therefore take heed of hypocrisy and worldly-mindedness, in the choice we make of our treasure, our end, and our masters." To bind our lives to the Lord is to turn from the treasures and masters (men/authority) of this world. We are focused on heaven above and until then we are to be about His work (Matt. 28:16-20) here on earth. He is the thing we desire when we wake up and the thing we thank in the evening for provision, preparedness, and refuge. He is the only thing we bind ourselves to. He is our only source - nothing else can consume us.
To trust - If the source is corrupt then what do we normally do with it? Throw it out or attempt to fix it. In this situation God chose not to throw it out - He's fixed it and is fixing you and I. Look at what the NIV Quest Study Bible Notes have to say, "God’s wisdom does not usually clash with common sense. But common sense alone often isn’t enough to give the needed direction for a particular decision. That’s why filling our minds with the perfect Word of God is so important (Ps 18:30). By grounding our common sense in God’s Word, we rely on him, not ourselves." We can not trust on our own understanding to fix the corrupt source. We MUST bind ourselves to Him and trust in His daily work in our lives.
To engage - I love how the New Bible Commentary puts it regarding the conduct of Paul's ministry in 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, "Presented in a straightforward way, and in reliance upon the Spirit, the word of God will achieve the results for which God sends it forth (cf.?Is. 55:10–11)." We engage (live out and share God's Word) according to the Spirits leading not adding to or taking away from God's Word. The power and authority to engage is found in Him. We are weak vessels who can easy be broken. Let us follow in His footsteps (for strength, understanding, wisdom, and encouragement) to engage this world.
To practice - “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt. 7:24). NIV Application Commentary on James 1:19-27 teaches us, "But hearing alone is insufficient. To hear and not to take action is to lie to oneself." We are hearing God's Word (rock - foundation) and we must build a house (practice what we read in God's Word) on this. To simply pour a solid foundation and walk away and build a house on sand is foolish. That's ignoring the coaches advice and practicing tennis with a putter. We practice what we read, learn (what has been taught), and what is preached (on Sunday morning). That is building a house on a solid foundation - not practicing tennis with a putter.
To reenact - or to imitate. Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ." We no longer imitate the world. We died to our way of living (world) and live new in Christ (put on a new life - Col. 3:1-17). Believer's Bible Commentary reinforces this in the commentary of 1 Corinthians 11:1, "He renounced personal advantages (ways of the world) and rights in order to help those about him." The freedom in Christ is not to be wasted - we must practice what God's Word teaches us i.e. imitate good and faithful men and women of Christ as they imitate Christ.
To accomplish - as my wife would say, "Let's make heaven crowded." In order to make heaven crowded we can't be complacent, idle, or backsliding. 1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV teaches us, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives?the prize? So?run that you may obtain it." We don't run this race of faith to lose. NIV First-Century Study Bible notes "If you have worked hard enough to render yourself worthy of going to Olympia, if you have not been idle or ill-disciplined, then go with confidence; but those who have not trained in this fashion, let them go where they will." We work hard, we are not idle or ill-disciplined, we go with confidence that one day we will be with our loved ones and Father in heaven to hear the words, "well done good and faithful servant
Discipleship is not meant to be kept inside the four walls of the church. The church is the invitation, the breading grounds (teaching and preaching - the growth from infant believer to mature believer), and the source of sending people back out into the world (their mission field - work, neighborhoods, families, etc.). I believe this is where commitment in discipleship falls apart - sending.
Final Thought: Discipleship isn't about behavioral modification. It's about spiritual formation - a process of transforming the person into Christlikeness thus changing the source of the behavior so the behavior will take care of itself.
"The purpose of good works isn't to change us or save us; rather, it's the demonstration of the change within us." - A.W. Tozer
A couple of quotes to reflect on from Dallas Willard - Living in Christ's Presence
"The person who has the easiest, the happiest, the strongest life is the person who walks in the yoke with Christ. Only as we do that do we begin to draw the strength and direction that straightens out everything that is wrong in human existence."
"The best place to make disciples in the United States is in church, because there are always people there who are hungering for discipleship. They are really looking for it."
"We are not sent out without equipment. We are sent out with all the equipment we can possibly use, and as we go, we make disciples."
"The church as the gathering of disciples is God's ideal way of bringing people to the fullness of Christ."
"I am just saying that we need to tell our young people, "Follow Jesus, and if you can find a better way than him, he would be the first to tell you to take it."
"Discipleship isn't complicated. It is all laid out. We simply have to start with the beginning, which is Christ's authority over everything in heaven and earth, and we make disciples. We don't make Lutherans. We don't make Baptists. We don't make Catholics. We don't make Protestants. Make disciples of the Baptists, of the Lutherans, of the Catholics - of all the groups make disciples; and they will com together to form the body of Christ where they are."
"Authentic transformation is possible if we are willing to do one thing and that is to arrange our lives around the kind of practices and life Jesus led to be constantly receiving power and love from the Father."
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