Till We Are Home

In my last post, I outlined some general principles and considerations with respect to discipleship. In our churches, the more mature in the faith should be discipling the younger, helping them to follow Jesus. And our hope for one another is the other’s greatest good – more of Jesus Christ. The thing about discipleship, though, is that you have to be present to receive the benefits of discipleship. 

Is there anyone in the faith, if asked, who would say they do NOT want to grow more in Christ? Anyone who would NOT want to be further helped to grow in and love Christ? If I’m right, and someone is truly born again, then I’d venture to say that no one would say ‘no’ to having help growing in their affections for and maturing in Christ. In Christ, we are saved by the blood of Christ alone. His perfect life and death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins. Further, He grants us new life in Him through regeneration or being born again. 

However, we are not saved to be alone…

We are not saved into a kind of “Lone Ranger” Christianity that keeps our faith private, that stays home to worship God alone. 

No, instead we are saved into a body of believers for we were not meant to go at this life alone. But, then, the question may come as to how do you obtain this help?

Dive in.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said this about the community of believers in his book Life Together, “What determines our brotherhood is what that man is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. This is true not merely at the beginning, as though in the course of time something else were to be added to our community; it remains so for all the future and to all eternity. I have community with others and I shall continue to have it only through Jesus Christ. The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us. We have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we do have one another, wholly, for eternity.”

This is a beautiful and poignant thought, and something I feel we especially in the Western church need to hear and understand more. Bonhoeffer points out that our gathering together as a community or body of believers is meant to strip us of the world and our sinful selves and give us more of Christ as we grow deeper together. We should not view gathering together with the saints negatively as if I just “have to” do this. We shouldn’t avoid church because of past hurts or pain for we will have each other wholly for eternity which is a gift from Christ Himself. And, our gathering together is a means of discipleship to strip us of our sin and deepen our love and faith in Christ as Bonhoeffer said.

Also, when you look in Scripture, we see that growing in Christ happens when we look at and to others. 

1 Thessalonians 1:4-7, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”

From this passage we see a few things. In verse 5, Paul says the Thessalonians knew what kind of men they were. How could they have that knowledge unless they were close to Paul and the other leaders? Then, after watching Paul and the leaders, what did they do? The Thessalonian believers imitated them. They watched and imitated. You can’t successfully imitate someone unless you are close enough to see, observe, and watch them. Finally, by watching their examples in Paul of a godly life, they in turn become examples and disciple others in verse 7. 

We see this modeling behavior in several other texts, such as Philippians 4:9, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Therefore, it is pretty clear from a biblical principle, discipleship will happen as we follow those more mature in Christ, as we watch how they live, as we understand the model they put forth of a godly life, and as we hear and understand what they teach. And, the only way to do this is to be close. We are to be in community with one another in order to watch and hear and learn. 

Sure, you can watch or listen to great sermons preached from your favorite preachers online like many of us are apt to do these days. There’s goodness in hearing the Word proclaimed like this. But this particular avenue of growing in the knowledge of the Lord is not meant to be the vine we receive sustenance from. You won’t truly grow in Christ unless you attend a local body of believers.

However, don’t stop there for it’s not just about attending…it’s being involved in each other’s life. We are to be hospitable…so, invite people into your homes. Watch how they handle the everyday events of life like their interactions with their spouse, kids, handling difficult things, etc. Also, check in with one another and see how their week is going. Listen to what they say and how they tell you about their week. Then, follow-up with them afterwards to hear how events unfolded and how they feel about them.

Lastly, please allow me one more plug for being involved. At the end of the day, no one can know you have a need unless you are present. 

I mentioned this above, but I fear much of our reasoning for not attending church or especially for not digging deeper with others is based on past church hurt. Churches are full of sinners…redeemed sinners, but still sinners who are still trying to figure out life themselves. With that will come many opportunities for broken relationships, unkind words, unnecessary looks, misunderstood body language, and more. 

I understand feeling hurt by others in the church because there hasn’t been a church we’ve been involved in where there was not hurt at some point along the way. We, just like probably all of you, have experienced hurt in varying degrees from brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes those experiences have driven us nearly to the point of wanting to walk away. 

However, let me offer some encouragement. Like in any family, hurt will come. But we can find great help from the Lord to bind those wounds if we allow Him to do so and respond in humility. For, I believe that our enemy stalks around like a roaring lion looking to devour the good that Christ does, especially against the unity of His bride. John Bunyan said in his book Prayer, “Alas, how many poor souls are there in the world that truly fear the Lord, who, because they are not well informed in their understanding, are often ready to give up all for lost, upon almost every trick and temptation of Satan!” He’s talking about prayer here; however, I think his point applies to our discussion as well. Let us not give up all for lost and fall for Satan’s tricks and temptations even through his work to disunify the church. 

Instead, dive in. First off, if you are not regularly plugged into the community of believers, you will miss out on at least the common delivery of discipleship. Paul told the church of Ephesus that the elders are “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” How are the elders to do that work for you if you are not here?

Secondly, as you gather and participate in the ministries of this body of believers, one of the tasks assigned to the leaders of the church is to keep watch over your souls according to Hebrews 13:17. As elders, we are held accountable by the Lord for this. So we watch over you through direct interaction as well as through the other leaders tasked with your care. In that watchcare, we look for those who need help growing in the Lord. But how can any leader do this unless you are present?

Our hope is that the mature believers in our churches will be active in pursuing relationships with those younger to help bring them up in the faith. They can only do that when you are present. 

So, plug in, be a part of the community of believers in your local church. 

Finally, and it’ll be the last thing I say on this topic (for now)…if you desire to be more closely shepherded in the faith, you don’t always have to wait for someone to approach you. It would be so encouraging to the more mature believers in your church to hear you ask, “would you be willing to disciple me?” So, watch those in your community around you at church, find an older saint who you want to emulate, then go and ask them to help you love Christ more.

Dive in, brother or sister…be connected to others within your church family and find help for your soul – and be the help for other younger souls!! – to love the Lord more and more…

Till we are home…