“Do Well” - Purity 837
Purity 837 09/15/2022 Purity 837 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo a of breath taking forest scene of a short
shoreline path leading to the splendor of the heavens reflected in surface of
Lewey Lake comes to us from a friend who is vacationing in the heart of the Adirondacks
and shared this photo on social media on Monday.
Well it is Thursday again and our friends photo is
so awesome I decided to use my imagination and see that narrow space between
those rocks and the grass as a pathway that looks like it could somehow take us
into heaven itself like some upside down portal to God’s kingdom.
I look to share pathways on Thursdays as tradition
now to encourage people to get on or stay on the path of Christian
discipleship, which is my way of saying we should follow the call and example
of Jesus with the way we live.
Why? Do I have a church? Am I looking for donations?
No, the reason why I encourage people to follow
Christ is because for most of my life I didn’t and I suffered because I lived
only to please and affirm myself. It
turns out my wisdom wasn’t very wise and my philosophy of life to “do whatever
I want” and to “break rules but not get caught” lead to a addiction, depression, anger,
anxiety, and hopelessness. My decision to
build my life around the things “I like”
was doomed to failure in a world that constantly changes and where even the
activities and things we love the most can lose their luster and ability to
satisfy us over time, and especially when we live independently of God.
The questions of “why am I here?” Or “what is the
meaning of life?” are never satisfactorily answered when we fail to consider
God, although people will try.
“Life is about family”
“Life is about what you do, your work.”
“Life is about having enough to provide for security
and fun.”
“Life is about the people you love.”
While all of these statements have elements of truth
and can be a part of a “happy” life on earth, they don’t address eternity and
they don’t address the concept of “right and wrong”.
How are we to determine the answers to those
questions. What happens after this life? How should I live my life?
My silly self serving philosophies of life before coming
to Christ were all based on things a I had seen others do in the world, either
in person, on T.V. or in books. Those
are all worldly wisdom sources and like any good lie that would lead you astray
they contain some truth.
My exposure to religion in my youth introduced me to
God and Christ but it seemed like a separate thing, that we visited once in a
while, that had good ideas but that weren’t really practical in the “real world”.
Christianity seemed just like another option of life that I could consider and
choose to accept or reject and because it’s commandments seemed to limit my
freedom from things “I wanted to do!”, I decided that it was better to believe
it was not true rather than to consider the consequences of living outside of
obedience to it’s “rules.”
But as I stated turning away from God did nothing to
give me peace, meaning, or purpose.
Without Him everything was debatable and with God nothing really mattered. In the atheistic worldview that I held,
there was no life after death. There were no rules other than those society
instituted to control us and there was no “justice” because people literally
would get away with murder and get rich from criminal means.
Thankfully God revealed Himself to me, and to all of
us with His word and in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
When I heard the gospel message that saved my life,
all those perplexing questions of life, meaning, purpose and debates about how
to live were answered.
Why are we here? God made the heavens and the earth
and made man in His image to have dominion over it.
What happens to us after death? God is waiting in eternity to meet us and He
will accept those who put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior into His
kingdom.
How should we live?
According to the word of God and the example of Christ.
What’s right? What’s wrong? God’s word teaches us that and when we fail
to follow it we suffer the consequences.
From these questions and answers, you could condemn
yourself because you could see the implications that if you fail to make Christ
your Lord and Savior and live according to God’s word that will be punished and
you might not think that is fair, like I did, so you will make up your own
rules and make your own “gospel” about what happens in eternity or adopted some
worldly or other religion that is more palatable.
But instead of being angry or afraid of God because
of the possibility that we won’t believe or follow Him, I invite people to
discover what happens when we do believe what the word of God says, when we do
put our faith in Christ, and when we do try to live in God’s ways.
I was so busy rebelling against God and any
authority, really, that I never stopped to consider what would happen if I did
believe, or I did obey.
In
Genesis 4:6-7 (NKJV) God
said to Cain:
6 … "Why are you angry?
And why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, will you
not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its
desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
It took me
most of my life and a radical encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I
have come to know that I was busy “not doing well” and subsequently “sin” ruled
over me. Instead of turning from it, I
turned to sin again and again and suffered greatly.
But by the grace of God, the Lord showed me that if
simply followed Him He would take away my guilt, my shame, my pain and in it’s
place give me peace, love, and the joy that comes from knowing that this life
has a meaning and a purpose that is defined and established by God and by
choosing to live by it and for it.
I’m still a work in progress because I am continuing
to discover that the simple injunction to “do well” by God applies to every
area of my life. That could seem
daunting but as I have walked with Him since 2010 I discovered that His all encompassing
command to “do well” when obeyed results in blessings and peace.
So keep walking and talking with God. If you don’t have peace, consider surrendering
your will for His. Consider making the daily decision to stop living according
to your own philosophies and choose to “do well” by living with God and by living
the way He would have you go.
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Well once again I spent some time this morning preparing for tonight’s presentation for the Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Course I am doing on Zoom for the mt4Christ247 podcast and the MT4Christ247 YouTube channel and, so my time is limited again and we will skip the verse of the day for today but hope to share one from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men” again tomorrow.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s
“Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
Chapter Two
The
Call to Discipleship
“As Jesus was walking along, he saw Levi
son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And
he got up and followed him” (Mark 2:14).
The call goes out,
and without any further ado the obedient deed of the one called follows. The
disciple’s answer is not a spoken confession of faith in Jesus. Instead, it is
the obedient deed. How is this direct relation between call and obedience
possible? It is quite offensive to natural reason. Reason is impelled to reject
the abruptness of the response. It seeks something to mediate it; it seeks an
explanation. No matter what, some sort of mediation has to be found,
psychological or historical. Some have asked the foolish question whether the
tax collector had known Jesus previously and therefore was prepared to follow his
call. But the text is stubbornly silent on this point; in it, everything
depends on call and deed directly facing each other. The text is not interested
in psychological explanations for the faithful decisions of a person. Why not?
Because there is only one good reason for the proximity of call and deed: Jesus Christ himself. It is he who
calls. That is why the tax collector follows. This encounter gives witness to
Jesus’ unconditional, immediate, and inexplicable authority. Nothing precedes
it, and nothing follows except the obedience of the called. Because Jesus is
the Christ, he has authority to call and to demand obedience to his word. Jesus
calls to discipleship, not as a teacher and a role model, but as the Christ,
the Son of God. Thus, in this short text Jesus Christ and his claim on people
are proclaimed, and nothing else. No praise falls on the disciple or on his
espoused Christianity. Attention should not fall to him, but only to the one
who calls, to his authority. Not even a path to faith, to discipleship, is
aimed at; there is no other path to faith than obedience to Jesus’ call.
What is said about
the content of discipleship? Follow me, walk behind me! That is all. Going
after him is something without specific content. It is truly not a program for
one’s life which would be sensible to implement. It is neither a goal nor an
ideal to be sought. It is not even a matter for which, according to human
inclination, it would be worth investing anything at all, much less oneself.
And what happens? Those called leave everything they have, not in order to do
something valuable. Instead, they do it simply for the sake of the call itself,
because otherwise they could not walk behind Jesus. Nothing of importance is
attached to this action in itself. It remains something completely
insignificant, unworthy of notice. The bridges are torn down, and the followers
simply move ahead. They are called away and are supposed to “step out” of their
previous existence, they are supposed to “exist” in the strict sense of the
word. Former things are left behind; they are completely given up. The disciple
is thrown out of the relative security of life into complete insecurity (which
in truth is absolute security and protection in community with Jesus); out of
the foreseeable and calculable realm (which in truth is unreliable) into the
completely unforeseeable, coincidental realm (which in truth is the only
necessary and reliable one); out of the realm of limited possibilities (which
in truth is that of unlimited possibilities) into the realm of unlimited
possibilities (which in truth is the only liberating reality). Yet that is not
a general law; it is, rather, the exact opposite of all legalism. Again, it is
nothing other than being bound to Jesus Christ alone. This means completely
breaking through anything preprogrammed, idealistic, or legalistic. No further
content is possible because Jesus is the only content. There is no other
content besides Jesus. He himself is it.
So the call to
discipleship is a commitment solely to the person of Jesus Christ, a breaking
through of all legalisms by the grace of him who calls. It is a gracious call,
a gracious commandment. It is beyond enmity between law and gospel. Christ
calls; the disciple follows. That is grace and commandment in one. “I walk
joyfully, for I seek your commands” (Ps. 119:45).
Discipleship is
commitment to Christ. Because Christ exists, he must be followed. An idea about
Christ, a doctrinal system, a general religious recognition of grace or
forgiveness of sins does not require discipleship. In truth, it even excludes
discipleship; it is inimical to it. One enters into a relationship with an idea
by way of knowledge, enthusiasm, perhaps even by carrying it out, but never by
personal obedient discipleship. Christianity without the living Jesus Christ
remains necessarily a Christianity without discipleship; and a Christianity
without discipleship is always a Christianity without Jesus Christ. It is an
idea, a myth. A Christianity in which there is only God the Father, but not
Christ as a living Son actually cancels discipleship. In that case there will
be trust in God, but not discipleship. God’s Son became human, he is the mediator—that is why discipleship is the
right relation to him. Discipleship is bound to the mediator, and wherever
discipleship is rightly spoken of, there the mediator, Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, is intended. Only the mediator, the God-human, can call to discipleship.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the
mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available
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Audible.com.
These teachings are also available on the
MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured
Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and
to be encouraged.
My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian
encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on
Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship,
ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 57–59.
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