The Call to Discipleship

Bonhoeffer- Chapter 1 - Costly Grace.   (This chapter finished)

Chapter 2 - The Call to Discipleship (Begun)

'It has becoming clear every day that the most urgent problem besetting our church is this: How can we live the Christian life in the modern world?'

My thoughts-  This is an urgent problem besetting ALL of us, isn't it? Seriously, we all look so much like the world that we are definitely not set apart from it, and if we look like the rest of the world does that mean we've conformed to the worldly ways and accepted CHEAP grace rather than COSTLY grace? Bonhoeffer asks this question many years ago and it's still relevant for us right now, in fact, more relevant than ever before as the world calls evil good in so many, many ways.

'Happy are they who have reached the end of the road we seek to tread, who are astonished to discover the by no means self-evident truth that grace is costly just because it is the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Happy are the simple followers of Jesus Christ who have been overcome by his grace, and are able to sing the praises of the all-sufficient grace of Christ with humbleness of heart. Happy are they who, knowing that grace, can live in the world without being of it, who by following Jesus Christ, are so assured of their heavenly citizenship that they are truly free to live their lives in this world. Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship.  Happy are they who have become Christians in this sense of the word. For them the word of grace has proved a fount of mercy.'

My thoughts- Truth.

Chapter 2 - 'The Call to Discipleship.'

Mar 2:14  And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.

'Because Jesus is the Christ, he has the authority to call and to demand obedience to his word.'

'The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity (that is, in truth, into the absolute security and safety of the fellowship of Jesus), from a life which is observable and calculable (it is, in fact, quite incalculable) into a life where everything is unobservable and fortuitous (that is, into one which is necessary and calculable), out of the realm of finite (which is the one liberating reality). Again it is no universal law. Rather it is the exact opposite of all legality. It is nothing else than bondage to Jesus Christ alone, completely breaking through every programme, every ideal, every set of laws. No other significance is possible, since Jesus is the only significance. Beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters. When we are called to follow Christ, we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to his person.'

My thoughts-

Jesus is the only significance.  TRUTH!  Yet we spend countless number of hours believing so much else in life is significant. We are actually raised to believe that we- outside of Jesus- are significant. We are told we are special. We are raised believing just because we exist we have rights. We are told that we deserve to be treated with respect no matter who we are, and we tell others the same. We build people up and make them believe that no matter what they are important all on their own.  It's not true, but instantly doesn't that statement want to make you contend that it is true?  We are NOT important in and of ourselves. We are important ONLY because God loves us, and for no other reason. Our significance exists ONLY because our SAVIOR, our CREATOR exists.  Without our Creator we would not exist at all but people have gone to great lengths to deny that we even have a Creator. Unfortunately, tragically even, many people believe those who would tell them they have no Creator, no God who created them, who spoke them into being.  They believe that since we propagate ourselves that there is no Creator creating us. That the fact GOD created the first of us and gave us the ability to propagate is merely false, the first of us simple came into being out of nature with also just came into being all on its own some how. They believe that TIME itself creates things, given enough time everything and anything is impossible. Put a rock on a shelf and over millions and trillions of year it'll make life all on its own, this is what people who do not believe in a Creator, believe. Nothing sprang from nothing and then it was something. Logic alone defies all that sort of thinking but there are millions caught up in it because they do NOT want to believe they have a Creator that they owe their very lives to. They do not want to believe that their significance only exists because God, their Creator, created them and in doing so gave them significance. Our Savior deemed us worthy enough to save from certain nothingness, from ultimate non-existence. The significance lies within our Savior, not in us. We didn't do anything special to make ourselves worthy.  Jesus is the only significance this is TRUTH.

'When we are called to follow Christ, we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to his person.' - We want to believe we've been called to follow Christ and indeed we have been, all of us have been called. And it is truth that when Jesus calls us to follow HIM, He wants us be a part of HIM.

Jesus said-- Joh_15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Bonhoeffer goes on to say--

'Discipleship means adherence to Christ, and, because Christ is the object of that adherence, it must take the form of discipleship.' 

My thoughts--

I watched this show where this girl escaped from a cult where her parents had raised her and she went back after many years to see her parents and they believed she'd come back hoping to once more become a part of the cult, a disciple to their cult.  When we think of modern day disciples we rarely think of that word, that term, in connection with ourselves. Why? Because cheap grace has destroyed our sense of being disciples. That word disciple isn't used widely, not for the average everyday person who calls themselves a Christian. That word has more meaning to those SPECIAL people who join cults, or who become monks and such, those who have a higher calling than any average Christian.  If you told someone you are a disciple of Christ do you know that word alone would stop and make them wonder if you weren't meaning some special religion- or a member of a church called Disciple of Christ.  Whatever their thought, it wouldn't be one that is common at all, it wouldn't be one of instant understanding and acceptance, because Christ's followers have forgotten they are truly HIS DISCIPLES.

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE of GOD.

We are Christ's disciples! Please Lord help us to be YOUR disciples in TRUTH.