Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Cost of Discipleship- Are we His?


Chapter 5- Discipleship and the Individual

Bonhoeffer- 'This breach with all our immediate relationship is inescapable. It may take the form of an external breach with family or nation; in that case we shall be called upon to bear visibly the reproach of Christ, the odium generis humani.

Or it may be a hidden and secret breach.  But even then we must always be ready to come out into the open. In the last resort it makes no difference whether the breach be secret or open.

Abraham is an example of both. He had to leave his friends and his father's house because Christ came between him and his own. On this occasion the breach was evident. Abraham became a stranger and a sojourner in order to gain the promised land. This was his first call. Later on he was called by God to offer his own son Isaac as a sacrifice. Christ had come between the father of faith and the child of promise. This time the direct relationship not only of flesh and blood, but also of the spirit, must be broken. Abraham must learn that the promise does not depend on Isaac, but on God alone. No one else hears this call of God, not even the servants who accompanied Abraham to  Mount Moriah. Once again, as when he left his father's house, Abraham becomes an individual, a lonely and solitary figure. He accepts the call as it comes; he will not shirt it or "spiritualize" it. He takes God at his word and is ready to obey. Against every direct claim upon him, whether natural, ethical or religious, he will be obedient to the Word of God.  By his willingness to sacrifice Isaac, he shows that he is prepared to come out into the open with the breach which he had already made secretly, and to do so for the sake of the Mediator. And at that very moment all that he had surrendered was given back to him. He receives back his son. God shows him a better sacrifice which will take the place of Isaac. The tables are completely turned, Abraham receives Isaac back, but henceforth he will have his son in quite a new way-- through the MEDIATOR and for the MEDIATOR'S sake. Since he had shown himself ready to obey God literally, he is now allowed to possess Isaac though he had him not-- to possess him through Jesus Christ.

Christ has stepped between Father and Son.
Abraham left all and followed Christ.

Outwardly the picture is unchanged but the old is passed away, and behold all things are new.

Everything has had to pass through Christ.'

My thoughts--

Truth.

2Co_5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new

This is truth. Our Lord's truth.

We think somehow we can escape it and keep our old selves. We often find the old self striving very hard to return, to take its former place in our lives. But once we are Christ's, having accepted the gift He has offered to us, nothing CAN ever be truly as it once was.  Our old nature can return, but it doesn't return us to a former life- not completely. Even if to ALL outward appearances we've reverted to our old ways, we have in our lives the undeniable truth that we chose Christ and we were born again every day after that as we chose the new life in Christ.  If we STOP choosing to be born again daily in Christ, that's when our old nature begins to journey back to us- sometimes quickly, other times very slowly.  That fact remains though that we once KNEW and LIVED truth.  Will this give us the right to salvation in Christ? No. A person who is born again in Christ must be born again daily in Christ, not just once. We must pick up our cross daily, remember?

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Daily taking action by taking up the cross of the Christian life.

If we refuse to take up that cross, we are refusing Christ, and when someone refuses Christ they can't hope that they are still His and following His will.

Bonhoeffer speaks truth when He says- 'Everything has had to pass through Christ.'  That is truth, and everything still has to pass through Christ in our lives.  EVERYTHING, not just a few things, not just the things WE deem okay to pass through Him. EVERYTHING.

If we don't want something in our lives to pass through Christ, then what is that telling us? It's telling us that we are trying to live a double life with two masters- Self and Christ.  And we already read yesterday that we cannot serve two masters. 

Satan has a great scheme going when He teaches people the religion of Self and Christ.  He has hundreds, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands or more preachers who are preaching this false religion all the while passing it off as Christ's true way. 

We have to be willing to have EVERY aspect of our lives pass through Christ, holding NOTHING back.  And Christ has to be first in our lives, and all things after Him.

We cannot put ourselves first, though Satan will do all he can to make sure that happens.

Whether in secret or openly- we are called to put CHRIST FIRST.

Even if it ultimately means choosing Christ over our beloved family, friends, work, recreation, He must be first. If we can't put Him first we seriously have to question our true relationship with Christ.

Do we want to hear Him call us to Him, to meet Him in the air? 
Or will we stand among those crying out that we are His, while He just shakes His head and says He never knew us?

Are we His?

By His grace, by His love and mercy, through His righteousness, may we be HIS and all that means.

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