Chapter 27 - Preliminary Questions
Bonhoeffer- 'Who are we to come forward and volunteer for such an extraordinary and unusual life? Who is there to tell me and others, for that matter, that we are not acting on our own initiative and following our own wild fancies? But that would not be discipleship. There is something wrong about all these questions. Every time we ask them we are retreating from the presence of the living Christ and forgetting that Jesus Christ is not dead, but alive and speaking to us to-day through the testimony of the Scripture. He comes to us to-day and is present with us in bodily form and in his word. If we would hear his call to follow, we must listen where he is to be found.'
(((My interjecting- from here on Bonhoeffer extols the belief that Christ is found in the CHURCH (organization) and the SACRAMENT. I have to dispute this today because I firmly believe that Christ's church is where two or more are gathered in His name, not some organization for organizations have gone corrupt all along the way over the last almost two thousand years since Jesus died. The early church had its divisions, it had those who were anti-christs among them, it says so right in the word of God.
1Jn_4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
There were disputes even among the Apostles. Yes, Jesus Christ poured out the Holy Spirit upon His chosen after He ascended to heaven and I believe He continues to do so but NOT necessarily on an organization, a church as a group, as a whole.
To find Jesus Christ alive for us we have to do so for ourselves through His word, through prayer, through faith, and yes, even by following the example He set for us at His last supper.
Bonhoeffer is trying to make us realize that if we are to be Christ's disciples we are to follow a RISEN, LIVING, ACTIVE Christ. Not a Christ who is not within reach. ))))
Bonhoeffer- 'But discipleship never consists in this or that specific action: it is always a decision, either for or against Jesus Christ. Hence our situation is not a whit less clear than that of the disciple or the publican in the gospel. When Jesus called his first disciples, they obeyed and followed him because they recognize him as the Christ. But his Messiahship was as hidden to them as it is to us. By itself the call of Jesus could be taken in many different ways. How we take it depends on what we think of him, and he can be recognized only by faith. That was a true for the first disciples as it is for us. They saw the rabbi and the wonder worker, and believed on Christ. We hear the Word and believe on Christ.'
My thoughts-
A living God.
Jesus prayed for US!
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for THEM also which shall believe on me through their word
That's YOU and that's ME- believers through their word!
And Jesus prayed for US!
Joh 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Joh 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Joh 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Joh 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Joh 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
This is TRUTH!
This is REAL!
This prayer our Savior prayed for US is a reality!
We choose to believe and if we've chosen to believe on Jesus Christ through the word, then He is praying this prayer for US today, right now, for all of us who truly believe! This makes us HIS. He is REAL, our discipleship is REAL. He wants US to believe! He wants us to live in Him so that the world may know that He is REAL and that the Father God sent Him. He wants us. He truly wants us.
It is Satan who would have us believe that our very real discipleship is nothing more than a fanciful notion we have about serving Christ. Satan would have us DOUBT the living God! We must believe! We must have a faith that through Him, will not waver!
More tomorrow on this subject, by the GRACE of our LORD, Jesus Christ!
All in HIS very real LOVE!
Bonhoeffer- 'Who are we to come forward and volunteer for such an extraordinary and unusual life? Who is there to tell me and others, for that matter, that we are not acting on our own initiative and following our own wild fancies? But that would not be discipleship. There is something wrong about all these questions. Every time we ask them we are retreating from the presence of the living Christ and forgetting that Jesus Christ is not dead, but alive and speaking to us to-day through the testimony of the Scripture. He comes to us to-day and is present with us in bodily form and in his word. If we would hear his call to follow, we must listen where he is to be found.'
(((My interjecting- from here on Bonhoeffer extols the belief that Christ is found in the CHURCH (organization) and the SACRAMENT. I have to dispute this today because I firmly believe that Christ's church is where two or more are gathered in His name, not some organization for organizations have gone corrupt all along the way over the last almost two thousand years since Jesus died. The early church had its divisions, it had those who were anti-christs among them, it says so right in the word of God.
1Jn_4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
There were disputes even among the Apostles. Yes, Jesus Christ poured out the Holy Spirit upon His chosen after He ascended to heaven and I believe He continues to do so but NOT necessarily on an organization, a church as a group, as a whole.
To find Jesus Christ alive for us we have to do so for ourselves through His word, through prayer, through faith, and yes, even by following the example He set for us at His last supper.
Bonhoeffer is trying to make us realize that if we are to be Christ's disciples we are to follow a RISEN, LIVING, ACTIVE Christ. Not a Christ who is not within reach. ))))
Bonhoeffer- 'But discipleship never consists in this or that specific action: it is always a decision, either for or against Jesus Christ. Hence our situation is not a whit less clear than that of the disciple or the publican in the gospel. When Jesus called his first disciples, they obeyed and followed him because they recognize him as the Christ. But his Messiahship was as hidden to them as it is to us. By itself the call of Jesus could be taken in many different ways. How we take it depends on what we think of him, and he can be recognized only by faith. That was a true for the first disciples as it is for us. They saw the rabbi and the wonder worker, and believed on Christ. We hear the Word and believe on Christ.'
My thoughts-
A living God.
Jesus prayed for US!
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for THEM also which shall believe on me through their word
That's YOU and that's ME- believers through their word!
And Jesus prayed for US!
Joh 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Joh 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Joh 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Joh 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Joh 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
This is TRUTH!
This is REAL!
This prayer our Savior prayed for US is a reality!
We choose to believe and if we've chosen to believe on Jesus Christ through the word, then He is praying this prayer for US today, right now, for all of us who truly believe! This makes us HIS. He is REAL, our discipleship is REAL. He wants US to believe! He wants us to live in Him so that the world may know that He is REAL and that the Father God sent Him. He wants us. He truly wants us.
It is Satan who would have us believe that our very real discipleship is nothing more than a fanciful notion we have about serving Christ. Satan would have us DOUBT the living God! We must believe! We must have a faith that through Him, will not waver!
More tomorrow on this subject, by the GRACE of our LORD, Jesus Christ!
All in HIS very real LOVE!
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