Cost of Discipleship Pt 39 - God's Grace With Us

Chapter 5- Discipleship and the Individual

Today I want to review yesterday's study and hopefully by the grace of God, expound on it some more.

Bonhoeffer- 'This is the second way of becoming an individual--to be a follower of Christ in the midst of society among our own kith and kin and in the enjoyment of all our worldly wealth. But note that it is Abraham who is called to this manner of life. Abraham who had already known what it was to make a visible breach with the past, Abraham who in the New Testament became the example of faith.

We are easily tempted to generalize the possibility that was granted to Abraham, to understand it as a spiritual principle and without hesitation to apply it to ourselves. We would like to think that we had the same call to a Christian life, as a specially called follower of Christ who yet retrained the enjoyment of his worldly possessions.

Yet the outward breach is most certainly easier than the hidden one.

Unless we have learnt this from the Bible and from our experience, we are indeed deceiving ourselves.

We shall fall back on our direct relationships and forfeit our fellowship with Christ.

It is not for us to choose which way we shall follow.

That depends on the will of Christ.

But this at least is certain: in one way or the other we shall have to leave the immediacy of the world and become individuals, whether secretly or openly.

But the same Mediator who makes us individuals is also the founder of a new fellowship.

He stands in the centre between my neighbour and myself.

He divides, but he also unites.

Thus find the new and only real way to him-- the way which passes through the Mediator.'

Mar 10:28  Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.

Mar 10:29  And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,

Mar 10:30  But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

Mar 10:31  But many that are first shall be last; and the last first

*******

My thoughts-

Jesus said, There is no man that has left house, there is no man that has left brothers, there is no man that has left sisters, there is no man that has left father, there is no man that has left mother, there is no man that has left wife, there is no man that has left children, there is no man that has left lands-  FOR HIM, for HIS SAKE, and for the SAKE of the GOSPEL- the message of eternal life found only in Him- No man has left all that who will NOT receive an HUNDREDFOLD now in this time.

How do we equate with doing that and not receiving an hundredfold? Do we even really know? Is it possible that we are LEAVING all those things, or even some of those things, amiss? Selfishly? We do so much - with more self interest than Christ interest.

Are we striving to leave these things in hopes for receiving that hundredfold? That would be striving amiss, wouldn't it? We have to live for CHRIST, only for CHRIST. All our works, all our actions, all our leavings mean nothing if they aren't by Christ's will.

It goes along these lines- Jas_4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

God knows our hearts, we can't fool Him for a second. 

Bonhoeffer talks here of a SPECIAL servant, Abraham. He had the faith necessary to be truly God's. He heard and he obeyed God.

We tend to want to put people like Abraham upon pedestals, imagining them to be something more than merely human with human faults like our own. As if perhaps they had some magical power that we don't have, power than enabled them to be God's. They didn't have any magical power at all. They had this…
 

Gen 6:8  But Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the LORD.

Gen 6:9  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was A JUST MAN and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

1Co 15:10  But by the GRACE of God I am what I am: and his GRACE which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the GRACE of God which was with me.

Exo 33:12  And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found GRACE in my sight.

Exo 33:13  Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found GRACE in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find GRACE in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.

Psa 84:11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give GRACE and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Psa 84:12  O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Psa 145:20  The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.

Tit 2:11  For the GRACE of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Tit 3:7  That being justified by his GRACE, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of GRACE, that we may obtain mercy, and find GRACE to help in time of need.

These men found grace.

These men LOOKED OUTSIDE OF THEMSELVES FOR SALVATION!

To be Christ's true disciples we have to be willing to give up everything if we are called to do so. And truly it is being called to do so that matters, not us doing it thinking we will be rewarded for it.  God has to convict the hearts of His followers, if we presume to give up everything and put on sackcloth and ashes it could all be in vain because we are not following the path God desires of us.

And yes, we are now all asking how do we know what God calls us to? What if we don't even spiritually hear a call to do anything at all? 

We HAVE GOD'S WORD.  We have to read God's word and know this ultimately--

Joh_17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

Jesus prayed to the Father that we wouldn't be taken out of the world, but that we would be kept from evil!

We are all called to shun evil. Over and over our Savior tells us that we are called to LOVE not to the strife of the world. We are NOT to promote evil in any way from the smallest bit to the greatest. We are to REPENT of any evil and seek to follow Christ in all things.

Bonhoeffer said this--

'Yet the outward breach is most certainly easier than the hidden one.

Unless we have learnt this from the Bible and from our experience, we are indeed deceiving ourselves.

We shall fall back on our direct relationships and forfeit our fellowship with Christ.

It is not for us to choose which way we shall follow.

That depends on the will of Christ.

But this at least is certain: in one way or the other we shall have to leave the immediacy of the world and become individuals, whether secretly or openly.

But the same Mediator who makes us individuals is also the founder of a new fellowship.

He stands in the centre between my neighbour and myself.

He divides, but he also unites.

Thus find the new and only real way to him-- the way which passes through the Mediator.'

To don that sackcloth and ashes and to live a visible life of self-denial is easier because to live as Christ's with all the temptations of the flesh around us is a much harder walk, and I imagine few are called to that walk fully as Abraham was.  How much easier it is not to have to deal with the temptation of tremendous wealth.  Even as a person struggles horrifically with their poverty it is an easier walk than rightly using tremendous wealth.  Also, our outward actions are easier than our internal struggles, true?

If we do fall back on our OLD ways, we are in a lot of trouble. I brought these verses up yesterday-

Luk 11:24  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

Luk 11:25  And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.

Luk 11:26  Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

Truth!

We do NOT want our last state to be worse than our first state!  We cannot deceive ourselves have to recognize what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ's- THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP-COSTLY GRACE!

We truly do have to take steps, to take actions, to actively choose our path, not simply sit back and let come what may. We have a hand in our lives!  We have to sacrifice self and if that means giving up things and people, it has to be done. We cannot be ATTACHED to this world or anything in it. Our attachment has to be CHRIST and all other things through HIM.  Our love for our husbands, wives, children, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters all has to be a love that comes from CHRIST. We cannot put our love of ANYTHING or ANYONE before the LOVE of CHRIST.

Bonhoeffer's words-  'Thus find the new and only real way to him-- the way which passes through the Mediator'

Every relationship that exists for us MUST Go through CHRIST FIRST!

It might be shocking to take stock of our lives and ask if we are truly putting Christ before the things and the people in it.

Truth-  ALL things must be viewed in the light of CHRIST, all things, not just things we pick and choose.

By the GRACE of God may we live as just before Him, through Him, for Him, in Him as wholly HIS.

In HIS LOVE ALWAYS!

Cost of Discipleship Pt 38 - Outward or Hidden?

Chapter 5- Discipleship and the Individual

Bonhoeffer- 'This is the second way of becoming an individual--to be a follower of Christ in the midst of society among our own kith and kin and in the enjoyment of all our worldly wealth. But note that it is Abraham who is called to this manner of life. Abraham who had already known what it was to make a visible breach with the past, Abraham who in the New Testament became the example of faith. We are easily tempted to generalize the possibility that was granted to Abraham, to understand it as a spiritual principle and without hesitation to apply it to ourselves. We would like to think that we had the same call to a Christian life, as a specially called follower of Christ who yet retrained the enjoyment of his worldly possessions. Yet the outward breach is most certainly easier than the hidden one. Unless we have learnt this from the Bible and from our experience, we are indeed deceiving ourselves. We shall fall back on our direct relationship s and forfeit our fellowship with Christ.

It is not for us to choose which way we shall follow. That depends on the will of Christ. But this at least is certain: in one way or the other we shall have to leave the immediacy of the world and become individuals, whether secretly or openly.

But the same Mediator who makes us individuals is also the founder of a new fellowship. He stands in the centre between my neighbour and myself. He divides, but he also unites. Thus find the new and only real way to him-- the way which passes through the Mediator.'

Mar 10:28  Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.

Mar 10:29  And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,

Mar 10:30  But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

Mar 10:31  But many that are first shall be last; and the last first

My thoughts-

Remember this…

Luk 11:24  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

Luk 11:25  And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.

Luk 11:26  Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

Bonhoeffer- 'Yet the outward breach is most certainly easier than the hidden one. Unless we have learnt this from the Bible and from our experience, we are indeed deceiving ourselves. We shall fall back on our direct relationship s and forfeit our fellowship with Christ.'

True?

Being a monk, being a nun, being a priest, a pastor, a minister, being one who outwardly takes on the 'trappings' of being a Godly person- a follower of Christ- truly is EASIER than being a Christ follower surrounded by the world, expected to be as the world. One excuses the monk, the nun, the priest, the pastor, the minister, and so on - they say- they are men/women of God and of course they are NOT expected to be of the world. People make exceptions for those who outwardly walk the walk of a Christ follower. The person who doesn't wear the garb of a Christ follower isn't expected to be a Christ follower. Being a hidden follower and separating one self from the world seems all but impossible.

Because this needs much more discussion and attention, we're going to continue it tomorrow by the GRACE and MERCY of God.

We need to understand what it truly means to be a follower of Christ, not just a follower of a false Christ. If we want delusions, we will be given them. If we would rather believe a lie, we will be allowed to live a lie. If deception suits us because the truth is too difficult to bear, we will be allowed to be deceived. If we want truth God will give us truth! By the grace of our LORD we will know the truth and LIVE the truth.

Please LORD help us to know the truth and only Your truth, living that truth in YOU.

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.

Cost of Discipleship Pt 36 Christ above all

Chapter 5- Discipleship and the Individual

Bonhoeffer- 'Of course, there are plenty of gods who offer men direct access, and the world naturally uses every means in its power to retain its direct hold on men, but that is the very reason why it is so bitterly opposed to Christ, the Mediator.'

The world is AGAINST Jesus Christ.

Many would cry out against this, but it's truth.

They are against the TRUE MEDIATOR JESUS CHRIST.  They are for the IMPOSTER Jesus Christ who is NOT a mediator at all but someone whose name they use while having none of the power of our Savior.

2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…

A form of godliness, but NO POWER.

You can't have the power of Christ to salvation if you are not believing in the true Mediator Jesus Christ.

The power you might think you have is a false power, a lie, deceit.

Bonhoeffer said- 'The world NATURALLY uses every means in it power to retain its direct hold on men.' 

Do you have anything that has a 'hold' on you?

Do you have anything that you'd like to be rid of but just can't seem to get rid of it? Those sins that so easily beset us, perhaps? 

Satan will use EVERYTHING to snare us.

Satan wants to retain his hold on us.

Satan does NOT want us to even imagine we have a Mediator in Jesus Christ.  Satan wants us brought to DESPAIR- hopelessly caught up in all that would keep us from God, from God's love, from eternal life in Christ!

Bonhoeffer: 'The call of Christ brings us as individuals face to face with the Mediator. The call of Jesus teaches us that our relation to the world has been built on an illusion.

Between father and son, husband and wife, the individual and the nation, stands Christ the Mediator, whether they are able to recognize him or not.'

My thoughts-

Christ is our REALITY.

The reality of Christ is something many don't have. 

Christ has to be more real to us than anything or anybody else.

When Christ isn't real to us we choose to let other things, and other people come between us and Christ, we put those other things and other people first.  Satan LOVES when we regulate our Savior to such a status as putting Him behind all others.

So how can we read this--

Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

-- and NOT comprehend that it's truth?

HATE your father.

HATE your mother.

HATE your wife.

HATE your children.

HATE your brothers.

HATE your sisters.

HATE your own life.

Hate?

Jesus is LOVE so how can He tell us to hate when the commandments themselves tell us to LOVE!?

Bonhoeffer-'Christ stands between us and we can only get in touch with our neighbours through him. That is why intercession is the most promising way to reach our neighbours, and corporate prayer offered in the name of Christ  the purest form of fellowship.  We cannot rightly acknowledge the gifts of God unless we acknowledge the Mediator for whose sake alone they are given to us. There can be no genuine thanksgiving for the blessings of nation, family, history, and nature without that heart-felt penitence which gives the glory to Christ alone above all else. There can be no real attachment to the given creation, no genuine responsibility in the world unless we recognize the breach which already separates us from it. There can be no genuine love of the world except the love wherewith God loved it in Jesus Christ.

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Yes, but we must also remember that … Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. '

My thoughts-

We cannot be disciples, true disciples without Jesus being our all in all FIRST and FOREMOST and through HIM we can LOVE as we need to LOVE.  Our love without it being Christ's love isn't love at all, not really. 

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Truth.

The hate spoken of here is not the hate we imagine- the despising selfishly.  The hate spoken of here is like the hate of Leah.

Gen 29:30  And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.

Gen 29:31  And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.

Rachel was loved more by Jacob than Leah was loved.

If we LOVE any one more than Jesus we aren't LOVING them, because only our Savior can give us true LOVE to love others with.

Many people throughout history have had to leave family and friends for God, ultimately for their own good, ultimately for some meaning they'll have that good in eternal life with love, with God!

A Christian martyr thousands of years ago,  a Christian martyr today both murdered for Christ when they could have kept from being murdered by denying Christ. They put Christ first because they KNEW that He is LOVE above all else and NOTHING could come between them and the love of CHRIST, nothing!

Do YOU love Christ that much?! Do YOU?!

Maybe we aren't going to be called to give up our family, friends, the things we love, but maybe we will be.

Our Savior must be our all in all! ALL by HIS GRACE,LOVE, and MERCY. All through HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS! 

Please Lord, help us to love You as we need to love You.

Satan will try everything to keep us from this love, this real love of Christ, but God is stronger than Satan, God has defeated Satan and Christ has the power to give us the power to LOVE above all that Satan would have us not love, and Satan does NOT want us to love Christ above any.

By YOUR LOVE LORD, by YOUR LOVE!

Cost of Discipleship Pt 35 Barrier between us and our natural life

Chapter 5- Discipleship and the Individual

Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Bonhoeffer- 'We must face up to the truth that the call of Christ does set up a barrier between man and his natural life. But this barrier is no surly contempt for life, no legalistic piety, it is the life which is life indeed, the gospel, the person of Jesus Christ. By virtue of his incarnation he has come between man and his natural life. There can be no turning back, for Christ bars the way. By calling us he has cut us off from all immediacy with the things of this world. He wants to be the centre, through him alone all things shall come to pass. He stands between us and God, and for that very reason he stands between us and all other men and things. He is the Mediator, not only between God and man, but between man and man, between man and reality.  Since the whole world was created through him and unto him--

Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds

--he is the sole Mediator in the world. Since his coming man has no immediate relationship of his own any more to anything, neither to God nor to the world; Christ wants to be the Mediator.'

*******

My thoughts - He's speaking truth.

We don't want to believe that there is a barrier between us and our natural life. We want to have our natural life and be Christ's too. How many of us fight to have this? And what we NEED to realize, what's imperative to realize, is that IF we are striving for both, we will be lost, we can't have two masters.

A lot of us have grown up having two parents living with us (though many nowadays don't). We know that it's easy to pit mom and dad against each other. It's easy for us to go to one and not the other hoping to get the answer to some question we have, thinking we know which one is more likely to give us the answer we want. We also know that sometimes one parent will tell us to do one thing while the other will tell us to do the opposite and we are torn between the two, which do we listen to?  It's not easy being put in that position at all. Having two masters. Yet we think we can handle it just fine. We'll use one master for our selfishness and another for our selfless-ness. It's IMPOSSIBLE.

Mat_6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

TRUTH.

But you say you love them both, and that's a lie. In the end their truly can be only ONE Master to follow. 

One calls us to self LESS ness.

The other calls us to selfish ness.

There is a BARRIER between us and our natural life when we accept Christ as our Savior.

We interrupt our SELFISHNESS. We put the breaks on our SELFISHNESS. We announce that we  comprehend that we cannot save ourselves, that we cannot give ourselves eternal life. We recognize that we are Creature beings, created by One who created and wanted to be a HUGE part of our lives.  We weren't abandoned as orphans and left to fend for ourselves. We were given a SAVIOR. Our Creator wanted to SAVE US! Our Creator did NOT want to leave us to perish. Our Creator wanted to offer us HIMSELF, a choice that we make to choose a life WITH HIM, desire to be His. When we make this choice He then comes between us and the life we would otherwise have had without Him, a life that ultimately leads to eternal death. The barrier is put up and it truly is CHRIST Himself who has DIED for us to keep us from having to succumb to eternal death.

We have CHRIST on our SIDE.

Does this mean we won't suffer.  As we've already talked about we will suffer! WE WILL SUFFER!

We have a CROSS to pick up, and bear.

We are only able to pick up that cross and bear it because Christ picked His cross up and bore it for US and it's through HIS power that we survive this life and are kept as HIS till eternal life is realized for us at His return.

More on all this tomorrow, by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR!

In HIS LOVE!

ALWAYS!

Cost of Discipleship Pt 34 - 'Take my yoke upon you...'

Chapter 4- Discipleship and the Cross (continued)

Mat 26:39  And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Mat 26:42  He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

Bonhoeffer-'Jesus prays to his Father that the cup may pass from him, and his Father hears his prayer; for the cup of suffering will indeed pass from him-- but only by his drinking it. That is the assurance he receives as he kneels for the second time in the garden of Gethsemane that suffering will indeed pass as he accepts it. That is the only path to victory. The cross is his triumph over suffering.

Suffering means being cut off from God.  Therefore those who live in communion with him cannot really suffer. This Old Testament doctrine was reaffirmed by Jesus. That is why he takes upon himself the suffering of the whole world, and in doing so proves victorious over it. He bears the whole burden of man's separation from God, and in the very act of drinking the cup he causes it to pass over him. He sets out to overcome the suffering of the world, and so he must drink it to the dregs. Hence while it is still true that suffering means being cut off from God, yet within the fellowship of Christ's suffering, suffering is overcome by suffering, and becomes the way to communion with God.

Suffering has to be endured in order that it may pass away.  Either the world must bear the whole burden and collapse beneath it, or it must fall on Christ to be overcome in him. '

*

Bonhoeffer continuing- ' For God is a God who bears. The Son of God bore our flesh, he bore the cross, he bore our sins, thus making atonement for us. In the same way his followeres are also called upon to bear and that is precisely what it means to be a Christian. Just as Christ maintained his communion with the Father by his endurance, so his followers are to maintain their communion with Christ by their endurance.  We can of course shake off the burden which is laid upon us, but only find that we have a still heavier burden to carry-- a yoke of our own choosing, the yoke of our self. But Jesus invites all who travail and are heavy laden to throw off their own yoke and take his yoke upon them-- and his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.  The yoke and the burden of Christ are his cross.'

*******

My Thoughts-

There is NO greater suffering than our being cut off from God. He is love. 

Our concept of love is so skewed that people just don't realize that God's love is the only love that means anything at all. All the so called love we have believe we comprehends means nothing if it's not of God's love.

Our Creator.

Our Redeemer.

We have worth only in Christ, we have no worth of our own.  Yet so much in us that lives in our nature of flesh tells us that we have self worth on our own. Worth simply because we exist.

I've been reading the Old Testament lately and it hasn't ceased to amaze me the battle after battle, the killing of whole cities full of people- men, women, and children all because they worshipped not God but pagan gods.  We are appalled by the mere thought that someone could be killed for not worshipping God. We believe that it's horrific, and if it's horrific then we have to determine God is heartless and horrific, but we KNOW He's not!

It ALL goes back to the beginning and God CREATING us, we are HIS creations and He wanted us to live in a world filled with LOVE. He created us and gave us a CHOICE to love Him or ourselves.  That's what it was, that choice in the garden of Eden. To love God and out of that love obey Him, or love ourselves and obey our own will.  We chose to obey our own will. We turned our backs on God. We refused His love. We were GUILTY! When we chose to obey ourselves we were denying ourselves all the love of God.

God didn't snap us out of existence in that moment of turning on Him instead He gave us HOPE. He told us this-- 

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

There would be SOMETHING between OUR SEED and SATAN'S SEED.  That something would be an enmity.

ENMITY- The state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.

Something - this enmity - would come between Satan and His evil desire to make all of mankind his own.

We weren't to be left to ALL become Satan's.

Right away there was a choice and it's told to us in the history of Abel and Cain.  One chose God the other chose self (Satan).

From our BEGINNING, our Creation by God we were blessed by being created at all.  We are GOD'S or SATAN'S.

Every single innocent killed will be GOD'S when the dead in Christ are raised at His second coming.  Not ONE single innocent, not one single person who has God as their GOD, who has their CREATOR as their GOD will suffer eternal death. 

This life in a world of sin isn't what is ultimately IMPORTANT. NOT getting to live a full life, a life to old age, isn't IMPORTANT. Being born into this world gives us the opportunity to be God's, this is what is most IMPORTANT!

Not being God's IS being Satan's.  We don't seem to comprehend that, so we call God a horror for destroying that which isn't of Him, but it can't be any other way because all that is not of God is HORROR.  Our senses have been so dulled, so perverted we just can't see this. Satan has duped us so thoroughly that we think there is something other then God and Satan. We believe there is some middle ground that we can walk upon, that God should walk upon allowing those who choose Satan to still live. 

It's either God or Satan, there is NOTHING ELSE!

Our Savior SUFFERED for US! Our Savior DIED to bear our sins, our guilt! Our Savior wants us to be GOD'S. Our Savior wants His Father as our Father.  We must CHOOSE God and in choosing God, we choose to live the life that our Savior lived and all that means!

Read this again… is their truth in this?

Bonhoeffer-'Jesus prays to his Father that the cup may pass from him, and his Father hears his prayer; for the cup of suffering will indeed pass from him-- but only by his drinking it. That is the assurance he receives as he kneels for the second time in the garden of Gethsemane that suffering will indeed pass as he accepts it. That is the only path to victory. The cross is his triumph over suffering.

Suffering means being cut off from God.  Therefore those who live in communion with him cannot really suffer. This Old Testament doctrine was reaffirmed by Jesus. That is why he takes upon himself the suffering of the whole world, and in doing so proves victorious over it. He bears the whole burden of man's separation from God, and in the very act of drinking the cup he causes it to pass over him. He sets out to overcome the suffering of the world, and so he must drink it to the dregs. Hence while it is still true that suffering means being cut off from God, yet within the fellowship of Christ's suffering, suffering is overcome by suffering, and becomes the way to communion with God.

Suffering has to be endured in order that it may pass away.  Either the world must bear the whole burden and collapse beneath it, or it must fall on Christ to be overcome in him. '

*

Bonhoeffer continuing- ' For God is a God who bears. The Son of God bore our flesh, he bore the cross, he bore our sins, thus making atonement for us. In the same way his followers are also called upon to bear and that is precisely what it means to be a Christian. Just as Christ maintained his communion with the Father by his endurance, so his followers are to maintain their communion with Christ by their endurance.  We can of course shake off the burden which is laid upon us, but only find that we have a still heavier burden to carry-- a yoke of our own choosing, the yoke of our self. But Jesus invites all who travail and are heavy laden to throw off their own yoke and take his yoke upon them-- and his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.  The yoke and the burden of Christ are his cross.'

Truth!

When we choose self over God we are choosing to walk with Satan and our burden truly is HEAVY!

When we choose God over self we are choosing to walk with God and our burden is born by CHRIST first and foremost! Our Advocate is our all in all, and we must follow Him and only HIM.

Please LORD, please help us to choose YOU over ourselves.

In Your LOVE! In YOU!

The Cost of Discipleship pt 32 - Bear His Cross

Chapter 4-Discipleship and the Cross (continued)

Bonhoeffer- 'To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident but a necessity. It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life. It is not suffering per se but suffering-and -rejection, and not rejection for any cause or conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ. If our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity, as one of the trial and tribulations of life. We have then forgotten that the cross means rejection and shame as well as suffering. The Psalmist was lamenting that he was despised and rejected of men, and that is an essential quality of the suffering of the cross. But this notion has ceased to be intelligible to a Christianity which can no longer see any difference between an ordinary human life and a life committed to Christ. The cross means sharing the suffering of Christ to the last and to the fullest. Only a man thus totally committed in discipleship can experience the meaning of the cross. The cross is there, right from the beginning, he has only got to pick it up; there is no need for him to go out and look for a cross for himself, no need for him deliberately to run after suffering. Jesus says that every Christian has his own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed by God. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection. But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and gives them the grace of martyrdom, while others he does not allow to be tempted above that which they are able to bear. But is the one and the same cross in every case.

The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death-- we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to another wise godfearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.'

Just tonight during our weekly Bible study we discussed this 'suffering', well, maybe not just in this way, I hadn't even studied this yet, but suffering was brought up.

It was mentioned that Christ died and suffered so we didn't have to suffer, to which it was countered that we DO have to suffer. Christ died so we could LIVE eternally in HIM, not so we didn't have to suffer, quite the opposite.

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

How many? ALL.

All that will live godly in CHRIST JESUS shall suffer persecution.

Not just a chosen few, but ALL.

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.


Jesus wasn't speaking only of His apostles but 'FOR THEM ALSO WHICH SHALL BELIEVE ON ME THROUGH THEIR WORD'-  He's talking about US!  US who believe through the words of the Apostles, the Disciples who lived when Jesus lived and receive His holy word directly!


Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Tribulation.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while,make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1Pe 5:11  To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Afflictions.

Rom_8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God,and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Suffer with Him.

Gal 5:13  For, brethren, ye have been called untoliberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Gal 5:14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word,even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Gal 5:15  But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest,which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Gal 5:26  Let us not be desirous of vain glory,provoking one another, envying one another.

They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Bonhoeffer says-  'To endure the cross is not atragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.'

TRUTH.

They that are Christ's have CRUCIFIED the flesh with the affections and lusts.

We are called to alife of crucified flesh! This is God's word!

They that are Christ's….HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH.

How can we ever believe that we don't have to suffer?

Have crucified-
- Definition:
1. to stake, drive down stakes
2. to fortify with driven stakes, to palisade
3. to crucify
a. to crucify one
b. metaph. to crucify the flesh, destroy its power utterly (the nature of the figure implying that the destruction is attended with intense pain)

SUFFERING!

Bonhoeffer expounds on this suffering-

'It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life. It is not suffering per se but suffering-and -rejection, and not rejection for any cause or conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ. If our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity, as one of the trial and tribulations of life. We have then forgotten that the cross means rejection and shame as well as suffering.'

AN ESSENTIAL PART of the SPECIFICALLY CHRISTIAN LIFE.
SUFFERING and REJECTION FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST!

How can anyone believe that Jesus Christ suffered so they wouldn't have to suffer? To NO longer suffer would mean death - either physical death, or death of any selfawareness whatsoever so that a person truly rejoices in their suffering for Christ.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

When Christ suffered viciously at the hands of His torturers, His murderers, He did so feeling PAIN!He didn't lack the sensation of PAIN! To even imagine that He felt NOTHING, NO PAIN would be to imply He wasn't human at all.

Christ's sufferings were REAL!

He suffered not only physically but emotionally- He felt the pain of those who were lost all around Him, rejecting Him as their Savior.

Luk_13:34  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings,and ye would not!

Emotional pain.

Joh 11:33  When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
Joh 11:34  And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
Joh 11:35  Jesus wept.

Groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.  Jesus wept.

He suffered.

We are told that we will have fiery trials to try us,  this is suffering!

We are told to pickup our cross, this is suffering!

Mat_16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Suffering.

You do NOT take up across and not suffer.

 Bonhoeffer- 'The Psalmist was lamenting that he was despised and rejected of men, and that is an essential quality of the suffering of the cross. But this notion has ceased to be intelligible to a Christianity which can no longer see any difference between an ordinary human life and a life committed to Christ.'

This is so incredibly true!

Bonhoeffer- 'The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death-- we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise godfearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.'

TRUTH!

Please LORD, help us to comprehend the truth in YOUR WORD. Yes, we are reading from a man's work, a man who is expounding on the truth, but NOT making any new truth. We go to YOUR word and we find the TRUTH and when we find the truth by YOUR grace, through the Holy Spirit's guidance, please LORD help us to live the TRUTH, to LIVE in YOU, our ALL IN ALL.

All in YOUR LOVE LORD! ALL IN YOUR LOVE!