This is the fourth of four blogs in which I have tried to outline my approach to “discipleship through the gospel.” (Check the archive under “Opening the Word” for the first three.) It is my conviction that Paul’s letter to the Romans offers a good outline of how he discipled the new believers in the various churches he would visit or write to.
In the case of the church at Rome, he had to do “distance discipleship” because he had not yet been able to be with them, so we can expect him to be particularly thorough. Whereas the more usual approaches to discipleship focus on “doing” or action steps, Paul doesn’t really get “practical” until chapter 12 of Romans where he challenges the believers to present their bodies as “living sacrifices.” This is what I present as Step Four of discipleship through the Gospel, which I label as “Gospel Obedience”. It is important to note that Paul’s challenge is based on “the mercies of God” (Romans 12:1), which is what he has been explaining to them for the previous 11 chapters.
I’m not trying to suggest that the more day-to-day elements of Christian living should wait until we have fully focused on Jesus, and appreciate the work of the Spirit and understand gospel doctrines (steps one, two and three). But if the primary note we constantly sound is “do this” and “don’t do that,” and somehow Jesus disappears from the equation so that we, our children, or those we are impacting are following rules (however worthy they may be) rather than Jesus himself, then is it time to step back and reset our course. It is vitally important that we have soaked our souls in the gospel of grace. A pastor I have worked with talked about being “pickled in the Gospel”—meaning we have immersed ourselves long enough that the gospel really gets into the core of our being. Gospel obedience has a very different spirit than simply keeping the rules—it is obedience that grows out of our relationship with Jesus. As the Psalmist said, “Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it” (Psalm 119:35). That is the song of a heart that has been changed by the power of God.
Having made that point, it also needs to be said that gospel obedience is absolutely necessary if we are to be faithful disciples of Jesus. The Apostle Paul gets very much “in your face” about what it means to love God and our neighbor (13:8-10) and the need to throw off the desires of the flesh (13:13, 14), etc. One of the criticisms of the Sonship ministry has been that the way grace and freedom in Christ are taught makes people uncomfortable with the Scriptural calls for obedience. That criticism cannot be ignored. I was told, somewhat in jest, that our church stopped teaching Sonship because people felt so “free” in Jesus that no one wanted to fulfill their responsibility to staff the nursery. That sounds more like myth than reality to me, but it illustrates the point. New life in Christ is a life that seeks to be obedient to Jesus. And of course, our sonship, properly understood (and taught in the program) is marked out by a life that demonstrates that marvelous relationship.
In the end, it is Jesus who said to those first disciples, “I will make you fishers of men.” So the work of disciple-making, which he charged his disciples to do, is ultimately his work. I hope my four steps are helpful, and there are any number of approaches to this great calling, but it is Jesus who is building his Church and Jesus who is making disciples. May the Lord give us a passion to do our part in this great work, but to also recognize that apart from him we can to nothing.
(PS – The Walk is available for purchase through Amazon.com or other online booksellers, but I will be glad to give a copy of it to any reader of this blog who asks me for one.)
