Tag Archives: Discipleship

Where to start reading the Bible

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Last week I began sharing some thoughts about what to teach a newcomer about how to read the Bible. I made some suggestions about some broad themes; let me mention a few specific ideas.

  • I don’t like to hand someone a Bible and leave them. There’s really no support for that in the Bible itself. The closest we come is Phillip and the Ethiopian; after a few hours conversation, Phillip leaves the man. However, the Ethiopian was not a complete newcomer to Scripture; he was apparently a convert to Judaism. He probably had the support of a synagogue back home.
    People need some guidance as they begin to read. The ideal is for someone to commit to walk with them in their journey through the Bible for a few months, at minimum.
  • I teach people that the Bible is an anthology, not a book. The average person supposes that the Bible was written in a fairly short period of time by a handful of people working together. It helps to show people that the Bible is made up of dozens of books written over a span of more than 1000 years.
  • I suggest that people NOT begin in Genesis. I tell people to begin in the gospels. If I were drawing up an initial reading plan, it would look a bit like this:

    Gospel of Mark
    Gospel of John
    Acts 1-21
    Galatians
    Ephesians
    Genesis
    Exodus 1-20
    Skim Exodus 21ff.
    Hebrews
    Romans

Some comments on that reading start. I want them to see Jesus first. I choose a synoptic; Mark is my preference, but anyone of the three is good. I then have them read John to get a broader view of who Jesus is.

Then we move to Acts, partly to see the beginning of the church, partly to get the context for the epistles. Galatians both illustrates the occasional nature of the letters and gives some basic teaching about the gospel. Ephesians gives a vision of what maturity in Christ is to look like.

We then read Genesis to learn about the promises made to Abraham. The first part of Exodus presents several of the mighty acts of God which form the foundation for much of the identity of God’s people. It’s worth skimming the rest of Exodus to then understand what Hebrews is talking about. At this point, the person should be ready for bigger books like Hebrews and Romans.

Those are some of the basics. Suggestions?

We need leaders, not just followers

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sheepThere’s been a bit of pushback in recent years to the concept of Christian leadership. Some have even gone so far as to deny that the church needs any leaders at all. That doesn’t fit with what I see in the Bible.

We do well to note that Jesus spent a lot more time talking about the characteristics of followers than he did of the characteristics of leaders. And what is said of leaders doesn’t sound much like what the world tends to think of in a leader.

But God has called certain Christians to tasks of leadership, specifically to the job of equipping the church for ministry. These people are to be respected and emulated. They are to be listened to. When they need correction, such correction should be done gently.

Christians need to learn to be good followers. And we need good leaders.

A few verses on leaders and leadership:

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

(Matthew 20:25–28)

“Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers.”

(Acts 15:22)

“If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”

(Romans 12:7–8)

“You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it.”

(1 Corinthians 16:15–16)

“Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:12–13)

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.”

(Hebrews 13:7)

“Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

(Hebrews 13:17)

Playing the fool

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The other day, I was remembering a line from a Billy Joel song (“The Longest Time”). There was one line in that song that really impacted me, where he said:

I don’t care what consequence it brings; I have been a fool for lesser things.

He was talking romance, but I can’t help but think of my Christian life every time I hear that. I have made a fool of myself for many things; why not be a fool for God? (1 Corinthians 4:10… apologies for lifting that out of context)

Discipleship

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“We teach a man to come to church three times a week so he can come and learn to come to church three times a week.”

That’s how a friend described how discipleship works all too often.

What do you think of the description?

$3 Worth of God

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checkout

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. 
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. 
I want ecstasy, not transformation. 
I want the warmth of the womb not a new birth. 
I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. 
I’d like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

Wilbur Rees

It doesn’t require all that much to be a church member. The time commitment isn’t too bad; at its worst, we’re talking about three hours on Sunday and one on Wednesday (and you can easily cut it down to just 45 minutes on Sunday if you play your cards right). The cost isn’t bad either; nobody really knows how much you drop in the plate. Outside of church, all you have to do is avoid doing anything to publicly embarrass the church. It’s not a bad hobby.

But what does it take to be a disciple? That’s where things get tough, talking about denying ourselves and taking up crosses and being different from the world. That’s not really the life that most of us signed up for. It’s kind of like signing up for the safety patrol at school and finding yourself a Navy SEAL. We want to be Christians, but do we have to be fanatics about it?

Men have turned Christianity into a religion focused on gathering in a building on Sunday and doing certain things the right way. Success is measured by how many people we can gather to do things the same way that we do them. Evangelism is convincing people to come and do things the way we do them. Good church leaders organize the Sunday meetings well and make sure that the place that we meet is well taken care of. For many, that is what Christianity is about.

If we consider this to be Christianity, then we have to feel that Jesus really didn’t do a very good job of setting things up. Couldn’t He have spent at least a little time talking to us about how to do this Sunday “worship service” since it’s the center of our religion? Couldn’t He have spelled out a little better the exact rules for songs, for prayers and for taking the Lord’s Supper? Better yet, couldn’t He have left us at least one sample order of worship? Why did He spend so much of His time talking about other things?

If we want to be the Lord’s church, we have to be about the Lord’s business. If we are going to be imitators of Christ, it only makes sense that we are going to try and do the things He did. We will want to talk about the things He talked about and concentrate on the things He concentrated on.

Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) That’s every day. Not weekly. Not twice a week. Daily.

It’s all or nothing. Total commitment. We are His or we aren’t. God wants an intimate, daily relationship with us. He compares it again and again to a marriage. He doesn’t want to be a part of our lives; He wants to be our lives.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30) Not some. Not part. All.

Not $3.00 worth. Not one day a week’s worth. Not “inside the church building” worth. God wants all of us, every day. That’s what it is to be a disciple. That’s what it is to be a Christian.

Someone said that instead of focusing on being the right church, we should focus on being the right kind of Christians. The gathering of the right kind of Christians will be the right church.

$3 worth of God? Why don’t you supersize that?