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Be the Disciple You Were Called to Be

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It has been a week since the Charlie Kirk assassination and reports are coming out that there has been a resurgence of interest in reading the Bible, praying to God, and in church attendance. In an age of rapid news cycles and highly divisive politics, the death of Charlie Kirk continues to resonate with many people. During this critical time, Christians must ensure they represent their faith and the Lord Jesus Christ well by being prepared to answer any questions a seeker or a person returning to church after many years of absence may have. But we must do so with gentleness and respect. Follow the instructions of Titus 3:2, which says we ought “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.”

It may feel counterintuitive in a time of anger, grief, confusion, or suffering to respond like this, but Christ taught us that it is the unconditional nature of our love for each other that distinguishes us as Christians. (John 13:35) The apostle Peter helps us understand how to respond to those whom we deem as our enemies, saying, “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” (1 Pet. 3:9)

There may be new people in your church you never expected to see. There may be relatives or friends showing interest in reading the Bible for the first time in their lives. There may even be people at work who ask you to pray for them Regardless of the person, or your preconceptions, “walk in wisdom toward outsiders and let our speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Col. 4:5-6)

We are not trying to persuade anyone to adopt a particular political viewpoint. Nor are we trying to help them see the evil that lies behind their own political party. Our job is to win men and women for the kingdom of God, not to win an argument. This is why Jesus says that we are to: 1) Go – in other words, do not wait for someone to approach you. If you see someone new at your church, or if you meet someone who has questions about Christianity, the Bible, prayer, etc., recognize this encounter for what it is: God inviting you to join Him in the work that He is doing around you.  Go. And join God in where He is leading you. 2) Make disciples – This means to take the time to get to know the person. They should be your friend, not your project. This is not about counting how many people you can get to pray the Sinner’s Prayer. This is about developing a relationship with the seekers, answering their questions, and using the way that you love them to lead them into an unconditional loving relationship with Christ.  3) Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – As part of your discipling, have those who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9) to make a public profession of faith through the symbolic act of baptism. This demonstrates not only whose they are, but is also a tangible expression of what Christ has done in their life as He buried them with Christ and raised them to walk in newness of life, cleansing them of all their unrighteousness. Finally, 4) Teach them to observe all that Christ has commanded us – This means that your role as their discipler is not over. You have a lot of work ahead of you. Be prepared to be challenged. Be willing to have the late-night talks. But most of all, stay diligent in the word and learn to handle it correctly (2 Tim. 2:15) so that you are not ashamed. Discipline your body and keep it under control, so that after teaching them about Christ, you will not be disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:27) And supplement your faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love so that you will be protected from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Pet. 1:5-8). Like parenting, discipling someone is a long-term commitment, not a short-term endeavor.

People seeking God in crisis should not be a cultural phenomenon that we objectively observe from a distance. You are not a scientist collecting data. You are a disciple of Christ who is commanded to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” (Eph. 4:1) Engage! Make disciples, not talking points. And win the person (not the argument) for the kingdom and glory of God. As the apostle Paul says, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

Now, go!  Be the disciple you were called to be.

Unconditional Love in a Selfish World

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“Genuine love is always self-forgetfulness in the true sense of the word. But if we are to have it, our old man must die with all his virtues and qualities, and this can only be done where the disciple forgets self and clings solely to Christ.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.

I understand this quote in the context of love of God, but when I view it through the lens of love of others it sheds new light on a familiar topic. It shows me that as I love my wife, my kids, my mother, or anyone else, I cannot rely on any qualities and virtues that are not founded in Christ. Any teaching of the world regarding love must be abandoned because the world’s version of love is primarily self-love. It may disguise itself as selflessness or sacrificial but its true nature is revealed when one’s heart or mind amends the act with a private “so that….”

So that…you may view me better.

So that…you may treat me nicer.

So that…you may respect me more.

So that… you may meet my needs in return.

So that…you won’t leave me, hurt me, abuse me, or abandon me. So that you will love me, honor me, and make me #1 in your life.

“So that” love isn’t really about me loving you at all. Instead, it is about self-protection and self-exaltation.

In contrast, loving unconditionally also means loving without expectation. It is loving without compensation or reward. Loving unconditionally is loving in a pure, undefiled manner. It is not a “so that” love. It is a “because” love. A love that takes its cue from the nature of love and not from the potential effects of being loving.

Because love acts selflessly, I act selfless.

Because love is sacrificial, I sacrifice.

Because love serves, I serve.

Because love is patient, kind, forgiving, humble, gentle, good-humored, and benevolent, I respond in the same way.

Loving unconditionally reflects the nature of love without boundaries. But it never reflects that nature for the benefit of self. In so doing it creates an opportunity to have the recipient of your love return it to you in like manner…but it loves regardless if this love is reciprocated or not.

In other words, God loved us without stipulation, expectation, or compensation. Christ would have still gone to the cross, and died for our sins, even if none of mankind had accepted his free gift of grace, because love could not be love in any other way. As the scripture says, “In this is love…that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 Jn. 4:10) But man did receive this grace, and consequently we learned what love was FROM God and learned how to love BECAUSE of God. Thus, we read: “We love because he first loved us.” (1 Jn. 4:19)

Hope Without Shame

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“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Romans 5:2-5

Some people equate hope with wishing, and as everyone knows, sometimes wishes come true and sometimes they don’t. This makes hope seem like a tenuous thing to hold onto. A fragile thread that could snap between our fingers and plunge us into embarrassment and shame for being so foolish.

But what if hope was something different? What if our hope was a guarantee of what was going to come? Then, our hope would not be an anxiety-riddled wish. It would be an exciting anticipation of future events. It would still be hope, but we would be bouncing on our toes and peering around the people in front of us to see the incredible event that was about to occur. It would be a hope built on conclusive truths. An inevitability. A certainty. An undeniable conclusion. And this type of hope would transform our lives because instead of crossing our fingers, we would run with open arms and embrace the fulfilled promises in joy.

Even in the interim, as we endure suffering and develop character, waiting for this final day to come, we are not foolish, embarrassed, or ashamed, for we have a guarantee from God’s Spirit, poured into our hearts, that God’s love will not fail. God has a plan and an overarching purpose to one day remove the pain and suffering from this earth and give us an untarnished place to live. A place where we can explore without the threat of death. A place where we can learn and work and play without illness debilitating us, without selfishness impeding us, and without shame and fear restraining us.

It will be a place of continual joy because this finite, eternal person will finally have unending days to be all that God desires for him to be. It will be a place specifically and perfectly designed by God for us. And when this plan is fulfilled, we will not languish in disappointment, having built up a fantasy that exceeds reality. Nor will we release a sigh of relief, as if we barely escaped a horrendous fate. Instead, we will dance! We will exult! We will stand dumbstruck in the presence of a fulfilled promise that is immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).

It will be our eternal joy to sit on the grass and enjoy God’s friendship as well as explore the infinite breadth of His creativity and goodness spread across new and ever-expanding galaxies. In this place, we will relish the daily experience of life without any sin, death, or suffering. That’s why we call it Heaven. That’s why we look towards the future, instead of only at today. For we are “looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Heb. 11:10) “Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation.” (Ps. 35:9) This is our confident, inevitable, undeniable hope.