3. Partake – The Christian Disciple and Words

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived writes in Proverbs 15: “A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire”; “Kind words heal and help! Cutting words wound and maim”; “Congenial conversation—what a pleasure! The right word at the right time—beautiful! “; “God can't stand evil scheming, but he puts words of grace and beauty on display.” (Proverbs 15:1, 4, 23, 26)

Words are the central means of communication regardless of our language, culture or people group. Needless to say that every one of us has either been hurt, or hurt others, by communicated words. In his book “Conversation Matters”, Peter Shaw writes: “The quality of conversation matters for healthy family life, community life and work life.” He goes on to say that conversation is essential to our enjoyment and growth as people, let alone as Christian disciples. The power of the tongue in speech is awesome. It has the power of life & death and those who love it will eat its fruit. It is a fire, which left unguarded, can corrupt the whole body and set the whole course of life on fire. We need to watch the words that we utter and control our speech, or it will control us. Jesus, our Master, said in Matthew Chapter 12 “How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It's your heart, not the dictionary, which gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is blight on the orchard. Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation." Jesus took words extremely seriously and so must we for we are a result of our speech and we will be judged for what we say.

So what is a right use of the tongue in speech? We are to use our words to nourish others, encourage and lift them up. For the tongue of the righteous is choice silver. (Prov.10:21). Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet in the soul and healing to the bones. We find that if we give an apt reply we will find joy and discover the goodness and healing a timely word brings! But we are not to speak glibly and hypocritically but with truth, sincerity and love – as a mother speaks to her daughter.

Photo courtesy of Jan

How can we guard its use? By asking the Holy Spirit to watch over our lips and set a guard over our mouth, according to the Psalmist in Psalm 141:3. It is a measure of wisdom to speak words when required and with discernment. Any fool can speak words all the time, but sometimes there is a need for silence, for even then foolish people are thought to be wise. Often we are told to be quick to speak and slow to listen, but as Christian disciples we are to do the opposite! We are to be slow to speak and quick to listen, according to James 1:19.

Our example of Jesus - People were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips according to Luke 4:22! At other times they were astonished at the authority of His words! He always used discernment in what he had to say and how he had to say it. Sometimes he spoke in anger, particularly against the oppressive religious leaders. He spoke with exasperation with his disciples when they showed no clue about what he had been talking about. But his words also healed, such as to the woman caught in adultery, when he used discernment and wisdom. He actively encouraged others gently towards paths of right living. He spoke words lovingly to his mother. He even spoke words of kindness whilst He hung from His cross, during his last moments before death! He is to be our guide and Master in the use of speech, thoughts and words.

For more to think about please do read James 3vv1-11. Ask yourself the following questions, writing them down if you can, and see how you respond or react to them. Why not share your answers with your spouse or a close friend, so that you can pray over any issues together.

• Are the words I speak, words that heal and encourage, or are they also used to hurt and damage people?
• What areas can I improve upon so that my words can heal, encourage and uplift others?
• When I am sharing with other people, is what I am saying really sharing or is it gossiping by another name?
• Is there somebody who I know, that could do with being encouraged and uplifted by way of email, telephone, letter or postcard?

As ever, if you have any comments to make on this, please do contact me at www.davegroberts.podbean.com. I would love to hear from you and if these are making any difference at all to your continual Christian discipleship! Thank you.

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5 –Growing as a disciple!

Paul in Galatians Chapter 5 verse 22 to 25 writes: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

The process of becoming more like Jesus is, in one of the big words of theology, sanctification. If a disciple of Jesus Christ is showing the fruit I read about earlier: love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self-control, then the disciple is becoming Christ-like and is being sanctified! Another way to look at sanctification is that it is like the changing of a caterpillar into a butterfly – it’s a process. Sometimes it’s a difficult path, but nobody said becoming holy is easy. Certainly Jesus never said that it was!

Now you may well ask, that if I am being sanctified, why do I still continue to sin? Firstly, you sin because you chose to sin. Nobody else can take the rap. You can lead a horse to water but you can never make it drink. Similarly the devil and the world may tempt you to sin, but it is only you that does the sinning. So not succumb to the wiles and ways of the devil and the world!

Secondly, when you became a Christian, you gained a new nature, albeit in embryonic form. As this new nature grows, your old nature shrivels and shrinks yet refuses to die quickly. So our new nature now that you are a disciple of Jesus, fights against our old nature.

So what can a disciple do?

As Christian disciples, we are not left alone to fend for ourselves. Jesus promised help in order to become more like Him. We overcome sin & temptation through the power of the Holy Spirit. He works in us, and assists our new nature in overcoming the old nature. We may struggle in our own strength, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, our old nature shrivels. Remind yourself that temptation itself is not sin! Otherwise Jesus Himself would have sinned, and we know that even though He faced constant temptation, we know for certain, that He did not sin.

It is rather, as John Stott helpfully puts it in his classic commentary on Romans, that as Christians, having died and raised with Jesus Christ, we now live in the freedom of the indwelling Spirit. Remember also what the beloved Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

If however, a disciple does succumb to temptation and sins then when that disciple recognizes that they have sinned, they need to repent quickly! Unconfessed sin soon becomes a heavy burden. Confession & repentance is needed. Not a confession borne from constant grace-less guilt like that of the young Martin Luther. Rather a repentance borne from grace like that of the older and wiser Martin Luther! Psalm 51 is a confessional Psalm! That is why the confession of sin comes at the start of most worship services, because as John Stott again reminds us: we are to come in penitence before we praise!

Are you struggling with some form of habitual sin? Are you facing insurmountable pressure from within your family, friends or society to sin in some way? When faced with these pressures, ask the Holy Spirit to help you overcome the temptations you face. He who was promised to help you, will help you, sometimes in the most surprising of ways!! For more to read and think about please read Philippians 2v6-11. You can leave comments or messages at www.davegroberts.podbean.com. Thank you.

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4 – Partake – What is the goal of a disciple?

The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:3-6 “We know that we have come to know Jesus if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

I wonder what you think the goal of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is? Praying a lot? Perhaps it is reading and memorizing the whole bible? Doing lots of evangelism or doing lots of work for the church? As admirable as those things are, they are not the goal for a disciple of Jesus Christ. The ultimate goal for any Christian disciple is to be as John wrote in the passage I read earlier: to walk and live as Jesus did. That doesn’t mean walking around in sandals, wearing white clothes and traversing the terrain where Jesus Himself walked. The Apostle John means for us to be radical and holy, living lives worthy of that of Jesus.. How can we be radical and holy? Jean Calvin said that denying oneself and relying on God for all things is the goal of the Christian life. This can only be attained by total submission to the Holy Spirit and a life of constantly “dealing with God” in all matters. That is how Christian disciples are to be radical and holy. That is how a Christian Disciple endeavours to reach the goal of being Jesus! Being radical and holy is achieved by a constant renewing of the mind (Ephesians 4v23) and a heart willing to be transformed. It is by loving others in such a way, that the end of a disciple’s generosity is only when the resources have expired.

A disciple must live and walk as Jesus did, in the Bible verse I read earlier (1 John 2v6). There is no better way for a disciple to fulfil this goal, than by imitating Jesus and obeying his command to “…take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9v23). This is seen as a higher challenge for the mind! Dietrich Bonhoeffer extrapolates this further when he comments on discipleship as a leading to death for all who follow Christ; either as a physical death or in being ostracized from society in general. Is it not true that increasingly in Western society, Christians are being marginalized more and more?

For the first century Christians, just as in some parts of today’s world, persecution and martyrdom was a reality, as evident in the story of Stephen (Acts 7v59). Yet it also means enduring suffering, for this is how a Christian disciple maintains a “communion with Christ”. For it is through suffering, that we share with the crucified Jesus. The bitterness of our cross is made sweeter, the more we dwell on the sufferings of Jesus and our enabled fellowship with Him.

As Christian individuals, we are linked together in a Christian community through rebirth, and our relationship exists only through our relationship with Christ. There is no such thing as an individual member of the radical Christian community. Members are interdependent upon one another, bound by a corporate and inclusive personality. The church community is to be dynamic by nature, and individualism is oxymoronic and not coherent with New Testament teaching.

How are you fitting in with your local church community? Are you being a radical believer in a radical church community? Have you taken up your cross in order to follow the Master, Jesus? For more to read and think about please read Luke 9v22-27. Please also be free to make comments or contact me regarding anything to do with this Podcast or Christianity… Thank you.

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3. Partake – What is a Disciple?

Before He ascended, Jesus commanded ”God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:18-20 The Message).

In these verses Jesus commanded his disciples to make other disciples. In order to fulfil this command, He assigned the three tasks of going, baptizing and teaching as an obligatory activity of daily life. Baptism was symbolic of becoming under the lordship of the Trinitarian Godhead. Baptism leads to teaching, which is a core part of disciple making. Teaching was not just to be an oral activity, but an active helping of everyone including the weakest. These instructions to Jesus’ disciples are just as applicatory to us today.

As ever, any feedback is appreciated. If you have any questions about anything at all, please do feel free to ask!.

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I am starting a new series, entitled "Partake!". These podcasts will deal with ways in which we can apply the Bible to our life as we seek spiritual maturity as Jesus' disciples in order to be changed into His likeness...

This first one is an introductory podcast, and my apologies for a minor technical defect in the recording. Over the next few days & weeks we shall look together at issues such as: Our human makeup; Handling emotions; Healing emotions; Developing a clean conscience; Forgiveness; Overcoming Anger & Worry and several other topics.

As ever, any feedback is appreciated. If you have any questions about anything at all, please do feel free to ask!

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