Do you ever find yourself knowing what it is you want to say, but struggling to find words to clearly convey your thoughts? It happens to me all the time. But recently, certain ideas which had been stirring around my head in a muddle, suddenly crystallized with clarity into a single sentence.
Anyone who knows me will appreciate how uncharacteristic it is for me to say anything concisely, so please take note. It may be some time before this happens again. So here goes…
Because Jesus came to do what only he could do, we should not mistakenly conclude that this was the only thing he came to do.
Please, do me a favor and read that again.
Salvation from our sins, the hope of eternal life, a relationship with God based in grace rather than earned righteousness – all of this is only possible with the voluntary sacrifice of the perfect, sinless, God-made-man Savior, Jesus. Securing all this for us was something only he could do, and it would be a gross injustice to detract in any way from the uniqueness and essential nature of that sacrifice.
But I would contend that we perpetrate an equally grave injustice when we jump to the conclusion that Jesus only came to die for our sins and to secure eternity for us. I get that it seems sacrilegious to say ‘only’ in any sentence when talking about Christ’s sacrificial death, as if it were something small or inconsequential.
But I would contend that it is equally sacrilegious to suggest that Christ could be happy with any faith associated with his name which is best known for providing a means for one to gain eternal life, without any really significant impact upon our understanding of our role and purpose within the world in which we now live.
In the familiar parting words which Jesus spoke to his disciples, he said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” [i]
Please note that baptizing and teaching are actions intended to serve the primary purpose of making disciples. These activities are not the end goal. They are the means to the real goal of creating disciples. And a disciple is a very specific thing.
As Dallas Willard puts it, “We should note that being a disciple, or apprentice, of Jesus is a quite definite and obvious kind of thing. To make a mystery of it is to misunderstand it.”[ii] Defining this obvious thing, he writes, “A disciple, or apprentice, is simply someone who has decided to be with another person, under appropriate conditions, in order to be capable of doing what that person does or to become what that person is.”[iii]
He continues, “If I am Jesus’ disciple that means I am with him to learn from him how to be like him…. That “being-with,” by watching and hearing, is an absolute necessity.”[iv]
But what are we to watch and hear? A man on a cross dying for our sins? Certainly that demands our attention. But there is so much more for us to see and hear.
We need to listen to the Jesus who revives the themes of the Old Testament prophets, calling us to justice and mercy, and compassion for the poor, the widows and orphans, and the strangers in our midst. We must hear the teacher of a righteousness that is not merely external or self-consciously pious, but which integrates internal purity with humility. Watch the counter-intuitive and counter-cultural example of the teacher who elevates the poor, the humble, the servant, the last and the least. Observe the holy God in flesh who did not fear the unclean, nor avoid the fallen and broken.
This one is worth our watching. This is one worth our hearing. This is not only a Savior I can love for his sacrificial death, it is the Teacher and Lord I can love for how he lived. His is also the kind of life worthy enough to make me want to be his disciple.
And when we watch and listen to Jesus carefully we learn that being his disciple is far more encompassing than merely securing a place in heaven. It is engagement in an ongoing mission of revealing the Kingdom of God to humankind.
But in our evangelical world we take pains to avoid preaching a works-based righteousness, at all cost. So, in a classic example of over-reaction, we have over-compensated and defined Christ-following as mental assent to certain statements about Jesus, and we have defined discipleship as demonstrating personal piety and morality and making converts. Further, it seems that the church has, in the pursuit of its institutional survival, too often chosen to regard as true disciples those most committed to serving the institution, rather than those who are hearing and watching of our Lord.
Willard writes, “the most telling thing about the contemporary Christian is that he or she simply has no compelling sense that understanding of and conformity with the clear teachings of Christ is of any vital importance to his or her life, and certainly not that it is in any way essential.”[v]
Many people inside and outside the church have become disillusioned with a church culture which has rendered impotent the kind of Kingdom life which Christ lived and taught. At times, it has largely taught things to believe about Jesus, rather than teaching people to watch and hear Jesus, and then imitate what they see and hear.
Despite all of the evangelizing, baptizing, serving and giving that goes on in the church, there is frequently a scandalous absence of teaching on the actual life of Jesus. We do not call believers to watch and hear. We do not call them to actually believe Jesus’ words or to emulate his actions, or to reflect his compassion for the lost and the disenfranchised. In effect, we elevate him to the role of Savior without elevating him to the role of the Master Teacher of life.
Willard asks, “Can we seriously believe that God would establish a plan for us that essentially bypasses the awesome needs of present human life and leaves human character untouched?…. Can we believe that the essence of the Christian faith and salvation covers nothing but death and after? Can we believe that being saved really has nothing whatever to do with the kinds of persons we are?…. Could such a combination of profession and failure really be the “life and life abundantly” that Jesus said he came to give? Or have we somehow developed an understanding of “commitment to Jesus Christ” that does not break through to his living presence in our lives?”[vi]
We live as if it is credible to believe that Jesus was God enough to provide a perfect sacrifice for our sins, but not God enough to teach truth that is ultimate reality. That is not logical.
Savior and Lord. The words are linked and indivisible. We cannot credit him with being God enough to save us, and not God enough to demand our respect and our obedience. Either he deserves to be both, or he deserves to be neither.
I get why many are disappointed in the church. It has all too often left its practitioners unchanged, and self-satisfied despite their lack of transformation, due to a cheapening of grace which looks like easy, cost-free believe-ism. Its message has resulted in converts but not disciples. In effect, we have latched onto the sacrifice made in the final week of Jesus’ life, while virtually denying the relevance of the three years of teaching and ministry which preceded it. We should have done the one without neglecting the other.
We have embraced eternity and, for all intents and purposes, given up on the present. But in Jesus’ model prayer, we are taught to pray for a revelation of God’s Kingdom in us and for God’s will to be done by us – here and now – as it is done in heaven. That means more than evangelizing the lost, as worthy and necessary as that is. It means restoring justice, showing mercy, promoting peace, defending the defenseless, serving the least. It means watching and listening to Jesus with the intention of learning to do what he does and becoming what he is.
Can we not embrace that thing which only Christ could do for us, without acting as if that were the only thing he wants to do in us? Can we not embrace the actions demanded by the example and teachings of Jesus without seeing them in conflict with the grace-only salvation message of the cross?
I fear that if I cannot, I will never be worthy to consider myself a true disciple of Jesus.
[i] Matthew 28:18-20, New International Version
[ii] Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1998), p. 281
[iii] Ibid, p. 282
[iv] Ibid, p. 276
[v] Ibid, p. xv
[vi] Ibid, p. 38
