Discipleship Matters

Keswick Foundations: Series preface

Our prayer was for deep, clear, powerful teaching, which would take hold of the souls of the people, and overwhelm them, and lead them to a full, definite and all-conquering faith in Jesus.

This simple but profound prayer, expressed by Thomas Harford-Battersby as he reported on the 1880 Keswick Conven­tion, explains why hundreds of thousands of Christians the world over have been committed to the Keswick movement. The purpose is nothing other than to see believers more wholeheartedly committed to Jesus Christ in every area of life, and the means the faithful, clear and relevant exposition of God’s Word.

All around the world, the Keswick movement has this purpose and this means. Whether it is to proclaim the gospel, to encourage discipleship, to call for holiness, to urge for mission, to long for the Spirit’s empowering or to appeal for unity – hearing God’s Word in Scripture is central to fulfilling these priorities. (More information about Keswick Ministries is found at the end of this book.)

Keswick Foundations is a series of books that introduce the priority themes that have shaped the Keswick movement, themes which we believe continue to be essential for the church today. By God’s grace, for 140 years the movement has had an impact across the globe, not only through Conventions large and small, but also through a range of media. Books in the Keswick Foundations series provide biblical, accessible and practical introductions to basic evangelical essentials that are vital for every Christian and every local church.

Our prayer for these books is the same as that expressed by Harford-Battersby – that by his Spirit, God’s Word will take hold of our souls, leading us to an all-conquering faith in Jesus Christ, which will send us out to live and work for his glory.

Jonathan Lamb

CEO and minister-at-large

Keswick Ministries

Introduction: Cheap grace

He came into my office. I could see that he was disturbed about something. He was in his late twenties, a very successful professional, financially no worries, good at what he did, and still single. The conversation went like this: ‘I’ve come to see you today because I’ve been asked to take on a leadership role in my local church. Right now, I have no responsibilities in my life that I cannot walk away from. If I accept this invitation, I’m going to lose my independence and my freedom.’

I struggled to know what he was looking for from me. Did he want to hear that it was OK to live the Christian life avoiding responsibility? I think what he wanted to hear was that it was possible to live the Christian life and do exactly what he wanted, when he wanted.

Christianity on the side

What is happening in the Christian church? Some argue that the last twenty-five years have seen the fastest growth in the church since the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. Church growth statistics from South Korea, China and parts of Africa and Latin America are quite staggering. So why are we not all hugely encouraged? Why are we not seeing the ever-increasing impact of the church in those cultures where this rapid growth is being witnessed?

Almost every Christian leader I speak with, wherever they might be in the world, agrees that the major problem of the day is discipleship. For many, it seems, Christianity is con­sidered to be an ‘add-on’. People are living their lives – they hear about Jesus and the salvation he offers, and it sounds good. Preachers promise peace and purpose in life, and even some certainty to help when those nagging fears of death assault us. Some preachers go a lot further and offer all sorts of enticements for ‘coming to Jesus’: prosperity, health and much more, especially if a contribution to their organization follows. So people add Jesus to the life they already enjoy. And it seems that very little life change is called for other than how we spend an hour on a Sunday morning. In his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience,

¹

using research produced mainly by George Barna, Ronald Sider exposes the spiritual schizophrenia so evident in much of twenty-first-century American Christianity. It appears that we can happily sing our songs of worship, listen to lots of sermons, but then go out of church to live a life which does not seem substantially different from those where there is no Christian profession at all. Sider shows, for example, that how Christians treat a neighbour of a different ethnicity, or how they treat the sacred covenant of marriage, differs little from the behaviour of those who would not darken the door of a church.

And it’s not just an American problem. Christian leaders in every continent that I have visited concur that the challenge we face is helping those who have come to faith to understand that whole-life discipleship is the only reasonable response to the commitment they have made.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young pastor and theologian, wrote his brilliant book The Cost of Discipleship in 1937.

²

He believed that German Christians were making terrible and frightening compromises with the evil ideology of Nazism. He argued that the wonderful message of the grace of God, which Martin Luther had rescued, was now being turned into a message which he referred to as ‘cheap grace’. He defined this as grace without discipleship. He warned that Christianity had achieved success in Germany, but only by being emptied of its ethical and moral demands.

Is the offer of ‘cheap grace’ once again in the twenty-first century a danger for the church?

I won’t keep you in suspense. The young man who came to my office went on to make good decisions. There were many battles along the way, but he went off to college, obtained a theological degree, and has been involved in church ministry ever since. His life has been transformed by the Holy Spirit as he has obeyed the voice of God. From a drifting, basically selfish, existence, he has given himself to God and ministry to his people. As we shall see, he did not need to go into church ministry to do that, but with his particular gifts, that was the obvious direction for him. We have kept in touch, and it has been fantastic to see him flourishing.

An important principle of discipleship is that the more we give, the more we gain.

Questions

‘Jesus is my Saviour, but he is not my Lord.’ What do you think of this statement? Is such a thing ever possible?

As Bonhoeffer was writing of ‘cheap grace’, he was witnessing many of his colleagues compromising with the evil of Nazism. What are the danger areas of compromise for you, and for the Christian church today?

Books

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (SCM, 2001).

Ronald J. Sider, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World? (Baker, 2005).

Transformed

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Born again

I recently moved home. Soon afterwards I went along to the nearest gym to sign up for a twelve-month membership. It was possible to join at different levels. Would I be using it every day? Twice a week? Would I attend at weekends? Did I want access any time it was open or wish to avoid peak hours? There was a pool, as well as a gym. Did I want access to both? Different levels of entry for different prices.

Is Christianity like that? Are there different levels of commitment? Different benefits, depending on the price you’re willing to pay? Am I even suggesting by what I’ve said already that, though many become Christians, only some go on to become disciples?

Heart change

Famously, Jesus used the words ‘born again’ to describe the radical revolution that conversion to Christ entails. He was speaking to a man called Nicodemus, a religious leader with impressive credentials. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest tribunal of the Jews, chaired by the High Priest. He was a Pharisee, and although today Pharisees get bad press, this would have meant that he was a highly respected member of his community. Jesus called him ‘Israel’s teacher’ (John 3:10), which has led some to suggest that he was the most prominent religious leader in his area. Jesus is very clear: ‘You must be born again’ (John 3:7). You need something more if you’re going to be right with God. The words can also be translated: ‘born from above’. Jesus is referring to a supernatural experience which is the work of God in the human heart. He’s not talking about the alteration of a life, but the revolution, indeed the regeneration, of that life.

Stay with me for a little bit of useful theology! When Adam rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, he paid the penalty. God had said to him, ‘You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die’(Genesis 2:17). But he didn’t die. He lived for many years after that fateful act. So what is death? It is separation. When we die physically, a separation takes place:

The dust returns to the ground it came from,

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

(Ecclesiastes 12:7)

Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, and death (of another sort) took place immediately. Adam was separated from God; his life in communion with God had ended.

When we’re born again, just as God breathed life into Adam’s body and he became a living soul, so he breathes new life into us and we are born again. Communion with God is fully restored. The promise of the new covenant was not that God would give us a new law to keep, but a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26–27). Yet we cannot have new life without death. We cannot go on living the way we did, with just a few pleasant additions. The old life, our priorities, ambitions and desires all end, and a new life begins. God does this for us in a moment, but it takes a lifetime to appreciate and respond to all that he does in that moment and con­tinues to do throughout our lives.

In days when the term ‘born again’ is in common use in the media, we must never forget the radical death-and-life nature of this experience: ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Respectable or radical?

One day Jesus met someone who impressed him (Mark 10). He is often referred to as the ‘rich young ruler’. When Jesus quoted six of the Ten Commandments to him, he replied, ‘All these I have kept since I was a boy’ (10:20). Clearly, he had done well in life and made some serious money (verse 22). But he knew that this life, in which he had done so well, was not all there was. He was concerned about life after death and wanted to be sure that all would be well in the future. Had he recognized that Jesus was his answer to this search for assurance about eternity? Was he considering following Jesus as his disciple? Jesus does not offer him an easy road: ‘One thing you lack...Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me’ (verse 21). Possessions were clearly going to be the issue for this enthusiastic young man.

Something else might be the issue for me or you, although we have to say that money is often the big issue in our materialistic society. Jesus is not going to be the number two in this man’s life. More than that, he’s not even going to share first place.

In his