12

Christ Is Both Savior and Lord

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

—LUKE 14:25–27

The Great Commission in MATTHEW 28:18–20 has three main parts. The first is a description of the power and authority of Jesus: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Second is our mission or job description: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. “The third part is a promise of Jesus’ presence: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We love the first and last parts. We love to hear about Jesus’ power, Jesus’ authority, and the promise that Jesus is with us. The middle part—the mission—is less popular. It sounds like a lot of work and responsibility. But we cannot experience the first and last parts—we will never experience the power and presence of Jesus—unless we are doing the second part, the job Jesus gave us.

William Carey, the father of the modern missionary movement, said that the promise of the Great Commission is coextensive with the command. In other words, if Jesus’ promise was to all His followers, then His command was as well. Today, many Christians picture the Christian life as a life of quiet communion with Jesus. They look to the story of Mary and Martha (LUKE 10:38–42) to learn how to draw near to Jesus. They seek to experience intimacy with Jesus by sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to His teaching.

This is true, but incomplete. It is true that service cannot earn our salvation and that we must listen constantly and intently to what the Lord says. But if Jesus says, “Go! Make disciples!” then to remain sitting is not to listen—not in the biblical sense. Jesus’ words are not merely for our entertainment and comfort, but also for our direction and action. This is how we show our love for Him.

In this part of the book, I will present some tools and practices to help us develop patterns that support a life of Theopraxy. Some people complain that such patterns, habits, or disciplines are deadening and lifeless, and that they interfere with a living and vital relationship with God and others. That objection is illogical, and it has not been my experience. Rather, these patterns or disciplines lay a foundation upon which God builds what He chooses for our lives. As we learn His Word, form habits of obedience, learn to seek Him in prayer, and share what we learn with others, we are preparing ourselves to hear His voice and do His work.

Think of it like eating with silverware and at established mealtimes. Is food boring and bland because we always eat with a knife, fork, and spoon? Are meals rendered meaningless because we use the same implements over and over and over again? Do we lose interest in eating because of the life-draining repetitiveness of the endless cycle of breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Do we stop enjoying food because of these empty habits? No, silverware and mealtimes simply deliver the food to our mouths.

The tools and concepts offered in this section do not take the excitement out of life; rather, they provide a foundation of personal-life discipline that prepares us to hear and respond to God’s exciting call. They help us become more intentional in listening to God, pursuing the life He intends for us, knowing Him more deeply, making Him known more effectively, and loving Him more passionately. Let us strive to live our lives in an intentional way, like St. Jerome, so that we might please the One we love.

We must start by correctly understanding the gospel. Often it is preached in a way that maximizes the benefit to us and minimizes the commitment required. It is easy to fall into this pattern. We talk about forgiveness of sins, peace with God, hope of eternal life, and blessing. Those things are all true. But our gospel is not complete unless we also talk about commitment, sacrifice, and putting Jesus ahead of all else.

When Jesus preached, He was very clear about these things. In Jesus’ view, the Kingdom of Heaven demands first priority:

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. (MATTHEW 13:44–46)

LUKE 14:25–35 gives us a remarkable example of Jesus’ thinking. Jesus had attracted a large crowd of followers as He taught, healed, and performed other miracles. Jesus then turned to them and said something startling, as if He were trying to drive the crowd away:

If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (LUKE 14:26–27)

Jesus is telling them, in essence, “Before you decide to follow me, carefully consider the cost.” Following Him, He told His listeners, means treating Him as far more important than their most intimate human relationships, including parents, husbands, wives, and children. It means being ready to die for Him every day, or to give up all their earthly possessions at any time (14:33). Otherwise, Jesus suggested, they were absolutely worthless as His followers—not even good enough for the manure pile (14:35).

Wow! That seems like a terrible way to recruit followers. But Jesus is looking for a particular kind of follower—those who recognize Him as the most important thing in the universe. Here, Jesus was testing the motives of those who were following Him. Were they seeking entertainment? Education? Healing? A free meal? Or, because of what He had been saying and doing, had they recognized who He was: the Creator and Lord of everything? If the latter motive was present, then His demands were completely reasonable, even obvious.

Christians today frequently distort the task of evangelism. We say the good news of the gospel is that we can have our needs met and be blessed. That is true, but it is a secondary benefit. The real good news is that we can know, serve, and have an intimate relationship with the indescribable Lord of all creation—the good, perfect, kind, and loving God.

Because we often preach a low-cost gospel, many who come to God think that anything they do or give up for God is noteworthy or deserves special praise or credit. They evaluate their lives based on their own happiness or comfort. They completely miss the point of discipleship. For a true disciple, every aspect of life centers on the opportunity to know Him and make Him known—to honor, glorify, please, serve, and delight in Him.

A common approach is to invite people “to make a decision for Christ” as quickly as possible, and then afterwards, gently and gradually, to reveal the implications of that decision over time. We introduce the cost of discipleship slowly so as not to scare people off. Eventually, as new believers come to appreciate the privilege of knowing Christ, we tell them the rest of the story.

Sometimes that works, but in many cases the new believers either end up as consumer-oriented Christians or leave the church because they feel as if they’ve been subjected to “bait and switch” sales tactics. As a consequence, our churches are full of consumer Christians, for whom personal preference—not God’s Kingdom—is the deciding value. Either they have never really given their lives to the Lord or they have chosen to remain in an immature state of selfishness and laziness.

As a result, our churches may be full, but they are full of lukewarm, uncommitted believers. This damages both our churches and how the world views us. It also encourages a tendency, even in those who seek to grow, to do so in their own strength rather than by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit— because gradual changes and improvement seem to be within the grasp of human effort.

I might graph this approach in the following way:

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This approach is characterized by a low barrier of entry and then a long, gradual pattern of growth. The benefits of being a Christian for this life and the next are emphasized; the cost in terms of personal sacrifice and commitment is downplayed, at least initially.

In contrast, Jesus’ approach in LUKE 14 looks like this:

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Jesus presented a high, humanly impossible barrier of entry followed by a long, gradual pattern of growth thereafter. He explained the high-entry barrier by focusing on the unrestricted commitment required. He literally sought to drive away the uncommitted. His “church” was relatively empty (of the thousands He had preached to, only 120 were waiting in the upper room in ACTS 1:15), but those remaining few were willing to pay the price.

When the high-entry barrier is clear, there is no question from the very beginning about the source of the power to enter the Kingdom of God or to live as a follower of Jesus. No one could, in their own strength, make the required level of sacrifice. On the contrary, Kingdom life is possible only through the enablement of the Holy Spirit.

Moreover, there is clarity, from the outset, that everything in one’s life must be centered on and surrendered to the King and His Kingdom. The emphasis is on responding to the Lord in gratitude, love, and sacrifice for all His kindness, grace, and greatness.

No one has to be convinced later that certain additional aspects of their life should be submitted to God. They made that decision at the beginning. They have already decided that whenever they understand God’s will, they will obey it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The difference between these two patterns is described in PSALM 32:8–9:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.

The picture of God guiding with His eyes is akin to the master of a well-trained dog—one so attuned to its master’s will that a mere glance or gesture is enough to send the dog into action. That is in contrast to a horse or mule, which is not well-trained and responds only to force. People who have not acknowledged the absoluteness of God’s authority in their lives are like the untrained mule. They must be forced or convinced to comply. They require a carrot-and-stick approach to guidance. A person who recognizes the Lord’s absolute jurisdiction over all of life is simply waiting for direction, attentive to the slightest indication from the Master.

Another contrast between LUKE 14 and our common pattern is illustrated by the diagrams below. Both represent time lines moving from left to right. The cross signifies the point at which a person identifies himself or herself with Christ. The point where the two lines merge into one is the moment when the person recognizes Christ’s authority and rule over all of life.

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In the diagram on the left, the person must be convinced of any changes or sacrifices the Lord requires. In the diagram on the right, the believer has already decided to follow wherever the Lord leads. The practical consequences are profound and are constantly revealed in behavior and attitude. This is the main reason the world is perpetually accusing the church of hypocrisy—because it’s true.

In recent decades, there has been a debate within evangelical circles regarding “Lordship salvation.” The question is whether it is possible for a person to be saved without first making a decision to follow Jesus as Lord, or boss. I am not trying to resolve that debate here. That is not the question we are asking in this book. Participants in the “Lordship salvation” debate are asking, in essence, “What’s the least someone can do and still be saved?” or “Is it enough if they believe in Jesus’ divinity, death, and resurrection, without committing to follow Him?” To me, that seems to be the wrong question. We should not be asking, “What’s the least we can do?” but “How can I do the most? How can I best serve Jesus? How can I be a disciple, and make disciples, of the sort Jesus wants?”

It is very clear from Scripture that Jesus’ goal for us is not to do the least we can and still make it to heaven. He wants to revolutionize our lives. In fact, He died to change how and why we live: “He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 CORINTHIANS 5:15). And as we make disciples, our goal is to guide them into deeply transformed, obedient lives: “Make disciples of all the nations, … teaching them to observe [or obey] all that I commanded you” (MATTHEW 28:19–20).

One practical difference between high-entry barrier and low-entry barrier patterns is manifested in how we follow up with new believers. In the low-barrier approach, new believers are expected to sit back and learn for an extended period of time. We assume that they need to receive teaching for a while before they can be active ambassadors for the Kingdom. The focus is on taking in spiritual knowledge through reading the Bible, prayer, and attending church. They are conditioned to a pattern of passivity and consumption.

In the high-barrier paradigm, follow-up is very different. The immediate focus is on equipping new believers to become active propagators of their faith. They are promptly challenged to become evangelists and church planters. They may be asked to list one hundred people they know and then select five of these people with whom they will immediately share their decision to follow Jesus. They are trained to share the gospel and a simple testimony and then, perhaps after some role-playing practice, to go out to talk with the five people they have selected. If any of those five come to faith, the same follow-up pattern is applied with them. All this can happen on the first day a new believer makes a commitment to following Christ! Follow-up and evaluation of their progress usually happen within forty-eight hours in this paradigm.

We are so accustomed to the low-barrier paradigm that this sort of immediate action seems impossible. Yet that is exactly what we see in New Testament examples such as the Gerasene demoniac (MARK 5:19–20), Levi the tax collector (LUKE 5:27–30), and the Samaritan woman at the well (JOHN 4:28–30).

The pattern established by the high-barrier approach is that whatever the Lord reveals to a believer should be immediately applied and shared with others. This pattern is imprinted from the moment people enter the Kingdom and characterizes their life thereafter. They learn to live like a well-trained dog rather than an untrained mule. They recognize that they, as ambassadors for the Kingdom, will have the privilege of being a conduit of God’s grace and love for people for the rest of their lives. Life is lived expectantly, as they never know what new challenge or adventure lies around the next bend. Confidence in the Lord is built up daily, as they listen for and respond to His daily direction and experience His sufficiency for them continually in new ways.

PRAYER

Lord, I want to be like the well-trained dog eagerly watching for Your glance to send me dashing off in tail-wagging obedience. But I can sometimes be more like a mule. Change my heart. You deserve my obedience, and I gain nothing by delaying or resisting. The path of obedience is the path of true blessing. Stubbornness and reluctance will not bring joy nor fruitfulness nor glory to You. I am sorry. By Your Spirit, give me ears to listen and a heart to obey.

QUESTIONS

Read the following questions, then pray and ask God what He wants you to learn and do. Listen quietly.

Review your journal. Are there any past commitments you have not completed? If needed, schedule revised completion dates.

1. Do I hear from God and then decide whether or not to obey, or has my commitment to obedience already been resolved in my mind and heart? How can I promote the latter approach in my life and the lives of other believers I know?

2. Am I proclaiming a “low-entry barrier” gospel or a Luke 14 “high-entry barrier” gospel? How should I adjust my proclamation to better imitate Jesus?

3. When I follow up with new believers, am I training them to obey and share immediately, or am I encouraging them to learn passively?

4. What specific actions does God want me to take in response to this chapter? (Note them in your journal and schedule them in your calendar.)

5. With whom (at least one name) does God want me to share what I have learned?

Ask the Lord to enable you to follow through on these commitments and to prepare the hearts of those with whom you intend to share insights.