March 2017 Spare Change
Discipleship is hard work. It is difficult and not fun. Yep, I said it. Discipleship is not fun and it is work; however, it is a worthy cause that should not be abandoned, but leaned into like never before. When I say discipleship, I mean the process of becoming like Christ through worship, prayer, obedience to God’s Word, and living a spirit filled life. These are widely accepted parts of discipleship; however, the one that matters the most usually doesn’t come to mind first, that is reproduction. Disciples must have knowledge of God’s Word and have a strong prayer life, but they also must be seeking to make other disciples. All of the components of discipleship are hard work. Paul acknowledges this in 1 Timothy 4:7 when he says to train for godliness. He is encouraging
Timothy to study God’s Word so he will have sound doctrine and then encourages him to live in godly way as to be an example to the church.
It is interesting that Paul uses the word “train” along with the imagery of someone training for a physical contest. Think about an athlete that trains to be the best in his or her sport. They work night and day to get better. They examine the things they eat. They disregard social activities so they can spend that time preparing. They hope if they can work hard and perfect their craft then they can win the prize. Paul says in 1 Cor. 9:25 that they do all of this for a temporary prize, but we work and strive for eternal glory. This everlasting prize should be esteemed much more in our hearts than a trophy or medal.
It is not by accident that Paul uses illustrations of athletes and the hard work it takes to compete. He is trying to show us that becoming a fully surrendered disciple is not easy. Not only are there external things like busyness, family, work, etc., there are limitless distractions that we can entertain ourselves with, such as television, social media, hobbies, etc. We are drawn to them and obsess over them because that is what the flesh wants. It is much more enjoyable to binge watch shows on Netflix than it is to have a deep prayer life. It is much easier to work on our golf swing than is it to spend that time going through the Word with a new believer. It is easier to remain at arm’s length with our neighbors than to invite them into our home and let them see the gospel lived out in our lives. This all takes hard work.
Paul says in 1 Cor. 9 that he disciples or beats his body to make it obedient. This is most likely hyperbole; however, he is driving home a point. The flesh wants the enjoyable easy thing; it wants to deny the spirit of it nourishment and power. We must fight against this flesh, we must make war on the flesh, and we must beat it into submission. We must do the hard work of discipleship.
When we don’t want to read the Word that is when we must force ourselves to read it. When we don’t want to get on our knees and pray we must make our flesh bend. When we aren’t bold enough to share or selfless enough to disciple someone else, we must press on do it anyway. The only way to push past the flesh is to force ourselves to move, but then after a while something amazing happens. After you beat back your desires a little bit, your desires begin to change. You start to long for God’s Word, you start to enjoy prayer, and you share with boldness, and on and on. But remember, discipleship is not natural, sin wants to continue to reign in your body, and you have to refuse to let it set up camp. You have been redeemed, you are a new creation free from the hold of sin, so make war with the flesh and live by the spirit that is the only way we will become the followers of Jesus we need to be.
Think of discipleship as training for your spiritual muscles; you must go back to the gym day in and day out, even if you are tired or sore. And over time you begin to see amazing results as you simply persevere through the ups and down. Don’t give up, do the hard word of discipleship, it is worth it!