Waiting for Our Groom: Are We Willing to Fast?

I want to start by promoting my friend Dylan Watts' new blog, The Gospel Displayed in Sanctification. He is just starting out his journey into the bloggersphere, so please show him a little love and check out his stuff! :) Now, to my post...

We're currently in Lent, which is the time of year when my Catholic brethren give up something to focus on God. The idea of giving up something to focus on God is considered fasting.

Fasting is something that rarely gets discussed. What's the point? Should we fast? Is fasting a Catholic thing? Am I allowed to eat during a fast? What does Jesus say about fasting?

All of these questions are good questions to ask. I am a Southern Baptist by label, and fasting is something my denomination rarely discusses or practices. So, what does the bible say about fasting? Let's take a look.

One of the passages that is central to understanding fasting is found in Matthew 7. I wrote a post on this passage last year, entitled To Fast or Not to Fast, That Is the Question. I would ask for you to read that post after reading this one, as they are really companions for each other. It discusses the heart behind fasting, which is one of humility and God-focusedness. That's not my goal today.

Today, my goal is to simply show that fasting is not a bad thing for Christians to do, and, in fact, is very helpful. Check out Mark 2:18-20 with me.

"Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, 'How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?'
Jesus answered, 'How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.'" -Mark 2:18-20, NIV

This passage alone shows that we, as the Church today, are not wrong to fast in a biblical manner (which is outlined in my other post). In v. 18, we see that Jesus' disciples were not fasting, while other "religious types" were. So they asked Jesus what was up with this apparent lack of striving for God.

At first glance, it appears that Jesus is supporting the abolition of fasting. Yet, keep reading on down to verse 20...

Here, Jesus discusses that "the bridegroom will be taken away, and on that day they will fast." Guess what: Jesus is not physically on this earth right now. Jesus, our Bridegroom, has ascended to the throne of God. The day has come for our fast.

Allow me to clarify something, though: God is not gone from this earth. His presence is all around us, and in the believer. I do not want you to walk away thinking that we are without our God; that is untrue. In Mark 2, Jesus' disciples literally had Him in the flesh, there beside them. They had no need to fast at all, and because of that, they didn't. We don't HAVE to fast, either; if you never fast, you are not doomed to Hell. We have the Spirit of God within us; thus, we do not have to fast. We are saved by grace, not works, and our salvation rests only in the work of Christ.

However, we are in a waiting period. We are in between the human life of Christ and His return. We cannot speak with Him in the same way that the disciples did then, and we will not have that level of closeness with Him until He returns. So, allow me give a scenario that I hope will show the benefit of fasting while we wait for His return.

Let's say a couple is dating. The man gets down on one knee and proposes. Do you think they are abstaining from enjoying life at that moment? No! They'd by excited! He is physically with her, and she will enjoy every moment with him!

But let's say that this man is deployed to Iraq before they are married. What do you think the future bride will do? Is she going to continue her life as if he were here? Of course not. She will call him, Skype him, email him... You get what I am saying. She will abstain from chasing after other guys, because she already has her man. She will even be willing to wake/remain up at crazy hours of the day to talk with him. She will sacrifice sleep, food or other relationships in order to grow closer with him, even in his time away.

We, Church, are currently that future bride. Our Groom has gone for a time, and we are now waiting for His return. We should desire to grow closer with Him at all costs, no matter what. There may come times when separation from food or sleep or other things will allow us to communicate with and draw nearer to our Groom, and we shouldn't be afraid to embrace that. This fasting with the desire of growing closer to God is a good thing.

Our Groom is on His way back to us; are we willing to do whatever it takes to be as close as possible with Him while we wait?

Thanks to Mr. Scott Fertig, who challenged me to go deeper with this post and better communicate my thoughts. If you, reader, ever find what I say to be erroneous or confusing, please let me know. I will be happy to clarify or study further.

Do It All For His Glory

"Now this is what the Lord says—
the One who created you, Jacob,
and the One who formed you, Israel—
'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

I will be with you
when you pass through the waters,
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not overwhelm you.
You will not be scorched
when you walk through the fire,
and the flame will not burn you.

For I Yahweh your God,
the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior,
give Egypt as a ransom for you,
Cush and Seba in your place.
Because you are precious in My sight
and honored, and I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you
and nations instead of your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north: Give them up!
and to the south: Do not hold them back!
Bring My sons from far away,
and My daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone called by My name
and created for My glory.
I have formed him; indeed, I have made him.'"

-Isaiah 43:1-7, HCSB

 

This, my friends, is a beautiful passage. It was written as God speaking to His nation, Israel, but I believe it can be extended to His current nation, the Church (1 Peter 2:9-12).

 

There are a lot of great things in this passage, such as the fact that God is always with us, or that He redeemed us, but I want to focus on a line at the end: "everyone called by My name and created for My glory."

 

If you are called by the Name of God (which is another focus for another post), then you are created for His glory. Actually, everything is ultimately for God's glory, but we aren't going to get into that right now. Let's just focus on the fact that Christians, who are "those called," are "created for God's glory."

 

Christians, our task is to glorify God. Not to be a good Christian, but to glorify the God of the universe. We are to do everything with the goal of glorifying Him. When we do our jobs, it's to His glory. When we take finals (looking at you, college students like myself), we do it for the glory of God. When we do anything, it is all for the glory for God.

 

It is by Him and for Him that we do all things. Whatever we do, whatever talents and gifts we have, we do it for Him. So let's give Him the credit, gang! Let's do everything with the purpose of lifting up the Name of God and glorify Him!

Discipleship, Part Five: Conclusion

So, this is the fifth part and seventh post in my Discipleship series. If you've stayed with me the whole way through, congrats! I'm not positive I'd read seven posts that some goober on the Internet machine wrote, regardless of topic. Alas, today we draw to a close on this series. Our final topic for the series feeds off of my post from last week, Discipleship, Part Four: Teaching. We will look briefly at one question today: how do you balance teaching with the other three aspects of discipleship? As a refresher, let's re-cap the four elements of discipleship, then we'll dive in.

4 Elements of Discipleship

1. Commitment: be personally invested in your disciple
2. Modeling: you set a good example for your disciple
3. Personal Attention: you pay direct attention and care to your disciple
4. Teaching: teaching biblical knowledge, doctrine and life to your disciple

OK, so how does one balance these? We learned that both are necessary to discipleship last week, so we have to have both. But just how important are they? A few points to close out the series:

-Biblical knowledge isn't the key to spirituality: We looked at this last week. You have to do more discipling than just teaching; if knowledge-giving was the key to discipleship, then the best advice I could give would be to send my disciple to [insert your local Christian book store] to get a few commentaries and such, then watch 'em go. Obviously, the first three elements are needed along with the fourth.

Additionally, the personal side of discipleship is needed, as one can teach without discipling. When I preach on occasion, I may have 150-200 people listening to me. I am not discipling 150 people. I may be teaching, as well as aiding their spiritual walk, but that is not direct discipleship. Jesus preached to a lot of people in His ministry, but had a significantly smaller amount of disciples.

-Non-teaching isn't good enough to stand alone: Ponder with me for a moment. If I wanted to be a doctor, how would I go about it? What if I had a skilled doctor that cared about me, was dedicated to leading me, showed me how he does his job, and kept up with me on a day-to-day basis? Am I any closer to being a doctor? Of course. In my time watching and being around this doctor, I have gotten glimpses of what being a doctor is all about. I've learned some things, and probably have a pretty good idea of what this whole doctor lifestyle looks like.

Yet, what happens if I take that and try to become a practicing doctor? Will I be able to be licenced? The obvious answer is no. Why is that? I have no medical school diploma, which would be the evidence that I have knowledge in the area of medicine. I would be familiar with things I had seen with my doctor-mentor, and I would have a general idea of some different things. But what happens when I run into a disease I have never seen, or I need to prescribe a medicine that I have never heard of? The results would be disastrous.

The same goes for discipleship. Our disciples can learn by watching and being with us, no doubt, but a lack of real, intense teaching will prove disasturous for them in their walk. We won't always be their for them when they run into something they've never learned about. Also, guess what: we may model something contrary to God's Word. Even with the best intentions, we are still imperfect, sin-scarred beings that will be that way until we die and resurrect to be with God. We will mess up, and we will show them the wrong thing to do at some point.

There must be teaching, as the Word of God is essential to discipleship, and you are not capable of true discipleship without it.

-A balance must be found: In our very first post in this series, I referred to discipleship as spiritual parenting. A good parent will have commitment to their child, will model how to live life to their child, show their child personal attention and have concern for their child learning about life. Think about a parent that does the first three without teaching: the child will not survive once it moves out, as the parent never told it how to live. If the parent teaches, but never shows love or commitment or care, the child may go on to physically live, but it will be a socially warped human, having never seen how someone shows commitment, love and compassion for another human.

We must have a healthy balance. Nutritionists suggest a balanced meal; too much bread will leave you with a protein deficiency, while too much meat will leave you with no energy from carbohydrates (yes, I simplified all of that a lot. Bear with me, science geeks.). The ideal meal features elements of both, and so should discipleship. Keep the Gospel/Great Commission as the focus, apply the Scripture that went along with each element of discipleship as needed, and you are on your way to spiritual parenting.

Being a parent is never easy, and you'll mess up along the way (and like biological kids, they may very well tell you so). Don't let that scare you; you've got the Spirit of God inside you, and He will make sure you are capable to do this work. He wouldn't have sent us on this mission otherwise.

Discipleship, Part One: Commitment, Pt. 2 [More Than A Teacher]

Last time I had a Discipleship series post, I wrote about Paul's heart with the Thessalonian believers, and how he approached the discipleship concept of commitment. We talked about how he truly loved and cared for them, and therefore had a massive commitment. There's more to the commitment of a discipler, though. Today, we'll wrap up this commitment idea with a few more parts of Paul's life that pointed toward a committed approach to discipleship.

1. Be Concerned
"And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?" -2 Corinthians 11:28-29, ESV

If there was ever a group of believers that I wouldn't want to commit to, it would be the Corinthian church. These people were, for lack of a better description, a hot mess. Both of Paul's letters to this church were loaded with Paul saying, "what the crap are you doing?!" Yet, even with their consistent tendency to act stupid, Paul was genuinely concerned for their well-being. He was "daily" anxious for their well-being. Every day, Paul was thinking of them and how they were doing. When he found that they were weak, he felt weak. When they were treated badly, he was ticked off about it. This man was legitimately in-tune with their issues, and really cared about how they were.

We have to do this, too. If you are discipling someone and don't care about their day-to-day life, then I'd argue that you don't really care about them. You may care about their spiritual knowledge, which is commendable, but that isn't all there is. People have daily lives and struggles that need someone to walk them through. Your disciple is walking their first steps; don't leave them to fall on the concrete alone. Walk with them, guide them, and help soften their inevitable fall. That takes commitment.

2. Work Hard
"I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?" -2 Corinthians 12:15, HCSB

Paul gave himself to his disciples. He spent, be it money, time or energy, on them. He was spent on them. There was no part of Paul that he wouldn't give to his disciples. That's how committed he was to their lives and spiritual walks.

We should mirror this. A person's spiritual and physical needs should be met however possible. Don't be stingy toward your disciples; give any of you and/or your possessions toward their discipleship. Their walk with our Lord is worth that kind of commitment.

3. Deal With The Hard Stuff
"This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory." -2 Timothy 2:10, HCSB

Paul endured for his disciples. The fact is that discipleship ain't always rainbows and sea otters; every now and then, it's going to suck. Your pursuit of their spiritual growth will have its difficult moments; ask any parent of a child if they ever endured an unpleasant time while raising their children. I promise you, it will happen. They will disappoint you, ask you difficult questions and may even rebel against you. That will be hard, and to endure through these trials will require a high level of commitment. The reward for that commitment is clear, though: "so that they may also obtain salvation...with eternal glory."

The salvation and eternal glory is the goal for every disciple that you have. Your job is to lead them to Christ and in Christ, walking alongside them as they grow in Christ. This will take commitment, but is there any reward better than their eternity with Christ?

Discipleship, Part One: Commitment Pt. I [Paul's Heart]

I apologize. I originally intended to have this discipleship series up weekly. However, my school schedule this semester has prevented me from being able to do this like I wanted to. I will not put up a new calendar for this series, but I do plan to get these posts up every week. We'll see how that goes...

Ironically, the first aspect of discipleship we will be looking at here is commitment. Let's look at a passage from 1 Thessalonians, and pick it apart, finding how the apostle Paul & Co. carried out this aspect.

"For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive. Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but rather God, who examines our hearts. For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives —God is our witness— and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others. Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother nurtures her own children. We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you.You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers. As you know, like a father with his own children, we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also works effectively in you believers." -1 Thessalonians 2:3-13, HCSB

This is a big chunk of Scripture, so we're gunna break it into a few parts. First we'll look at Paul's heart, and the next post will focus on going beyond a teacher.

There are several parts of this passage that really point to Paul's heart toward the believers in Thessaloniki. Let's highlight a few:

-V. 3-6 says Paul and Friends were not "from error, or impurity or intent to deceive...." and had no "greedy motives...[or] seek glory from people." They obviously weren't committed to these believers for their own purpose. Instead, they were approved by God. They were on God's mission, and they made it clear that it was His mission that they focused on. We must remember to keep this central to our commitment; our commitment doesn't mean a thing if it isn't focused on God's purposes.

-V. 7-8 shows that they cared for the believers with a "motherly, deep love." That is the love we must show toward our disciples; a passionate, deep, internal love and care for their well-being.

-V. 9-10 talks of how they were being witnessed in all of their actions by their disciples. They, therefore, worked hard to have "devout, righteous, blameless conduct." This takes commitment, and we will focus more on this in a different post.

-V. 11-12 focuses in on their method of instruction: "like a father" and to "each one." Just as we disciple with a mother-like love, we disciple with a father-like instruction. Our love leads us to instruct with authority and clarity. We also instruct all disciples individually; no one is forgotten or passed over in instruction. We must have a heart for all of our disciples.

-Finally, v. 13 shows what must be the driving force behind all of our instruction and love and conduct: God's Word. We must always make God's Word the guide and reason behind our discipleship. After all, if we are doing God's purpose, we should probably listen to what He says.

Paul and the others clearly had a commitment to these believers. Next time, we will look at some more examples from Paul, showing how we must commit to more than just teaching our disciples.

For more on commitment, check out Discipleship, Part One: Commitment Pt. 2.
 

Discipleship: An Introduction

Moses did it. John the Baptist did, too. Pharisees did, and almost everyone knows Jesus did. In fact, Christ even told us to do it. What is it?

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations..." -Matthew 28:19a, HCSB

All Christians are commanded to make disciples. Questions abound when I make that statement. Questions like...

1) What is a disciple?
     The word "disciple" comes from the Greek word for "learner" or "pupil."

So, if a disciple is a learner, the next question is...

2) How do we make disciples? What is discipleship?
     This is a harder question than it should be, purely because I personally believe that few churches are adaquately teaching their congregations what discipleship is. The fact that I have grown up in church, as have several of my friends, and none of us had a very good idea of how to disciple speaks volumes to me. Furthermore, when I wanted to lead a discipleship training, it was rather hard to actually find material on how to actually disciple people. Fortunately, I found www.disciplers.org. This website had an excellent presentation of what discipleship is, directly from the Word.

I will be basing my Tuesday posts off of this website and their model for disicpleship, which they refer to as "spiritual parenting." Spiritual parenting has four distinct aspects that we will look at over the next few weeks, in hopes that we can all become better at fulfilling the Great Commission.

September 4: Discipleship: An Introduction
September 11: Aspect 1- Commitment
September 18: Aspect 2- Modeling
September 25: Aspect 3- Personal Attention
October 2: Aspect 4- Teaching
October 9: The Dangers of Example-based Discipleship v. The Dangers of Teaching-based Discipleship