Disciples and Disciple-making (5)
You who love the LORD, hate evil! Psalm 97.10
Making disciples is an ongoing process, both for those we are discipling as well as for ourselves. As J. I. Packer wrote in Finishing Our Course with Joy, it doesn’t matter how old we are, there is always someone we can lead. And we would lead them to join us in following Christ.
But the process of following Christ involves shedding our old selves, laying aside all sinful thoughts, desires, and practices to make room for Christ to increase in us. Making disciples means calling people to lay aside friendship with the world to pursue friendship with Jesus and His people. We cannot love others if we do not love Jesus supremely and if we do not want for our soul what He does: revival, renewal, and restoration into His likeness. If we are not willing “put off the old man”, as Paul put it, we will surely not be able to “put on the new” (Eph. 4.20-24).
Aelred of Rievaulx (1109-1167) put it this way in Spiritual Friendship: “[H]e who loves iniquity does not love his fellow man, for ‘he who loves iniquity does not love, but rather hates his own soul.’ And certainly he who does not love his own soul will in no way be capable of loving the soul of another.”
We cannot be friends of the world and friends of God (Jms. 4.4), so we may not be friends with sin and true friends to others. If we are friends with sin, we do violence to our own souls. God will not hear our prayers (Ps. 66.18), we cut ourselves off from fellowship with Him (and, hence, the source of friendship’s needed virtues, Is. 59.1, 2), and we walk a slippery slope that leads to more peril (Ps. 73.18).
We cannot love others except in the same way we love ourselves. And if loving ourselves means tolerating sin, then we will tolerate it in our “friends” as well. And this will be detrimental, rather than helpful, to their souls. The process of being and making disciples requires the ongoing sanctification of each person.
Disciples are ambassadors of the Kingdom
This week Dr. Mike McQueen and I discuss our discipleship calling as ambassadors. We represent our Lord and His Kingdom in all we are and do. He uses all we are and do to show His Kingdom to the world. Click the audio bar to listen to this brief conversation.
Resources for Shepherds
If you’ve never heard the name Turlough O’Carolan, well, you should get to know him. Carolan is the greatest figure in Irish musical history, and you can learn more about him in our post, “A Legacy of Song.”
In The New Atlantis, Nicholas Carr warns of the way social media is blinding us of the past and the present. Our summary of his article explains why this matters for shepherds of God’s flocks.
Our newest book, The Hope of Beauty, is a call to believers to recover the work of knowing and making beauty, looking to Jesus as our Example and Guide. You can download a free copy by clicking here.
On Friday last we began a new study in our ReVision column. We’re asking the question, “What’s the greatest good I can do in this life?” In this brief study (14 installments) we’ll look to Solomon for some answers. You can read the first installment by clicking here.
Finally, I invite you listen in to our current Read Moore series which offers daily (5 days) excerpts from my book, The King’s Heart: The Kingdom of God and Civil Government. Here is Friday’s segment. Visit the site daily to listen in or read the excerpts.
From the Celtic Revival
Last Thursday in Crosfigell Colmán mac Beógnai, friend of Colum Cille at the Iona settlement (late 6th century), sketched out the requirements for all true followers of Christ:
Anyone, then, who fears God,
and loves Him,
and does His will and keeps His commandments,
will have honour among men here
and blessedness with God beyond.
– Colmán mac Beógnai, Aipgitir Chrábaid, Irish 7th century[1]
This, we pointed out, is what Revelation 14.12 describes as the “patience of the saints”—that is, our sanctification. True believers are always seeking to improve in fearing and loving God, loving and obeying Jesus, and bearing fruit for His Name. You can read the whole article by clicking here.
Each issue of Crosfigell features an excerpt from the literature from the saints of the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-800 AD). You can subscribe to Crosfigell and all our other teaching letters by clicking here.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this issue of Pastor to Pastor helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Looking for something to refresh your devotional time? Our devotional, Colum Cille: A Devotional History, might be just the thing. Journey with this great Irish saint in 30 brief, daily devotionals, singing with joy and thanksgiving to the Lord in each one. Click here to download your free copy.
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Carey, p. 235.
