Peer In

Peer In:

The reality of Christ Jesus is not “merely” that we are saved from the clutches and bondage of sin and eternal separation from God Almighty, but that we are reconciled through our Redeemer into Himself and thus into the eternal commUNITY and character of Elohim, our God of Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, the meditations of my heart went to the words of our resurrected LORD from Matthew 28:18, “Therefore, having been brought through, disciple…” What struck me in that moment was that Jesus’ imperative “disciple” is concurrently an action (verb) and a state of being (abstract noun).

What I mean by that is this: Jesus wasn’t simply imploring the member of the Bride of Christ, i.e. the Church, to “do” something distinct, removed, or detached from “being” something.

Our LORD’s last words recorded in Matthew’s gospel contain the imperative “disciple…” Jesus was imploring, beseeching, urging, and pleading with us to listen and obey - because in doing so we fulfill the exclusive condition that ensures God’s PRESENCE, “And behold! I am with you (Immanuel, i.e. God with us) always to the very end” (28:20).

Discipleship has wrongly turned to being “others focused.” By that I mean we strive to identify the effectiveness of our discipleship efforts. We ask questions like, “What are the benchmarks of determining whether or not we’ve effectively “made” disciples?”

Jesus’ imperative command was not intended to be exclusively “others focused,” but rather something that is part window - peering into the character and community of God as revealed through Scripture and the person of Jesus Christ, while simultaneously part mirror - allowing us to see to what extent our own lives are being conformed, adjusted, transformed, yielded, and attuned to what God has revealed.

A friend of mine recently said, “We have no hope of attracting the Lost to God when we know nothing of Him ourselves.”

Consider the idea that while Jesus desires deeply and passionately for us to participate in God’s mission “all of the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3), that can only occur if we are completely yielded to His imperative “disciple.”

Rather than looking for external benchmarks in others - Scripture reveals that we are to look into that window/mirror for the purpose of self-examination. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul wrote, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Or do you not recognize Jesus Christ is in you…”

Look into these passages of Scripture as part window & part mirror and examine yourself:

Luke 14:26-27 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and yes, even his life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his cross and come after Me is cannot be My disciple.”

John 8:31-32 “Therefore Jesus was saying to the Jews having believed in Him, "If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set free you."

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you should love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love among one another.”

John 15:6-8 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown out as the branch and is dried up, and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and it is burned. If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you wish, and to you it will come to pass. In this My Father is glorified, that you should bear much fruit, and you shall be My disciples.”

We have not “merely” been saved for our own sake, but graciously invited and redeemed into the commUNITY, character, and mission of God Almighty!

Jesus our Savior, Redeemer, and Immanuel (God with us) has issued an imperative command “disciple,” thus imploring us to cast our crowns of autonomy into oblivion and peer into that window, which reveals the Cross of Calvary - and simultaneously into the mirror, which reveals to what extent we, like Jesus, resolutely set our face toward it (Luke 9:51).

Peer in and pray to God for clarity of vision and His abiding Presence.

“The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.” -Psalm 28:7

Blessings,

-Kevin