The Divine Conspiracy, page 46
This pattern can also be applied to middle-level commandments, such as “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1), “If you love me, keep my commandments” (14:15), and “abide in me” (15:4). But in these cases, because they are less specific and cannot be obeyed by direct effort, the “how-to” instructions will have to do with more general arrangements of our lives. And these more general arrangements are almost totally a matter of engagement in appropriate disciplines for the spiritual life.
The disciplines are practices that change the inner self and its relationship to the “helper” (paraclete), so that we can actually do what we would and avoid what we would not. They of course have no point apart from the serious intent to obey Christ’s teaching and follow his example.
Overview of Progress from Here to Forever
Five Dimensions or Stages of the Eternal Kind of Life
The situation of the disciple, or student, of Jesus is, we should expect, one of change and growth, in which we progress from one stage or dimension of our life in God to another. Within a few years, apparently, it is possible to move from the level of mere blindly obedient servant or “slave” of Jesus to that of friend.
In his “commencement address” (John 14–16) to his first apprentices, he once again gives them the all-inclusive commandment “that you love one another just as I have loved you” (John 15:12). After clarifying that this includes “laying down our life for our friends,” and not least for Jesus himself, he makes the following observation: “You are my friends if you keep this commandment.”
This is a very distinct and important change of status, a promotion, if you wish, based upon the progress of the apprentices. “I no longer call you slaves [doulous],” he continues, “for the slave does not know what their Lord is about. But you have become my friends because under my teaching you now have learned all that I heard from the Father” (15:15).
Of course, that does not mean we no longer serve Jesus. He remains our Master, and a favorite term of New Testament writers for themselves is “slave of Jesus Christ.” But it is now on a different basis, a basis of loving cooperation, of shared endeavor, in which his aims are our aims and our understanding and harmony with his kingdom are essential to what he does with and through us.
We should be aware of, roughly, five dimensions of our eternal kind of life in The Kingdom Among Us, and these dimensions more or less arrange themselves in the following progression:
Confidence in and reliance upon Jesus as “the Son of man,” the one appointed to save us. Relevant scriptural passages here are John 3:15; Rom. 10:9–10; and 1 Cor. 12:3. This confidence is a reality, and it is itself a true manifestation of the “life from above,” not of normal human capacities. It is, as Heb. 11:1 says, “the proof of things not seen.” Anyone who truly has this confidence can be completely assured that they are “included.”
But this confidence in the person of Jesus naturally leads to a desire to be his apprentice in living in and from the kingdom of God. Only a sustained historical process involving many confusions and false motivations could lead to our current situation, in which faith in Jesus is thought to have no natural connection with discipleship to him. Our apprenticeship to him means that we live within his word, that is, put his teachings into practice (John 8:31). And this progressively integrates our entire existence into the glorious world of eternal living. We become “free indeed” (John 8:36).
The abundance of life realized through apprenticeship to Jesus, “continuing in his word,” naturally leads to obedience. The teaching we have received and our experience of living with it brings us to love Jesus and the Father with our whole being: heart, soul, mind, and (bodily) strength. And so we love to obey him, even where we do not yet understand or, really, “like” what that requires. “If you love me,” Jesus said, “you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). And: “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me shall be loved by my father, and I will love him, and will disclose myself to him” (v. 21). Love of Jesus sustains us through the course of discipline and training that makes obedience possible. Without that love, we will not stay to learn.
Obedience, with the life of discipline it requires, both leads to and, then, issues from the pervasive inner transformation of the heart and soul. The abiding condition of the disciple becomes one of “love, joy, peace, long-suffering [patience], kindness, goodness, faith to the brim, meekness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22; compare 2 Pet. 1:2–11). And the love is genuine to our deepest core. These are called the “fruit of the spirit” because they are not direct effects of our efforts but are brought about in us as we admire and emulate Jesus and do whatever is necessary to learn how to obey him.
Finally, there is power to work the works of the kingdom. One of the most shocking statements Jesus ever made, and once again it was in his “commencement address,” was that “those who rely on me shall do the works I do, and even greater ones” (John 14:12). Perhaps we feel baffled and incompetent before this statement. But let us keep in mind that the world we live in desperately needs such works to be done. They would not be just for show or to impress ourselves or others. But, frankly, even a moderate-size “work” is more than most people’s life could sustain. One good public answer to our prayer might be enough to lock some of us into weeks of spiritual superiority. Great power requires great character if it is to be a blessing and not a curse, and that character is something we only grow toward.
Yet it is God’s intent that in his kingdom we should have as much power as we can bear for good. Indeed, his ultimate objective in the development of human character is to empower us to do what we want. And when we are fully developed in the likeness of Jesus, fully have “the mind of Christ,” that is what will happen—to his great joy and relief, no doubt.
Looking back over this progression, one of the most important things for us to see and accept is that, once confidence in Jesus lives in us, we must be intelligently active in stages or dimensions 2 through 5. We do this by unrelenting study under Jesus, and in particular by following him into his practices and adapting them to form an effective framework of spiritual disciplines around which our whole life can be structured. This is precisely how we “through the spirit do mortify the life of the flesh” (Rom. 8:13) and “put off the old person and put on the new” (Col. 3:9–10, etc.). Though we cannot do it by ourselves, it is nevertheless something that we do. Each of us must ask ourselves how are we doing it. What, precisely, is our plan? And as teachers of disciples, we must lead everyone we teach into developing his or her own plan.
The Curriculum and the Life of the Church
Such a Curriculum for Christlikeness Is Nothing New
From the perspective of contemporary Christian practice, many people will see this proposal for a curriculum for Christlikeness as radical and new. Radical it is, especially viewed against a background of all-pervasive consumer Christianity. But it is anything but new.
We have already commented on Paul’s letter to the Colossians as a model of the very curriculum we are here explaining. Much the same is to be said of his other writings, especially the letter to the Ephesians and, to a lesser degree, the ones to the Philippians and the Galatians—though these are less systematic, due to his personal relationship to their situation and to specific concerns he had in mind with them.
But in order to appreciate this, you cannot read them with the “consumer Christian” mentality, for then the ultimate objective will be seen as presenting the “right answers” and combating the “wrong answers” so that people will be sure to be ready to pass the test and be doctrinally correct. Of course the “answers” are tremendously important, right and wrong. Let this be clearly understood. But they are only important in relation to life in the kingdom with Jesus now. And that is what Paul writes about, as do the other biblical writers.
If you keep this clearly in mind, you will then find the two primary objectives for a curriculum for Christlikeness everywhere you look in the biblical sources. And, indeed, the writings of scripture will take on an entirely new character and significance for you. None of them have in mind to sponsor or assist the position of the consumer, or “bar-code,” Christian that so pervasively occupies the contemporary Western world.
But to be fair, consumer Christianity actually emerges quite early in the history of the church. One sees the seeds of it in the New Testament writings, and it becomes prominent through the development of the monastic tradition, which distinguished those who gave their whole lives to God—“the religious,” they are sometimes called—from the supposedly lower-grade Christians who ran farms and business, raised families, and participated in government and general cultural affairs.
Thus some of the most profound treatments of discipleship to Jesus, such as The Rule of Saint Benedict, The Imitation of Christ, and The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, presuppose a special class of Christians for whom they are not written. But if you simply lay that assumption aside and make necessary adjustments to the content of such works, you will see that they offer, in substance, precisely what we have been discussing in this chapter: a curriculum, a course of training, for life on the rock. And that is why, century after century, they have exercised incredible power over all who open themselves to them as disciples of Jesus.
And if you look at the founding persons, events, and literature of the great segments of Protestantism, you will discover much the same thing. We refer, of course, to traditions such as the Lutheran, Reformed (Calvin), Puritan, Mennonite, Friends (Quaker), Methodist, and so forth. If you examine landmark works such as Calvin’s Institutes or John Wesley’s standard two-volume set of Sermons, you will discover nothing new in what I have said here about a curriculum for Christlikeness, except possibly some points of organization. And certainly what I have said remains much more shallow, both theologically and practically, than these masterworks of the spiritual life. (One of the greatest hopes I have for the readers of this book is that they turn back to these true treasures of the people of Jesus.)
But if you look at what is generally accepted and done in contemporary versions of these great Protestant traditions, what I have said here will, once again, seem both radical and new—possibly outright crazy. (Who would think of putting it into actual practice in the normal congregational setting?) If so, I at least have the consolation of some wonderful company.
Book III of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, for example, is a treatment of the Christian Life. In chapter VII of book III, he sums up the Christian Life in one phrase, “self-denial.” Not self-esteem, certainly, nor personal fulfillment. The presentation of obedience and discipline made here by me is quite tepid compared with what Calvin has to say in that and his following chapters. But his interpretation of faith in Christ is the same as what I have said here about faith. Read it and see. A similar point is to be made with reference to the other traditions mentioned, without exception, though in other respects they retain their defining peculiarities.
It is one of the defects of an age with no true sense of its past to suppose that what is now is what has always been, and that anything else is either novel or wrong or both. But the only way forward for the people of Jesus today is to reclaim for today the time-tested practices by which disciples through the ages have learned to “hear and do,” to build their life upon the rock. Those practices are not mysteries. They are just unknown.
Some Practical Points About Implementation—
Especially for Pastors
In order to implement something like a curriculum for Christlikeness in the context of a local assembly of believers, it will usually be vital to just do certain things and not talk a lot about them—at least until some time later.
If we are leading such a group, we must, first, be sure that the curriculum outlined is in fact the substance of our own life. Do we, or are we obviously learning to, love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength?
Second, we should prayerfully observe those we serve and live with to see who among them has already been “ravished with the kingdom of God” and is ready to become Jesus’ apprentice. These we help to consciously do so, and we then can devote serious time to leading them into and through the curriculum, adapting it as needed.
It may at first not be possible to carry this on as a congregational project, though one should not be furtive about it. We can pour ourselves into a few people without fanfare, and soon they can begin sharing the work of forming other disciples. You can count on it to spread, for, in truth, there is nothing on earth to compare it to.
Finally, we should speak, teach, and—if that is our place—preach the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens in its fullness. Practically, that means that in our various communications we focus on the Gospels and on teaching what Jesus himself taught in the manner he taught it. This, with intelligent prayer and loving deed, is our method for “ravishing people with the kingdom of God,” and thus preparing them for the step into out-and-out apprenticeship.
Once again, we do not need to talk a lot about what we are doing. In time it will be obvious. And we certainly are never to be judgmental of Christians who are, honestly, not yet disciples. In most cases they never will have had a serious opportunity to become apprentices of Jesus. But for the most part they will quite certainly respond well to the word of the kingdom and the call to discipleship when it is clearly presented to them.
We must, of course, settle it in our minds that there will always be difficulties in the local setting when one becomes serious about discipleship to Jesus and an associated curriculum. But God is always there for those who serve him, no matter what; and we can “count it all joy”—really—and expect the manifest grace of God to be active in our midst.
Although I have not been a pastor for many years, I have always continued to teach quite regularly in churches and churchlike settings. The appeal and power of Jesus’ call to the kingdom and discipleship is great, and people generally, of every type and background, will respond favorably if that call is only presented with directness, generosity of spirit, intelligence, and love, trusting God alone for the outcome.
We may not soon have bigger crowds around us—and in fact they may for a while even get smaller—but we will soon have bigger Christians for sure. This is what I call “church growth for those who hate it.” And bigger crowds are sure to follow, for the simple reason that human beings desperately need what we bring to them, the word and reality of The Kingdom Among Us.
Chapter 10
THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS
“Then the prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true, after a fashion!” said Bilbo.
“Of course!” said Gandalf. “And why should not they prove true? Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself?
“You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!”
J. R. R. TOLKEIN, THE HOBBIT
And they shall live with His face in view, and that they belong to Him will show on their faces. Darkness will no longer be. They will have no need of lamps or sunlight because God the Lord will be radiant in their midst. And they will reign through the ages of ages.
REV. 22:4–5
Why We Must See a Future
Those who have apprenticed themselves to Jesus learn an undying life with a future as good and as large as God himself. The experiences we have of this life as his co-conspirators now fill us with anticipation of a future so full of beauty and goodness we can hardly imagine.
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear,” Paul says, “then you too will be revealed with him as glorious” (Col. 3:4). And, “How great a love the Father has lavished upon us,” John exclaims, “that we should be described as children of God! But it has not yet been shown what we shall be. We only know that when he appears we shall be as he is” (1 John 3:1–2). Reverting to Paul, “He will transform our lowly body to be like his glory body, using the power he has over everything” (Phil. 3:20).
To live strongly and creatively in the kingdom of the heavens, we need to have firmly fixed in our minds what our future is to be like. We want to live fully in the kingdom now, and for that purpose our future must make sense to us. It must be something we can now plan or make decisions in terms of, with clarity and joyful anticipation. In this way our future can be incorporated into our life now and our life now can be incorporated into our future.
I meet many faithful Christians who, in spite of their faith, are deeply disappointed in how their lives have turned out. Sometimes it is simply a matter of how they experience aging, which they take to mean they no longer have a future. But often, due to circumstances or wrongful decisions and actions by others, what they had hoped to accomplish in life they did not. They painfully puzzle over what they may have done wrong, or over whether God has really been with them.
Much of the distress of these good people comes from a failure to realize that their life lies before them. That they are coming to the end of their present life, life “in the flesh,” is of little significance. What is of significance is the kind of person they have become. Circumstances and other people are not in control of an individual’s character or of the life that lies endlessly before us in the kingdom of God.
Indeed, all of this touches upon a general human need, built into our nature as intelligent, active beings. What will become of our universe? What will become of the human race, and of each of us individually? We ask these questions as naturally as we breathe. Human life and consciousness requires, by its very nature, a projected future.1 And everyone is deeply concerned to know what that future is.
