How to Work Together for Discipleship
by Bill Hull
Paul begins Ephesians 4
by looking at how the body of Christ is one and how its members must
work together to make everyone and everything whole. He instructs,
“Always be humble and gentile. Be patient with each other, making
allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every
effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves
together with peace” (Eph. 4:2–3 NLT).
Becoming
a mature disciple means refusing to live a “minimalist” spiritual life
in isolation (just me and Jesus). The mature also reject shortcuts.
There are no steroids for spiritual growth. It is a long-term process
that must be done with others, and it is challenging. Paul’s
instructions to the church are personal, but not individualistic. He
gives these instructions to the community, not individuals, because they
must learn to intentionally train together.
What We Can Learn through Church
Our
churches should be where we learn to love, both our friends and our
enemies. Love is actions taken for the benefit of others. The emphasis
here in Paul’s letter is on becoming a humble, patient, kind person. We
must not put the responsibility on others to treat us well. It is our
responsibility to respond with grace and love to others. Of course, we
can find ways to avoid these relational challenges. Some people think
they belong to a church by slipping into the service on Sunday morning
and then slipping out without any meaningful contact. In my mind, they
might as well skip the service and read the Sunday paper instead. Either
way, they are living a banal life of self-absorption.
At
times our churches are beautiful, and at times the ugliness of sin
shows through. I have never been loved so well nor hated so deeply than
by my fellow followers of Christ. I have spent many sleepless nights
dealing with conflict in my church. Yet in the end, most of the ugly
stuff has faded from memory. We’ve worked out our conflicts, and God has
turned them into good. Many scream in the middle of the pain of
conflict, “I don’t need this!” But the Bible is clear that we do need
it. God uses pain as fuel for our formation in Christ (1 Peter 1:6–9).
Christ as Example
Who
was humble, patient, kind, sacrificial, and made allowances for our
faults? Christ, of course (Phil. 2:5–8). Our churches should be
dedicated to shaping us to become like Christ. We can’t get there
without taking up our own cross and suffering. Becoming mature takes
time and cannot be hurried. So leaders creating the right environment
are basic to transformation.
Follow Bill Hull on Twitter here and Facebook here.
This excerpt has been adapted from Conversion and Discipleship.
Image credit: Unsplash.
Posted on Wed, July 26, 2017
by kris hull filed under
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