FUNDAMENTALS
OF DISCIPLESHIP
2
Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of IAUE, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by
the Spirit of IAUE.
Last
week’s post ended with this comment:
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We demonstrated how our doctrinal beliefs interfered
with the transformation of our lives with this illustration.
Once we set in concrete a particular belief, a
theology, we are unwilling to accept anything from any source that would
undermine what has become a basic building block for our lives. Even if the Holy Spirit were to speak to us
to the contrary, His words would be opposed and rejected. It is impossible for us to become more like “the”
Master, while we are still our own master, and are calling all the shots for
our lives.
What I want us to consider today is that doctrinal
beliefs are not the only problem to this transfer of life, wisdom and
understanding from IAUE coming through our spirit through our heart to our soul
in order to become manifest in our lives.
As I said a few weeks ago, we all have “issues,” and every single one of
them represent programming in our hearts that trigger controlled responses in
our life. If IAUE is not the one calling
for the response, our responses are sin; and as long as we retain such programming,
such personal defense mechanisms, we form a barrier to the voice of the Holy
Spirit, and to the grace of IAUE empowering us to do His will. Our issues prevent grace from flowing into
our lives.
There must come a time in the disciple’s life that
he recognizes that he can no longer be the master of his own life. The only reason believers, today, are even
faced with this problem is because they responded initially to a false gospel.
Subjugating our will to the will of IAUE is not something that we should have
to spend years in learning is the right path for our lives. It is what we should have responded to in the
True Gospel message. We were to have
buried the right to our own will when we were baptized in water; but, alas,
this simply was not the case for the overwhelming majority of would-be disciples
in the world, today; and I don’t just mean the minions in the pews. I mean the pastors, evangelists, parachurch
ministers, television preachers, etc.
The visible “leadership” in the church today is as “messed up” as the
run of the mill believer sitting in the pew hating the person sitting next to
him, or envious of the man or woman two rows in front of them, or proud of his
own image and respect he/she commands in the congregation.
For the most part, Christians are simply “playing
church.” Even the most devout of us have
our public life and our private life.
Pride regulates the public life, and selfishness regulates the private
life; and we do our best to insure that the public is not aware of our private
life; that is, until our hearts respond to the True Gospel.
In our sixth posting to this study (WBS006, dated June 2, 2013), I discussed something I call “The Lists.” It may have been premature to have introduced
it that early in our study; but it is an exercise that is profitable throughout
our experience as a disciple. The Lists
is a self-examination for the disciple to write down items that fall into three
different categories:
1.
Whatever
is in your life (sin), whether it be thoughts, attitudes or actions, that you know
is displeasing to the Father.
2.
Whatever
is currently in your life that you would resist if the Father required it of
you.
3.
Whatever
is currently not in your life that you would resist if the Father required it to
be in your life.
This exercise provides a clear demonstration of just
how rebellious we are, and how much our own will still retains control. Every single item listed in all three categories
provides the disciple with a candid shot of the intensity of his/her rebellion
against the right of the Master to rule their life. Theology is likely just one of many items on
one’s list; and what we need to understand is that every single item on one’s
lists is a brick added to the walls built up in the heart to protect our right
of self-rule.
This is not an easy exercise for many. I know of one believer who looked at the
three categories for awhile and decided there was absolutely nothing he knew of
in his life that he needed to list. I
knew this person well enough to populate the lists for him. His unwillingness to relinquish control of
his life overshadowed his desire to repent of his rebellion against IAUE. His theology, all the while, allowed him to
think he was still in fellowship with IAUE.
2
Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of IAUE, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by
the Spirit of IAUE.
We must become serious with ourselves. We are not going to improve by just wishing
it were so; or by asking the Father to change us when we are personally unwilling
to pay the price necessary to be changed.
It is a common belief amongst Christians that they can pray for the
Father to make them into something they KNOW they should be, but which they do
not truly want to become. This is just
one more illustration of believers who have embraced the marketing of doctrines
but have not bought the product. We “know”
a lot more than we actuall want to be “real” in our lives; but our knowing we
should be in that place antagonizes us.
The dilemma is how to get what we know the Father wants us to become without
forfeiting control? It isn’t going to
happen.
Until we look in that glass, that mirror that is
Messiah, and see his beauty, and adore the attributes of his life as more
precious than gold, and desire what we see with all our heart, we are simply
going to walk away from that glass and forget that image. We are not going to be changed from glory to
glory to become more like our Master until with humble obedience we actively
participate with the Holy Spirit’s direction and instruction; and that can’t
happen while our hearts are filled with rebellion against the will of IAUE.
What is it in our life that we hold most dear? What is it that we would be willing to pursue
at all costs to possess? What is that we long for more than anything else in
this world? If it is not IAUE; and if it
is not the Master Yahushua, then the object of our desire betrays us as an
idolater; for any love or desire in our life that is greater than our love and
desire for IAUE is the deity of our life.
It is what we truly worship. For
most, it is retaining the right of self-rule. We must let this go; otherwise,
being born of the Spirit profits us nothing; because Elohim resists the
proud. He gives grace to the humble; and
it is by grace, not by belief, that we are saved.
The young believer will probably read this posting
and not see himself in it, and will ignore the message. The middle-aged believer will be the one who,
with great personal dishonesty, will react negatively to this information
because he knows how much of his life would be lost if he did “The Lists” and
repented of every item on them. The
elderly believer and the genuine disciple will see themselves in every line and
will be humbled before the Master at the very prospect that his/her life still
has pockets of rebellion that displease him and that resist the Father’s will.
Discipleship is a serious matter. We must choose if we are going to remain “believers”
and resist the Holy Spirit; or be disciples, and lay down our wills to obey the
will of the Master.
Kingdom heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the performance
of the will of IAUE.
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