“…I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b)
Bible Reading: John 10:7-10
Tomorrow I am due to leave New Zealand for the USA and later, Brazil. Given the flurry of tasks that always clutter last-minute preparations for travel, it is best for me to bring this brief series of reflections on discipleship to a close.
It began, you may recall, with mention of a widely recognised problem in the church today, namely, that of non-discipleship Christianity. It is the idea that you can be a Christian without having to do what Jesus said we must do. Put another way, we can consume the merits of his death on the cross for us without following his call to take up our own cross and follow him (Mark 8:34).
He meant us to become his students, learning from him how to live in the kingdom he came to proclaim (Matthew 11:29). He didn’t intend our obedience to be meritorious. There was no way in which keeping his commands could enable us to gain favour with God or atone for our sins. That is what he came to achieve for us. Coming to him, resting in him and relying on his merits alone, is what leads to our forgiveness and the gift of righteousness in the sight of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Where there this genuine coming to him – the Spirit-enabled exercise of saving faith – there is also union with him. Jesus receives us as his own. Like a branch grafted into a tree, we are grafted into Christ, baptised by his Spirit into his body. And from that point on, it is the Spirit’s purpose to reveal Christ to us, and through his Word, to bring about the renewing of our characters and our lives so that they become like his (2 Corinthians 3:18).
This is a process in which we cooperate. It doesn’t happen without our intentional and disciplined participation. We have to “put to death” the old self and its ways through the Spirit (Colossians 3:5; Romans 8:13), and conversely, clothe ourselves with Christ – with the virtues that characterise him, and belong to us as those God created in his own image (Colossians 3:12f.). It is God’s purpose that, grafted into Christ, we should grow up into him more and more “to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).
In these brief studies, we have not reflected on the particular commands of Christ we are to obey. Instead, we have looked at the general shape of his life – those characteristics that defined the basic orientation of Jesus’ life as the true man. They include his awareness of the spiritual realm, his love and devotion to his Father, his obedience to the Father’s will, his dependence upon his Father in all things, and his humility in being ready to stoop to meet the needs of the lowliest.
While we cannot replicate these characteristics in our own lives by ourselves, they can, by grace and faith, as we abide in Christ, become ours as well. Positioned in such a way toward both God and people around us, we can take steps to follow in the way of Christ. We can begin to live as he would if he were us, a life of abundance in the kingdom and fellowship of his Father.
To Think About:
- Do you sincerely want to become like Jesus?
- What steps is God calling you to take to become more like him now?