Growing as a Disciple of Jesus Christ

The painting to the left is,Call of the Sons of Zebedee,by Marco Basaiti (1510).

Our second class in the "Class 200" series continued with the discussion of discipleship. 

Here was our opening question: 

Are you a sinner working on your salvation or are you a child of God (a disciple of Jesus) working on your sin?  Talk amongst yourselves!  :)

This is an important question as many unknowingly fall into the camp of working on their salvation.  Many, myself included, had no idea what an important distinction this is.  As a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is important that we know and understand where we stand.  What is our current position, if you will, in the Kingdom of God?

Please continue on ...

Justification

Justification is a controversial subject and one of the major dividing lines between the protestant and catholic faiths.  If you desire, you can click the above link for a more thorough understanding of the debate.

Romans 3:21-24:

"3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – 3:22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 3:24 But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Earlier in the letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that the law was given to man so that we would clearly understand that no one could keep it.  "We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God".  With the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ we are now apart from the law.  Our new legal standing before God is that we are justified (declared righteous) in the eyes of God.  It is a free gift, by His grace,  to those who simply believe.

Rather remarkable, don't you think!

It is certainly important that we don't take this out of context.  This certainly doesn't mean that our new position in Christ gives us license to do what ever we wish.  We must read the rest of the story to tie this all together.   This is certainly the quest of the honest disciple.

Sanctification

To be sanctified means to be "set apart" or "the process of making one holy".  I found one quote which stated, "Graphically, sanctification is that thick middle stage of a believer's second life (on becoming a Christian) sandwiched between two thin slices of grace and glory."

Romans 6:15-23:

"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This stage of the process requires work on our part.  Paul is asking us to be "slaves to obedience, which leads to righteousness."  When we place our faith in Jesus Christ we do not give away our free choice and become mindless robots.  We are to set ourselves apart from the things of this world and seek to be obedient to God's word.  This is certainly an ongoing process and one that isn't going to typically change over night. 

Paul had the privilege of being knocked off his horse and encountering Jesus Christ in a real and personal way.  We now, two thousand years later, must work hard to acquire this faith and struggle in a real way to seek to be obedient.  I suppose there is some comfort to know that Paul (who saw Jesus face to face) still struggled with his "flesh". 

I can certainly attest to having bouts of unbelief as I study these words.  I have creeping doubts.   "Come on", a little voice in my head says, "you believe this stuff?"  I haven't seen anyone raised from the dead.  I haven't witnessed the blind regaining their sight. 

I have to read these words, from two thousand years ago, look at the evidence and make my own verdict.  Now that, my friends, is faith.  But, I have it.  I believe that I was chosen from creation.  I believe that God does know the numbers of the hairs on my head.  I believe that He does exist and that He did send His son to save me from my evil inclinations.  I do believe that when I die, I will see Him face to face.  Although I am not in a hurry to get there, I do look forward to that day.  What a day that will be.

Glorification

1 Corinthians 15:

"15:1 Now I want to make clear for you, ¹ brothers and sisters, ² the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, 15:2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. 15:3 For I passed on to you as of first importance ³ what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 15:4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised ⁴ on the third day according to the scriptures, 15:5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 15:6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters ⁵ at one time, most of whom are still alive, ⁶ though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ 15:7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 15:8 Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, ⁸ he appeared to me also. 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 15:11 Whether then it was I or they, this is the way we preach and this is the way you believed.

No Resurrection?

15:12 Now if Christ is being preached as raised from the dead, ⁹ how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. 15:15 Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised. 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins. 15:18 Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep ¹⁰ in Christ have also perished. 15:19 For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.

15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 15:21 For since death came through a man, ¹¹ the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. ¹² 15:22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. ¹³ 15:24 Then ¹⁴ comes the end, ¹⁵ when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. 15:2515:26 The last enemy to be eliminated is death. 15:27 For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. ¹⁶ 15:28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him.

15:29 Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? ¹⁷ If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them? 15:30 Why too are we in danger every hour? 15:31 Every day I am in danger of death! This is as sure as ¹⁸ my boasting in you, ¹⁹ 15:32 If from a human point of view I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, ²⁰ what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. ²¹ 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” ²² 15:34 Sober up as you should, and stop sinning! For some have no knowledge of God – I say this to your shame!

The Resurrection Body

15:35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 15:36 Fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies. 15:37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare seed ²³ – perhaps of wheat or something else. 15:38 But God gives it a body just as he planned, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. 15:39 All flesh is not the same: People have one flesh, animals have another, birds and fish another. ²⁴ 15:40 And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. The glory of the heavenly body is one sort and the earthly another. 15:41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory.

15:42 It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. ²⁵ 15:43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; ²⁶ the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 15:46 However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 15:47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. 15:4815:49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear ²⁷ the image of the man of heaven. Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly.

15:50 Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: ²⁸ Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 15:51 Listen, ²⁹ I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, ³⁰ but we will all be changed – 15:52 in a moment, in the blinking ³¹ of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 15:53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 15:54 Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen,

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” ³²

15:55 “Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?” ³³

15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 15:58 So then, dear brothers and sisters, ³⁴ be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

This seems pretty clear to me.  We will have a resurrected body someday and live for eternity in our "glorified bodies".  I can't wait, my joints are aching today from my mountain hike yesterday!

The challenging part for all of us is, for now, living between justification and glorification.  Phew....this is hard work!