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Jesus didn’t come to establish a religion but a family

The word inheritance brings to mind the physical traits or accumulated wealth passed down from one generation to another. The drama of passing on the family inheritance has been the theme of countless books and movies.  Picture the heirs eagerly sitting around a table as the lawyer opens the will and reads how the family will receive the estate.  Who will get what? 

The theme of inheritance is a significant part of biblical culture.  The laws that governed Israel had strict guidelines for passing on the family inheritance to the next generation.  The well-known parable called the prodigal son is built around the younger son’s demand for his inheritance even before his father had died. 

When we think of spiritual inheritance, we most likely think of the inheritance God promised to us as a result of our faith in Christ.  God’s adopted children are the inheritors of the riches of God’s grace, including our future home in heaven.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:3-4).

The Holy Spirit living in us is our down payment for that inheritance.  The final fulfillment remains in the future reserved in heaven for us, imperishable and unchanging.  What all that involves remains a mystery, but since it is coming from the hand of our loving Father, it will undoubtedly be desirable and valuable (Ephesians 1:11, 13, 14).

Although we may readily recognize the promise of our inheritance from God, we may be surprised that we are God’s inheritance.  God introduces this idea in his relationship with Israel.  Out of all the nations, Israel is chosen to be his inheritance.  

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He divided all mankind, He set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.  For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. (Deuteronomy 32: 8-9 NIV emphasis added).

In his song, Moses says that God’s inheritance (portion) was the apple of his eye, and he shielded and cared for them as an eagle cares for its young.  In the book of Exodus, God’s inheritance is called his treasure, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6). 

In the New Testament, Peter picks up this same theme, describing God’s family of faith in similar terms.

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light. Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10 NLT, also 1 Peter 2:5).

Paul highlights this inheritance when he prays that we would grasp not only the “hope of his calling” but the “riches and glory of God’s inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18). 

From the early chapters of Genesis to the climax in Revelation, God is expanding his inheritance:  People created and remade in his image.  There are many pictures that depict our identity in Christ such as children of God, saints, and citizens of his kingdom, but the picture that we are God’s inheritance is a new and humbling thought to me.   

God’s inheritance strategy.

What is even more impressive is that God would use people to attain that inheritance.  When God told Adam to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth,” he made mankind part of his strategy.  God created the first two people, and all the rest have been begats.  Perhaps one reason for the long lists of genealogies in the Old Testament is to remind us that people come through people.  God’s inheritance of people in his image comes about through people.

This strategy of multiplying people through people is not only a physical one but also a spiritual one.  God’s mission to develop his inheritance of image bearers, is through the strategy of spiritual generations of people begating more people.  In New Testament terms, it is disciples who make disciples.

The training of the twelve apostles set the stage for a kingdom expansion of people by people.  At the end of the age, angels may do the harvesting, but it is people who sow and cultivate the seed.  It amazes me that God would entrust his inheritance to imperfect people, both physically and spiritually.  Children are not only for the privileged, gifted, wealthy, or intelligent.  God makes it possible for all of his children to begat future generations.                                                             

It should come as no surprise that Satan, in his cosmic battle against God, would center on the destruction and distortion of God’s desired inheritance.  Throughout history, Satan has used his power to destroy God’s image-bearers by:

• Eliminating the unborn through abortions

• Destroying the living through wars, homicides, disease, famines

• Disfiguring the survivors through jealousy, greed, and injustice

• Distorting the spiritually reborn through immaturity, apathy, and avarice.

In recognition of this cosmic battle, Leroy Eims (author of “The Lost Art of Disciplemaking”) describes disciplemaking as not just an art but as an act of war. 

Disciples making disciples is God’s plan for his inheritance.  He wants to fill his kingdom with people who share his image from every tribe and nation and he uses people to do it.  One generation reaching another.  A longtime friend and Navigator staff, Larry Glabe, often gives the men he is discipling a small chain with this challenge:  “Don’t’ be the last link.”¹ 

For Reflection

1.  What does your spiritual lineage look like?

2.  What are other schemes of Satan to thwart God’s plan?

^1.  Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, gave a message that has become a classic called “Born to Reproduce.”   In it, he said there were only three things that keep a Christian from reproducing spiritually:  lack of union with Christ, disease/sin, and immaturity.

Adoption is a metaphor but being an heir is not

Adoption is not God’s plan B; it has been His plan all along.  Our adoption is more than an act of God’s kindness.  It is a statement of our worth and critical to our identity in Christ.  Once we understand it, we will never walk with our heads down again.

We have been exploring the anatomy of discipleship by looking at our spiritual backbone, specifically reconciliation, adoption, and naturalization.  These three truths should shape our new identity in Christ, forming the image of what it means to be a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).  They are intended to give spiritual strength and support for our journey of discipleship. 

A quick summary before we go on may help keep the big picture in mind.

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Let’s explore this reality of adoption to strengthen our spiritual spine.  Paul links redemption to our adoption.

“So that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:5) 

To be right with God the judge (reconciliation) is a great thing but to be loved and cared for (adopted) by God the Father is greater.¹

A popular myth held by our culture and many Christians is that God is everyone’s Father.  While it is true we are all created by God and He is the source of our being, nowhere in Scripture is God presented as the relational Father of humanity.  The Lord’s Prayer was given to His disciples and begins with “Our Father, which art in heaven”.  It was not a statement of universal Fatherhood but of a special privileged title for those who have been reconciled to God and adopted into his family. 

The term adoption is a metaphor that only Paul uses in his letters.  The significance of adoption needs to be understood in the context of the Greek/Roman world in which Paul wrote.  Adoption in our culture usually involves infants and children, but in the Greek/Roman world it was specifically for adults.  Adoption was used to provide a legal heir for wealthy men to pass on their estate especially if they did not have a natural heir or son.  

The focus of a Roman/Greek adoption then was to create a legal heir not necessarily raise a child. 

The adoptee (usually an adult citizen, although sometimes a slave) would be released from the debts or obligations from one family to assume the privileges and responsibilities of another, becoming a legal heir of the new family.  All sons regardless of age—natural or adopted—were considered heirs, even while their father was living, giving them joint control of the property and wealth involved.

While the terms new birth and adoption both carry the idea of family and fatherhood, adoption emphasizes the unnaturalness of becoming an heir.  The adopter chooses to legally grant someone all the status and privileges of being his son even though there is no natural relationship to justify such a gift.  However, with the privileges there also came responsibility.  The adopted son was to carry on the family honor, including its values and purposes. 

With this understanding of the Roman/Greek adoption we can better understand the spiritual implications of our adoption:  father, family, heir, privilege, and responsibility. 

Father

In our spiritual adoption we have not only a new relationship, but a relationship of intimacy.

“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! (Daddy) Father!” (Rom. (8:15). 

Whether we have a positive or negative experience of human fatherhood, we need to let Scripture paint the picture of the superlative father because that is what our Heavenly Father is.  Perhaps different from our past fatherhood experience, His relationship with His children is one of loving intimacy.  Jesus told us that we can begin our prayers by addressing God as our Father.

Family

Adoption not only gives us a new Father but a new family.  The New Testament writers emphasize this filial relationship when they write about the “one anothers” which we should now put into practice.  For example:

• Love one another (John 13:34-35).
• Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor (Rom. 12:10). 
• So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another (Rom. 14:19).

If you want to know what life in this new family should look like, begin making a composite list of all the “one another” verses you find in the NT.  It will give you a grand and beautiful picture of how to live in our adopted family.

Heir

Adopted, we are now heirs of His kingdom and His promises, even joint-heirs with Christ.  Claiming and living in light of His promises is one way we demonstrate our understanding of our new adoptive identity. 

“Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” (Jas. 2:5).

“If children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17).

Much of our inheritance is still future and mysterious, but there is much to claim now.  Adoption gives us the boldness to claim what He has already promised in Scripture … not out of merit but out of our adopted position in the family.

Privilege

With our adoption comes certain privileges.  For example, in Hebrews we are told we can come boldly, with confidence, into the presence of God (Heb. 4:16).  We have an instant audience any time and any place without a formal meeting or advanced scheduling.  However, boldly does not mean casually.  He is still the sovereign God of the cosmos, but He offers to us the intimate privilege of His instant, undivided attention. 

Responsibility

As part of His family we now take on His likeness and mission…the family business.  Living as exiles in a Babylonian world, we represent our Father and His family.  It is not an option.  The only question is, how well will we do it?  If adoption shapes our new identity, then our concern will be, “How will my behavior affect the honor of the family name?”

The purpose of adoption is to create a family of heirs with God as the Father.

We will look next at our identity as citizens of a new country.

For reflection:

• Compare and contrast family with similar terms like church and body.
• What is our current inheritance?  Future?
• What are other privileges and responsibilities of our adoption that you are aware of?

¹ JI Packer, “Knowing God”, p207

Words are stupid things, it’s meaning that counts.

All communication is based on shared meanings not shared words.  Words are only the container into which meaning is added.  For example, the word “agua” is a random arrangement of letters unless you are familiar with Spanish.  When Spanish speaking people see the letters “agua”, they share a common meaning.  If we are to understand their meaning, we must look at it through the lens of their culture.

Another example of the problem of meaning is found in the biblical term “eternal life”: a very common concept in our religious culture.  Jesus told Nicodemus that it is the promised result of believing in Him (John 3:16).  But what is it that Jesus was actually offering?  I think our popular understanding of eternal life is a place we go after death offering a heavenly condo with no maintenance fees, probably on a lake or golf course, hanging out with our friends, free from pain, sorrow, and people who annoy us…. forever!  However, Jesus defined it as having a personal, quality relationship with God not limited by the dimensions of matter, space, or time with a beginning but no end (John 17:3).

In the same way understanding discipleship requires us to go back through 2,000 years of history, 3-4 different languages, as well as different cultural settings.  That is a formidable task requiring time and effort, but since discipleship is core to what Jesus did and taught, it would seem prudent to learn what He meant by the word rather than substituting our own.     

As a Jewish based Christianity moved into a Greek/Roman world, Hebrew words were translated into Greek/Latin and took on the flavor of those cultures.  The Greek word for disciple, MATHES, is translated into English as learner or student.  In the Greek culture a person who adhered to the teaching of a particular philosopher would be called a disciple:  one who learned and believed what the master taught.  Since western education comes primarily out of a Greek context, we normally think of a disciple as a student who learns information, usually by listening to or reading lectures, speeches, or writings. 

The problem is that Jesus was not a Greek!  He was a Hebrew Rabbi and when He used the term disciple, His meaning was unique and specific to that culture.  The Gospel narratives give us abundant material to understand what Jesus meant by the term disciple.  This information should prevent us from reading our own cultural meaning into His term.  Without this understanding our ability to become and make His disciples becomes distorted.  We must be careful to build our picture of discipleship on His use of the term rather than current culture or church history.

Over the years of my ministry with church leaders, I have found four common ideas of discipleship:

• A Seal Team 6 type person, an elite and exceptional kind of believer … more like a “super saint”.
• A serious student of the Bible who knows a lot about biblical doctrine and attends a lot of Bible studies.
• What a believer is when they are having a really good day.
• A person who does anything religious.                         

In this next series of TAD blogs, I want to explore the anatomy of discipleship, looking at it through various angles with the hope that we will become people who reflect the profile that Jesus had in His mind and secondly are equipped to help others do the same. 

A good starting point is to look at when Jesus began to call out disciples of His own.  Matthew 4:19 gives an early call to several men who had already been exposed to Jesus (John 1-4).  The scene of Matthew 4 is probably a year or more into the 3+ year ministry of Christ.  His call to them was more of a summons with authority than an invitation.  He said to them, “Follow Me.”  The focus was on following the person of Jesus Christ, not simply His teaching or philosophy.  Certainly there was a student/learner component, but the focus was on a relational emulation not just an intellectual ascent.

In Luke 6:40, Jesus further defined His term disciple when He said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he has been fully trained will be like his teacher”.  With this statement Jesus further clarifies discipleship as a training process to become like Him in every way possible.  Jesus presented discipleship as personal, active, holistic, and progressive … certainly not accidental or passive.

I think the English word “apprentice” comes close to capturing the Hebrew meaning of discipleship.  The apprentice concept comes to us from the European later Middle Age history.  As people moved from the country to the cities, the demand for goods and services became more than a single family shop could provide.  So when a shoemaker, for example, could not keep up with the demand for shoes by simply teaching his children the trade, he would train “apprentices” to join the family shoe making business.  As an apprentice the person would learn both the concepts and skills necessary to make shoes.  They were trained to transform raw leather into useful shoes. 

The term apprentice has limited use in our current culture but generally tends to carry the meaning of both knowledge and skill gained from a master craftsman.  The need for apprenticeship decreased appreciably with the industrial revolution.  Craftsmen and apprentices were replaced by speed, automation, and repetition.  Perhaps we have followed a similar pattern with an “assembly line” version of disciplemaking”.  What if we took seriously not only His meaning of discipleship but also His method of apprenticeship?

In developing our profile of a disciple of Jesus, I would suggest this as a definition: One who is an apprentice of Jesus and His kingdom.  Apprenticeship to Jesus involves emulating Him in every way possible.   

In my next blog I will add to our profile definition a description of discipleship.

Questions for reflection:

1.  Compare and contrast a student with an apprentice.

2.  How have you developed your picture of discipleship?

“The day the music died” is a memorable line from the iconic 1971 lament, “American Pie” by Don McLean.  The song reflects back on the changes that happened through the turbulent 60s beginning with the death of rock and roll star Buddy Holly in 1959.

The eight and a half minute long “song of the century” created endless discussion as to the meaning of the various verses.  When McLean was asked what the lyrics of “American Pie” really meant, he replied, “It means I never have to work again”!

In the song, McLean captures more than he intended with the statement “the day the music died”.   Our real lament is not for the lost days of rock and roll, Bobby Dylan, the Beatles, or the simplicity of a previous decade but for the loss of the song God designed us to play.  The Bible tells us we lost our real Song in the Garden, when the piano on which it was to be played lost its strings, and we lost our ability to play.

The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that although the Song has been lost, there is still a faint echo of the melody residing in the heart of every man and woman (Ecc. 3:11 “He also has set eternity in their heart”).  When our hearts respond to the vertical tug of the gospel, the Holy Spirit replaces the strings and renews the Song.

The Psalmist said, “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD” (Psa. 40:3).  The idea is repeated in the book of Revelation, “And they sang a new song saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals” (Rev. 5:9).

However, the Song (more majestic than any written by Beethoven) cannot be played without restoring the piano (i.e. our lives in all its complexity) and relearning how to play.  Even if given a Steinway, we would not expect to play music without training our mind and bodies to master the skills of a pianist.  Telling people how great the music is, how others long to hear it, how well it is composed, does not equip them to play it on their piano.

Without training and practice, we can play notes but not real music.  Discipleship is the process of learning to play God’s music on pianos that he is restoring.  He has given us the song to play, but if we don’t understand the fundamentals of music, the names of the notes, where they are on the keyboard, and possess skill to play, we will make noise but not music.

In Meredith Wilson’s 1957 classical musical “The Music Man” Professor Hill, masquerading as a traveling band instructor, cons the citizens of River City by promising them that they can keep their boys out of trouble by creating a real marching band.  All they need to do is buy all the equipment from him including instruments, uniforms, and music.  Once the equipment arrives (and he has his money), he plans to skip town.

When he is forced to explain how they are to actually play music with their instruments, Hill tells the boys to use the “Think System,” in which they simply have to think of a tune over and over and they will know how to play it without ever touching their instruments.

It seems to me that Professor Hill has slipped into our Christian communities and convinced us that we, too, can play spiritual music with just the “Think System”.  All we need to do is to think about it and we will be able to play the Song.

It is like we are standing on the train station platform, decked out in our uniforms, proudly holding our instruments as Professor Hill leaves town.  As he fades from sight, we shout in unison, “So how do we play the music?” and he yells back, “Just use the Think System!”  Then we go home, try it, and pass it on to others.

Teaching beginning piano for 20+years, my wife observed that the difference in those who eventually played music and those who quit was not so much in their ability as in their discipline.  Most of the kids, unwilling to practice daily for a variety of reasons, eventually lost interest.  Practice was a drudgery that never became a delight.  They wanted to play songs without learning the fundamentals.   There are a few exceptions, but for the 99.9% of us we learn to play one note and one day at a time.

The music has not died.  God has given us his Song and is renewing our broken pianos.  But without learning, training, and practice, we may play Chop Sticks but definitely not Beethoven or more importantly not his Song.

Questions for reflection:

1. Think of a time when a particular practice/discipline became a delight rather than a duty.
2. What are the benefits when a practice is no longer a duty?

Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart (Jeremiah 15:16).