TADB 006: What’s in a name?

I recently went into the hospital for an outpatient surgery procedure.  I found it interesting how much effort went into insuring they had the right person.  Initially I was asked for my picture ID along with answering personal questions like date of birth, address, etc.  I was then led into the pre-op area where, while checking my stylish wristband, they again questioned me regarding my identity.

Once in the surgery room with all the staff and doctor in place they again asked me my name, DOB, and why I was there.  Then they took a vote!  Really.  One nurse said, “Do we all agree that this is the person he says he is?”  The last thing I remember was their unanimous confirmation.  Understandably, it was important that they had the right person not just the right name.

Although they confirmed my name, they still knew nothing about me as a person.  My name is simply a label that differentiates me from the other 7 billion people on planet earth.   It functions like a relational social security number.  Your name is also very important, but it doesn’t tell me anything about you.  (I would know more about you if you told me your nickname!)

In contrast, names were more than just a label in the biblical culture.  Names carried meaning that often described the person.  Sometimes they were prophetic regarding a future role or at other times, they might simply describe a person’s character.  For example, in the New Testament the disciple we know as Peter (rock) was originally called Cephas (stone).  Jesus gave him a new name that described Peter’s future role as a spiritual leader.

The second person of the Trinity has many names and each one forms a significant portrait of who he is.  The over-arching name is the Son of God which emphasizes his divinity and his eternal relationship within the Trinity.  We could say the name Son of God is like the clothes line on which all the other names hang.  Each of those names is critically important for our faith because it reveals something about the Son of God.  Each one gives a clearer understanding of who he is making it possible to know him and grow in our discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross.

For example, on the resurrection side of the cross the Son of God is referred to as the Lord Jesus Christ which contributes three portraits describing who he is.  The name Lord implies his authority.  The name Jesus or Jesus of Nazareth is the portrait of the incarnated Son of God living among men.  The focus is on his humanity.   Those names are generally understood.

The name Christ, however, is often misunderstood as it is used as though it was his last name rather than a unique portrait of who the Son of God is.  The name Christ is the Greek equivalent to the Jewish word Messiah and puts the focus on his being the anointed One.

Currently the name Christ is probably the most common description given to the Son of God with Jesus being a close second.  However, each of those names gives us only a single portrait of the real person behind the name.  In order to avoid misunderstanding and subsequent error, we must keep the composite of all the portraits in mind.

Jesus said, “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full” (John 16:24).  Jesus wasn’t referring to his name as a label but to his total person.  He wanted them to pray on the basis of his character, authority, and power, keeping in mind all that entails.

The names for the Son of God are portraits of who he is – not labels.  They are a critical way for us to know Christ.  They deepen our understanding and help develop our faith and trust in him.  We will discuss more names of the Son of God in future blogs as we continue to develop a multi-dimensional, composite portrait.  For the purpose of this blog, however, I will use the name Christ as the general name for the Son of God on this side of the resurrection.

Question for reflection:

What portraits are formed in your mind when you think about the names of Christ given in Isaiah 9:6?  In what way do those portraits affect your journey of knowing Christ?

“And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”

TADB 005: The Day the Music Died

“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).

TADB 004: Discipleship and the Theory of Everything

The Theory of Everything (TOE, for short) is the long-sought after expression (equation) to explain the nature and behavior of all matter and energy in existence.  This simple and illusive equation “would allow us to read the mind of God.” (Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, City College, City University of New York)

Albert Einstein, considered to be the greatest scientist since Isaac Newton, desperately searched for 30 years to discover this grand theory…unsuccessfully.  Others have followed in his steps.  Some have given up while others claim that the “superstring theory” (whatever that is) is now the final answer.  But what if the ultimate explanation of everything is not a formula but a person?  What if the theory of everything is not a short equation but Christ, the eternal, second person of the trinity?

You may not have spent much time struggling over the TOE, but you probably have asked about the overarching theme of the Bible: the golden thread that holds life all together.  How you answer that question forms a lens through which you will look at Scripture and interpret life.  For some the thread is personal redemption.  For others it’s mission, God’s holiness, his kingdom, or his glory.

As we consider the adventure of discipleship, I would suggest the evidence indicates the overall theme of Scripture and life to be the revelation of God in Christ.  The Bible is a story of progressive revelation with the New Testament writers revealing the second person of the Trinity (Christ) as the ultimate focus from creation to the final revelation.

As we move along in the timeline of the Bible, God is revealed with greater clarity as Christ takes center stage (Heb. 1:1-3).  John records Jesus saying to the Jews in his day, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life;” (implying …or whatever else you are looking for) “it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39).

Paul explains, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.   For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:15-17).

After developing the role of the ascended Christ, the writer of Hebrews addresses the practical, real time application to our journey of faith when he says, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2).  Among Paul’s final instructions to Timothy is the statement, “Remember Jesus Christ” (2 Tim 2:8).

Even the last book of Scripture begins with the words, “This is the revelation of Jesus Christ”.  Then serving as a warning to every succeeding generation, the angel commends the church at Ephesus for their work for Christ, but rebukes them for their loss of love for him (Rev. 2:4).

It is not a trite thing to say that discipleship is based on the relational centrality of Christ, the second person of the trinity, the Son of God.  He is the focal point of this great epic drama we find ourselves in.  Mission, redemption, kingdom, etc., all flow out of our understanding of Christ, who he is and what he has done.  Discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross puts Christ as the focus and the explanation of everything.  He is the lens through which we see and understand everything else.

Our challenge in discipleship is to make Christ the center and keep him there not just as a cliché, but as a practical reality.   When Christ is the Explanation of Everything (EOE/TOE), everything else fits.  When other things (even good things) slip into that position, eventually something gets distorted.  Our greatest privilege, opportunity, and calling between the resurrection and his final revelation is to discover and know Christ, the One who is and was and is to come.   It is out of our relational intimacy with Christ that transformation, mission, and everything else flows.

Questions for reflection:

  1. What are some ways the Scripture expresses the centrality of Christ? (Heb.1:1-3; Rev, 1:8; John 1:1-3; Phil 2: 9-11; Isa. 9:6-7)
  2. What are some of the “good things” that can slip in and usurp Christ’s centrality? (Rev 2:1-7)

TADB 003: Discipleship above and below the waterline

We are currently looking at the concept of discipleship in order to better understand what Jesus meant when he called us to be and make disciples.

To understand discipleship today we need to look below the waterline at its historical development. Discovering the meaning of a word as a vehicle for communication requires some understanding of the language and context of the speaker.  The farther we are removed from that original setting, the greater the risk of distortion.  The danger is to either read back into the word the current cultural meaning or conclude that what the original speaker had in mind cannot be known. Therefore, we assume the freedom to create our own mental picture.

The biblical term “disciple” primarily comes from the four gospels in the New Testament.  It has limited use in the book of Acts and completely absent in the Epistles.  So what did Jesus have in mind when he used the word?  I would suggest that in reality the concept of discipleship is found throughout the Scripture and that Jesus built on a rich Hebrew heritage, finding expression in the first century as rabbinical discipleship.

Since most of our Bible translations come from Greek texts, the meaning of disciple in the Greek is a good starting point.  The Greek word for disciple is “mathetes” which means pupil or learner.  The emphasis is placed on either the learner or the content being learned.  The problem is that Jesus was not a Greek but a Hebrew.

The Hebrew word for disciple is “talmid” with the emphasis on apprenticeship.  In the Gospel period a talmid was an apprentice to a Rabbi.  The focus was on who the Rabbi was and subsequently what he taught.  A talmid was one who intentionally, consistently, and passionately followed a person and not just a belief system.  Relationship was the key that resulted in learning.  That is why Jesus recruited his disciples with the invitation “follow me”.  Everything flowed out of this relational connect, including behavior, mission, imitation, convictions, etc.

The word disciple is not used in the Old Testament except in Isa. 50:4, but the concept of discipleship is.  It was normally carried out in the context of the family (Deut. 6:6-9).  There are only a few examples of one adult being mentored or learning from another in a relational way (e.g. Moses/Joshua and Elijah/Elisha).

However, the concept of a personal, relational pursuit of God in the Old Testament is found in phrases like “seek my face”, “a man after my own heart”, or “he set his heart to seek the Lord”.  God’s commentary on King David is an Old Testament example of discipleship.

“He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will’” (Act 13:22 NASB).  David expressed it from his perspective in Psalm 27:8, “When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.”

With the incarnation of Jesus the concept of discipleship moved from seeking to following — “follow me” (Matt 4:19) or “be with me” (Mark 3:14).  To be in the space/time presence of the Creator, to walk, eat, and sleep with him, was no small thing.   In the gospel period discipleship was modeled by those who were actually with him.  He invited and welcomed those who wanted to follow him, learning that to follow him was to become like him (Luke 6:40).

But with the bodily resurrection and ascension of Christ, discipleship has taken on a whole new relational dynamic.  Seeking him and being with him are now the prototypes (below the water line) on which a new expression of discipleship is built.  Discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross means being in him and he in us.  Paul expressed this new relational dynamic when he said that his pursuit was to “know him” (Phil. 3:8).  The change that took place in discipleship after the resurrection was as dramatic as it was after the incarnation.  We will look at some of these changes in the future.

I would suggest that through biblical history the concept of discipleship expanded from “seek him” to “follow him/with him” to “in him”.  Jesus predicted this new relational dynamic in John 15:4 when he said,

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

“Abide in me” relates to the intimate connection we now have in Christ.  With the ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit we are now in him and he is in us.  Discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross comes from a radically new relational dynamic that allows us not only to know about him but to actually know him (which is a subject we will look at in more detail later).

Questions for reflection:

  1. What are some of the changes you can think of that effect discipleship on this side of the resurrection?
  2. What are some implications of discipleship that come from the concept “seek my face” or “he set his face to seek the Lord”?

TADB 002: Discipleship adventure: Quest or Trip?

In 1804 Lewis and Clark with about four dozen men set out from St. Louis for the west coast of the expanding America.  Commissioned by President Jefferson they were tasked with the mission to explore and discover an economical means of travel through the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase.  Secondary purposes included mapping the territory, extending American influence, and making scientific discoveries.

Accomplishing their mission, the party returned to St Louis in 1806.  Along the way they made friends (and enemies), “took pictures”, collected samples, and explored the amazing beauty of deserts, mountains, and rivers.  But upon returning the men took up life basically where they had left off….other than having some great memories and a bigger scrapbook, life was the same.

Several decades later another group of men and women also left St. Louis for the west coast.  Commonly called pioneers, these people had a different mission.  They sold all they had, left the comforts of 1840s modernity, and headed west for a new life.  With the transcontinental railroad still a couple of decades away, they had no plans for returning to their old life.  It was a one-way ticket through the unknown to realize a dream.  A dream created by both fact and fiction motivated people to risk all they had and to invest in this epic adventure.  Those that made the arduous journey were never the same.

The Lewis party made a trip (a vacation with excitement).  But for those early pioneers, it was more than a trip, it was a quest.   The 1678 classic Christian allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress written by John Bunyan (not related to Paul), tells of another adventure that was a quest rather than a trip.  The story follows Christian, the main character, along his journey to the Celestial City.  Along the way he encountered various adventures that change him forever and prepared him for his final destination.

The adventure of discipleship is a quest, a journey of no return.  Along the way we will face multiple challenges, gaze at amazing vistas, and encounter unexpected opportunities …and we’ll never be the same.  We are not coming back to where we started.  It is an adventure of unexpected discovery, primarily of the One who placed the vertical heavenly tug on our hearts (Ecc. 3:11).

Authentic discipleship is not a course we take or a scrapbook we make.  It is not something we complete and move on to the next challenge.  The great Rabbi, Yahshua, has invited us to leave the comforts of the familiar, sell all we have, buy a Conestoga wagon, band together with a group of fellow pioneers, and head west.  With our confidence in Christ as our guide, we need never look back.  Along the way we will likely realize that we have taken too much luggage.  Much that we initially thought essential will be abandoned.  Its stuff that no longer fits who we are and where we are going.  And we won’t miss it.

The invitation Jesus made to those initial fishermen along the Sea of Galilee still stands. “Follow Me” is an ongoing invitation to every generation to join the quest (Matt. 4:19)

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus….I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12, 14).

Reflection:

  1. In what other ways does thinking of discipleship as a quest change your mental picture?
  1. What are the implications of seeing discipleship with a “trip” mentality?

TADB 001: Your Discipleship Portrait

What picture of discipleship hangs in the gallery of your mind?

“Words are stupid things, it’s meaning that counts”.  Words are simply containers into which each of us packs meaning and mental pictures.  Conversation uses shared words but communication involves shared meanings.  The degree that words carry common meanings determines the level of communication.  We have all had the experience of using words to explain our idea to another person only to find out later that what we thought we said was not what the other person heard or understood.

This challenge in communication exists even when we speak the same language, in the same culture, and in the same time period.  Consider the exponential complexity when using words translated from a different language, culture, and era.

This is the challenge we face in understanding what Jesus meant when he gave his followers the invitation to be his disciples and the command to make disciples.  The word disciple is a common term in the Gospels but not in our current culture so we must draw from biblical history and not our current culture if we are to understand what Jesus meant when he used the term.  Since discipleship forms the core of our life with Christ, it seems a pretty important concept to wrestle with.

In 2016 The Navigators asked the Barna organization to do a study on the state of discipleship in America.  In the published results the opening statement succinctly states the problem.  “A critical component of this study is to define “discipleship”.  The concept is familiar to many, but a widely accepted definition remains elusive.”

Our concept of discipleship, like many others concepts, hangs in the gallery of our minds.  This gallery is the “cognitive unconscious” part of our brains that acts as a filter whenever we get new information.  The picture is fairly ridged allowing us to accept, reject, or modify new information rapidly depending on how well it fits our current picture.  To alter the existing picture we must first bring it down from the unconscious gallery and consciously wrestle with it in the workroom of our mind.  Only then can we hang it back up with the possibility of real life change.  This is the “renewing of our minds” process that Paul refers to in Romans 12:2.

I would like to invite you to take down the picture of discipleship that is currently hanging in the gallery of your mind and reexamine it.  The purpose of this blog is to give you some fresh perspective with which to examine your picture of discipleship.  My desire is to be catalytic, at times affirming as well as challenging.

I have been on this journey of discipleship for over 50 years, wrestling with what it means to be a disciple and how to “make” disciples.  I have led discipleship ministries on university campuses, in the military, in churches, and in the marketplace and I am still learning what authentic discipleship looks like.  Discipleship is an adventure, one from which we will never recover.  I invite you to join me on this journey, together making our picture of discipleship more biblical and authentic.

Think about…

  1. What is your current picture of discipleship that hangs in the gallery of your mind?
  1. Did you paint the picture or was it borrowed?
  1. How much of your picture comes from cultural Christianity and how much from Scripture?