Discipleship

The Presence of God

"...And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). How is discipleship lifted out of the natural into the spiritual? The answer is in this statement of Jesus. "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:16-18). "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23). When Christ ascended into Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to abide forever. The Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, and He has been here ever since to bring the Father and Son within each believer.

Men have seen the demands of discipleship, and have often tried to work out the principles of which we have been speaking, apart from the Holy Spirit. The end result does not leave men with God but only with men. The principles are right, but they must be worked in the power of the Spirit with God in control. There is "one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5). None of us can stand between another man and God. The one essential key in all of this is that we must be led by the Spirit. No man can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:3).

If any one of us is working in the life of another, for it to profit, it must be under the control of the Holy Spirit. If any one of us is to profit from that which is coming through another brother or sister, we must recognize the Holy Spirit behind it and respond to God. If we are not alive to God, we will move in our own strength, and there will not be spiritual fruit. This puts a demand on each one of us to be abiding in Jesus. This is a continual dwelling, a relationship which must be maintained. If we maintain that relationship, we will recognize that God is using men in our lives, and our submission will not be unto men but unto God. We will see that discipline is for our own good and welcome it. An attitude of humility, seeing that we are dependent on God, and bound together in one body, as one family with our brothers and sisters, will allow us to receive the grace of God which will work in our lives.

Am I a disciple? Am I under the discipline and training of God? Do I see the grace of God coming to me through my brothers and sisters? Am I benefiting from it? Am I obeying, seeing weak areas strengthened? Am I being changed from the inside out? Is there growth? Am I moving under the control of the Spirit? All of these elements and more are to be found in discipleship. If we can answer "yes" to all these points, and they are increasing, then we can have confidence even as Peter had. Listen to his exhortation again.

"But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 1:5-11).