Nor Cal / Nev College Ministries

CONSECRATION: Carry Your Own Cross

Following are two letters which highlight the issue of Consecration. From these let us discuss their significance to us.

Letter #1: This letter was written by a young communist to a Christian and appeared in a Billy Graham newsletter. (Emphasis added.)

"The gospel of Jesus Christ is a much more powerful weapon for the renewal of society than is our Marxist doctrine. All the same, it is we who will finally beat you. We are only a handful and you Christians are numbered by the millions. But if you remember the story of Gideon and his 300 companions you will understand why I am right.We Communists do not play with words. Of our salaries and wages we keep only what is strictly necessary and we give the rest for propaganda purposes. To this propaganda we also consecrate all our free time and part of our holidays. You Christians, however, give only a little time and hardly any money for the spreading of the Gospel of Christ. How can anyone believe in the supreme value of the gospel if you do not practice it? If you do not spread it? And if you sacrifice neither time nor money for it? Believe me, it is we who will win, for we believe in our Communist message and we are ready to sacrifice everything, even our lives. But you, you Christians, are afraid to soil your hand."

Letter #2: This is a letter from a revolutionary to his fiancee to explain why he was breaking their engagement. (Emphasis added.)

"We revolutionaries have a high casualty rate. We are the ones who get shot and hung and ridiculed and fired from our jobs and in every way made as uncomfortable as possible. A certain percentage of us get killed or imprisoned. We live in virtual poverty. We turn back to the party every penny we make above what is absolutely necessary to keep us alive. We revolutionaries do not have the time or the money for many movies, concerts, T-bone steaks or decent homes or new cars. We have been described as fanatics. We are fanatics. Our lives are dominated by one great overshadowing fact: the struggle for world dominion. We revolutionaries have a philosophy of life which no amount of money can buy. We have a cause to fight for, a definite purpose in life. We subordinate our petty personal selves into the great movement of humanity. And if our personal lives seem hard, or our egos appear to suffer through subordination to the party, then we are adequately compensated by the thought that each of us, in his small way, is contributing something new and true for a better mankind. There is one thing which lam dead earnest about, and this is the cause. It is my life, my business, my religion, my hobby, my sweetheart, my wife and my mistress, my breath and my meat. I work at it in the daytime and dream of it at night. Its hold on me grows, not lessens, as time goes on. Therefore, I cannot carry on a friendship or a love affair or even a conversation without relating to it-this force which drives and guides my life. I evaluate people, books, ideas and actions according to how they affect the cause and by their attitude toward it. I have already been in jail because of my ideals and, if necessary, I'm ready to go before the firing squad."

Jesus' disciples were not asked to make a statement of faith or to recite a creed. They were first asked to follow.

What kind of consecration are we looking for?

Set apart to God
Set apart from the world

List three areas which have been real obedience/consecration issues for you in the last month.

1. ________________________________

2. ________________________________

3. ________________________________

IMPARTATION: He Gave Himself Away

If from the last section we found that consecration/obedience is a moti­vation for living a discipling lifestyle, in this section we find that love is also a motivation in discipleship. Love was, and is always the standard by which discipleship is judged. But it's not the kind of love that is often portrayed in our media. It's calvary love - love that leads to service and laying down of life.

• Do you know what love is?
• Do you know how to love?
• Are you a loving person?

These three questions, though distinct, are all quite crucial and demand a response from every believer. Let us deal with each question in turn.

A. Do you know what love is?

This question seems more appropriately relegated to the realm of the poets to define for us. However, in a world where we can say in the same breath, "I love my fiancee," and "I love hamburgers", some defining of the concept of love is necessary.

We are called to love like God. Jesus came to display God's love for fallen humanity. Through his actions we can define love as always:

• active
• displayed
• selfless
• a decision rather than just an emotion
• holy

B. Do you know how to love?

The love of God was just defined for us as His selfless, purposeful, and willful giving of Himself. For us to know how to love, it must involve us in the same expression of selfless giving of ourselves to God, other believers, and the non-believers around us. Jesus was the perfect model of loving, thus His methods of loving deserve our careful attention.

According to Jesus' first sermon (see Luke 4:18-19 and Isaiah 61:1-2) his own mission included the following:

Having a warm and tender heart or thinking lovely thoughts did not bring relief to the above-mentioned Love was demonstrated to those in need.

Jesus knew that He was the one who was to be the "ransom for many'. He knew who He was and what He was supposed to do. It's the same for us. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus; we have new identities. He has told us what to do:

"This is how we know what love is: Christ gave his life for us. We too, then, ought to give our lives for our brothers! Ifanyone has material possessions andsees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can he claim that he has the love of God in his heart? Dear children! Ourlove should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action." I John 3:16-18

Here are some suggestions on knowing how to love more effectively:

1. Make relationships a priority.

If you want friendships that make a difference, you must give them a high priority. You cannot assume that love will "just happen". You must be careful to schedule time with your friends. If friendship really is a high priority, it will become regularly visible on your weekly calendar.

2. Don't play it safe.

Transparency means: clear enough to be seen through, nothing to inibit full visibility

Vulnerability means: capable of being wounded

Without transparency and vulnerability, relationships remain at the surface level. If you are to love as Christ loved, you must live just as risky as He did. When you block yourself off from others, you will find yourself in emotional, spiritual and eventually even physical difficul­ties. God intended for us to be known-known by the Father and by His children.

3. Create warmth in your friendships.
We are a society terribly out of touch with each other. Look people in the eyes when conversing, be free to touch them, practice smiling until it becomes comfortable. Share your feelings and not just your ideas. Actively listen in conversations.

4. Affirm your friends.
When we meet a person and see only a problem, we imprison that person in their problem. We need to see our friends, through faith, as Jesus sees them: unique, worthwhile, with infinite possibilities. In doing so we call forth a new being. Let's speak the truth in love to one another, especially the good and affirming truth.

5. Be Real
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians he addresses the way they were viewing their life together. They had been abusing their relationships with each other within the Christian community. Paul uses the body as an illustration and draws attention to two separate and opposite attitudes that can occur in a body of believers Paul affirms neither of these attitudes.He tells them that anyone who feels inferior to other members of the body fails to understand what God has done for them. The grace of God has made them new in Christ and co-heirs with all other saints. Paul also declares that there are some who have superior attitudes toward other members in the body. This too misses what God has done. These think too highly of themselves, higher than they ought to think. So high that they had come to disregard other members of the body for whom Christ had died.

A real person is someone who avoids both extremes. They have a real picture of who they are in relationship to Jesus; they are overjoyed at God's grace in their life; and they recognize that this same grace has set their brothers and sisters in Christ free, as well. A real person is described by Paul's words: "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think df yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you" (Romans 12:3).

C. Are you a loving person?

Are you a lover or a taker? That is a scary question we all must face many times in our lives. The issue goes beyond feeling good about God's love, or even knowing how Jesus loved. The bottom line question is, "Are you actively loving as Jesus loved?"

How do you get there? Again a quote from Coleman:

"How else could they ever fulfill the commission for their Lord with joy and inward peace? They needed an expression of Christ so real that their lives would be filled with His Presence. Evangelism had to be a burning compulsion within them purifying their desires and guiding their thoughts. Nothing less than a personal baptism of the Holy Spirit would suffice. The super-human work to which they were called demanded supernatural help-an enduement of power from on High." The Master Plan of Evangelism, p.69.

As we discussed in the first lesson, Jesus not only laid out His purpose and program for discipleship to the Twelve, but He also promised His continual presence and the provision of the Spirit's filling. We are called to love as God does. To do so, we must be filled with Him.

DEMONSTRATION: He Showed Them How to Live

We will devote an entire session to this crucial but basic aspect of Christ's life when we deal with the "Disciplines of Discipleship". Jesus taught not only by word but also by deed. What things can you think of which Jesus must have demonstrated to his disciples?

• he taught them how to pray

• obedience to the Father
• he taught them the authority of Scripture
• healing
• the need for compassion in ministry
• exorcising demons

Even his teaching methods were purposeful. What qualities of Jesus' teaching can you recall which would make his instruction more memorable?

• frequently used the story/parable form to teach
• used examples and illustrations from everyday life
• demanded decision

DELEGATION: He Gave Them Work

It was in the purpose of Christ to train His disciples. They were then to take over the mission of spreading the message and power of the gospel everywhere. And to learn how to do that they must learn how to do a few smaller things first. Would they understand, would they be faithful and responsible, and would they grow from their experiences? The best way to be sure that this is done is to give practical work assignments and expect them to be carried out.

Here is a simple guideline that helps us understand how this can occur:

1. You do, they watch

2. You do, they help
3. They do, you help
4. They do, you watch
5. They do, someone else watches

Jesus sent them out in pairs. In this action Jesus demonstrated that the Kingdom work is to be experienced in companionship. It is the work of friends. Together with the presence of the Holy Spirit, we can face anything.

"His method was to get the disciples into a vital experience with God, and to show them how He worked, before telling them they had to do it." The Master Plan of Evangelism, p.82.