Disciples and Disciple-making (18)
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5.44, 45
Friendship is a two-way street. Friends agree to care for one another’s souls through encouragement, accountability, mutual love and trust, and—as Aelred insisted—loyalty. To be true friends, each of these commitments must be in place and firm. No true friendship can exist unless both parties are committed to the Lord and one another. There is no such thing as a one-sided friendship.
Yet while friendship is a two-way street, love is not. Whatever the situation, love flows one-way, expecting nothing in return. Following the example of our Lord, we continue to love friends who have betrayed or abandoned or otherwise harmed us. Aelred explains: “However, in this respect friendship is more probable and its virtue is more clearly proved, when a friend does not cease to be the friend he was, even to one who harms him: he loves the one by whom he is not loved, he honors the one by whom he is despised, he blesses the one by whom he is cursed, and he does good to the one who devises ruin for him.”
This is a tall order, indeed. But if we are called to love our enemies, who always abuse us, how much more must we continue to love our friends who sometimes fail us? We take comfort in knowing that Jesus perseveres in loving us, though we fail and betray Him often. He has called us to love one another as He loves us, so we can do no other. When the world sees this kind of love among the members of Christ’s Body, it will see true disciples at work together, and it will have reason to believe that something truly new and mysterious is afoot among us.
Teaching and learning as disciples
We’re all disciples and we’re all called to make disciples. Mike McQueen explains how this works out in our latest conversation. You can listen in by clicking the link or the audio bar at the top of each issue of Pastor to Pastor.
Resources for Shepherds
Two biographies of Robert Frost have made me appreciate all over again how God works through even those who do not know Him to bring out the beauty of His world. Frost discerned and published it, and hundreds of thousands read and listened to him set it forth. Read a summary of the two biographies and check out a sample of Frost’s poetry by clicking here.
In our ReVision series on “Praying for Your Church” we’re concentrating on how to pray for the ministries of our church. We have some guidance and a prayer to use in praying for your church’s worship and shepherding. Here’s a prayer you can use for your times of worship:
Lord, fill us with Your Spirit
and ground us in Your truth,
that we might worship You
and not ourselves;
that we might empty ourselves for Your glory
rather than fill ourselves with our selfish concerns.
Help us to focus on You
so that You transform us,
soul and life,
that the world might know
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to Your glory, heavenly Father.
Update your Subscriptions to add ReVision and follow this and other series every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (scroll to the bottom of any page at the website, www.ailbe.org).
Our fall Men’s Bible Study will be on The Ongoing Work of Christ: The Book of Acts and Beyond. You can download a free PDF of this study. Share it with some friends and start a study group of your own.
Want to learn more about the work of a shepherd? Have a look at our online course, “Shepherding God’s Flock” by clicking here.
From the Celtic Revival
The goal of all discipline is to bring our bodies into obedience to the Lord. Celtic Christians understood this. Discipline is not just a checklist of things to do; it’s a way of life designed to allow Jesus to rule in and through our bodies. Colum Cille understood that working out our salvation means bringing our bodies into submission to Jesus:
He averted his side’s softness.
His body’s desire, he destroyed it.
He destroyed his meanness:
truly the boy is a son of Conn’s offspring.
He destroyed the darkness of envy,
he destroyed the darkness of jealousy.
– Dallán Forgaill, Amra Choluimb Cille, Irish, 6th century
Envy and jealousy, fleshly desire and comfort, everything merely mean (unkind, spiteful, or unfair): These areas of darkness can only be mitigated or destroyed by deliberate effort, by a disciplined life.
You can sign up to receive Crosfigell in your email box every Tuesday and Thursday at 11:00 am (Eastern US). Just use the subscription button to update your subscriptions (scroll to the bottom of the home page).
Want to know more about how to have a disciplined life? Not just spiritual disciplines but all the various disciplines necessary for every waking moment to liberate us from the snares and darkness of sin into the glorious liberty of the sons and daughters of God? Write to me at [email protected] and I’ll send you free the seven lessons in our course, “The Disciplined Life”, together with additional resources to help you get control of all the time of your life for Jesus. And of course, as with all our free resources, you can share them freely with others.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this issue of Pastor to Pastor helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: We continue reading excerpts from the book, Revived! in our Read Moore column. Why not listen in? Do you ever wonder about what God’s will for you is? Patrick—echoing Paul—makes it clear, as you can see in last week’s Crosfigell. Our current ReVision series, “Pray for Your Church”, teaches us how to pray for the ministries of our church, beginning with worship. And new in our bookstore, our book, The Ongoing Work of Christ shows us how the book of Acts provides a template and footprint for all who take up the work of building Jesus’ Church.
Support for Pastor to Pastor comes from our faithful and generous God, who moves our readers to share financially in our work. If this article was helpful, please give Him thanks and praise.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
