Disciples and Disciple-making (4)
So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. 1 Thessalonians 2.8
The world is working overtime to break down the affection of trust. Spammers and scammers make us suspicious of every call or text or strange email. Marketers try to manipulate us through feel-good ads and over-hyped promises. And politicians? Well, I don’t need to say anything here.
Even church leaders can whittle away at our trust as we see them inclining more and more to secular means for spiritual ends.
Is it possible to have true friendships in such a stale atmosphere of distrust? Undoubtedly it is.
The world has always been awash in distrust and shady characters. It is today and it was in the 12th century, when Aelred was instructing his monks in the discipline of friendship. Friendship, he insisted, can only be built on trust: “…we say that only they are friends to whom we are not afraid to entrust our hearts and everything that is in them—to those, in turn, who are bound to us by the same law of faith and security.”
No one can be everyone’s friend. We must, as Aelred explained, be prepared to exercise “good will” toward all people, “For the law of grace compels us to receive not only friends, but also enemies, with heartfelt esteem.”
But it’s different with friends, soul friends. To them we give ourselves, without fear they will betray or despise us. And from them we receive the same. Such spiritual friendship brings to expression the oneness of the Spirit and strengthens the bonds of unity among us (Eph. 4.3). Thus, it enhances our experience of and witness to the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 17,21) and so furthers the work of being and making disciples.
Who is dear to you? To whom do you entrust your soul? Discipleship begins in friendship, and friendship is undergirded by trust.
Disciples are servant of Christ and His Kingdom
In our conversation this week with Dr. Mike McQueen, we discuss the role of servant as key to discipleship. Everything we do as disciples entails serving God and others. Click the audio bar included with this issue of Pastor to Pastor to listen in.
Resources for Shepherds: Growth in the Lord and our calling
New entries on the Resources for Shepherds page can encourage you in your walk with and work for the Lord. Here you’ll find a review of Alan Jacobs’ book, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. This book has plenty of suggestions for improving our discipline of reading.
When Solomon writes about the virtuous wife in Proverbs 31, might he also be directing us to think about the kind of church we should be growing?
In a blog post at Christian Scholar’s Review, Donald J. Tellinghuisen advises us to discover our limitations and not let grandiose ideas or schemes keep us from realizing our full potential. This, I believe, is sound advice for shepherds. Here’s a link to the summary and, in it, to the blog post.
In his 8:18 column, Bruce Van Patter ruminates on Job’s plight of subtraction and considers how that might affect us as well.
From the Celtic Revival
Last Thursday we listened to an anonymous Irish monk who bemoaned a problem all of us has had to struggle with from time to time:
O beloved, truly chaste Christ, to whom every eye is clear,
may the grace of the sevenfold Spirit come
to keep [my thoughts], to hold them in check.
Rule this heart of mine,
O swift God of the elements,
that you may be my love,
and that I may do your will!
– Anonymous, “On the Flightiness of Thought,” Irish, 8th/9th century[1]
Wandering mind? Unruly affections? Constantly besieged by distractions? You can read more about how to deal with these in last Thursday’s issue of Crosfigell.
Each issue of Crosfigell features an excerpt from the literature from the saints of the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-800 AD). You can subscribe to Crosfigell and all our other teaching letters by clicking here.
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).
Our book, Fan into Flame, provides the Lord’s shepherd an opportunity to review, reset, and renew their work. Learn more about this book, and order your copy here in book form or here as a free PDF.
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Davies, p. 263.