Room to Grow
Discipleship, repentance, and how they relate to a new relationship with Christ
We had a lot going on a church Sunday. The Sunday service was well attended. That may be because the church fed everyone after and then presented leadership's new building vision for the campus. 5th Sunday going forward is set to be a church gathering and meal after the 11 o'clock service. For those who call East Cobb their church home, consider attending. The meal was good, it was a packed room in the fellowship hall, and good fellowship was had by all.
Reverend Joe Palmer held the children's moment and focused on the idea that everyone doesn't have the same gifts. That is my take on it. He asked the children to snap their fingers, whistle, and tie a shoe. Not everyone could do all of that, but he pointed out that everyone could learn and get better if they practiced. It's funny how often the children's moment has a simple and translatable nugget for the adults. I wonder how many people listen or listened to that message?
In my Sunday school class, I challenged people to pray intentionally every day during the week. Not when you usually do, but an additional time intentionally based on the lesson for the week. My choice is to pray for the East Cobb prayer list, a private group for church members only where our public requests for prayer are made. If you attend East Cobb and are not in that group, reach out to someone on the staff (Jim, Joe, or Kristen) and ask them to add you.
"Bartolome Esteban Murillo - The Repentance of Saint Peter [1645-50]" by Gandalf's Gallery is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
This week's sermon was titled Room to Grow and finishes the four-part series on the church's hopes for the next 150 years. Pastor Lee again focused on the idea that we don't want to have all that judgmental "shaking the Bible" at people and focused on the "love" aspect of Jesus. This strikes me as missing the totality of the message of repentance and the love of Christ. While the church doors are open to everyone, we cannot and should not tolerate unrepentant sin in our midst. Jesus didn't eat with sinners and tax collectors to tell them their lifestyles were okay as they were. He called them to repentance and a new way of life.
The problem with the repentance message is those Christians who focus on that side of the message sometimes forget the love side of that message too. Jesus' point about forgiveness being for everyone just as they are is one of accepting everyone into relationship with Him, which was a theme of Pastor Lee's, but also that once they come into relationship with Him, there should be a change in lifestyle because of it. That's a long sentence, but the point is they are both/and not either or concerning repentance and love in Christ.
Here's the other part that struck me. Both sides of that coin, repentance, and love, are in God's will and path for His children. Sometimes we don't see those we disagree with as being on God's path. How do we know if someone else is walking God's path, in His will and love? The simple answer is we have to ask them. The hard part is we have to ask them. If we choose not to ask, the question becomes do we want to get this one wrong?
1Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.
2One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.
3The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.
4Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Romans 14:1–4 (NASB95)
Verse four, who are we to judge the servant of another? I should be willing to at least engage my brothers and sisters in Christ to inquire before working against them. If they have scripture behind their actions, insist the Holy Spirit is with them, and proclaim Jesus Christ as their Savior, then I have to assume they are on God's path. If I'm unwilling to inquire about their faith, I enter dangerous territory if I work against their efforts.
9For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
10But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
11For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God."
12So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
13Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.
Romans 14:9–13 (NASB95)
Even where we have a rock-solid set of scriptures outlining how those actions of other people are not in God's plan, we have an outlined course of action to resolve intentions there. We do not put stumbling blocks before them and ask them not to put any before us. If they go their way and we go ours, it is left to God to manage the success or failure of that other person's actions. However, if they cannot let you go on your path as you have, they demonstrate how they believe it is acceptable to treat their neighbor, and you are free to act in kind.
The above is NOT a call to vengeance. It is a course of action to decide if we are on the right path or not. Vengeance and justice reside with God because Man can make mistakes. That doesn't mean earthly justice shouldn't be pursued. It means we should not take matters into our own hands.
That's a lot of sidebar away from Pastor Lee's message Sunday, but it is what occurred to me. My concern for myself is that I don't want to get it wrong, judging another man's servant, meaning someone walking in God's way. I tend to err on the side of caution there and let God manage that one.
Getting back on track, Pastor Lee began focusing on discipleship, asking what it meant. Her simple breakdown, which I agree with, is following Jesus, a life that includes love, grace, mercy, and compassion, among other things. The scripture passage she used and pointed to as the foundation of discipleship is Matthew 4:12-23.
12Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee;
13and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.
14This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
15 "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 "The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned."
17From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
18Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
19And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
20Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
21Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.
22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
23Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
Matthew 4:12–23 (NASB95)
Isaiah 9:1-2; 60:1-3
I'm not sure what translation was used in church Sunday, but it specifically avoided the word "repent" in verse 17. That's a little problematic for me, considering this is a red-letter section, and that word was attributed to Jesus. The Greek word in the King James is metanoeo.
Greek Strong's Number: 3340
Greek Word: μετανοέω
Transliteration: metanoeō
Phonetic Pronunciation: met-an-o-eh’-o
Root: from <G3326> and <G3539>
Cross Reference: TDNT - 4:975,636
Part of Speech: v
Vine's Words: Repent, Repentance
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
repent 34
[Total Count: 34]
from <G3326> (meta) and <G3539> (noieo); to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (moral feel compunction):- repent.
James Strong, "Μετανοέω," Strong's Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
This Greek word is based on the idea that people would "think differently." It is translated as repent, and nothing else in the King James, yet other translations seem to want to move to another word. Jesus, and the writers of the Gospels felt differently, it seems. Repentance is important to them and should be important to us in discipleship. Why?
Dictionary.com has this definition for discipleship.
discipleship
[ dih-sahy-puhl-ship ]
noun
The condition or situation of being a disciple, a follower, or a student of some philosophy, especially a follower of Christ: The priest was known for his lifelong discipleship to St. Thomas Aquinas.
The group of original followers of Christ in His lifetime: The key to Jesus' discipleship was his personal trust in his disciples.
As disciples of Christ, we should want to understand how He did things as much as possible. The trouble with including the word repentance means some folks who don't want to change will be excluded. Pastor Lee's sermon wasn't on repentance. It was focused on discipleship and an invitation to a new relationship. I submit that a new relationship is the key, and it revolves around the idea that we give up the old ways in favor of the new ways. Those new ways are not the ways we were doing things. The new ways are better, as demonstrated by the person we work to emulate and whom we claim to be disciples of, Jesus Christ. If we do not repent of our old ways, we aren't truly disciples of Jesus. We are disciples of ourselves; we aren't demonstrating that we are "thinking differently."
As I said, Jesus didn't eat with tax collectors and sinners to tell them they were loved and accepted just as they were, that the kingdom of Heaven was theirs just as they were. He presented them good news that the Messiah has come, that salvation of the world is at hand, and it is available for everyone. That is the loving part. Salvation is open to everyone regardless of what we may have done in our lives.
16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
John 3:16–19 (NASB95)
That is love. God hasn't excluded the offer from anyone. But the offer isn't to bring our sin with us, regardless of what that sin is. God doesn't want any of it in Heaven.
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
Revelation 21:1–2 (NASB95)
If you want greater detail, continue reading from verse two until you reach verse twenty-four.
24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.
25In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed;
26and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it;
27and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Revelation 21:24–27 (NASB95)
"…and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it…." Disciples become a new creation. We are not of the flesh anymore. We pursue spiritual goals. That doesn't mean we ignore the earth and our bodies. It means our heart position and our motivations become more important. And this is where Jesus being the judge of the quick and the dead is a comfort. No one on earth, not me, the guy who cut you off in traffic or the person pointing fingers at you, is your judge. Jesus, the Christ is your and my judge in the final moment. Christ sees into the heart of a person and knows the motivations and truth that lives there. He has a perfect understanding of how things are supposed to be and what we did with what we knew and were given.
This last bit is the most important point and why stumbling blocks were mentioned. None of us can know what is in a person's heart. We have to take them at their word and let God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit manage what is just for each person. That's their job, not ours. Let's leave it to them.
In this post, I've harped on repentance and sin as center points of discipleship. If you're still with me and disagree, that's fine so long as you base your disagreements on God's word. If you have scripture behind your principles, I'm happy to have that conversation. If you base your opposition to my position on "feelings" or something other than God's Word in the Bible, then you have no chance of moving my opinion. Regardless, if you oppose me and insist you're in God's plan with scripture behind it, I won't hinder you and ask that you don't hinder me. If we can agree on that, go in peace. God bless you, and Godspeed.
24and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
25not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
26For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
Hebrews 10:24–27 (NASB95)