Review of Session 4: The Disciple and the Kingdom
· A “kingdom” is a realm in which the “king’s choice” determines what happens, be it a little realm like those we control, or the Kingdom of God which God controls. For John Calvin the Kingdom of God is synonymous with the spiritual life and the progress of faith in our sanctification.
· While on the one hand, the Kingdom of God belongs to little children, on the other it seems almost impossible for a rich person to enter it. Yet, with God, “all things are possible.”
· Even though disciples “give up everything” to follow Jesus, yet paradoxically, they are “rewarded” even in this life a hundredfold in their relationships, and in some cases even materially. Yet, the material and personal reward is not what’s in view, but rather our total commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord of all—including our own lives.
A Thought Question
Earlier we saw that becoming a disciple meant “hating” father, mother, sister, brother in comparison with following Christ. Do you think that this means the disciple will abandon his family in order to follow Christ? Why or why not?
Thought Question Number 2
What does the Christmas story tell us about God’s view of the family as it relates to our discipleship?
Matt. 19:1-12
1. What do you suppose were the motives of the Pharisees in asking the question about divorce in the way they did? Why would this have been a “test” for Jesus? What does it say about his previous teachings that are unrecorded in the Gospels?
2. What authority does Jesus use to give his answer?
3. What was Jesus’ view of marriage?
4. How do we reconcile his teaching here regarding the permanence of marriage with his other teaching on giving up father, mother and even wife to become a disciple?
5. On what grounds can a marriage be dissolved according to Jesus?
6. Why did the disciples react so negatively to Jesus’ teaching on divorce? Why would it be “better not to marry?” What does their reaction tell us about their own views of marriage?
7. Are the teachings of Jesus on marriage “feminist” or “anti-feminist”?
8. How does Jesus categorize those who choose not to marry? Give an example of someone who renounced marriage for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matt. 19:13-15
1. We read the parallel passage in Mark in our last session. What does the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children tell us about Jesus’ view of the family.
2. Would Jesus support our Presbyterian practice of baptizing infants and young children as part of our membership in the New Covenant in his blood?
I Cor. 7:1-14
1. What is the Apostle Paul’s marital state? Is he an example of one that has “renounced marriage because of the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2. Is Paul for or against marriage?
3. What is Paul talking about with regard to his use of the phrase “marital duty”? How does this relate to the teaching of Jesus in the previous passage?
4. Does this talk of “marital duty” and “becoming one flesh” by Paul and Jesus seem unspiritual? Why or why not?
5. What do you think Paul had in mind in verse 5 when he talks about “devoting yourself to prayer”? How does this relate to the spiritual disciplines we talked about in the earlier class?
6. Should a person who becomes a disciple (i.e., becomes a Christian) leave his/her unbelieving spouse for the sake of “giving up everything” to follow Christ?
7. Is Paul’s teaching on divorce consistent with that of Jesus?
Note: after extensive study of this and a number of other passages, the PCA adopted the recommendations of its study committee on marriage and divorce in finding that there are two biblical grounds for divorce: adultery and abandonment.
Eph. 5:22-33; 6:1-4
1. Did Paul envision that the Christians in Ephesus would leave their families in order to become disciples?
2. What “profound mystery” is Paul talking about in this passage? What analogy is he making?
3. What is the “bottom line” for husbands in making their marriages a success? What is the bottom line for wives? What makes both these things difficult?
4. For two disciples who are married to one another, how should their marriage strengthen their discipleship? What are the risks that their marriage will hinder their individual discipleship and devotion to Christ?
5. What does it mean to bring up your children “in the training and instruction of the Lord?”
6. Why is this command given to fathers? How should single mothers interpret this command?
Review of Session 3: The Covenants and the Disciple
· Even though Jesus only used the word “covenant” once in his teachings, that use was crucial. At the last supper—with the figure of the Passover lamb slain in commemoration of the exodus in mind—Jesus proclaimed that the wine symbolized “the new covenant in my blood.” Hence, he identified himself with the Passover lamb, slain for sinners.
· Thus, disciples of Jesus need to regularly partake of that sacrament of the Lord’s Supper where, as the Confession says, they feed upon Christ spiritually, and are nourished in their spirits by him.
· The New Covenant, as described by Paul, brings with it a “new glory” for disciples. That glory—based on the work of Christ—has at its heart the idea of approval: God delights in us, the creatures He has made even as we live to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
A Thought Question
According to the author Dallas Willard, every one of us has a “kingdom” or a “queendom” defined as a realm uniquely our own, where our choice determines what happens. Reflect on that a moment and share what your particular kingdom is.
Thought Question Number 2
In light of your response to the first thought question, what is meant by the phrase “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of Heaven”? Is it synonymous with heaven itself? React to John Calvin’s comment:
They are mistaken who think the Kingdom of God means Heaven. It is rather the spiritual life, which is begun by faith in this world and daily increases according to the continual progress of faith. (Commentary on the Gospel of John)
Mark 10:13-16
1. What do we learn about the Kingdom of God from this passage?
2. What does it mean to receive the Kingdom of God like a little child?
Mark 10:17-23
1. What did the kneeling man want from Jesus?
2. How did Jesus react to the man’s claim that he had kept all the commandments from his boyhood?
3. What was the cost of discipleship for this man? Was he willing to pay the cost?
4. What do we learn about the Kingdom of God from this encounter?
Mark 10:24-31
1. What metaphor does Jesus use to illustrate the difficulty in entering the Kingdom of God?
2. What is needed to overcome this difficulty?
3. What claim does Peter make about his own “cost of discipleship”? Do you believe him?
4. What does Jesus say will be given to those who give up everything to follow him? When will it be given? Are you surprised by this?
5. Is this passage endorsing a “health and wealth” gospel? Why or why not?
6. When Jesus talks about receiving “a hundred times in this present age” does he mean this in some spiritual sense, or does he mean it literally?
7. Can you think of some examples in the Bible and in contemporary life in which disciples got a hundred times more in this present age as a direct result of becoming disciples of Jesus?
8. Please react to the following commentary on these verses by the late James Montgomery Boice:
…the text is a great promise, and it does have to do with earthly relationships and material possessions. At the least, it means that the true follower of Christ will not lack for any good thing (“My cup overflows,” Psalm 23:6) and that, in normal circumstances, a Christian will be blessed with earthly good abundantly. Personally I am convinced that Jesus gives us every good that He can possibly give us without rendering us unfit for His work or destroying our souls. The reason many of us do not have more is that the Lord knows we would misuse it.
9. Along with all the blessing that Jesus enumerates in this passage he also includes “persecutions”. What does that mean? What are some examples from both the Bible and contemporary life?
10. Why do you think Jesus throws in this “zinger” at the end that “the first shall be last, and the last first”? Is there any connection with Peter’s claim that began this section?
11. Where are we in our understanding of how much we have given up to follow Jesus, and how much we have received of the hundredfold blessing that he has promised?
Review of Session 2: The Cost of Discipleship
· Following Jesus is costly. Even the most fundamental human relationships will be disrupted by a choice to follow Him: husband/wife; mother/child; sister/brother.
· Paradoxically, the choice to “hate” one’s spouse (for example) by putting Jesus first can result in loving the spouse more. This happens as the process of knowing Jesus and the power of his resurrection redirects and deepens all our other relationships.
· One way of putting this is to ask the question: “How would Jesus live my life if he were I?” So, a husband asking that question regarding his wife, could find that this “costs” him as he gives up his natural inclination to dominate his wife, and instead loves his wife as his own body. Yet, that cost is more than compensated for by the joy of true love for and from his wife.
A Thought Question
Why are the names given to the two major divisions of the Bible: Old Testament and New Testament? What does the word “testament” connote?
A Brief Discussion of the term Covenant (from L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology)
Common Greek usage before the New Testament:
suntheke: an agreement between two (equal) parties
diatheke: a disposition or a testament; in the latter one party establishes the conditions to be met by the other party, e.g. as in a will
In the Old Testament idea of a covenant, both ideas are found. A covenant is an agreement between two parties (God and man), but clearly one (God) sets the terms for the other (man). Thus, in the New Testament, the writers chose to emphasize the inequality of the parties (diatheke) rather than the agreement between the parties (suntheke), and hence rendered “covenant” as diatheke throughout, rather than the more common term suntheke. Hence, the New Testament writers chose to change the meaning of the word diatheke retaining the idea of asymmetry between the parties, but including the meaning of suntheke: namely, an agreement between parties with terms and conditions.
Although God institutes the covenants and has the priority…..God graciously condescended to come down to the level of man, and to honor him by dealing with him more or less on the footing of equality. He stipulates His demands and vouchsafes His promises, and man assumes the duties thus imposed upon him voluntarily and thus inherits the blessing.
Luke 22:7-23
1. What special day was being celebrated by Jesus and his disciples? What had to be done on that day? What was its significance?
2. How is the word “covenant” used in this passage? What is its significance?
3. In all of the Gospels, this is the only use of the word “covenant” by Jesus (except in the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark). Does this mean that “covenant theology” is overrated?
I Cor. 11:23-26
1. This passage from Paul greatly parallels the one from Luke, but adds the words “remembrance” and “proclaim”. What is the significance of these additions?
2. Let’s try to sum up these two passages. How are the following connected:
new covenant, Passover lamb, blood poured out, discipleship.
3. Please comment on this statement from the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 29):
VII. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements, in this sacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally but spiritually, receive and feed upon, Christ crucified, and all benefits of His death: the body and blood of Christ being then, not corporally or carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.
4. What does it mean to feed upon Christ “spiritually” during the Lord’s Supper? How does feeding upon him impact our discipleship?
II Cor 3:1-18
1. What does Paul mean when he says he is a minister of a new covenant?
2. What does he say is the big difference between the old covenant and the new covenant?
3. What is the meaning of verse 3 where Paul says that believers are letters from Christ written by the Spirit on tablets of human hearts?
4. What is “glory”? Please react to the following statement from C. S. Lewis’s essay The Weight of Glory
It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God..to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.
5. What does it mean to behold the glory of the Lord (verse 18)?
6. What does it mean to be transformed from one degree of glory to another?
7. Where does the power for this transformation come from?
8. What is our role as disciples in this process of transformation?
9. Why is it important for disciples of Jesus Christ to realize that the following statement is true?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Review of Session 1: What is a Disciple?
· From our study of Simon Peter’s confession we learned that a disciple is foremost someone who has received and believed the revelation that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
· Yet, we took note of the fact that this same Peter, whose confession received the Lord’s praise, could a few verses later so oppose the Lord’s will that he would be labeled as “Satan”. In other words, he was just like us!
· We found that the words “disciple,” “Christian,” and “saint” are used somewhat interchangeably in the New Testament.
Our leftover question from last week is: are these 3 words really equivalent in meaning? What different nuances is the Holy Spirit giving us in His inspired Word in these three words? Is it possible to be a Christian, yet not a disciple?
A Thought Question
The late James Montgomery Boice, a prominent PCA pastor, makes the following statement at the beginning of his book on discipleship:
There is a fatal defect in the life of Christ’s church in the twentieth century: a lack of true discipleship. Discipleship means forsaking everything to follow Christ. But for many of today’s supposed Christians—perhaps the majority—it is the case that while there is much talk about Christ and even much furious activity, there is actually very little following of Christ Himself. And that means in some circles there is very little genuine Christianity. Many who fervently call Him “Lord Lord” are not Christians.
He then quotes the German Lutheran pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
· How do you react to these statements? Are you shocked by them? How do they make you feel? Do you agree with Pastors Boice and Bonhoeffer?
Luke 14:25-35
1. What does Jesus say is the requirement for a person to be his disciple?
2. What does he mean by the word “hate”?
3. What did Jesus say were the two great commandments? Does his teaching here contradict that teaching? Why or why not?
4. Please consider the following example:
A thirty-something man with a thirty-something wife and three kids under the age of four, comes home each night and after a hurried supper goes off to “do the Lord’s work” by attending a board meeting, or leading a Bible study, or discipling a friend one-on-one. He leaves behind his wife—who has herself worked a full day of homemaking and mothering—to tend to the three kids, all still in diapers. The man justifies his actions based on the principle of “hating his wife” so that he can love the Lord. Please react to this man’s actions—first from a male perspective and then a female perspective.
5. Why does Jesus give us two examples of counting the cost? What do we learn from these examples?
6. In verse 33, Jesus says a disciple must “give up everything” to follow him? Does that mean that a true disciple will sell all his possessions, give the money to the poor and then do full time Christian service in the Sudan? If it doesn’t mean that, what does it mean? Are you rationalizing?
7. What does carrying the cross mean?
Another Thought Question
The author Dallas Willard in his book The Divine Conspiracy, makes the following statement:
Nondiscipleship is the elephant in the church. It is not the much discussed moral failures, financial abuses, or the amazing general similarity between Christians and non-Christians. These are only effects of the underlying problem. The fundamental negative reality among Christian believers now is their failure to be constantly learning how to live their lives in the Kingdom Among Us. And it is an accepted reality. The division of professing Christians into those for whom it is a matter of whole-life devotion to God and those who maintain a consumer, or client, relationship to the church has now been an accepted reality for over fifteen hundred years.
· Please react to this statement based on the Luke passage and your observation of evangelical Christianity as we enter the 3rd Millennium. Which side of the division he speaks of are we on?
Philippians 3:1-11
1. How does Paul exemplify the discipleship that Jesus speaks of in Luke 14?
2. What are some of the things that Paul “lost” in order to follow Christ?
3. Why does Paul emphasize here the “righteousness that comes from God by faith”? What does that have to do with discipleship?
4. What does verse 10 tell us about “knowing Christ”? How will knowing Christ in this sense differentiate us from those who have only a “consumer” relationship with him? Are we there yet?
5. Please react to the following definition of a disciple (from Dallas Willard):
A disciple is someone who says: “I am learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live my life if he were I.”