Happiness in my old age if I am still a disciple

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS – Mark Spiro

Unfortunately for me, I have seen old men leave the call of being a disciple of Jesus as they chase old men dreams. I have prayed many times asking God that when I reach their age, may I still be found as a disciple of Jesus. There is only one love, one hope, one joy and abiding with Jesus makes them all mine and it means that I desire to abide in Him all of my days. Sometimes such a conviction causes me to think that I need to be unbending, legalistic even, but no, it means that I need to keep growing and deepening my relationship with Him.

What got me thinking about this? I was reading about a disciple named Mnason.

And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge. – Acts 21:16 ESV

He must have been one of the first to respond to the Gospel. He kept true to growing from his early faith and his faith still was bright as he looked after Paul. His encouragement to me was that whether I have just started to follow Jesus or have done so for many years, I have a confidence of my reward, I have already received victory over the world, and I have seen myself grow in grace and in knowledge of Him. Mnason had purposed in his heart to be a follower and he held on to that purpose even though he may have put his life in danger to be a friend to Paul.

It reminds me and I am being reminded often of what a disciple means. It means I am a Christian but it is possible to be a Christian and not a disciple. A Christian is one who responds to the Gospel message but have not initiated a relationship with Jesus where they sit at His feet to learn of Him and to follow Him and who submits to be His disciple. I find myself checking in with these questions – Am I a disciple of Jesus? Have I accepted His discipline, His authority, His lordship over my life and am I learning from Him from day to day?

Heaven is not far away

What does that mean – heaven is not far away? Basically, heaven is the range of God’s effective will. It can be right here, closer than the air we breathe.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.^[a]
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,^[b]
on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 ESV

The biggest question I have for myself is this – do I believe in this prayer – do I believe that God can do what He wants to do on earth just like He does in heaven? At the end of the day that is what I feel is my responsibility. At the end of the day this is the best news of life transformation.

On a lighter note, I found this great story on the Lord’s Prayer – for those of us in who remember the heyday of the Chicago Bears – enjoy! Gary Bartlett tells this story:

John Cassis told a story recently about a time when he was serving as one of the chaplin’s for the Chicago Bears during their glory years of the 80’s.

As John tells it, Mike Ditka was about to deliver a locker room pep talk one day. He looked up and saw defensive tackle William “Refrigerator” Perry. How could he not see him? At 338 pounds the Fridge stood out even in a crowd of pro football players. Ditka gestured to the Fridge. “When I get finished,” he said, “I’d like you to close with the Lord’s Prayer.” Then the coach began his talk.

Meanwhile, Jim McMahon, the brash and outspoken quarterback, punched John Cassis. “Look at Perry,” McMahon whispered, “he doesn’t know the Lord’s Prayer.”

Sure enough, Perry sat with a look of panic on his face, his head in his hands. He was sweating profusely. “Everybody knows the Lord’s Prayer,” said Cassis to McMahon in disbelief. After a few minutes of watching the Refrigerator leaking several gallons of sweat, McMahon nudged Cassis again. “I’ll bet you 50 bucks Fridge doesn’t know the Lord’s Prayer.”

As Cassis tells the story, he stops to reflect on the absurdity of it all: “Here we were sitting in chapel and betting 50 bucks on the Lord’s Prayer.”

When Coach Ditka finished his pep talk, he asked all the men to remove their caps. Then he nodded at Perry and bowed his head. It was quiet for a few moments before the Fridge spoke in a shaky voice, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord, my soul to keep…”

Cassis felt the tap on his shoulder. It was Jim McMahon. “Here’s the 50 dollars,”he whispered. “I had no idea Perry knew the Lord’s Prayer.”

It is not about the rules

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. – Romans 14:17 ESV

I have to admit, I like rules. So when it comes to the kingdom of God it seems that there is a temptation inside me to distort it and legalize it. What happens sickens me – His kingdom becomes exhausting and undesirable. I am thrilled that the kingdom of God is not about rules. I think it might have been seen that way in the Old Testament, but it was never about that. It has always been about righteousness, peace and joy and I know that today because today we have the Holy Spirit working in us to bring this all about.

This is why some of the followers of Jesus, known maybe by many of us as monks, would find a why of seclusion so as not to violate any of the rules, thus guaranteeing themselves a spot in heaven. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in, and He seemed to be missing from the lives of our monks. If I am unable to display the temper of a follower of Christ, why would anyone want to be part of the kingdom of God? So my light needs to shine before people. It is my kingdom works that will glorify my Father.

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. – Romans 14:7-9, 12 ESV

Romans chapter 14 has given me some great truths about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, maybe difficult truths that I do not ever hear preached, but read in many different places. Using the word ‘slavery’ to describe my relationship to the kingdom of God sounds wrong in so many ways. It is a word that defies the intimacy in relationship I have with God yet at the same time it describes what that intimacy looks like. The verse above does describe me as being owned and it describes that one day I have to give an account. That is why I like rules – they say I am right or wrong. But that is not what is happening here. The kingdom of God awakens a vision, a tremendous desire in me – it awakens me to the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is stronger than any other desire I have for anything else because I know that to have it would be better than to have anything else. This is what the Lord’s Prayer was trying to say – Your kingdom come. Jesus’ plan all along was to bring what was up there down here.

Qualities to possess

Whoever possesses these three things, he is of the disciples of
Abraham, our father; and [whoever possesses] three other things, he
is of the disciples of Balaam, the wicked. The disciples of Abraham,
our father, [possess] a good eye, an humble spirit, and a lowly soul.
The disciples of Balaam, the wicked, [possess] an evil eye, a
haughty spirit, and an over-ambitious soul. What is [the difference]
between the disciples of Abraham, our father, and the disciples of
Balaam, the wicked”? The disciples of Abraham, our father, enjoy
[their share] in this world, and inherit the world to come, as it is
said: That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and
that I may fill their treasuries, but the disciples of Balaam, the wicked,
inherit Gehinnom, and descend into the nethermost pit, as it is said,
But thou, O God, wilt bring them down to the nethermost pit; Men of
blood and deceit will not live out half their days; But as for me, I will
trust in thee.

Interesting words from the Talmud on what I can assess my disciple qualities from.

Paul gives me three dimensions of discipleship too in Acts chapter 20 – devotion to the resurrected Jesus, devotion to Jesus’ teaching and devotion to the way of the kingdom. The work ethic of Paul was the tangible expression of these three things and the verse that grabs me is at the end of the chapter:

You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ – Acts 20:34-35 ESV

I want to give the gift of time in order to strengthen those in need in my community.

When I look at this chapter I see the beginning of the commission of Timothy into ministry. False teachings coming into the body of Christ was a concern that Paul had. It would even seem that those teachings would not be coming from the outside but rather from the inside. It will take a strong hand, and strong character and one who has these qualities to lead this church and keep them on the way. I pray that my leadership growth will see these qualities in me as I follow Jesus.

Authority

Disciple (Acts 17:28)

Reading about a lot of power struggles taking place in Moses life as his leadership is challenged. First person on the scene is Miriam. She takes a shot at Moses’ wife when really that was just a stepping stone to see if she had enough support to go right after Moses. She seemed to have it and she did alongside Aaron.

And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. – Numbers 12:2 ESV

There have been some other notable power situations – Saul’s paranoid fear of David, the disciples arguing who among them was the greatest, even Simon Magnus known infamously for trying to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit.

“Power can destroy or create. The power that destroys demands ascendancy; it demands total control. It destroys relationships; it destroys trust; it destroys dialogue; it destroys integrity.” – Richard Foster

The struggles seem to come from those unwilling to move forward to what God has called them to be. As a disciple of Jesus that can be threatening to my call. Not willing to be more like Jesus gives me only one option for the truth is, if I am not going forward in my relationship with Him, I am going backwards to what I used to be.

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” – Numbers 14:1-4 ESV

It is safe to say that when I was younger it was much easier to do this for no other reason that when I am now older, the past has a weird way of looking better than the future. That is unless I look at the future through the lens of the kingdom of God and not based on what I see through my earthly eyes.

I was reading a post – How Israel Complaining 14 Times Mirrors Your Christian Journey and they came up with a few points from Numbers 12-14 too.

They mentioned that the test of leadership is not only in knowing the importance of following God but following His delegated leaders. Since our path of discipleship can be humanly difficult, it may cause people to go back to their old life because they cannot find a way to depend on God. Worse is when these band together to “vote out” their spiritual leader hoping another will take an easier road, maybe even more prosperous.

Paul hits this on the head. There is no other life other than the one with God – He gives us everything we need to live for Him.

For “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ – Acts 17:28 ESV

If I am still tempted to be a person of power where I find myself crossing the line between authority and abuse of that same authority, there is an antidote. The antidote for power is prayer. Spending each and every day in a special time with God developing my conversational skill in talking and listening to Him.

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire^[c] in his temple. – Psalm 27:4 ESV