Praying Pint

 

Mark 4:23    If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Jeremiah 6:10    To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.

Matthew 13:43    Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Revelation 3:13    He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Ezekiel 12:2    “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.

Matthew 13:8-9    Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

 

Mark 4:9    And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Matthew 13:15    For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

Matthew 11:15    He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Revelation 2:7    He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

Matthew 13:9    He who has ears, let him hear.” 

Revelation 2:11    He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

 

t is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night (Psalm 92:1-2)

Ungrateful people are unpleasant to be around. It’s not right that someone should receive so much yet reman ungrateful. The attitude of gratitude is something that there should always be more of, and never less. It’s rare to meet someone and think, “they are too thankful.”

Psalm 92 reminds us that giving thanks to God is more than right; it is also good. That’s why this wonderful song begins with a simple, yet profound statement: It is good to give thanks to the LORD. Plainly said, it is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel and the Maker of heaven and earth.

Here are seven reasons why it is good to give thanks to the LORD, and I’m sure you can think of some more reasons.

It is good because thanks to our Creator is appropriate. God created everything, including you. You owe your existence to God; it is good and proper for you to thank Him.

It is good because thanks to our Covenant Redeemer is fitting. I write to you as believers, as disciples of Jesus Christ. For you, God is more than your Creator; He is also your Savior. In the new covenant, Jesus Christ has redeemed you, purchased you out of the quicksand of sin and self. That’s a great reason to give Him thanks!

It is good because thanks to the One who blesses and delivers us is right. I won’t deny the trials and difficulties of life, because Jesus Himself said, “in the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). Yet God has a way of blessing us beyond our burdens and bringing deliverance of some sort to all who put their trust in Him.

It is good because thanks to the One who is all-good is always good. No one is “all good” except God (Matthew 19:17). Even the best among us is good most of the time, not all the time. Yet, God is so good and so constantly good that we should thank Him for it.

It is good because thanks to God does us benefit. Your gratitude to God is good for you. Even if it was only from selfish motives, it would still be good for us to give thanks to the Lord.

It is good because thanks to God sets an example for others to do the same. Don’t complain about the ungrateful people around you. Instead, show them the pattern for true gratitude by being properly thankful yourself.

It is good because a mere attitude of thankfulness is not enough. Don’t satisfy yourself with an inner feeling of thanksgiving. Go past all that to actually give thanks to the LORD, and do it a lot (in the morning…every night). (Guzik)

 

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

God is more patient than we are because He sees us from the perspective of eternity. That’s why Moses wasn’t called to his work until age eighty. That’s why Jesus began His ministry at age thirty. That’s why Abraham’s prayer for a child wasn’t answered until it seemed too late, and that’s why our Lord showed up at the home of Lazarus after the man had died.

God doesn’t work on our timetable. In Genesis, Joseph was enslaved at age seventeen and spent about thirteen years in slavery and prison. Yet during that time, God was preparing him to become one of the most powerful men in the world. If you’re waiting for an answer from God, be patient and remember that God has perfect timing.  An anonymous little poem puts it like this:

God has perfect timing; never early, never late.
It takes a little patience and it takes a lot of faith.
But it’s truly, worth the wait! (Jeremiah)

“We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He once waited for us”. (Spurgeon)

 

 

1Corinthians 11:1  Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

So, fellow busy believer, how might we get started with this kind of disciple-making? Let me share two next steps I’ve learned from others farther along.

You can begin by taking a careful look at your life and asking where you can say with integrity, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). As you consider all that Jesus commanded, in what areas has God granted you a particular measure of maturity — in habits of grace, or husbanding, or evangelism, or workplace diligence? Alternatively, as you consider others in your church or small group, can you discern any specific discipleship needs you might be able to meet? Even if you’re a newer believer and wouldn’t consider yourself mature overall, might you be more mature in an area where someone else needs help?

Then you might develop a basic proposal for what the discipling relationship could look like. Prayerfully consider what would fit within the limits of your life right now. What would stretch you without breaking you? What would push you to depend on God but not press you beyond measure? Instead of proposing something indefinite (in duration) and undefined (in topic), consider getting specific:

• “Let’s practice praying God’s word together on Monday mornings for the next three months.”
• “Let’s study these passages about eating and body image, meeting every other week over the summer.”
• “Let’s have your family over for dinner on Saturday nights this semester so you can see how we practice hospitality.”

In other words, in a limited but sacrificial way, take some Christlike treasure God has given you, and share what you have.

 

 

1Corinthians 12:14  For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

This more limited, topically focused method of disciple-making does not remove the need for longer-term, broader discipling relationships. Jesus and Paul went that route. And even those of us with families or full-time work would be wise to consider how we might disciple more like they did — perhaps by inviting a younger believer to live with us for a time or finding a job alongside a brother or sister. But in busy seasons, thinking in a more limited way may open fresh possibilities.

Alongside Titus 2, our own experience and the New Testament’s broader teaching seem to encourage this approach. As far as experience goes, think back to your own most formative times as a Christian. How did you grow? Perhaps you can point to one incredibly influential person who invested deeply in you — a Paul who made you his Timothy. But probably most of us remember several people who each contributed significantly to our maturity. His example taught me how to pray. Her hospitality modeled the evangelistic life. His friendship helped me defeat that sin. Her morning habits showed me how to meet with God.

If that’s how God often matures us anyway, why not make the process more intentional? Why not take another believer alongside you and say, “Can we get together for the next few months so we can talk about fatherhood?” “Do you want to come with me as I share Jesus on the streets?” “Can I show you my budget and walk through some principles of Christian stewardship with you?”

As for other biblical teaching, Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3:21–22 that all the church’s leaders, not just one, belong to God’s people for their upbuilding. Later, he pictures Christ’s people as a body whose members each contribute to the health of the whole (1 Corinthians 12:14–20). Indeed, as we mature, we come to see not only what we have to offer others but also the limits of what we have to offer. So, like Barnabas in Antioch, we may give others what we have and then grab a Paul so he can give more (Acts 11:22–26).

The one God-man has given many models to his church. So, sometimes, we may disciple best by offering someone the best of what we have and then encouraging him or her to keep learning from others. (Hubbard)

 

 

 

Though Paul doesn’t mention disciple-making in Titus 2, his calling to older women aligns well with the definition we’ve been considering:

Older women . . . are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2:3–5)

Here we have the basic elements of disciple-making. Mature women invest themselves in younger women, pursuing their growth and implicitly aiming to multiply mature women who can do the same for others. But within this framework, notice one significant difference between these domestic disciplers and the patterns of Jesus and Paul: Instead of focusing on the breadth of life over a long period, they take only a slice of “all that [Jesus] commanded” (Matthew 28:20), striving to train others in a particular area of maturity God has granted to them.

“We need a vision of life-on-life discipleship for lives with little room.”

If these women had tried to disciple others just as Jesus and Paul did, they may have given up in despair — or they may have neglected their own homes to do so. But disciple younger women in the basics of being a godly wife and mom? That process might still be costly. It might call for some creative restructuring of normal routines. It would certainly require the Spirit’s power. But even within significant life limits, it would be possible.

Titus 2 invites us (older woman or not) to dream a little differently about disciple-making. It invites us to see that even a limited life can have room for others.  (Hubbard)

 

2Timothy 3:10-11      You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

 

As a first step, let’s clarify what we mean by disciple-making. David Mathis, taking his cues from Jesus’s own example in the Gospels, defines disciple-making this way: “the process in which a stable, mature believer invests himself, for a particular period of time, in one or a few younger believers, in order to help their growth in the faith — including helping them also to invest in others who will invest in others.”

This definition offers a few irreducible elements of disciple-making. First, disciple-making requires some degree of spiritual maturity, at least compared to the person (or people) being discipled. Second, disciple-making is an investment of your very self: You offer not only a message but a model, not only your speech but your life. Third, disciple-making pursues growth in faith or practical obedience to what Jesus commanded. And fourth, disciple-making aims to multiply disciple-makers.

Recently, however, I heard someone helpfully observe that, within these parameters, the New Testament commends more than one model or method of disciple-making. In the Gospels, Jesus disciples twelve men in all of life for three years. In Acts, Paul disciples Timothy in a similar way (2 Timothy 3:10–11), but then at other times he walks with new believers over a shorter period and then continues teaching them through visits and letters (Acts 14:21–22).

Of course, Jesus and Paul were unmarried men who devoted their lives to ministry. They had no spouse or children or full-time jobs. So, do we have any examples of disciple-making moms or dads, managers or bondservants? Yes, we do. (Hubbard)

 

Matthew 28:19.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

 

I can remember a time when disciple-making sounded more doable. My days had more margin for late nights, spontaneous meals, and extended fellowship. Fewer responsibilities demanded my time. Discipling others in a life-on-life way didn’t sound easy, but it did sound more manageable than it does now.

Businessman, husband, mother of young ones — you probably know what I mean. You used to say yes to nearly every invitation. You used to send those invitations. Now saying yes often means saying no to some part of life that seems nonnegotiable. And for as much as you’ve tried to invite others into your normal routines — aiming for overlap, not addition — the fact still stands: Discipling others is harder than it once was.

Yet you still hear your Lord’s command: “Make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Evangelize and baptize. Teach and train. Invest your life in others so they grow up into Christlike maturity.

“Yes, Lord,” you say from the heart. But as you look up from your overtime schedule, overdue projects, or overloaded sink, you add, “But how?”

Go and Make When?

Of course, something would be wrong if we heard Jesus’s command to make disciples and thought, Simple. I can make disciples in my sleep. The command should make us stagger a step or two.

Indeed, not only discipleship but also disciple-making comes with a cost. We reckon rightly with Jesus’s command when we start rearranging life to more regularly welcome the unbelieving and less mature. What hobbies might we give up? What lesser priorities might go? In what creative ways might we take others alongside us and teach them to observe more of what Jesus commanded?

But as we feel the weight of the task, we should also beware of adding more weight than what’s there. “Go and make disciples” does not require us to neglect job or family. In fact, the same Jesus who told us to make disciples also told us, through his apostles, to work and parent heartily (Colossians 3:18–4:1). So, those who shortchange family or employer in order to make disciples do so at the expense of their own discipleship. And a disobedient disciple-maker is a walking contradiction.

Somehow, then, we need a vision of life-on-life discipleship for lives with little room.  (Hubbard)

 

 

And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35)

Mark was careful to record that Jesus said this after He sat down. This was important because by sitting down, Jesus showed that he was going to teach. It was the custom in those days that a Rabbi, when teaching – especially teaching something important – would sit down while His listeners stood. This was a way to say, “This is important.”

The question at hand (Mark 9:34) was, “Who would be the greatest?” This seemed to be one of the favorite topics of conversation among the disciples. Jesus could have answered the question, “Hey everybody – don’t forget that I’m the greatest.” But Jesus did not put the focus on Himself. For an example of greatness, Jesus put forth the last and the servant.

Of course, Jesus is the greatest in the kingdom – no one is greater than He is! So, when He said last and servant, He was really describing Himself, and He accurately toldus about His nature. Christ was truly first in all the universe, yet Jesus made Himself last of all and servant of all for our sake.

In this, Jesus challenged His followers to be last of all. The desire to be praised and to gain recognition should be foreign to a follower of Jesus. Jesus wants us to embrace last as a choice, allowing others to be preferred before us, and not only because we are forced to be last.

Jesus also challenged us to be the servant of all. In the worldly idea of power, a great man is distinguished by how many people serve him. In ancient China, it was sometimes fashionable for wealthy men to grow their fingernails so long that their hands were unusable for basic tasks. This demonstrated that they did not need to do anything for themselves; a servant was always there to wait on them. The world may think of this as greatness, but God does not. Jesus declared that true greatness is shown not by how many serve you, but by how many you serve.

In the following verses, Jesus used a child as an example of kingdom greatness. In that day, children were regarded more as property than individuals. It was understood that they were to be seen and not heard. Jesus said that the way we receive people regarded like children shows how we would receive Him.

Because Jesus is last of all and servant of all and in some sense like a child, when we honor and receive a child – or someone who is a servant like Jesus – we honor and receive Jesus Himself.

Do you want to be great? It’s not bad to have ambition, but we should be ambitious to serve others – not to have them serve us. That is the way of Jesus, who was truly the greatest in the kingdom. (Guzik)