Third, discipleship growth can be achieved like a mountain climber:
John Mark’s spiritual growth may have begun in those 12 months after returning home. He realized that while:
A failed worker doesn’t stop the Kingdom from going on with other workers. Mark succeeded as a companion of Barnabas in Cyprus. For, after that, his spiritual growth continued as a companion of the apostle Peter I Peter 5:13. After that, it continued as he served on the apostle Paul’s support staff during his first imprisonment Colossians 4:10, Philemon 24. And with his arrest the second time, Paul so valued Mark that he sent for him II Timothy 4:11. Serving successfully as Christ’s emissary after that he experienced arrest as a Christian, with eventual release Hebrews 13:23. His journey—maybe one he could never have anticipated in his days of reckless enthusiasm—continued through failure issuing in success. His legacy suggests that discipleship should be built on terraces:
Christians need spiritual rest times:
Then, if we fall, we’ll fall only to the lower terrace, NOT DOWN into oblivion! Fourth, FAIL, as in failure, can be a stepping stone to success if we:
NEVER GIVE UP! Then sat down. Walked again to the microphone for another NEVER GIVE UP! After a third time, with the same charge, he sat for good! NEVER GIVE UP! Unless we try again, failure will be a stumbling block. In discipleship, whatever we have achieved, stair-stepping our spiritual growth will provide the best solution to persevering maturity. It will also make MORE PROGRESS than we ever thought possible by retaining in quiet times what we learned in everyday action in Christ’s cause. Fini
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Lessons Mark’s journey can teach us. First, failure can be useful if we learn from it what to avoid in life. This writer has a series of biographies on bad Bible characters—with What Not To Do as the theme.
Success in discipleship consists, not of perfect decisions, but making more Right than Wrong decisions. Choosing more good than bad companions. Developing more good and controlling or cancelling more bad habits. Second, refusing to discuss differences in family and friend relationships may quiet them, but silence won’t remove them. How many times had Paul and Barnabas discussed Kingdom issues between AD 47-48. But never mentioned Mark. That refusal didn’t resolve their differences. Paul still felt Mark had deserted them; Barnabas still felt Mark had learned his lesson and deserved a second chance. Christians face this problem when befriending unbelievers. We may think our example will be enough to win them. That won’t happen often. And Christians may carefully avoid discussing Christ’s importance in order to prolong the friendship. That response denies Christ’s commission to bear witness by behavior and teaching. A better approach consists of a time:
Christian friends, husbands and wives may avoid discussing subjects sure to raise the temperature. A better approach may be:
Be sure of this: if we don’t agree to address the differences quietly, we will address them at some unguarded moment, at the least opportune time, when raised voices stifle amicable decisions. End Part III Since scripture doesn’t relate the particular causes of Mark’s desertion at Perga, we can only conjecture possible reasons. However, since many of us have experienced such failures, we can approximately identify some factors.
For Instance, being considered only a helper, Acts 13:5, could have injured his pride. Being proved only a helper—close to servant—as the journey continued increased his pride while failing to convince the senior partners they may have been wrong in their original view. For Instance, the Romance of missionary work would have evaporated into inconvenience the longer their journey lasted. Paul enumerated in I Corinthians 4:9-13 and II Corinthians 11:23-29 the personal cost of being an apostle. It could have been too tough for a man of 25-30 accustomed to the privileges of wealth. For Instance, they experienced unrecorded difficulties, the leaders wouldn’t diminish by miraculous powers—with Mark always having servants to lessen his privations. For Instance, Paul’s assumption of leadership by confronting and condemning Bar Jesus. This could have irritated Mark since cousin Barnabas had made decisions prior to this. In addition, Barnabas’ willingness to have Paul assume leadership would have decreased Mark’s zeal and his respect for Barnabas. For Instance, while the trio sailed away to Perga, Mark and Barnabas could have wanted to remain on Cyprus. Remember…when the leaders parted ways, Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. For Instance, this may have been Mark’s first time away from home, mamma and a life of ease. Nothing is a sickness like home-sickness. End Part II The writer knows other reasons may exist. If readers have other ideas, please send them to me. V Consider that an Upper Room in a large house in Jerusalem became a spiritual temple through which John Mark began a meaningful acquaintance with Jesus.
In those years, what had been a married couples house, Mark 14:13 goodman of the house, had become Mary’s home Acts 12:12. End Part I Remember … though the one Jesus loved as a dearest friend had become deathly ill, he remained at John’s baptismal site two more days John 11:3, 6. And though the one Jesus loved with the deepest spiritual love for keeping God’s interpersonal commandments, he imposed the strongest possible demand on him Mark 10:21.
A spiritual principle existed on both occasions, one related to God’s personal will for Jesus, the other to Christ’s personal ownership of discipleship. Christ’s strong friendship love for Lazarus had to be secondary to God’s will for Jesus. And his spiritual love for the Rich Young Ruler demanded the surrender of his deepest attachment in life. Whether responding to beloved friends, or with God’s ownership involved, Jesus always added SOMETHING MORE. Consider when Simon Peter feared following Jesus, he needed to stop fishing for a living and serve Jesus by searching for lost people. See this as a possible meaning of John 21:2-3, 15. When Zacchaeus repented, he instinctively realized he had to shatter his love of money on a greater devotion to his conversion Luke 19:8-10. When Saul the persecutor of Jesus became Saul the disciple of Jesus, he understood he lost all he had valued as a Jew to inherit all he possessed as a Christian Philippians 3:3-11. When the teacher of the law understood the greatest commandment, Jesus declared him “not far from the kingdom of God” Mark 12:34. NOT far, but NOT IN. The principle remains intact. To get into God’s Kingdom, we must go beyond Law and beyond tradition, and beyond all our human opinions TO Christ and his Greater Expectations. What do we each lack to be that kind of disciple? For fourteen years Jim Vonderhaar faithfully invested money in Mel Fisher’s hunt for sunken treasure. His investments cost him a chance to own a home, new car and new clothes. He travelled to the search-site 138 times in those years. And followed up visits with calls to the expedition’s office. His friends considered him crazy.
Then Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salvors found the Atocha, the object of their long pursuit. The Spanish galleon sank off Key West in a 1622 hurricane. Her main cargo hold revealed treasures of gold and silver worth $300 million. Suddenly, crazy man Vonderhaar owned ½ percent of $300 million. He joyfully banked his $2 million check. For every Christian investing his life in Christ’s spiritual treasure:
Those who demand present fulfillment:
Christians will not only have gained the graces God grants daily life:
Yours for a faith that lives forgiven now and glorified later. This blog considers that Abraham’s Moriah experience exists when we face whatever poses the stiffest challenge to our discipleship. It reveals:
… even if we must surrender relationships, possessions, career or ambitions we consider too essential to lose. … Levi symbolized that person Luke 5:27-39. He not only resigned his lucrative tax position, but immediately hosted a party celebrating the Nazarene prophet who prompted his decision. He symbolized the effect of the burnt offering. … the Rich Young Ruler symbolized the other person Mark 10:17-27. … he nodded his head as Jesus listed person to person requirements in the Law … then shook his head when Jesus demanded surrender of his wealth for exchange of spiritual blessings. He wouldn’t symbolize the burnt offering. What excepts do we place on our discipleship—as in, everything except…. _______________ you fill in the blank.
Whenever we say, “I won’t surrender that”, we fail our Moriah experience. Whenever we say, “I’ll surrender EVEN THAT to God’s will,” we pass its test. We symbolize the effect of the burnt offering, giving to God ALL, keeping nothing under our supervision. Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking we’ve achieved such maturity in discipleship that we need no more testing. Abraham may have thought he had done it all before God ordered the SUPREME test. Only passing it at 115-120 or so years did he prove a disciple who never again needed to prove obedience to God. Only then he proved faith equal to the greatest test of his discipleship. Just as Jesus, perfectly obeying his Father’s will, passed it in Gethsemane, the Moriah test that led to Calvary. A post-blog encouragement. We can make excuses why we fail as Christians, but we have God-given reasons to succeed. Commitment to Christ calls us to what we haven’t yet achieved for him, however much we have. It calls us to TRY AGAIN when we FAIL. But it never allows us to STOP TRYING! If we hang up that commitment in our mind like a horseshoe on a wall, it will bring us MUCH MORE than good luck. Abraham failed God three times. But he kept trying and pleased God on the fourth. For like Abraham, while facing and overcoming it by trusting God, we’ll never have another trial like it. Fini Instead of re-creating the sacrificial scene on Moriah, consider the essential words that embody the spiritual principles still in place. Those words are a burnt offering Genesis 22:2. The NIV Study Bible lists three possible purposes for that offering, page 150, the third of which related to Abraham.
It’s important to remember that God called Abraham, not Isaac, to make the offering; as a test of Abraham’s commitment to him, not to Isaac’s personal faith. Though his personal faith in God may have begun in this experience, if not before. It certainly created anxiety for him as father told him to climb on the altar; as father tied him down; as father raised the knife to SLAY him. That stress, relieved by God’s call to STAY the knife, would either make or break a person’s trust in his parent and faith in God. Isaac gives every indication of a robust faith in God only weakened after twin sons came to Rebekah. However, and the point under discussion, any meaning we see in Isaac as a type of Christ may not be as necessary as understanding a basic difference between Abraham and Jesus. Abraham had only once to offer a burnt sacrifice. While Christ’s entire life proved a burnt offering to God, John 8:39, 46 and Hebrews 10:5-10, but three of the many scriptural references. Jesus lived perfectly in the self-denial he demanded every disciple to follow. End Part IV Fourth, the ALL-IMPORTANT crisis to which Abraham rose as a great spiritual warrior. You may read it in Genesis 22:1-19.
Just when everything seemed complete in Abraham’s obedience: (all the scriptures in Genesis)
One more TEST! Take the son:
The most intense of all crises for this man of faith. After God had for centuries used animals as burnt offerings, Genesis 3:21 the model, he now demanded human sacrifice. Nothing could have been more difficult for Abraham to hear; the most demanding instructions ever received from ON HIGH. Yet, early the next morning, taking:
Abraham and his party began the trek to Moriah. Seen in the distance haze on the third day:
Third, recorded in Genesis 21:8-13 and Galatians 4:21-31. The apostle Paul described Ishmael’s behavior at Isaac’s weaning as taunting persecution, not innocent horseplay between older and younger siblings. Both mother Hagar and Ishmael shared dispositions Satan loves to use against God’s will. He always champions the secular over the sacred, the violent over the peaceful person. In them he had in place the perfect couple to create continuing uncertainty, unrest and competition in God’s design for redemption.
Abraham’s response to his wife’s demand that he banish the duo didn’t polish his crown. “Distressed…greatly”, by the prospect of losing his first-born, he would have refused Sarah’s demand HAD GOD not intervened. The patriarch submitted to God’s will, however reluctantly. But give him credit. He wasted no time obeying. Early the next morning he sent the rejected pair packing. While Sarah breathed a sigh of relief at the expulsion, see God’s will being achieved. For she out of a motherly rage protected a spiritual truth: in Isaac alone God continued the Messianic line. Had both boys remained in Abraham’s camp, Islam today could claim a share in Christianity’s glory. Since Ishmael left under compulsion, Islam never has and never will have any conjunction with God’s redemptive program. It all came through Isaac and the Hebrew/Jewish nation, and nothing at all of it came through Ishmael and Islam. Nothing! End Part II |
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