In the light of the Resurrection, Jesus commissioned His followers with a great task before ascending to the Father in glory (Mt 28:18–20). Just as Adam and Eve were to be fruitful and multiply, we as His followers, are to fill the earth with His disciples by proclaiming the good merits of His Death and Resurrection and commanding all peoples to have faith in and follow the Risen King.

But how do you ‘make disciples’? Discipleship, or the process of making and growing disciples, may be likened to chin ups.

I’m not a huge fan of chin ups. My strength lies more in my legs than my arms and I find it easier to run than to lift my body weight. Reaching the chin up bar is a challenge. Yet this is the illustration my friend uses to describe discipleship and one that depicts a phrase in the Bible that I’ve often likewise used to describe it, truth and love.

God the Father has given us the perfect standard of His Royal Law. Matthew 5:48 says, ‘Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” His holy standard—all that He expects and commands of us in His Word—is really high. Far from lifting ourselves up to the bar, we can’t even jump high enough to reach the bar!

As disciplers we hold the bar just as high as the Father, but we also help people reach the bar. Like a coach we don’t blast the trainee for not knowing how to do it, or doing it properly, or failing to attain it. Nor do we say, ‘oh it’s ok that you haven’t attained to it,’ Instead we say, ‘there is the bar, now let me help you be able to reach it.’

The Bible has the same word—depending on context—that can be meant for both challenge and encouragement. It is parakaleo (παρακαλέω) and means to call+beside. It can be translated exhort, urge implore or comfort, encourage and invite.

For unbelievers we do not shrink from sharing the bad news of judgement apart from faith in Christ, but we also encourage by sharing our testimony, by declaring how good the Lord is and that He doesn’t cast off any who come to Him.

For believers, we likewise maintain that Jesus has commanded us to do X, Y and Z, yet do even this in ‘gentleness and respect,’ reminding them of the forgiveness our Lord offers when they fall and continuing to call them to yield to the Spirit and the Word. The Lord has given us the Helper, God’s Law is no longer a threat but a promise—I will get you there!

I’ve owned two Border collies. While they somewhat train themselves, they do require training, or discipleship. My present dog is 7 months. He is a work in progress! My previous dog died at 12 years of age, travelled the world with me and was very special to me. Throughout her life people would often comment, ‘your dog is so affectionate and obedient, you must have taken her to obedience school, how did you do it.’ By grace (for I’m not professional dog trainer), I’d say, “no there were only two ingredients: love and discipline. I’d reinforce positive behaviour and dissuade negative behaviour.” Humans are much superior to dogs, however, this principle is the same essential principle that I use for raising my son and also what I’ve used in Christian discipleship. In fact, with variation, this is what we see consistently (and effectively) used throughout Church history.

The Lord has set the bar high for His people—we musn’t shrink away from it. Yet the bar is so impossibly high that not even we have attained it. In humility we help each other by the Spirit to rise to the high calling our King commands.
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That is chin up discipleship. 

These famous words come in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is addressing worry (litt. To be divided between two opinions vs. a singular trust in the Lord). If we trust and seek Him and His Kingdom and righteousness, we’ll have no reason to worry and can trust the promise of the Lord to provide.

When Jesus admonishes to ‘Seek Ye First’ He is commanding us in something foundational, which in my experience, is a lesson that perennially speaks volumes to the non-Christian and Christian alike.

What does it mean to seek? It means to intently strive or search for something with the intent of finding it (picture someone seeking for the perfect house to buy). The world seeks advancement, prestige, material things, wisdom, religious favour, relationships, etc. Jesus calls us to seek something even greater.

What does it mean to seek ye first? Something that is first occupies the first place, is a priority of importance (picture someone with OCD having to have a clean car). Philosophy, politics, empire, family life and certain virtues are all things that people put first, and so seek.

People don’t only seek (and so worry) about food and clothing but all kinds of bigger things in life too.

But what should we seek first? Jesus identified two things: His Kingdom and His Righteousness. This applies differently to unbelievers (crowd- Mt 5:1) and believers (disciples- Mt 5:1).

Unbelievers
Unbelievers are naturally separated from God, His enemies and outside of His Kingdom because of their unrighteousness. They need righteousness and entry into the Kingdom more than anything else. By renouncing the world and repenting of their sin and turning to and trusting in Christ, the unbeliever is counted just or righteous by faith. They are declared legally right with God and given the gift of the Spirit to actually impart righteousness in their daily living. Upon being born anew they are adopted into God’s family, or brought into God’s Kingdom. What a glorious salvation to be transferred from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of His glorious light! If we seek and obtain these two things, food and clothing will pail in comparison and, by faith, be provided. It is a wonderful irony.

Believers
However, believers ought to seek first God’s Kingdom and righteousness but in a different sense. We ought to pursue personal righteousness by taking hold of the means of grace (prayer, ordinances, Lord’s Day, Scripture, fellowship and service, etc) and reliance upon the Spirit. This is how we grow in righteousness and become more like Christ. We ought also to seek His Kingdom, not entrance into it but its expansion. We do this through the means of course but more overtly through fulfilling the Great Commission, being members and serving in the local church’s ministries, personal evangelism, supporting foreign missionaries, etc. If we seek these two things as believer’s the Lord we can be assured that the Lord will take care of our other concerns. We don’t simply seek salvation from the penalty of sin and then stop seeking after our conversion. We go on seeking!
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Seek ye first can be helpfully demonstrated in this illustration:

​May this be a lesson to us, seek ye first the Kingdom of God!

Mark wants his readers to: a) repent and believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and in His Kingdom (Mk 1:1; 1:15; Mk 8:29) for their salvation from sin (Mk 10:45); and b) to follow Him as a disciple (Mk 8:34). These are keystone verses in Mark that pain the picture of faith and following. To Mark, these are flip sides of the same coin. Let me explain.

Faith is not a noun or a spiritual force we tap into, it is a verb—an action. Faith means trust; it is more than mere good opinion of Jesus. We must exercise true saving faith. This faith is an active vs. passive faith that does more than merely assent, it recognizes who Jesus is, our need and His authority, trusts in Him alone for salvation, placing our very lives in His hands. It goes on trusting in His commands. It demonstrates a real loving preference for Christ’s Kingdom and commands. ‘Faith’ without following is dead. (See Paul and James on justification).

Following is an unpopular idea today, though it is steeped in adventurous appeal. However, true faith in a person, necessitates that we follow. We step where He asks us to step. While just as it is possible that people who have ‘faith’ don’t follow, it is likewise possible to ‘follow’ without faith. However, the following Jesus has in view is not simply following Him as a good moral teacher. It is following Him as Lord. And here is the flip side of the coin. If we truly follow Jesus in a cruciform way (all the radical things that the Law of Christ commands), such following reveals that we have faith just as true faith is shown in the fruit of following. Following trusts the King and His good words displaying this in action.

Jesus wants us to have faith in Him; He also wants us to follow Him. When we truly believe we follow; when we truly follow we show we have faith.

Faith and following are both actions; they are flip sides of the same coin.
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May we persevere in faith and following the Lord Jesus.

For a century and a half ‘altar calls’ (which is an odd Protestant term in itself) have been seen as important in conversion. First popularized by Charles Finney and perhaps immortalized in Billy Graham’s crusades, the altar call is often unquestioningly seen as a crucial element to sections of evangelical Christianity. However, it might be seen as socially and even emotionally manipulative practice; but what is more a substitute for what God has commanded.

God has already given us an ‘altar call,’ a way to express faith in Christ publically and it is called baptism. We don’t need to come to the front, we need to plunge beneath the waters.

Matthew’s Gospel places a clear emphasis of baptism in following Jesus, from John’s baptism of repentance (Mt 3:1–12), Jesus’ own baptism (Mt 3:13–17) to the New Covenant sign of Baptism in the process of making disciples (Mt 28:19–20).

It is through baptism that we express our faith and discipleship and the Lordship of Christ. It is through baptism that we become visible citizens of the Kingdom, members of the Church. The first command Jesus ever gave was to be baptized.

If we have been convicted of sin through a song or a sermon in a worship gathering and are open to or have trusted in the Gospel (Mt 4:17) then we should seek out or tell a leader and begin the process to be baptized.

When we create substitutes, we diminish God’s appointed means.
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For this reason, I don’t offer ‘altar calls’ but willingly, gladly and regularly urge people to believe and be baptized (c.f. Acts 2:38 and Mk 16:16) and offer necessary supports in this fundamental act of discipleship. 

Simple but not simplistic is a mantra I developed many years ago to describe what Christianity is (or ought to be).

[It is similar to the illustration Jerome painted of the Bible, “shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for a theologian to swim in without ever touching bottom.” Christianity isn’t a kiddy pool, nor is it an raging ocean; it is like a real graduating pool, the same water, but different depths, with room for maturity but ever with mysterious humility.]

On the one hand it is simple vs. complex. One shouldn’t add to the Faith. This can happen in legalistic or nominal or ritualistic or highly intellectual settings, etc.

On the other hand, it is simple vs. simplistic. One shouldn’t take away from the Faith or make it less than it is. This can happen in popular or folk Christianity, nominalism, emotionalism, etc.
Like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” Christianity should not be too hot or too cold but just right, as God intended.

Part of this mantra is informed by my own journey. Growing up in an evangelite denomination, exposed to theological liberalism, etc, gave me a desire for a more “robust” Faith; or one that richly accorded with Scripture.

The rest of the mantra comes from an acknowledgement that Scripture says as much (2 Pet 2:2; Heb 6:1–3), we should live (and hunger) for “every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Mt 4:4).

Consider how the Gospel is simple but not simplistic (Acts 2:38):
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The Gospel isn’t do all of this to be saved, or understand the depths of Christology to be saved. Nor is the Gospel just believe or any such pithy saying. It is a simple robust call to belief in who Jesus is, repentant of one’s sin, trust in Jesus for forgiveness, baptism and the promised Holy Spirit. 

Consider how Discipleship is simple but not simplistic:

• God met the Ethiopian Eunuch were he was but didn’t desire him to stay there (Acts 8:35)
• In the Great Commission discipleship involves going, baptizing and teaching.
• Maturity means learning faith, growing in humility and holiness, understanding doctrine, submitting to God’s design for your life, etc… Maturity happens when we are stretched.

Consider how the Study of God’s Word is simple but not simplistic
While some portions of God’s Word is difficult to understand (2 Pet 3:16) we trust that with the Spirit’s help, all Scripture is for our good (Dt 6:24), even the hard passages. This clarity of Scripture (2 Ti 3:16–17) encourages us to study God’s Word and not settle for over simplifications nor feel trapped as if it is all impossible to understand.

Consider how the study of Doctrine is simple but not simplistic
From the Gospel all Christian theology can be built, one brick at a time.
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The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself and His will. This is good. God calls doctrine, if it is biblical vs. manmade, good, “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.” (1 Ti 4:6; c.f. Tit 1:9, 2:1). He wants us to know more about Him and His ways and this does require training (effort). We might not all become elite athletes but we should all be healthy and fit.
 
Christianity is not trivial nor is it impossible, it is like an exciting adventure that is possible with the Spirit’s help. It turns out Christianity is simple but not simplistic after all.

As a church we believe in and practice church discipline (henceforth CD) (Handbook 10.0). This is because we are a believers’ church comprised of members who have made and continue to make a credible profession of faith (Statement of Faith-The Church; Church Covenant; Handbook 7.0). We not only believe in the Gospel but a Gospel order, which includes CD. These are flip sides of the same coin.
[Corrective[1]] Discipline, in a worldly sense, may simply be defined as “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to correct disobedience” (Oxford). Biblically, the word discipline (paideia) means to train a child to reach maturity.

In Christian theology and ethics all precepts ultimately flow from principles and these from the person of God. A study of CD at the level of precept (especially in our culture) can lead to an emotional knee jerk reactions (intolerance, unaccepting, etc) but understanding the heart of what CD flows from reinforces our understanding and informs our practice.

God is both a God of mercy and justice, grace/love and truth (e.g. Ex 34:6–7; Jn 1:17; 1 Jn 4:12).

It may be said that His discipline is directed against unbelievers in His wrath and wayward believers in His correction. Speaking of the latter Heb 12:7b–12 says:

“God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

God is the perfect disciplinarian.  

A Believer’s Church- A Christian is one who has believed the Gospel and been added to the church through baptism. We can see the believing nature early in Acts, such as Acts 2:41. Unlike the Old Covenant people and many systems of Christianity today that uphold a mixed nature of God’s visible people (i.e. believers and unbelievers), the New Covenant people are a believing community. While it is true false professors creep in and that the Lord knows those who are His, we have an obligation to ensure membership is based upon a credible profession.

Perseverance of the Saints- The Bible teaches that those who are truly the Lord will ultimately not fail in the faith but persevere to the end. This means that the Church holds members accountable in the Lord. Only those who give a credible profession of faith and practice may be counted as part of it. If assurance is persistently and unrepentantly removed, the assurance of membership must likewise be withdrawn.
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The church is a believing community that is given shape through regenerate membership (baptism and discipline).

There are a number of related Bible verses/passages that speak to the subject of Church discipline. Some of the most noteworthy are:

I.The Correct Spirit: The Lost Sheep precedes Mt 18; Gal 6:1; Lk 17:3
II.As A General Command: 1 Cor 5:9–13; 2 Thes 3:6
III.A Typical Threefold Process: Mt 18:15–20; Tit 3:10
IV.The Authority to Bind (bring into membership) and Loose (exclude from membership): Mt 16:16; Mt 18:19
V.The Example of the Man Excluded and then Restored because of Incest, 1 Cor 5:1 ; 2 Cor 2:5–11
VI.The Example of the Judgement of Ananias and Sapphira: Acts 5:1–11
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Those professing believers who persist in unrepentant sin, whether in faith or practice, must be excluded.

​Ultimately CD is for the glory of God (doing what God has said); the purity of the church (ensuring it remains a believers’ church); the good of the sinner (not allowing them to walk in false assurance) and the fear of the church (a renewed call for us to confirm our calling and election). (See Five Minute Moment, June 13, 2021, here). 

​[1] There is also formative discipline (e.g. training in godliness) and restorative discipline (reconciliation). 

We have begun a New Year. It is no longer 2022 but 2023. That is a boundary. The Bible says that boundaries are a God given gift to be respected. A classic verse on the subject is Proverbs 22:28:
Do not remove the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.
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What is that about? It means that in ancient Israel farmers marked the boundaries of their lands (allotted by God through Moses) by large stones or piles of stones. A greedy neighbour could sneakily move those stones over time and enlarge his land at the expense of his neighbour.

The world is filled with myriads of boundaries at God’s design. Because God designed them they are good and not to be understood in a negative way as many might see words like ‘division.’ They are good and we’d do well to respect them. Some boundaries like those at Creation are fixed and immoveable: day and night, land and sea, etc. Other boundaries are moveable. Yet it is only in our pride that we seek to move what God has fixed. This is because in our desire to be as God (Gen 3:5) we don’t respect God or others but move those stones to our own advantage. (Even the Creator-creature distinction is a boundary, Ro 1:25. We can’t actually move it but we try!). How we respond to God’s boundaries can be appropriate and inappropriate, good and evil.  All sins and troubles, particularly of the inter-personal kind, stem from, in pride, breaking God’s boundaries.

Considering just some of the good God-given boundaries that we find in the Bible:

• Between families, or parents and their children’s families, Gen 2:24- Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
  • Family (both parents and grown children) are a wonderful gift. We should always love to spend time with them. However, it is God’s design that when a child is married there is a new family unit created. It is to be respected. Too many of our relational problems today come from children not letting go of the umbilical cord and learning to live in independence with their spouse or parents not relinquishing the umbilical cord and failing to respect the new family unit’s independence.
• Between neighbours, Prov 25:17- Let your foot be seldom in your neighbour’s house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you.
  • A good neighbour is a gift. But discretion teaches us when it is appropriate to visit (invited, to bring back a garbage bin that blew away, etc) and when it is not (in the middle of the night when there is no fire). It also teaches us what frequency is appropriate (probably not three times a day) and how we visit (e.g. stopping at the front gate on your way to work or always coming round the back door).
• Between a spouse and someone who is not your spouse, Ex 20:14- Do not commit adultery.
  • God’s boundary is that the marriage union is special. Husbands and wives share intimacy together in many ways that is not to be shared with another. To push into a marriage to obtain what is not yours is theft, it is breaking a boundary.

When these boundaries are respected, of course, there will be healthy life-giving relationships between parents-children, neighbours and spouses and other couples.

Perhaps with this in mind you might now see more boundaries in Scripture and identify them in the world around us.

May we repent of boundary breaking, seek the boundary Maker for forgiveness, and find the Holy Spirit’s renewing power to respect the boundaries that God has established for our good.

Sept 28- A devotional on discipleship presented at our recent Members' Meeting.

No I’m not referring to some sexual sin, or any other matter Christians can sometimes be silent on, but the sin of spiritual laziness or slothfulness, historically known as acedia, a sin which is rampant and largely unaddressed in contemporary Church culture.[1]
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In Cover to Cover we’re in the period of the Kings, which is characterized by this roller coaster of spirituality, sometimes a nearness to the Lord and the associated blessings and sometimes a departure from him and the related consequences.

As a pastor, zealous for the honour of the Lord, desirous that His people would glorify and enjoy Him, and that others would be led to do the same, it pains and even deeply grieves my heart when I see the sin of acedia in the world, but especially when it creeps into the visible church.

A past sermon on the ant in Proverbs 6:6–11 (July 27) taught us the vital spiritual lesson of Christian industry. The ant is our teacher on industry, initiative, purpose, and ultimate satisfaction or reward in our work. Like our Creator we were created to create. Like our God who is Spirit, we too are designed to be spiritual. Are we busy about our souls and winning and nurturing the souls of others? Do we have to be told, prompted or reminded to seek the Lord? Is He the sole purpose of our life? Are we storing up treasure in heaven? If we are like the ant—spiritually speaking—we will answer a hearty, “Yes.”

Do we take advantage of the spiritual means of grace[2] that He has provided His people and Church?

• The rest of the Lord’s Day and its opportunities to worship
• The preaching and study of the Word, along with other forms of discipleship
• The ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
• Gathering for prayer
• Opportunities for Christian fellowship and acts of service
• Evangelism
• Opportunities for good works
• …the list could go on…

Sadly, if we surveyed the bulk of professing Christianity in Ontario it would seem our faith is not too hot but rather too cool. Acedia is a leading reason for the languishing state of large portions within our churches and indeed Ontario church culture as a whole. Are there exceptions, of course there are, however, if we are honest acedia is the unspoken sin that we really do need to speak up about. If we in our laziness neglect these means of grace a mediocrity is the best we may attain, or worse. Is it any wonder that many find Christianity dull when the majority of professing Christians are not seizing hold of the grace that Christ offers and so know the joy He promises to impart. And if our joy is not in Him, what worldly thing is it in and how is that drawing our beliefs and behaviours away from what Christ would have for us in the vicious downward spiral of sin?

Acedia is quite possibly the greatest sin of our age, yet its unspokeness makes it all the more dangerous.

If the seeking or worship of the Lord is our great call then not to be zealous in that pursuit, to not love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is indeed criminal and injurious to our soul.

Oh the joy that Christ has in store for His people if they would but, in faith, be spiritually industrious! Acedia breaks my heart every time I see an instance of it; yet to the contrary, when I see spiritual industry my joy is made complete for the joy the other knows through their obedience to Christ's promises and commands.

If you are zealous for the Lord would you please join me in making the Psalmist’s prayer your prayer:
Will you not revive us again, that your people may delight in you? (Ps 85:6)


[1] From the Greek, an inert state without pain or care.

[2] A means of grace is a way that God has appointed through which, when trusted in faith, the believer derives His unmerited favour, or untold spiritual benefits.

One of the undesirable consequences of Covid-19 for many churches and Christians has been the infrequency of which Communion, the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist has been remembered, celebrated, observed or taken.

How regularly should I taken Communion and why?

Some Christians take it weekly, others monthly (like us—the first a.m. service and third p.m. service), some quarterly and some even yearly.

What was the practice of the early Church?

• Jesus said, “do this.” (Lk 22:19)
• Luke described the breaking of bread (the Lord’s Supper) as something early believer’s “devoted” themselves to. (Act 2:48)
• Paul, citing Jesus, said, “do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor 11:25)

Though in the New Testament there doesn’t seem to be a prescribed timetable or calendar for how often Communion should be observed, it is clearly expected, something that ought to be done often and the language of devotion suggests a principle of regularity (and if you haven’t taken it since Covid-19 began, in my opinion, you’ve entered into the realm of the irregular).
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Sadly, both ordinances of Baptism and Communion can be undervalued, however, below are 9 reasons why we ought to observe the Lord’s Supper and do so regularly:

1. It is commanded of the Lord, to not do so it to be disobedient;
2. By it we proclaim our ongoing allegiance to Christ;
3. By it we maintain our membership in the Church;
4. Through it we confess our sins;
5. By it we remember the foundation of our salvation and so increase in gratitude and good works;
6. By it we share in fellowship with brothers and sisters and—spiritually—with the Lord Himself;
7. By it we are spiritually fed;
8. By it we receive grace as we trust this means of grace; and
9. By it we proclaim Jesus’ first coming, look forward to His second coming, and so set our eyes on Him and off of this world.

So for all believer’s, I would encourage you to continue to participate in the Lord’s Supper, and if you are not, to seek out your church leaders who would be more than happy to safely offer you Communion at your home if you are still kept away from worship because of Covid-19.