The Secret of the Disciple

Jesus did not say - Make converts to your way of thinking, but look after My sheep, see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Me. We count as service what we do in the way of Christian work; Jesus Christ calls service what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on adherence to a belief or a creed. "If any man come to Me and hate not . . . , he cannot be My disciple." There is no argument and no compulsion, but simply - If you would be My disciple, you must be devoted to Me. A man touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says - "Now I see Who Jesus is," and that is the source of devotion.

To-day we have substituted credal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many are devoted to causes and so few devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is a source of deep offence to the educated mind of to-day that does not want Him in any other way than as a Comrade. Our Lord's first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men; the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted and come to the place where my love will falter; but if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a door-mat. The secret of a disciple's life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of the life is its unobtrusiveness. It is like a corn of wheat, which falls into the ground and dies, but presently it will spring up and alter the whole landscape (John 12:24).

Oswald Chambers

A Leader that Leads

II Kings 22

The good king Josiah was involved in service. He was concerned with the business of ministry, as it were. Josiah had sent the scribe to settle all accounts and to make sure everyone involved in the repair of the house of the LORD received their due. It was during all of this “religious activity” that Hilkiah found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. Take note that not only was the book found, but it was read; and not only was it read but the reading of it brought about repentance and a crying out to God. Josiah is cut to the heart not because of his lack of good activity, but because his activity was taking place apart from the truth of the Book. There were great things happening around the LORD’s house during this time, but the King put a stop to it all when he realized the sinful state of his people as pointed out by the book of the law. Josiah assumed everything was alright until He heard God’s opinion on the matter. The truth of the Word brought conviction, repentance and change of direction for both Josiah and the people he had a God given influence over. Oh that we would read the word of the LORD longing for His way, and not looking to justify ours!

God makes Josiah a promise in the last part of chapter 22. Notice that this promise is based on the condition of Josiah’s heart and his humility before God.

2 Kings 22:19,20 Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

If I was in Josiah’s place I would have just let out a great sigh of relief. The God of the universe has just promised me that I will die in peace and not see the evil He is about to reign down on this wicked, backslidden people. I’m now free, shouting the victory and at ease in Zion. Not Josiah.

He begins what must have been a frantic gathering of all the people. Everyone is called in, all the men, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets and the people, both great and small. Everyone must hear regardless of their prominence or position. No one is too young. No one is too old. No one is too spiritual or too deep in sin. The cry goes out into every corner of the land, "The great King Josiah has proclaimed that all the people of Judah, both great and small, be gathered immediately to hear the book of the LORD which was lost and has now been found." All work ceases, people drop what they are doing and begin moving toward the center of town. Even work on the house of the Lord stops. At this point in time there is something to be done that supersedes even work at the LORD’s house. The King has made a proclamation so we must attend, but its not just any old gathering of the people…today we will hear from the LORD!

Pay close attention to the next step in this process for to many times we cry upon the altar, repenting for sin, only to make concession to the flesh in the days to follow. True repentance brings about drastic action.

2 Kings 23:3-8 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

In this passage we see Josiah making a covenant "to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book." The leader changes first and then the people follow. In many cases our people would be willing to change but leadership must first swallow their pride, admit disobedience, and repent.

Have we become to set in our ways to change? Has our spiritual inner ear become calcified with our own pride and self worth? God help us to return to that place of saving, childlike faith!

Back to the Basics

In our day there is a great need for the followers of Jesus Christ to get back to the Bible and the truth contained therein. This is a call to return to Biblical Christianity...

Biblical Christianity is the law convicting of sin. It’s God using men and women of great faith to impact the world for eternity. It’s God becoming flesh and living among us, so we could behold His glory. It was a hill called Golgotha and a Savior beaten beyond recognition being nailed to the cross; the sinless Lamb of God being sacrificed for sinful humanity. It’s an empty grave and a risen Lord! It’s His ascension back to the Father and the promise He will return again in like manner. It’s His last command to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. It’s Paul on the road to Damascus being totally changed. It’s Steven preaching the gospel to those that hated him so much that they stoned him, as he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. It’s a counsel held in Jerusalem to straighten out the legalist teachers. It’s Peter, John, Phillip and Steven preaching to the Jews. It’s Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Mark, Timothy and Luke going into the Gentile world. It’s getting the gospel from Jerusalem into Judea, Samaria and the uttermost. It’s the number being added to daily such as should be saved. It’s the number of saved being multiplied and then the number of churches growing exponentially. It’s teams of early followers risking their lives, being beaten with rods and whipped and stoned and thrown out of town, all for the sake of the glorious gospel! It’s going to Paphos, Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. It’s the Macedonian call to Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens and Corinth. It’s writing the new churches in Thessalonica from Athens to confirm foundational truths, exhort them to be holy and to comfort them. It’s letters of rebuke and return visits to straighten out “new” issues among believers. It’s committing the gospel to faithful men, who will be able to teach others and encourage them in their ministries. It’s looking forward to the soon return of Christ but not failing to preach the word; being instant in season and out of season. It’s reproving, rebuking and exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine. It is a trail of suffering and bloodshed that began at the cross and has followed every true believer throughout history. It is men and women willing to give their all for the one that gave His only begotten Son, the precious Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!

Topics like sacrifice, bloodshed, beatings, suffering cold and hunger for the sake of the gospel don’t play to well with the average Christian in the States today. It’s not the kind of message that will draw a crowd. The crowd wants to see Jesus do another miracle, they want a healing or to be fed. Jesus lost a lot of followers when His preaching turned to denying oneself, and taking up your cross, and following me, or when he said to go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow me. It’s not the inspirational message most "Christians" want to hear, but it, and only it, is the kind of Biblical Christianity that will get the gospel to the ends of the earth in 54 AD or 2006 AD.

The Cross

". . . save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Galatians 6:14

If you want to know the energy of God (i.e., the resurrection life of Jesus) in your mortal flesh, you must brood on the tragedy of God. Cut yourself off from prying personal interest in your own spiritual symptoms and consider bare-spirited the tragedy of God, and instantly the energy of God will be in you. "Look unto Me," pay attention to the objective Source and the subjective energy will be there. We lose power if we do not concentrate on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these, we are to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God's centre in your preaching, and though your crowd may apparently pay no attention, they can never be the same again. If I talk my own talk, it is of no more importance to you than your talk is to me; but if I talk the truth of God, you will meet it again and so will I. We have to concentrate on the great point of spiritual energy - the Cross, to keep in contact with that centre where all the power lies, and the energy will be let loose. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings the concentration is apt to be put not on the Cross of Christ, but on the effects of the Cross.

The feebleness of the churches is being criticized to-day, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this concentration of spiritual energy; we have not brooded enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of Redemption.

Oswald Chambers