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Bonhoeffer — The Cost of Discipleship
Having worked my way through Dallas Willard’s book (again), The Divine Conspiracy, the next book I need to tackle (again) is Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship. (It was renamed Cost of Discipleship later.) Some opening (and painful) thoughts: Costly grace is the hidden treasure in the field, for the sake of which people go and sell with joy everything they have. It is the…
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Fighting the Noon Day Demon
I have begun reading Thomas Merton’s The Waters of Siloe, which follows up his wonderful autobiography, Seven Storey Mountain. This book will give more detail to his life at the monastery in Kentucky. Early in the book he gives a reminder to monastic orders, or spiritual orders of any kind, really, that is a great reminder for me in ministry.…
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Being DONE With Living Like a Christian?
This post intrigued me. What intrigued me more was he quoted Dallas Willard. I think it strikes at the heart of what Willard is saying in The Divine Conspiracy. We need our spiritual DNA changed. Too often we are trying to DO things and the core of who we are remains the same. We’re taping oranges onto apple trees. It’s…
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The Ravishing Beauty of Jesus
In Dallas Willard’s book The Divine Conspiracy the point of the Sermon on the Mount, the point of Jesus’ life, is to call us to apprenticeship. The call is to intentional discipleship. It needs to be a high priority in the life of the Church. You lead people to become disciples of Jesus by ravishing them with a vision of life in…
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The Intentionality of Discipleship
Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy puts it this way: Our focus as the Church needs to be on intentionally making disciples. Instead, we focus intentionally on making converts. Our goal, as the Church, should be to intentionally make disciples and let converts “happen.” Right now our focus is on making converts and hoping disciples “happen.” That’s quite a difference.
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We Do Not Drift Into Discipleship
Following Christ is to be intentional. It is not something we accidentally find. Dallas Willard breaks it down in The Divine Conspiracy. 1. We ASK. The nature of the Kingdom is to ASK. We ASK to be his disciple. We consider the costs. That includes the costs of following Jesus, and the costs for NOT following Jesus. But when we…
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Being a Disciple
Dallas Willard walks us through the meaning of “disciple” in The Divine Conspiracy. The call is to BE with Jesus. It’s not about perfection. It’s about learning as a beginner from the Master. The disciple is one who lives in the kingdom of God, applying that kingdom for the good of others, and even makes it possible for them to…
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Being Spirit-filled Apprentices
There is no way of getting around the fact that if you are going to be someone’s apprentice you have to BE with them. I am with Jesus to learn how to be LIKE Jesus. Jesus gave the promise of the Advocate. The Spirit would be the One with us to remind us of Jesus. When we follow Jesus, we…
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The Narrow Gate
Through the summer I have been meditating once again on Dallas Willard’s book The Divine Conspiracy. It is a reflection on the Sermon on the Mount. The call to discipleship is radical. Jesus doesn’t mince words about this call. In Matthew 7 it is the picture of the narrow gate. The definition of the narrow gate then comes into dispute.…
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Enter Through the Narrow Gate
The end of the Sermon on the Mount is the call for commitment. It is a call for routine obedience from the heart. The first picture given in Matthew 7:13 is entering through the narrow gate. (Again, I know a good universalist can explain away any verse that seems to qualify entering into Kingdom life, but when I see these…
Category: Spiritual Formation
