I saw a note from Ed Stetzer (@edstetzer) on Twitter today about Winfield Bevin’s e-book on discipleship.
Here is a description of Grow: Reproducing through Organic Discipleship from Bevins:
Many churches have a linear discipleship program where they try to funnel everyone through the same process. Sadly, many times churches simply use the latest program or book in hopes that what works for a large church across the country in a different context will work for them. Organic discipleship is the opposite. Organic Discipleship is an organic understanding of the spiritual formation that begins and ends with the gospel. Just as the physical body has to have an organic structure to hold it together while allowing it to grow and develop, likewise the body of Christ must have an organic structure that can do the same. Organic discipleship is not a program or curriculum; rather it is about learning the natural rhythms of discipleship within your church context.
Did you catch that, Organic Discipleship is an organic understanding of the spiritual formation that begins and ends with the gospel.
Oh how sweet is the Gospel that saves and transforms! This is a message that Christians and churches need to hear.
Read Grow: Reproducing through Organic Discipleship. It is available in a free PDF version or buy it in print.
The Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation’s (@CCEF) Winston Smith recently posted “Fireproof…I Finally Watched It.“
I won’t reveal all here, but to Fireproof’s credit there are still many, many difficulties ahead. Again, the grittiness of real life, even real life in Christ, was accurately portrayed. But the gospel of Christ is shown to be the active ingredient in the redemption of the marriage. Does that mean you have to like the movie, too? No, of course not. It’s just a movie, but if you don’t like it I suspect it won’t be because you thought the gospel was portrayed as an easy solution to life’s problems.
A number of the devotions written up at VerticalDevotion.com have gotten me thinking about the life of Christ. Is Jesus Christ’s life a good example that we are should emulate?
I imagine that most Christians would agree that we should emulate His love and care for the poor, mistreated, overlooked, diseased, etc. But the story doesn’t stop there. Jesus isn’t just our example. he is our Savior and our Righteouness. That is the Good News of the Gospel!
I read notes on Mark Dever’s teaching on Luke 6 this week and he shared this great truth:
The most common misunderstanding of Christianity is that Jesus mainly is a good example for people to follow. While this is true in a secondary sense, it is not possible to understand Christianity if you do not understand that Jesus is mainly utterly unique. He is the Son of the eternal God who became man and lived the perfect life; He died on the cross, suffered and provided an atonement for our sins by taking upon Himself God’s wrath and the punishment for the sins of those who would trust in him and calls us now to respond to this claim; uniquely, he was raised from death, showing that his sacrifice was accepted and God’s wrath was exhausted. That is why this and every Sunday we gather to celebrate the resurrection – that Christ was raised from the dead. Christ alone is like that. That is why Christ alone is the Lord of religion.
Christian, the point of our religion and everything we do is Jesus. The goal of Christians is to know Him better, to have a more realistic and true relationship with Him. In the funeral sermon entitled “Christ is Best,” Richard Sibbes preached, “Heaven is not heaven without Christ… to be with Christ is to be at home.” This is our Sabbath rest, and Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.
