How to eliminate the Obstacles to Spiritual Maturity
Appropriating our Gracious Resources in Christ—2 Peter 1:1-4
By Jay Wegter
INTRODUCTION: The Lord is the God of all comfort and encouragement. He gives us experiences which demonstrate His faithfulness—in our weakness He shows Himself strong. When we are faithful to obey Him and are willing to be a spiritual influence to others; we find that there is strength there for the task—we are amazed. It reminds me of ancient Israel poised ready to conquer Canaan. There before them is a formidable obstacle—it is the Jordan River at flood stage. How will the armies of Israel safely cross?
God gets them across in a way that teaches them about His power and resources for the believer. He commands them to cross—as the feet of the priests carrying the ark dipped into the water; the Jordan parted permitting safe crossing.
This is the great adventure of the Christian life—stepping out before you see the miracle, the provision, and the power—obeying before you ‘see’ divine resources being exerted on your behalf. This is the great lesson He is teaching us as men especially—in our efforts at spiritual leadership we have to learn to step out in the strength of Another—the strength of Christ. It is a process of learning to rely on the resources provided by Another—when we obey we are appropriating those resources.
When we step out in obedience there will be blessed surprises. I think of the disciples (the 70) running back to Jesus in with amazement and excitement, “Even the demons are subject to us in your Name” (Luke 10:17). Getting past the obstacles that block our progress toward maturity depends upon our willingness to step out in obedience in spiritual leadership and influence. This continual action depends in part upon knowing about the divine resources that are ours in Christ.
V. 1 – Peter writes this epistle during a time when false teachers were taking advantage of widespread confusion, uncertainty, and troublous conditions. It has always been that way; unbelief takes root—takes advantage of doubt, discouragement, insecurity, and tiredness. Peter is writing this epistle to stabilize his readers—giving them needed ballast in the pitching seas of the age. The Apostle’s aim—to make certain his readers understand their foundations so that they can grow in grace.
Peter identifies himself as the Lord’s BONDSERVANT. To speak of oneself as a “bondservant” was socially demeaning; but for the believer it is honorable spiritually because of the infinite worthiness of Christ Jesus. The bondservant was duty bound to obey his master whatever the cost. Every true believer is a bondservant of Christ—we are God’s possession. We live to do His will—our rights are surrendered to the One who died on our behalf.
Our text says, “Who have received a FAITH of the same kind as ours.” Peter is stressing that faith is a gift of God—a gift of divine grace wherein the sinner takes hold of redemption and accepts the finished work of Christ on his behalf (Eph 2:8-9). As one author said, “Faith breathes the breath God’s grace supplies.” It is a FAITH of the same kind—there are not degrees of Christianity—Peter as an Apostle has the same precious faith as his humble readers—a faith equal in validity.
God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS is the source of salvation; His righteousness not a static ‘holy standard’ written on a tablet of gold enshrined in heaven—His righteousness is active and dynamic. His righteousness is His zeal for His Name—it is God graciously giving His righteousness to us in Christ—it is the righteousness of God to us through Christ.
It is God giving guilty sinners right-standing with Himself through the righteousness of the Son of God. This is the amazing glad tidings of the Gospel—God is clothing unrighteous sinners in a God-provided God-approved righteousness—He is hiding them in the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor 5:21).
Through the incarnation of Christ and His substitutionary work—God in Christ has prepared a perfect place of refuge for all who believe. We have right-relatedness to God’s righteousness by faith in what God has done in Christ (Rom 3:22)—in the Son of God we truly attain righteousness in the sight of God! All of our progress in spiritual maturity is grounded upon our right-standing in Christ.
V. 2 – ‘GRACE’ is the Father’s favor and acceptance of us. BUT, we perceive this grace of God’s infinite favor ONLY in proportion to our measure of faith. No wonder we are constantly enjoined in the N.T. to excel in faith—for by faith in Christ the love of God is confirmed to your hearts; and, the more happy, holy, and useful you will be (Rom 15:13). Growth is appropriating our resources in Christ.
The Christian faith is founded upon the true KNOWLEDGE of God (that He is just, loving, merciful, and wrathful—and that these attributes are only reconciled in Christ and His cross—thus God is just, and He is the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus).
The knowledge of God is only through the knowledge of Christ (Matt 11:27). The object of saving knowledge is God’s self-revelation in Christ (2 Cor 4:4-6). Salvation (eternal life) is the knowledge of God through Christ (Jn 17:3).
The N.T. word for knowledge here is the strengthened form (epiginosko)—it implies larger, thorough, intimate knowledge—to know exactly, completely, through and through in a more personal relationship. This means that the believer knows Christ personally rather than just knowing about Him (i.e. the ‘facts’ of His life, death, and resurrection—our knowledge of Christ must be personal—knowing indeed that His saving work and intercession are directed at me in particular). The more you progress in the knowledge of God, the more every kind of blessing increases along with the sense of God’s love.
The deeper and wider one’s knowledge of the Lord; the more grace and peace is multiplied to the believer. This is what God desires—that the substance of salvation (grace and peace) be multiplied to His children. Growth in the knowledge of God (of God; not about God) is dear to Peter’s heart. You’ve heard it said, “knowledge puffs up; love builds up,” but the pursuit of the knowledge of God never brings pride; in fact growing in the knowledge of God is how God makes us like Himself (2 Cor 3:18).
Peter ends His epistle with this command and exhortation to Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). The Apostle John uses the word ‘abide’ to refer to an intimate growing knowledge of Christ that comes from fellowship and communion with Him (1 Jn 2:28). And the Apostle Paul speaks of pursuing the knowledge of Christ as his highest purpose—counting all as loss compared to the infinite privilege of knowing Christ (Phil 3:10: 2 Cor 3:18).
APPLICATION: Keep a book about the Person of Christ on your nightstand. Study the saving work of God toward you. Meditate upon Christ’s offices. Meditate upon all that God is toward you in Christ. Investigate what your riches are by union with Christ. Contemplate God’s saving work toward you— meditate upon the passages which describe how God sees you in Christ—joined to Him.
V. 3. – Christ’s POWER is the source of the believer’s sufficiency (2 Cor 12:9). Christ is our source of power to persevere in Christian living and to keep growing to maturity. He grants us everything pertaining to LIFE and GODLINESS. Salvation is the bestowal of spiritual LIFE. True salvation is the impartation of a life that is to be lived in a godly manner. Godly living is God-ward living that is obedient, loyal, and reverent. (In Christ there is total sufficiency available for life and godliness—you are complete in Him. Peter exhorts us on the basis of this well-founded assurance—he builds the foundation; then exhorts to growth.)
This “LIFE” is bestowed through the TRUE KNOWLEDGE of Him who CALLED us. (EX. One believing ‘look’ at Christ will save you for all eternity—because that believing look gives you the knowledge of God.) “Knowledge” (of Him) is a key word in Peter’s epistle implying intimate knowledge —as of your own marriage partner. Thus the KNOWLEDGE of Christ here is anything but superficial or casual. It is not a surface awareness but knowledge of Christ by ‘revelation’—beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ. When speaking of our growth in the knowledge of the Lord; Paul prays for a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph 1:17). It is a knowledge of our personal sharing in life with Christ (Gal 2:20).
Jesus Christ, our GOD AND SAVIOR (vs. 1b)—it is His deity that is in view—He is our “Source Person”—the Fountain of Life. He has all the things needed for the successful completion of the Christian life. He has everything needed for growth, development, perseverance, sanctification, and service. How we need to hear this! For now we know what we were in our state of nature; in the spiritual state in which Christ found us. In that state life and godliness are foreign to us; but now they are freely granted to us in/by UNION with Christ. They belong to us by virtue of the fact that He has CALLED us. That calling is a ‘spiritual resurrection’ in which we are “begotten of God” (1 Pet 1:3). God’s CALLING us is the means of the bestowal of these gracious resources.
We were called by His own GLORY and EXCELLENCE. The Lord’s GLORY and EXCELLENCE placed the promises of the Gospel in our hearts. As we will see in a moment in verse 4; these promises are mighty because God’s attributes stand behind them—these promises will take us all the way from dust to glory. To live upon these promises involves arguing ourselves out of moods of doubt. These promises transcend our circumstances; they empower us to keep moving toward maturity.
God has lavished these divine resources upon us (everything needed for life and godiness)—our resources in Christ are sufficient to meet all of life’s demands (Phil 4:19). (EX. God is glorifying His grace—dispensing His grace not with an eye-dropper sparingly—but in an unending Niagara Falls of grace with endless installments. He is willing to do beyond what we could ask or think—Eph 3:20. The more withdrawals of grace; the more He is glorified in our lives.)
Think about how essential it is to know about our resources in Christ. What resolve, stability, and comfort in our setbacks, our sins, our declines, times of unfruitfulness, battles with indwelling sins. Christ’s divine power as God never fails—He keeps restoring us—He is the Lord of 10,000 times 10,000 restorations in the life of the believer. In Him, you have received everything pertaining to life and godliness. In Christ you have the resources necessary to pursue godly living—to persevere to the end and finish well.
And it is THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM that we experience the fullness of our resources in Christ—power to persevere in trials, set-backs, difficulties, inadequacies, and struggles. The more you know Him; the more you will utilize your resources in Him.
APPLICATION: Verses 3-4 are in reality a description of the Christian life—literally the N.T. standard of normalcy in the Christian life. Do you see how much these promises are intended to stabilize the believer and keep his progress toward spiritual maturity steadily moving forward?
V. 4—For BY THESE He has granted us His precious and magnificent PROMISES. By “THESE” is meant His own glory and excellence (v. 3b). God has, in effect, poured His perfections; excellence; glorious attributes into the mould of Gospel promises. He has harnessed His infinite perfections and attributes and put them to work in saving and perfecting the saints. (EX. These precious and magnificent promises were ‘cast’ in the foundry of His divine attributes—your salvation puts God’s perfections and excellence on display! How He is taking you from dust to glory is a subject of endless fascination to the holy angels.)
Now the intended outcome of these promises is that we might be PARTAKERS of the divine nature. The promises in Christ and the Gospel are the means by which we become partakers of the divine nature. (Every part of our salvation has been thought out by our all-wise Father.)
By the indwelling of God’s Spirit, we are PARTAKERS of the divine nature (not little ‘gods’; but sharers in the moral nature of God. Sharing in God’s moral nature means that we are destined to be conformed to the image of Christ—Rom 8:29; Eph 1:4—we are being developed into this new life after the image of the One who created him—Col 3:10. Christ is the Architect; the Contractor, and the Blueprint for the new man—you are being constructed into His likeness—that is what these precious promises are able to accomplish because God’s mighty attributes stand behind them and energize them).
This sharing in the moral nature of God enables us to have communion with God and to ultimately to be a unified with God and His glory—as much as a creature could possibly be! We will share His holiness (Heb 12:10). And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess 2:14).
A true Christian is one who is a PARTAKER of the divine nature. Are you conscious of this incredible spiritual reality; that the divine life has been communicated to you in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit—you are the eternal habitation of God’s Spirit (Eph 2:22)? And this fact determines you identity, purpose, mission, and destiny.
The bestowal of the divine nature in the believer demands that you continue in communion and obedience. The elect are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Eph 1:4). Brothers, this promise is a source of resolve—to be done with the evil remnants of the old life; to turn your back on the immoral filth and pollution of the world. When God contemplates you in Christ; He sees you as HAVING ESCAPED. You live in a different sphere now—because CORRUPTION is the very opposite of the divine nature. By the divine PROMISES you have been delivered from the tyranny of evil cravings and lusts. They once held you in their grasp and ruled over you—you could not free yourself. The unregenerate world around you still lives under their control.
Faith in these almighty promises is what is necessary to release the power necessary to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. By God’s sovereign grace in Christ, you have ESCAPED. You have been radically identified with Christ—His death was your death to sin (Rom 6). His resurrection is your resurrection to newness of life in Him. How can we go back to the cesspool we once drank from? Notice the text describes what is in the world by lust; it is CORRUPTION—that is decay, death, dissolution.
When a person serves sin the “death meter” is running. If he does not repent; it is but a matter of time before corruption catches him—for sin pays an unavoidable “wage” or paycheck of death and corruption. But by God’s precious and magnificent promises; you have escaped!
God’s glory and excellence have constructed precious and magnificent promises which have made you partakers of the DIVINE NATURE.
Therefore our only logical, reasonable response is to renounce the WORLD entirely—there is not a thing in the world for your regenerate soul to feed upon. Therefore smash your heart idols; trample the world’s lying offers. Press on; answer the upward call—pursue an experiential heart knowledge of Christ —for the image of God has been “reborn” in you. This is nothing less than God’s plan to permit you to share in His blessedness; to glorify Himself by making you eternally happy in Him.
Do you see the Spirit-inspired logic here? Sharing in the eternal life of God of complete blessedness is set against the spurious offers of this world in which are nothing but corruption. The two are mutually exclusive.
CONCLUSION: We have been called to a supernatural life. We’ve seen that the knowledge of God is the ‘door’ to holy living. But here is the wealth promised to us—what God requires; He has promised. He has imparted a new divine life to us. We are joined to God the Son. The full sufficiency of His divine resources are there to mould us into His likeness (He is exercising His power toward us—Eph 1:19-20.) God’s glory and excellence have moulded gospel promises which shall surely mould us to the likeness of God’s Son.
Everything we need we have through a true knowledge of God in Christ. LUST is what I was by nature. But now the divine nature lives in me—this is not only a heavenly promise; but a present reality which is to characterize my entire life. Professing Christians who genuinely manifest the DIVINE NATURE—by their very lives they convict the world of sin, lust, and corruption. Where do you stand? Is it your purpose and cause to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light? (1 Pet 2:9b).
ADDNEDUM: Christ’s Pattern for His Church (Part Four)
The indispensable power of the cross of Christ in disciple-making
I. It is Union with Christ that guarantees ultimate Conformity to Christ (Eph 1:4).
A. Conformity to Christ is to begin now; we are not just to wait until glory. In Christ and His promises we have everything we need in relation to life and godliness—our Savior is a fountain
of life (2 Pet 1:3-4). This full sufficiency in Christ is a reality which the believer needs to explore and reckon. To be united to Christ is to have as one’s possession all the benefits of Christ’s glorious Person at work in one’s Christian walk. This means that by reason of union with Christ, the believer is in possession of the benefits of His life; His death; His resurrection; His heavenly advocacy; and His endless Priesthood.
This was Paul’s confidence as a disciple-maker. Those eternally united with Christ experience real changes in their being—changes that produce repentance and transformation of character. Union with Christ (or Christ in you) is our hope of glory (Col 1:27). Christ’s vicarious death in our place makes us new creatures (2 Cor 5:17). So radical and monumental was that great exchange—Christ’s life for ours—His righteousness for our sin—that the moment a sinner is saved, it marks the beginning of conformity to Christ. Christ in you means you are being fitted for eternity—discipleship keeps this process of conformity to Christ on schedule.
B. The transforming power of ‘Christ in you’ was Paul’s hope; it drove his optimism in both
evangelism and discipleship. But Paul knew that all his efforts at disciple-making did not ultimately rest upon the forcefulness of his exhortations to self-denial, to devotion, and to repentance. Paul built solely on the foundation of Christ (1 Cor 3:11). The self-denial called for in discipleship is a response to who Christ is—it is our response to discovering Him as Lord of All—and what He has done—it is our response to life in Him—the experience of His fullness.
II. The Means of Disciple-making
A. Paul’s disciple-making was by proclamation and by admonition. “And we proclaim Him,
admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Col 1:28-29).
According to Colossians 1:28-29, Paul’s message is not a system or methodology, but the glorious Person of Christ. Christ fulfills the deepest longing and hope of mankind. Christ is the source of new life in His people. “We proclaim” is the message of the resurrection (Acts 4:2); of forgiveness of sins (Acts 13:38); of Christ (Phil 1:17-18); of His death (1 Cor 11:26); of the mystery (1 Cor 2:7).
The Apostle teaches and admonishes—these are the two attendant circumstances or tones of Paul’s verbal ministry and ours as well. To admonish is to address especially the will and the emotions. It includes the idea of warning.
Admonish: a putting in mind, it is used of correction and training in righteousness, whether encouragement, reproof, or warning—admonish contains instruction that addresses things that are wrong and call for warning and change—whereas teaching has to do primarily with the impartation of positive truth (Vines Theol. Dict. pp. 22-23).
The Greek word for admonish (nouthesia, noutheteo) is where we get our word for nouthetic counseling. Growing believers are to be adept at admonishment (Rom 15:14). This is a superb reminder that true discipleship contains the element of counseling and admonishment. When we admonish, we bring to the attention of believers where repentance is needed—“Correct a wise man, and he will love you” (Prov 9:8). “Remind them,” and “remember” are frequent terms in the Word. Act upon what you have been taught so as to love the truth and be conformed to it.
The goal of Christ-centered teaching is to present every man complete in Christ. Paul will not rest from this goal. This is the heart of everyone who seeks to shepherd God’s lambs. It is the heart of a disciple-maker. We labor so that each convert moves to maturity that he may be perfect, mature, complete, irreproachable and blameless at the coming of Christ. “Perfect” means to have one’s heart wholly devoted to God so as to walk blamelessly before Him in His ways and His will (Rom 12:1-2). It is to be assured in all the will of God (Col 4:12). The true discipler is not satisfied with anything less than the full maturity of every believer (1 Thess 5:23; 3:13).
B. The goal is to present all complete in Christ at the return of Christ. Such maturity in Christ is
possible because of union with Christ. Union with Him is the guarantee of conformity to Him (see Romans 6). According to Colossians 1:28-29; Paul gave himself uncompromisingly to this task. In view of full perfection in Christ on the last day, Paul extends all energies in the exercise of his ministry. Conversion of individuals is only the beginning of growth. The “day of Christ” will test the quality of everyman’s work (1 Cor 3:10-15).
Vs. 29-- “I labor”—Paul exerts himself to the point of weariness. The Greek word for work here speaks of exhaustion from physical labor. In his pastoral efforts, Paul toiled day and night in the cause of the Gospel (1 Thess 2:9; 1 Cor 4:12).
Vs. 29--“Striving”—The Greek (agonizomai) word is where we get our word agonize. In the Greek culture, the word was used of striving and struggle in an athletic contest in an arena. Though the context is different in this passage, the word still retains its original color of an athlete straining as he exerts.
Vs. 29--“According to God’s power”—the struggle Paul, and we, are engaged in is according to the work of God’s power. The knowledge of God’s almighty assistance will shape the way we strive and think about our work of ministry. We have a supernatural work to do—it is beyond our natural powers. Supernatural power was at work in Paul and in every true believer. God’s power is at work in His laborers—it is power and strength from above (Eph 1:19; 3:7; 16; 20; 2 Cor 3:5). We struggle, but according to God’s working. God is invisibly, but powerfully at work where Paul toils laboriously and energetically—it is also true of us (1 Cor 15:10; Phil 4:13).
Faith in Christ is our link with the source of strength that enables us to rise above natural limitations. Let us not be tempted to constantly measure the size of our task against the weakness of our limitations. God desires through us to impart grace and glory to the recipients of our gospel proclamation. God actually refers to us as His “co-laborers” or “fellow workers” (1 Cor 3:9). Faith puts our eyes back on Christ instead of on our limitations and the smallness of our harvest. Endurance is needed if we are to reap! See 1 Corinthians 15:58 and Galatians 6:9. Even the smallest earthly business venture requires planning, labor, and endurance, how much more so the work of God which lasts to eternity? There is a cost to disciple-making; but it is miniscule compared to the glory to come and the harvest that will surely follow our labors.
C. In our own disciple-making we are to follow Paul’s example of instruction, exhortation, and
nurture (1 Thess 2:10-12). Great care is needed when handling the subjects of the law and sin. If growth is to be equated with more life, freedom, relationship, and righteousness, then we must not communicate that growth is merely mastering a code (God’s law). Our emphasis should not be upon keeping the creed or the law, but upon living the life in the Son. It is so easy to burden and deaden with duty. Christ said that His yoke was easy and His burden was light (Matt 11:30). The child of God by definition is not under sin and law as a dominating, controlling, condemning force. He has passed from death to life—he is free from the controlling principle of sin and death.
In order to preach for growth in the inner man (a necessary component of discipleship), we must deal with our listeners in their being alive! We must not make the Christian life an oppressive harness. Avoid generating a sense of condemnation. We must steer clear of forever talking about duty, focusing on failure, intensifying a sense of grievous disobedience, and deepening a sense of condemnation. This doesn’t promote growth (Hywel Jones, “Preaching for Conversion,” sermon, Banner of Truth Conference 1993, San Diego, CA). Our entire eligibility for God’s favor is Christ; by union with Him we have the Savior’s blessed availability— all by gracious donation. We must avoid grieving the hearts of the righteous. Sanctification is relational; it is living the life of toward-ness to God in Christ as His beloved possession, set apart for Him (Ibid).
When promoting growth in the disciple, we are to press down the “template of truth” on the understanding and the affections. There are particular truths that promote growth. Make much of the love of Christ. The truth concerning His love is a constraining truth that promotes likeness to Him and conformity to His commands (as we saw in the previous section). Our obedience is achievable by virtue of His energy. When we deepen these “indentations” by means of the die, or template, of truth, growth will result. How easy it is to lose sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. Other things become central and He is marginalized in the process.
Beloved, the Church thrives only when Christ has preeminence in all things. Christian people are right and correct when they hunger to hear how perfectly suited Christ is for their every need (Heb 7:26-27). Our personal teaching in disciple-making must hold Him before Christian people. Set Him before them as their “Source Person” and it will cause them to hunger for Him; feed upon Him; and yearn to be like Him. Our strength and energy for obedience is the Person of Christ. He is to be preeminent and central in all of ministry. He is to have first place (preeminence) in everything (1 Cor 2:1-3).
D. The motivation for growth is the gospel, not the Law. Use the gospel to keep your people aware
of what they owe, who they are, what they were, and where they are headed. The gospel is the Christian’s “identity, map, and compass” so to speak. The gospel tells him what he was; who he is now; and what he will become. It tells him where he has come from; where he is now; and where he is headed. The gospel tells him that this new identity, direction, and destiny are all because of Christ. The precepts and laws of God must be filtered through Christ and Him crucified. Are we consciously seeking to bring our listeners to delight—so that in their affections they want to receive Christ’s love and law in their hearts? Our tendency as ministers is to attempt to make biblical commands stand alone from Christ’s finished work and present power.
But, it is the experimental knowledge of Christ’s love that gives us the disposition to love one another, and to bear one another’s burdens. His love gives us the disposition to please and obey our Heavenly Father. His precepts give us the specifics of how to please God; He directs our love by His precepts. We need to view our living the Christian life in this way instead of merely adherence to a code.
E. We must understand that our being “in Christ” is our strength. Our union with Christ is vital,
living, and organic; it is not merely federal representation (Rom 5:17-19). The mind of Christ is available, the might of Christ is available—we don’t have to fulfill a single command by ourselves, in our own strength. We operate in the realm of grace full and free. We cannot barter for God’s infinite goodness in Christ, we cannot exchange anything for it; it is still for nothing, it is still all of grace (Rom 5:1, 2). The dictates and absolutes of discipleship do not change this ruling principle of divine grace.
III. The Cross of Discipleship
A. Paul’s disciple-making always begins with “we proclaim Him!” The admonishing and the
teaching follow. It is the proclamation of Christ in His fullness that is the foundation for all ethical action and religious devotion (Col 1:28-29). Paul knew that his listeners must also build upon Christ. All of their own striving and repenting must rest upon Christ and Him crucified. The centrality of Christ must always be our proclamation in discipleship—or our efforts will be met with disappointment.
We proclaim Him and His cross-work—for only in the Christ-centered—cross-centered life do we find the divine power and love necessary to make a disciple. Only in His glorious Person and work upon Calvary are found the divinely powerful resources necessary to make a disciple. When Paul was among the Corinthians, his message focused upon the cross, the heart of the gospel—this is the truth with which God associates His power (Rom 1:16-17). “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2).
B. The cross produces real transformation—radical changes that can only be adequately described
as an entirely new creation. In Christ’s atoning work there is a death applied to us; a resurrection performed upon us that implants a new life principle; there is a spiritual circumcision in which the dominance of the flesh is cut, severed, and removed (Col 2:11-12).
Christ’s death and resurrection affects these changes in the believing sinner. Therefore, our approach to discipleship must have the centrality of Christ at its center. For it is in the hearing and believing of this sweet message of the God-man standing in your room and stead that the poor sinner receives the power and the motives for discipleship. That means that when we proclaim Christ, we do so with the goal in view of making disciples and bringing them to maturity.
For the Word of the Cross is a message filled with divine power. When the converted sinner hears what Christ has done to slay our old man and how we have been resurrected to an entirely new form of existence—it opens his understanding to spiritual realities that are life-changing. He discovers the source of power for personal holiness (“Christ in you”). This has immense consequences and crucial application for our own methodology in making disciples. We proclaim Christ, admonishing and teaching.
C. We must follow the Pauline order—we proclaim Him—then we admonish and teach. Because
only Christ and His cross can make a true disciple—you cannot by your own efforts. All of our instruction, exhortation, pleading, and admonishment must be anchored in Christ and His cross. And here is why—because the devotion, the diligence, and the sacrifices made by a true disciple constitute a series of faith responses to Christ, the Lord of Glory. The life of obedience lived out by a true disciple takes place because he has ever clearer views of his Savior. Faith-based obedience is never separated from its object; the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as disciple-makers, we proclaim Him—for in Christ there is limitless transforming power.
Paul gives us our pattern—for he joins the power of God in the cross with the believer’s response of diligence and consecration. The power of the message of the cross believed produces consecration and devotion to Christ which we will see shortly. Our disciple-making must be characterized by both proclamation and practice; by exhibiting the supremacy of our Savior and by exhorting believers to follow Him without limits or reservations.
D. Bare principles and moral injunctions will not produce lasting change in the listener. In the
final analysis our most impassioned pleas for our listeners to be good; to try harder; to stop sinning—must be joined to the display of Christ—or the flesh will conclude that in itself are the resources necessary to crucify the flesh. We must preach to our hearers what we preach to ourselves—namely that Christ is the Divine Architect of the new man (Col 3:9-11; Eph 4:20-24). The cross of Christ has redeemed and purchased us making us God’s possessions for His holy and loving purposes. Christ’s mediatorial work has poured us into a life mould—totally shaping us to live for God’s glory (Col 3:10-11). On this side of the cross, true discipleship is living the new life Christ has wrought for us. We do not live a life of self-denial so that Christ will accept us—no; God has accepted the believer in the Beloved (Eph 1:3-6). Discipleship, with its life-style of self-denial, is living the life Christ has wrought for us.
Our Savior lives through us (Gal 2:20). Paul’s overflowing joy as a disciple of Christ emanated from his understanding that he was living an exchanged life. Paul could say with complete confidence that Christ was living His life through Paul. The old Paul had been crucified with Christ. The new Paul was nothing less than a daily cognizance of the reality that Christ lives in me. Paul was animated by this truth—it permeated his understanding—Christ is expressing His personality through the vehicle of my fleshly body (Gal 2:20). Paul was so conversant with his divine resources in Christ that he could actually say of himself, “It is no longer I who live!”
Let us mark this down in our own disciple-making—exhortation without this Word of Christ and Him crucified can produce exasperation. I remember the formula this way: exhortation without enablement equals exasperation. When we exhort—we must never fail to imbue our listeners with their infinite resources in Christ.
These gospel spiritual realities of identification with Christ stretch our understanding to the limit. Just to think that in the mind of God, the elect were so fully identified with Christ their Head as to gain His life. So intimate was this identification that in Christ’s crucifixion, our fallen human natures were judged so that we should no longer be slaves of sin (Rom 6:6). This is Paul’s victory cry—those who have died are freed from sin—sin is no longer master over them (Rom 6:5-10ff.). Our Adamic nature with its original sin—that bottomless vile vent of rebellion and pollution was once and for all judged in the body of Christ in His death.
E. The Apostle does not relegate this doctrine of co-crucifixion with Christ to the realm of theory.
He immediately plows it into practical use. The believer is to reckon, count, consider himself dead to sin and alive to God. He is to present the members of his body to God as instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:11-13). How blessed this is to know that our fruitfulness as disciple-makers is tied to the Word of the Cross. For the message of Christ and Him crucified comes with assurances that the message of the gospel is God’s power to all who believe (Rom 1:16-17).
The proclamation of Christ’s indestructible life and His intercession for us in His passion and His glory cannot fail to produce a life of true discipleship in the elect. You and I need that assurance. Paul was seeking to prove to the consciences of the Corinthians that Christ was in him (2 Cor 13:3), and that all of his motives in ministry issued from the Person and work of Christ (see 2 Corinthians chapter five).
Paul’s point is that only Christ’s cross can produce the mindset of a true disciple of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5, the Apostle expounds his motives for serving God, and he expounds the source of those motives. Paul’s motive for service was the controlling love of Christ. This motive issues forth in an action—the believer no longer lives for himself—he lives the life of a true disciple. “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Cor 5:14-15).
Paul says that he is constrained or controlled—he is so affected by a sense of incarnate love as to be controlled. He makes the will of Christ the rule of obedience. The true Christian is controlled by a sense of divine love so as to consecrate his life to Christ. The one who lives supremely for family, science, world, mankind, or whatever else is not a Christian. Christ died and rose on our behalf. That is, He died in our stead. The theology of this verse (5:14) is more profound than merely an obligatory response of our love to Christ’s love. The cross has an inner result only understood in terms of substitution. He died for me as Substitute. He met the demands of justice for me (the basis and reality of my justification)—I died with Him—co-crucifixion is the basis for the whole possibility of my discipleship and sanctification. The power of Christ’s cross is life-transforming. The sacrificial work of Christ is not merely an example of ultimate obedience for the disciple of Christ to emulate. The cross of Christ exerts the power to make new creatures who will walk as disciples of Christ.
F. Being a new creation in Christ is a profound truth in relation to discipleship because the cross
of Christ produces actual changes in the sinner—changes which make the new believer willing to pay the cost of true discipleship! Therefore we must fix in our minds that the cross provides each of the following three necessities for true discipleship. The cross provides the motivation to live as a disciple (we are controlled by the love of Christ); the cross provides the obligation to live as a disciple (we are to no longer live for ourselves); the cross provides the enablement to live as a disciple (we have died with Christ).
We cannot emphasize this truth too strongly: when the cross of Christ is applied to a believing sinner by the Holy Spirit, not only is salvation the result; but also there will be a willingness in the individual to meet the demands of true discipleship (2 Cor 4:15).
The nature of the atonement is learned from its effect—one effect is “therefore, all were dead” (lit. Grk) (2 Cor 5:14). His death secured their death. “Having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died” (5:14). The use of the word “all” in the last clause serves grammatically as a ‘qualifier’, in other words, it limits (or qualifies) the atonement as to its design and effect. Thus, we surmise that, “Christ died for all who died when He died” (Hodge, MacArthur, et al). Christ’s people are so united with Him that His death is their death (the same argument of Christ’s solidarity with His people is set forth in Romans 6:1-14 and Galatians 2:20).
Dying with Christ involves death to sin and self and involves the obligation to die to sin and self. All who died with Christ receive the benefits of his substitutionary death (imputed righteousness; forgiveness; adoption; sanctification; sonship; deliverance from the sin’s dominion; etc.). The specific character of the atonement—it was ultimately designed for those who partake of that new life of which Christ’s resurrection is the pledge and pattern. This is how Paul defends his conduct before the Corinthians. Christ’s love claims him in such a way that in relation to others, he can no longer exist for himself. In contrast, his opponents (the false apostles) boast to the Corinthians that they are religious, spiritual, and something in themselves.
Paul wanted his readers to know that his old self-centered life was gone (now it is righteous, resurrection life in Christ). Paul’s disinterested motives (motives from agape love) are a result of the cross. God’s design in the atonement was to found the relationship with the forgiven sinner so that all emanates from being in Christ. Divine love proceeds from Christ and streams down to the elect, producing conformity to their divine Head (Rom 8:28-29). “Having concluded this” or “We thus judge” (2 Cor 5:14). This clause assigns the reason why Christ’s love exerts constraining, animating, controlling power. Christ’s death not only placed upon the believer the obligation for devotion, it secured that devotion!! They died in Him to a self-directed selfish life. Our faith response to this reality involves reckoning ourselves dead to sin. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24).
Faith in His having died for us is the source and principle of the Christian life. Paul’s motive—the constraining love of Christ—is followed by another action—as a new creature in Christ; he no longer judges according to the flesh (2 Cor 5:16-17). To judge after the flesh means judging by the external or outward side of life. Paul is saying that since his conversion, he no longer estimates any man by the world’s standard of judgment. Thus, Paul exposes the error of his opponents with a powerful argument: his opponents used the same criterion of evaluation on Paul that the unbelieving Jews did on Christ! Christ’s weakness (as the suffering Servant and Savior) was a stumbling block to both unbelieving Jews and Gentiles.
Now that the cross was the center of Paul’s existence, he had obtained a new knowledge of Christ and a new set of values. Paul had known Christ “according to the flesh.” Prior to his salvation, Saul of Tarsus, by means of ‘fleshly judgment’, viewed Jesus as a crucified messianic pretender, cursed of God. When he saw Christ according to the flesh, he regarded Him as unbelieving Israel did—as an imposter perishing under the displeasure of God (Is 53:3, 4).
Paul’s new values include his ‘theology of the cross’—to know the power of Christ’s resurrection, we share in His sufferings (we are like Him in His death) (Phil 3:7-14). As a saved man, Paul now recognizes that Christ’s suffering was vicarious—accomplished in the room and stead of Christ’s people. On earth, Christ’s true identity as Lord of Glory was hidden behind weakened mortal flesh—but Paul now knows Christ as both suffering Messiah and exalted Lord of Heaven. Union with Christ has transformed Paul—as a new creation, he has a different standard of judgment—old opinions, views, plans, desires, principles, and affections have “passed away.” Now he has new views of truth, new apprehensions of his destiny and purpose. Our work as disciple-makers involves repeatedly proclaiming Christ and the accomplishments of His cross.
Our disciples need to grasp that the Spirit’s work in regeneration is a “first fruits” creative work that makes each believer a representative of a coming new world order! The transformation has affected a kingdom transfer (Col 1:13). Here we are, radically identified with the cross, yet citizens of the new heavens and the new earth (Phil 3:20-21). The recreated man in Christ is part of the new cosmos coming (the theme is replacement—new world, new body, new values).
With this perception comes a new standard of judging—the pretensions of the world sink into insignificance. A new creation by union with Christ is the ground of all our hope. A true disciple, like Paul, is animated by Christ’s love and a true disciple does all his evaluating by means of kingdom values. Friends of the cross have an eternal value system. No man who sets his mind on earthly things can be said to be a friend of the cross (Phil 3:18-19).