DISCIPLING IMPERFECT CLAY

"THE FACTS OF THE MATTER"

"A weekly letter of encouragement to business and professional men and women"

April 21, 2010

Good Morning!

DISCIPLING IMPERFECT CLAY

If you are engaged in discipling/mentoring people, and their progress appears to be slow, don’t despair!   One of our problems in discipling is that we desire the very qualities of Christlikeness in our protégés at the entry point of our involvement with them. The fact is that the clay God gives us to work with is pretty raw stuff.  Only a miracle of God can transform them into the beauty of Christ. “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (I Cor. 3:6, 7)

Take the twelve disciples, for example.  They were:

Competitive:  At the supper table, the night before the crucifixion, Jesus informs them of his imminent death.  Their immediate response was not grief, shock or dis-belief. Rather, they started arguing among themselves as to whom among them would become the greatest as Christ’s replacement.  (Lk. 22:24)

Cowardly:  During the dinner with Christ, after Jesus warns of his upcoming ordeal, Peter impetuously  informs the Master, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”  (Lk. 22:33b).  Yet after Jesus was apprehended by the authorities, Peter wilts under pressure and denies him three times.  (Lk. 22:54-62)  In fact, the rest also deserted him.  (Matt. 26:56)

Weak:  Jesus, sensing the need to spend time in prayer with the Father before the ordeal of the cross, invites Peter, James, and John to join him, with the warning, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." (Lk. 22:40b)  Apparently they had totally forgotten his recent teaching on prayer that “they should always pray and not give up.” (Lk. 18:1) Thus, when Jesus began to pray, they fell asleep.  (Lk. 22:45, 46)

Combative:  Comprehending the fact that Jesus’ death would put them in danger, their first impulse was to fight back. Thus, there was not the slightest evidence of their trust in God for his protection, or of any remembrance of his earlier teaching to turn the other cheek when struck. (Lk. 6:29) “The disciples said, ‘See, Lord, here are two swords…Should we strike with our swords?’  And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.”  (Lk. 22:38, 49, 50)

Doubting:  Weeks after the resurrection, the remaining eleven disciples met Christ at the mountain. Some of the men worshipped him, while others still doubted who he was.  Yet Jesus proceeded to commission them to make disciples of all nations.  (Matt. 28:17-20)  My inclination, after looking over this unlikely lot would have been to say, “Hey guys…let’s take another year or two to go back and review what you apparently missed on our first go-around.”  Not Jesus.  He went with what he had.  Imperfect clay.

In Jesus’ prayer to the Father, the night before the cross, he speaks of his faithfulness in completing the task assigned him by the Father of investing in the eleven:  ^“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do…I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world…They have obeyed your word.  Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.  For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.” (Jn. 17:4, 6-8 – Selected)

Imagine what was accomplished through these imperfect clay vessels!  It was said of them that they “…turned the world upside down…”  (Act. 17:6b)

So, my fellow discipler, don’t despair.  Faithfully work with the imperfect clay God has entrusted into your care.  Just be sure it is God who has assigned them to you!  Through the eyes of faith, choose to believe that he will bring them to maturity: “…Beautiful in his time.”   (Ecc. 3:11b - KJV)  (See Psa. 138:8; Phi. 1:6; 1 Thes. 5:23; 2 Thes. 1:11; 1 Pet. 5:10)

This week may you experience His grace, peace and protection!

R. Dwight Hill