What is a disciple?

Since the Great Commission (Mat 38:19) focuses on making disciples, the church should do the same.  The question is what is a disciple?  What does a disciple of Christ look like?  We get an insight into what a disciple is by examining the Greek word mathetes, which is translated disciple in your English Bibles.  The range of meaning of the word literally means to be a learner, pupil or disciple.  The word disciple is not commonly used in our culture today, but it is common to refer to someone as a student of the school they attend, or a student of the person they are studying under.  It is appropriate for a believer to call himself a student of Jesus.  Being a disciple of Christ means to be a life-long student of Jesus.  Not only do we study his word, but the student seeks to emulate his Master and become like him.  So it is with the disciple of Christ!

Unfortunately, many Christians may consider themselves to be Christ’s disciple, when in fact they are not being discipled!   Many believers may attend church on Sunday, but that is a far cry from discipleship as Jesus demonstrated to us in the Scriptures.  I believe that discipleship is on the verge of becoming a lost art form in our contemporary society.  If the great Commission is going to be fulfilled the church must recapture Jesus’ methodology in disciple-making!

Stay tuned for more insights into Biblical discipleship, and you can listen to any of the sermons from my current series on our website.

Pastor Bruce

When you think of a wise man what images do you conjure up in your mind?  Do you see an old man with a long white beard in deep thought?   Do you think of a computer geek wearing coke bottle sized glasses, who can fix any problem that arises on your PC?  Perhaps, you think of the 4.0 student you were friends with in college that was so smart he aced his tests without hardly any studying!  None of those images captures the idea of Biblical wisdom.

The book of James has much to say about wisdom.  Writing from a Jewish perspective, wisdom is a key concept in James’ thought-life.  Wisdom is something that believers are to seek and reflects a quality of spiritual life.  Wisdom isn’t raw intelligence, theoretical knowledge, abstract thinking, even though wise people may possess some of these characteristics.  Wisdom, from the Jewish perspective, is entirely practical.  It is the ability to take knowledge of Scripture and apply it to everyday life situations.

The acquisition of wisdom starts with a relationship with the Almighty.  Proverbs 9:10 says, “the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  The book of Proverbs has much to say about wisdom and is a great book of the Bible to study in tandem with James.  The thing about wisdom is that there are two varieties existing; one is true wisdom from God the other is false wisdom.   James says there is wisdom from above, which is God’s wisdom, but there is another type of wisdom which is described as earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.  One is from above and the other is from below.  The wisdom from below is a fake, phony wisdom that counterfeits God’s wisdom.  Believers need to be familiar with God’s wisdom so they can sharpen their skills of discernment and identify the true from false brand of wisdom.

In James 3:13-18, James contrasts the two varieties of wisdom for his readers.  The big difference between the two is that where the wisdom from below is present there is disorder and every evil practice (James 3:16).  In other words, this type of wisdom breeds chaos, brings division, and hurt feelings.  This wisdom is selfish and motivated by personal gain and advancement, not the welfare of other people.  It is wisdom that is rooted in human boasting and pridefulness.

On the other hand, God’s wisdom from above involves eight virtues:
Pure
Peace-loving
Considerate
Submissive
Full of mercy
Good fruit
Impartial
Sincere

The person who possesses these virtues would be the embodiment of wisdom.  He would be a mature Christian who is displaying the fruit of the Spirit.  Where you have these virtues existing in a disciple of Christ, and are lived out in his daily life you have someone who is a peacemaker!   James considers the embodiment of wisdom to be  peacemaking (James 3:18).  The man who restores relationships, preserves unity between people, has a calming influence on people, imparts blessings, and enriches people’s lives is a peacemaker.

Would you consider this to be true of you?  Would people in your life consider you to be a person that fits this description?  This is what disciples of Christ are to strive for—being one who imparts blessings to others so they can grow in Christ!  Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9).”  God bless the peacemakers!  Stayed tuned for more about wisdom and peacemakers in my next blog.

Blessings,

Dr. Bruce

Have you ever read the Declaration of Independence?  Are you aware of the reasons why we separated from Great Britain?  Most people think the key issue was taxation without representation, which was one critical item, but there were many more than that.  In the declaration there is a list of grievances that were brought to King George’s attention that led the Americans to declaration their independence from England.  For about 11 years the Americans had been trying to reconcile with Great Britain and sent King George the Olive Branch Petition, which was quickly rejected by the King.  He had hired German mercenaries and was sending an invasion fleet to come to New England and crush the rebellion.   Many of the Americans felt that was the straw that broke the camel’s back!

It was Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, that made a motion to separate from Great Britain and it was seconded by John Adams, and thus things were set in motion that resulted in an official vote by congress to separate from England, followed by the drafting of the  Declaration of Independence, mostly done by Thomas Jefferson.  If you haven’t read this document it is a must read!  It is such a vital piece of our nations’ history.  You can Google it and read it on line.  The thing that many people don’t know is how many grievances there were that the colonists had against the mother country.  You can read the list for yourself from this excerpt of the Declaration of Independence below:

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

#1. He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

#2. He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

#3. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

#4. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

#5. He has dissolved representative Houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasion on the rights of the people.

#6. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within.

#7. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

#8. He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

#9. He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries.

#10. He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

#11. He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

#12. He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.

#13. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

1. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
2. For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:
3. For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
4. For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
5. For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury:
6. For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
7. For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to ren-der it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
8. For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:
9. For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

#14. He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

#15. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

#16. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

#17. He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

#18. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

In conclusion, this is a piece of history that sadly, many Americans aren’t familiar with.  On this Independence Day Holiday, I would encourage you to be thankful to the signers of the declaration, because when they signed that document they signed their death warrant.  Rebelling against the King was high treason, punishable by death.  The signers of the declaration ended by saying, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

MASSACHUSETTS: John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine

RHODE ISLAND: Elbridge Gerry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

CONNECTICUT: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

NEW YORK: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

NEW JERSEY: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

PENNSYLVANIA: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

DELAWARE: Ceasar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

MARYLAND: Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, William Paca, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

VIRGINIA: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

NORTH CAROLINA: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

SOUTH CAROLINA: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Authur Middleton

GEORGIA: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

On this celebration of our independence, let's me mindful of the sacrifice that our founders made so that we could enjoy the life we have in american today!

 God Bless America!

Dr. Bruce Guckelberg

When I ask people to name an attribute of God usually the responses will be Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Omniscience, or His Sovereignty.  Those are all great and correct answers that depict God’s incredible power!  Rarely, if ever, does anybody ever think of the attribute of God’s impartiality.  In all God’s dealings with people He is completely just, fair, consistent, and treats everybody the same.  He shows no favoritism to the rich and famous at the expense of the poor.  He shows no favoritism to the poor over the rich.  He treats everybody as equals.  Consider the following passages that depict the attribute of God’s impartiality:

For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes (Deuteronomy 10:17).

'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly (Leviticus 19:15).

The gospel is a totally impartial message because an invitation exists to all people to come to God through Jesus, experience the forgiveness of their sins, and be adopted into the family of God.   If a person humbles himself before God and places his trust in Jesus for his salvation, he will be forgiven.  The criterion is the same for everybody, regardless of one’s social status, ethnic background, intelligence, gifting, etc.  When a person places his faith in Jesus he is accepted by God.  The Lord doesn’t bend the rules for a select few people, and bring them into the kingdom without faith, giving them special privileges. 

This is an important attribute of God because at some point in everyone’s life they have been the victim of some type of favoritism.   Whether it was a parent who favored the other children in the family, a coach who sat you on the bench because he favored others who didn’t play as well as you, or a teacher who had it in for you because he didn’t like you, we’ve all been touched by the sin of favoritism.

Thank God that He is impartial because when we need to be corrected he won’t let it slide.  He will discipline us for our good, even if it means going through painful experiences.  He gives grace to all his children equally, and we can never complain that God is favoring others above us.

Since this is how God deals with us, He expects us not to show favoritism as well.  The body of Christ is to reflect this aspect of God’s character.  I want to challenge you to think about how you treat your friends, people at work, your family members, etc., and evaluate whether or not you are consistent and fair in your dealings with everyone.

Dr. Bruce

This Easter Christians all over the world celebrated the resurrection of Christ.  I believe that Christ’s resurrection is the most important event in world history, for without the resurrection of Christ we have an incomplete, powerless gospel that can’t save us.  It is amazing how in spite of the information that Paul provides us about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, many modern-day believers deny the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus!  I find this astounding, bewildering, and incomprehensible!

The apostle Paul said “if Christ hasn’t been raised your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (1 Cor. 15:17-19).”

He is addressing the implications of no bodily resurrection of Christ. Apparently, some at Corinth had come up with the idea that there is no resurrection, therefore, Jesus didn’t rise from the dead.  Or perhaps they spiritualized the resurrection implying that Jesus just rose in the hearts of all His followers, but not bodily.  These conclusions don’t support what Paul said above about the consequences of no resurrection of Christ.

If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead the following things would be true:

#1.  Believing in Jesus would be futile.
#2.  Believers would not be forgiven their sins.
#3.  Believers who have died are lost.
#4.  Believers would have no hope for the future.
#5.  Believers are to be pitied more than all men.

Without the bodily resurrection of Christ the Christian faith would be a joke and professing Christians would be a bunch of losers!  In spite of the clear teaching of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, many professing believers in Jesus Christ don’t believe in his bodily resurrection!  In denying this historical event they are presenting an emasculated gospel that doesn’t save!

In conclusion, why can’t people believe in the resurrection of Christ?  The Bible is a supernatural book containing the miraculous from cover to cover.  If you believe that God created the Heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1), why can’t you believe that God has the power to raise the dead?

Dr. Bruce

The earthquake in Japan should serve as a reminder to us all that things can change in a moments notice.  I’m sure that life was going on as usual for multitudes of Japanese citizens until this catastrophic quake shook the foundations of the island, causing a massive tsunami.  Suddenly, everything changed and thousands of people have died and multitudes of people are suffering. 

An event occurred that nobody could have predicted or stopped even if they had known it was coming.  The fact exists that another earthquake could occur in many other places in the earth just as bad as the Japanese quake.  This should bring people to the understanding that life is totally transitory, and there is nothing that anybody can do about it.  We are here today, but could be gone tomorrow!

I hope that everyone will be praying that in the midst of all the hardship the Japanese people living in, they may find Christ to be the rock of stability on an island that shaking with trembles and aftershocks.  I’m praying for the missionaries in Japan and the Christian-based relief efforts that are underway.  In the midst of the suffering I hope they will be the light of Jesus and extend the gospel message to the Japanese.

True hope lies only with Jesus!  No matter what tragedy may strike in this life Christians carry with them the most optimistic view of the future than any other people on the planet.  Not only does Jesus take those who believe in him to heaven at the moment of death, He also gives hope in the present and enables people to live life abundantly and joyfully.  The joy believers have is not dependent upon their circumstances in life it is a heartfelt joy that is derived from knowing Jesus that is a constant in your life.

Things are perilous times that are rattling the foundations of life.  There is much instability around the world but with Christ we stand on the Rock!

Pastor Bruce