At church just a few weeks ago, I saw certainly one of the children wearing a Christian t-shirt that read, “Stay Salty.” While it’s actually encouraging to see a youngster displaying their faith, there may be a difference between knowing that we must always “stay salty” and knowing find out how to go about “staying salty.” How might Christians live as much as our merch?
I’m sufficiently old to recollect the “What Would Jesus Do” (WWJD) trend. As a focusing device—a reminder that we’re purported to be imitating Christ at any given moment—the trend was helpful; nonetheless, answering WWJD? requires a level of discernment that wearing on a bracelet won’t provide. The trends can serve a purpose—this isn’t about knocking Christian t-shirts, number stickers, bracelets, or other swag. Instead, it’s about moving from aspiration to actualization. How can we make the leap from wanting to “stay salty” to being the salt of the earth?
What Does it Mean to Be Endlessly Sharpened?
The Christian life often involves progression. We learn to reorder our loves, reorient our attention, and reply to God. Think about teaching a young child to ride a motorbike. It’s unlikely that you just would opt to achieve this in traffic when it’s raining or snowing. Instead, you’d want to reduce the obstacles and dangers while teaching a baby to ride a motorbike. As the kid gains experience in riding, nonetheless, you’ll be able to expect that they may grow to be more able to navigating the styles of challenges you helped them avoid when initially teaching them to ride.
The Christian life often has an identical dynamic. As we obey and the Holy Spirit works in our lives, we learn to live as Christians in complex situations. We come to grasp and embody the world in ways increasingly conformed to Christ. This progression requires time and a selected kind of effort. Bonhoeffer describes this effort when it comes to “costly grace” and discipleship within the life and considered Martin Luther noting,
“Costly grace was given as a present to Luther. It was grace, since it was water onto thirsty land, comfort for anxiety, liberation from the servitude of a self-chosen path, forgiveness of all sins. The grace was costly, since it didn’t excuse one from works. Instead, it endlessly sharpened the decision to discipleship. But just wherein it was costly, that was wherein it was grace.”
Costly grace involves our effort—our works. However, it isn’t our own interest that determines our works. We progress as the decision to discipleship is “endlessly sharpened.”
This ongoing call to deeper levels of discipleship that characterizes costly grace isn’t simply absent from low-cost grace but opposed by it. Cheap grace resists discipleship. Again, as Bonhoeffer observes, “It [cheap grace] didn’t open the option to Christ for us, but somewhat closed it. It didn’t call us into discipleship, but hardened us in disobedience…It couldn’t occur some other way but that possessing low-cost grace would mislead weaklings to suddenly feel strong, yet in point of fact, that they had lost their power for obedience and discipleship.” If we’re going to live out our slogans–moving from aspiration to actualization–discipleship is crucial. More than that, we want to acknowledge the “endlessly sharpened” call of costly grace to discipleship.
Discipleship Means Learning to Live Under Christ’s Authority
Learning is a vital aspect of discipleship. But what are we learning and the way are we learning it? In the context of Matthew 28, the primary of those two questions is addressed. We are to learn to watch all Christ commanded (Matt 28:20). Given that Christ has been given “all authority in heaven and on earth,” this learning concerns living faithfully under that authority.
At the identical time, we must recognize that “learning to” involves “learning about.” It seems inconceivable, as an illustration, to assume that one could observe all Christ commanded (learning to) without knowing what Christ commanded (learning about). We can’t presume to give you the chance to live under Christ’s authority once we don’t understand God’s instruction. That understanding needn’t be complete, however it does must grow as the decision to discipleship–the means of learning to live faithfully under Christ’s authority–is “endlessly sharpened.”
When we take into consideration how we “learn to” recognize Christ’s authority in any respect times, we want to have some sense of how learning occurs. What are we serious about once we take into consideration learning? What elements are involved in learning and the way do they translate into the lifetime of individual believers and, ultimately, the lifetime of the church? To answer these questions, we want some framework for learning.
In 2002, psychologist Lee Shulman proposed his “Table of Learning” to explain the processes involved in learning. His model includes seven items: (1) engagement and motivation, (2) knowledge and understanding, (3) performance and motion, (4) reflection and critique, (5) judgment and design, and (6) commitment and identity. These categories could also be described as follows:
1. Engagement and motivation– An lively, motivated involvement in a single’s own learning
2. Knowledge and understanding– The development of an “ownership” of data that permits one to convey—or restate—ideas in a single’s own words.
3. Performance and motion– Acting in and on the world with a selected goal in mind.
4. Reflection and critique– The willingness and skill to think about one’s own actions critically to find out how a given way of being on the planet contributes to 1’s goal or purpose.
5. Judgment and Design– One’s ability to work inside a wide range of constraints.
6. Commitment and identity– The decision to grow to be a selected kind of person and the event of characteristics and the adoption of values commensurate with becoming that kind of person.
These categories gesture toward a theological mode of being. Discipleship begins with commitment and engagement. In baptism, we unite ourselves with Christ in his death and seek to walk in newness of life trusting that we’ll experience a resurrection like his (Rom 6:4-11). It involves an ongoing acquisition of data and understanding of each God’s word (Josh 1:8; Ps 119:11) and the goodness, truth, and sweetness we see in creation (Ps 19:1-2; 1 Tim 4:4). It requires us to act on the planet to bring glory to the Triune God—rejecting evil and embracing good (1 Thess 5:21-22)—while reflecting on (Lam 3:40; 2 Cor 13:5; ) and receiving feedback concerning the ways our actions fall in need of the usual that’s Christ (Prov 9:9; Ecc 7:5; Gal 6:1). Discipleship occurs inside a selected set of constraints. The way we embody the world as either male or female, big or small, wealthy or poor, etc., requires us to think and act in another way inside a given set of restraints. Our most relevant constraint is the word of God (Deut 8:3).
3 Steps to Embrace the Endless Sharpening of Discipleship
So, what does all this mean for the way in which we embrace the “infinite sharpening” of discipleship? In essence, it signifies that living out our initial commitment is an ongoing process. That process won’t at all times proceed in a straight line—we may experience setbacks. At the identical time, we at all times move forward in the identical way: we take small steps of obedience by responding to God from throughout the various situations we encounter.
To engage on this ongoing means of learning to evolve increasingly to the image of Christ, Christians must keep the next in mind.
1. “Progression” doesn’t mean that we will assume every little thing now we have done prior to now is correct.
Learning often requires us to revise previous ways of considering and acting to maneuver forward. We can’t simply assume that the institutions we’ve built, the interests we’ve pursued, and even (at times) the theologies now we have developed are so complete that they’re beyond revision. Yes, Christian doctrine is stable—the creedal commitments developed through the years mark out the boundaries of what it means to be Christian—yet our core commitments can only extend to date. As such, if we understand progress as moving us ever closer to Christ and allowing us to point to and glorify God more faithfully, progress may require us to put aside what we thought was the suitable course to proceed to follow Christ.
2. The “infinite sharpening” requires that we act.
Reflection and deliberation are crucial, yet they mustn’t delay motion eternally. We act, reflect on that motion, consider the extent to which our actions glorified God, and repent where crucial. Knowing that God will forgive us once we confess doesn’t mean we will flippantly ignore God’s word by asking for forgiveness other than permission. Instead, repentance is the way in which that we express our commitment to repeatedly pursuing conformity to Christ. As we act and reflect on our actions, allowing the Holy Spirit to correct and guide us, we’ll learn to live life on God’s terms somewhat than our own.
3. Once we recognize Christ as Lord, we recognize the claim he has on us.
We don’t determine Christ is the choice we prefer, we acknowledge his authority and seek to follow him in an unqualified manner. We don’t honor our commitment perfectly, however it is a commitment we bind ourselves to maintain. In dying with Christ in baptism, we acknowledge that the fleshly lifestyle is wrongheaded, whereas the way in which of Christ results in life.
If we’re going to “stay salty” or do what Jesus would do, we want to start taking small steps of obedience (performance and motion) in our lives. These small steps reflect our convictions about God (knowledge and understanding) to whom now we have pledged our unqualified loyalty (commitment and identity). In searching for to obey God, we’re actively learning to live in dependence on him versus independent of him in order that he gets the glory (engagement and motivation). We achieve this even when obedience doesn’t seem to deal with the issues we face (design and judgment). Yet, as we consider our actions (reflection and critique) we’ll come to acknowledge the ways now we have sought to be self-sufficient, self-determined, and self-effacing as an alternative of allowing God to work in and thru us, despite our limitations, in order that only he gets the glory.
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Omar Lopez
