Episode 61 - From My Will to Thy Will

All too often we want things on our terms.  We want our way and our will.  This is not the way of a disciple of Jesus.  Rather, we use the same words our Lord used as He was preparing for His death.  He stated to God, regarding what was to happen, “Not my will, but thine”.  That is the subject of this episode of our series on discipleship.  A faithful disciple of our Lord Jesus is to state, not my will but thy will.

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Transcript

Hello friends, I'm your host Dave Laton and welcome to the podcast, Walking With Our Master, an outreach of the Prattville Church of Christ designed to inform, encourage, and teach as we daily walk with our Master. 

 We are continuing our series on Applied Discipleship ~ More Than You Know.  We’re looking at different elements of what it means to be a disciple of Christ.  

 It is a reality that any encounter with our Lord Jesus will result in change.  To one who rejects our Lord, that person's interaction has resulted in moving further away from the opportunity for eternal life.  To the one who sees and accepts who Jesus is and moves towards Him, the change is greater spiritual growth and gaining the promises of the Master.  These are not just my words based on my experience.  We read time and again about such changes in the examples from scripture as people interacted with the Master.  We also see it in the lives of many others that have been changed, some in very pronounced ways.  

 Here are two examples from scripture.  In Matthew 19:16-22 we read the event known by many as the “rich young ruler.”  When this rich, and influential young man asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus told him to sell all he had and come follow Him.  Because of the young man’s wealth and influence, it was more than he was willing to do.  He is described as going away sorrowfully. 

 I like this example because all of us have something that is important to us.  Our Lord tells us, like this rich young man, put it aside and follow Him.  That’s the cost of discipleship.  No matter what it is, or who it is, we must put the Master first.

The second amazing example of this is the event of the healing of a demon possessed man.  I love this story.  

The event involved a man possessed by thousands of demons.  They had driven the man into insanity.  Before he met the master, he was described as living apart from everyone.  He was naked and uncontrollable.  In his horrible condition he would try to hurt himself.  Then He met the Master.  After Jesus drove out the demons, this same man is described as in control of his mind, sitting quietly speaking with our Lord, praising rather than cursing Him.  This man transformed into complete commitment to the Master.  He was so completely committed that he traveled through the region telling all who would listen about how Jesus had transformed him.  I call it, “From Madman to Missionary.”  

It is not likely that any of us is in the extreme condition of the demon possessed man, but perhaps we might be like the rich young ruler.  However, we all deal with demons physically, intellectually, and relationally that prevent us from becoming a disciple or growing in our discipleship.  We all have something we hold back and must learn to turn over to the Master.   We must transform from seeking my will to seeking thy will.  That is one of the key elements of a disciple. 

This episode looks at what it means to transform and why it is important.  We will look at how various elements of discipleship blend together to accomplish this transformation process.

Transformation basically means changing or reforming from one state to another.  All of us have experienced transformation in some way as we have made our way through life. This is a normal and expected process of living.  In some areas our transformation is visible.  We grow from infancy to adulthood.  We grow from learning elementary concepts to the complexities of life.  In other areas we might not realize the transformation.  For example, we might change understandings or attitudes, perhaps without immediately realizing it.  

In my early years as a member of the United States Air Force, I was assigned as a basic training instructor.  Our primary task was to transform young men and women from civilian life into the military.  We did this through a variety of activities to ultimately instill what we referred to as “military bearing.”  It was a different way of thinking and acting from what they perhaps had grown up with.  We sought to transform them from individuals to a member of something greater than themselves and a focused on service.

As a disciple of Jesus, we describe transformation as a change from who I am to who God wants me to be. Who God wants us to be is like Christ.  The more we transform into being like Christ, the more effective we become as disciples and servants and the more effective we are at withstanding Satan’s attempts to pull us away from the Master.  Even when we are pulled away, we know we can return and eagerly seek to do so.

Becoming like Christ is at the heart of our transformation as disciples.  Many scriptures speak to becoming Christlike.  Paul and others teach this to us throughout the writings of the New Testament.  

In Philippians 2:5-11 Paul tells us to have the same mind as Christ.  As we learn about the teachings of Christ, we see that this means humility, purpose, and obedience.  

We change our outlook as we mature spiritually.  Just as we change as we physically mature, we change as we mature spiritually.  Our view of the world, our relationships with those around us, our sense of purpose, and all other elements of our life change.  As disciples we transform to where everything about ourselves becomes part of our service to our Master.

Transformation as a disciple involves two primary elements that blend to help us begin and sustain our transformation.  The first is described as our conversion.  Conversion is the process of changing or causing something to change.  Transformation as a disciple begins with our initial turning to Christ.  As part of this part of conversion, we seek to:

Discover and do the Master’s will

Identify our role as a disciple

Submit our will to that of our Lord

Assimilate into the body of Christ

Seek to help others discover and do the Master's will

The second element is described as developing.  Developing is the ongoing element of conversion.  It involves reshaping our way of thinking and living as we spiritually mature.  In the context of discipleship, it changes from conforming to the world’s view to conforming to our Lord’s view.  In Romans 12:1-2 Paul tells us not to be conformed to the world but be transformed. As part of our developing process we:

 Discover what we must do to conform to the will of our Master

Apply our discovery to committing to changing our life

Normalize our discovery to where it becomes a natural part of who we are

Our transformation is not done completely by ourselves.  We must stay connected to Christ and the body.  As we transform as disciples, we become a part of a community of believers also seeking to transform.  We cannot sustain our transformation as an independent Christian.  We cannot fulfill our role as a disciple.

In John 15: 1-8 Jesus describes the importance of remaining connected to Him.  He describes Himself as the true vine.  He further describes God the Father as the vine dresser.  The various branches of the vine must bear fruit.  If they do not, then they are removed from the vine.  The branches that bear fruit are pruned so they continue to bear even more fruit.  The true meaning of this teaching is that we must stay connected to our Lord. If we do not, we will not bear fruit and will be removed.  He concludes in verse 8 by saying, "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." 

There are some very harmful effects of not being connected to the body of Christ that affect not only our relationship with the Master, but also our relationship with each other.  For example, we become inactive, unhappy, we experience spiritual stagnation.  Without our active involvement with other disciples, we are living in a weakened spiritual condition and are discouraged from growing spiritually.  Worst of all, in our spiritually weakened condition, we are more vulnerable to Satan's attacks.  

A good example of connectivity is again found in Acts 2:42-47. The young disciples of our Lord continued to learn and grow spiritually under the teaching and guidance of the apostles.  It is described as the apostles' teachings, but the apostles didn't put forth their own teachings.  They were teaching the will of the Master to those seeking salvation and membership in our Master’s Kingdom.  

This resulted in changes to the early disciples' understanding and actions.  They had full fellowship with each other.  They shared what they had with others.  They worshipped together.  As a result, their numbers grew, and their effectiveness increased.  And when forced to go it on their own, they continued to grow and teach the Master’s will).  A review of the events of persecution in the early church will show that as they were persecuted, the church grew even more.

We learn from this that we, too, must stay connected to the teachings from our Master and continue to fellowship with each other.  As we do, we will grow spiritually and help others become disciples of our Lord, even when our faith is challenged.

We have the responsibility as disciples to take what we learn and apply it to our lives.  This means we become a functional member of the body and not spectators.  When we convert to our Lord, it means we commit to Him, and we commit to the body of Christ.  Each of us has a role depending on who we are and what God has graced us with (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).

As we continue in our lifelong pursuit to do the Master's will, we might find ourselves growing weary.  Perhaps our faith begins to wane.  Perhaps we don't stay as connected to the body of Christ as we wish.  This is why we seek to continue to develop and stay connected to our Lord and the body.  

There is one last element to discuss as part of our transformation from focusing on our will rather than the Master’s will.  We must persevere in our efforts.  Perseverance means to persist in something we take on.  As disciples we must learn to persevere in prayer, Bible study, service, encouraging one another, teaching, and evangelism.  When we persevere, we gain the rewards God has promised rewards far greater than we know.  

A faithful disciple of our Lord should seek to transform from their initial conversion to Christ, to growing, and eventually to championing our Master.  To do this, it takes staying connected to the family of God, applying our Lord’s teachings to our life, and persevering in our faithfulness.  We all have different levels of gifts to help us be successful disciples.  As we develop these gifts, we begin to transform into more capable disciples. 

Discipleship is not an easy task.  It takes effort. But be assured, God has gifted us with the ability to acquire and develop the knowledge and ability to be champion disciples.  And remember, we are not alone in this journey to Christlikeness.  We have God's spirit and each other to enlighten, encourage, refresh, and strengthen us. 

As I begin to wrap up this episode, I offer some questions to help us better understand how to apply ourselves as our Lord’s disciples.

What does transformation mean from the perspective of a disciple of Jesus?

Describe the transformation seen in the early disciples of Acts 2.

If you have become a disciple of Jesus, how have you transformed from that time until now?

What are some things we seek to do as we grow in our conversion to Jesus?

Why is connectiveness important to our discipleship?

Why is perseverance important?

In our next episode we will look at some of the early disciples and how they grew as disciples.

I'm your host Dave Laton.  Thank you for joining me in this podcast.  I hope you will continue to do so. If you wish to share with me something from your walk with our Master or you would like to learn more, please email me at: walkingwithourmaster@gmail.com.

I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.  And until next time, remember, we give all glory to God the Father.