Jesus Disciples

 “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” It’s a kind of barometer of what a person values, likes, dislikes and what is important for him.

Jesus, just hours away from being arrested prayed to the Father His high priestly prayer (John 17). His prayer expressed what He values most. It can also be seen as his ‘report’ to the Father of what He had accomplished and His ‘recommendation’ so that the glory of God would be seen throughout all the earth.

In the middle of this prayer, Jesus prayed for his disciples. Jesus ‘reported’ to the Father how He had revealed the Father to them and how He kept them safe though one was lost. Jesus also ‘recommended’ that the Father would continue to protect them and that they’d be sanctified by the word of truth. He also prayed to all those who would believe through the testimony of His disciples, that they may be united.

Jesus did many things—the miracles, the healings, the signs, the wonders, the demon-casting, the feeding of thousands, the teaching of the crowds, the critic of the religious. He has a list of many out-of-this-world achievements but His ‘report’ and ‘recommendation’ gave attention to His disciples.

In Church, there are many things we can do, but at the end of the day, what is it really all about? Is it about excellent programming, heavenly music, world-class musicals, record-breaking attendance, mind-blowing budgets, state-of-the-art facility, heart-breaking charities or error-free systems? What Jesus commissioned us with is His Great Commission—to make disciples. He modeled it, prayed about it, mandated it and empowered us for it.

Jesus expects and will inspect that we make disciples. Where are yours?  

          “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and 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. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

          “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

          “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message…”

John 17:6-20

Proverbs 29:18

"Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;

but blessed is he who keeps the law."

Proverbs 29:18

Revelation from God is I think one of the greatest driving force for people who are believers. Each step of the way I need to know where God is leading me, what He is teaching, where He wants me to be, what He wants me to do. This might sound self-centered but I think God knows that we as human being responds to what should be and what could be.

God revealing Himself to us through Jesus Christ His Son and now through his Word through the powerful work of illumination by the Holy Spirit, allows us to be shaped and be redeemed to what God wanted us to be when he created us. If God really created us to have an intimate relationship with him and it captures a saved soul and really believed that the God who created the universe wants an intimate relationship with him or her, it changes him/her. If God has sent us on a mission to all nations because worship of Him does not exist in all nations, and if someone really believes that the God who orchestrated everything so that though a hell-bound sin-bearer could not only come clean but be infused with the righteousness of His Son who died for the payment, it rocks his or her world because it makes him see that this God deserves all the praises and glory of all nations and all peoples and every creature in this planet. 

That is why when revelation from God when it is not conveyed passionately, when it is not imparted intentionally, people back off and live lives that is as small as the god that they have created in their own image. It puts little value to the saving work and the worthiness of God because God is just a puny God, and his revelation for us is little of value so that many of us would just sit idly wait for His return--saved, seated, and satisfied--living without real passion for the God who has gone through lengths so that all would be given privilege once again to be what all He created us to be. They cast of restraint--restraint to the purposes of the God-sized God.

Keeping the law--abiding, meditating, being passionate and believing it to the core is what really blessed a man or a woman. It keeps us laser focused to the mind and the heart of God. It makes us abandon all comforts in life so that the purposes of the God of the universe will be on earth as it is in heaven.

So in writing these, God I pray that You would remind me of the foolishness of my everyday routine,  the mediocrity of my passionless servitude that I do in Your name and the carefree attitude approach to life. You have given us revelation--and it's You, Your purposes, Your glory, Your mission--it's all about You.

Lord, I want to live a life that counts for eternity, I also want that this revelation would transform me into a passionate, vision-centric leader that would pull people out of their comfort zones and lead them to God-sized lives You have created us to enjoy. 

Living the life with the revelation from God is tough, yes it is, it cuts to the core and stretches people to their limits, but living the comfortable restrained Christian life is scarier--it costed about 2 million people to wander in the desert for 40 years until their all dead--I do not want that to happen in my life nor do I want that to happen to any of the people I am accountable to.