TOWARDS THE KINGDOM: LENT, DISCIPLESHIP AND PRAYER - Part 2
Towards the Kingdom: Lent, Discipleship and Prayer
“Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43)
Discipleship: With Christ Towards the Kingdom.
Our discipleship, our journey towards the Kingdom, began on that day when Christ said to each one of us “This day you shall be with me in paradise”, that day was the day of our baptism when we were united to Christ and with him entered into the Kingdom. In the letter to the Romans, we read
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:3-5),
“But God … made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. (Ephesians 2:4-6).
There is no death without life. We need to understand our standing in Christ to be able to be true disciples and pray as we ought. Listen to the subtlety of this verse “As he is so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). As Jesus is now (the risen Lord), so are we (present tense). If we have missed the point, the quotation continues "in this world", here and now. This is our standing in Christ,
We have been saved, we are being saved and we shall be saved. Knowing our position in Christ, knowing our Christian identity, we need to ask what is the fundamental principle on which we live out our discipleship and on which true prayer is founded. Surely it is this indwelling of Christ. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galations 2:20). It is not I who live, it is the King that lives in me.
“your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians. 3:3). Also, with regard to prayer “we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words”.
Listen to this prayer to the Father before the arrest and passion of Jesus:
“That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me”. (John 17:21-23).
This is why the apostle Paul can say that in discipleship we are “transformed … from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18) until our body “is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44), a complete transformation. True discipleship consists in living that union with Father and Son in the power of the Holy Spirit so that others may be drawn by that same love that binds us all together.
Where the King is, there is the Kingdom; where the King rules there is the Kingdom. How closer can we get to the King? How closer can we get to the Kingdom? How closer can we get to each other? Our lives, yours and mine, are hidden with Christ in God. Is it possible to be more united to God and each other? All of us, together, are hidden with Christ in God. Where is the King? In the Kingdom. Our Lenten journey, our discipleship, and our prayer consist in allowing the King and the Kingdom to emerge from within us and among us, and as we do so we are transformed from one degree of glory to another, the glory of the Kingdom, the glory of the King. “Thine is the kingdom the power and the glory” and the power and the glory of the Kingdom lie within each of us and among us as we live in unity. The highest moment when we together, in unity, reveal the Kingdom is when we come together to celebrate the Eucharist when the Word is read, proclaimed, reflected on, and consumed. Just imagine what kind of relationships we would have if we related to others with the power of the Kingdom and if others related to us with that same power and glory of the Kingdom.
Journeying together towards the Kingdom beyond in the power and the glory of the Kingdom within is the most powerful tool of evangelization in a world of conflict. Our Lenten journey and the journey of discipleship is to learn how to allow that glory within to shine outwards so that the world may believe. Is this happening in our lives? If not, why not? The glory of God within shines out to others to the extent we die to self. You see how important self-denial is? Without self-denial, we cannot be disciples. We do not die to self to remain dead but to bring others to the King and to the Kingdom. Remember the logic of the grain of wheat? I know little or nothing about farming but as a child, I used to plant a seed in fertile soil in a flower pot and I watered it and watched it every day, in time that seed would open up and as it opened up the outer layer would fall away and die and from within would emerge the new life and it would soon emerge from beneath the soil and I could admire it.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).
Lent stresses the importance of self-denial, why? To remain dead? No. To be full of the glory of the Kingdom. Everything we sacrifice, everything we give up in Lent should be seen in this context. The power to journey through Lent and through our own personal Calvary lies in the same vision of joy that enabled Christ to endure the cross, the joy of entering into the fullness of the Kingdom and meanwhile to enjoy the Kingdom here and now. When others meet us they should be able to see beyond us, they should be able to say this person is different. That difference lies in the life of Christ shining through us in power and glory, a life of love, humility, self-denial, and service. How do we tap into that power for service? When do we experience the Kingdom and its glory and power within? This is where prayer comes in.
Our natural life with its emotions, intellect and will pull us in one direction and the Holy Spirit sometimes leads us in the opposite direction and we learn to submit to the Spirit interacting with our spirit and say “thy will be done”. This is self-denial, this is the cross we bear daily when the will of God crosses our will and we follow his. Man is spirit, soul, and body; the soul and the body need to submit to our spirit guided by the Holy Spirit. “Calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them
‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’”. (Mark 8:34, 35).
Self-denial is a condition for discipleship. It is in self-denial that the true Spirit-filled life is found. Not to embrace the message of Lent, self-denial, is to lose your life: “whoever would save his life will lose it”. We need to discern the difference between soul and spirit so that one may submit to the other if there is to be any true discipleship. How is this done? Hebrews 4:12 tells us: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart”. True discipleship is possible when our emotions, intellect, and will submit to our spirit. Only then can we love with that love that has been poured out:
“God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).
Do we love with our human love or with the love of God poured into our hearts? To love with the love of God, self-denial is needed. The life and the love of Christ need to emerge from within and reach out to others. If I love with my human love I am no different from the non-believer. This self-denial and the ability to distinguish between soul and spirit brings us to prayer, to a particular method of prayer.
--------------------
Part 3 > > > Towards the Kingdom: Lent, Discipleship and Prayer Continue to Read > > >
© copyright R W
bsgbiblestudyguide@gmail.com
