如今，教会越来越认识到门徒训练的必要性。接下来，我想从路加福音中描述成为耶稣基督的门徒意味着什么。路加对门徒训练有一些有益的见解。前八章的重点是“耶稣是谁？”但第 9章发生了转变，彼得在圣灵的帮助下意识到耶稣并不是一连串先知和教师中的一位。彼得说：“你是神的基督” ——你是弥赛亚，是将神的统治力量带回世界以治愈和修复所有破碎的人——无论是精神、心理、社会还是身体。
从耶稣的身份被揭示的那一刻起，他就开始说：“跟我来。”如果他是他所说的那个人，那么跟他来意味着什么？成为耶稣基督的门徒意味着要设定新的优先事项，找到新的身份，并活出新的仁慈。这三者都至关重要；它们都是相辅相成的。让我们来看看。
设定新的优先事项
（1）成为门徒意味着要设定新的优先事项。在路加福音 9:57-62 中，耶稣遇到了三个渴望跟随他的人，他们都愿意跟随他。耶稣对他们的回答出人意料地直率。第一个人说：“无论你去哪里，我都会跟随你。”耶稣说：“狐狸有洞，天空的飞鸟有窝，但是人子却没有枕头的地方。”耶稣好像在说：“你刚才说的话没有错，但我发现你的话背后有一种错误的态度。你知道我是什么样的救世主吗？我不是那种团结选民、召集军队然后取得胜利的人。我是一个通过被定罪、通过死亡、通过让我的心破碎来拯救的救世主。让我们把这一点应用到你生活的一个方面：我看到你有一个家，一个不错的生活水平。你愿意把我放在这些之前吗？你愿意为我失去那些东西吗？”
然后耶稣对另外两个同样关心家人的人说话。一个人说：“我很乐意和你们一起去，但我必须先埋葬我的父亲。”另一个人说：“首先让我回去和我的家人告别。”为你的父亲举行葬礼或回去看望你的家人并没有错，但在这些请求背后，耶稣看到了一种错误的心态。他说：“我了解你。让你特意去参加你父亲的葬礼——或者回家——是个坏主意。我必须先来。”注意他们的语言。在这两种情况下，他们都说：“主啊，首先，让我来做这件事。”耶稣说，除了第一，没有别的。“我必须是你的第一要务。”这就是他说的：“手扶着犁向后看的人不配在神的国里服务。”
任何耕田的人都必须全神贯注于耕田。跟随耶稣也不例外，“我的门徒必须全神贯注于我。”顺便说一句，“适合天国”是一个不太恰当的翻译；那里的单词意思是“有用的”。你可能会认为他在说，“除非你完全投入，否则你没有资格进入我的天国。”当然，没有人有资格进入耶稣的天国。这全靠恩典。他说：除非取悦耶稣、像他、侍奉他、认识他是你的最高优先事项，否则神国的医治能力将不会流经你。你将不会成为它的有用载体。
第二句更隐晦：“让死人埋葬他们的死人。”显然，肉体死亡的人不能挖坟墓，所以第一个名词一定是指精神死亡。精神死亡意味着对精神现实的盲目和麻木不仁，就像肉体对物质现实的盲目和麻木不仁一样。你可能会说：“好吧，我相信耶稣，但我现在不能把他放在第一位。我有我的事业；我必须等到我父母去世，因为如果我成为一名基督徒，他们会不高兴……我知道他是谁，他做了什么，但我还不会把他放在第一位。总有一天我会的。”当有人说：“我理解基督教。我只是还没有准备好把它放在我生活的中心位置”，那么这个人真的还没有理解它！耶稣说：把任何东西放在我之前都会暴露出精神上的死亡。让死人埋葬他们的死人。如果你把你的父亲放在我之前，你的生活中就会有精神上的死亡。
严厉地谈论不是我的风格，但我害怕会掩盖耶稣信息中的敏感之处：让死人埋葬死人！回头看的人不配进神的国！狐狸有洞，鸟儿有巢……但是“我必须是你生命中的首要任务，否则你就不是门徒；如果你不把我放在你生命中的首位，那不是因为你懒惰、没有条理或没有纪律。不，你只是不明白！你真的不知道我是谁，我做了什么；你不明白我的生活和工作的意义。你需要醒悟！”
让我举个例子。1971 年，我听到了一场演讲，两个例子改变了我的生活。演讲者名叫芭芭拉·博伊德，她说：“如果有人对我说，‘进来吧，芭芭拉，但别进来，博伊德’，那就有点麻烦了，因为我无法区分他们。并不是说我的上半身是芭芭拉，下半身是博伊德。所以，如果你不想要博伊德，你就无法得到芭芭拉。如果你要把博伊德拒之门外，我就根本进不来！”她继续说：“如果说，‘耶稣，请进入我的生活，宽恕我的罪，回应我的祈祷；为我做这做那——但不要成为我生活的绝对主宰；耶稣，救世主，请进来；但主，请别进来’，他怎么可能进来呢？因为他是救世主，他是主。他是主，因为他是救世主。他是救世主，因为他是主。”
我记得她举的第二个例子：“如果地球和太阳之间的距离是 9200 万英里，像一张纸那么厚，那么我们银河系的直径就是一叠 310 英里高的纸。而我们银河系比我们能看见的宇宙部分中的一粒尘埃还要小。而宇宙的这一部分与整个宇宙相比可能只是一粒尘埃。如果耶稣是上帝之子，他用他话语的力量将这一切凝聚在一起，那么这就是你要求进入你生活、成为你私人助理的人吗？”然后她让我们所有人到外面去，一小时内什么也不说。“想想这对你意味着什么。”
她进一步阐述了耶稣的讯息：如果你理智上同意“是的，我认为耶稣可能是上帝之子；我认为他可能为我们的罪而死”，但他不是你生活的中心，那么你可能认为你明白了，但实际上你并不理解。这不仅仅是承诺或缺乏纪律的问题，还有精神上的麻木；你并没有真正看到它、理解它、领悟它。醒醒吧！
寻找新身份
(2) 门徒训练不只是让你的意志屈服于耶稣的意志，而是将你的心融化成一个全新的形状。门徒不是简单地设定新优先事项的人，而是找到新的身份。我们在路加福音 9:23-25 中看到了这一点。乍一看，第 23 节似乎只是设定新优先事项的另一种说法：“若有人要跟从我，就当舍己，天天背起他的十字架来跟从我。”但不仅仅如此。在闪族文献中，第二句和第三句经常重述第一句。这里第二句和第三句说：“因为，凡要救自己生命的，必丧掉生命；凡为我丧掉生命的，必救了生命。”生命这个词不是指肉体生命。有一个很好的希腊词来表示生命：bios，我们从中得到了生物学这个词。这里翻译为“生命”的希腊词是 psyche，意思是“自我”。他谈论的是心理的、内在的生命，非常激进。 “你拥有身份、获得自我意识的旧方式必须终结。从某种意义上说，你必须放弃它。我可以给你一个全新的身份。你会得到一个全新的真实自我。”
让我们更仔细地看一下。第 24 和 25 节表明了他没有说的话。他没有采取典型的东方或西方身份认同方法。在佛教中，最深层的启蒙意识是完全失去你是一个个体自我的感觉。你和其余现实之间的界限消失了。东方人通往谦卑、通往和平的道路实际上是失去个体自我的感觉。
但耶稣并没有止步于“我要你迷失自我”。他说，“迷失自我才能找到自我”，这意味着“我要你放弃旧的身份认同，获得新的个人自我意识。”他不是走东方路线。但他肯定也不是走西方路线。
WH Auden 写了一部名为《焦虑时代》的作品，讽刺了现代西方人对“寻找自我”的痴迷。其中有一句很棒的诗句：“我真是可怜又邪恶，我是多么有趣啊。”其他人也注意到，我们痴迷于寻找和满足自己最深切的渴望，这是人生中最重要的事情。耶稣说：“你永远无法通过努力寻找自己真正的自我来发现真正的自我。你必须在侍奉我的过程中迷失自我。”这句话似乎就是在说我们。有些事情只是副产品，身份就是其中之一。
“人就是赚得全世界有什么益处呢？”（9:25）。从世界获得东西是我们试图获得自我的正常方式。事实上，路加福音 9 章末尾的三个人就是例子。有些人说，除非你有一份收入丰厚的职业，否则你什么都不是。在更传统的文化中，人们说，除非你有家庭，否则你什么都不是。但耶稣说： “即使你得到了全世界，也不能给你一个稳定的自我。”他说： “如果你为我而失去自我……”换句话说， “不要试图通过获得东西来获得自我，而是把你生命中的一切都建立在我身上，建立在我是谁，我做过什么的基础上，那么最终你将拥有一个真正的、稳定的自我，因为你生来就是为了认识我。”
门徒不只是设定了新优先事项的人，而且是整个身份被重塑和锻造的人。但这怎么可能呢？
活出新的怜悯
（3） 设定新优先事项和找到新身份的关键在于活出新的怜悯。这在《路加福音》第 9 章中也很明显。耶稣正在前往耶路撒冷的路上，第 52 节说：“他先打发使者往撒玛利亚人的村庄去，为他预备东西，但那里的人不接待他。”他们拒绝了他。“门徒雅各、约翰看见，就说：‘主啊，你要我们叫火从天上降下来烧灭他们吗？’”
让我们试着理解他们。记住，有一位名叫以利亚的先知，他向那些试图逮捕他的士兵下火。在显圣山上，耶稣与以利亚和摩西一起出现在雅各和约翰面前。显圣的信息（路加福音 9:28-36）是耶稣比摩西和以利亚更伟大。
所以想想门徒的逻辑：你比以利亚更伟大。这些人拒绝了你，这比拒绝以利亚更糟糕。这更让神性蒙羞。我们难道不应该降下火来毁灭他们吗？
这将是世人可以理解的那种先知。但耶稣基督并没有责备不信的撒玛利亚人；他责备的是门徒！他绝对不是以利亚。如果他们仍然相信他比以利亚更伟大，你能想象他们会继续困惑吗？士兵们追赶耶稣，要杀死他——在伊甸园——他做了什么？他治愈了在一场小冲突中被割伤的耳朵。后来，士兵们把钉子钉进他的手里，他说了什么？父亲，原谅他们吧；他们真的不明白自己在做什么。
为什么火没有降在撒玛利亚人身上？降在士兵身上？答案在《路加福音》第 12 章，耶稣说：“我来是要把火带到地上，我巴不得这火早已着起来。”这很有意思，原因有二。一是，在圣经的比喻中，火总是意味着上帝的审判。其次，他说他来是要把火带到地上！这令人困惑，因为毕竟他刚刚拒绝了以利亚的烈火方法。啊！闪族文学：第二句是第一句话的重述；这才是他在《路加福音》12:49-50 中真正说的话：“我来是要把火带到地上，我巴不得这火早已着起来！但我有当受的洗礼，尚未完成，我是多么焦急啊！”他已经受过水的洗礼，所以他显然是在谈论别的事情。“我来是要把火带到地上。尚未完成，我是多么焦急啊。我来是要受洗，受洗之后我心是何等的难过。”为什么火没有落在撒玛利亚人身上，后来也没有落在士兵身上？因为火落在了他身上。他受了洗礼。他是沉浸在上帝审判中的人。他得到了我们应得的。这就是所有谜题的答案。
回顾过去，你会发现，当人们想要赎罪并得到宽恕时，他们会在祭坛上献祭，然后用火焚烧。我们内心有一种直觉说：“这还不足以消除罪恶。”没错。所有这些火都指向这团火。它没有降临在撒玛利亚人或士兵身上，因为它降临在耶稣基督身上。他来是为了接受它。他来是为了承受它。路加福音 9:22 说：“人子必须受许多苦，被人弃绝……第三天复活。”他们拒绝了他；他们不应该被拒绝吗？他是为了他们而被拒绝的。人子来是为了被拒绝和被杀。这是身份改变的秘密。你必须被融化、惊讶和震惊，因为他为你承受了火和惩罚。这是其他一切的关键。
原因如下：没有经历过彻底的怜悯、没有经历过彻底的恩典、没有经历过彻底的爱，你就无法改变你的身份。
我听过有人说：“你说得对。我可能应该改变我的身份，把我的身份建立在上帝身上。”但你不能只通过决定就改变你的身份。这不是意志行为。一个人不能只是说：“你知道，我的生活有问题，因为我的身份建立在父母的期望上。我想我应该把我的身份建立在我的事业和成就上。”你不能这么做！这不是转变；那是表演。你的心不是一台你可以安装一个程序的电脑。只有一种方法可以改变你性格的根源，那就是通过爱的体验。只有当你的心从一个前所未有的新源头体验到爱时，你的心才会开始向那个源头靠拢，并开始深刻地改变。
著名的苏格兰传教士托马斯·查默斯在其著名的布道《新感情的驱除力》中说得一清二楚：我们的任何习惯或缺点很少能通过推理或“仅仅凭借精神决心的力量”而消失。理性和意志力是不够的。“但无法摧毁的东西可能会被剥夺……要剥夺旧感情，唯一的办法就是借助新感情的驱除力。”例如，一个年轻人可能“不再崇拜享乐，但这只是因为财富的偶像变得更强大并占据了主导地位”，并使他能够约束自己，以求生意兴隆。“即使是对金钱的热爱也不再主宰人心”，如果人心被卷入另一个意识形态和政治世界，“他现在被对权力的热爱所主宰。”但是“在这些身份转变中，没有一种转变会使心灵失去目标。它对某个特定目标的渴望可能会被克服，但……它对某个绝对爱的目标的渴望是不可战胜的。”只有当我们“通过对耶稣基督的信仰成为上帝的孩子时，收养的精神才会倾注在我们身上。只有那时，心灵才会被一种伟大而主导的情感所控制，才会摆脱以前欲望的束缚，这是唯一可能获得解脱的方式。”因此，仅仅向你的灵魂展示一面“不完美的镜子”是不够的。仅仅训诫你的良心是不够的。相反，你必须“尝试每一种合法的方法，找到通往你心灵的途径，去爱那位比世界更伟大的人。”
除非你被耶稣为你承受烈火的奇妙景象、知识和感觉所融化，否则你无法实现身份的转变。你不能只是决定，“我想我要改变我的身份。”这不可能做到。这必须是一种爱的体验。
耶稣说，你的事业不能为你买到这一切。即使是最好的父母也不能给你这一切。“除了我，不要把你的心交给任何人。除了我，不要有任何其他的主人，因为我是唯一一个永远不会离开你的人，如果你辜负了我，我会原谅你。”
所以你必须三者兼备。你必须体验这种全新的、彻底的仁慈，这会引导你找到新的身份，进而帮助你设定新的优先事项。
成为门徒
请注意作为门徒的三件实际的事情。
首先，成为门徒不是一种选择。
耶稣说，如果有人要跟从我，就必须跟从我。如果你想跟从我——这是一个通用术语——如果你想要体验我，与我建立任何关系，你就必须成为一名门徒。基督徒不分两种：普通基督徒和真正的门徒。只有一种：成为基督徒就是成为门徒。与我有任何关系就是按照我定义的方式跟随我：设定新的优先事项，找到新的身份，体验新的仁慈生活。
其次，虽然这不是一个选择，但从另一方面来说，这是一段旅程。
路加在修辞上非常出色地指出了这一点。在第 51 节中，耶稣开始前往耶路撒冷。这是耶稣的门徒之旅，“他定意向耶路撒冷走去。”从他开始走向十字架的那一刻起，他就开始教导门徒。接下来的九章，所有关于门徒的教导，都是在他踏上旅程时进行的。路加用这种方式来表达门徒是一段旅程。换句话说，一方面，有一个决定性的点。你必须离开。你走了吗？踏上旅程意味着说：“我不再管自己的生活。”踏上旅程意味着说：“我放弃自我决定的权利。”踏上旅程意味着说：“主啊，我会服从你，我会摆脱所有的如果。不是“我会服从你的如果”，而是服从。句号。我放弃我的条件。我放弃如果；它们都消失了！”直到你说了这句话，你的旅程才算开始。然而，在你决定开始之后，事实仍然是，这是一段旅程。这是一个需要时间的过程。你不可能把一切都做好。记住这一点非常重要，因为如果你认为做门徒是你得救的途径——通过忠诚、专注和把耶稣放在首位，你就会取悦上帝，从而让你得救——你就错过了重点。看看顺序。他没有说，“如果你跟随我，我会为你上十字架。”他说，“我会为你上十字架，所以跟我来。”你得救不是因为你是门徒；只有当你明白他为拯救你做了什么，你才是门徒。
最后还有一件事。真正的、不断成长的福音门徒的标志是他们的温柔。
这段经文的核心真正让我惊讶的是，门徒说：“我们要向你们表明我们对你们有多么忠诚。看看那些拒绝你们的人。你们不想让我们把火烧死吗？！”耶稣怎么说？“你不明白。”原因如下。
我的经验是，任何宗教、哲学或政治事业的忠实信徒都会对自己和他人很严厉。他们都致力于事业，那么你为什么不致力于事业呢？你们都应该致力于事业；你们出了什么问题？但福音完全不同。你对自己和福音越严厉，对别人就越宽容。耶稣基督说：我的门徒不是恐怖分子。我的门徒知道他们因恩典而得救，所以当他们看到那些做错事的人时，他们不会说，“为什么你们不像我们一样好？为什么你们不像我们一样忠诚？”他们不会叫火从天而降。耶稣对他的门徒说：你们还不明白。你们还没有经历身份的转变，因为你们还不明白我的怜悯。你不知道我为你们做了什么，因为你们还不知道，但总有一天你们会知道的。这些门徒可能是种族主义者；注意这一点：他们正在呼唤火来对付混血撒玛利亚人。许多以色列人做了很多事情来拒绝耶稣，但这是他的追随者第一次希望火来。也许有种族主义；肯定有自以为是。优越感、偏执、尖刻、严厉——你越成为门徒，它们就会消失。当你意识到耶稣为你承受了火，当它成为你心中的核心时，它们就会消失。这表明你不仅仅是在试图拯救自己，不仅仅是在信教。
你变得更温柔了吗？更宽容了吗？对周围的人更宽容了吗？更仁慈了吗？跟随耶稣吧。他会给你你所需要的一切。他是一位出色的顾问。一个人走过来说：“无论你去哪里，我都愿意跟随你。”耶稣说：“回家好好想想吧。”另一个人说：“我想回家好好想想。”耶稣说：“跟我来。”为什么？因为他是完美的顾问。所有其他的咨询理论与他的理论相比都显得平淡无奇，因为他从不给你一个模板。他给你的正是你所需要的。跟随他，他会独一无二地爱你。他会爱真实的你，爱你变成一个全新的你。他会给你你所需要的一切。
蒂姆·凯勒博士于 2003 年 2 月 9 日在纽约救赎主长老教会发表的布道。由 CS 刘易斯研究所编辑和转录。
关于传教士：蒂莫西·凯勒博士出生并成长于宾夕法尼亚州，毕业于巴克内尔大学、戈登康维尔神学院和威斯敏斯特神学院。他最初是弗吉尼亚州霍普韦尔的一名牧师。1989 年，他与妻子凯西和他们的三个儿子在曼哈顿创办了救赎主长老教会。如今，救赎主教会拥有五项礼拜仪式的五千多名常客，还有许多子教会，并且正在世界各地的大城市建立教会。他是《国王十字》（论马可福音）、《假神》、《浪子神》 （论路加福音第 15 章）、《纽约时报》畅销书《上帝的理由》和即将出版的《中心教会》 （2012 年 8 月）的作者。
(google translate from:https://lifecoach4god.life/2012/05/11/tim-keller-on-the-call-to-discipleship/)
There is a growing recognition in churches today about the need for discipleship. In what follows I would like to describe, from the Gospel of Luke, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Luke has some helpful insights about discipleship. The first eight chapters are focused on “who is Jesus?” But there’s a shift in chapter 9, where Peter with the help of the Holy Spirit realizes that Jesus is not one more in a succession of prophets and teachers. Peter says, “You are the Christ of God” – you are the Messiah, the one who is bringing the ruling power of God back into the world to heal and repair all the brokenness—whether it’s spiritual, psychological, social, or physical.
From the time Jesus’ identity is revealed, he begins to say, “Follow me.” If he is who he says he is, what does it mean to follow him? Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means setting a new priority, finding a new identity, and living a new mercy. All three are critical; they all fit together. Let’s look at them.
Setting a New Priority
(1) Being a disciple means setting a new priority. In Luke 9:57–62 Jesus meets three eager men, all willing to follow him. Jesus’ responses to them are surprisingly blunt. The first man says, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus says, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” It’s as if Jesus is saying, “There’s nothing wrong with what you just said, but I discern a wrong attitude underneath your statement. Do you know what kind of Savior I am? I’m not the kind that rallies constituents, pulls together armies, and then triumphs. I am a Savior who saves through being condemned, through dying, through giving my heart to be broken. Let’s apply this to one area of your life: I see that you have a home, a nice standard of living. Are you willing to put me before that? Are you willing to lose those things for me?”
Then Jesus addresses two other men, similarly concerned with their families. One says, “I’d love to come with you, but first I have to bury my father.” The other says, “First let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” There is nothing wrong with having a funeral for your father or going back to see your family, but behind these requests Jesus sees a wrong attitude of heart. He’s saying, “I know you. For you specifically to go to your father’s funeral—or back home—would be a bad idea. I must come first.” Notice their language. In both cases they say, “Lord, first, let me do this.” Jesus says there can’t be any but first. “I must be your first priority.” That’s what he means when he says: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Anyone who plows a field must be completely focused on plowing. And following Jesus is no different, “My disciple has to be utterly focused on me.” By the way, “fit for the kingdom” is an unfortunate translation; the word there means “useful.” You might think he’s saying, “Unless you’re totally committed, you don’t qualify for my kingdom.” Of course no one qualifies for Jesus’ kingdom. It’s all by grace. He’s saying: Unless delighting Jesus, resembling him, serving him, and knowing him is your highest priority, the healing power of the kingdom of God will not be flowing through you. You will not be a useful vehicle for it.
The second and more cryptic line is, “Let the dead bury their own dead.” Obviously physically dead people can’t dig graves, so the first noun must refer to the spiritually dead. To be spiritually dead means to be as blind and insensitive to spiritual reality as a physical body is to physical reality. You may be saying, “Well, I believe in Jesus, but I can’t put him first right now. I’ve got my career; I’ve got to wait till my parents die, because they would be unhappy if I became a Christian . . . I see who he is and what he’s done, but I’m not going to put him first just yet. Someday I will.” When someone says, “I understand Christianity. I’m just not ready to put it at the central place in my life,” then that person really doesn’t understand it yet! Jesus says: Putting anything before me reveals spiritual deadness. Let the dead bury their dead. If you put your father before me, there’s a spiritual deadness in your life.
Talking this harshly is not my style, but I’m afraid to mute the smelling–salts-ness of Jesus’ message: Let the dead bury the dead! No one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God! Foxes have holes, birds have nests . . . But “I have to be the first priority in your life, or you’re not a disciple; if you don’t put me first in your life, it’s not that you’re just uncommitted or lazy, disorganized or undisciplined. No, you just don’t get it! You don’t really see who I am and what I’ve done; you don’t understand the meaning of my life and work. You need to wake up!”
Let me illustrate. In 1971 I heard a talk—two illustrations—that changed my life. The woman who gave the talk, named Barbara Boyd, said, “If somebody says to me, ‘Come on in, Barbara, but stay out, Boyd,’ it’s a bit of a problem, because I can’t separate them. It’s not like the top half of me is Barbara, and the bottom half of me is Boyd. So if you won’t have Boyd, you can’t get Barbara. If you’re going to keep the Boyd out, I can’t come in at all!” She continued: “To say, ‘Jesus, come into my life, forgive my sins, answer my prayers; do this for me, do that for me—but don’t be the absolute master of my life; Jesus, Savior, come in; but Lord, stay out,’ how can he come in at all? Because he’s all Savior, and he’s all Lord. He’s Lord because he’s Savior. He’s Savior because he’s Lord.”
I remember her second illustration: “If the distance between the Earth and the sun, which is 92 million miles, was the thickness of a piece of paper, the diameter of our galaxy would be a stack of papers 310 miles high. And our galaxy is less than a speck of dust in the part of the universe that we can see. And that part of the universe might just be a speck of dust compared to all the universe. And if Jesus is the Son of God who holds all this together with the power of his word, is this the kind of person you ask into your life to be your personal assistant?” Then she asked us all to go outside and for one hour say nothing. “Just think about what this means to you.”
She was expanding on Jesus’ message: If you intellectually assent, “Yes, I think Jesus is probably the Son of God; I think he probably died for our sins,” but he is not the center of your life, then you may think you understand, but you really don’t. It’s not just a matter of commitment or lack of discipline, there’s spiritual deadness; you don’t really see it, understand it, get it. Wake yourself up!
Finding a New Identity
(2) Discipleship is not just a matter of bending your will to Jesus’ will; it’s melting your heart into a whole new shape. A disciple is not someone who simply sets a new priority; a disciple finds a new identity. We see this in Luke 9:23–25. At first sight verse 23 looks like it’s just another way of saying set a new priority: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” But there’s more to it than that. In Semitic literature, the second and third sentences often restate the first. And here the second and third sentences say, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me will save it.” The word life is not the word for physical life. There’s a good Greek word for that: bios, from which we get our word biology. The Greek word that’s translated “life” here is psyche, meaning “self.” He’s talking—pretty radically—about the psychological, inner life. “Your old way of having an identity, of gaining a sense of self, has got to end. In a sense you have to die to it. And I can give you a whole new identity. You’ll get a whole new true self.”
Let’s look at this more closely. Verses 24 and 25 show what he’s not saying. He’s not taking the typical Eastern or Western approach to identity. In Buddhism the deepest consciousness of enlightenment is losing all sense that you are an individual self. The boundaries between you and the rest of reality disappear. The Eastern way to humility, to peace, is to actually lose the sense of an individual self.
But Jesus doesn’t stop at, “I want you to lose yourself.” He says, “Lose yourself to find yourself,” which means, “I want you to die to your old approach to identity, and get a new sense of individual self.” He’s not going the Eastern way. But he’s sure not going the Western way either.
W. H. Auden wrote a work called The Age of Anxiety in which he satirizes the modern Western obsession with “finding yourself.” In it there’s a great line that reads: “Miserable wicked me, / How interesting I am.” Others have also noted our obsession with finding and fulfilling your deepest desires as the main thing you’re supposed to do in life. It almost seems that Jesus has us in mind when he says, “You’re never going to find out who you really are by trying to find out who you really are. You’re going to have to lose yourself in serving me.” Some things happen only as a byproduct, and identity is one of them.
“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world?” (9:25). Gaining things from the world is the normal way we try to get a self. In fact, the three men at the end of Luke 9 are examples of this. Some people say you’re nobody unless you have a lucrative career. People in more traditional cultures say you’re nobody unless you have a family. But Jesus is saying, “If you get the whole world, it cannot give you a stable self.” He says, “If you lose yourself for me . . .” In other words, “Instead of trying to gain a self by gaining things, build everything in your life on me, on who I am, on what I have done, then finally you’ll have a true self that is stable, because you were built to know me.”
A disciple is not only someone who has set a new priority, but someone whose entire identity has been reshaped and forged. But how is that possible?
Living a New Mercy
(3) The key to setting a new priority and finding a new identity is in living a new mercy. And this is also evident in Luke 9. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and, it says in verse 52, “He sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him.” They rejected him. “When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?’”
Let’s try to understand them. Remember that there was a prophet, named Elijah, who called down fire upon some soldiers who were seeking to arrest him. And on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus had appeared—to James and John—with Elijah and Moses. The message of the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28–36) was that Jesus was even greater than Moses and Elijah.
So think of the logic of the disciples: You’re greater than Elijah. These people have rejected you, and that’s even worse than rejecting Elijah. That adds even more effrontery to the godhead. Shall we not bring down fire and destroy them?
This would be the kind of prophet the world can relate to. But Jesus Christ doesn’t rebuke the unbelieving Samaritans; he rebukes the disciples! He is the absolute un-Elijah. Can you imagine their continued perplexity if they still believe he’s greater than Elijah? The soldiers come after Jesus to kill him—in the Garden—and what does he do? He heals an ear that was cut during a skirmish. Later on, the soldiers are pounding nails into his hands, and what does he say? Father, forgive them; they really don’t understand what they’re doing.
Why doesn’t fire come down on the Samaritans? On the soldiers? The answer comes in Luke 12, where Jesus says, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.” That’s very interesting for two reasons. One is that fire, in biblical imagery, always means the judgment of God. Second, he says he comes to bring fire on the earth! This is perplexing because, after all, he has just rejected Elijah’s fiery approach. Ah! Semitic literature: the second sentence is a restatement of the first; this is what he actually says, in Luke 12:49–50: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!” He’s already been baptized with water, so he’s clearly talking about something else. “I’ve come to bring fire. How constrained I am until it’s completed. I have come to undergo a baptism, how crushed I am until it’s over.” Why didn’t the fire come down on the Samaritans or later on the soldiers? Because the fire came down on him. He was baptized. He was the one immersed in the judgment of God. He got what we deserved. This is the answer to all the riddles.
Look back over the years, and you will see that when people want to atone for their sins and be forgiven, they put a sacrifice on the altar and burn it with fire. There’s something inside us that intuitively says, “That can’t be enough to put away sins.” That’s right. All those fires were pointing to this fire. It didn’t come down on the Samaritans or the soldiers, because it came down on Jesus Christ. He came to take it. He came to bear it. Luke 9:22 says, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected . . . and on the third day be raised to life.” They rejected him; shouldn’t they be rejected? He’s rejected for them. The Son of Man came to be rejected and to be killed. This is the secret to the change of identity. You have to be melted and amazed and astounded that he took the fire, the punishment, for you. And that’s the key to everything else.
Here’s the reason: You cannot change your identity without a radical experience of mercy; without a radical experience of grace; without a radical experience of love.
I’ve heard people say, “You’re right. I probably should change my identity, build my identity on God.” But you can’t change your identity by just deciding. It’s not an act of the will. A person can’t just say, “You know, I’m having a problem in my life because I built my identity on my parents’ expectations. I think I’ll build my identity on my career and accomplishments.” You can’t do that! That’s not transformation; that’s acting. Your heart is not a computer in which you can just install a program. There’s only one way that the root of your personality can be changed, and that is by an experience of love. Only when your heart experiences love from a new source beyond anything it’s ever known before will your heart start to move toward that source, and begin to be deeply changed.
Thomas Chalmers, the well-known Scottish preacher, in his famous sermon, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection,” says it all: Seldom do any of our habits or flaws disappear by a process of extinction through reasoning or “by the mere force of mental determination.” Reason and willpower are not enough. “But what cannot be destroyed may be dispossessed… The only way to dispossess [the heart] of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.” A young man, for example, may “cease to idolize pleasure, but it is only because the idol of wealth has become the stronger and gotten the ascendancy,” and is enabling him to discipline himself for prosperous business. “Even the love of money ceases to have the mastery over the heart” if it’s drawn into another world of ideology and politics, “and he is now lorded over by the love of power.” But “there is not one of these [identity] transformations in which the heart is left without an object. Its desire for one particular object may be conquered, but . . . its desire for having some one object” of absolute love “is unconquerable.” It is only when admitted “into the number of God’s children through the faith that is in Jesus Christ [that] the spirit of adoption is poured out upon us. It is then that the heart, brought under the mastery of one great and predominate affection, is delivered from the tyranny of its former desires, in the only way that deliverance is possible.” So it isn’t enough to hold out a “mirror of its imperfections” to your soul. It’s not enough to lecture your conscience. Rather, you must “try every legitimate method of finding access to your hearts for the love of him who is greater than the world.”
Until you’re melted by the amazing sight, knowledge, and sense of Jesus taking the fire for you, you can’t have that transformation of identity. You can’t just decide, “I think I’m going to change my identity.” It can’t be done. It has to be an experience of love.
Jesus is saying that your career can’t buy it for you. Even the best parents can’t give it to you. “Don’t give the title deed of your heart to anyone but me. Don’t have any other master but me, because I’m the only one that will never leave you, and if you fail me, will forgive you.”
So you have to have all three. There must be an experience of this new, radical mercy, which leads you to find a new identity, which in turn helps you set a new priority.
Being a Disciple
Notice three practical things about being a disciple.
First, discipleship is not an option.
Jesus says that if anyone would come after me, he must follow me. If you want to come after me—it’s a general term—if you want to have any experience of me, any relationship with me, you have to be a disciple. There are not two kinds of Christians: regular Christians and people who are really disciples. There’s only one: to be a Christian is to be a disciple. To have anything to do with me is to follow me in the way I define it: setting a new priority, finding a new identity, experiencing living out of a new mercy.
Second, having said that it’s not an option—on the other hand, it is a journey.
It’s rhetorically brilliant of Luke to note this. In verse 51 Jesus sets out on a journey toward Jerusalem. It’s Jesus’ journey of discipleship, “He sets his face to go to Jerusalem.” And it’s from the moment he begins his journey toward the cross that he begins all his teaching about discipleship. All the next nine chapters, all the teaching on discipleship, comes as he’s going on a journey. This is Luke’s way of saying that discipleship is a journey. In other words, on the one hand, there is a decisive point. You have to leave. Have you left? To go on the journey means saying, “I take my hands off my life.” To go on the journey means saying, “I give up my right to self-determination.” To go on the journey means saying, “I will obey you, Lord, and I’ll get rid of all the if’s. Not “I’ll obey you if,” but obey. Period. “I drop my conditions. I drop the if’s; they’re gone!” Not until you say that have you begun the journey. However, after your decisive beginning, the fact remains that it’s a journey. It’s a process that takes time. You’re not going to have it all together. It’s very important to keep that in mind, because if you think that discipleship is the way you’re saved—that by being committed and focused and giving Jesus the priority you’re going to please God and that will get you saved—you’re missing the point. Look at the order. He doesn’t say, “If you follow me, I’ll go to the cross for you.” He says, “I’m going to the cross for you, so follow me.” You’re not saved because you’re a disciple; you’re a disciple if and only if you understand what he has done to save you.
There is one last thing. The sign of true, growing, gospel disciples is their gentleness.
What really amazes me about the heart of this passage is that the disciples say, “We’re going to show you how intensely committed we are to you. Look at those people rejecting you. Don’t you want us to bring fire down on them?!” And what does Jesus say? “You don’t get it.” And here’s why.
My experience is that committed disciples of any religion, philosophy, or political cause are hard on themselves and on other people too. They’re committed to the cause, so why aren’t you committed to the cause? You should all be committed to the cause; what’s the matter with you? But the gospel is utterly different. The harder you are on yourself and the gospel, the easier you are on other people. Jesus Christ is saying: My disciples are not terrorists. My disciples know they’re saved by grace, so when they look at people who aren’t doing it right, they don’t say, “Why aren’t you as good as we are? Why aren’t you as committed as we are?” They don’t call fire down from heaven. Jesus says to his disciples: You don’t understand yet. You haven’t had the transformation of identity, because you don’t yet understand my mercy. You don’t know what I’ve done for you, because as yet you can’t, but someday you will. These disciples are probably racist; notice this: they’re calling down fire on the half-breed Samaritans. A lot of Israelites have done a lot of things to reject Jesus, but this is the first time any of his followers wanted fire to come down. Perhaps there’s racism; there’s definitely self-righteousness. Superiority, bigotry, stridency, harshness—they go away, the more you become a disciple. They go away as you become aware that Jesus took the fire for you, as it becomes more central in your heart. And that’s a sign that you’re not just trying to save yourself, not just being religious.
Are you becoming more gentle? More tolerant? More gracious with people around you? More kind? Follow Jesus. He’ll give you what you need. He’s a wonderful counselor. One guy comes and says, “I’m ready to follow you wherever you go.” Jesus says, “Go home and think about it.” Another guy says, “I want to go home and think about it.” Jesus says, “Follow me.” Why? Because he’s the perfect counselor. All other counseling theories look flat next to his, because he never gives you a template. He gives you exactly what you need. Follow him, and he will love you singularly. He will love the real you, and love you into a whole new identity. He will give you exactly what you need.
Sermon by Dr. Tim Keller given February 9, 2003, at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York. Edited and transcribed by the C.S. Lewis Institute.
About the Preacher: DR. TIMOTHY KELLER was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He was first a pastor in Hopewell, Virginia. In 1989 he started Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan with his wife, Kathy, and their three sons. Today, Redeemer has more than five thousand regular attendees at five services, a host of daughter churches, and is planting churches in large cities throughout the world. He is the author of King’s Cross (on the Gospel of Mark), Counterfeit God’s, The Prodigal God (on Luke 15), the New York Times bestseller The Reason for God & the forthcoming Center Church (August 2012).
link: https://lifecoach4god.life/2012/05/11/tim-keller-on-the-call-to-discipleship/
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