Sheep Feeding

I came across a quote from C S Lewis' book Letters to Malcolm in Richard Foster's book on prayer  "Jesus told Peter,  'feed my sheep,' not 'try experiments on my lab rats.'"

How true!  Pastors often forget what a pastor is. Basically, we are keepers of the sheep. 

We are called to feed them, care for them,  help them.  We are not called upon to drive them like a team of horses,  or experiment on them like guinea pigs, or to use them as fertilizer by a leader to grow a church.  We are called to care for the sheep God has given us.

Pastors frequently come down with the disease of "holy ambition."  I say "holy" because that is how Christians leader typically excuse their own ambition.  If we want a bigger church,  we can justify it as winning the lost.  If we want a big career with lots of followers, we can justify it as utilizing our gifts.  If we want to remake the church as images of our own egocentric vision, we are just fulfilling our call.  It's easy for us assume that the people we serve exist for the purpose of serving our purposes and not theirs.

But Jesus didn't call us to feed sheep.  To me, that means two things.

First we are called to acknowledge that the people we serve in our churches are  our flock, and not our servants.

Suppose you had a dog, but you decided you wanted cat.  You could staple whiskers on him, stick him in a tree, and teach him to say "meow"  it would not be a cat. It is by nature a dog. 

No amount of training will make lambs into lions.  Only God can do that.

Sheep do not have a purpose in life beyond being sheep. They will give their wool, but they are not treated like cattle or hunting dogs.  Most of all to be left alone in green pastures and still waters.

But what about the Great Commission (some will say)?  Jesus called us to go into the world and make disciples--that is, sheep of Jesus.  The Great Commission is not a call to build our own kingdoms, but to introduce people to the true, good Shepherd.  Church leaders will seldom lay down their lives for the sheep, but often leave the flock at the first hint that things may not go their way.  But the Good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep, whether or not they do what He says.  He doesn't leave because some bigger flock is calling. 

Second, our job is to feed them that means to preach, teach, minister, and visit for their benefit, not for the benefit of others.

If we want to know what sheep need, look in the Bible.    In  Psalm 23, one of God's sheep lets us know what the Good Shepherd ought to do.

• I shall not want--The shepherd has my needs and wants in mind.  I have security,  knowing that the shepherd is doing his best to provide my needs and wants.

• He leads me in green pastures and still waters--the food he gives is pleasant and easily accessible. I don't have to work hard to get it.  He lays it out clearly and easily.
• He leads me in righteousness--He keeps me from straying the wrong way.  He doesn't let me go to far up the mountain, so I  lose my fooding, nor does he let me stray into the valley, where I can be devoured, but he keeps me on the straight an d narrow.  Step by step, he shows me the right path through life.
• He keeps me from fear--when I am in scary places in life,  He walks with me.  He doesn't take the danger from me, but he defends me and comforts me when I am in danger.
• He assists in my healing.  Anointing oil is medicine. Is presence is medicine to me,  and comforts me in trouble. 

• He uses his rod and staff.  He's not always gentle, but if I need it, he can give me a lashing.  More often, though he draws me back from danger, not drives me away.

• He stands with me in danger.  He recognizes that I live in a dangerous world, but he teaches me not to be afraid.  Instead, gives me valuable advice to sustain me in the rough patches of life.
• He takes me to my final destination. Nothing about the journey matters if I wind up in the wrong place.  Thanks to the Shepherd, I am going to make it home safely.  That’s what shepherds are for.

Feed God's sheep. Don't drive them, don't beat them, don't use them. Let God take care of them, they way He takes care of you. 

Meat and Milk: Spiritual Formation in Mature Believers, Part 2

This is the second part of a three part post taken from a lecture in the Voices of New Life Series.  If you haven't seen the first one, you might look at it before reading this one. 

Modern Stages of the Christian Life

Modern discipleship differs from that of the ancient church in two significant places.  First, baptism is either performed in infancy or at conversion, not after an extended period of catechesis.  Because catechesis is performed either before baptism or not at all, many are baptized who never grasp the full significance of the faith, or the duties that are connected to the faith.  Second, when actual training is done, it is presumed to be complete in a relatively short period of time.  The contemporary church has programs for study and enrichment, but they are generally without a formal goal or direction.  Seekers, learners, and disciples learn together with the same material.  As a result, the seekers often are at a loss to understand what is happening, while the mature believers find it difficult to stay alert.  It is a “one-size-fits-all” approach to discipleship.

Modern church discipleship, when it is attempted at all, is a relatively short-term process, aimed at developing productive believers who serve the institutional church We hurry disciples though the steps at a pace the early church would consider insanely fast, turning out like-minded believers like cars off an assembly line.

One of the best and most effective examples of modern Christian discipleship comes from Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Church.[16]  Warren uses a baseball diamond model to illustrate his church’s disciple making process.  The bases represent knowing Christ, growing in Christ, Serving Christ, and Sharing Christ.  Moving through these four stages usually takes about two years.  Sharing Christ is the final stage and the apex of spiritual maturity.  At the end, the mature Christians are expected to evangelize and disciple others, and keep the chain going.

The Navigators, perhaps the best known and the most effective discipleship ministry in the contemporary church, has a wide variety of excellent materials for discipleship and Bible study.  Fruitfulness, in the form of making disciples, is generally considered the end of the discipleship road.  Lorne Sandy, former president of the Navigators, listed the three stages of Christian discipleship as Identified with Christ, Obedient to Christ, and Fruitful in Christ.[17]

Campus Crusade for Christ, founded by Bill Bright in 1951, uses eleven “transferable concepts”—“How to be sure you are a Christian,” “Experience God’s Love and Forgiveness,” “Be filled with the Spirit,” “Walk in the Spirit,” “Be a fruitful witness,” “Introduce others to Christ,” “Fulfill the Great Commission,” “Love by faith,” “Pray with Confidence,” “Experience the joy of giving,” and “Study the Bible effectively.”  Two transferrable concepts deal with assurance of salvation, two with the Holy Spirit, three with sharing, two with prayer and Bible study, one with love and one with stewardship.[18]  Each book is intended to be used in one or two weeks, for a total of between eleven and twenty-two weeks of discipleship—about six months.

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has a four week Christian life and Witness course.  The final lesson of this course focuses on sharing the faith. [19]

Let us put Warren et. al. into the same rubric as the others.

Table 5.  Stages of Christian life with contemporary examples

	Repentance	New Birth		Eternity
1 John 2	Children	Young Men		Fathers
1 Cor 3	Carnal			Spiritual
Mapping	Seeker	Servant		Settler
3rd C. Church	Seeker	Learner	Kneeler	Disciple
Warren et. al.	Knowing	Growing	Serving	Sharing

The last line of the chart demonstrates the difference between the modern evangelical understanding of Christian discipleship and the Biblical/historic/traditional understanding of discipleship.  Generally speaking, the discipleship of the evangelical church is directed at training people to share Christ and build up the immature believer.  Looking it in human terms, it would be like saying that the purpose of human existence is to have more babies.  While this is certainly a part of why we are here, that cannot be all.

This modern formula of spiritual formation is reflexive—that is, it is focused backwards upon itself.  We are not just called to make more disciples, but to make better ones.  If we only focus on the process of making more, and do not focus also on the process of making better disciples, then the quality of Christian discipleship will necessarily erode over time, and the church becomes more shallow and less effective.

The ancient church apparently believed that something more was necessary.  The mature disciples were trained in ways that were not even shared with the young.  Something was being passed down from mature believer to mature believer that was not part of the process of sharing.

This statement is not intended to suggest that the early church did not evangelize, or that we should not evangelize.  On the contrary we most emphatically should!  Nor am I suggesting that programs such as Warren’s, Billy Graham’s, and the Navigators’ are wrong or need to be corrected in their discipleship of new believers.  If there is a deficiency today, it is in the church’s deficiency to fully consider what mature discipleship entails.  It requires more than faith sharing, more tithing, more even than becoming good church members.  True discipleship means a whole life change and the maintenance of spiritual health for a lifetime.

The irony of our modern emphasis on making new members is that it has not worked.  No matter how much effort we put into evangelistic methods, the majority of our people never spiritually reproduce.  Even a highly effective evangelistic church draws more believers than unbelievers.  Christians who are supposed to be mature still cannot and do not share Christ.

The reason for our failure is not that we have not been told to share Christ, but that we have been told little else.  God requires Christians to press on to a deeper maturity.  In the Great Commission Jesus said:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."[20]

Going, making disciples, and baptizing are the first three stages of a four-stage process which also involves teaching people to behave like Jesus.  Our goal is not simply to produce new disciples but to produce better disciples—fully incorporated into the Body of Christ, trained to live as Christians, aware of the presence of God in their lives and capable of standing until the end of their age.

Meat and Milk: Spiritual Formation in Mature Believers, Part 1

Note: this is an article I am completing for a lecture series at New Life Seminary called Voices of New Life.  I am putting it out on my blog to get comments and reactions.  Please feel free to read and comment on it.  I welcome your opinions.

Introduction

The Christian walk of the Spirit is not easy to define or track.  No two people ever have the same spiritual journey, nor do they arrive at the same place in exactly the same way or the same time.  Our individual faith journeys are as unique as fingerprints or snowflakes.  We follow unique trajectories like water drops over a curved glass.  Nevertheless, there are enough similarities of experience among Christian Believers that a general path of spiritual formation may be described.  We all start in carnality and flow heavenward, following the path of grace and redemption.  Our similarities make it possible to help one another along the way.

The purpose of this study is first to trace that track of spiritual maturity from initial conversion to spiritual maturity using Biblical, historical and contemporary patterns.  This author hopes to demonstrate that Christian discipleship is often ignored by the contemporary church, and when it is practiced it focuses only on the initial stages of Christian growth—milk, not meat.  Then we will attempt to develop a model of spirituality that will adjust to the changing challenges of living out a mature spirituality in an increasingly challenging world.  It is this author’s hope that this model will assist us all to continually grow and strengthen our relationship to God through a lifetime spiritual journey.

Biblical Stages of Christian maturity

The New Testament shows at least two passages which clearly indicate stages of Christian maturity.  One is found in 1 John 2:12-14.  John mentions three stages of the Believers’ lives—children, young men, and fathers.

12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.

14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.[1]

John repeats the phrase “I write to you” six times.  The use of “because” (hoti) may also be rendered “that,” which would suggest that what follows is not the reason he is writing, but the subject.  “I write to you that you have known the father.  .  .” and so forth.  John is writing these words as a reminder to the church of what they need to know in these particular stages of Christian maturity.

Children should know the Father and that He has forgiven their sins.  Young men should know that they have already overcome the Evil One, are strong, and have the Word of God.  Fathers should continue to remember the One they already known from the beginning of their spiritual walk.

In the first instance, John uses the word teknia for “little children,” a word which he uses in other places for all Christians.[2]  We all know the Father.  In the second instance, he uses paideia, which means “infants,” specifically referring to those who are new Christians.[3]

“Young men” in Greek is neaniskoi, which literally means “new men.”  Culturally it might be used for a man up to the age of forty, someone who has attained some aspects of maturity, but not others.  A young person is on the way to maturity, but not fully arrived.[4]

Neaniskoi have proven themselves strong in the faith.  They have overcome Satan and have the Word of God living in them.  However, their hardest days are ahead of them.  Only now are they beginning to understand how difficult the Christian walk can be in a world of temptation and hostility.

“Fathers” have reached both reproductive and emotional maturity.[5]  They are involved in some aspect Christian service.  They are capable of sharing their faith and discipling others.  They can bear the burdens of others, while bearing their own.  Even so, they have to be reminded to stay in a relationship with God.  The first truth is the last truth—fathers must know God, as they did when they were children.

Table 1.  Stages of Christian life, 1 John 2

Repentance	New Birth                                                                                      Eternity
Children	Young Men	Fathers

In 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 Paul refers to two stages of the Christian life.

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.  Indeed, you are still not ready.  You are still worldly.  For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?  Are you not acting like mere men?  For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?[6]

In this passage, the two kinds of Christians are carnal and spiritual.  The carnal, or “babes in Christ” in Greek are the neepioi—a term also used figuratively for the simple-minded or immature.[7]  These neepioi are contrasted with the pneumatikos, or “spiritual”, who are the mature believers whose orientation is towards the Spirit and away from self.

The carnal believer attempts to live in two worlds with two sets of values.  As a result, the carnal believer does not do justice to either.  The carnal believer knows Christ, and the central teachings of the Gospel, but the focus of the carnal believer is on himself or herself.  This leads to jealousy and strife within the church.

Paul describes the carnal believer as living on the milk of the Word, not the meat.  Spiritual “milk” refers to teaching designed for elementary believers, which would include the basics of salvation, rudimentary doctrine, and elementary instruction in spiritual disciplines and moral behavior.  The carnal believer is not ready for advanced doctrinal or theological instruction, for advanced teaching in prayer and fasting, or for dealing with ethical dilemmas beyond his understanding.

Milk is essentially predigested food.  Just as a mother breaks down complex proteins and carbohydrates into an easily digestible, uniform liquid for infants, so have teachers and preachers already done the hard work of study, interpretation, and application.  They break down complex doctrines, simplify Bible study, and smooth out thorny commandments into simple rules.  Spiritual milk is nourishing but incomplete, containing what infants need to survive, but not what young men and fathers need to maintain mature health.  In time, the carnal believer will grow tired of this, but only when she ceases being carnal and becomes spiritual.

The relationship between John’s stages and Paul’s stages may be seen in table 2 below.  John and Paul cover similar ground.  Both divide Christians into mature and immature groups.  Reliance upon God is the necessary knowledge that leads to maturity.

Table 2.  John’s and Paul’s stages of Christian life

	Repentance	New Birth	Eternity
1 John 2	Children	Young Men	Fathers
1 Cor 3	Carnal		Spiritual

In the book, Mapping the Christian Life, there is a similar division discerned from a study of the psalms of degrees—Psalms 120-134.  The book lays out five divisions of the Christian life.  The first three stages parallel the stages found in John and Paul.  They are Seekers, Servants, and Settlers.

The Seeker stage begins with disillusionment with the world.  Seekers have discovered that the world they have known is not what it appears.  Like Neo in the film The Matrix, they have begun a journey to look for something real.  Seekers lift their eyes to the hills seeking help. That help comes not from the hills, but the Lord.  This begins the Seekers’ journey to God.

The task for each stage may be summarized in one burning question which must be asked and answered.  For Seekers that question is—can I trust God?

The second stage is Servants.  Servants have undergone a reversal in thought and have realized that God is not their servant, but that they are God’s.  The servant must answer another question—how can I serve God?

Settlers are mature believers who have come to understand, after a process of discovery, calling, and equipping; what kind of service they are to render.  They have a general idea what course of service their lives will take.  Nevertheless, like the settlers of America discovered when they tried to shape a new world on a new continent, knowing what they are to do and doing it are not the same.  It is difficult serving God in hostile territory.  The settler must balance family, work, and faith, while fighting temptations that in the Servant stage he would not have thought possible.  The question that Settlers ask is—how do I build the Kingdom in the face of opposition?[8]

Looking at John and Paul’s stages, as well this pattern from the Psalms, we see a strong similarity, as we see in Chart 3.

Table 3.  Stages of Christian life adding Psalms pattern

	Repentance	New Birth	Eternity
John	Children	Young Men	Fathers
Paul	Carnal		Spiritual
Psalm Pattern	Seeker	Servant	Settler

There is an initial stage of discovery, a stage of growth, and a stage of maturity.  Maturity is not a resting stage, but the one of even greater challenge.

Ancient stages of discipleship

The ancient church seemed to be familiar with these stages, and trained new believers to face them.  We see this in an ancient pattern of discipleship written down by Hippolytus in the early Third Century AD.

According to Hippolytus, the first-stage Christians were called Seekers or Inquirers—people who sought to know Christianity, and whether or not they should commit themselves to it.  When Seekers committed, they were welcomed into the fellowship.[9]

Then the Seekers became Learners, or Catechumens.  The learner studied the faith for approximately three years.[10]  Not until this process had been completed was the new believer baptized and offered the Lord’s Supper.  This time period was not set, but was determined by the individual rate of progress of the student.  St. Augustine was catechized by Anselm of Milan for slightly over a year before his baptism.[11]

At the end of this catechesis, the learners briefly became Kneelers, or mystagogues.[12]  This lasted only about six weeks and was marked by prayer, vigils, and fasting.[13]  Ordinarily, all baptisms were done on Easter Sunday at daybreak.  From that time on, they were considered fully mature disciples.[14]

Becoming a disciple was not the end of the process, however.  The new believers were then initiated into the deeper teachings of the faith by the bishop—teachings not given to seekers or learners.  Hippolytus calls these teachings the “white stone of revelation.”[15]  Hippolytus does not reveal these teachings but infers that they were theological mysteries not given to initiates, but only to the mature.

Hippolytus never suggests that the seekers or learners were not believers.  On the contrary, they were included in most meetings as well as in the agape, or love feast, where they were given bread from the hand of the bishop, though they were not allowed to take the cup.  This process of spiritual formation was not intended just to prepare them for eternal life, but to equip them to withstand persecution, which the church presumed would be coming later.

Let us compare Hippolytus’ pattern with the others in table 4.

Table 4.  Stages of Christian life adding ancient church model

	Repentance	New Birth		Eternity
John	Children	Young Men		Fathers
Paul	Carnal			Spiritual
Psalms	Seeker	Servant		Settler
Ancient church	Seeker	Learner	Kneeler	Disciple