God hit earth in Jesus form to demonstrate the walk of His talk. Jesus choose men to follow him.
Ponder Oswald Chambers' thoughts; The attitude of the early disciples was one of self-ignorance. Jesus Christ knew perfectly well what was in them, but he did not say to John, "You will prove to be vindictive" (see Luke 9:51-55), or to Peter, "You will end in denying me" (see Mark 14:66-72). If you had told Peter that he would deny Jesus with oaths and curses, he would have been amazed (see John 13:36-38).
The disciples approached Jesus by way of sincerity, and He put them through crises until they discovered that they could never be disciples in that way; what they needed was to have the disposition of Jesus given to them.
I don't mean to be legalistic on this note; but rather I prefer to cause us to ponder. It would seem we can have church members who are not disciples; yet all disciples would be members of the church. The reason for possible differentiation is that some members refuse crises training by God.
There is no other path for following Him other than the GPS of the Cross.
We live in a very soft culture. I'm reminded of this in two forms. The first is due to recent honorings of our military veterans. These lived in a time that was very hard. Sacrifice was hard. Suffering was painful. Recovery became a lifetime achievement for many.
The second is how non-discipled church members determinedly want to be satisfied and pacified. These seem to not mature; we just age. If one, however, will not bolt at the sign of discouragement but will hold on, God will grow us through the very process that threatens to kill us.
God's children are advantaged by the very things that oppose them. When cornered He breaks in. Even when dead; He gives resurrection notices.
Church members who have not been discipled via the stress-tests of church life miss both the calling and the purpose of the Cross. If we will take the rudeness and the unfairness and the beatings, we will find an entirely new kind of ministry.....in ministry.
Jesus makes us members of His body. We are called to be disciples. Me? I have a long way to go; but I want to gain in momentum.
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