DS 008

Discipleship Is Walking with God

Acts 26:9-32

We often talk about discipleship as a nebulous concept variously interpreted as a devotional time with an emotional character or a series of studies seeking to impart a deeper program of religious instruction. Often the two concepts are seen as antithetical to one another, each one as encompassing the entirety of discipleship to the exclusion of the other. While both of these traditional answers hold aspects of truth in regard to discipleship, in reality it is more than even a combination of devotion and study. For the disciples, Jesus' call was directed in the words, “Follow Me.” Are we up to the concept of an all-encompassing definition of discipleship, in which our lives are given to walking with God?

If there is one person other than Jesus who has impacted Christianity, the New Testament, and the Church more than any other, it is probably the Apostle Paul. Paul's impact originated the largest number of books in the composition of the New Testament, spurred much commentary on the Christian life, became the basis for a great bulk of Christian thought, spawned several rather fanciful theories, been the basis for controversies over interpretation of many Biblical texts, and took the early church into a direction that allowed it to distinguish itself from its Jewish roots and traditions. While Jesus has been interpreted as speaking of Peter as the foundation of the Church, Paul's influence has arisen above and beyond any lasting impact Peter may have exerted over the early church.

Paul's influence began prior to his conversion, as he attacked believers in his zeal to protect Judaism from the influence of the sect of Jesus' early followers. That was part of the story he told of his own life in Luke's recounting of his story. It set the stage for validating the earnest transformation of his life, as well as lending a sense of urgency, importance, and raising the stakes of the validity of the message of Jesus' gospel.

In Acts 26, we find Paul having taken a stand before the Jews in regard to his acceptance of Jesus as Messiah. He had already suffered in myriad ways for his commitment to Jesus. The same violence he had meted out to believers in the early years of his life as a rising star in the power structures of Judaism had been turned toward him as he embarked upon the mission set before him in his vision of Jesus en route to Damascus.

Luke recounts Paul's story of conversion at least three times in the book of Acts. In this setting we find Paul having appealed to Caesar in order to escape being handed over to the Jews who wanted to kill him for his faith. It is also his purpose to see that he is granted the opportunity to take the message of the gospel to Rome, presenting it before the emperor. This was part of his purpose and mission stemming back to the call of Christ upon Paul's life in that vision on the road to Damascus. That mission gave him the purpose to become transformed from a persecutor of believers in Jesus into a herald of Jesus' message of transformation.

This transformation had begun in Paul's life. It changed him from a zealot who focused his life and energies on preserving and promoting the purity of his received religious traditions into one who was ready to give his life to a transformative journey of faith in God. From relying upon a defined tradition, he was called to follow Christ into a journey of discovery.

Jesus' call on his life began with asking him to testify to what he had already learned of Jesus, but it extended into following those things God would yet reveal to him. This journey of faith was described from the outset as an uncertain path. It would entail suffering. It would entail a great degree of opposition. It would be a reversal of the kind of life he had been living, in which he had been the one instigating violence against others. God promised to protect him from both Jews and Gentiles, but this protection would still allow for a high degree of suffering. That was central to the initial message to Paul in this call. “I must show you how much you must suffer for the sake of my name.”

This mission required that Paul give up the comfort of privilege, position, standing, and heritage. It would apparently require the loss of his marriage, as we learn elsewhere that Paul travels without a wife, though marriage would have been a requirement for his roles within Judaism. This mission would consume his life in its entirety, not as hobby or the part time activity of an amateur. His walk with God and relationship to Jesus would take over the entirety of his existence. It was to give direction and structure to the full expression of his living.

Paul's vision of Jesus served as a launching pad toward transforming his life. A surface reading might consider that a devotional experience par excellence. Paul's transformation included a radical journey of discovery, study, and preparation for ministry that built upon the foundation of his instruction in Judaism. We could consider that the academic aspect of discipleship, though this was no formally structured program. At the same time, that experience also called Paul to embark upon a journey that committed his life to a degree of service far beyond any emotional, devotional, academic, or experiential definitions of discipleship and spirituality. His more academic learnings were ever relevant to his ministry, but were completely insufficient to carry him to fulfill the mission set before him.

God's call upon Paul was compelling, but not of the kind that a devotional or academic attachment would find of interest. The call was compelling in that it required the commitment of the totality of Paul's life. It was not the kind of call that would find reason in simply escaping an eternal destination or avoiding a source of danger or fear. This call was compelling in that it gave Paul a sense of purpose above and beyond the dangers and fears of life. It pushed him to accept a higher reason than his own comfort, personal ambitions, or material gain. It was a call that would transform his existence.

As the disciples who had followed Jesus, this call required that Paul leave behind those things that had given him structure and meaning. It was a call of discipleship that included a transformation of his very life. It would shift the focus of his priorities. It would alter the basis of his actions. It would force him to adopt wholly new strategies for living and carrying out the mission set before him. His life would have to be transformed from the inside out to the same extend that his purpose and reason for being had to change according to a completely new reality.

Rather than persecuting Jesus and Jesus' followers, Paul would become a champion of all he had fought against in his previous life and career. By accepting Jesus as the fulfillment of all messianic expectation, he would have to shift his foundational understanding of how one was to relate to God and God's purposes for both Jews and non-Jews. He would have to embark upon a journey into the unknown future with God in which he could no longer stand on tradition to offer him a secure mooring.

God's call granted Paul the security of a mission, but only in so far as Paul was willing to place the full weight of his confidence in God's direction and provision along the way. Instead of using force, violence, and intimidation strategies against those opposed to him, he was to find himself on the receiving end of those strategies while he employed the non-violent strategy of Jesus. As Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses of old, he would walk with God into a new life, an untried venture.

Walking with God is different from following a tradition. It is different from running after ecstatic experiences. It is more than studying doctrinal concepts. It is far more than settling into a routine of church activities. It is the investment of one's life into a transformative experience of walking with God. Are we ready for that? It is the essence of discipleship.

—Pr. Christopher B. Harbin

© Copyright 2017 Christopher B. Harbin.