useful to the Lord

Discipleship in terms of holiness, obedience, and usefulness

POST OVERVIEW. A post considering how holiness, obedience, and usefulness develop in the disciple’s life. Usefulness requires maturity. Why Christ was supremely “useful.”

In the past few months, I have been thinking a lot about discipleship and how we, as disciples of the Lord Jesus, can be more effective in our growth toward Christlikeness. My plan is to gather these thoughts together in the next several months and publish a book on personal discipleship targeted at those individuals who desire to invest themselves in others so that others may grow in practical righteousness. The pattern is expressed by Paul in 2 Timothy 2:2: “And the things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

HOLINESS, OBEDIENCE, AND USEFULNESS

One of the ideas that I have developed is the concept that our growth in increasing Christlikeness can be classified as growth in Holiness, Obedience, and Usefulness.

In thinking about these terms, we would say that Holiness and Obedience are aspects of our discipleship that we are “working out with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). That is, the disciple can work on these independently of others and the progress the disciple makes largely depends on how much effort the disciple expends. It is the disciple’s goal and his responsibility to grow in his personal Holiness and his personal Obedience. It should also be noticed that this growth in Holiness and Obedience is done by the disciple and for the disciple. No one else benefits directly from this growth.

Usefulness, by contrast, can only be done for others. It is impossible for the disciple to be useful without some reference to other people. The best way for the disciple of Jesus to be useful is to do God-honoring, Christ-exalting works for others. By definition, Usefulness involves the disciple intentionally serving one or more people.

WHEN COMES USEFULNESS?

In this context, we also observe that, for every disciple of Jesus, growth in Holiness and Obedience continues from the moment of salvation until the disciple’s last breath and requires considerable focus and effort. In practice, this means that, especially in the early years of the disciple’s walk with Christ, his efforts are concentrated in the areas of Holiness and Obedience, and his Usefulness to others is necessarily limited. In other words, the usual pattern of growth for the disciple is for him to reach a level of maturity in Holiness and Obedience before he becomes useful to the Master (2 Tim. 2:21). Our Usefulness is (typically) delayed because we must first put to death our flesh and the deeds of the old man. One way this has been expressed is that God does not greatly use dirty vessels. Those who are greatly used by the Lord are usually those who have labored to present themselves to Him as a “living and holy sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1).

CONSIDER JESUS

What we have described so far is the situation with every disciple of Jesus. Disciples must wrestle with and strive to overcome their inherent fallenness and sinfulness before they enter into their Usefulness.

But consider the contrast between any disciple of Jesus and the Lord Jesus Himself. While every disciple must expend great time and energy to continue their fight against sin and their striving toward Holiness and Obedience, Jesus does not need to spend even one moment or expend one calorie of effort growing in His personal Holiness and Obedience, for He has been perfect in these from eternity past. As God, Jesus is perfectly holy (Isaiah 6:3) and as the Son of God, Jesus perfectly obeys the Father at all times (John 8:29).

Thus, what we see in Jesus’ earthly ministry is that all His words and actions are entirely devoted to the works the Father gave Him to do (John 17:4). Because He is already perfect in Holiness and Obedience, all His time and effort are poured out in Usefulness to others in works which glorify the Father who sent Him.

A STRATEGY TO INCREASE OUR USEFULNESS

Since it seems that the disciple must first make some measure of progress in Holiness and Obedience before he is prepared for Usefulness, it occurs to me that we as disciples of Jesus should strive to pour all the energy and effort we can muster into personal Holiness and Obedience so that, as early as possible in our walk with the Lord, we can operate in the realm of Usefulness. Let us then, as quickly as possible, cast off the rags of the old man, and lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us serve with Usefulness and produce thirty, sixty, a hundredfold.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 11/10/2023                 #678

The Lord has need of it (Luke 19:31)

As the Lord Jesus is approaching Jerusalem and preparing to accomplish the work of redemption through His crucifixion, He comes near to the village of Bethany. In the village there is “a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.” His disciples are to “untie it (the colt) and bring it here (to Him)” because “the Lord has need of it (Luke 19:30-31).” Thus, we are introduced to this colt, this common beast of burden, which is forever significant because of its encounter with Jesus. This post considers how we, too, like this colt, are significant because “the Lord has need of us.”

The colt was one “on which no one had ever sat (19:30).” Up until now, this colt, which was bred to carry people on its back, had never carried anyone. Until now, the colt had been useless, but now this colt will carry the Lord Jesus into Jerusalem. Now, “the Lord has need of it,” so the colt is suddenly useful. In the same way, before the Lord called us into His vineyard, we “were standing idle in the marketplace (Matthew 20:3)” or we were toiling after riches (Eccles. 4:7-8), but we were useless to the Lord. But then there came a time when the Lord untied us (John 8:36) and brought us to Himself, because “the Lord had need of us.” O happy day, the Lord has need of me! Now I am useful to the Master (2 Timothy 2:21) and He has given me work to do (John 17:4; Eph. 2:10). My life is useful because “the Lord has need of me.”

This colt was just like every other colt. There was nothing special about it, nothing that would make it stand out from the rest. But now, because of this encounter with Jesus, there is something that will forever distinguish this colt from others: “The Lord has need of it.” Just so, there is nothing special about us and nothing that makes us particularly significant. Apart from Christ, we are all groping in the dark like the blind (Isaiah 59:10). But the Lord has called us to Himself, and we are forever distinguished because of the Lord’s gracious call.

The Lord of glory, the Son of God, specifically selects THIS colt to be of service to Him. “The Lord has need of it.” Jesus needed a colt to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 and to carry Him into Jerusalem. This messianic prophecy must be fulfilled, so the Lord chose this colt to be the one He would ride. Just so, the Lord has specifically chosen and called each one of His children for a specific and unique work. “The Lord has need of us” because He has a unique work for us to accomplish that only we can do.

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the people cried out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord (Luke 19:38)!” It would have been ridiculous in the extreme for the colt to have imagined that any of the praise of the people was for it. No! King Jesus rode on its back, and all the praise was directed toward Him because all the glory belonged to Him. So, it is for us, for as the colt’s only glory came from the One who rode it, so our only glory is a dim reflection from the One we serve. We lose our life for His sake (Luke 9:24) and direct all glory to Him. “He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30).”

Also, although Scripture is silent about this, I am persuaded that, because of the colt’s joy in carrying the great Son of Man, its burden actually felt light (Matthew 11:30). So, too, as we “take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23)” and go “out as lambs in the midst of wolves (Luke 10:3),” we experience not the heaviness, but the lightness of the Lord’s service (1 John 5:3).

Because Jesus has chosen this colt and the Lord has need of it, everything changes for the colt. Likewise, because Jesus has called us to His service, everything has changed for us.

There was nothing significant about the colt, but the One who chose the colt and who rode the colt was supremely significant. In the same way, we are significant not because of who we are, but because of whom we serve and because “the Lord has need of us.”

In these ways we are like the colt which the Lord rode into Jerusalem, but we are of so much more value than that colt. The Lord has untied us and called us to Himself (Luke 19:30), and He has done this because “the Lord has need of us.” He delights in us and He desires fellowship with us, and He has made us His witnesses and His ambassadors and His fishermen and His servants, and He has adopted us as His children forever. Rejoice, for “the Lord has need of us.”

SDG                 rmb                 11/5/2020