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