Incremental, Incorporated Discipleship
From 1 Timothy 1 – 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,
2 Timothy, a true son in the faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia – remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine.
On Downton Abbey, parents of the English gentry are grieving the death of their daughter in childbirth. As the tragic events unfolded, Lord Grantham made the decision to take his daughter's care from the family physician to one with title and national reputation. His American-born wife lashes out at what she says is a very English decision. The notable physician missed a small sign of the daughter's demise, swollen ankles, because he assumed she normally had thick ankles. The grieving mother fires that the family physician who cared for her from the time she was a little girl would have known. He, she rails, would have been able to spot serious trouble.
Perhaps something like this is why Paul charges Timothy to charge some in his flock that they teach no other doctrine. Timothy is the spiritual equivalent of the family physician. He is on the spot and has been for some time. He, Paul knows, is the one able to discern small slippages from fully trusting in Christ before they are manifest in more egregious and obvious idolatry. Noting the equivalent of swollen ankles of the spirit, he can address appropriate treatment.
We don't abide this sort of small-scale discipleship easily. Like Lord Grantham, we seek titled authority from the church or the world rather than recognizing Christ's power to use a pastor, or even a friend, familiar with our baseline. If we are the Timothy under the charge of something like the second half of verse three, we don't welcome the commission, either. In addition to our susceptibility to the cult of the specialist, we are heavily under the influence of a kind of cult of personality. Is confrontation needed? Call in somebody, like Paul, who seems temperamentally equipped for it. That is, the more timid Timothy could decline, not my gift.
In deciding based on what we think our gifts are and are not what ministry we will engage in, we significantly undervalue the grace of Christ and placing us in a constellation of relationships for just such a time as this. We might, as one of the misguided folks who have started to trust another Gospel, listen to somebody like Timothy who confronts cautiously and even reluctantly before we listen to someone like Paul who, as a contemporary said of Woodrow Wilson, seems to come with thoughts fully dressed. Maturing Timothy figures might more easily convey sympathy with us, and we, as inexperienced confronters, might more candidly convey concern for the individual. It will soon be obvious, after all, whether our confrontation is following a script, or a heart for individuals in need of rescue. We might even learn to love those who express concern for our swollen ankles in order to avert a larger disaster.
2 Timothy, a true son in the faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia – remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine.
On Downton Abbey, parents of the English gentry are grieving the death of their daughter in childbirth. As the tragic events unfolded, Lord Grantham made the decision to take his daughter's care from the family physician to one with title and national reputation. His American-born wife lashes out at what she says is a very English decision. The notable physician missed a small sign of the daughter's demise, swollen ankles, because he assumed she normally had thick ankles. The grieving mother fires that the family physician who cared for her from the time she was a little girl would have known. He, she rails, would have been able to spot serious trouble.
Perhaps something like this is why Paul charges Timothy to charge some in his flock that they teach no other doctrine. Timothy is the spiritual equivalent of the family physician. He is on the spot and has been for some time. He, Paul knows, is the one able to discern small slippages from fully trusting in Christ before they are manifest in more egregious and obvious idolatry. Noting the equivalent of swollen ankles of the spirit, he can address appropriate treatment.
We don't abide this sort of small-scale discipleship easily. Like Lord Grantham, we seek titled authority from the church or the world rather than recognizing Christ's power to use a pastor, or even a friend, familiar with our baseline. If we are the Timothy under the charge of something like the second half of verse three, we don't welcome the commission, either. In addition to our susceptibility to the cult of the specialist, we are heavily under the influence of a kind of cult of personality. Is confrontation needed? Call in somebody, like Paul, who seems temperamentally equipped for it. That is, the more timid Timothy could decline, not my gift.
In deciding based on what we think our gifts are and are not what ministry we will engage in, we significantly undervalue the grace of Christ and placing us in a constellation of relationships for just such a time as this. We might, as one of the misguided folks who have started to trust another Gospel, listen to somebody like Timothy who confronts cautiously and even reluctantly before we listen to someone like Paul who, as a contemporary said of Woodrow Wilson, seems to come with thoughts fully dressed. Maturing Timothy figures might more easily convey sympathy with us, and we, as inexperienced confronters, might more candidly convey concern for the individual. It will soon be obvious, after all, whether our confrontation is following a script, or a heart for individuals in need of rescue. We might even learn to love those who express concern for our swollen ankles in order to avert a larger disaster.
Comments
Post a Comment