"...concerned that American Christians are consumers rather than transformed followers of Christ..."
"...responding to a genuine crisis: namely, the reduction of the gospel to 'fire insurance' and 'sin management,' with the inner life of believers left to the distractions of a culture that prizes busyness in the world more highly than being alone with God in prayer and meditating on his word. Some believers have been taught that Jesus can be one's Savior without being one's Lord. However, this is a serious error. Discipleship is not an optional extra. Disciples often misunderstand and disobey their Lord, but they follow him. If we are not followers of Christ, we are not his disciples. That is to say, we are not merely 'carnal Christians' - second-class believers who are saved but will lose their rewards. Rather, we are not Christians."
"In Matthew 10:24-42, Jesus teaches us what it means to be a disciple in his kingdom, emphasizing that is is a matter of literally following the Master by learning and living. The Great Commission itself ties discipleship closely to the public ministry: proclaiming the gospel to every person and 'baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you' (Matthew 28:18-20). Being Christ's disciples means bringing people into the sphere of the church's ministry of preaching and sacrament. It involves being instructed not just in the basics of biblical teaching, but in everything Jesus commanded for our doctrine and life."
Ephesians 4:12-16 "From this ministry of preaching, teaching, and sacrament - that builds us up into Christ - every member expresses his or her discipleship as new creatures through their daily interaction with believers and their non-Christian neighbors."
"Jesus does call us to discipleship, not just to 'making a decision.'"
"Being disciple involves a whole formation of life, with new choices, habits, and virtues that exhibit new character."
"Disciple formation can only occur in community..."
"Christian discipleship is a lot like craftmanship. It can't be produced with formulas, principles, and steps. Disciples don't come off an assembly line. There is no get-spiritual-quick scheme. It takes time, energy, effort, patience, and skill. Certain shared features identify superbly crafted cuckoo clocks, yet each piece is hand crafted, with its own markings."
"The transformation does not occur through one-size-fits-all formulas but occurs through belonging to a community that immerses us in the drama, doctrine, doxology, and discipleship of 'the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints' (Jude 3)."
"...growing up into Christ cannot be reduced to intellectualism or activism. There is no doctrinal proposition or spiritual program that will conform us to the image of Christ. The gospel must transform us over a lifetime of quite ordinary and sometimes even plodding habits that we cannot always even articulate."
"The really difficult thing to be in this age of sin and death is a pilgrim. Bu definition, a pilgrim lives in the tension of the 'already' and the 'not yet.' Pilgrims are impelled by the promise of a city that they have heard about but have never seen. Focusing on a solid destination, they cannot meander. They cannot interrupt their pilgrimage to wander down whatever interesting highway catches their eye."
"Pilgrimage - the long, often difficult and tedious, and self-denying path to Zion - is about the most un-American idea one can imagine."
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