Discipling in a Multicultural World by Ajith Fernando & Robert E. Coleman

Author:Ajith Fernando & Robert E. Coleman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL045000/REL023000/REL109000
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2019-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

1. A. B. Bruce, Training of the Twelve (1894; repr., Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1971), 14.

2. Paul G. Hiebert, Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 310.

3. See Hiebert, Transforming Worldviews, 312–14.

4. The sequence of the following chapters is not meant to imply an order of importance.

8

Learning the Truth

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

John 17:17

Most people initially come to Christ because he meets their personal needs. Soon they discover that some of their personal requests for which they earnestly pray are not granted. They may be tempted to turn away from Christ and seek refuge elsewhere, and some do. But they will stay with Christ if they realize that he is the truth.

After many of Christ’s disciples turned back and stopped following him, Jesus asked the Twelve whether they also would “go away.” Peter’s response was, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68–69). The knowledge of the truth about Jesus kept them faithful to him. Jesus himself prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

It is vitally important to get the truth of the Word into the lives of believers. As we saw in the last chapter, that is not an easy task. In this chapter we will look at some keys to teaching the truth to believers. But before that, we will look at the importance of helping Christians develop the practice of learning the truth by reading the Bible themselves.

Personal Reading of the Word

Today many people read the Bible to receive an inspiring word that lifts them up and gives them strength to face life. This is indeed one of the ways in which the Bible blesses us. But the primary reason for reading the Bible is to get God’s thoughts into our lives so that we can become more Christlike people. Paul says, “All Scripture is . . . profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). This is something we should drill into the minds of believers: we read the Bible to learn how to think and act. Psalm 1:2 shows how this happens by describing a righteous person:

His delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night. (Ps. 1:2)

A quotation variously attributed to John Wesley’s mother, Susanna; to John Bunyan; and to D. L. Moody says, “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” As the psalmist puts it,

I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you. (Ps. 119:11)

As we are constantly exposed to God’s Word, our lives change without our realizing what is happening. I mentioned above that after a few years of living with my wife, I found myself using expressions of hers that I once considered odd.

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