But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This is the closing request of the second letter of Peter. Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. Seems simple enough. But the accompanying reflection, from Dallas Willard, challenges the simplicity of this. He writes that the church has been “smothered by mass culture, mindless “prosperity,” insipid education, and pseudo-egalitarianism.” As a result, the church has lost the ability to help the individual grow in grace and knowledge in Jesus.
Willard strengthens his case with a quote from John Wesley. Wesley wrote that the early church believed that the soul and body make the person, while the spirit and discipline make the Christian. He continues by questioning where is the Christian, because where is the discipline?
From these two perspectives, I surmise that the church has lost its way in the business of supporting the person in their growth in grace and knowledge, and at the same time, the person has lost its way in Christian discipline. Both of these losses are felt by the individual, both the individual who is trying to grow, and the one who’s grown apathetic.
While sad, I think this is true. Many churches have lost sight of their mission to grow Christians. When the mission of the church becomes something other than that, the individuals don’t grow as Christians. As a deacon, I’m all about the causes, about righting the wrong, striving for justice, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. And I know that without a strong Christian spirit and discipline, I’ve got no one to bring with me, and I cannot do it alone.
As an individual, I absolutely fall prey to the lack of Christian discipline. It is so much easier for me to go out and do, or to write, or to organize. To be regularly refueled, I need an ever-growing Christian discipline so that I can grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. I’m not suggesting I don’t do anything, but my tendency will always be to short-change the prayer and discipline, so I can go set the world on fire.
This morning, I’m thinking about how to stay fueled, to grow in my Christian discipline, so I can do some constructive afflicting.
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