Discipleship According to Karl Barth

I recently picked up The Call to Discipleship by Karl Barth. I knew that he was an ifluential Theologian, but had never actually read any of his work. I was blown away by his deep insight in the area of discipleship. I want to quote a lengthy passage from it, due to the fact that I could not do any better.

Discipleship is not the recognition and
adoption of a programme, ideal or
law, or the attempt to fulfill it.
It is not the execution of a plan of
individual or social construction
imparted and commended by Jesus. If the
word "discipleship" is in any
way used to denoted something general and not a cocrete and therefore a
concretely filled-out event between Jesus and this
particular person, the
command "Follow me" can only be described as quite
meaningless. For
the only possible content of this command is that this or
that specific
person to whom it is given should come to and follow, and be with,
the
person the one who gives it. In this one, and the relationship that it
establishes between him and the one he calls, a good deal more is
involved. But there is nothing apart from him and this
relationship...what
Jesus demands is trust in himself and therefore, in the
concrete form that this
involves, trust in God. He demands faith in
the form of obedience;
obedience to himself. This is the commitment to
him that constitutes the
content of the call to disicpleship...his summons
is, however, that they should
give to him and therefore to God a true and
serious and total faith: not a mere
acceptance of the fact that he is their
Lord nor an idle confidence that they
are helped by him; but this acceptance
and confidence as a faith that is lived
out and practiced by them; a faith
that is proved to be a true and serious faith
by the fact that it includes
at once their obedience...Faith is not obedience,
but as obedience is not
obedience without faith, faith is not faith without
obedience.

From The Call to Discipleship (Pages
12-17).

The Journey

This is a logo that I made using Photoshop for my Wednesday night Bible Study on the Gospel of John.

Nicodemus

Lessons learned from John 3:1-21.

Nicodemus was a very prominent Jewish Pharisee. He was rich (according to Josephus), and would probably have had much social empact because of his elite status.

He came to Jesus at night in order to talk to him. There could be a few reasons why? 1) Fewer crowds around Jesus at night. 2) Theologians of the day often studied at night, so he could have went to Jesus for theological insight. 3) Embarassment.

I think that he went to Jesus in order not to draw a crowd to himself. This is too often what we do today. We come to Jesus for help whenever it is convienient. We seek safety for ourselves when we go to the Savior. Nicodemus would have had a lot to lose to go to poor carpenter who was often ridiculed because he had no formal education.

We can learn something from Nicodemus here. Although he might have went to Jesus at night in order to save some of his own social status...Jesus still saw him. Jesus still took time out of his schedule for him.

Nicodemus saw Jesus. He sought Jesus. Shouldn't we do the same?

Being Born Again

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

 ³In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

 ⁴"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

 ⁵Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

John 3:1-8 (NIV)

What does it mean to be "born-again?"  It is a term that we associate with Christianity.  Moralism.  Church.  But what does it actually mean for us today?  I am currently taking my Student Ministry through the Gospel of John, and in chapter 3 a man named Nicodemus comes to visit with Jesus.

Nicodemus is a Pharisee...a Politician...a wealthy man (according to Jewish historian Josephus) and according to Jesus the "teacher of Israel."  So it seems that he has his act together.  He is wealthy, powerful, and socially he is an elite.  So why does he come to Jesus?  What is he looking for?

Taking this a step further.  He also has a good theological understanding of Jesus.  He calls Jesus, "Rabbi" which indicated that he thought Jesus was an esteemed teacher despite his apparent lack of theological training.  He stated that he thought that Jesus was "from God" or sent from God.  Once again Nicodemus gets this one right... although not in the proper way (Jews thought that if you had power than God was blessing you).  He then talks about the signs that Jesus was doing.  Jesus did indeed use signs as a way to point to his Divinity.  So, so far, Nicodemus has a good grasp on who Jesus is...

But Jesus addresses Nicodemus' need without him even noticing that he has one.  Nicodemus must be "born again."  So what does this mean?

The Need

First in order to understand what it means to be born again we must understand the need for it to happen to us.  We must understand that in our present state we lack something.  We are sinful and needy, and are in desperately in need of a Savior.  

The Miracle

Then we must understand that God calls us to be born again.  God works in our life.  God is the initiator in our salvation.  It is not of our own accord, but because of his Grace showered over us.  This is a miracle.  God does it for us.

The Mystery

The next step is to understand that we cannot understand what has taken place.  This is why Jesus talks about not being able to see the wind but still knowing that it is there.  We cannot understand what is taking place when we are truly born again but is something that actually takes place in our lives.

New But Still Ourselves

Being born again means that a change has taken place in our lives.  We become different.  We are changed from the inside out to be more like Christ.  We become Christian, and live our life for him.  We are still ourself but we are different.  We are in the process of becoming.

Ezekiel 36:26:  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

We become so much more than we could ever hope to be ourself...we are born again.

Worst Christian Songs of All-Time

I love Christian music...mostly. The genre has made drastic improvements over the past few years. But growing up, I remember not really liking the majority of Christiian music. So I am posting my opinions of the worst Christian Songs ever.

DISCLAIMER: In no way am I doubting the Artists passion for Jesus, or am I making fun of them as individuals...I just think that these songs are terrible.


#5. Go Light Your World. Kathy Troccoli.



Last time I checked, I was a sinner saved by Grace. My light is not important...we take Jesus to the world. In fact Jesus is the Light of the World (John 1). I understand her thought here. We should be the Light in the world, but her lyrics stress our work rather than the work of Jesus...this I have a problem with.


#4. Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goalposts of Life. Bobby Bare.



Now I want to give Bobby some props for the Football analogy...but no! This is terrible.


#3. Jesus is my Friend. Sonseed.

If you havent seen this one on youtube...I dont know where you have been. This would be #1 but I cant really take this song seriously enough to. It is terribly funny in all of the wrong ways. Enjoy.



"Jesus is like a Mounty...He always gets his man..."

"...Zap!"

Nothing else to say.


#2. The Champion. Carmen.



Now I understand the Theological thought behing this one. We technically are in a spiritual battle. Good and evil have been in a fight for a while. I get it...but seriously...is this the best we can come up with? Its kinda like some sort of cheesy MMA fight (although I love me some MMA) written with a script.

I just dont like the song. Jesus got beat...he bled...he died...But he did so by allowing it to happen. Jesus allowed this to happen because it was his Father's plan. Jesus death was a horrible one...but I dont like to think of Jesus as a mild, weak, man who was a wuss. Jesus was the manliest of men who suffered and died like a man...he was not beaten up by the devil...he allowed his Father's plan...he gave up us life...no one took it!
I think the real reason I dont like this song is that I had to go watch Carmen in concert with my parents when I was a kid... I just thought that it was so cheesy.


#1. Friends. Michael W. Smith.



Friends are Friends Forever...Really? A "Friend will not say Never." What does that even mean. The theology in this one is terrible. It seems that in this one, friends will live in perfect harmony til Jesus comes back. That just isnt the case, is it? Sin messes up all of our relationships...friendships especially.

Not a big fan of this one.

MWS is one of Christian Music's biggest stars and will always be...I just think that this one is one of those songs that looks at life through pink colored lenses.



I appreciate all of these artists and by no means do I intend to diminish what they do...I just really dont like these songs.