Choose The Life

1
Choose The Life

• Exploring a Faith that Embraces Discipleship
• Bill Hull 2004

2
Setting the Stage

• The sky is falling! or The Church is in a
  world of hurt. (Barna)
• The studied routine of religious activity
  without change. (Hull, 16)
• Out-dated (?) evangelism/discipleship systems
  that dont work anymore EE, 4 Spiritual Laws,
  Navigators 2-7.
• The intellectualization of Christianity
• Cheap grace without repentance

3
Hulls Thesis

• When the church goes deep, we get real
  transformation there will be revolution . . .
  revival . . . reproduction . . .
  multiplication. (61)
• The key to inner transformation is making the
  spiritual disciplines habit forming. (74)
• It is vital that the discipleship movement and
  the spiritual transformation movement merge into
  a balanced tour de force to advance the kingdom.
  (44, n. 2)

4
Jesus Idea of Discipleship

• Obedience
• . . . Learning from him how to doeasily
  and routinely dothe very things he said for us
  to do. Obedience is the only sound objective of
  a Christian spirituality (6)
• Natural obedience vs. trying to obey
• Apprenticeship learning how to do the Great
  Commission.

5
The Problem of the 21st Century Church

• Our inability to be what we advertise ourselves
  to be
• Our unwillingness to leave all things behind and
  follow Jesus wherever he leads.
• Separation of salvation from discipleship
  (justification from sanctification)
• Generation of a fringe Christianity mentality

6
Hulls Solution SummarizedFive Dimensions of
Discipleship

• Believe what Jesus believed (transformed mind)
• Live as Jesus lived (transformed character)
• Love as Jesus loved (transformed relationships)
• Minister as Jesus ministered (transformed
  service)
• Lead as Jesus led (transformed influence)

7
Hulls Definition of Discipleship

• . . . Believing what Jesus believed, living the
  way Jesus lived, loving the way Jesus loved,
  ministering the way Jesus ministered, and leading
  the way he led. (18)
• Reconnecting belief and behavior
• Faith as not just mental agreement but commitment
  to follow Jesus (29)

8
The NT Model of Discipleship

• A disciple submits to a teacher who teaches him
  or her how to follow Jesus
• A disciple learns Jesus words
• A disciple learns Jesus way of ministry
• A disciple imitates Jesus life and character
• A disciple finds and teaches other disciples for
  Jesus (36)

9
The Need for a New Model

• The classic discipleship that has been practiced
  in the past fifty years has done much good. But
  it falls short in that it has been too
  programmed, too superficial, and frankly too
  passé for many leaders. Fill-in-the-blank Bible
  studies and check-off lists have ceased to appeal
  to new generations. (45)
• Agree/Disagree??

10
Choose the Life Society

• When I called my fellow Christians to choose the
  life, I told them that it included submitting to
  at least one other person. I told them that the
  days of arms-length, nondiscipleship
  Christianity were over. The rest of the staff
  and I called on them to make that commitment, and
  over one hundred of them did. It was a starting
  pointa place to stand and to begin. We started
  our own Choose the Life Society, composed of
  those who made a public declaration to take up
  their cross and follow Jesus. (37)

11
The Habits of the Life

• See Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines
• See Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
• The key is accountability to one other person
  Attachment to at least one other person is
  absolutely essential. (69)

12
The Disciplines

• Disciplines of Abstinence
• Solitude
• Silence
• Fasting
• Frugality
• Chastity
• Secrecy
• Sacrifice

13
The Disciplines(Spirit of the Disciplines, 158)

• Disciplines of Engagement
• Study
• Worship
• Celebration
• Service
• Prayers
• Fellowship
• Confession
• Submission

14
Another Source for Hull

• Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and Ken McElrath, The
  Ascent of a Leader (San Francisco Jossey-Bass,
  1999).
• Relationships of grace in environments of grace
  (Choose the Life, ch. 7, pp. 127-156)
• Climbing the character ladder instead of the
  capacity ladder (pp. 46, 140, 144)

15
The Capacity Ladder

• Relationships of power leverage
• Environments of mistrust ungrace
• Steps to success
• Discover what I can do
• Develop my capacities
• Acquire title or position
• Attain individual potential
• If it doesnt work here, pack up and take it
  elsewhere

16
The Character Ladder

• Relationships of grace
• Environments of grace
• Steps to discovering my destiny in Christ
• Trust God and others with me
• Choose vulnerability
• Align with truth
• Pay the price
• Discover my destiny

17
The Costs of Character Formation

• Humility
• Submission
• Obedience
• Suffering/maturity

18
Capacity Character Integrated

• See page 144, The Ascent of a Leader

19
Back to Hull A Bottom-Line Question

• When the people we have depended on are not
  there anymore, will God be enough? (170)
• . . . The lesson from Jesus is that when our
  support system is gone, our relationship with God
  himself should be sufficient to motivate and
  sustain our staying in the mission. (171)

20
Hulls Thesis Restated

• A transformed life is needed, a life of depth of
  true disciples who have chosen to follow the life
  that Jesus lived. The reason the mission
  languishes is the acceptance of a nondiscipleship
  Christianity that creates shallow believers with
  hollow lives who dont affect those around them.
  This has led to the marginalization of the gospel
  and has retarded its spread because of its lack
  of authenticity and power. (215)

21
So, How Does It Look In Real Life?

• The Old Way
• I am filled with the Spirit
• Therefore, whatever my desires are, they will be
  blessed by God
• I have an idea, create a strategy, seek counsel,
  raise the money, recruit the personnel, set a
  timetable, and launch
• Tweak, learn, tweak , learn, make sure it grows,
  and if not, figure out why fix it (205)

22
So, How Does It Look In Real Life?

• The New Way
• Silence, solitude, time alone with Goddwelling
  in His presence and building passion for Him and
  sensitivity to the Spirit
• See God working out in front of me pray about
  that path
• Ask God for a desire consistent with the proper
  path (Phil. 213). Is He putting His will in me
  for some good work?

23
The New Way (contd)

• Ask God directly about my desires and ideas.
  Listen to Him through Scripture, counsel of
  others, and circumstances
• Ask for Gods confirmation about the right path,
  through supply of resources, personnel, and
  opportunity
• Take action!

24
A Possible Barnian/Hullian Integration

• Filled with the Spirit
• Time alone with Godlistening to Him
• Seeing God at work in front of me
• Ask God for His desires to be mine (Phil. 213
  Prov. 35-6)
• Allow the idea to come from within, brought out
  by the Holy Spirit, counsel of others,
  circumstances
• Seek confirmation by the Holy Spirit, supply of
  resources, personnel, opportunity
• Take action modify as necessary along the way

25
Learning Community Questions

• Obedience is the only sound objective of a
  Christian spirituality. (Dallas Willard,
  Foreward to Choose the Life, p. 6).
  Agree/Disagree? Why?
• How are justification and sanctification
  different? What might it look like to bring
  these two aspects of our Christian life back
  together as Hull advocates (p. 12)?
• How would you address the problem of carnal
  Christianity that Hull describes (p. 26)?

26
Learning Community Questions

• Is service in the local church a measure of ones
  spirituality? Service in the community? If
  neither one adequately measures spirituality,
  what does? How transferable is this to newer
  believers?
• Compare and contrast becoming a disciple and
  making disciples.