August 9, 2024
I don’t know if Walter Frank was related to me, but I look forward to meeting him in heaven. In the “Dedication” of Dr. Edman’s book is the following: “Life’s early lessons make indelible impressions on the plastic spirit of childhood. The great disciplines of life: to love God with all my heart, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour, to learn the sacred Scriptures, to serve God and my fellow men – these have come from my dear old mother, to whom I gratefully dedicate this little volume.” The thirty-one chapters are all titled with a word beginning with the letter “D,” beginning with “The Discipline of Discipleship.”
Here are some insights from Dr. Edman: “Discipleship requires the discipline of conversion, wherein we recognize our lost estate because of rebellion against God and with penitence come to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We assent from our hearts that ‘all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way’ (Isaiah 53:6), that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23) … and that we ‘were by nature children of wrath, just as the others … strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world’ (Ephesians 2:3, 12).
Discipleship requires the discipline of cost. Our Lord’s words search deeply into the depth of our souls, as He says, ‘He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me’ (Matthew 10:37). On a later occasion He amplified that statement to divine principle by saying ‘If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife, and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple’ (Luke 14:26).
Discipleship requires the discipline of cross-bearing. Three things seem to be necessary for us each day: our daily food (for which we are to pray, Matt. 6:11), our daily work (in which we are to be faithful, 1 Thess. 4:11, 12; 2 Thess. 3:10-13), and our daily cross. Our Lord said, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me’ (Luke 9:23), ‘And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple’ (Luke 14:27; Matt. 16:24).”
In his Study Bible, Dr. David Jeremiah notes: “Paul lists five reasons why Almighty God had to reach down to rescue His people: they were dead spiritually and therefore unable to have a relationship with Him (Eph. 2:1; 2:5; Col. 2:13); they were deceived and unable to understand their true condition (Eph. 2:2); they willfully disobeyed what they knew to be right (Eph. 2:2); they were defiled and unfit for God’s holy presence, living according to their own selfish lusts (Eph. 2:3); and they were doomed to eternal destruction as children of wrath (Eph. 2:3; Col. 3:6).”
Praise God for His mercy and grace, in sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem us and give us a purpose in life.
Thought for the weekend: “The name Jehovah carries majesty in it; the name Father carries mercy in it.” – Thomas Watson
Steve