Discipleship (Why it Must Start From the Heart)

What's been on my heart as of late is the nature of discipleship. In our culture, discipleship mostly comes down to methodology. We tend to focus on the work of the hands (what we DO as Christians), before we focus on reforming the mind (what we BELIEVE as Christians). However, what's primary is the posture of the heart (the nature of our RIGHTEOUSNESS as Christians).

The Pharisees had the right works- they gave to the poor, they prayed, they fasted, they followed the Torah (to the point of keeping Talmud), they looked for signs, prophesied and performed miracles. (Matthew 7:21-23) They had the right mind- they believed in angels, they believed in a bodily resurrection, they believed in the coming Messianic Kingdom. (Acts 23:6-8)

However, the posture of their heart was twisted. They believed that their justification before God was merited by what they believed and did. They had a righteousness from within and not from God. In the delusion of self-righteousness, they related to God based on their good works, and related to others based on their bad works. (Luke 15:28-30, Matthew 7:22-23, Luke 18:9-14)

The pharisees did not acknowledge their inner depravity, and therefore did not cry out for the mercy of the LORD. Because the mercy of the LORD revealed at the cross was not magnified, their means to relate to their neighbor mercifully was minimized (Luke 7:47, Matthew 18:23-35).
How we relate to others becomes the litmus test, that reveals whether we have actually received mercy from the LORD, or have initially received the mercy of the LORD, but then began to walk in the delusion of self-righteousness. In Galatians 5, Paul addresses those who came under grace, but then began to relate to God through the law. Galatians 5:13, gives the proper response, not to turn to a culture of self-righteousness, or a culture of depravity, for both lead to a Lake of Fire. Instead, Paul instructs the Galatians, "through love to serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

There are many streams and movements who emphasize that they have the right methodology and the right doctrine. They discern the gnosticism (mixture of Greek philosophy and mythology with Christian doctrine) that infiltrated the early church in the 3rd century along the time of the Constantinian shift. I have been a part of these movements and the discipleship that I've received was of having the right set of beliefs, which I found to be doctrinally accurate. I've received the right methodology, which I found to work (to varying degrees of effectiveness). However, in the midst of all of the emphasis on being in the right, I was being discipled in the wrong heart. The bitterness and accusation against the Church, was projected onto me. I began relating to Father as the older brother in the parable of the lost son. It became about what I was doing right and what the church was doing wrong.

I remember having one encounter where the LORD in His kindness, spoke to me about Chris Tomlin, who to me represented all that was wrong with mainstream, evangelical Christianity. The Lord said, "at the Day of the LORD, will it be Chris Tomlin's issue that he didn't have the right understanding, or will it be your issue that you had hatred and anger towards your brother." I felt the fear of the LORD and began to tremble as the delusion of self-righteousness was being uncloaked from me. Then the Lord spoke to me a word about brotherly kindness and love covering a multitude of sins. (Psalm 133, Matthew 7:12, Romans 12:9-19, 1 Peter 4:8, 2 Peter 1:6-8, 1 Corinthians 13:13, Philippians 2:1-8)

My whole point in this matter, is that discipleship primarily needs to be about the heart and the issue of righteousness. The fruit of the Spirit is the best indication of an inward righteousness from God, rather than having the right beliefs, methodology, or works.

Matthew 7:6 (discipleship of the right beliefs to those with the wrong heart)
⁶ “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Matthew 7:22-23 (discipleship of the right works to those with the wrong heart)
²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

We bear the fruit of the Spirit in the context of our neighbors (the church, the lost, our enemies). Our mercy to our neighbors evidences that we have truly received a great payment of our transgressions. (Matthew 6:12)