The Most Important Thing

One of the very best movies of this generation is “Gladiator”, starring Russel Crowe, directed by Ridley Scott. This film has intense drama and action, with deep character development in a historical setting that brings the themes and characters alive and personal to the audience. Gladiator won the Oscar for “Best Movie” of the year 2001, with Russel Crowe winning “Best Actor in a Leading Role”. His portrayal of the noble hero of the story, General Maximus, won our hearts with his bold character and selfless deeds. 

 One of the most significant scenes is at the beginning of the film, when General Maximus’ legion is about to battle the Germans. If you saw the movie, you will remember this moment. After preparing his infantry troops for battle, and checking the catapults, General Maximus rides off into the woods and addresses the his cavalry. He encourages them to stay focused on the battle and to will themselves to win.

“Hold the line!”  he commands.  “Stay with me!” he shouts.  And after a few more comments, when all is quiet, he looks into the camera and declares:        

 “The things we do in life echo into eternity.”

 

 

With this statement, Maximus touched a cord in all of us that radiates from the heart of God Himself. Why?

 Our Creator God has placed eternity in our hearts. There is an inherent awareness within us that our lives are only a link in the chain of time. The writer of Ecclesiastes expressed it well:

God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT       

At our very core being, many of us strive to do something that will last longer than our lifetime. Look at how this desire has manifested itself throughout history:

·         We may be involved in great construction projects, building towering skyscrapers;

·         We might be inventors of labor saving devices, the next new supercomputer;

·         We could accumulate great wealth, filling Swiss and Cayman banks;

·         We may write stories that will become classical literature- the next Winnie The Pooh series perhaps;

·         We might create paintings and sculptures  that will fill museums and inspire generations;

·          We might train for years, win an Olympic Gold Medal, and have our names in the record books.

 

Over these past years we have traveled to the Middle East and Europe to examine the relics of ancient cultures.  We have seen the remains of grand construction projects– Herod’s great seaport at Caesarea, his palace at Masada, the Roman Coliseum, the Parthenon in Athens.   We have seen fresco paintings on ancient walls, mosaics in long buried floors.  We have read pottery records of business transactions, and monuments commemorating athletic competitions.

But for the most part, with few exceptions, most of those individuals have long been forgotten, their life’s efforts relegated to the dust of archeological digs.

 

Apollo's Temple Corinth Greece

 

General Maximus said that “The things we do in life echo into eternity”.  This is an actual quote from the Roman writer Ovid, a contempory of Caesar Augustus who lived during the time of Christ. As we look at Ovid’s life, and the lives of all the other writers, painters, sculptors, athletes, politicians, merchants, scientists, and other notable people throughout the ages, it is obvious that there is only one area of endeavor that will bear fruit not only in this world but the next; only one that will affect those in this dimension as well as all the others, and only one that will send echoes into eternity.

 What is it? 

Simply put, “It” is Christian Discipleship.             

A disciple is a pupil or follower of any teacher or school of religion, learning, art, etc.  The first followers of Jesus were called “disciples”. The Greek word most often translated in English for “disciple” is Mathētēs, which is defined by the Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semitic Domains as:

1.       follower, often a disciple who is a believer and close follower, though other less committed relationships are indicated;

2.       pupil, student, one tutored, implying a closer relationship than mere information.

 Discipleship is:

A process of acquiring knowledge or skill;

A process of learning and teaching;

A process of imparting.

Please note the key word: Process.

  Discipleship involves change and maturity; It requires dedication and effort. The root word is Discipline - training that develops self-control, character, or orderliness and efficiency.

For a Follower of Jesus, discipleship is the process whereby God’s character overtakes us, and becomes part of us. 

It is Divine Transformation at the root of human nature.

Christian Discipleship takes atheists and agnostics and transforms them into ministers,  missionaries and motivated world changers. True Discipleship results in greater intimacy with God, and greater effectiveness in the Kingdom of God.

Discipleship is the only thing we can do that will echo into eternity.

 Paul said this to his disciple Timothy:

On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance.   1 Timothy 4:7-8

 What is our motivation to be involved in discipleship?

• Perhaps our lives have been touched directly by the Lord.  We recognize the immense value of a personal relationship with Him! This is certainly the Biblical model. In the ministry of Jesus, most of those who were healed or delivered became “followers” of Jesus.  Respected & wealthy or the dregs of society- it didn’t make a difference.  Once Jesus touched them, they had a desire to become His disciples.
• Maybe we have already built the skyscrapers, accumulated the material resources, acquired the fame, and realize that it really doesn’t measure up or fill the void. Our world is full of men and women who have turned to Christ after achieving success in the world’s eyes.
•  Possibly we have realized that living our lives without God has been chaotic and meaningless.  That is certainly the testimony of many of my generation.
• Or finally we realize that being part of God’s Grand Plan is the most incredible opportunity that we have!

 This was the case for me.  After years of flying fast jets in the Navy, skiing incredible mountains in Colorado and Europe, and enjoying many of the ultimate pleasures of this life, I was astounded to discover that God was inviting me to be part of His Big Plan for Eternity.  Suddenly I had a relationship with the Creator of the sunrise and sunset and a divine purpose for my life here on Earth!

I think many followers of Jesus over the centuries have discovered this as well. Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who was so zealous for his faith that he hunted down, jailed, and killed many followers of Christ had his personal encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. He suddenly became aware of the Messiah, the risen Christ. He also became aware that his pursuit of religion had taken him far from God, even to the point of committing murder of His followers. The weight of his sinful condition fell upon him, yet in the midst, he experienced the mercy and grace of God. This had a transforming affect on him, which completely revolutionized his thinking about himself, and his purpose in this life on Earth.

Here is how he described it to his friends in Ephesus. 

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. 

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:1-10

The Theater in Ephesus

Paul’s experience is common to many in the family of God. We pursue goals that we think will satisfy us. Along the way we somehow have an encounter with God Himself, realizing that He had been pursuing us all along, giving us signs of His existence and hints as to His love for us. Then we realized the magnitude of our Creator, and the sharp contrast between His ways and ours, recognizing our brokenness and His mercy and grace. That has the effect of transforming our thinking, and thus begins the transformation of our character, through the nudging and power of the Holy Spirit. Eventually we understand that we are here for a specific purpose that does echo into eternity. This leads to a desire on our part to walk with Him to our eternal destiny.

This is the process of Christian Discipleship.

 

 What keeps us from being involved in discipleship?

 I met a lady who was standing in line behind me at the post office who was bemoaning the fact that her house was “in a mess”. Nothing was in its normal place; they couldn’t sit on their living room couch; the air conditioning was not working; they couldn’t cook in the kitchen. When I asked her why, she replied: “We’re remodeling”. 

I replied, “Well, I guess that you have to keep in mind the final result so that you can actually enjoy the process of tearing down walls, and building it back more beautiful than before.”

There is a great price to pay in this process of discipleship.  It costs us personal comfort, personal convenience, personal preference, and personal ambition.  Jesus tells us that what the Kingdom of Heaven offers us in comparison is worth everything we have.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field—and to get the treasure, too!

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!    Matthew 13:44-45                                                                                                                                                                                           

 King Solomon, one of the most wealthy, accomplished men of his time, understood the value of discipleship.

Pay attention, my child, to what I say. Listen carefully. Don’t lose sight of my words. Let them penetrate deep within your heart, for they bring life and radiant health to anyone who discovers their meaning…

 Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe.  Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil. My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel.  Then you will learn to be discreet and will store up knowledge.          Proverbs 4:20-5:2                                                                       

 Discipleship is an active lifestyle.  We must pursue it. 

What is the Essence of Discipleship?

As I became a disciple of Jesus, I began to learn what this process is all about through what I read in the Bible, as well as through my own personal experience.  I was also fortunate to have many friends on the same journey who were further down the path than me, which they freely shared.  I realized that this process of Christian Discipleship was very similar to one I had experienced a few years earlier in my Navy flight training.

Let me walk you through this episode of my earlier life and see if we can connect both processes and have even deeper understanding of what Christian discipleship actually is. It involves something that many of you have never experienced, but may find interesting. If not, consider yourself lucky that you did not have to go through it yourself...

 

I spent a decade in the United States Navy, first as a midshipman, then as an attack/fighter pilot, flying the A-6 Intruder off the decks of the aircraft carriers Kitty Hawk, Enterprise, and finally the Coral Sea.  The mission of Naval Aviation is “Power Projection” in defense of our country. A typical combat flight for us involved delivering weapons on an enemy military target far from the American shore.

Lt. Bagby, Attack Squardon 52, Whidbey Island Washington 1976

 

There are many elements to actually getting the bombs and missiles on the target safely and effectively. Obviously one of the first skills to learn in flight school was taking off and landing the aircraft, and all the basic flight maneuvers. After that we learned acrobatics- rolls, loops, and upside down flying. 

The next phase was instrument navigation. We had to learn how to find our way without actually seeing the ground. This was an important skill to have to safely fly in foul weather or at night.  We did this by learning to fly and navigate by using instruments that told us our position, altitude, attitude, speed, and direction.  A flight made in “IFR”, or Instrument Flight Rules usually ended in making an “instrument approach” to the airfield or aircraft carrier.  In marginal weather conditions or at night, and “Instrument Approach” was the safest way to arrive at your destination. Trying to land visually during darkness of in foul weather conditions often results in disaster.

We learned how to fly by instruments in Advanced Jet Training at Kingsville Texas by sitting in the backseat of the A-4 Skyhawk trainer with a curtain blocking out all sight of the air and land, and flying by “instruments only” through the South Texas sky, often never looking out to see what the weather was really like.

 A typical training flight would entail instrument navigation from geographical point to point, often hundreds of miles, finally descending and initiating a “precision” approach to an airport.

The first step in these precision approaches was to arrive at a point usually 10 miles out on an extended centerline of the runway, level at 1500 above the airport, with the objective of picking up a 3.5 degree glideslope that would take us in a controlled descent to within 200 feet of height and a half mile from the end of the runway.

In today’s aviation world, Ground Positioning Satellites give us exact geographic and altitude positions and RNAV or ‘GPS’ approaches are used to land at most airports around the world. Instrument Landing Systems or “ILS” also provide runway centerline and glideslope information to the pilot on a visual display on the cockpit instrument panel for many airports.

For Naval flight students in the last century, The “Ground Controlled Approach” (G.C.A.) was the only way to safely penetrate serious weather and make it in for a safe landing.  That’s why we had to practice this procedure in good weather with the curtain attached to the canopy that blocked out all visual references outside the cockpit. We called it “flying under the bag”. It was challenging to say the least.

Here’s how a GCA happened: At about six miles out, a ground controller picked us up on his radar, and began to give us directional commands to line us up.  At about three miles out, he called “Up and on glideslope”.  This was the cue to pop the speed brakes, retard the throttle, and dip the nose to set up a rate of descent that would keep us on the 3.5 degree glideslope all the way to “breakout” where in actual instrument conditions we could actually see the runway and land visually. Remember, these were the days before automated landing systems common on airliners today.  We actually had to learn how to do this manually.

In a no wind situation, a 700 foot per minute descent would keep you on the glideslope safely.  If there was a strong head wind, you had to descend slower, due to a slower groundspeed.  If you had crosswinds, your heading had to be adjusted to keep you tracking on the centerline.  It is very easy to be blown off course. Every five seconds, the ground controller would give you a “status report” like “below glideslope and left of centerline”.  Corrections in rate of descent, and heading had to be constantly made.  Ideally, you liked to hear the ground controller say “On Glideslope, On Centerline”. 

Those were good words to hear- although a typical flight student rarely heard that from the controller.  Generally we were constantly above and below, and left and right during an approach.  Compared to the straight line of the glideslope, our approaches often resembled a crawling rattlesnake so common to South Texas.  We students called our type of approach “Fencing with the Glideslope”.  Indeed, these approaches, which lasted less than five minutes, were often the most stressful moments of our training.  We knew that in the real world, flying a precision approach was a life or death matter.  We had to learn to do this safely to survive in the harsh environment of Naval Aviation.

The breakthrough for all of us came at some point in the process when we began to conceptually define the glideslope and centerline in our minds, and understood all the dynamics that keep the jet on course.  Mastery came when we could make all the corrections needed to stay “On Glideslope, On Centerline” by instinct, feeling the jet’s motions before they even registered on the instruments.

It began happening for me one blistery day in October of 1974 when I made two back to back instrument training flights- spending over three hours “under the bag” listening to the ground controller talk me down.  The winds were strong, and constantly changing, and the 12-ton Skyhawk was bouncing around like a cork on rough seas. Under the harshest of training conditions, the conceptual lights began to come on, and as I began to “feel” the aircraft, I became more confident in making the appropriate corrections to stay on the glideslope and on centerline.

Now understanding the dynamics, the key for me became focus and practice.

 Eventually by the time I got my wings in April 1975, I had flown 77 precision approaches. Over the course of the next five years, I was required to make many approaches to the USS Lexington, Kitty Hawk, Enterprise, and Coral Sea at night and in very marginal weather, and often in very rough seas.  Sometimes it was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, with the nearest land over 300 miles away, with the rain squalls hitting the windscreen like water coming out of a fire hose, while turbulent air knocked the 35,000 pound jet in all directions, knowing that the bottom of the solid cloud cover was around 200 to 300 feet above the sea. That gave us less than 10 seconds to find the ship, line up on the centerline of the landing area, adjust the aircraft speed for optimal angle of attack, and center the ball on the glideslope guide to the left of the four cross deck cables, and fly the Intruder to touchdown, hopefully hitting the deck between the #2 and #3 wires.

It was all very intensely exciting, especially at night.

 

 

 

Because of knowing mentally where the glideslope and centerline was, and physically how to control the flight path of the jet to keep me on it, I was able to survive a very demanding environment, and land safely. It was the same for every other Naval Aviator. Our training taught us the skill to not only survive, but thrive in this challenging environment.

 

The Landing Area of the USS Coral Sea, my home in 1979

 

Here is the connection between Naval Aviation and Christianity:

 Christians also need to know where the glideslope and centerline of God’s Will is, along with the tactics of the enemy to distract and sideline us, and what the dynamics are that allow us to “stay on course”. 

As the understanding of the process of flying the glideslope was the breakthrough for me and other aviators, understanding the elements of discipleship and the process of how it happens can allow us to have an easier time of making the corrections to stay on course, be effective in the mission that God has called us to, and enjoy greater intimacy with Him along the way.

This is the essence of discipleship:

·         Knowing God personally,

·         Understanding how discipleship happens,

·         What knocks us off course,

·         How we make adjustments to stay on track, and

·         Growing in intimacy with our Lord.

·         Allowing the process of Transformation to take place.

 

But there is one thing that often stands in the way of this process and our relationship with God.