Fully Alive!

Irenaeus, an early leader in the Church, who died toward the end of the second century, once said,  "The glory of God is man fully alive."  What he meant by that is that we give the most glory to God - we worship him to the our fullest capacity - when we become what human beings were created to be.  

Our Know Statement for Sunday's sermon was: Apprentices worship God by living transformed lives.  That's not all there is to worship, of course.  But the art of presenting ourselves as living sacrifices is all about being transformed.  If worship is living transformed and transforming lives, and if discipleship is the means by which we are transformed, then it follows that discipleship is a form of worship.  You and I worship God when we become more like Christ.  Christ is the prototype of what it means to be truly human and "fully alive."  The process of becoming more like the prototype is discipleship.

To be certain, discipleship does require something of us, of course: there is a cost.  But the late Dallas Willard famously challenges us not to talk so much about "the cost of discipleship" that we neglect to consider "the cost of non-discipleship."  In other words, seeking to be transformed more and and more into the image of Christ can be a painful and challenging process, but it is far worse to remain just as we are.  He writes,

The cost of discipleship is great, but the cost of non-discipleship far greater. . .Non-discipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil.  In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10).

I've quoted that passage from Willard time and time again.  It is one of my favorites because it reminds me that though discipleship asks me to deny myself and take up my cross, there is blessing and tremendous value added to my life in the process as well.   When I engage in this worship/discipleship/apprenticeship process, herky-jerky as it is from time to time, I am moving toward that fully human, fully alive state of being through which my very existence gives glory to God. I am worshiping God at the most fundamental level!

May we all find the grace to dwell in the overlap between this present age and the age to come this week and always.  May we all worship God with all that we are and all that we are becoming.  Amen.