Discipleship Point and Prayer
FRIDAY'S BIT OF
DISCIPLESHIP
Some of you reading this have been given gifts, and you are, with false humility, saying, "Oh, no, I don't think I can do that." Is that any different from the wicked servant who buried his talent of money in the ground? (Matthew 25:18).
Outwardly, that man may have seemed to be humble and self-effacing. He was not. Jesus found him to be disgusting. Jesus never used the word "wicked" lightly. Humility in his case would have meant embracing responsibility, not hiding what had been given.
p.144, The Prideful Soul’s Guide to Humility, Fontenot/Jones
Humility Prayer
O Lord Jesus, preserve me from any “wicked” use of that which You have put in my hands. God Forbid! Instead let me honor Our Father, hallowing His name in my life here “on earth as it is in heaven.” Whether with money, assets, abilities, or experience – may I produce good and faithful fruit as His servant.
MISSIO DEI
Discipleship Point
What is the significance of confession and repentance in receiving and participating in the Missio Dei?
Today we focus on part one:
- As a treasured people sent to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus. 19:5-6) to the world, the children of Israel were in constant need of laying their sins on the scapegoat and repenting (Lev. 16:10), to carry out God’s mission in the wilderness and in the promised land.
Repentance, which is a change of thinking and behavior, and forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47) is essential for Christ-followers to participate in the Missio Dei. Treasured people of God must confess their sins – sins of fleeing, sins of disobedience to God’s sending, failures to submit to His authority, sins of apathy, sins of arrogance. Above all, though, believers must receive forgiveness. Are repentance and forgiveness significant in the great sending of God? Yes!...
If there is to be any receiving of and participation in the Missio Dei, under the power of God’s Word and grace and by the mercies of God, individual Christians and congregations must lay their sins on Christ, the scapegoat, and heed Christ’s call: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In Christ, the sent are forgiven, cleansed, and given transformed (changed) hearts, for the sake of the mighty sending of God.
(For further study see the verses in your bible: Leviticus 16:9-10, Matthew 4:17, Luke 9:49-50, Luke 18:9-14, 1 John 1:8-10, Psalm 51:10-12, Joel 2:12-13, Psalm 51:17, Matthew 3:8. Also see the Ten Commandments and the Office of the Keys and Confession, Christian Questions with Their Answers, Luther’s Small Catechism.)
Discipleship Prayer
Lord Jesus, we call upon Your Holy Spirit to draw us into repentance in order that our thinking and behavior might fully align with God’s will and ways, His mission and ministry. We pray for the Word’s full effect to have its way with us that we might experience being sent as forgiven, cleansed, and transformed people, for the sake of the mighty sending of God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.