Gospel Centered Discipleship (IV)

Chapter 4: Gospel Motivation: The Center of Discipleship

This chapter really hit home for me. Dodson goes through three good motivations that should stand behind discipleship. It is the motives that bear the actions, and thus without the proper motives, you'll never be able be a good disciple of Christ. Scripture has always talked about the heart, for "it is the motivational center for human action. "The heart encompasses the mind, will and emotion." There are three motivations Dodson discusses in this chapter. Religious affection, God's promises and warnings, and repentance.

Religious affection. To explain this simply, this motivation comes from one's love for Christ. When we delight and love God, we are moved to obey and follow Him; not because we have to, but because we want to, and because we get to. Dodson refers to Jonathan Edwards famous honey analogy.

"I can show you honey. You can marvel at its golden hue, the way it refracts light, and its viscosity. And I can tell you that it is sweet...and you can believe that it is sweet. But unless you have tasted it, you dont know it is sweet. I could be lying to you. You only know honey is sweet when you have tasted it." - Jonathan Edwards

What Dodson and Edwards are trying to say is that once we taste Christ, we'll want to follow Him genuinely, out of adoration. As I read this chapter, I prayed and reflected after each motivation. And personally, I feel like I haven't truly tasted Christ. I know he loves me, I know he has blessed me with so much already, and I know he died and paid the price for me, but I feel like I have yet to experience it. But the chapter doesn't just stop there; it tells us that "faith also includes trusting God when we don't desire him. It is this faith that fights to follow Jesus even when we don't feel like it." Obeying Christ is always much better than disobeying Christ.

The second motivation Dodson talks about is God's warnings and promises. "The warnings in God's Word are to strengthen our faith, promote joy and honour the gospel." "The promises are to offer us joy, hope, strength, glory and a place in the kingdom of God." I don't know about you, but I've come to realize that I sometimes, if not most of the time take scripture for granted. I forget that this book is the living Word, that it is God breathed, and should be taken seriously. When God says "those who envy, have orgies, are jealous, and do sorcery do not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21), he means it. Instead, take your faith seriously and listen to the warnings and promises from Christ, having them move you towards true devotion to God.

The last motivation is repentance. Over the years i've learn that repentance isn't a one time thing, but it is a life-long act. Martin Luther said: "'the entire life of believers is to be one of repentance.' Why our entire lives? Because in our everyday failures, we have every opportunity to turn to Jesus for grace and forgiveness." When we repent, we turn from sin and turn to Christ. Not to a second chance, not to a clean slate, not to good behaviours, but to seeking God. "Repentance is an exchange of joeys, the lesser for the greater." His grace is enough for us, He is sufficient for us. He gives us the chance to turn back to Him so let us be grateful and follow as true disciples.

verse of the day: Luke 6:45

⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.