The Shocking Truth about Being a Disciple of Jesus

In the last post we found close analogies between a well-functioning family and the Church as God intends it to be, or more broadly, the Kingdom of God.  In particular, we saw the opportunity and responsibility Christian parents have to raise their children as disciples of Jesus.  This reflects and simultaneously models the command that Jesus gave the Church to go make disciples of all nations.  But what does it really mean to become a disciple?

Family: A Church Model

The more I look at marriage and family life (as it should be), the more convinced I become that it is meant to be a miniature model of the Church and the Kingdom of Heaven.  Of course, many family relationships are not like that and, because of their extreme brokenness, are more of a reflection of the kingdom of darkness.  But in a marriage where both partners are committed to and faithful to each other, we can find much enlightenment on what life in the Kingdom is intended to be like, and visa versa.  What I’ve culled together below are some examples that I hope will illustrate the point.

The Marriage Gospel

In the past I’ve mentioned my conviction that much of what we see and experience here in this transient life and temporal world is patterned after eternal realities in Heaven.  (See my post, “Patterns.”)  Not the least of these is the fact that God made man in His own image.  Jesus continually used familiar objects and situations as illustrations to teach spiritual truth. 

But the pattern I’ve been impressed by lately is the relationship between Christ and the Church as it is reflected in the relationship between husband and wife.   The Scriptures speak of the Church as the bride of Christ.  Nowhere is the comparison with marriage more vivid than in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (Chapter 5, verses 22-33).  But how are we to understand the nature and meaning of the heavenly pattern if our view of the familiar copy, the husband and wife relationship, has been badly corrupted by the world in which we live?  Where do we begin?