daveingland.com   about church relevance, culture, life, community, & transformational faith

On page 274 of The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard writes in regards to Jesus’ discourse in Matthew 7:13-27:

You enter this kingdom community, he first points out, by a narrow gate. That is, there is a correct way to enter, and not just any approach–the “wide way that leads to disaster”–will succeed (vv. 13-14)

He then goes on to say that those leaders that are to be trusted are the ones who actually learn to do what Jesus taught was best. That in calling Jesus Lord or doing great works in his name is simply not enough.

Willard contends it’s about hearing and obeying:

• “The one who hears him and does what he says accordingly builds the house of his or her life to be totally indestructible. The house is built upon a rock, not upon sand, where the winds of life will knock it down.”
• “The narrow gate is obedience–and the confidence in Jesus necessary to it”
• “The fruit of the good tree is obedience, which comes only from the kind of person we have come to be (the ‘inside’ of the tree) in his fellowship.”
• “Doing what he said, beginning from ‘believe on him whom God has sent,’ we step into the flow of God’s ways, we ‘enter the kingdom of the heavens.’”

Willard concludes that “in actually doing what Jesus knows to be best for us, we build a life that is absolutely indestructible, ‘on the Rock.’” The Rock of course being Christ.

The narrow gate is about doing the will of the Father and not about doctrinal correctness! For all of us that spend so much time studying and debating doctrine, do we sometimes disregard discipleship and living the life we are called to live so that others can see us as continuing to be learners of what Jesus taught, so that we may be trusted? Isn’t it really about being obedient to the Father, living in the grace of Christ’s sacrifice for all, as we give ourselves to him as an act of spiritual worship?

One of the things that first gave me hope and encouragement when I started down the path of preparing for church planting was the writings of Dallas Willard. One of the first pastors that actually sat me down and spoke wisdom to me was a man named Kent Carlson, senior pastor of Oak Hills Church in Folsom, CA. He recommended I read The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. Then, while I was in seminary I heard a lecture from John Ortberg, senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church as he shared how Dallas Willard changed his ministry.

I am reminded today of Mr. Willard and all that he lended to the vision God shared with me for his church and how what Gpd put in my heart could be used in the context of church even though it wasn’t conventional or traditional or understood by those from traditional church circles. As I spend time this week seeing my passion for God’s people and his kingdom rekindled through re-reading The Divine Conspiracy, let me share with you some famous quotes from Dallas Willard:

• “The greatest challenge the church faces today is to be authentic disciples of Jesus.”
• “If you don’t have a teacher you can’t have a disciple.”
• “Does the Gospel I preach and teach have a natural tendency to cause people who hear it to become full-time students of Jesus? Would those who believe it become his apprentices as a natural ‘next step’? What can we reasonably expect would result from people actually believing the substance of my message?”
• “Generally, what I find is that the ordinary people who come to church are basically running their lives on their own, utilizing . . . their natural abilities . . . to negotiate their way. They believe there is a God and they need to check in with him. But they don’t have any sense that he is an active agent in their lives. As a result, they don’t become disciples of Jesus. They consume his merits and the services of the church [,but] discipleship is no essential part of Christianity today.”
• “There is nothing that can be done with anger that cannot
  be done better without it.”
• “We should not only want to be merciful, kind, unassuming, and patient persons but also be making plans to become so.”
• “We need to have vision, intention and means in order to achieve spiritual formation. That’s the basic issue regarding the teaching of Jesus. There isn’t a single thing that Jesus taught that a person cannot by engaging His grace come to do. Not a single thing. But you have to want to. And you have to decide to. And that’s what is lacking.”
• The revolution of Jesus is first and always a revolution of the human heart. His revolution does not proceed through the means of social institutions and laws—the outer forms of our existence—intending that these would then impose a good order of life upon people who come under their power. Rather, his is a revolution of character, which proceeds by changing people from the inside through ongoing personal relationship with God and one another. It is a revolution that changes people’s ideas, beliefs, feelings, and habits of choice, as well as their bodily tendencies and social relations. It penetrates the deepest layers of their soul. External, social arrangements may be useful to this end, but they are not the end, nor are they a fundamental part of the means.

I’ll post something in-context from The Divine Conspiracy tomorrow.