DGtoCTL by NavPress

a disciple’s guide to

CHOOSE THE LIFE

a disciple’s guide to

CHOOSE THE LIFE EXPLORING A FAITH THAT EMBRACES DISCIPLESHIP

Bill Hull and

Paul Mascarella

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical. For a free catalog go to www.NavPress.com or call 1.800.366.7788 in the United States or 1.800.839.4769 in Canada.

© 2010 by Bill Hull All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from NavPress, P.O. Box 35001, Colorado Springs, CO 80935. www.navpress.com NAVPRESS and the NAVPRESS logo are registered trademarks of NavPress. Absence of ® in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks. ISBN-13: 978-1-61521-573-7 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 / 14 13 12 11 10

Contents

Introduction

About the Guide

Preparing for the First Meeting

Week One: Your First Community Meeting

Week Two: How I Got to This Point

Week Three: The Need for the Life

Week Four: The Call to the Life

Week Five: The Habits of the Life

Week Six: The Inner Workings of the Life

Week Seven: The Mind and the Life

Week Eight: Relationships and the Life

Week Nine: Submission and the Life

Week Ten: Leadership and the Life

108

Appendix

120

Notes

121

About the Authors

123

Other Books by Bill Hull

124

Introduction

To choose the life is to commit to a way or pattern of life. Its basis is humility and it is a life of self-denial and submission to others. We choose it because Christ chose it for Himself. The essence of faith is to take up our cross daily and follow Him. We don’t just amble our way into this pattern; it is a conscious decision to live by faith. It is fundamentally about giving up the right to run our own lives. It is the life Jesus lived, the life to which He has called every disciple. It means to be as unnecessary and irrelevant to our culture as He was to His. And just as we are never more alive as when we deny ourselves, we are never more relevant and necessary than when we choose His life. The life that Jesus lived and prescribed for us is different from the one being offered by many churches. His servant leadership was radically distinct from what is extolled by secular society and even too bold for what is modeled in the Christian community. Henri Nouwen said it well: “The long painful history of the Church is people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led.”1 It is as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.”2 What will we choose? Will we surrender to the powerful forces of our culture and simply try to be successful for Jesus? Or will we choose the life that Jesus chose and commit to following Him regardless of where He leads? To put it another way, to choose the life is to commit to: • Believing as Jesus believed • Living as Jesus lived Sample from A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life / ISBN 978-1-61521-573-7 Copyright © 2010 by Bill Hull. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.

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• Loving as Jesus loved • Ministering as Jesus ministered • Leading as Jesus led To choose the life is to choose His life. Jesus chose His life. Because we come out of a divine nature, which chooses to be divine, we must choose to be divine, to be of God, to be one with God, loving and living as he loves and lives. . . . Man cannot originate this life; it must be shown him, and he must choose it. . . . We are not and cannot become true sons without our will willing his will, our doing following his making. He was not the Son of God because he could not help it, but because he willed to be. — G e org e M ac D on a l d

Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you into something different than it was before. . . . Each of us at that moment is progressing to one state or another. — C . S. L e w i s

The ills of the church and of the individual almost totally derive from the simple failure to just do what Jesus told us to do in the Great Commission. That is what it means to choose the life. There is no excuse whatsoever for not doing it, and every rationalization is simply a wound to our own soul, an injury to our group, and an insult to the Christ who told us what to do. — Da l l a s W i l l a r d

About the Guide Its Purpose

Bill Hull’s book Choose the Life exists to assist the motivated disciple in entering into a more profound way of thinking and living. That way is the pattern of life Jesus modeled and then called every interested person to follow. It is a life grounded in humility, characterized by submission, obedience, suffering, and the joys of exaltation. It is the life that transforms its adherents and penetrates the strongest resistance. Choose the Life challenges traditional thinking about what it means to be a Christian; it rebuilds the gospel from the disciple up. It asks what is wrong with the gospel taught in contemporary Western culture and suggests some changes in the way it is communicated by the church. It then calls upon each person to rethink what it means to be a follower of Jesus. A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life is designed to lead disciples in a ten-week course through Choose the Life. However, it is more than simply a reading guide. It presents the ideas in Choose the Life so as to provoke a disciple’s thinking toward the application of these truths, which produces in him a faith hospitable to healthy spiritual growth — a faith that embraces discipleship.

Its Participants

Virtually all significant change can, should be, and eventually is tested in relationship to others. To say that one is more loving without it being verified in relation to others is hollow. Not only do others need to be involved to test one’s progress, they are needed to encourage and help one another in the journey of transformation. Therefore, going on the journey with others is absolutely necessary. The Guide is designed to lead each disciple in a personal journey of spiritual formation by his participation within a “Community” of Sample from A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life / ISBN 978-1-61521-573-7 Copyright © 2010 by Bill Hull. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.

10    Choose the Life

disciples, who have likewise decided to choose the life. The “Community” is composed of (optimally) two to six disciples being led through this ten-week exploration of Choose the Life. Participants in the Community will have agreed to make time to perform the daily assignments as directed by the Guide. They have agreed to pray daily for the other members of their Community and keep whatever is shared at their “Community Meeting” in complete confidence (unless express permission to disclose a specific matter is given by all involved). They will attend and fully participate in each weekly Community Meeting.

Its Process

Change is a process. Events can change people, but most often transformation is a process that takes time. Most studies on change agree that acquiring a new idea and putting it into practice so that it becomes permanent requires three months. This would be the minimum time required. The ten weeks to finish the Guide provide solid opportunity for significant transformation. The process employed by the Guide includes: • • • • • • • •

Reading the Scripture together Reading a common philosophy of the Christian experience Journaling insights, questions, and prayers Discussion over material that has already been studied, prayed over, and reflected upon Helping each other keep one’s commitment to God Helping each other break free of areas of defeat and bondage A common commitment to apply what God has impressed on each member A common commitment to impact those with whom members have contact

Its Pattern

The Guide leads an exploration of each successive chapter of the book (including the introductory material) in ten weeks. Each week, Sample from A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life / ISBN 978-1-61521-573-7 Copyright © 2010 by Bill Hull. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.

About the Guide    11

beginning with chapter 1, a chapter is explored in five daily thirtyminute sessions. At each daily session, the disciple begins with prayer focused on the issues to be presented in the daily reading. The daily reading provides each disciple with core thoughts and key ideas that will be explored in the day’s exercises. Provided questions are designed to help the disciples’ understanding of the core thoughts and key ideas. Disciples are then directed to reflect on the application of these core thoughts and key ideas to their own spiritual growth. Journaling space is provided for answering questions and recording the thoughts, questions, applications, and insights stemming from reflection. Once weekly (at the sixth session), the disciples meets with the other disciples, comprising the “Community” at their Community Meeting. Here they pray together, discuss the core thoughts and key ideas introduced in the week’s readings, share from their times of reflection, and encourage each other on their journeys. Although the Guide was designed primarily for use by groups consisting of two to six members, the material contained within can easily be used to lead much larger groups in a discussion-based exploration of Choose the Life. This is done by using the ten weekly Community Meetings as the agendas for a ten-week discussion program. It is recommended that the accompanying DVD be used to introduce the topic for the week’s discussion. Additional questions to enhance the weekly meeting may be gleaned from the week’s five-day study program. Lastly, it is recommended that the leader (or leaders) of a weekly discussion group proceed through the Guide together as their own Community group. The insights they will acquire by proceeding on their own journey through Choose the Life will be invaluable to them and the larger group they will be leading. When leading a classroom-sized (or larger) group through Choose the Life, one must keep in mind that most of the “spiritual traction” for transformation is due to the interaction that the Lord has with each individual as He interacts with him or her through the other individuals in a community of believers. To preserve this traction, Sample from A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life / ISBN 978-1-61521-573-7 Copyright © 2010 by Bill Hull. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.

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the leader must provide a venue and time for this interaction. For this reason, it is suggested that some time during the weekly session the leader divide the large group into smaller groups (mimicking the two-to-six-member Community group) for the purpose of more intimately discussing the issues presented in the week’s session. It is reported that after experiencing successive weeks with the same members of this smaller discussion group, individuals previously not participants in a small group program have desired to continue in just such a program. While the authors believe that the most effective and efficient means of leading individuals to healthy spiritual transformation is in the context of a smaller Community group, we do acknowledge that the larger group setting may be the only means currently available to a church’s leadership whereby the biblical truths taught in Choose the Life are likely to be made available. We believe most strongly that although the form of instruction is important, the function is what must be preserved: verum supremus vultus (truth above form).

Its Product

Learning studies demonstrate the importance of application. The most relevant question a teacher can ask is, “Are my students learning?” According to a leading learning researcher, people remember: • • • • • •

Ten percent of what they read Twenty percent of what they hear Thirty percent of what they see Fifty percent of what they see and hear Seventy percent of what they say Ninety-five percent of what they teach someone else3

Each session asks the disciples to determine what concrete activity they can take that week to apply what they have learned. The Guide highly values the spiritual traction one can get by facing challenges in a high-trust community. This avoids the hothouse effect (people not Sample from A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life / ISBN 978-1-61521-573-7 Copyright © 2010 by Bill Hull. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.

About the Guide    13

experienced in the reality of ministry) on groups that do not answer the challenge to reach beyond themselves. Christ was a man for others; disciples, then, are to be people for others. It is only in losing ourselves in the mission of loving others that we live in balance and experience the joy that Christ has promised. This is the faith that embraces discipleship. This is the life that cultivates Christlikeness, the only life of faith worthy enough to justify our calling upon others to choose the life.

Pr eparing for the First Meeting Community The first order of business is to determine the members, size, and makeup of the Community. The Community should consist of: • Members All believers No particular age range or level of spiritual maturity (or Christian experience) should be the overarching criterion for inclusion in your Community, but given that the objectives of Choose the Life are obtainable only by Christians, it is assumed that each member of any particular Choose the Life Community is already a Christian. • Makeup Two to six members (optimally) The Guide can also be used as a discussion guide for leading larger groups through an exploration of Choose the Life. • Materials The book, guide, and leader’s guide with DVD Once the membership of the Community is established, each member should acquire a copy of the book, Choose the Life: Exploring a Faith That Embraces Discipleship, and the course guide, A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life. In addition, the leader needs to acquire the course leader’s guide with DVD. The DVD features Bill Hull, the author of Sample from A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life / ISBN 978-1-61521-573-7 Copyright © 2010 by Bill Hull. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.

16    Choose the Life

Choose the Life, introducing each week’s core thought, key ideas, and concepts. These materials must be available to each member at least one week prior to the first Community Meeting. This brings us to the second order of business: when and where the Community will meet.

Calendar

The members of the Community need to establish when and where the Community will have its weekly meetings. Bear in mind that it will require about ninety minutes from start to finish to accomplish all that is to be done at the Community Meeting. What matters most in the time set for these meetings is that all of the members are able to make this accommodation. As you will learn in the course of this journey, the commitment to Community is essential to your own personal transformation. Therefore, it is imperative that all members be present and able to contribute each time the Community meets. In selecting the location of your meeting, choose a site that will allow for confidential conversation, ease of access, and the fewest possible interruptions.

Commitment

Having determined the Community’s membership and meeting location and time, the members of the newly formed Community need to clearly state and affirm their commitment to accomplishing what is stated in their Purpose and Covenant. We have included a covenant, located in the appendix. Each member should read, sign, and turn in the covenant at the first Community Meeting. The final order of business in preparation for your first Community Meeting is for each Community member to read Dallas Willard’s foreword to Choose the Life (pages 6–8) and the preface, “A Conversation Starter” (pages 9–14), and then write their answers for each of the questions posed in the Guide for the first week’s Community Meeting. Sample from A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life / ISBN 978-1-61521-573-7 Copyright © 2010 by Bill Hull. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.

Week 1 Your First Community Meeting In preparation for this meeting, all Community members will have read Dallas Willard’s foreword (pages 6–8) and preface, “A Conversation Starter” (pages 9–14), from Choose the Life and have written their answers to each of the questions posed in the Guide for the first week’s Community Meeting. Questions 1. When you were a child, to what were you highly committed? Describe what that commitment entailed and how it affected your commitments as an adult.

2. Dallas Willard cites three things vital to spiritual growth (pages 6–7). Discuss each one and evaluate its place in your present experience.

3. What does Bonhoeffer mean by “cheap grace” (page 10)? Do you think “cheap grace” is a problem in your life, faith community, or church? How is it manifested?

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4. Do you agree with the description of the “problem” and the “solution” advanced (pages 11–13)?

Reflection Talk with one another about your readiness (or reluctance), at this time, to choose the life — specifically, about living out “a faith that embraces discipleship.” Why now?

Prayer Share matters for the Community to pray about throughout the following week. Make note of the requests made to use in your daily time of prayer.

Close Pray together to close the meeting.

Choose the Life, Chapter One “How I Got to This Point”

Week Two Day One Prayer Dear Lord, help me to be dissatisfied with my current ways of being “successful” in accomplishing Your calling in my life. Begin now to develop in me a taste for Your ways. Today’s Reading Choose the Life, chapter 1 (pages 15–16) Question What were the signs that indicated to the author that something was “not working,” that something was wrong?

Reflection What has been the greatest motivator for change in your life? Why was it so motivating for you?

Prayer Pray for each member of your Community and their shared requests. Sample from A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life / ISBN 978-1-61521-573-7 Copyright © 2010 by Bill Hull. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.

Day Two Prayer Lord, today help me to be very conscious of how I conduct myself. Help me to see if I exhibit character traits that those who know Jesus well would recognize. Today’s Reading Choose the Life, chapter 1 (page 17, paragraphs 1–4) Question What caused the author to want to change? What were the factors that were causing the despair the author was feeling?

Reflection Do you find yourself “stuck in the same rut” of “religious activity without transformation” and “doing things right” but with “little movement from the Spirit”? List those things you are doing “right.” What do you expect to see in those things which would evidence the Spirit’s movement? Sample from A Disciple’s Guide to Choose the Life / ISBN 978-1-61521-573-7 Copyright © 2010 by Bill Hull. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.

Week 2: Day 2    21

Things I’m doing right

Expected evidence of the Spirit’s movement

Prayer Pray for each member of your Community and their shared requests.

Day Three Prayer Lord, help me to admit my failure in following You. Help me to gain a greater understanding of Your love and acceptance of me as I seek to be transformed into the disciple You’ve called me to be. Today’s Reading Choose the Life, chapter 1 (page 17, paragraph 5, through page 18, paragraph 2) Questions 1. What caused the “plague” to lift?

2. What did the author mean when he told his congregation that he intended to “evangelism them”?

Week 2: Day 3    23

Reflection What do you believe you should see happening in your life if you were truly living as a disciple of Jesus?

Prayer Pray for each member of your Community and their shared requests.

Day Four Prayer Lord, help me to change my understanding of following You so that I really act like the disciple You describe in the Sermon on the Mount. Today’s Reading Choose the Life, chapter 1 (page 18, paragraph 3, through page 19, paragraph 3) Questions 1. According to the author, what is the “problem” and what is the “solution”?

2. What does a disciple look like (according to Matthew 5–7)?

Reflection How (and about what) have you been practicing “sin management”?

Day Five Prayer Lord, teach me how to minister as You minister and lead others the way You lead. Today’s Reading Choose the Life, chapter 1 (page 19, paragraph 4, through page 21) Question What do you suppose the author means when he states that “Jesus was irrelevant and unnecessary to His culture”?

Reflection What are the obstacles that keep you from sincerely saying to God, “Lord, I’m not afraid of any change You want to make in my life”? List the obstacles and list what fear they cause you to have.

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The Obstacles

The Fear

Prayer Pray for each member of your Community and their shared requests.

Choose the Life, Chapter One “How I Got to This Point”

Week Two Community Meeting

Day Six In preparation for this week’s meeting, you will have read chapter 1, “How I Got to This Point,” in Choose the Life and have answered the reading questions for each day. As a group, answer the following questions. Questions 1. What did the author mean when he used the metaphor of “flyfishing on ice” to represent his struggles while serving as senior pastor at a “successful” church?

2. What are the differences between believing in Jesus and believing what Jesus believed (pages 19–20)?

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Discuss the fivefold way the author presents of how we are to follow Jesus (pages 19–20). Reflection 1. What are we to understand by the author’s statement that “competence is a cul-de-sac”?

2. How are brokenness and humility “essential to spiritual health”?

Close Share matters for the Community to pray about throughout the following week. Pray to close the meeting.

Jesus calls us not to sin management but to transformation, where we experience one breakthrough after another and do away with sin in our lives.