Soul

Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

In our discussions on “discipleship”, Pastor Obie asked if, in my reading of Dallas Willard’s book on the Great Commission, there was suggestions on how to address the lack of discipleship within the local Christian church that we experience today. The first ten chapters focus on the what, when, where and why of the obvious omission, then chapter eleven begins the remedy of this deficiency. Willard writes that the call of God to minister the gospel is both a high honor and a noble challenge. It carries with it unique opportunities as well as special burdens and danger. The gospel of Jesus Christ is “Good News” in a lost in sin dying world, but bad news to those in darkness, who rebel and reject the redemption, forgiveness and salvation offered in the gift from God. The burdens can be fruitfully borne and the dangers triumphantly overcome. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” But, that will not happen unless the witnessing and ministering harvest working for the kingdom of God’s “inner self” is constantly renewed by accessing the riches of God and His Kingdom in their soul.

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

The “soul” is defined as: the spiritual, rational and immortal substance in mankind, which distinguishes them from animals; that part of man which enables him to think and reason, and which renders him a subject of moral government; the mind, the will and emotions; the understanding; Spirit; Life.  “Soul” will be understood here in its common usage as referring to the hidden or spiritual side of a person. It thus includes an individual’s thoughts and feelings, along with the heart, or will, with its intents and choices. It also includes an individual’s bodily life and social relations, which are just as hidden as the thoughts and feelings.

Willard says that the secret to a strong, healthy, and fruitful Christian life of ministry lies in how we work with God in all of these hidden dimensions of the “inner self” soul. Together they make up the life of the real person. They are the inescapable sources of our outward life, and they almost totally determine what effects, for good or ill, our activities as Ambassadors for Christ and ministers for the kingdom of God will have. The inner dimensions of life are what are referred to in the Great Commandment.

Luke 10:27 And he (Jesus) answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

This commandment does not tell us what we must do so much as what we must cultivate in the care of our souls. This is true for all Believers. Our high calling and sacrificial service can find adequate support only in a personality totally saturated with God’s kind of love, agape. The great biblical passages on love do not tell us to try and act as if we loved God with our whole beings and our neighbors as ourselves because we are supposed to. Such an attempt, without the love of God indwelling us, would be an impossible burden. The Christian is a contender of faith, not a pretender of faith. The regenerated spirit of the “born again” Believer includes a newly transformed heart. So it’s not what you do as much as who you are with the soul of a child of God.

In Christ, Brian