Apprenticeship to Jesus

Last updated on: January 23, 2015 at 2:51 pm by Made to Flourish

Apprenticeship to Jesus 2015-01-14T10:26:40-05:00 Made to Flourish

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

By Drew Cleveland, originally published at the KPN Resources blog

“…Consider just your job, the work you do to make a living. This is one of the clearest ways possible of focusing upon apprenticeship to Jesus. To be a disciple of Jesus is, crucially, to be learning from Jesus how to do your job as Jesus himself would do it. The New Testament language for this is to do it ‘in the name’ of Jesus.

Once you stop to think about it, you can see that not to find your job to be a primary place of discipleship is to automatically exclude a major part, if not most, of your waking hours from life with him. It is to assume to run one of the largest areas of your interest and concern on your own or under the direction and instruction of people other than Jesus. But this is right where most professing Christians are left today, with a prevailing view that discipleship is a special calling having to do chiefly with religious activities and ‘full-time Christian service.’

But how, exactly, is one to make one’s job a primary place of apprenticeship to Jesus?”

Dallas Willard
The Divine Conspiracy
p. 285

Dallas Willard continues on to explore answers to this question in his seminal book, “The Divine Conspiracy.” The book lays out a grand vision of the Kingdom and God’s grand conspiracy to create a community of prayerful love in apprenticeship to the post-resurrection Jesus.

One of the book’s central concepts is an idea Willard calls “sin management.” We can’t “manage” sin by focusing on it, not doing it, etc. We become more like Jesus by focusing on him. Similarly, we don’t resolve social ills by managing the side effects of sin; we must focus on living the way God intended. For example, we won’t empower the poor by managing “poverty,” but by cultivating opportunity and access, creating wealth, and working together to do so honorably, sustainability, and productively.

In one of Willard’s last books, “The Divine Conspiracy Continues: Fulfilling God’s Kingdom on Earth,” Willard and co-author Gary Black take their grand vision to the street level, mapping out the practical implications for leaders in a variety of vocations – including pastoral leadership. Willard’s 2013 address to the Oikonomia Network gives listeners a good sense of his thinking as it relates to pastors and theological educators (see below). I find Willard wonderfully helpful for pastors because of his ability to communicate on multiple levels: intellectual, theological, biblical, pastoral, and practical. I highly recommend this pair of books; they are well worth the time.

AUDIO LECTURES:

Part I

Part II (Apologies for the poor audio quality mid-way through.)

Meaning

Theology of Work

discipleship

faith-work integration

local church

Made to Flourish

pastors

Previous Post

January 22, 2015

John McKnight: Low-income communities are not needy -- they have assets

Next Post

January 25, 2015 Faith and work ministries

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Audio posts Bible and Work Book Review Books Budgeting Calling Common Good Community Development Conferences Discipleship Economics Entrepreneurship Ethics Faith and Family Faith and the Marketplace Faith and the Workplace faith and work History of Work and Vocation Leadership Local Church Meaning New Blogger News Prayer Relationships Seminaries Theology of Work Uncategorized Video posts Vocation Worship Resources

Select a Month April 2026 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 April 2025 January 2025 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 May 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 August 2023 July 2023 April 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 January 2020 December 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

A woman who had suffered bleeding for twelve years was healed by touching Jesus' what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

His feet His cloak His hand The hairs of his head