At church a few weeks ago, I saw one of the kids wearing a Christian t-shirt that read, “Stay Salty.” While it is certainly encouraging to see a young person displaying their faith, there is a difference between knowing that we should “stay salty” and knowing how to go about “staying salty.” How might Christians live up to our merch?
I’m old enough to remember the “What Would Jesus Do” (WWJD) trend. As a focusing device—a reminder that we are supposed to be imitating Christ at any given moment—the trend was helpful; however, answering WWJD? requires a level of discernment that wearing on a bracelet won’t provide. The trends can serve a purpose—this isn’t about knocking Christian t-shirts, number stickers, bracelets, or other swag. Instead, it’s about moving from aspiration to actualization. How do we make the leap from wanting to “stay salty” to being the salt of the earth?
What Does it Mean to Be Endlessly Sharpened?
The Christian life often involves progression. We learn to reorder our loves, reorient our attention, and respond to God. Think about teaching a young child to ride a bike. It’s unlikely that you would opt to do so in traffic when it’s raining or snowing. Instead, you’d want to minimize the obstacles and dangers while teaching a child to ride a bike. As the child gains experience in riding, however, you can expect that they will become more capable of navigating the sorts of challenges you helped them avoid when initially teaching them to ride.
The Christian life often has a similar dynamic. As we obey and the Holy Spirit works in our lives, we learn to live as Christians in complex situations. We come to understand and embody the world in ways increasingly conformed to Christ. This progression requires time and a particular sort of effort. Bonhoeffer describes this effort in terms of “costly grace” and discipleship in the life and thought of Martin Luther noting,
“Costly grace was given as a gift to Luther. It was grace, because it was water onto thirsty land, comfort for anxiety, liberation from the servitude of a self-chosen path, forgiveness of all sins. The grace was costly, because it did not excuse one from works. Instead, it endlessly sharpened the call to discipleship. But just wherein it was costly, that was wherein it was grace.”
Costly grace involves our effort—our works. However, it is not our own interest that determines our works. We progress as the call to discipleship is “endlessly sharpened.”
This ongoing call to deeper levels of discipleship that characterizes costly grace is not simply absent from cheap grace but opposed by it. Cheap grace resists discipleship. Again, as Bonhoeffer observes, “It [cheap grace] did not open the way to Christ for us, but rather closed it. It did not call us into discipleship, but hardened us in disobedience…It could not happen any other way but that possessing cheap grace would mislead weaklings to suddenly feel strong, yet in reality, they had lost their power for obedience and discipleship.” If we are going to live out our slogans–moving from aspiration to actualization–discipleship is crucial. More than that, we need to recognize the “endlessly sharpened” call of costly grace to discipleship.
Discipleship Means Learning to Live Under Christ’s Authority
Learning is an important aspect of discipleship. But what are we learning and how are we learning it? In the context of Matthew 28, the first of these two questions is addressed. We are to learn to observe all Christ commanded (Matt 28:20). Given that Christ has been given “all authority in heaven and on earth,” this learning concerns living faithfully under that authority.
At the same time, we must recognize that “learning to” involves “learning about.” It seems impossible, for instance, to assume that one could observe all Christ commanded (learning to) without knowing what Christ commanded (learning about). We can’t presume to be able to live under Christ’s authority when we don’t understand God’s instruction. That understanding need not be complete, but it does need to grow as the call to discipleship–the process of learning to live faithfully under Christ’s authority–is “endlessly sharpened.”
When we think about how we “learn to” recognize Christ’s authority at all times, we need to have some sense of how learning occurs. What are we thinking about when we think about learning? What elements are involved in learning and how do they translate into the life of individual believers and, ultimately, the life of the church? To answer these questions, we need some framework for learning.
In 2002, psychologist Lee Shulman proposed his “Table of Learning” to describe the processes involved in learning. His model includes seven items: (1) engagement and motivation, (2) knowledge and understanding, (3) performance and action, (4) reflection and critique, (5) judgment and design, and (6) commitment and identity. These categories may be described as follows:
1. Engagement and motivation- An active, motivated involvement in one’s own learning
2. Knowledge and understanding- The development of an “ownership” of knowledge that allows one to convey—or restate—ideas in one’s own words.
3. Performance and action- Acting in and on the world with a particular goal in mind.
4. Reflection and critique- The willingness and ability to consider one’s own actions critically to determine how a given way of being in the world contributes to one’s goal or purpose.
5. Judgment and Design- One’s ability to work within a variety of constraints.
6. Commitment and identity- The decision to become a particular sort of person and the development of characteristics and the adoption of values commensurate with becoming that sort of person.
These categories gesture toward a theological mode of being. Discipleship begins with commitment and engagement. In baptism, we unite ourselves with Christ in his death and seek to walk in newness of life trusting that we will experience a resurrection like his (Rom 6:4-11). It involves an ongoing acquisition of knowledge and understanding of both God’s word (Josh 1:8; Ps 119:11) and the goodness, truth, and beauty we see in creation (Ps 19:1-2; 1 Tim 4:4). It requires us to act in the world to bring glory to the Triune God—rejecting evil and embracing good (1 Thess 5:21-22)—while reflecting on (Lam 3:40; 2 Cor 13:5; ) and receiving feedback about the ways our actions fall short of the standard that is Christ (Prov 9:9; Ecc 7:5; Gal 6:1). Discipleship occurs within a particular set of constraints. The way we embody the world as either male or female, big or small, rich or poor, etc., requires us to think and act differently within a given set of restraints. Our most relevant constraint is the word of God (Deut 8:3).
3 Steps to Embrace the Endless Sharpening of Discipleship
So, what does all this mean for the way we embrace the “endless sharpening” of discipleship? In essence, it means that living out our initial commitment is an ongoing process. That process won’t always proceed in a straight line—we may experience setbacks. At the same time, we always move forward in the same way: we take small steps of obedience by responding to God from within the various situations we encounter.
To engage in this ongoing process of learning to conform increasingly to the image of Christ, Christians need to keep the following in mind.
1. “Progression” does not mean that we can assume everything we have done in the past is correct.
Learning often requires us to revise previous ways of thinking and acting to move forward. We can’t simply assume that the institutions we’ve built, the interests we’ve pursued, or even (at times) the theologies we have developed are so complete that they are beyond revision. Yes, Christian doctrine is stable—the creedal commitments developed through the years mark out the boundaries of what it means to be Christian—yet our core commitments can only extend so far. As such, if we understand progress as moving us ever closer to Christ and allowing us to point to and glorify God more faithfully, progress may require us to set aside what we thought was the right course to continue to follow Christ.
2. The “endless sharpening” requires that we act.
Reflection and deliberation are crucial, yet they should not delay action forever. We act, reflect on that action, consider the extent to which our actions glorified God, and repent where necessary. Knowing that God will forgive us when we confess does not mean we can flippantly ignore God’s word by asking for forgiveness apart from permission. Instead, repentance is the way that we express our commitment to continually pursuing conformity to Christ. As we act and reflect on our actions, allowing the Holy Spirit to correct and guide us, we will learn to live life on God’s terms rather than our own.
3. Once we recognize Christ as Lord, we recognize the claim he has on us.
We don’t decide Christ is the option we prefer, we acknowledge his authority and seek to follow him in an unqualified manner. We don’t honor our commitment perfectly, but it is a commitment we bind ourselves to keep. In dying with Christ in baptism, we acknowledge that the fleshly way of life is wrongheaded, whereas the way of Christ leads to life.
If we are going to “stay salty” or do what Jesus would do, we need to begin taking small steps of obedience (performance and action) in our lives. These small steps reflect our convictions about God (knowledge and understanding) to whom we have pledged our unqualified loyalty (commitment and identity). In seeking to obey God, we are actively learning to live in dependence on him as opposed to independent of him so that he gets the glory (engagement and motivation). We do so even when obedience doesn’t seem to address the problems we face (design and judgment). Yet, as we consider our actions (reflection and critique) we will come to recognize the ways we have sought to be self-sufficient, self-determined, and self-effacing instead of allowing God to work in and through us, despite our limitations, so that only he gets the glory.
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Omar Lopez
