Bonhoeffer's Discipleship Lesson 10 The Hiddenness of the Devout Life & The Simplicity of the Ca

Hello, welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. My name is M.t. Clark. I'm a Community Freedom Ministry Associate for Freedom in Christ Ministries and a teacher and lover of discipleship, Christian discipleship, and this program is called Bonhoeffer's Discipleship: An Informal Walkthrough Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, or The Cost of Discipleship. And, uh, we've been doing a series of lessons on the book, and tonight, or this afternoon, this morning, whatever time it is you're watching, uh, we're doing lesson 10. So, um, we've been sharing a PowerPoint presentation and reading through the text, and, uh, that's what we're going to do. So we'll, we'll go right to that and share our screen. To get that presentation started. There we go. And we'll put it in presentation view. Okay, like I said, basically it's Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, Lesson 10, The Hidden Nature of the Christian Life, Part 2, which will be on the hiddenness of the devout life and the simplicity of the carefree life. It's brought to you, of course, by me, M.t. Clark, and my blog mt4christ.org and the MT for Christ 247 podcast. We also have an MT for Christ 247 YouTube channel where you're probably watching this, or perhaps you're listening to just the audio, but either way, it's brought to you by us and And a reminder, our study is on discipleship, not on the disciple, uh, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It's basically on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's words and not the man. However, Bonhoeffer certainly had an interesting life, and for those interested, we recommend Eric Metaxas' book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, and Spy, as well as his latest book, Letter to the American Church. That draws parallels to our current culture and Nazi Germany and the lessons we can learn from what Bonhoeffer and Germany went through. Basically, we should probably speak up for what is right and resist what is evil in all times as Christians. Well, this is where I plug books, so I'm also going to plug The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee. Um, it's a great work, um, extensive work, 3 volumes, um, on Christian discipleship, what it means to be a Christian, how to live, uh, like a Christian. And I, I particularly like Watchman Nee's work because he doesn't pull any punches and says some things that your pastor wouldn't tell you, wouldn't dare tell you, like God might get you sick. Whoa. But we recommend it just because it's— Weschminney is great. If you're not familiar, we recommend him highly as he has been, you know, inspirational in our Christian walk. So, and that's why we're doing this, to encourage people to live a life of Christian discipleship. Today's study, of course, is on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship. Also known as The Cost of Discipleship. And even though it's one book, one work, it was written in German, so in the English there's different translations. The version I enjoyed reading a paperback copy of was the one on the right here. My copy was originally published in 1959 and re-released in '95, but In actuality, it was like '37 and '49 and then '59, I guess. But because I loved Dietrich Bonhoeffer's work so much, I also got his— the digital copies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's works, and volume 4 is Discipleship. And that— and from that text is where we'll be drawing the words that we use in today's teaching. Um, they seem not to give me any difficulties this week, so, uh, we're going with that one exclusively. Um, so that's where we're drawing the words from, and we'll move along. The source though, um, for this teaching of course is the Bible. It's the truth. And so today's Bible study with Dietrich Bonhoeffer will be on Matthew 6:16-34. And we begin. The Hiddenness of the Devout Life. Matthew 6:16-18. Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face. So that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. The practice of fasting. Jesus takes it for granted that disciples will keep the pious practice or exercise of fasting. The life of a disciple requires the strict practice of austerity. The only purpose of such practices is to make disciples more willing and more joyous in following the designated path and doing the works required of them. The selfish and lethargic will which resists being of service is disciplined. The flesh is chastened and punished. The practice of austerity makes me feel the estrangement of my Christian life from the world., a life which remains without any ascetic discipline, which indulges in all the desires of the flesh as long as they are permitted by the justia civilis, or civil order, will find it difficult to enter the service of Christ. Satiated flesh is unwilling to pray and is unfit for self-sacrificing service. And it's— while fasting is a practice that is well known, it's looked upon in a negative light by most people in our society, as people just can't make any sense of why you would deny yourself food even for spiritual practice. So if you want to feel the estrangement of your Christian life from the world, just tell everyone you're fasting. You'll be treated differently and they'll look at you strangely and they'll wonder what's wrong with you. However, I can testify as someone who's done long extended fasts, 21, 25 days on one occasion and 21 days on a few occasions, that it really does connect you in the spirit with the Lord as you're— as all the time devoted to eating is dedicated to prayer and study and connecting with God. So it's something I recommend, you know. If we're going to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh, we have to show the flesh who's boss and, you know, basically exercise that self-control, that fruit of the Spirit in that. Because if we're just always just giving into the flesh, we won't be walking in the Spirit. Basically. So we'll move along. A disciple's life requires strict external discipline. This is not to suggest that the will of the flesh can be broken by discipline. The daily death of the old self cannot be achieved by anything other than faith in Jesus. But persons of faith, disciples whose will is already broken, whose old selves have died to Jesus Christ, do know precisely the rebellion and daily pride of their flesh. They know their lethargy and lack of discipline and know that to be the source of arrogance, which must be conquered. This takes place in daily extraordinary practice of discipline. The disciples are meant when it is said that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, therefore watch and pray. The spirit knows the path of discipleship and is ready to follow it, but the flesh is too fearful. The path is too difficult for it, too uncertain, too arduous. So the spirit falls silent. The spirit affirms Jesus's commandment to love one's enemies unconditionally, but the flesh and the blood are too strong so that the commandment does not become the deed. Thus, in daily extraordinary and extraordinary exercise and discipline, the flesh must learn to understand that it has no rights of its own. The daily orderly exercise of prayer helps in this. So does daily meditation on the word of God, as do all sorts of practices of physical discipline and austerity. Yeah, to be a Christian disciple really does call us to challenge, you know, our needs and It calls us to crucify the flesh. So we recommend to be diligent in pursuing the Lord, especially in the areas of prayer and Bible study and other things that'll help you, you know, to say no to physical expressions of sin. Resistance from the flesh in the name of freedom? Question mark. Uh, the flesh's resistance to the word of Jesus becomes evident whenever evangelical freedom from legalistic coercion, from self-martyrdom and mortification, is played off against legitimate evangelical use of discipline, exercises, and asceticism. Whenever lack of discipline and disorder in prayer, in using scripture, or in one's physical life are justified in the name of Christian freedom. In such circumstances, people have lost sight of the fact that daily life and discipleship is foreign to the world. They have also lost sight of the joy and the true freedom which genuine discipline gives to the life of disciples. The reason I'm doing this study is because I've discovered the joy and true freedom which genuine disciple discipline gives to the life of a disciple. And when we decide to live a Christian life of discipleship, we'll run into people who say, well, I don't have to do that. I'm free. I'm free in Christ, so I don't have to crucify the flesh. I don't have to study. I don't have to do all these things to be approved by God. So why would I do them? Well, because one, we're called to pray. To know God's word, and to crucify the flesh. They're all in Scripture as, as commandments, or, you know, helpful suggestions to Christians to be closer to God. And while— and it's a delicate balance between legalism and, legalism and discipline. We're not doing it to be approved by men. We're not doing it to be approved by God. We're doing it to draw closer to God., and we're doing it out of the joy set before us, not out of some commandment to tell us to do these things. But, you know, we see these practices of fasting, of prayer, meditation, and Bible study as invitations to get to know the Lord better. And when we claim our freedom to say no to these things, we're saying no to the invitations to God. Um, and as we grow in our faith, we understand the fruit of the Spirit will grow in our lives and we experience it. But we'll never know it unless we pursue it. And that's why we, uh, that's why we would discipline the flesh and do these things that are countercultural to the world system, because we get to know— we get to renew our minds and know the Lord more and, and understand his love, joy, and peace in an experiential way from walking in the Spirit. And so don't say no to those invitations. Um, how do we respond to resistance? Well, Christians will have to attack the resistance of their flesh whenever they recognize that they failed in their service, uh, that their willingness has weakened, uh, that they've become guilty influencing the lives of others or causing the guilt of others.— that their joy in God is fading and that their strength for prayer is no longer present. Yeah, all these signs in our experience point us that we, we need— we're slipping, so we might have to do a discipline to get us back on track, back on that path of Christian discipleship. Christians who recognize that will try to get ready for better service through spiritual exercises, fasting, and prayer. The objection that Christians should take refuge in faith in Scripture and forsake asceticism is without any merit. It is without mercy and has no power to help. Yeah, just read your Bible might not be enough. You might have to, you know, do something to draw the discipline back in. Not that just reading your Bible isn't enough, but in times where we have to deal with the resistance, we might have to make a concerted effort to show we are— show the flesh we are walking in the Spirit. We are going to follow the Lord, you know, basically with our hearts and our minds and our bodies in whatever way that the Spirit calls us. So we move along. However, with that said, there's dangers of asceticism. What is the life of faith if not an endless manifold struggle of the spirit against the flesh? How can anyone live in faith whom prayer makes slothful, who is tired of scripture, whose joy in God is stolen by sleeping, eating, and sexual desire. So yeah, asceticism is self-chosen suffering. It is passio activa, active suffering or passion, not passio passiva, passive suffering, and therefore most vulnerable to error and the dangers of extremism. Asceticism is constantly threatened by the godless pious wish to make oneself equal to Christ through suffering. One's own claim to take the place of Christ's suffering, to complete the work of Christ in suffering, namely killing off the old self in us, is also lurking dormant within, within asceticism. And on the PowerPoint, I'm sharing a photo of some Christians in the Philippines who've beaten their backs bloody by self-flagellation., in an, in, you know, in a discipline to, to try to be one with the suffering of Christ. And so we have to be careful. That's, that's an extreme, uh, form. Um, it's not, it's, it's not fasting, it's not prayer, um, self-flagellation. There's, there's, there's not much in the Bible that you can draw from. I guess buffet your body would be, you know, a word from Paul's epistles that we could corrupt into beat yourself bloody. But other than that, I would say there's not a whole lot, you know, crucify the flesh, I guess. But that's sort of taking it to an extreme. And as we move along, discipline for ministry and humility not to be seen by others. And this asceticism usurps the bitter and ultimate seriousness of Christ's work of salvation. Here asceticism makes a dreadful, harsh, dreadfully harsh show of itself. Voluntary suffering discipline should serve only better ministry and deeper humility on the basis of Christ's suffering. But here it becomes a terrible distortion of the suffering in the Lord himself. It wants to be seen. It becomes a merciful, merciless living reproach to other people, for it has become the path to salvation. In such public ostentation, this— its reward is really squandered because it is sought from other people. And here is another devout Christian in the Philippines who's actually been crucified, as the nail is through his hand on the cross. You know, these people do this around Easter time, from what I understand, to experience the Passion of the Christ.. And, uh, again, um, you know, you have to wonder about the public display of this and, and how you're going to be seen in other people's eyes and how it's a distortion of, uh, of the basic practices of, of discipleship. Um, yeah, anyway, we don't recommend crucifying or beating yourself bloody. It's just, you know, that's from me. The hiddenness of the devout life. Remain humble in the practices of humility. Put oil on your head and wash your face could likewise become an opportunity for subtle pleasure or self-praise, but that would misinterpret it as a disguise or mask. Jesus, however, says to his disciples that they should remain humble in the voluntary exercises of humility, that they should never burden others with such exercises, using them as a reproach or a law. Instead, they should become grateful and joyous that they are permitted to remain in service to their Lord. What is meant here is not the cheerful face of a disciple seen as a Christian stereotype, but the proper hiddenness of Christian deeds, the humility which does not know of itself, just as the eye does not see itself but only others. Such hiddenness shall be revealed one day, but only by God, not by oneself. So yeah, we're not to put this on someone else. You need to fast, you need to do all of this stuff, you know. Um, no, we're, we're to, you know, do these things voluntarily, individually, as the Lord calls us to do these things. And their, their purpose, of course, is to, to be humble and for better ministry, you know, to be a better disciple of Christ and to know the joy of the Lord, you know, through walking in the Spirit. And it's not for a show. We're not putting this on for someone else's benefits or even for our own. We're doing this to know the Lord better. And we move along to the simplicity of the carefree life. Matthew 6:19, the word said— 6:19-24, the word says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures here on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy— destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. A simple vision. The life of those who follow proves to be on the right course when nothing comes between them and Christ— not the law, not their own piety, and not the world. The disciples always see only Christ. They do not see Christ in the law, Christ in piety, Christ in the world. They do not even begin to reflect that They just follow Christ in everything. So their vision is simple. Its sole focus is on the light which comes from Christ. There is no darkness or ambiguity in their eyes. Just as the eye must remain simple, clear, and pure so that the body may remain in the light, just as the foot and the hand have no other source of light except the eye, just as the foot stumbles and the hand gropes when the eye is clouded, just as the whole body is in darkness when the eye is blinded, so disciples are in the light only as long as they look simply to Christ and not to this or that. The disciples' hearts must simply be focused on Christ alone. If the eye sees something other than what is real, then the whole body is deceived. If the heart clings to the appearances of the world, to the creatures instead of the Creator, then the disciple is lost. So keep your vision simple, uh, keep that, uh, on Christ and follow his example. What attracts the heart of a disciple? It is the goods of the world which try to turn away the hearts of Jesus's disciples. What is it that attracts the heart of a disciple? That is the question. Is it attracted by the goods of the world, or even by Christ and the goods of the world, or does it stand by Christ alone? The light for the body is the eye, and the light for a disciple is the heart. If the eye is dimmed, how dark the whole body must be. If the heart is darkened, how dark it must be in the disciple. The heart becomes dark when it clings to the goods of the world. Then Jesus' call, be it as urgent as can be, nevertheless bounces off. It finds no entry in the person because the heart is closed. It belongs to another. Just as no light can enter the body if the eye is evil, so the word of Jesus cannot enter the disciple if the heart is shut. The word is choked off, just as the seed among thorns is choked off by the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life. The simplicity of the eye and the heart is like the hiddenness in which nothing except Christ's word and call is known, and complete communion with Christ is all there is. So we don't get tied up with the things of this world. How should disciples deal simply with the goods of the earth? Jesus does not forbid them to use the goods. Jesus was human. He ate and drank just as his disciples did. In doing so, we purify the use of the goods of the earth. Disciples should gratefully use the goods required for their body's daily need and nutrition, goods which are consumed in sustaining life. Here Bonhoeffer shares a little poem: We're wandering pilgrims day by endless days, ill-clothed and poor, yet freed in fearless ways. We need not gather, hoard, nor trade, lest our paths to God overburdened fade. So whoso craves with greed's lethal eyes cannot along life's journey with us have ties. Few goods at hand, we live at peace with God. Our lot, our lot, our needs decrease. Goods are given given to us to be used, but not to be stored away. Just as Israel in the desert received manna daily from God and did not have to worry about food and drink, and just as the manna which was stored from one day for another rotted, so should Jesus's disciples receive their share daily from God. But if they store it up as lasting treasure, they will spoil both the gift and themselves. The heart clings to collected treasure. Stored-up possessions get between me and God. Where my treasure is, there is my trust, my security, my comfort, my God. Treasure means idolatry. You know, when we care more about the things of this world than our relationship with the Lord or obeying the Lord, we know who we serve. We're, you know, our possessions become our idols. And we're not supposed to worship them. Our treasure is supposed to be Christ alone. So did Jesus say treasures? You mean there is more? But where is the boundary between the goods I am supposed to use and the treasure I am not supposed to have? If we turn the statement around and say what your heart clings to is your treasure, then we have the answer. It can be a very modest treasure. It is not even It is not a question of size. Everything depends on the heart, on you. If I continue to ask, how can I recognize what my heart clings to? Again, there's a clear and simple answer. Everything which, which keeps you from loving God above all things, everything which gets between you and your obedience to Jesus, is the treasure to which your heart clings. Because the human heart needs a treasure to cling to, it is Jesus's will that it should have a treasure, but not on earth where it decays. Instead, the treasure is in heaven where it is preserved. The treasures in heaven which Jesus is speaking, uh, are apparently not, uh, the one treasure, Jesus himself, but treasures really collected by his followers. A great promise is expressed in this, that disciples will acquire heavenly treasures by following Jesus. Treasures which will not decay, which wait for them, with which they shall be united. What other treasure could they be except that extraordinariness, that hiddenness of life as a disciple? What treasures could they be except the fruits of Christ's suffering, which the life of a disciple will bear. So move along. Who will you serve? If disciples have completely entrusted their hearts to God, then it is clear to them that they cannot serve two masters. They simply cannot. It is impossible in discipleship. It would be tempting to demonstrate one's Christian cleverness and experience by showing that one did know how to serve both masters, mammon, wealth, and God, but giving each their limited— by giving each their limited due, why shouldn't we who are God's children also be joyous children of this world who enjoy God's good gifts and receive their treasures as God's blessings? God and world, God and earthly goods are against each other because the world and its goods reach for our hearts. Only when they have won our hearts are they really what they are. Without our hearts, earthly goods in the world mean nothing. They live off of our hearts. In that way, they are against God. We can give our hearts in complete love only to one object. We can cling only to one master. Whatever opposes this love falls into hatred. You'll love one or hate the other. Thus, you can't have it both ways. As much as we'd like to say or think we could do that, you know, one's going to rule over the other just a little bit, or maybe a whole lot. And as Joshua 24:1-21, you know, taught us, you know, choose today whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. Um, there's no two ways about it. Love or hate God. According to Jesus's word, there can, there can be only love or hate toward God. If we do not love God, then we hate God. There is no in-between. That is the way God is, and that is what makes God be God, that we can only love or hate God. Only one of one or the other option is possible. Either you love God or you love the goods of the world. If you love the world, you hate God. If you love God, you hate the world. It does not matter at all whether you intend to do it or whether you know what you are doing. Of course, you will not intend to do so, and you will probably not know what you are doing. It is much more likely that you do not intend to do— intend what you do. You just intend to serve both masters. You intend to love God and goods. But you will always view it as an untruth that you hate God. You love God, you think, but by loving God and also the goods of the world, our love for God is actually hate. Our eye no longer views things simply, and our heart is no longer in communion with Jesus. Whether it is your intention or not, it cannot be otherwise. You cannot serve two masters, you who are following Jesus. And let's see, we'll move along to Matthew 6:25-34, which says, therefore I say unto you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God sows So clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. From your heavenly Father— for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Do not worry. Put tomorrow into God's hands. Um, earthly goods deceive the human heart into believing that they give it security and freedom from worry. But in truth, they are what cause anxiety. The heart which clings to goods receives them with the choking burden of worry. Worry collects treasures, and treasures produce more worries. We desire to secure our lives with earthly goods. We want our worrying to make us worry-free, but the truth is the opposite. The chains which bind us to earthly goods, the clutches which hold the goods tight, are themselves worries. Abuse of earthly goods consists of using them as security for the next day. Worry is always directed toward tomorrow, but the goods are intended only for today in the strictest sense. It is our securing things for tomorrow which makes us so insecure today. It is enough that each day should have its own troubles. Only those who put tomorrow completely into God's hands and receive fully today what they need for their lives are really secure. Yeah, so we try to look ahead and prepare for the future and, you know, get all these things and goods and treasures to make us feel secure, but the opposite happens. So let's move along. Don't worry about tomorrow. Just don't. Receiving daily liberates me from tomorrow. The thought of tomorrow gives me endless worries. Do not worry about tomorrow. That is either cruel ridicule of the poor and suffering whom Jesus is addressing, of all those who in human perspective will starve tomorrow if they do not worry today. It is either an intolerable law that people reject or detest. And detest, or is the unique gospel proclamation of the freedom of God's children who have a Father in heaven who has given them the gift of his dear Son. Will he not also give them, give us everything else? Do not worry about tomorrow. We should not understand that to be a human wisdom or a law. The only way to understand it is as the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only those disciples who have recognized Jesus can receive from this word an affirmation of the love of the Father, of Jesus Christ, and the liberation from all things. You know, why won't we worry about tomorrow? Because of Jesus. He takes care of tomorrow. Faith in Jesus makes us worry-free. It is not worrying which makes disciples worries-free. It is faith in Jesus Christ. Now they know. We cannot— we now, they know we cannot worry. The next day, the next hour is completely out of our hands' reach. It is meaningless to behave as if we could worry. We can change nothing about the conditions of the world. Only God can change the conditions, for example, about a body's height, for God rules the world. Because we cannot worry, because we are so powerless, we should not Worry. Worrying means taking God's rule unto ourselves. Disciples know not only that they may not and cannot worry, but also that they need not worry. It is not worry, it is not even work which produces daily bread, but God the Father. The birds and the lilies do not work and spin, but they are fed and clothed. They receive their daily share without worry. They need the goods of the world only for daily life. They do not collect them. By not collecting, they praise the Creator not by their industry, their work, their worry, but by receiving daily and simply the gifts God gives. The carefree simplicity of following Jesus. That is how birds and lilies become examples for disciples. Jesus dissolves the connection between work and food, which is conceived in terms of cause in effect, apart from God. He does not value daily bread as the reward for work. Instead, he speaks of the carefree simplicity of those who follow the ways of Jesus and receive everything from God. Now, no animal works for its living, but each has its own task to perform, after which it seeks and finds its food. The little birds fly about, about, and warble make nests and hatch their young. That is their task, but they do not gain their living from it. Oxen plow, horses carry their riders and have a share in battle. Sheep furnish wool, milk, cheese, and so on. That is their task, but they do not gain their living from it. It is the earth which produces grass and nourishes them through God's blessings. Every perfect gift comes from God, even our provision. Man must work, but God provides. Similarly, man must necessarily work and busy himself at something. At the same time, however, he must know that it is something other than his labor which furnishes his sustenance. It is the divine blessing. Because God gives him nothing unless he works, it may seem as if his labor which sustains him Just as the little birds neither sow nor reap, but they would certainly die of hunger if they did not fly about to seek their food. The fact that they find food, however, is not due to their own labor but to God's goodness. For who placed their food there where they can find it? For where God has not laid up a supply, no one will find anything, even though they all work themselves to death searching. Yeah, if God doesn't put the food there, it doesn't matter how long we search for it. Um, but if the Creator sustains birds and lilies, won't the Father also feed his children who daily ask him to do so? Shouldn't God give them what they need for their daily lives? God, to whom all the goods of the earth belong and who can distribute them according to God's own pleasure. God, give me every day as much as I need to live. He gives it to the birds on the roof. How should he not give it to me? So Claudius— let's move along. Worry is for non-believers. Worry is the concern of non-believers who rely on their strength and work but not on God. Non-believers are worriers because they do not know that the Father knows what they their needs are. So they intend to get for themselves what they do not expect from God. But disciples are to strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. This makes clear that the concern for food and clothing is not yet concern for the kingdom of God as we would like to understand it. We would like to consider performing our work for our families and ourselves, our worrying food and a place to live and sleep to be the same thing as striving for the kingdom of God, as if striving for the kingdom took place only in the context of those concerns. Don't worry if there's a hell below, we're all going to go, said Curtis Mayfield. That's the worry of the non-believer for sure. But in terms of, you know, even though we work Um, the concern is not just, you know, we're doing God's will, we do all this work. No, we're to seek his kingdom and his righteousness first, and then all these things will be given to you. Um, let's see, communion with Jesus, with and obedience to Jesus. The kingdom of God and God's righteousness are something entirely different from the, from the gifts of the world that are to come to us. It is nothing other than the righteousness about which Matthew 5 and 6 have spoken, the righteousness of the cross of Christ and discipleship under the cross. Communion with Jesus and obedience to his commandment come first, then everything else follows. There is no blending of the two. One follows the other. Striving for the righteousness of Christ stands ahead of the cares of our lives for food and clothing. And for job and family. This is the most exacting summary of everything which has been said before. This word of Jesus, like the commandment not to worry, is neither— is either an unbearable burden, an impossible instruction of human existence for the poor and suffering, or it is the gospel itself which can make us completely free and completely joyous. Jesus is not speaking of what people should do but cannot do. Rather, he is speaking of what God has granted us and continues to promise us. If Christ has been given to us, if we are called to follow him, then everything, everything indeed is given us with him. Everything else shall be given to us. Those who in following Jesus, look only to his righteousness, are in the care and protection of Jesus Christ and his Father. Nothing can harm those who are thus in communion with the Father. They cannot doubt that the Father will feed his children and will not let them starve. God will help them at the right time. God knows what we need. Jesus's disciples, even after having followed him for a long time, will be able to answer the question Were you ever in need with the Lord? Never. How could they suffer need who in hunger and nakedness, persecution and danger, are confident of their community with Jesus Christ? And that is the end of the text. And we ask the question, you know, How could you ever feel that you were in need when you're in community with Jesus Christ? And this simple— the simple truth behind that is when we're in the presence of the Lord, when we live continually in his presence by seeking his kingdom and seeking his righteousness, we are walking in the Spirit and we enjoy the fruit of the Spirit which flow in our lives regardless of our circumstances. So no matter what the day brings, we have what we need, and we work, we work and meet our responsibilities as they are before us. But we always seek the righteousness of Christ and the kingdom of the Lord, and all these things are given to us. And so that is the end of this week's lesson on Bonhoeffer's discipleship. I invite everybody to get a copy of the book, one of the copies of the books, and examine the text for yourself. But I just encourage you to keep walking and talking with God and try to follow him and try to understand his word more. When we resolve our life issues through faith in Jesus Christ, we experience peace and we experience, you know, all the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. So we invite you to check out our podcast where we have teachings on Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. In case you don't know your freedom, those teachings are based on the word of God and the work of Dr. Neil Anderson, who encourages, uh, us to, you know, really live as disciples and to know who we are in Christ. Um, and when we do that, we discover we have, we have the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. So we encourage that. We also encourage Bible study. If you want to join our, our Bible studies, we have them on the, uh, the podcast and the YouTube channel. My good friend Arthur Sincotti, his wife Susanna, join us each week with one of his outlines where we discuss the things of the Lord according to his word. And we encourage you to check that out if you need some fellowship for Bible study. As always, we invite people to go to mtforchrist.org where you can always check out my blog where I give out, you know, semi-daily, 6 days a week, an encouraging word and photo and usually a Bible verse to encourage you in your walk. And we just thank everyone out there who might be tuning in or listening, and we just pray for you. Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for another teaching from your word through the lens of Dietrich Bonhoeffer to help us try to understand uh, what it is that you would have us do, Lord. Uh, Lord, we thank you for guiding us into all truth through your Holy Spirit. We pray for anyone listening or watching this message, Lord, that they'd be blessed by your grace as they seek to do your will and represent you here on the earth. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. All right. Well, thanks for tuning in. We, uh, we encourage you to keep walking and talking with God, and we'll be back next week sometime, uh, with more of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship. Thank you, and God bless.