Discipleship, Cranmer, and a Transformed Heart
"Discipleship" is a buzzword with lots of tired, old baggage. Unfortunately it has come to mean those things that we do (the celebration of disciplines) heavy-lifting our way towards increased holiness. It’s the 21st century equivalent of the Medieval monastic exercises that was described as “ladder-climbing” - with the end of the ladder, unfortunately, always two more steps higher. When Jesus said "If you love me you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15), our thoughts immediately jump to: I haven’t obeyed well - this must mean that I don’t love him - so I need to ramp up my obedience! My righteous behavior brings about his approval and acceptance (instead of: his sure approval and delight in me brings out of me good behavior). And the more I give myself to this obedience-treadmill brings me closer and closer to the goal of holiness and assurance of salvation, without ever reaching it. This popular view of discipleship is a lot of work and awfully bad news all the way around. Exhaustion and anxiety are it's byproducts, when all along Jesus is saying: come to me and I will give you rest; my burden it light.
The 16th century reformers taught that what the heart loves, the will obeys - in that order. They understood that a changed heart impacted by God’s love brings about obedience (it can’t help itself!). The English reformer Thomas Cranmer saw this and he became obsessed with the heart - “unto whom all hearts be open”; “cleanse the thoughts of our hearts”; “incline our hearts’; “write all these thy laws in our hearts”; “that with meek heart and due reverence they may hear and receive thy holy word”; “we…be heartily sorry”; “with hearty repentance”; “lift up your hearts”; “fed on him in thy heart with thanksgiving”; and “keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God.”
Biblical discipleship doesn't focus first on what we do for God, but on what God has done for us in his Son, and how it effects the heart. When we are hit with God’s one-way-love our hearts are moved away from it’s curved-in nature, to love God and neighbor. We don't obey for transformation; we obey in response to God's prior one-way-love, and then by God’s grace “Christ is formed in us” (Galatians 4). We love because he first loved us (1 John 4). We hear Jesus saying: If you love me, this means that automatically and inevitably you will want to obey the One who loves you with such a wild and perfect love. That’s the force and power of God’s grace to transform a human heart! Obedience isn’t the goal of being a disciple of Jesus, it’s the fruit of God’s grace on our hearts that transforms our affections.
“If you love me” is the real focus of Jesus’ concern for the people that day in John 14:15 because he knew that, from love, “you will keep my commandments.” Obedience is not a test of love; it’s the product of the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior, loving out of us the fruit of good works (Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, XII).
So why do we gravitate towards the duty/obedience/performance view of discipleship over guilt/grace/gratitude? I am pretty sure it is because we don’t trust the power of God’s love to motivate us to right behavior. Or, if we trust him to change our hearts in that direction, we certainly don’t trust that it’s powerful enough to transform the guy who sits in the pew next to us. We secretly can’t stand the thought that someone somewhere is getting away with something - that someone is using their freedom in Christ as a license for behaving badly. In theological terms: the third use of the law has become for us the first and primary use (the only use, really). We don’t fully understand that by imputing our sin to God and God’s righteousness imputed to us not only results in a new standing with God (legally speaking), but also a new heart - and the power of the Holy Spirit to empower us to right-willing, and a changed desire for gratefully responding in obedience. “What is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe!” (Ephesians 1). A heart impacted by God’s love brings about obedience (it can’t help itself!).