Chapter 9: What Does God Want?

What Does a Disciple Do? | Meditation on a Book | What Does God Want? Series | Jesus Christ | Christianity

Photo by Samuel Martins on Unsplash

Introduction | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Summary and Preview | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

What Does a Disciple Do?

Chapter 9, the final chapter in “What Does God Want?” by Dr. Michael S. Heiser [not an affiliate link], is 19 pages and the 10 sections are:

• Disciples Love God, Their Neighbor, and Each Other

• Disciples Take Care of Each Other

• Disciples Fellowship

• Disciples Pray

• Disciples Fast

• Disciples Worship

• Disciples Confess Sin and Accept God’s Forgiveness

• Disciples Study the Bible

• Disciples Suffer

• Disciples Make More Disciples

Wow, that’s a long list!

For this final post I could easily write 10 new posts, one for each topic listed above. However, new ideas for future posts are on my mind, and I need to keep this post at approximately 1,000 words maximum, so I’ll focus on one topic: Disciples Confess Sin and Accept God’s Forgiveness.

If you’d like to dig into the other topics in Chapter 9, feel free to buy Heiser’s book (see non-affiliate link above).

Meditations on Chapter 9

Disciples Confess Sin and Accept God’s Forgiveness

Before I can even think about Heiser’s “Top Ten” list of what disciples of Jesus do, I have to stop and acknowledge my perfectionistic nature and my Type A personality. Give me a task and I’ll overdo it. I’ll over-research it and over-think it. Then, my executive function issues will struggle with getting things done in a way that will satisfy me, followed by my chronic procrastination that will insert itself in the process.

Give me a list of things that disciples of Jesus are to do, and my “in the flesh” humanity inserts itself, I fail, and then I crash and burn in frustration. 

Then, there’s this verse, in Jesus’ own words, that I contend with:

Matthew 5:48 (CSV)
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Abba! What do I do? How can I walk daily as Your disciple and please You?

One of the things that a disciple has to come to grips with as soon as their journey of following Jesus begins is that they will fail. None of us is sinless like Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:21-22; 1 John 3:5), nor can we hope to be. The Bible is clear on this point.

Page 85, “What Does God Want?”, Dr. Michael S. Heiser.

I’m grateful that I know this truth from walking imperfectly with our beloved Lord Jesus for several decades. And Dr. Heiser stresses the importance of a disciple’s confession of sins and acceptance of God’s forgiveness. It’s different from the unredeemed one’s confession of sins and acceptance into God’s kingdom of light and life. I wrote about the difference between salvation and discipleship, an important distinction, in the Chapter 8 post. If you’d like a review, here’s the link: [go to Chapter 8].

As the Father’s cherished and beloved daughter, Jesus’ little sister and friend, I’m still in my flesh until God takes me home. And I fail in my discipleship walk. My prayer life is imperfect. My “love your neighbor” life is imperfect. My efforts to spend time with God through prayer, fasting, worship, and fellowship with others are also imperfect. I get angry at others. I lose my patience. How can I be perfect as my Father is perfect?

Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Which may be understood,

    1. In general, including all those things wherein we must be followers of God as dear children. Note, It is the duty of Christians to desire, and aim at, and press toward a perfection in grace and holiness, Phil. 3:12-14. And therein we must study to conform ourselves to the example of our heavenly Father, 1 Peter 1:15-16. 

~ Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible, Matthew 5 verse 48.

The good news is that God’s love for me continues to transform me as I desire to be more like Him, and He’s told me what to do when my efforts fail me.

1 John 1:5-10 (HCSV)
5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. [Emphasis mine]

As we seek to follow Jesus, it’s a good idea to, so the saying goes, to “keep short accounts with God.” The idea is that when we fail, we should be quick to confess it and thank God for his forgiveness. We should remember what our sin cost Jesus. We should keep following him in loyal love, being grateful that he went to the cross “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8) so we could be his brothers and sisters.

Page 87, “What Does God Want?”, Dr. Michael S. Heiser.

As I seek Him on a daily basis, confessing my sin when I fail Him and accepting His forgiveness, He gives me wisdom through the Holy Spirit to “walk better” the next time I’m in a similar situation. I know He’s on my side, cheering me on as I walk my discipleship walk, seeking to image Him.

The Lord encourages and empowers me. He’s not sitting over me in judgment of my performance. He’s delighted that I love Him and want to please Him.

Your Turn

I pray that this Meditations on a Book series on “What Does God Want?” by Dr. Michael S. Heiser touched you or helped you even if in just one small way. It’s important to know what God wants: God wants a family. Period. He made us, He cherishes us, and He provided the way back to Him after humanity rebelled and disobeyed Him, causing sin and death to eternally separated us from Him.

Now, it’s your turn. If you’re a disciple of Jesus, keep “short accounts” with your loving heavenly Father. When you fail in your walk as His disciple, confess your sins and—most importantly—accept His forgiveness, then press ahead. Don’t give up.

If you’re not yet a disciple of Jesus, why not? What are you waiting for? He’s here right now, calling you, God’s image bearer, to come back to God’s family. I pray you’ll accept His invitation for it cost Him everything. That’s how much He loves you.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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