openness – Disciple Up

Disciple Up # 47
Transparent Discipleship
By Louie Marsh, 3-14-2018

What’s coming up –

48 – 3-21-The Cruel Curse of Christian Clichés

49 – 3-28- Tales From the Scrypt – The Easter Story

55 – 5-9- 1^st Anniversary!

Don’t know what I’ll do – if you want to say anything about the impact of this podcast on your life in it’s first year e-mail, put it on FaceBook, etc.

My book Getting Real is all about this – from the Psalms which is if not the most then one of the most real books in the Bible.

The Disciple Up Low Down on the Importance of Transparency

Biblical Basis for Transparency

Throughout the Bible, the heroes of faith are presented as men subject to like passions as we are (Jas. 5:17) with strengths and weaknesses. For example, it not only portrays Abraham as a friend of God but also as a liar who jeopardized his wife’s virtue.

The Lord Jesus

2) The Psalms – as real as you can get!

Hindrances to Transparency

There is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) transparency about the characters in the Bible. But many of us go around wearing a mask. Why are we afraid to let others know who we really are?

We are afraid to be transparent because we fear others may not like what they see and reject us. Worse, your words or actions may be misinterpreted and gossip, like wild fire, may spread to many others. Another hindrance to transparency is the “living by faith” extreme of denying our feeling.

Therefore, we put up this “I-Must-Always-Be-Strong” facade such that nothing can go out and nothing can come in. It becomes impossible to “connect” (build close relationships) with others.

Quotes:

Jennie Allen

“We are all hiding from each other with big fig leaves, but God says, “You could stop because I am a way better covering. I have an actual payment for all the sin you are hiding. But it will take coming out from behind your leaves. It will take humility to see that you need me”

Joni Eareckson Tada

Gut-wrenching questions honor God. Despair directed at God is a way of encountering him, opening ourselves up to the One and only Someone who can actually do something about our plight.

Madeleine L’Engle

When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability… To be alive is to be vulnerable.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

I always try to turn my personal struggles into something helpful for others.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Maybe we wonder if God can take all that goes on in our mind and heart. Maybe we simply want to hold on to our own pleasurable imaginings, afraid that in showing them to our Lord, we may have to give them up. Thus, we are constantly tempted to fall back…out of fear or out of greed, and to keep from our God what often is the most in need of His healing touch.

Juliana of Norwich

It is very great pleasure to [Christ] when a simple soul comes to him nakedly, plainly and unpretentiously.

How To Build A Foundation For Transparency

We cannot hide anything from God You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Psa 139:3
We can tell God anything and everything.

¹ How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? ² How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? ³ Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, Psalm 13:1-3 (ESV)

Paul was not afraid to allow others to see him as he was. ¹⁵ The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶ But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷ To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:15-17 (ESV)

Benefits of Transparency

People will see you as a real human being.
Your transparency lets people into you life and creates a real healthy relationship.
Transparency creates transparency. It will draw your disciples out to reveal their hearts to you. This in turn will enable you to know where the applications of God’s word are to be made in their lives.
Your transparency gives others the freedom to hurt, permission to fail, and the confidence to trust in the Grace of God

Potential Problems with Transparency

To be transparent isn’t telling everyone everything about everything.
²⁹ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 (ESV)

⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Colossians 4:6 (ESV)

1. Don’t harm people by sharing things they can’t handle and will hurt them.
2. Always make sure whatever you say that you point people to Christ.

Please Get In Touch!

Disciple Up # 47 Transparent Discipleship By Louie Marsh, 3-14-2018