“It never seems to occur to anyone,” Tozer lamented, “that there is true joy farther on if they would only escape the circle and strike out for the hills of God.”4 Tozer likened the ordeal many people experience at church to being forced to remain in the third grade for five years even though the educational content of that grade was learned the first year. Why would any church do this? Mapping an itinerary that includes all those destinations worthy of God, and detours from all those dead-ends that strand the believer in defeat, makes obvious sense.
It is from Scripture we learn that the journey from Egypt to Canaan delineates four distinct stages in the Christian life: stage 1) escaping Egypt, which represents securing our salvation; stage 2) dwelling in the wilderness, which represents learning the law and the failures of the flesh; stage 3) crossing the Jordan River, which represents holiness and the crucified life; and stage 4) entering the Promised Land, which represents the Spirit-filled life and the faith conquests that follow.
A major problem that discipleship must avoid is presenting only half a map. In order to increase awareness of this problem, ask yourself this question: How would you assess the leadership of Moses had he crossed the Red Sea but went no farther? Getting out of Egypt was a monumental blessing, to be sure; but was life on the other side of the Red Sea the best God had to offer? Surely you would agree that singing the song of Moses everyday while celebrating one’s salvation should never have been the end of this story. Yet, there are some churches today where this does seem to be the end of the story. Their one mission in life is to get people saved, and beyond that there isn’t much of a mission.
Consider a different scenario, one where Moses traveled farther and made his destination Sinai. Had this been the extent of his itinerary, Moses would have led his people to discover God’s laws, statutes, and precepts. And with these in hand, he could have camped out for a long time, just as many churches today have done by setting forth principles for daily life in sermon after sermon.
Yet God knew then what some leaders today seem not to know: This approach would have never gotten them out of the wilderness! The law, and all these statutes and principles, expose the flesh; they do not—and cannot—defeat it. Attempting to train the flesh with biblical principles only is utterly useless. God never wanted his people tramping around Sinai (Deuteronomy 1:6-8). The trajectory of their travel had a much better destination.
Kadesh, located on the boundary between the wilderness and the Promised Land, literally means “holiness.” This was supposed to be stage three in the journey. A.B. Simpson said that Kadesh “is a place where we either pass out of the wilderness … or where we pass on to the ceaseless round of failure and disappointment in which so many are living.”5 It’s one way or the other: Either the people of God accept the condition of holiness—the Jordan River, literally meaning death (the crucified life)—or they decide holiness isn’t for them and they move away from it.
It was at Kadesh where the vast majority of people decided not to listen to God, not listen to their leaders, but to return to the wilderness instead. Rejecting the holiness Kadesh promoted, the people of God made a fast U-turn and headed back to a way of life they really didn’t like.
Contemplate yet another alternative: What if Joshua led his people across the Jordan, but then, inexplicably, he and they decided to stay there? Had he and his people only gone that far, the Promised Land would have remained in the hands of those thirty-one kings, and the people of God would have missed out! Similarly, if we never proceed to stage four—experiencing the Spirit’s filling and implementing the faith that possesses—we, too, will miss out on what the Promised Land represents.
Put in this way, are you now sensing the serious defects in itineraries with only half a map? To deliberately cut the journey short greatly deprives the people of God. The agenda for discipleship should include all the stages and strategies for experiencing Jesus from the moment of conversion to the most advanced stage of spiritual maturity. These four stages of Christian growth must factor into a well-conceived discipleship ministry, or the very real possibility exists that we’ll go no higher than promoting Sinai-like proficiency, turning out people who know precepts and principles but rarely experience the passion and progress that flows from consistently experiencing the presence of God.
Had we asked the people of God during Moses’ day if they had knowledge of Promised-Land living, they would have assured us they did, and could have offered up-close testimony to back that up. Yet, that kind of life was never their experience! They could talk about it, just as many Christians today can talk about it. But as Alexander Maclaren warned, it’s only talk. “The truth you do not live by becomes less and less real to you.”6 Maslow describes this sham as “non-peakers” talking to “non-peakers” about peak experience.
Learn more about advanced discipleship on page three . . .
4 Ibid., pp.70, 71.
5 A.B. Simpson, “The Holy Spirit,” Volume 1, (Telford, PA., Worthy Christian Library), online, chapter 5, paragraphs 6 and 7.
6 Leslie R. Keylock, “Alexander Maclaren,” (Fundamentalist Journal, January, 1989), p.58.
