Le Chemin: Wholly Following the Path of Jesus

P. Schulten Cordell

Description

There is a longing within every human to know what it is to live fully so that when we come to die, we do not discover that we have not truly lived. But what is the path this longing calls us to follow? What is God's plan for human existence? Is it only to provide us with a future hope that we will continue to live after we depart this earth? Is the essential question, "Where will I spend eternity?" Or is the fundamental query something quite different? Could it be that the primary purpose for which God gave His Son Jesus Christ to die was that his human creatures might live fully and completely in the present? This book will guide you along the path, LE CHEMIN, to purposeful living here and now - a path you may begin to follow today.

Sujets

• Popular psychology

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 30 août 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528967211
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Le Chemin: Wholly Following the Path of Jesus
Cordell P. Schulten
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-08-30
Le Chemin: Wholly Following the Path of Jesus About the Author About the Book Dedication Copyright Information Acknowledgement Chapter 1 Design Chapter 2 Living a Submitted Life Chapter 3 Living a Singular Life Chapter 4 Living a Sacrificed Life Chapter 5 Embodiment in the Here and Now Chapter 6 Adiaphora ~ Sustaining a Community of Learning Along Le Chemin Chapter 7 From Imitatio Christi to Imago Christi
About the Author
Cordell Schulten serves as a teacher at Heritage Classical Christian Academy in Fenton, Missouri. He has also served as a pastor for the English Ministry congregation at the Korean Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood, Missouri; a lecturer for L’Abri Fellowship in YangYang, Korea; and Fontbonne University in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned his M.A. in Theological Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary in 2004 and his J.D. from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1986. He has also studied Theology and Culture at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Cordell and his wife, Sandy, have been married for 40 years. They have four children and five grandchildren. He is also the author of Life Abroad @ Handong published by his students.
About the Book
There is a longing within every human to know what it is to live fully so that when we come to die, we do not discover that we have not truly lived. But what is the path this longing calls us to follow? What is God’s plan for human existence? Is it only to provide us with a future hope that we will continue to live after we depart this earth? Is the essential question, “Where will I spend eternity?” Or is the fundamental query something quite different? Could it be that the primary purpose for which God gave His Son Jesus Christ to die was that his human creatures might live fully and completely in the present? This book will guide you along the path,  Le Chemin , to purposeful living here and now – a path you may begin to follow today.
Dedication
To my students who have made the journey along Le Chemin a joy.
Copyright Information
Copyright © Cordell P. Schulten (2019)
The right of Cordell P. Schulten to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528932783 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528932790 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781528967211 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers he had lived among and taught in Thessalonica, “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20) After my years living, teaching, learning, and walking along Le Chemin, both at home and abroad, I have come to understand the feelings within the heart of Paul when he wrote those words.
And so, I offer continuing thanks to God for the love and grace shown to me by the students I am now privileged and blessed to call my glory and joy. I, most gratefully acknowledge, in particular: Juyoun Han, YeEun Han, Jiyun Moon, A Reum Ryu, Hannah Lee, Haeun Jang, Yating Du, and Ellena Walker. My extra special recognition and gratitude extends to Boyeon Han and Damiya Park. It is my heart’s true joy to see each of you becoming even more beautiful, talented and compassionate people that God has designed and equipped you to be.
I have also been greatly blessed by the kindness and collegiality of my friends and fellow professors, especially, Kukwoon Lee, JunMo Cho, Jeremy Knapp, and Nicholas Lantinga. Finally, I am most grateful to the one God designed especially to balance out all of my weaknesses and shortcomings – to my beloved wife, Sandy.
St. Louis, Missouri
October 2018
Chapter 1

Design
“ I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ”
~ Henry David Thoreau , Walden (1854)
There is a longing within every human to know what it is to live deliberately and fully so that when we, like Thoreau, come to die, we do not find that we had not truly lived. And, what are ‘the essential facts of life’? We might begin the inquiry with some basic questions: What is a human being that God would take thought of him? What is the purpose of God’s creation of humans and His plan for their redemption? Is that purpose only to provide humans with a future hope that they will live forever with God after they depart this earth? Is the essential fact of life found by asking the question, ‘Where will you spend eternity?’ Or, ‘is the fundamental question of human existence something quite different?’
Could it be that the primary purpose, for which God gave His Son to die, was that his human creatures might live fully and completely in the here and now? Did God become a man so that men could live in a world to come or rather, was it so that humans could become fully human and live meaningful and complete lives in this present world? Or maybe, the question still needs to be refined. What is the meaning of eternal life? When does life begin to be eternal? Is it only that which transcends the temporal? Does this happen only after we pass on from this present life on earth? Or rather, could it be that eternal life begins the moment God grants a person the gift of faith – the moment that a person is born anew from above by Word and Spirit of God?
Paul clearly taught that faith in Christ gives us more than just a reason to live in this present world. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 – “If only in this life we have hope, we are, of all men, most miserable.” In Paul’s day, the truth of the Gospel gave men and women a hope to live a meaningful and purposeful life in the here and now. It also assured each follower of Christ of an eternal ongoing existence with Christ throughout all eternity. That hope inspired them to face and accept a martyr’s death for the sake of Christ. In our day, however, we tend to be focused on the other extreme. We have hope for the life to come, but our faith does little for the way we live in the concrete realities of our daily lives in this present world. We are all too often simply living like everyone else around us – conforming to the world rather than transforming it. Maybe we need to be challenged by a new word: “If we have hope only for the life to come, we are of all men most meaningless.”
No one wants to live a miserable life. No one wants to live a meaningless life. So what makes the difference? What enables us to live lives freed of misery and full of meaning? Here again, our question needs to be refined. It is not a ‘what’ that enables full and complete living in the here and now. It is a ‘who’. And the ‘who’ is none other than the very Son of God, Jesus Christ. God, who became fully human that we, his creatures, could become fully men and women bearing His image, now calls and enables us to live responsibly in the concrete realities of life in the here and now.
Where do we hear that call? It comes to us in the words of Jesus when he said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). It is a call to live wholly following after him. It is a call to live a submitted life as we deny ourselves; to live a singular life as we take up his cross daily; and to live a sacrificed life as we follow him on the road that leads to death upon that cross. Christ calls the disciple to deny himself. We deny ourselves by submitting to Christ and his Word. We subject ourselves to his examining eye. We pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and see if there be any evil way in me.” God must search us. We cannot search ourselves. We cannot examine ourselves. We would too easily find excuses and justifications for our choices. Only by examining ourselves by his Word and as the Spirit of God wields its discriminating blade, sharper than any two-edged sword as it discerns the thoughts and intents of our hearts, (Hebrews 4:12), will we begin to live the submitted life – a life of denial to self. Through living a submitted life we begin wholly following.
Christ calls the disciple to take up his cross. We take up our cross by recognizing that the cross must mean to us what it meant to Christ. It is an instrument of death, indeed our place of death, but not merely a death to our self-centered, self-focused life, but a death of the follower for others . The cross was the fulfillment of Christ’s work on earth – the work that the Father had given him to do – the giving up of his life for others. The cross was the signpost that marked the way that Christ walked. It displayed his willingness to do the will of his Father. So the cross that we take up is for us the singular emblem – the one thing that the follower desires – to do the will of God. Living this singular life brings us to the core of wholly following.
Christ calls the disciple to follow him. When a person instructs you to follow, he knows Le Chemin that must be taken. So, the question must be asked: where was Jesus going when he issued this call? The answer is found in the preceding verse: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes,