“Spiritual Multiplication”

The Disciplines of Christ - Part 9

The Art of DiscipleSHIP (making disciples)

Intro: Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT) - ¹⁸ Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

The art of discipleSHIP is really Evangelism part 2 (see lesson #8).  Jesus didn’t call us to create converts.  He said, go and make disciples.   The goal of evangelism is to introduce the gospel in hopes that the person will accept Christ and become a disciple. That’s the measure of successful evangelism—was a disciple made?  It’s not how many are attending church, how many have said a prayer to confess Christ, or how many were Baptized? Christ-like evangelism creates disciples. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, worldly evangelism creates fans instead of followers, church attendees instead of servants of Christ, and “Christians” instead of Disciples of Christ. That may sound harsh because you consider yourself a Christian. But please remember the context of the word Christian in our culture.  It’s been said that an upward of 80% of Americans consider themselves a Christian. So when I look at what the Bible describes as a “Christian” and what I see in our culture that 80% figure doesn’t jive. Simply put, Christian by name doesn’t equate to a disciple of Christ (follower of Christ). Christian by name doesn’t equate to a saving faith. Jesus and his apostles laid out a simple gospel message of repentance. Repentance means to change our thinking and therefore change the direction that our lives are heading. That’s why Jesus said “follow me” when he called his first disciples. To accept the invitation to give your life to Jesus and follow him is accepting an invitation to become his disciple.

 

Now, once you have accepted an invitation to become a disciple of Christ, then you also have the responsibility to help make other disciples. You might think your exempt from that responsibility, but you’re not— reread the text above, it says, “Jesus said to his disciples,…go and make more disciples”. Now don’t panic, if you’re a part of a church and you’re practicing your spiritual gifts God has given you by serving in the church, your already helping make disciples. However, the art of discipleship that we will look at in this lesson will show you how your role in the making of disciples has to surpass the cooperate relationship to the church and must journey into investing in personal, one on one relationships with other brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

The Discipline – Discipleship for the purpose of Godliness.

 The Art of the Discipleship

 

Unlike mass evangelism (presenting the gospel to large numbers, discipleship is usually done in groups of 2 to 4. Even our Adventure small groups of 5-15 people are too big to be considered a discipleship group. However, this is primarily where a lot of Adventure discipleship happens because within these groups you can naturally find close relationships between 2 or 3 group members that essential function as discipleship partners.

 

The fundamentals of discipleship are threefold: teaching, transparency, and transformation.

1)    Why Teaching: Jesus said make disciples by teaching them to obey what he taught.

2)    Why Transparency: Honest relationships where we share our success and failures in obeying Christ cultivate a loving community where transformation can happen.

3)    Why Transformation:  Discipleship groups are loving and can be trusted.  In addition, mutual accountability can help each group member hold to the teaching of Christ.

 

We will look at the how of discipleship at the end of this lesson, but first let’s look at what must take place in the heart of a disciple maker before one can truly make disciples like Jesus did.

 

 The Story –  Jesus Calls Matthew         (Mt. 9:9-13)

⁹ As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. ¹⁰ Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. ¹¹ But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” ¹² When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” ¹³ Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

 

Questions to consider: The story of the calling of Matthew and the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector from last week are similar. How are they similar and how are they different {hint: is Zacchaeus mentioned anywhere else in the Bible}? If you watched the video provided, you can tell they took a little liberty in this depiction of the story. So even though they didn’t stick to the script, did they keep to the spirit/theme of the story? What does Jesus mean when he says, “ I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices”? How does this relate to true discipleship?

 

Personal Commentary:  The portrayal of Matthew in this week’s video kind of gets you, doesn’t it? It’s not just the tears.  It’s the sorrow in his eyes. I have seen those eyes of sorrow several times staring at me over a cup of coffee, in my living room, or even a parking lot. Those eyes say it all, God help me, I’m a sinner. Have you seen those eyes before? Not the tears, we’ve all seen the crocodile tears. No, I’m talking about the brokenness. You can hear it in their voice? The shameful trimmer in their tone that says, “Lord, I’m a sinner. I don’t deserve your grace”. So have you heard it? Have you seen it? If not, there is a perfectly good explanation. You’ve had to felt it yourself to see it. You’ve had to cry those tears to recognize those eyes of sorrow. If you haven’t seen it or you haven’t seen it in awhile then maybe you’re more like the Pharisee in this story. He was so blinded by his own self-righteousness that he had no compassion on the “tax collector”. I say this because you can’t disciple others if you have the heart of a Pharisee. You see, if you think discipleship is only about helping those you think are worthy or only those who are like you, your intentions are not to make disciples of Jesus, your intentions are to make disciples of yourself. Sorry, God won’t bless that. In fact, he’ll do just the opposite.

If you truly want to follow Christ and carry on the torch of discipleship, you’ll discover that you often don’t get to choose who you help disciple. God will put that broken person in your life that needs your love, support, and guidance. And your job is to come along side them and help them with their walk with Jesus. The cool thing you’ll find along the way is that God put them in your life because you needed them just as much as they needed you. You see, that’s what discipleship is about.  It’s a partnership to walk with Jesus together. You’re not the leader.  Jesus is. You’re not the example.  Jesus is. You’re not higher class than them, but Jesus is. Jesus is so high… “he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand ^{Acts 2:23}.”  And therefore remember, Jesus said, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted ^{Luke 18:14}.”

The point is this if you haven’t gotten it already, you can’t disciple others if you think you’re better than they are or if you think it’s beneath you. God puts who he puts in your life for a purpose. And if you ignore the responsibility you have to the people that God puts in your life, then you’ve got to ask yourself this question…what purpose does your life really have?

                                                           

                                                          Further Reading: Corinthians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:6

 

  The Application Questions:  

1)    Think about who God may be leading you to disciple or become a discipleship partner with? Think about the people you hang out with, are they just people like you, are they only people you are comfortable with? If so, be honest with yourself—are you trying to make disciples of yourself or disciples of Jesus?

 

2)    Relationships are essential to Discipleship, so ask yourself. What meaningful Godly relationship do you have in your life where the three T’s of discipleship are present (Teaching Truth, Transparency, and Transformation)? If you’re in a small group, who in your group could you approach about a discipleship partnership? If you’re not in a small group, get in one!!! J

 

 

3)     GROUP DISCUSSION: Discipleship isn’t easy. Discuss among the group your fears and concerns about this type of relationship with another Christian. If you have members in the group who have participated in a discipleship (whether formal or informal) have them talk about their experience.

 

Catch the Vision: Discipleship making seems slow and unproductive in its beginning stages, but take a look below at the long-range view. The results will blow you away. Let’s say a talented pastor/evangelist can reach one person a day for 15 years. That would add up to an impressive 5,475 congregants. However, what if one person decided to disciple just one person a year with the intentions that person being discipled would turn around do the same thing. What do you suppose the results would be in the same 15 year time period. Take a look for yourself…

 

 

Year            Evangelist            Discipler

 

1                           365                      2

2                           730                      4

3                         1095                      8

4                         1460                    16

5                         1825                    32

6                         2190                     64

7                         2555                   128

8                         2920                  256

9                         3285                   512

10                       3650                1024

11                       4015                 2048

12                       4380                4096

13                       4745                8192

14                       5110            16,384

15                       5475            32,768

 

Strengthening your discipline of Evangelism:

1)    Start close to home: If you’re a parent, discipleship of your kids in your first priority. Remember the tenants of discipleship. (1)Teaching/learning God’s truth. The church does not replace your responsibility to teach your kids about the Bible and God, but they are to function as your partner. Ask yourself, are you committed to the Biblical education of your child. (2) Transparency, you need to cultivate an honest and trustworthy relationship with your kids. If you have not done this, begin with yourself and admitting your failure to do this. Then seek to restore the relationship. Once that’s done begin the discipleship relationship with your child. (note: this will most likely be a informal discipleship relationship) Finally, (3) Transformation. You must hold your children accountable to live by God’s truth.

 

2)    Decide what type of discipleship partnership you are ready for. For example: There are partnerships of just two. This type of partnership is always with someone of the same sex. And can either consist of two people at  a similar spiritual maturity (this is an iron sharpening iron partnership) or it can consist of a partnership where one is obviously more mature than the other spiritually and the goal is to function as more of a spiritual mentor type relationship.  Other possible discipleship opportunities come in groups of 3 or 4 where the group. In this type of group you usually have someone who facilitates the meetings and the schedules, but this group functions mostly by the group members learning from and teaching one another. You can have larger groups than 3 or 4. However, they are a lot harder to keep everyone involved. Remember Jesus had twelve disciples, but he also had his inner circle of Peter, James, and John.

 

3)    SO WHAT ARE YOU READY FOR, maybe you are not where you want to be spiritually. If that’s so, then seek out someone you respect that could help mentor you. Or perhaps, you have been coasting along in your spiritual life just fine, but you haven’t really invested in others personally. If that’s the case, seek out someone you could help disciple..or seek at 2 or 3 others to start a group.

 

4)    Finally, these discipleship partnership can meet anywhere from weekly to monthly to quarterly. If you’re interested contact Pastor Jason for discipleship material for your group. There are resources out there that can help walk you through it.

Praying through today’s discipline:  Spend some time in prayer and ask God to search your heart. Ask yourself, honestly…where are you spiritually and what are the next steps is God leading you take? Ask God’s spirit to lead you to who you need to invest in spiritually.

 

Blessings,

Jason

“Going out on a limb for Jesus”

The Disciplines of Christ - Part 8

The Art of Evangelism

Intro: Mark 16:15 (NLT) –Jesus Said, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”

I’ve got a confession to make…I’ve preached 100’s of sermons on the Gospel, but the art of Evangelism is not one of my strongest suits. To see evangelism as just preaching from a pulpit is to miss the mark. You see, it’s easy for me to stand up in front of an audience of Christians and speak about Christ (that’s what they came to hear). However, to speak to others who possibly don’t want to hear about “your” Jesus or have any religious conversation…that’s a much different matter.

Many make the mistake as just seeing Evangelism as a Spiritual Gift, and therefore if they don’t have that gift they don’t feel the responsibility to practice Evangelism. That’s like saying I don’t have the gift of GIVING so I don’t need to give. That’s ridiculous! We all are called to give.  It’s just that some are especially gifted at it. The same goes with Evangelism; we all are called, but some of us are spiritually gifted in the art. The rest of us have to discipline ourselves in this art of evangelism. It may never be something we are particularly gifted at doing, but if we can learn something from this art, then you might just make the difference in that one person in your life that nobody else could reach for Christ.

 

The Discipline – Evangelism for the purpose of Godliness.

 The Art of the Evangelism

Now there is a slight difference between the gift of Evangelism and the art of Evangelism. So first, let’s look at the definition and the purpose of Evangelism directly for Adventure’s Spiritual Gift Class:

 

Definition of the Gift of Evangelism: The distinct ability to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others in such a way that many non-Christians believe in Christ and are converted to Christianity.

 

Purpose of this Gift: To actively initiate and develop relationships with the unsaved in order to share the salvation message and lead them to repentance from sin to eternal life in Christ.

 

The Art of Evangelism:  Here are two ways that the art of evangelism is different from the gift. First, the gift of Evangelism is often for those who are able to evangelize the masses (in such a way that many non-Christians believes). Whereas the art is the ability to share on a more one-on-one basis about your faith (about what Jesus has done in your life). Second, the art of Evangelism always includes your personal testimony of how Jesus saved you or how he has changed you.

 

The Story – Jesus and Zacchaeus        (Luke 19:1-10^NLT) -

 Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. ² There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. ³ He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.

⁵ When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”

⁶ Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. ⁷ But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.

⁸ Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”

⁹ Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Questions to consider: What key words in our story today give us insight into Jesus’ art of Evangelism. In other words, what did Jesus do or not do that made this meeting effective with Zach? Why is this an example of successful evangelism by Jesus? Is it because Zach gave back the money? Take note: This is an example of the Art of Evangelism by Jesus because this is a one on one encounter that Jesus has with Zach (this is what every Christian is called to do). If I wanted to give you an example of the Spiritual Gift of Evangelism then I would have used the story of Jesus preaching/teaching to the masses like in the Sermon on the Mount.

 

Helpful Commentary:  The Romans sold taxation rights to the highest bidder. Whatever a man could squeeze out of the locals beyond what he had promised to the Romans was his to keep. There are some obvious an inherit flaws to this system. Namely, it fosters greed and extortion. Whoever could master this sinister trade would rise to the top as a very wealthy man. In this town his name was Zacchaeus. He was head and shoulders above the rest – at least economically. When everyone converged on the city streets to see the Messianic hopeful, Zacchaeus’s curiosity got the best of him.  Along with his clients he had to see what all the fuss was about.

Problem:  Zaachaeus was too short to see anything. Furthermore, after bullying all his clients in the IRS office, they are not about to let him weasel his way to the front-row seats on the street. Short people have to resort to extreme measures sometimes to get what they want. He ran up the street and climbed a sycamore fig-tree. He went out on a limb to see Jesus. There he is, in a pinstripped toga, up in a tree, way beneath his dignity. He just had to see Jesus. What he didn’t count on was Jesus seeing him.

 

When Jesus stopped and called Zacchaeus, the crowd was scandalized. Of all the dirty, rotten scum bags, Jesus chose the worst.  There were hundreds of people who would have gladly hosted Jesus in their homes – good homes, with kosher food, and children on the honor roll.  Zacchaeus didn’t disserve to have Jesus come to his house. That’s precisely the point.

The story ends with Jesus purpose statement, “The son of man came to seek and save the lost.” He took a tax collector and claimed him as a child of Abraham.  It is both scandalous and wonderful. It was scandalous because Jesus graced a sinner. It was wonderful because the sinner was transformed and graced the poor of his community…this amazing grace of Jesus transforms us and enables us to extend grace to others no more deserving than ourselves. We take his legacy of love and “pay it forward.”  

                                                            ^{Mark Moore, Encounters with Christ, p. 152-153}

                                                          Further Reading: Acts 1:8; John 20:21; Colossians 4:5-6

 

  The Application Questions:  

1)    Evangelism isn’t all about speaking, so what are some non verbal ways you can evangelize to others.

 

2)    Are there any sins, bad habits in your life that are a stumbling block to your testimony that would diminish your ability to evangelize? Read Mt.5:14-16 and consider how bright your light for Christ. Does your behavior help lead people to Christ or are you more of a stumbling block for people accepting Christ? Think about your behavior, if your life doesn’t look much different than your unsaved friends, why would they ever consider accepting Christ? If Christ does seem to help you much, what do you think they are going to think of this “Jesus”?

 

3)    Now, think about our story today, is there any Zacchaeus’ in your life that you don’t think deserve to know Jesus? People you think are beneath your dignity. This is a dangerous attitude, more dangerous than the sins you are struggling with. God can forgive your bad behavior and help you work on changing it, but your arrogance in thinking you’re better than others can get you humbled by him pretty quickly.

 

4)     GROUP DISCUSSION: Since your testimony is so important to evangelizing, have a couple of people volunteer to tell their story. If you can’t tell your small group, you want be able to tell others. Remember, your testimony is not just how you were saved but how Jesus has changed your life.

 

 

 

Strengthening your discipline of Evangelism:

Let’s remember that evangelism is expected of us. You might think Jesus is asking  too much of you, but we need to understand his perspective. One, God (through the power of the Holy Spirit) will help you do this in your own unique way through the Spiritual Gifts he has given. Second, God has done his part; he has saved you. Therefore, to refuse to reach out your hand of evangelism is like refusing to reach out your hand to help someone who is drowning.  So let’s look at a few ways you can strengthen your spiritual lifesaving skills.

1)    Since God has gifted us each differently, you really need to be aware of your Spiritual Gifts that he has given you. Think about it in this way, if evangelism is a rescue mission: There is somebody who drives the emergency vehicle, there is somebody who takes the 911 call, there is someone who does the actual lifesaving procedures, and so on. Therefore, you need to know how God has gifted you. So if you haven’t taken the Spiritual Gifts Class at Adventure, you need to do that to maximize your Evangelistic capability. Even if this is something you have taken in the past it is good to take it again because God is always working on us possibly gifting us for something different at different stages of our lives

 

2)    Since your personal testimony is such an important part of your personal evangelism effort, you need to be able to tell your story succinctly and well. Try writing your story out, it will help organize your thoughts.

 

3)      Make a list of people in your circle of life that don’t know Christ. Think about how you might be able to reach out to them and share Christ with them. It starts with relationship so what steps can you take to have better relationships with them? One of the best ways of getting the ball rolling is just asking if you can pray for them, ask for specific needs in their life that you could pray for. This usually works a lot better than, “Hey, can I talk to you about Jesus.” Prayer gets the conversation rolling and lets them know that you care.

 

4)    Finally, evangelism is most effective when we are intentional. You have to make plans to do this. I don’t mean you have to plan out every conversation, but you need to be ready to give a reason for your faith when asked, when the moment arises. So go through a list of people in your life right now and think about at least one person you can begin evangelizing. It may start with a simple invitation to Church or small group.

Praying through today’s discipline:  Pray over two things here:  1) Ask God for his help in doing this. Ask him to relieve your fears because this can be pretty intimidating. 2) Think about the person you picked out to start evangelizing and begin praying for them every day.  Be patient because you’re persistence will pay off.

TAKE NOTE!!!! If you are caught up in any destructive sin right now, you are in no place to evangelize others. It’s hard to reach out to others who are drowning when you’re drowning yourself. Get with your pastor or a close Christian friend who can help you through your struggles.

 

Blessings,

Jason

“ …in whom I am well pleased”

The Disciplines of Christ - Part 7

The Art of Obedience

Intro: Obedience is not such a well liked word these days. Parents today seem more concerned about their children liking them than being obedient. Maybe that’s because parents don’t like the idea of obedience either. Even though “live and let live” sounds nice, the consequences can be quite disparaging. Now as we hit the halfway point of this study on the spiritual disciplines of Christ, this is the perfect time to start enacting some of the changes we need to make in our lives. Remember, if all we ever do is study the disciplines then all we become are spiritual gym rats, who do nothing with their new found spiritual strength.

In order for our discipline to lead us to Godliness, we have to start being obedient to the changes that God is calling us to make. However, obedience is more than just doing what you’re told. The bible paints a much different picture of obedience than we are used to. The biblical picture of obedience is quite beautiful and nobody demonstrates it like Jesus. This week’s lesson is a call to reclaim the beauty of obedience in our lives and therefore, live in such a way that pleases our God and Creator.

The Discipline – Obedience for the purpose of Godliness.

 The Art of the Obedience

Luke 6:46 (NIV) - “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

 

That’s a great question; here is some insight on why: True obedience to God comes by way of faith (see Romans 1:5). You see, when we don’t have faith in someone it’s a real struggle to do what they say. Let’s look at a couple real life examples:

Let’s say you have a boss who has a “degree” and that’s the only reason they made supervisor. You know more about how to run the job because you’ve been on the job for years. However, they’re the boss and you have to listen to what they say. It’s difficult to be obedient to someone you don’t respect. Or maybe you have a parent who often says, “do what I say, not what I do”.  It’s then difficult to be obedient to the parent because they have lessened their creditability.

 

These are just a few of the examples of people we are called to be obedient to in life that make it hard to “do what they say”. To understand Godly obedience is to set aside any human experience of obedience and realize that Godly obedience is what we were made for.

 

Godly obedience is to recognize that his ways are higher than ours…that our way is foolishness compared to his ways. To think otherwise is the highest form of disrespect and arrogance. For one to think they know better than God is spiritual idiocy. The Prophet Isaiah puts it this way:

 

Isaiah 29:16 (NIV) - You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”?

 

This is why I say, when true Godly obedience is demonstrated it is a creation of beauty. This is because true obedience is to put ourselves into the hand of the potter.

 

Jeremiah 18:6 (NIV) - He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

Obedience to God is putting oneself into his hands. We submit to him and let him do his work, and believe me he does some pretty awesome work.

 

This takes faith; you have to believe the creator knows better than you (the creation). And when you get there it’s so liberating because it’s no longer just on you.  That’s why Jesus says, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mt. 11:30). That’s what full obedience feels like. If your Christian faith doesn’t feel that way, then you are either not being obedient like you should (and therefore are dealing with the consequences of such) or as they clay you might be feeling the fire of life’s kiln. We’ll talk more about the kiln before we finish, but for now—let’s look at the beautiful example Christ gives for us in obedience in this weeks story.

The Story – The Baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17)

 

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

 Questions to consider: What key words in our story today give us insight into Jesus being obedient to God by being baptized? Why was Jesus baptized in the first place? What do you make of the heavens display that God puts on at Jesus’ baptism?  What’s that all about? How does Jesus demonstrate humility in his baptism?

 

Personal Commentary: This may seem like an odd text to use as example of Jesus’ obedience to God. I could have used the crucifixion story. Like the apostle Paul points out, it was Jesus’ ultimate example of obedience to God, Philippians 2:8  says – “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” In all actuality, we could have looked at just about any story about Jesus as an example of obedience. He led a perfect life, so there was no part of his life that was not an example of obedience to God. What makes this story different is that it is the beginning of Jesus ministry (Lk 3:23). And so that first step of obedience is always one of the hardest. It’s like there is no turning back once we take that first step. We know that everything will be different from that first step on. Therefore, that first step is crucial. God confirms how crucial this act of obedience was for Jesus when the heavens open up and the spirit descends and God speaks, “THIS IS MY SON” (BOOM! Can you imagine being in the crowd that day) “WHOM I LOVE, WITH HIM I AM WELL PLEASED”.  You know this is a huge deal when the entire trinity is present all at once. Can you can image the talk of heaven on the morning of that day? The excitement of the angels, the anticipation of the moment, this is the event that will kick start everything. From this point on, the only event to rival this in Heaven will be the end when Jesus walks the road to Calvary.

 

Now a couple things to note here about the theology of Jesus’ baptism:

 

First, some suggest that Jesus became the “Son of God” at this moment. That’s ludicrous and a false Gospel. Jesus was as much God at his birth as he was here. The scriptures don’t even hint to otherwise. This false theology that promotes Jesus’ diminished divinity does not fit into the rest of the Gospels or the OT scriptures that testify about Jesus. The idea that Jesus became the Son of God or that he is actually less or not equal to God the Father is false teaching. Religions like the Jehovah witness and Mormons propagate this type of garbage. This sounds harsh, but I don’t like my Lord and Savior being miscategorized and neither should you. One of many example of Jesus’ full divinity is laid out at the beginning of the Gospel of John (check it out in your further reading below).

 Second, even though John was baptizing for the repentance of sins, Jesus was not baptized to cleanse him from sin. Remember he led a perfect life.

 

Moore explains it like this: In the Jewish culture and history, the leader of a nation or people frequently took responsibility for the actions of his/hers citizens. Kings were responsible for citizens, fathers for children, and teachers for students. This is particularly true with repentance. Nehemiah repented for the sins of his people—sins that he, himself, did not commit. The same can be said for Ezra, Daniel, Isaiah, etc.

 

Thus Jesus’ baptism could be understood by his countrymen as a corporate, rather than an individual, event. In other words, he was baptized for the sins of the nation. If this is so, then Jesus is making a bold assertion here. He claims to be the one true leader of Israel! (Therefore), Jesus’ baptism now mirrors the cross, for in both, Jesus takes on the sins of the nation.

                                                            ^{Mark Moore, Encounters with Christ, p. 17-18}

                                                          Further Reading: John 1:1-18

  The Application Questions:  

1)    How was your baptism an act of obedience that ushered a new change of course in your life?

 

2)    Why is it hard for some to be obedient and be baptized? Is it because you believe it is easier to say a prayer or raise your hand to be saved, is that the obedience Jesus asked for? If you haven’t been baptized by immersion in the likes of Jesus’ example, why not? What makes you so different than Jesus that you don’t need show your obedience to God like Jesus did? Do you the creation know better than the creator?

 

3)     GROUP DISCUSSION: Jesus demonstrates humility in his act of obedience to God at his baptism and his crucifixion. Discuss as a group how humility has played a part in your obedience to God or how it has been a roadblock to your obedience to God? For those in the group that have been changed by their obedience to God, describe the beauty and the goodness that God has shaped in your life because of your obedience. What ugliness might still be in your life without your obedience to God?

 

Strengthening your discipline of Obedience:

Obedience can be tough especially if you’re dealing with an addiction or a habit you have had for years. It’s as if these sins become a part of you. You actually identify yourself with these sins, for example, “Hi my name is ____________ and I’m an alcoholic.” I know AA has helped millions of people, but the one thing we are as Christians are new creations in Christ. We are no longer defined by our past or our sins. So here are a couple ways you can start strengthening your obedience to God.

1)    You need to rewire your thinking about your identity and you can do that through memorizing scripture that talk about that.

 

2)      STOP treating God’s grace as a license to sin! Romans 6:1-10 (NIV) - 6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

 

3)    Don’t try to tackle them all at once. Pick one or two areas of disobedience in your life, commit to making a step of faith to be obedient to God in that area of your life. Tell somebody you trust about your decision and ask them to keep you accountable.

 

4)    Finally, if you are feeling the fire of life’s suffering, it can be very difficult to be obedient. Whether it is God testing you or you’re just dealing with the consequences of living in a fallen world, it doesn’t matter, you MUST realize that God intends to use your suffering for his Glory and to make you stronger through your trials if you’ll let him. However, take this as a warning, if you choose not to be obedient and go rogue from your faith during your time of trials, with full intention of claiming grace and coming back to your senses at some point—know this; God has no problem dragging you through the fire of suffering again until he refines you for his purpose.

Praying through today’s discipline:  Spend some time in prayer over your lack of obedience to God. Specifically ask for God’s help and the Holy Spirit to guide your thoughts to who you are as a new creation in Christ. Humility is the key to obedience so pray for humility. Remember praying for humility includes asking for forgiveness for your prideful thoughts and actions.  Ask him to help you trust his ways. And for Him to forgive you for your thoughts of thinking your ways of doing things were better than His ways.

Blessings,

Jason