Growth

Gospel Training

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6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. 2 Timothy 4:6-10

I have some friends who train. And they work hard to train their bodies. They are dedicated. They create a plan. They create a schedule. They create goals. They have a vision for which they strive. Lifting. Running. Insanity. Cross-fit.

I admire them!

Some of these friends also strive with Jesus for godliness.

What would it be like to bring the same energy, vision, dedication, planning, optimism, attitude, drive to the pursuit of godliness? Godliness is a response to the Gospel of Jesus. We are not striving in order to get God to like us. He loves us and has brought us into the family of Jesus. Godliness has a quality of doing something that trains our soul to respond to Jesus. Its a reality generated by the Spirit of God as we bring our all for loving God and loving people.

Bring it!  Whoooo, we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savour of all!

Jesus didn’t write a book.

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17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.  Matthew 4:17-22

Jesus didn’t write a discipleship book. Instead He invited people to put their faith in Him. Instead He called disciples to be with Him. And in the process, the Scripture He inspired speaks to us today. We can truly say, Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2) For He is the subject of our faith and He is the one who animates our faith for His glory.

But it starts with the invitation to be with Him. Discipleship is in relationship. All the reflective processes are engaged and the Spirit of God brings change. Discipleship is not just about knowledge. Its about the adjustment of obedience generated by Jesus in our lives.

Jesus called disciples into relationship:  Follow me.

Jesus promised to change them: I will make you…

And Jesus promised to engage them in His Kingdom mission: I will make you fishers of men.

So, when we read His book, the Bible, our ambition is to get to know The Author… the author and perfecter of our faith.

 

No Grazing

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No Grazing

“You shall not steal.”  Exodus 20:15 

My local Fruitcana on Fraser street has posted a sign at their bins: no grazing. They could have said, “You shall not steal.” 

But we might not see sampling the product as stealing. Just grazing.

I’m afraid we do that to many of God’s Commandments too. We opt out and can’t see the truth about ourselves until the Spirit of God takes the Law and leads us to the cross. Then we are back to the relationship and we see again or for the first time how far we are from God’s vision of life together with Him. 

Can you imagine what it would be like to be so responsive to God’s grace in Christ Jesus that we don’t steal. Instead we respect boundaries, we give credit where credit is due, we build up patience and character in our children by having them delay gratification of their own impulse to graze, we pay for music, we accept our failings and those of others without condemnation and lean in to learn rather than cheat, we honour our commitments, we build trust through just compensation. 

Not you, not me? Not a grazer? 

Lord have mercy!

1Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?  Romans 2:1-4

 

Leak Jesus

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7But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  2 Corinthians 4:7-11

When the pressure is on may we leak Jesus. He’s on the inside making the difference. He is the treasure contained in our lives now as we are filled up by Him. God raised Jesus from the dead that now by His Spirit we who have been given grace to know Him, may demonstrate that the power for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, come not from us, but from Him. We are living from the inside out.

Like you… or not.

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6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call upon him while he is near;

7let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:6-9

 Religion

God could be the invention of human need.
And so it is with false religion.
The construction of God in the mind seeks to mediate our brokenness.
And so we have idolatry.

 Seekers

So what do we do with the seeking heart?
The person who is seeking God must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who come to him. (Hebrews 11:6)

 God reveals

When God is doing the revealing we are inevitably confronted with the difference.
His thoughts are not our thoughts.
His ways are not our ways.

And then the seeker may want to run, hide, and settle for a weaker or more distant version of God.

Wait, stop. That’s the time to turn toward Jesus, confess, change your thoughts, change your ways in His power according to His revelation. In His grace. Through Him. Then, you will become… like Him.

Illustrated from Luke 5:1-11

1On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.