I Have to Lay Down Again the Fundemental Teachings of Christ

Following Jesus Christ

Equally Jesus traveled throughout Israel urging people to apologize and believe the gospel, "Follow me" was a constant refrain in his message. At the start of his ministry, he called his start disciples with the terse command, "Follow me and I will brand you fishers of men." As his ministry progressed, he told the crowds, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, accept up his cross and follow me" (Marker 8:34). At the end of his earthly ministry, he recommissioned the repentant Peter with the words, "Follow me" (John 21:19).

Have you ever probed the meaning of this phrase? If not, you should, considering it can lead to a profound, transforming change in how you think about and live the Christian life. Maybe this commodity can assist go you started.

What does it mean to follow Jesus? Following Jesus begins when we answer to his call to repent and believe the gospel. The Adept News that God loves us and has taken the initiative to reconcile us to himself by giving his Son to atone for our sins awakens us to God'due south grace and moves u.s. to want to live for Christ and follow him.

When nosotros turn our attending to what the Bible shows united states about how to actually follow Jesus in daily life, two things stand up out immediately: understanding and obeying his educational activity and post-obit his instance. Let'southward take them in plough.

For his commencement disciples, hearing and obeying Jesus' teachings were cardinal to following him. This is evident in the fact that before long afterward calling them, Jesus gave his disciples the Sermon on the Mountain (Matt. v–7), an extensive in-depth didactics on  life in the kingdom of God - what we might call basic principles of discipleship or the Christian life. At the decision of this sermon, Jesus emphasized with hit clarity the profound importance of hearing and obeying this pedagogy:

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them volition exist similar a wise man who congenital his house on the stone. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but information technology did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them volition exist like a foolish homo who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and crush against that house, and information technology fell, and great was the fall of information technology (Matt. seven:24–27).

The point Jesus is making in these words is that  building 1's life on obedience to  his teaching is wise and will sustain his disciples in the challenges they will inevitably run into in life, just as building one's firm on a foundation of rock will secure information technology against the forces of nature that will assault it. Disobedience to his Give-and-take is folly and leads to ruin, as surely as building a house on sand will result in utter catastrophe when those aforementioned storms come. If we want to follow Jesus, so, we volition certainly want to begin where the offset disciples did, with understanding and obeying the foundational teaching in this sermon. And from there we volition continue to study his pedagogy elsewhere in the Gospels.

Following Jesus likewise involves following his case. In the Upper Room, after washing the disciples' feet, Jesus said, "If I so, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you lot besides ought to wash ane another's feet, For I have given you an example, that you should also practice simply as I have done to you" (John 13:xiv–15).

The lesson Jesus was teaching is the importance of serving one another in humility of eye and of becoming servant leaders.

This was a critically important lesson they had been slow to learn and washing their feet was an extraordinarily effective way of making the point.

Sometimes, seeing a concrete example makes a greater touch on people than notwithstanding another statement of principle. This is just one case of his case nosotros are to imitate. A conscientious reading of the Gospels will reveal others.

Information technology could rightly be asked, what is the value of simply post-obit an example? Can't that lead to a kind of external, works-oriented mentality? It can, if nosotros are doing nothing more than than external fake. The central is our motive. If we are earnestly seeking to please Jesus out of love, information technology can awaken a new understanding and deeper appreciation of the act we are performing. We all know that our thoughts can atomic number 82 united states into taking activeness, and our feelings can pb into activeness also. Simply we ofttimes don't realize that our actions can atomic number 82 us into a different way of thinking or feeling. Consider, for example, the suburbanite who volunteers in an inner-city soup kitchen out of a sense of duty or possibly guilt. Through the experience of getting to know the poor and their problems, a deep and genuine pity tin can emerge that changes the volunteer's motive for serving and transforms that person into a truthful servant of the poor. So it is with post-obit the example of Jesus. It can change us inwardly and aid united states of america become in our hearts what we are doing with our easily.

Following Jesus, and so, entails both obeying his teachings and imitating his example. Only this is non the sum of the matter. For obeying and imitating are not ends in themselves simply are means to a greater cease. That end or goal of discipleship is to become like Jesus himself: to call up as he idea, to feel as he felt, to human activity as he acted, want what he desired. As John puts it, "Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same fashion in which he walked" (i John two:six). Because Jesus is the image of God in homo grade (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1: 3), equally we become more and more than like him, the image of God is increasingly restored in our lives.

A key office of this process is gaining a clearer cognition of Jesus every bit he is presented to us in Scripture. And a time-honored way of doing this is to consistently and prayerfully read the Gospels and reflect on the life and teaching of Jesus. As we immerse our minds and hearts in the gospels, two major defining characteristics of his life stand up out with striking clarity: faith and dearest. Secure in the dear of God and his own sonship, Jesus lived with an unshakable trust in his heavenly Male parent and wholehearted beloved for God and others. If we desire to get like Jesus, religion and love must get defining characteristics of our lives, too.

Let's turn at present to a brief look at religion in the life of Jesus. The motion picture of Jesus that emerges in the Gospels is of a man who lived his daily life in conscious, trusting dependence on his Father in heaven. Consider, for case, how his resistance to the Devil's temptations in the wilderness reveals an unshakable faith in God and his Word (Matt. 4:one–xi). Or his dependence on the Male parent in the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:40–43). Or his confidence that his Father would raise him from the grave (Mark 8:31). In each instance, Jesus has absolute trust in his Father. Nowhere is this seen more than clearly than when he agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane, wanting to exist spared merely submitting to his Father's will on the cantankerous.

Jesus not only lived a life of faith before his disciples, he chosen them to live a life of faith as well. First and foremost he chosen them to put their trust in him as Messiah and Son of God. Simply he didn't end there. He called them to an active, living organized religion in their heavenly Father in the diplomacy of everyday life. Whether for daily bread or power to heal the sick and cast out demons or to overcome the perils of nature, they were to live by religion and to grow in faith.

Each challenge they encountered was an opportunity for growth. They were tedious to learn the lessons of faith, and most of united states probably place with them and requite them a pass. Merely Jesus never did. When the disciples were in danger of drowning in a storm on the Ocean of Galilee, Jesus upbraided them for their fear and lack of faith (Mark4:35–41). When they were unable to cast out a demon, he told them information technology was due to their lack of faith (Matt. 17:fourteen–21). Growing in faith was a very important part of maturing as a disciple. He expected them to abound in faith equally they saw his mighty deeds, and he expected them to trust God to answer their prayers—even to "motion mountains" to advance his kingdom.

One of the saddest commentaries on the church building in the Due west today is the weakness of our faith. Secularism has seriously eroded our belief in the omnipotent, miracle-working God of the Bible, who answers the prayers of his people and intervenes in the affairs of the globe.

Nosotros accept embraced a reductionism that acknowledges organized religion in Christ as essential for salvation but largely ignores the necessity of living by faith thereafter. How many of usa actually live each day with a confident trust in God to do what he says he will do? How many of united states of america take him at his discussion and act with the expectation that he will be true-blue? This is the kind of faith that Jesus calls us to practise equally we seek to follow him.

It is the kind of organized religion nosotros come across in William Carey, the begetter of mod missions, who said, "Try great things for God, expect great things from God." Or Hudson Taylor, the famed missionary who opened up Communist china to the gospel. Or George Müller of Bristol, who over many decades, by simple faith in God and his give-and-take, prayed in the finances to feed, clothe, shelter, and brainwash thousands of orphans daily without telling anyone but God of his need. (If y'all want to exist strengthened in your faith, read The Spiritual Autobiography of George Müller.)

Of course, such faith does non suddenly appear in our lives. It is something that grows over time equally we read, mark, and inwardly digest God's Word with the help of the Holy Spirit and prayerfully act on it in the obedience of religion. When we practice this, God uses the needs, opportunities, and circumstances of our lives every bit a training basis to help the states grow in faith, fulfill his purposes, and bring him glory. At the middle of following Jesus, then, is walking by faith in God, just as he did, and not living past reliance on our own limited wit, wisdom, and resources.

The other major defining characteristic of Jesus' life was love. Jesus lived a life of dearest. He loved his Father with all of his heart, soul, heed, and forcefulness. And he loved others and sought their good.

This may sound commonplace to those who accept been in church for a while. And we may wrongly assume that we know what it ways. Our ideas well-nigh love may exist shaped by unrecognized cultural assumptions and may be far from right. Thus a brief examination of Jesus' didactics on beloved may prove helpful.
The cornerstone of Jesus' teaching on dear is found in the Groovy Commandment:

You lot shall love the Lord your God with all your middle and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the peachy and first commandment. And a second is like it: You lot shall love your neighbor equally yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets  (Matt. 22:34–forty).

The first of these ii commands, institute originally in Deuteronomy 6:5, lies at the eye of the Old Testament's teaching about how God's people are to relate to him. Before they ever knew him, God loved Israel and chose them to be his special people. He demonstrated his love by rescuing them from slavery, giving them a land flowing with milk and dear and promising them smashing blessings in the time to come. In return, he asked for wholehearted love and devotion, to be expressed in obedience to his covenant.

Jesus teaches that God still seeks the wholehearted beloved of his people and that responding to his love is to be our highest priority. Thus we should spare no effort in seeking to grow in love. Merely what is dear? Have you ever pondered that question? In pop-civilisation and contemporary usage, the word love is closely associated with feeling and sentiment; this tends to color our thinking. It is easy for u.s. unconsciously to sentimentalize the call to love God and reduce it to a thing of feeling.

Merely while feeling is certainly a role of loving God, it is not the heart of the matter. In the Bible the essence of loving God is to give ourselves fully to him who showtime loved us, to surrender to his love and devote ourselves to him. That is the betoken of "all our heart,all our heed,all our soul, andall our strength." Only as a adult female gives herself to a homo who deeply loves her and asks her manus in marriage, and then we are called to give ourselves to the God who loves usa and has redeemed united states of america at the toll of his ain dear Son. Far from being an capricious demand, this command is an entreaty of love.

You may wonder how y'all could possibly love God this manner. To be sure, it is not a natural human being ability. Paul tells united states of america that "God'due south beloved has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to usa" (Rom. 5:5). And this love grows as we continue to live a gospel-centered life, meditating on and reminding ourselves daily of God's honey for us and Christ's sacrifice for us. Assurance that God loves y'all securely evokes an answering dear for him that increases over time and is essential to living the Christian life.

What does this kind of love look like in daily life? The answer may surprise y'all: obedience to God's will every bit found in Scripture. According to the Bible, obedience is the acid test of truthful dearest for God. Jesus makes this clear when he says, "If you lot honey me, you volition obey what I command" (John 14:xv NIV). So does the apostle John, who says, "For this is the dearest of God, that nosotros keep his commandments. And his commandments are non burdensome" (ane John 5:3 ESV). If we dear God, his commands will not be burdensome or boring to us. Rather, we will desire to obey him. Do you desire to obey God and bring him pleasure through your obedience? The more than we ponder and marvel at the good news of the gospel, the more we will want to please him.

Some people today mistakenly equate obedience with legalism and come across it equally the enemy of grace. But actually the opposite is true. Legalism comes from trying to earn God'due south favor by obedience and sacrifice. The Pharisees were famous for this, and we tin can easily autumn into it today past insisting on commitment and obedience without grounding information technology in grace and beloved. Obedience offered in love is the fruit of grace and is an antitoxin to legalism.

The second part of the Nifty Commandment, to love our neighbor as ourselves, originates in Leviticus xix:18 and reflects the nature of God and his deep concern that we seek the good of others and bless them. Again, many people are confused about what information technology means to love our neighbor, thinking that it ways to feel emotional warmth, sympathy, or closeness toward them. However, theagape love that is enjoined hither is not primarily emotional in nature. It is chiefly volitional, an act of the will. Information technology is acting in the best involvement of the other person, seeking their skillful, regardless of how you happen to feel toward them.

Jesus makes this very clear when he says: "And so whatever y'all wish that others would do to you lot, exercise also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12). This is a wonderfully liberating command, because while information technology is not possible to feel emotionally shut to anybody we run across, it definitely is possible to human action in their all-time involvement. We can ever treat them as we would want to be treated if we were in their situation. Happily, feelings often practice arise in the wake of our actions, but it is the activeness non the feeling that is near important. This simple only profound guideline will testify united states of america our duty in near every case.

We take briefly looked at how the Bully Commandment guides us in following Jesus. It remains to expect at ii specific commands Jesus gives elsewhere about loving our neighbor. The first deals with loving neighbors who are our enemies. No incertitude many people wish Jesus had not spoken on this topic. Loving friends or even strangers is not most so difficult every bit loving our enemies. But Jesus said,

You lot have heard that information technology was said, "You shall dear your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that yous may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his dominicus ascent on the evil and on the expert, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who beloved you, what advantage do you have? Do non even the tax collectors exercise the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do non fifty-fifty the Gentiles exercise the same? Y'all therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:43–48).

We run across ourselves equally loving people because we love family unit and friends. But Jesus says that is not enough. Citing the love that God bears even for his enemies, Jesus calls us to resist the fleshly temptation to detest our enemies; instead he asks us to imitate our heavenly Father by loving them. This is an act of the will, not of the feelings. And it is not easy. But as nosotros act in the obedience of faith to delight our Father, his Spirit volition work in u.s. and change our attitude toward our enemies. Such love glorifies God. Becoming perfect in love means growing into a mature dearest for others, which is a lifelong journey, just i on which we can make remarkable progress.

Jesus also gives his disciples a new standard for loving one some other. "A new commandment I give to yous, that you lot love i another: just equally I have loved you lot, you as well are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if yous have dear for i another" (John xiii:34–35).

This lifts love to its highest degree. Nosotros are to prove the aforementioned cocky-sacrificing love toward fellow believers as Jesus has shown toward us. Then important is this that a few verses later he reiterates it and elaborates, "This is my commandment, that you love one another equally I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:12–13). Jesus is almost to lay downwards his life for them and tells them that they are to lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters in the family of God.

Over the centuries, at that place have been times when this was fulfilled literally. More often, however, it has been fulfilled in meeting the needs of fellow believers for food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. John, for example, says, "By this we know love, that he laid downwardly his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world'southward appurtenances and sees his blood brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, allow us non love in word or talk but in deed and in truth" (i John 3:16–18). This kind of honey, says Jesus, demonstrates to the world that nosotros are truly his disciples (Jn. xiii:34-34). And the unity that such love produces witnesses to the world that God has sent Jesus to be the Savior of the globe (Jn. 17:21).

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that there is all too lilliputian of this kind of dearest among believers today. Instead, there is an abundance of criticism, contention, and division along with an unconscionable neglect of the poor. And nosotros wonder why nonbelievers call usa hypocrites and refuse to believe.

When we await carefully at the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, the call to "follow me" takes on much greater clarity and specificity. It is indeed a telephone call to "walk as Jesus walked," to alive a life of radical organized religion and beloved. One time we truly grasp this, our beginning reaction is likely to exist i of dismay. If we are at all aware of the depth of indwelling sin and the dysfunctions that plague our lives, we know it is impossible for us to fulfill such a phone call. Yet this reaction is really salubrious, because it is based in reality. It is indeed impossible for united states of america to alive this way. And that is precisely the point. Jesus knows we cannot follow him without a power beyond ourselves. And that is why he sent the Holy Spirit to empower us.

It is only through the indwelling Holy Spirit that we can obey the teaching of Jesus and follow his example. He assures the states of the Father's love, he makes the things of Christ real to us; he makes the gospel precious to united states; he convicts us of sin and assures of forgiveness when we repent; he transforms us from glory to celebrity, into the likeness of Jesus (two Cor. 3:16–18). That is why nosotros are taught to earnestly seek to exist filled with the Spirit each day (Eph. five:eighteen) and to be led by him in all our means (Gal. v:16–25). When we do, we will find that we tin alive in newness of life. Not perfectly and not immediately.

But day past twenty-four hours, as we walk in faith and obedience, the Spirit will produce in usa the character of Jesus: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal. 5:22–23).

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Source: https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/following-jesus-christ/