TRAINING TERM 2 2011

DISCIPLESHIP 

Have you ever thought that Jesus was probably a bit of a nerve-wracking guy to be around? He stirred things up, he had awkward conversations (that we would rather avoid), he treated people differently, and behaved unexpectedly!

I don't know about you but the fact that Jesus was able to be so spontaneously awesome makes me wonder; How can we be more like this? How can we be transformed by Jesus?

One of my favourite stories about Jesus is when he goes to the well on a journey through Samaria, the well that Jacob dug many years before and meets a woman. The woman he meets has a colourful past that she is cagey about. She is interested in meeting Jesus though and has a few questions for him, but it's funny because Jesus doesn’t seem to answer any of her questions directly!

The way the conversation proceeds reminds me of a clip from Ocean’s 12; Rusty and Danny take Linus to meet with a man named Matsui and have a conversation that Linus is completely lost in. He has no idea what is going and can’t understand when the other men start laughing why. It is extremely confusing. I imagine that the woman must have been very confused by what Jesus was talking about. She is talking about physical water that abates thirst, he is talking about spiritual water that abates spiritual drought! Somehow in this conversation about sustenance Jesus gets around to addressing the woman's unconventional living arrangements and the fact that she has had several husbands! He holds her accountable for her life choices and challenges her about the wisdom of her present arrangement.

Now this might seem like a strange story, but this is a story about Discipleship. Discipleship is about having your life transformed by Jesus.

How then do we respond to this story – Jesus is interacting with someone – how can we be more like him here?

Well to begin with, Jesus asked us to be in community too – this helps! As a community centred on Jesus we can encourage each other as we strive to become more like Jesus but also act like Jesus did with each other. That means holding people accountable, supporting each other and being inspired by God! We need to be supporting and encouraging each other as we each seek to become more like Jesus.

As we continue to read the Bible, heaps of challenges like this one hit you. How are we to be more like Jesus?

As we look through the Bible and particularly the New Testament we are constantly reminded of how Jesus was, what his character was like, and how he behaved in different situations. As I was thinking about this recently the four things I mentioned before jumped out at me; Jesus stirred things up, he had awkward conversations, he treated people differently and he behaved unexpectedly. I think these qualities of Jesus have implications for our lives as we try to be more like him! We are called to be accountable to one another, we are asked to be with people and invest in relationships and we should be inspired by God.

These sure are challenging ideas, I know, but perhaps it's worth thinking about how can we go about things differently or do these things better?

So, how do we become more like Jesus? What can we do, practically speaking?

Read the Bible

Look to Jesus directly, what did he do? How did he interact with people? What does he teach?

Find a way to read the Bible that inspires you, that makes you hunger for the word of God.

(For me I love history so reading the Bible chronologically really appeals to my inner nerd, I like seeing how everything fits together and how God has been at work through it all.)

Spend time with other Christians

We can learn a great deal from hanging around people who have the same objectives as us. If you are part of a community that is made up of those interested in becoming more like Jesus so much can be learnt! Everyone will be at a different stage of the journey and so will have different wisdom to share. God works through people and it's in community that we really see God move!

Be Prayerful

Prayer is the way that we communicate with God and so it's rather crucial that  when we want to be transformed to be more like Him the lines of communication are being used! It might be encouraging to pray with other people, that way more than one person is invested in the transformation taking place.

Finally, Be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives

As Christians we have the Holy Spirit within us and he is doing good work in our lives. For example, when we accept Jesus as our saviour we have to be open to the Holy Spirit making some changes (this may not always be particularly pleasant), but it is when we open ourselves to God we are able to experience his great love and we are transformed!

So, in short... Discipleship can be a challenge, but it can also be a great big adventure! 

But do you know what I think the best bit about discipleship is? Discipleship is an adventure we share... we are all in this together (shout out to Ben Lee). Jesus didn't expect us to go it alone, He wanted us to go together, and the very best part is this... Jesus goes with us!