Helping preachers to proclaim, and all Christians to hear, the transforming Word of God
The temptation with spiritual formation is to turn following Jesus into some detailed, endless practice on "to do" or "do not do" lists, which nobody seems to agree on anyway.
Whatever happened to Jesus' personal and simple invitation, "Follow me"?
posted by Milton Stanley at 9:33 PM
Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may be able to determine what God's will is -- what is proper, pleasing, and perfect. - Rom. 12:2
For the best links to free online Bible commentaries for preaching and teaching, please visit Expository Links.
Linking to a given site doesn't mean I necessarily agree with everything it says. And since this is a blog, not a sermon, I'm not being fastidious about qualifying every post. If you're a preacher of the Word, you ought to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. If you want to see what I believe and preach, go to my sermons page:
or my other weblog:
Please let me know if you've linked to this page, and I'll be happy to add your link to this one.
6 Comments:
This all seems confusing to me. How can we follow Jesus unless we obey his words? Scripture says if we love him we will follow his commands and that his words will judge in the end. Jesus did say, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say?" Perhaps the point of all this is attitude, in which we shouldn't focus on "the rules" merely because they are rules, but by following Jesus we focus on him, which leads us to follow "the rules"? I may be making this too complicated, but I'm cautious about all this because I occasionally hear people say, "Do you really think all of this matters? Isn't it just what is in your heart?" And then I remember the verse from Jeremiah that says, "The heart is deceitful beyond cure. Who can understand it?" I fear we can trick ourselves so easily into thinking we are loving Jesus through our feelings instead of our actions. Isn't it our actions that prove our faith? And shouldn't our actions therefore conform to "the rules"? "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'NO' to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age ..."
Titus 2: 11-12
Anonymous, you state the problem well, I think. Truly following Jesus is not about "feelings," although it certainly involves very deep feelings. But neither is adequate to simply say, following Jesus means obeying his words. I think following Jesus has something to do with having his life in us, through the indwelling Spirit. See Galatians 5. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love." "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." I think your Titus passage hints at the answer also. What is it, after all, that teaches us to say no to ungodliness, etc? The grace of God, which is demonstrated most compellingly at the Cross. It is safe to say that to follow Jesus means to follow in the footsteps of grace. These are just my quick thoughts, not intended to seem the be-all end-all of the discussion. God bless you and give you peace.
What does it mean - REALLY mean - to "follow" Jesus? Does it mean to "do all the things obediently that He did?" or does it mean "be LIKE him?"
That is the key question - because one has more to do with following a list of rules - the other has to do with being Jesus to the rest of the world.
It looks like you're on the right track, Anon. God wants faithful hearts more than correct actions. That's because faithful hearts produce correct actions, but the converse is not true. At the same time, part of nurturing faithful hearts is by doing right actions.
The strength of Rusty's post is that he puts the focus on the right place: not our actions themselves but Jesus himself.
Bob: Thanks for responding to Anon's concerns.
Good points, Dan. A big part of following Jesus is simply keeping our eyes on him and going where that leads.
I think your quick thoughts are very good ones Bob. We seem to always want to distill everything and explain/define/package everything and so I like that your comments give some answers but also leave the door open to ask more questions. I think there will always be some mystery in the following of Christ and in His abiding presence within us. Not to mention the activity of the Holy Spirit within and through us.
Post a Comment
<< Home