Walking in Faith

Luke 9:23-27, 57-62

Examine the verses above in light of this quotation. Can you pick out the significant features of discipleship pictured here? Write down your observations.

• Deny yourself – a person must live their life for Christ, not for themselves. Their personal desires, pleasures, comforts, etc. must be second priority to Christ.
• Take up his cross daily – Two words really convict me: his(meaning my own) and daily. Jesus didn’t instruct us to take up our cross when it was convenient or when we know others are watching. We are supposed to take up our cross during all situations. We can rely on the cross of Christ. That cross was what paid for our sins and gave us salvation. However, our cross is the one that demonstrates our obedience to the Lord — His word and His will. Daily is the other key. Many Christians will “take up their cross” on Sunday. They will become the perfect little church family — go to church on Sunday, go out to eat with other brothers and sisters after church, maybe even get together with another family that day to “hang out”. Daily means that you go before the Lord every single day. You pray, you spend time in fellowship with the Lord, you spend time loving and caring for others around you who need that love and compassion, you spend time living your life for Christ instead of for yourself.
• Follow me — We are commanded, as disciples of Christ, to follow Him. He is perfect and righteous. To follow any other is to worship false idols.
• Loses his life for my sake will save it — Salvation is easy. All you have to do is trust in Christ. However, without the Lord giving us the ability to desire that, it is impossible. God does all of the work. However, as a follower of Christ, we are reminded that we must truly give up our life for Him. Instead of worrying about earthly success, fame or fortunes, we must set our mind on eternal success, fame and fortunes. What does that look like? Obedience to Christ and the Word.
• Go and proclaim the kingdom of God — this should not be taken lightly. Many Christians (including myself) struggle with obedience to this command. We are commanded to share the gospel with others. It’s not something we should do once before we pass away. We are to “proclaim the kingdom of God”. The apostles really set the example here. Why should we consider the command any different for ourselves?

How far have you ‘heaved the cross over your own back’, identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus, the one who is more important to you than any other person or thing? Take some time to consider this question. As you do so, you could put under the microscope each of your own ambitions and attitudes to possessions. Write them down as you identify them.

The answer to this question is tricky. My personal life is doing better than ever with respect to prioritizing Christ in my life. I am committing more to my church, spending more time in fellowship with other believers and giving more time to others. Unfortunately, I still feel that my obedience to Christ with regards to evangelism is horrible. I struggle with sharing the good news with others for some reason. I am sure it has to do with my pride and my lack of confidence. I know that it doesn’t matter what I say or do — the Lord will use me exactly like He wants. The decision a person makes isn’t based on what I say or do. However, I feel that way when it comes to sharing the gospel. I also struggle in prayer. I am not a consistent prayer person. I really have to work on spending more time in prayer with the Lord. I do find that the things I want to purchase or spend money on are very different than 3-5 years ago. I was spending money on stupid technology toys all of the time. Now, I find that most of my personal spend is on books, bibles, music, etc. that are focused on Christ. I still have too many possessions but I feel like my desire to spend my money on personal possessions has significantly weaned. I do want to increase my financial giving to the Lord. He has given me everything and yet I give back such a small portion. I need to pray more about how much to give back to the Lord. I also need to make sure I am giving in the right places and in the right ways.

Could you explain to a friend what you have learned about discipleship today? You should be able to. By writing down such lessons, it will help you to clarify your own thinking.

Being a disciple of Christ means putting Christ first in your life. You have to be willing to forget all of your earthly desires. It is important to note that this does not mean to put aside your personal desires. Your greatest joy should be in desiring God. God is greatly pleased when we are greatly pleased in the Lord. When our heart is set on the same things that the Lord desires for us, oh, how the Lord is pleased. Following Christ is to love Christ, be obedient to His word and to love others. Showing others that you truly love Christ and are an obedient follower all of the time, not just when it is convenient, is such a great (and powerful) witness to others. Christ modeled that behavior and then the apostles gave us further example as they became filled with the Spirit.

Luke 9:10-17, 37-43

What would you have learned about him from these two occasions? Write down your own observations.

• When Jesus was with the people on the mountain, I realize that His faith was, and is, immensely greater than mine. He was confident that they could feed the five thousand people with only five loaves and bread and two fish. I would have panicked and had no idea how to help these people. Jesus didn’t stress out about that at all.
• People followed Jesus where ever He went. The Scripture tells us that when the crowds learned where Jesus had gone they followed Him.
• Jesus loved people. When the people followed Jesus, He always welcomed them. He loved them and wanted them to know the Father’s love. He also wanted them to know about the kingdom of God. This wasn’t because He was commanded to do so. He did it because He didn’t want to see people separated from God from eternity. He knew how much our Father loves us and He wanted to see us in Heaven with Him.
• Jesus was a teacher. He was always instructing the people with the word of the Lord. He knew the Scriptures but He also know the eternal plans of the Lord.
• He knew who needed healing. The Scripture is interesting because it says that he cured those who had need of healing. I imagine that the word needed is in the Scripture because there were plenty of people there that wanted Jesus to “heal” them but they did not have the faith necessary. I don’t imagine that Jesus healed anyone that didn’t deserve to be healed. Jesus knew these people’s heart. I am curious how much the Spirit worked through Him in order to provide Him with wisdom and knowledge as a man. Jesus cured those who needed healing. He cured the sinners, he didn’t cure the righteous man. Remember that if Jesus came back to earth, it isn’t the believers He would want to spend time with — it is those who do not know the Father.
• Jesus knew the right priorities. He didn’t tell the disciples to immediately start handing out food. He prayed towards heaven and asked the Lord to bless the food.
• Jesus knew the evil nature of man. He asks about the faithless and twisted generation and how long He would be with them. He knew that He was to leave the earth soon to be with our Heavenly Father but wanted people to turn from their evil nature and have faith in the Lord like He had. Unfortunately, man is not capable of that without the Lord working in us through the Spirit.

Spend time considering each of these different aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry. Ask yourself how far you have seen evidence of his activity in your own life or in the life of your church. How much is this the Jesus that you are getting to know?

• On a daily basis, I see people in my church, my family and even my own faith increase. Even tonight I talked to a fellow brother about having the “faith of a mustard seed.” Unfortunately, I am not there. Many people are not there. Luckily, there are Godly men and women in my church that have the gift of faith from the Lord and are contagious with their faith. My daily quiet time certainly helps to improve my own faith, as well.
• In work situations, I feel that many people would follow me. I try to lead through my passion in my work. I am extremely passionate about what I do and it shows in my work. Unfortunately, I am not as capable in spiritual things. I am not sure if it is because I am not as confident or what, but I do not think many, if any, people would follow me with respect to spiritual things. At my church, it is quite evident that there are several leaders within the church that people follow. Our Senior Pastor, Danny Box, is incredible. He speaks with incredible passion and vigor. He is knowledgeable and able to provide insight into the Word that I am currently unable to see. He is filled with the power of the Spirit when he speaks on Sunday morning. Our other pastors, Bo Thompson, Bobby Pruitt and Keith Ferguson and very similar. These gentlemen all seem to have the power of the Spirit inside as they preach to us on Sunday and fill our minds with their exhortations and convictions.
• I struggle with love. It is not easy for me to love people, for whatever reason. I love my wife, my children and my family. I really love those people in my church close to me. As I start to think about others that I do not interact with, I have a difficult time thinking of myself as someone who would lay down my life for these people. I have a hard time thinking about me giving up my night or a weekend for these people. Several in my church do a better job than I but this is an area where I feel my entire church could use an “overhaul”.
• I don’t fancy myself a good teacher. There are people who have the gift of teaching and I don’t think I am one of them. I can share a vision, I can talk about things that I am passionate about but I can’t teach someone something they already know very well. As I think about sharing my faith and getting others to understand, I think this becomes part of my impediment to sharing my faith frequently. I want to clearly and concisely share with others and instruct them properly on the teachings of the Lord, but I feel like my ability to do that is limited by my capabilities as a teacher. At our church, I think we do an average job of this. I would personally like to see more “Sunday school” type of offerings (at our church, we call then Ed Center classes). I would like to see more people in our church “educated” on the Word not only from a personal perspective in quiet time, but through instruction by those in our church gifted by the Lord with the ability to teach others.
• Priorities are a big problem in my life. I have a completely upside-down view of priorities in my life. I prefer to sleep late, work late, keep my kids up late and then read God’s Word late. Jesus modeled prayer and quiet time in the early morning (before the sun rose) yet I can’t seem to get myself there. I also find that I spend more time on work, my personal hobbies or other items than I do time with the Lord. I’ve studied Tyranny of the Urgent which opened my eyes to where I spend my time and still have not made some of the necessary changes. My sin nature will get the better of me time and time again as I do not make the Lord the priority in my life.

Reading: Luke 9 (with focus upon Luke 9:10-17, 37-43)

What would you have learned about him from these two occasions? Some suggestions are at the end of this week’s sessions if you need them. Write down your own observations.

Had I been in those crowds, I would have seen and learned that Jesus could truly perform miracles – feeding 5,000 people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish (and ending up with 12 basketful’s of leftovers?!); rebuking evil spirits (not something to be taken lightly!)… But more-so than that, I think something else that I have learned about Jesus from these two passages are his devoted love for people. He could have just as easily sent the people into neighboring villages for food and shelter. But instead, like a good shepherd, He tended his flock – providing for them and protecting them. However, in the second passage, I saw something different. It was almost… I don’t know… like Jesus was saddened by the generation of people that he was with. He describes them as unbelieving and perverse – not two of the most flattering adjectives in the dictionary. Yet He still protected the boy by driving the evil spirit from him. That is unconditional love!!

Spend time considering each of these different aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry. Ask yourself how far you have seen evidence of his activity in your own life or in the life of your church. How much is this the Jesus that you are getting to know?

I definitely believe that I have seen each of those aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry played out both in my own life and in our church. In our church, I have seen so many times when a person or family has been in need of council, support or fellowship, and instead of sending them away because we really just want to get home and take an afternoon nap after services or try to beat the crowd to the Luby’s line (as my friend puts it), we put our needs aside and tend to those needing us. Jesus didn’t skip out and send the 5,000 people home – he made sure that they were fed and taken care of. I’ve seen that performed over and over in our church in so many different ways.

Personally, I don’t know that I could put myself into that category. I can recall times that I’ve helped someone out in a small way, but I know that I’m not up to that kind of completely sacrificial love for others yet. I definitely have a servants heart (I have a hard time telling someone no because I want to help!), but it goes so far beyond just giving someone money when they’re having trouble making ends meet or listening to them during a hard time. Jesus prayed continually, and I have no doubt that during the feeding of 5,000, he continually prayed and praised God for His provisions. That’s something that I need to find myself doing in those situations. The glory isn’t for me (look what I did – I helped someone out! I rock!!), but rather for what God has done (He blessed us by gaving me the means to help).

The second example is an even harder example, I think, to follow. It’s helping when someone is frustrating you, when you’re tired of their “unbelief and perverse” lives. Praying, providing and protecting those who frustrate you, those who hurt you, those who do not believe you – that’s the hardest step to take. I’m slowly starting to take baby steps here, but that is only by the grace of God that I’m even attempting to. If left up to me, there’s no way that I would help out someone like that. No way, nut uh! But, God is changing me, and I’ve seen it every day. I mean, when you can honestly pray for someone like Osama bin Lauden, God’s definitely doing a number on your heart.

Reading: Luke 9 (with focus upon Luke 9:7-9, 18-22, 44-45, 51)

What can you discover about who Jesus thought he was and how he viewed his task on earth?

Jesus knew that He was the Son of Man. He didn’t let the thoughts and opinions of others sway his thoughts of who He was or could be; he stood firm in His identity. He viewed His task very simply – to be rejected, to suffer and die and then be raised from the dead. He knew the timeline, the details of circumstances that would occur – there was never any confusion or second guessing on His part as to what would happen.

Why does it matter to you that Jesus had to come to earth to die? What would have happened if he had not done so?

Without Jesus’ death on the cross, there would have been no sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. As a gentile, I would not be viewed as clean in the eyes of God, but with His death, the gates of Heaven were opened for all who believed. There is nothing on this earth that means more to me than that.

Could you explain to someone else why his task was so important?

It’s not as difficult to explain as it is to be understood. God created us to have a perfect relationship with Him, but we just can’t achieve that relationship with sin in our lives. The penalty of sin is death and seperation from God, because God is perfect, and can’t have a relationship with sin! No matter what we do in our lives, there is always going to be sin keeping us seperated from God. He knew that, and loved us so much that He sent a solution right into our hands – His son, Jesus. He sent Him to earth with the sole purpose of shedding His blood in the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. His sinless death paid that penalty to forgive our sins and bring us back into a relationship with God. All it takes is our faith and belief in Jesus as our savior. But that belief can only come with the grace of God by the Holy Spirit (and that’s where the understanding comes in – I can’t make them understand, only God can!)

Luke 9:7-9, 18-22, 44-45, 51

What can you discover about who Jesus thought he was and how he viewed his task on earth?

Jesus knew that he was the Son of God. He knew that he was sent to earth for a very specific purpose, which we could not understand. He knew that he was to be rejected by those who claimed they followed, and loved, the Lord God the most. He knew that he had to come to earth to do exactly as his Father had preordained. Jesus realized that his job was not here to make friends or to hang out with the “good people”. Jesus wanted to touch the people who were evil. He wanted to give them a hope that they did not have before. Jesus knew that mankind could not, on their own, accomplish what he was here to do for them.

Why does it matter to you that Jesus had to come to earth to die? What would have happened if he had not done so?

Jesus lived in the same world I live in. He knows my temptations, he knows my sins. While he never sinned, he knows, personally, why I do these things. He knows first-hand the problems I have every single day. If Jesus was an angelic being that never lived on earth, never experienced pain, never experienced suffering, he could not have known my situation and understood what I am facing on a daily basis. Jesus came to this earth to live among sin and to show me what it looks like to live in the Lord instead of earthly things. If Jesus hadn’t done this, I am not sure what would have happened. I struggle with this because the Lord is perfect and can accomplish all things. Jesus would not have known my personal challenges and struggles but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been my Savior. I am not sure how to answer this question. The only thing that stands out is that God’s character does not change. He requires payment for our sins. In the Old Testament, He required a blood sacrifice (from animals) in order to pay for the sins of the people. Today, we do not have to sacrifice any animals because Jesus Christ’s blood on the cross paid for our sins. His propitiation paid for my sins. If a man, named Jesus, had not come down to earth and died on that cross for me, I am not sure how I would be able to atone for my wrongs against the Lord.

Could you explain to someone else why his task was so important?

Jesus died on the cross for my sins. He died on the cross for your sins. He has paid the price for all of our wrongs against God. Jesus was God made man so that he could live on this earth, experience our troubles, our sorrows, our tribulations — first hand! He was then crucified and killed by man because of his teachings. However, he is the only man who has died and was raised again from the dead never to die again. Christ is alive right now and will return to judge the world. The good news is that if you truly accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, his precious blood on the cross will cover you and the Lord will see nothing but righteousness. Hallelujah and Amen!