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Table of Contents
Introduction: Finding Purpose Part One: [Re]Defining Discipleship Part Two: The Upside-Down Kingdom Part Three: Dont Rub It Part Four: Spirit Walking Part Five: Idol Smashing Conclusion: Its a Start 1 2 16 27 37 49 57
Get Connected
For a Deeper Experience
Because this experience is not meant to simply be a study or class material, my hope is that youll use this it to form deeper connections; both with others who are taking the same journey, and with God through the Holy Spirit. If you are particularly struck by a certain section, you may want to share your insight and reflections with others. There may also be times when you need the guidance or challenge of another persons perspective. So I encourage you to take this experience one step further, whether you are engaging in it by yourself or with a group. There are a few ways we want to help in that process.
Ways to interact with others to process the contents of this experience. A place to post your experiences with the activities youll be challenged to do. Opportunities to share pictures or videos from your experience. Ways to engage this material as a whole church or small group through retreats, seminars, or youth events with help from Unique Conformity leadership.
Visit the website to connect with these resources and discover more ways to find meaning as you begin this journey. Still have questions? Send them to info@uniqueconformity.com or call us at 888-742-6592.
Introduction
The Journey
I was recently on a hike with my five-year-old son, Isaiah, just outside Denver in the foothills. Since we moved back to Denver about a year ago, we havent had the chance to go on too many hikes. As we headed out onto the relatively tame path, Isaiah exclaimed, Look Daddy, dandelions! He insisted on picking a few of the flowery weeds to take home to his mom and sister and then we moved on. His approach to the hike didnt change much as we went. Wed walk for a little bit and then a spot along the river, a big rock, or a bug would catch his attention and wed stop to check out his latest discovery. There were times during our hike when I dissuaded him from venturing through the mud or going too close to the rapids, but as long as he wasnt in too much danger (or too much of a mess) I let him go. This experience is meant to be much like that hike. I have provided you with a path to follow, and hopefully it will keep you headed in the direction of understanding and living authentic discipleship of Jesus, but I also hope that your journey will be your own. Some parts of the experience will strike you more deeply than others and you will choose to slow down while someone else might speed ahead at the same point. I hope your time moving through the pages will be nearer the pace of my son than the head-down quick gait I use too often when I hike by myself or with other adults. I have been calling this an experience, and that needs a little explanation. Couldnt it just be called a study or class? It could, but if you treat this merely as a study I fear it will not make any more impact on you or your discipleship than the myriad of books and classes that are available today. The difference will be more about your attitude toward the material than about the material itself. It is true that you will study as you make your way through the pages, but to fully engage the process you will be asked to do more than that. You will need to reflect and study yourself. You will need to take the challenge to engage in practical exercises throughout the course of the week that will force you to consider what youre reading beyond your head. You will need to let the Holy Spirit change you, not just increase your knowledge. If you do all this I think you will find it becomes more of an experience than a study.
Discuss
Share your thoughts with the others in your group. If youre doing this by yourself talk to a friend, family member, or neighbor about it. You can also interact over these questions online on the Unique Conformity Facebook page. What are the common themes, words, and components of the definitions people share?
What are the primary differences in themes, words, and components in the definitions?
How have your friends and family contributed to your view of discipleship?
Rank the following statements based on this scale: 1This is a discipleship essential. 2It is very helpful in discipleship. 3It doesnt matter for discipleship. ____ Regularly attend a church service. ____ Model your life after the life of Jesus. ____ Serve people in your community. ____ Accept Jesus death as the grounds for the forgiveness of your sin. ____ Read the Bible. ____ Serve in some way in your church. ____ Know and use your spiritual gifts. ____ Live by certain moral rules. (You know what Im talking about!) ____ Pray. ____ Participate in bringing justice to the poor and marginalized. ____ Financially support your church and/or other Christian organizations. ____ Participate in a community of faith. If there are other things you think are essential for discipleship, list those here:
(I know, I said its not graded, and Im not losing my integrity over it.)
This quiz is meant to help you think through your current attitude toward discipleship and your beliefs about it. In reality, all the things described on the quiz can be great, the issue is what forms the foundation for an understanding of discipleship. For instance, if you place attending a church service as the highest priority, it may lead to a life of discipleship, but it might just stall at church attendance. Starting with justice may move you toward a relationship with the God who loves the poor and marginalized or that work might never connect to Gods love at all. An important part of developing a faithful and useful discipleship paradigm is discerning which things have the power to shape the way we view discipleship. There is a significant difference between the things that form our paradigm on discipleship and the things that can be a helpful part of it. In developing a helpful discipleship paradigm we need to address some of the misconceptions about discipleship. Thats what we turn to now.
Discipleship Misconceptions
Misconception #1
Discipleship is part of what it means to be a Christian. In winter of 2009 I attended a forum on how church and business can work together. There was a panel of people who were giving insight from their experiences supporting and leading kingdom-minded businesses. At one point the conversation turned to whether or not evangelism should be one of the goals of a kingdom-minded business. One of the panelists, who was an owner of one of these businesses responded, Well, evangelism is important, but we have to remember it is not the only thing. Its also important to think about compassion, justice, and discipleship. I cringed. To be fair, I hear statements like this all the time; he wasnt the first nor will he be the last. Discipleship is very widely viewed as one consideration of many when we think of the Christian life. It is a member of a list including such things as evangelism, worship, justice, compassion, community service, fellowship, and Bible study. Yet if discipleship is the process of learning to be a disciple of Jesus, then it is not a part of the Christian lifeit is the Christian life. Is this really a big deal? Isnt it just words? It is a huge deal! Disciple is one of the most common monikers for people who were following and believing in Jesus throughout the Gospels and Acts. If we have an improper or truncated view of discipleship it can significantly impact the way we read the Bible and our ability to understand what Jesus teaches about what it means to be a disciple of His. The way we view discipleship can significantly impact how we view what it means to be a Christian. When Jesus sent his disciples into the world at the ascension he told them to go make disciples. That summed it up for Jesus. He didnt tell them to make disciples, evangelists, worship leaders, pastors, entrepreneurs and on and on. He didnt have to. If they made disciples theyd make all the other things by default.
Misconception #2
Discipleship is primarily about learning more. Recently I was at a networking meeting for a number of area churches. There were about twenty pastors and ministry leaders sitting in an asymmetrical circle around a few tables sipping coffee. The issue that evening was discipleship. People took turns sharing beliefs, opinions, and experiences about how discipleship happens and what their church was doing to feed the discipleship process. But our nice little discussion session was about to screech to a halt. A few minutes after the discussion began a young man, probably in his early twenties, had slipped in and taken a seat on the edge of the circle. He sat and listened for more than half an hour. Honestly, I think most people forgot he was there because he was so quiet and unassuming. Then, when there was a lull in the conversation (an anomaly in a room full of pastors and ministry leaders) he spoke up. Hi everyone. My name is Shawn. I havent been a Christian very long, but when I hear you talking about discipleship it seems to me most of what youre talking about is being a student. No offense, but someone could do the things youre talking about without ever really being changed.
Misconception #3
Discipleship is a process you can complete. When I was growing up my church had discipleship classes. In our church being discipled meant you made your way through all four classes and when you finished the fourth one you had completed the process of discipleship. This may not have been what the leadership believed about these discipleship classes, but it was what was communicated by the way they were set up. Many discipleship programs give the impression that once you make it through the whole process you have been discipled. The reality is that discipleship is a life-long process. Perhaps no group of people revealed this more clearly than Jesus own disciples. In Mark 8, after the disciples have been following Jesus for some time, they think Jesus is upset they dont have breadthis after he just fed 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread and had leftovers. They werent applying what they had seen too quickly in that case. Shortly after that they try to talk Jesus out of his death, which is an essential part of the reason why he came to earth in the first place. But in the midst of this process they are transformed. They are constantly squirming their way toward Jesus in the process of discipleship. Not long after Jesus has returned to heaven, Peter and John found themselves in front of the Jewish religious leaders. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Their time spent becoming disciples of Jesus transformed them to their corea process they continued in until the day they died.
Luke 14:25-34
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
Are there any other passages of Scripture you think are really important for shaping a discipleship paradigm (of course all of Scripture can help)? Write them down and share them with your group.
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Shaping Discipleship
Before getting to what I believe is a very simple and broad way of looking at discipleship, consider a couple concepts from Scripture that can be very helpful in shaping our discipleship paradigm.
Following
A few years ago Rob Bell made a short video called Dust (If you have access to it go watch that instead of reading the next few paragraphs!). This video described the process young Jewish men went through in their pursuit of becoming a disciple of one of the Rabbis. The short version is that they went through an immense amount of schooling, memorize vast amounts of Scripture, and then applied to be disciples of a particular Rabbi. When the Rabbi chose from among the hopefuls, he wasnt just looking for someone who knew their stuff, he was looking for someone he thought could become like him. When a young man was chosen as a disciple, it didnt mean that hed be going to class with his Rabbi a few days a week; it meant he would devote years of his life to following that Rabbi around; observing his behavior, listening to his teaching, and discerning how he lived. Being a good disciple meant you followed your Rabbi as closely as possible. This resulted in a saying that was said to these young men as a blessing; May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi. (Thus the name of Rob Bells video.) In other words, being a disciple was not primarily about learning, it was about becoming. This is exactly what Jesus asked of His disciples when He called them to follow Him. Sometimes we talk about following Jesus, but our definition of that strikes me as vastly different from what it meant to those first disciples. From the moment they chose to follow Jesus they never left His sidethey ate with Him, listened to His teaching, saw His miracles, did what He did, and tried to live like He lived. There was no part of their lives that was not transformed by following Jesus. One of the decisive acts of discipleship is following. The disciples left their livelihood, family, and friends, because a Jewish teacher asked them to follow Him. This was the biggest decision any of them ever madeeven if they didnt understand all the implications of it. We may not be called to leave our jobs or family as those first disciples were, but we are issued the same life-transforming callto follow Jesus. What do you think it means and looks like for people to follow Jesus today?
Ambassadors
One of the passages of Scripture for this section, 2 Corinthians 5:11-21, says we are ambassadors of Christ. When an ambassador of the United States goes to another country they are doing much more than taking a personal trip. Everything they do reflects on their country. Everything they say is taken as representing the views of their country and its leadership. If we are ambassadors of Christ then our actions, words, and attitudes do not just reflect on us, they reflect on Jesus. This is one reason that becoming like Jesus as His disciples is so important. It is certainly not the only reason, but our discipleship is not just about usit is about our witness to the world on behalf of Christ. This is what the disciples of the Rabbis became. They represented their teacher and the things he taught. If they proved to be bad teachers or poor students of the Scriptures it reflected negatively on their Rabbi. We are ambassadors of Christ so it is imperative that we are conformed to Him as His disciples. How does the idea of being an ambassador of Christ impact the way you view being His disciple?
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Discipleship [Re]Defined
Hopefully this part of the experience has helped you to sort through your beliefs about discipleship, see what Scripture has to say, and develop a paradigm that will help you engage the rest of it well. As you go on to the other parts of this experience keep the idea of unique conformity in mind. Consider how each of the things we cover can help you be conformed to Christ and to embrace your uniqueness for the good of the Church and the world.
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What are the implications for your discipleship if you view it this way?
Do you sense God telling you anything about how this should shape your life right now?
Final Reflections
Take a few minutes to jot down your thoughts. Has this section been easy or hard for you? Why is that? What so you take away from this? What are you still wrestling? What things you want to discuss?
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Your Uniqueness
Write down everything you can think of about yourself in these categories: personality, skills, natural talents, passions, spiritual gifts, hobbies, and preferences. Have a couple friends, family members, or others in your group write down what they think about you too and compare. Consider how these things currently do or dont conform to the way of Jesus. Brainstorm some creative ways your uniqueness might be conformed to Christ that you havent thought of before.
Observation
Observe the life of someone you respect this week. We do this everyday, but do it intentionally and take some notes about what you observe. At the end of the week reflect on what youve seen and think about what you have learned by observing that person. (You might want to share it with them as an encouragement!) This is one important aspect of followingobserving and learning.
Watching Jesus
Read through one of the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, or Johnand observe the life of Jesus from the perspective of his disciples. What do you think it was like following him? What things do you notice about Jesus from this perspective that you havent noticed before?
Blog It
Start a blog! A blog is a great way to process your thoughts and allow others to interact with them. If youre doing this as a group I encourage you to start a group blog where each person posts at least one thing throughout the week. This will keep you thinking and interacting with each other throughout the week. Blogger.com is a good place to start.
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Matthew 21:28-32
Mark 10:13-16
Luke 10:8-12
Luke 17:20-21
Discuss what youve written down with your group. What is the picture of the kingdom of God that begins to emerge?
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When people talk about being born again they usually use it as a metaphor for salvation. That works. Scripture does tell us that when we follow Jesus we die to ourselves and find new life in Himso in a sense salvation does mean being born again. But I wonder if theres another reason Jesus uses this language with Nicodemus. Consider that for a while and well come back to it in a little bit.
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Recently I was leading a group through this experience and when we came to this section one of the men said, You know, this all sounds nice in the Bible, but its really hard! You may be feeling the same way. Its true, the way of the kingdom of God is hard, but we dont pursue it on our own. Jesus has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit and as we participate in the body of Christ with other disciples we also find the support of others pursuing the same thing. It sounds nice in the Bible, and it is hard, but it is wonderful and exciting as the Holy Spirit and other disciples help us live it.
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Power
Kingdom of God
Matthew 6:19-24; 19:23-24
Wealth
Kingdom of God
Matthew 18:1-4
In each of these examples the way of the kingdoms of the world and the way of the kingdom of God are drastically different. If you begin considering the overall way of viewing the world held by our culture you will find that at almost every point the kingdom of God is upside-down. This is what makes entering into the kingdom of God and living in it so difficult. If we really grasp the upside-down nature of the kingdom of God it can begin to seem overwhelming. If we live in His kingdom we will seem weird! We will have to learn totally new ways to live than the ones were used to. As we consider the radical difference between these kingdoms check out this story.
Success
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Culture Shock
Just like Weldon felt some distress as he went through culture shock, learning to live in the kingdom of God can be distressing. Share any experiences youve had with culture shock.
For you and others in your group, what made switching cultures so shocking?
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Warmth came from technology, not fire. Food was prepared for you in great quantities and varieties. Though it seems small, he would now have to choose between many things instead of having his meals basically chosen for him. Transportation was easy and quick. He went from walking everywhere to driving being the way people got around.
The Tupinamba of Brazil dont wear clothes. Their primary mode of body cover is paint and an occasional scrap of cloth. The Hilltribe women of Thailand use rings to elongate their necks. The Surma in Ethiopia put plates in their lower lips up to five inches in diameter. The dowry demanded by a womans parents is determined by the size of her lip plate.
Not only are the ways people function different when you change cultures, but often the values are different. Imagine going from a culture that values community, family, and close relationships to one that values individualism and privacy. When a new cultures values clash with the old one the culture shock takes on the added difficulty of questioning the core values that have shaped a person. What are your thoughts about entering the kingdom of God being like culture shock?
It doesnt translate
When KFC entered the Chinese market they discovered their slogan, finger lickin good translated to eat your fingers off. Coca-colas first try at translating their name into Chinese was Kekou-ke-la. Translated this is, eat the wax tadpole. When Pepsi entered the Chinese market they used the slogan, Pepsi brings you back to life. The translation of this one came out, Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave. Chevy had little luck marketing the Nova in South America. Finally someone pointed out that no va in Spanish means doesnt go. Parker Pen meant to market their pens in Mexico with the slogan, It wont leak in your pocket and embarrass you. However, their improper use of embarazar for embarrass made the slogan translate, It wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.
From www.takingontobacco.org
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Get Creative
Creatively represent your understanding of the kingdom of God. Write a poem, story, song, or parable. Paint a picture. Create a symbol. Share your creation with the people in your group or at your church and explain why you did what you did. This could be your chance to get them thinking about the upside-down kingdom!
Keep Blogging
If youve started a blog or journal for this experience, take a day (or a week) and remain conscious of how your choices reflect either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of this world. Share your insights on the blog or in the journal.
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Something to Consider
When you do an exercise like the one youre about to do, its likely you will identify the positive things in your lifemost of which are truly life giving. However, most of us have something, or multiple things, that we turn to instinctively to find life that are not capable of giving it to us. For instance, one struggle in my life was identifying the fact that when things got tough (or sometimes when things were really good) I would turn to food without even thinking. There was something in me that said eating would be a source of life for me. Something that could pick me up when I was down or help me celebrate when things went well. For you maybe its a certain activity, habit, or even relationship that promises life but cant deliver. Make sure you dont dismiss these things as you continue.
Take the time to be honest with yourself. If you grew up in church you learned the nice Christian answers to everything (so you just put Jesus in every blank!).
Now go back and rank these from 1 to 10 (or however many you had) in the order that they hold power in your life. Which ones take precedence over the others?
Open Up
Now ask someone you trust (in other words they wont just tell you what you want to hear) to review what you wrote above. If you know your group members well enough this could be a great group exercise. Whether its your group or another person, ask them to answer these questions for you. Do you agree with the way I ranked these items? Are there other things that I look to for life and purpose? What is the evidence in my life for your answers?
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Sex The experience is divorced from relationship and glorified by itself. This creates the constant need for more and may mean looking to many different places to fulfill that need.
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Relationships God created us to be in relationships! Are there times when these relationships become the overarching purpose of our life instead of a connection with Jesus?
Are there other things people in our culture look to as a source of life?
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Connecting
Read through John 15:1-17 one section at a time, and consider what each one tells us about Jesus as a source of life. John 15:1-2
John 15:3-5
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John 15:7-8
John 15:9-10
John 15:11
John 15:12-17
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Thats Ridiculous
Im guessing that while reading the assignment above, you were thinking something along the lines of thats ridiculous. Well, youre right. So why is it that this is the approach we take to connection with the true vine Jesus in our life as His followers? In John 15 Jesus says very clearly that must remain (or abide) in Him. We have to be like a tree branch that says constantly and securely fastened to the tree to receive what we need for life and growth. Despite teachings like this its easy for us to fall into patterns where were disconnected most of the time and then periodically try to rub ourselves onto the vine expecting to connect to it, and then live and grow. Staying constantly connected to Jesus? Thats crazy, right? It might be, but what should we expect from a faith that calls us to carry crosses, die to ourselves, and be born again? In reality, it makes sense that remaining or abiding in Christ is the only way to really live and grow as His disciples. Remember what you read and discussed about the kingdom of God being upside-down? The longer you disconnect, the more likely you are to revert to living with the passions and world view purported by our culture. While we may consider staying constantly connected to Christ a little crazy, we dont find remaining connected to media to be nearly as insane. We keep an almost constant connection through the internet, TV, radio, iPods, and cell phones. Is it difficult for you to disconnect from media for an extended length of time? Could you sit in your home or car with nothing on and be happy? However easy or difficult that may be for you, the point is that we find it much easier to stay connected to other things than we do to Christ. These other things are constantly communicating messages about the purpose of life and how we should view the world. These messages often contradict the message of Jesus and His kingdom, yet we spend our days sucking life from sources other than Christ and still expect to grow and be like Him. Now wonder transformation in Jesus can be difficult! [Remain] 1. to continue in the same state 2. to stay behind or in the same place [Abide] 1. To remain, continue, or stay 2. To have ones abode; dwell; reside 3. To continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship, etc. 4. To wait for
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Self-Disclosure
Part of the reason for asking how abiding in Christ makes you feel is that it sounds like a nice idea, but doesnt always feel like one. At many times in my own life I have thought that staying constantly connected to Christ sounded hard, boring, and unappealing. I had many things I wanted to do that didnt seem to fit into abiding Christ. I didnt want to pray all the time, I wanted to go to a movie. I didnt want to spend hours reading my Bible, I wanted to play basketball instead. There were two problems I had. First, I wasnt fully committed to following Jesus. There were things I wanted more than to be His disciple. I was like the rich man who was all in until he found out it meant selling all his stuff. My second problem was that I had a pathetically narrow view of what it mean to abide in Christ. Praying and reading the Bible are important, really important, but they dont even come close to encompassing what it means to abide in Christ; to submit each moment, thought, action, and decision to Him. I still have times when I venture off, but thats a great signal that Im disconnecting from the vine and when that happens, I have to choose to reconnect or begin the process of withering. Theres no other choice.
As you think about doing this, how does that make you feel?
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Try it!
Below are some common (and a few less common) practices for abiding in Jesus. Pick one and try it for at least a week, then move to another one. As you find youre the ones that work for you, begin to use them regularly in your life. 1. Fasting: Give up food for a meal, a day, or a week. Let your hunger and the times you normally eat lead you toward prayer. Give up technology for a week and fill the silence by conversing with God through the Holy Spirit. Try other fasts to help you focus on Jesus. 2. Memorization: Choose a verse, few verses, or even a chapter to memorize in a week. See how God applies it to your life or uses it as you speak with someone. 3. Retreat: Set aside a block of time to focus on God away from all distractions. Make it long enough that your mind has a chance to slow down. Id recommend at least 5 hours. 4. Observation Walk: Go for a walk, but as you walk try to see everything you pass from Gods perspectivepeople, nature, buildings, neighborhoods. 5. On-hour Prayer: Pause for one minute at the beginning of each hour to pray. Just pray about whatever youre doing or thinking. Set an alarm if you need to. Share any other practices that help you abide in Christ with the members of your group.
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Opposite Day
What doesnt help you stay connected to Jesus? Not necessarily sinful things, but things that people often say are important in order to grow spiritually but just dont work for you. For instance, theres a method of prayer called Lectio Divina that many cherish as something that draws them close to Jesus, but it doesnt work for me. It doesnt mean I avoid prayer, just that one particular practice doesnt resonate. What practices dont usually work for you?
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Quick Quiz
How many of the Ten Commandments can you come up with without looking? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. For the answers see Exodus 20:3-17. These upside down answers remind me of quizzes on kids menus.
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Galatians 5:13-25
If youre up for a challenge, make one of these passages the subject of an hour of prayerful reflection. Heres how you could do that:
1. Read through the entire passage. Make a note of any phrases or concepts that jump out at you. 2. Now read back through the passage, pausing after each phrase to consider it carefully. Dont move on to the next phrase until you feel you have really heard and understood the one youre on. 3. Read through the passage again. This time, after each phrase or verse (or even each word in some cases) stop and enter a time of prayer based on what youve just read. Let the Holy Spirit guide your prayer through the words of Scripture. 4. Read through the whole thing again and then write down how you see the passage differently.
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Orientation to Yourself: You are a sinful being who is filled with the desires the world puts in front of you. You must work hard to tame those desires and stay away from breaking the law. You often chastise yourself for failing in your attempts to keep the law. Orientation to Others: Others are either on your side or they are a part of the world that will try to draw you away from following the law. Those who are living by the law with you may be great allies, so you are hesitant about venturing too far outside the circles of these people who you know are safe. You are likely to look down on those not following the law as poor sinners. Orientation to God: You strongly desire to please God. Your attempts to keep the law are motivated by this desire. The desire may be fueled by love, guilt, obligation, or even pride. It is difficult not to eventually believe that on some level your relationship with God depends on the extent to which you keep the law.
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Success is: Having the material things you desire, the experiences you crave, and staying away from hardship. This doesnt mean you will never do anything difficult or painful, only that you will venture into difficult things only when you believe it will result in more happiness and comfort.
Success is: Keeping yourself from temptation and sin. Being at the top of the class in holiness and purity.
Your Response
Which one of these three is easiest? Why?
Can you think of people in the Bible who exhibited each of the three? How did that impact their relationship with God?
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Your Law
Unless this is your first day following Jesus (and even if it is) you have some kind of law youre living by. Maybe you think Christians cant drink alcohol. Maybe you think people just arent committed to Jesus if theyre not in church every Sunday. Maybe you believe an important part of being a Christian is having morning devotions. The point here is not to take a position on these issues or others, only to say that there are many prohibitions or commands we adhere to that come more from a mentality of law than one of walking with the Spirit. Your law is the things you think people need to do or definitely should do if they are Christians. Consider what your unwritten law is.
Having principles to live by isnt bad, but in the first four statements above its not good. If you have the proper perspective on your law (represented by the second four items) it can be a great help to you.
Dangerous Teaching?
Some people get a bit queasy when you start talking about living by the Spirit and not concerning yourself as much with the law. Its as though this will become a free pass for people to do whatever they want. A person will go get drunk and say, well, the Holy Spirit didnt tell me not to, so I figured it was okay. Another will call a friend to share some dirt on their neighbor because they didnt sense the Holy Spirit saying they shouldnt (or because the Holy Spirit would have disconnected the phone if he really didnt want them to make the call). We cant adhere to this walking in the Spirit stuff because its a loophole for hedonism! Honestly, thats ridiculous. Just because we arent controlling every action in a persons life doesnt mean its dangerous teaching. If someone is going and getting hammered I hardly think thats a display of self-control (a fruit of the Spirit). If people are gossiping they arent exactly showing much love, kindness, goodness, or self-control (those things sound familiar?). When it comes to holy and faithful living, walking by the Spirit will put living by any law to shame. Perhaps the real question for those who are weary of focusing on walking with the Spirit instead of law is whether they trust the Holy Spirit to lead people in godliness. Is the Holy Spirit powerful enough to move people into transformation or do we need to control it with our lists of rules? It is also important to remember that focusing on walking with the Spirit doesnt mean the law has no value. Im repeating myself, but the Holy Spirit will lead people in ways that line up with Gods commands. So if a persons life displays a consistent pattern of disobeying all these commands it is a pretty sure bet theyre not walking with the Spirit.
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Strong Words
Sometimes we dont hear the full weight of the words of Scripture. We become accustomed to what the Bible says and so we read over passages without comprehending how difficult or forceful they really are. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ they do not belong to Christ. Romans 8:9 Living by, in, and with the Holy Spirit isnt an option if you want to be a disciple of Jesus. You cannot say you are with Jesus if you do not submit to and live by the Spirit. Most Christians will acknowledge the existence of the Holy Spirit, but how often do we substitute a list of rules or a bevy of Christian programming for a life lived in the Spirit? If you are a Christian then you must be controlled by the Holy Spirit. This doesnt happen without seeking a continual relating to God. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Galatians 5:16 We must read this passage in light of passages like Romans 7:14-25 where Paul expresses the angst of the place between what he wants to do and what the sin still at work in him wants him to do. Our lives will be a journey of learning to increasingly yield to the Holy Spirit and not the sinful nature. At the same time, if we most consistently gratify the desires of the sinful nature we are not walking by the Spirit.
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PATIENCE
PEACE
JOY
LOVE
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SELF-CONTROL
GENTLENESS
FAITHFULNESS
GOODNESS
KINDNESS
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Dont Plan
Take a meeting of your group (or even your entire church) and tell people to ask the Holy Spirit to lead. Then, when you next come together actually let the Spirit lead your group meeting. Anyone can, speak, read, sing, pray, or do whatever they feel led to. The only rule is that no one should do anything without truly feeling led by the Spirit to do so. This is a great thing to do on a regular basis. In my experience, it can be awkward at first because its so different, but over time you will have some of the richest meetings youve ever had.
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Kind of a Biggie
The case can be made that idolatry is the most grievous sin in Scripture. Its destructive influence is seen from the beginning of the Bible all the way through the end. It is the subject of the first and second commandments. It is the reason that the people of Israel were taken into exile over and over. And it is something that separates people from God today. While deeply destructive to their covenant relationship with God, the idolatry of Israel is not all that complex. They couldnt see God and they struggled with that, so they observed the gods of the nations around them, and eventually began to create these gods for themselves. They worshiped the created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25). Thankfully we dont do anything like that anymore...or do we? [Idolatry] 1. Excessive or blind adoration, reverent devotion, etc.
Understanding Idolatry
Read through each of these passages in Scripture and answer a these questions for each: 1. What role do the idols play in a persons life in this passage? 2. Why are the idols attractive? Why would people ever worship them? 3. Based on this passage, why is idolatry a problem? 2 Kings 17:1-7
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Ephesians 5:1-7
Defining Idolatry
As we move through the rest of this section, here are four characteristics or outcomes of idolatry to help you think through idolatry in our culture and in your life. From your reflection on the three passages of Scripture add any others you think are important to the list. 1. Idols take the place of God. Instead of receiving comfort, provision, guidance, or other good things from God, idols promise to give us these things. Most often the alluring promises of idols come up empty in the end. 2. Idols lead us off the narrow path. Matthew 7:14 says the path to life is narrow and few find it. Idols lead us off that path and away from God and his way. Idols lead to sin. 3. Idols demand our allegiance. In other words, idols have power to control us, even if we dont give them that power consciously. This is a problem because we are not capable of serving both God and an idol. 4. Idols suck life from us. As was discussed in the section on abiding with Christ, he is the only true source of life.
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When is this okay and when does it cross the line and become an idol?
Celebrity Life:
Magazines and websites about the lives of stars are wildly popular. Is this an idol for our culture? Why or why not?
When is this okay and when does it cross the line and become an idol?
When is this okay and when does it cross the line and become and idol?
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When is this okay and when does it cross the line and become an idol?
The NFL:
This is a specific (and something I like a lot), but for many people there is a Sabbath that has nothing at all to do with God. Is this an idol for our culture? Why or why not?
When is this okay and when does it cross the line and become an idol?
When is this okay and when does it cross the line and become and idol?
Other Idols:
Its your turn to think of other things we havent covered that can become idols.
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My most common rationalizations for the place this holds in my life are:
The thing that is or can become an idol is: My history with this:
My most common rationalizations for the place this holds in my life are:
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Identify what Jesus is calling you to give up as you follow him (you might want to look back a couple pages to where youre asked to identify your idols). Give it up! This means considering the steps youll take to root it out, who youll tell, and if youre called to give it up forever or just for a time so that it can be dethroned in your life.
You can find more discipleship challenges like this one at uniqueconformity.org.
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Art!
Make it a collage! Okay, this is not for everyone, but for the visual learners it can serve as a great visual representation of the idols that are plaguing your life. Review the idols you have identified, and then put images together on paper or a computer program that represent those things, and they power they have over you. Then hang it up where you will be reminded of the gods you need to be wary of.
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Follow Me
One of the greatest men I have ever had the privilege to know is named Vernon Grounds. He is wise in the Spirit of God, humble, unassuming, yet powerful because of the obvious work of God in him. I once heard him preach a sermon on the following passage that has stayed with me for years. I will leave you will this story from John 21. As you pursue discipleship as your unique conformity to Christ, remember the words of Jesuswhat he calls others to is not your concern, you must follow him.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!" Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me."
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