Although the coming Christ is brings our deepest hopes to fulfillment, the transition will be traumatic and we still fear his coming because of our unhealthy investments in the present.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons on Discipleship (Page 10)
Summing up the previous section of the gospel, Bartimaeus is a model disciple – one who sees who Jesus is, has no pretensions to power, leaves everything, and follows Jesus on the way.
Jesus is not calling us to self-mutilation, but he is saying that our efforts to root out sin in ourselves need to be as rigorous as it takes, even if it means appearing like a fanatic.
The Bible highlights the consequences of the world’s unjust economic system, and we, as the church, are called to find ways of living out our prayer for justice.
Christians are to be known for what they do rather than what they abstain from.
Christ has come that we might have fullness of life, and it has cost him dearly.
The church rightly has an impact on the world, bringing out the taste of God, but it won’t come from pedantic obedience.
The Word has become flesh to redeem us. Now our redeemed response must become flesh.
The values Christ calls us to live by can (for most people) only be lived in community with the saints, past and present.
Christian discipleship is about fully living the faith you have, and it is a basic human duty, not a cause for special commendation.
Cheering for Jesus is easy, but when he goes where we don’t want to go, only a few still follow while the rest shout “Crucify!”
Christian discipleship is an ongoing journey, so any attempt to preserve what is right today can mean we are in the wrong place tomorrow because Jesus has moved on.
Whole-hearted devotion to God and commitment to God’s mission brings joyous freedom, but also often results in derision, rejection and even violent opposition.
Jesus summarised the way by saying “Love God with everything you have and love your neighbour.” We find that easy enough to accept as the answer to a question but much harder to really live by.
There are all sorts of things that can make us look impressively Christian, but the only thing that matters is to deeply know Christ and to enter with him into the experience of his suffering and resurrection.
It is true that God is love, but God’s love is so tough, demanding and uncomfortably interactional that we will sometimes experience it as harsh, unpredictable and unreasonable.
God calls the most ordinary people to be his followers and through following we become a blessing to others.
In the aftermath of the Port Arthur Massacre, we need to see what it means to follow Christ through the valley of death.
If we live as though Christ was reigning now, we will always be ready for what he is about to do.
Our doubts and questions are welcome to God so long as we are not using them to avoid Christ’s question to us – “Will you follow me?”