1/19/2025 | The Foundational Marks of Following Jesus

welcome morning church uh thank you for

praying for us um and keeping us um uh

in mind and before the Lord uh as we

leave and uh yeah we're we're excited um

some unknowns but uh we hope to be able

to give um a report of what God is doing

back after we come

back uh we're going to be in Luke

chapter two but before we turn there um

you know we've been in the midst of a

sermon series refreshing our vision

frame um how our mission our values our

marks and our journey connect to our

10-year vision of expanding the tent and

so this morning we'll be covering the

connection between the marks of being a

follower of Jesus uh to our 10year

vision and so we're going to take a look

primarily at Luke Chapter 252 but as we

cover each Mark we're going to have some

scripture so um there's going to be some

Bible uh a lot of Bible passages this

morning but the one that we'll read

together um uh is Luke Chapter 252 so

please stand with me uh for the reading

of his word uh Luke 252 it's one verse

um probably one of the shortest

scripture readings we'll have um but uh

Luke 252 so read join with me and Jesus

increased in wisdom and in stature and

in favor with God and man

this is the word of the Lord thanks be

to God you may be

seated let's pray

together Holy Father we come before you

um humbled by what you have done will do

and are doing in our hearts and in our

lives father you are a gracious and

loving God that brings us together each

week to worship you to hear from you um

and to be transformed by your spirit so

father would you do that work this

morning as we come before you and listen

to your word in Jesus name we pray amen

well as we enter the third week of the

New Year how are your New Year's goals

going has anyone kept up with them

anybody I think those who are keeping up

they're probably running in that

Marathon this morning in the cold

weather um which is why you know I I

made a made a uh well anyway I'm just

going to pass that on uh personally uh

over the past few years I focused Less

on setting goals which was what I was

going to say I was going to set a goal

to run in this year's Marathon but

obviously I blame preaching uh to be

more important um I've focused instead

more on establishing habits now why the

difference uh while why setting goals

have their place for example one of mine

still is to read 12 books in a year on

average about a book a month

um it doesn't really tell me how to

actually get there how to actually

achieve that goal you know it's what's

known as a lag metric where it shows the

results of things that happened in the

past lag metrics like the number of

pounds you want to lose or a certain

Financial retirement goal you want to

get they're useful for looking back but

not for planning ahead you know for that

you want to use lead metrics they focus

on actions that can improve future

results now so while I may still have a

goal to read 12 books in a year I focus

more on the habit of setting aside maybe

30 minutes a day to read which you know

that habit and keeping at it and

committing to it should get to my goal

of 12 books a year now a lot has been

written on habits from the earlier

Church Father St Augustine who wrote

once wrote in his confessions habit if

not resistance

soon becomes necessity the things that

we continually do in our lives they

because of the way that we're uh built

and created our minds um they become a

necessary part of our lives uh stevenh

cvy author of the popular Seven Habits

of Highly Effective People he wrote so a

thought reap an action so an action reap

a habit so a habit reap a character

so a character reap a Destiny the habits

are what are in forms and shapes who we

become James Clear author of the uh New

York Times bestseller Atomic habits

anyone have read this book or I've at

least heard of it it was very popular a

few years ago your habits shape your

identity and your identity shapes your

habits we see this connection between

what we continually do what we invite in

into our lives and how that shapes who

we

are habits are having a Resurgence

finding the right set of habits now

known as optimizing your life or life

hacking is increasingly popular

especially amongst the younger

Generations who are eager to live their

lives to the fullest utilizing all the

information that the internet

provides now when we consider our vision

of expanding the tent where in the next

10 years we as a church will expand our

tent to become a Ministry base for

Christian formation and church

multiplication to plant 10 reproducing

churches locally and abroad for the

advance of the Gospel this at the Crux

of it uh this goal to plant 10

reproducing churches is a lag metric

just as we don't expect those to just

happen

overnight our Focus then is less about

making sure we plant those churches

and more on developing the kind of

people that God has called us to

uniquely form here at w they're not at

the expense of each other they're

complimentary and this is where the

marks come into the picture and this

Vision frame where Mission tells us what

we are doing core values tell us why we

are doing it marks they tell us when we

are

successful and as a church our success

is not defined when we hit a certain

budget or we plant a certain number of

churches no our success is defined by

the kind of people God has called us to

Faithfully disciple and the kind of

communities we want to create that

ultimately welcome sojourners home so

this morning we're going to take a look

at the four foundational marks of

following Jesus by first looking at how

Jesus himself grew immature

so first Jesus increased in wisdom this

being the mark of a truth Bearer in the

immediate context of this passage we

learn that when Jesus was a boy Joseph

and Mary find him at the temple

listening to the teachers of the law and

asking them

questions when confronted with why he

didn't leave with them Jesus replied in

Luke 2:49 why were you looking for me

Luke 2:49

did you not know that I must be in my

father's house you see from an early age

Jesus understood that the source of true

wisdom and knowledge was found in

understanding and applying the

scriptures this is what informs in

foundational Mark of being a follower of

Jesus which is that as truth bearers we

receive obey and honor God's word daily

as our way of

life more than simply reading or

studying script in order to gain more

information or to seek to master the

text we must approach the scriptures

will we allow the Holy Spirit to use

them to master us convicting us of our

sin and Brokenness and training our

affections and desires to be more and

more aligned with Christ this is the

difference between informational reading

of the scriptures and a formational

reading of the

scriptures when Paul instructs Timothy

in 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 3:16

3:16 saying all scripture is breathed

out by God and profitable for teaching

for reproof for correction and for

training in

righteousness the result is that verse

17 that the man of God may be complete

equipped for every good

work what the fall did in breaking and

marring us as image bearers of God the

understanding and the application of the

scriptures through the help of the holy

spirit is what reforms us what reshapes

us back into the people God has created

us to

be this is a foundational Mark of

following after Jesus because before we

can even begin to see communities and

cities transformed by the gospel of

Christ we must first experience that

gospel in our lives not as a one-time

event at the point of our acceptance of

Jesus as our Lord and savior but every

single day that we are here on this

Earth waiting for his

return this is why when we put together

the set of reflection questions for each

Mark they are designed to be asked of

ourselves with the help of the Holy

Spirit to reveal to convict to encourage

us towards a set of habits or rhythms to

help us grow so when we look at the

reflection questions for truth Bearer

how am I falling more deeply in love

with the reading and obeying of his word

how is God's word shaping the way I

think feel and act this week how am I

encouraging someone with God's word this

week how am I committing to others in

the regular study of God's word all of

these questions you'll notice that first

two are addressing the form AAL role of

scripture in our own lives how it forms

our affections our thoughts our feelings

our actions while the last two helps us

to remember the importance of seeking

God through his word and community

Through the priesthood of

Believers and so as you meet with the

Lord during your regular times this week

I invite you to take some time to sit

with these questions don't rush through

them answering with a simple gut

reaction oh yeah I'm doing pretty good

but invite the Lord to bring to our

minds to bring to Minds reasons why we

might be resistant or hesitant about

reading the Bible that day to bring to

mind something about ourselves or about

God that he wants us to pay attention to

as we read his word or to bring to mind

someone I might need to encourage with

God's word that day

because when we do we'll begin to see

God Orient our lives in such a way where

when Temptation comes we can say along

with Jesus man shall not live by bread

alone but by every word that comes from

the mouth of

God and so as followers of Jesus commit

to becoming truth bearers that not only

welcome The Living Word to inform form

and transform our lives for his glory

but to do that uh

with the hope of seeing communities

transformed as

well Jesus increased in wisdom and Jesus

increased in stature this being the mark

of a

teammate Luke chap

2:52 is the last verse that we get of

Jesus's life before he begins his

ministry at age 30 but we do what we do

know is that Jesus spent much of his

adult life learning and practicing his

Earthly fathers trade as a carpenter we

see this when those in his hometown

question Jesus's source of training when

he begins teaching in the temple saying

is this not the carpenter the son of

Mary or is this not The Carpenter's

son while the crowds intended to cast

doubt on Jesus and his authority because

he was just a

carpenter I see it as Jesus leaving an

example for us where Others May question

us as just a youth just a stay-at-home

spouse or parent or just a Fillin the

blank Jesus intentionally took time

while he was working in his trade to

continue to grow to understand the

scriptures not only in his physical

stature but in his maturity and

understanding of how his work and his

faith was

interconnected and this is what led what

leads to the next foundational Mark of

following Jesus which is that as

teammates we serve with humility and

unity to team up for Kingdom

impact you know I wonder what it was

like for Jesus to work with his dad

Joseph in their family carpentry

business see not only do you have the

already complex dynamics of a father and

a son working together but now you have

the Creator God himself submitting to

and learning from his Earth Father Dad

why do we do it this way I I think it

would be better if no son we do it this

way because we've always done it this

way we don't change tradition trust me

I've been doing it way longer than you

have you know conversations like these

you know we might chuckle and imagine

but these are very real things that we

encounter in our lives today especially

I know some of you work in family

businesses I think all of us whether

you've been in a business or not being

in a Chinese Heritage Church

encountering with different generation

of leaders you might have already

encountered some of those things we

don't do it that way

tradition whether we are the one

learning or the one

teaching humility and unity is needed

for both parties to be able to team up

together because the work we are

engaging in is spiritual work when Paul

wrote to the Corinthians about the

giving of different spirit spiritual

gifts he emphasized the variety of the

gifts but the Same Spirit the variety of

service but the same Lord the variety of

activities but the same God the one God

who gives and empowers the body of

Christ to serve him for the common

good and to the Ephesians and Paul

reminded the Ephesian church that he

gave the apostles the prophets the

evangelists the Shepherds and the

teachers to equip the Saints for the

work of ministry so that when each part

is working properly joined and held

together the body grows so that it

builds itself up in

love as teammates in the kingdom of God

we are given our own set of unique gifts

to cultivate and to grow in order to

contribute to the kingdom of God the

basis of our vision frame our mission

core values marks and journey these are

based on the understanding that each

local church is unique unique because of

who is part of that body our church is

uniquely different than all the other

churches in the world because God has

uniquely called each one of you to be

part of this church to be part of it

your passions your gifts your calling

your experience to be part of this local

church and it is out of this unique Body

of Christ that we can anticipate the

kinds of communities small groups

neighborhoods and church plants that

will be formed because of

you one practical example that we've

seen is Springbrook Village a newly

developed neighborhood just a couple of

miles down the road you know what

started as a couple of families um from

W moving into there over the past few

years we've had more and more people

moving in establishing a community of w

folks where we begin to see uh the

transformation of that Community even

hosting uh the World Vision 6K last year

and for com uh

relationships uh deepening friendships

uh people being invited into the

church this is a result of people in our

church teaming up for Kingdom impact so

when we consider the reflection

questions for the mark of teammate how

am I growing in serving others out of

joy in response to God's grace how am I

teaming up with my small group in church

for training and

accountability or how am I persevering

through inconvenience to serve and equip

others how am I deepening my friendships

of being vulnerable to know and to be

known by others notice the emphasis to

become become aware of our own internal

motivations to serve serving out of joy

in response to God's grace or

persevering through

inconvenience notice as well the

intentional involvement of others to

speak into our lives whether it's for

training and

accountability or being truly known by

others these are there because as a

Chinese Heritage Church in America there

are cultural influences that continue to

tempt and seek to shape our Christian

faith for example values of efficiency

or achievement of Saving Face or

Independence can form us into Lone

Rangers in Ministry where we prioritize

quick results individual

wins um over deepening relationships

empowering leaders and shared

goals so as you take time to reflect on

those questions S I invite you to ask

someone in your small group or a friend

to give you their take of you on those

answers pray for an open heart to

receive the spirit to reveal areas where

he is asking you to grow as a

teammate Jesus increased in wisdom as a

truth Bearer in stature as a teammate

and Jesus increased in favor with God

the mark of a

beloved it's hard to comprehend that

Jesus can increase in anything

especially when it comes to favor with

God after all being part of the uh

Trinity from eternity

past also him being perfect but as a

young man he was growing experientially

in what it meant to be a son submitting

to and honoring his Earthly parents as a

way to submit to and honor his heavenly

father he did this in order to as the

writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 5

although he was a son he learned

obedience through what he suffered and

being made perfect he became the source

of Eternal salvation to all who obey him

we see this affirmed at Jesus's baptism

before Jesus did any public teaching or

Miracles he received the words from his

Heavenly Father this is my beloved Son

with whom I am well

pleased before doing

anything the father first reminded Jesus

of his being that he was first his

beloved

Son this ordering of our being before

our doing is what characterizes much of

the Epistles that Paul writes to the

churches where the first half of the

letter often talks about what Christ has

already done and our identity in him

before moving on to how we should live

in light of that identity now now Pete

skazo famously puts it doing for Jesus

should flow from our being with

Jesus doing for Jesus should flow from

our being with Jesus all too often we

get that

reversed we base our being off of our

doing it can be so pervasive that we

aren't even aware of it we size each

other up by asking people we meet for

the first time well what do you do we

often take pride in the fact that people

say oh you're so busy or you did a great

job you know especially growing up in an

Asian culture it doesn't help that our

achievements or lack thereof seem to

impact the love we receive from our

parents a formational mark of following

Jesus then is that as his beloved we

abide in our identity as children of God

fully forgiven and loved by Christ who

we are is not dependent on what we do or

have done or will do but what Christ has

done on our behalf full stop the Apostle

John in John 15 records Jesus saying I

am the True Vine my father is the vine

dresser every branch in me that does not

bear fruit he takes away and every

branch that does bear fruit he prunes

that it may bear more fruit already you

are clean because of the word that I

have spoken to you abide in me and I in

you as a branch cannot bear fruit by

itself unless it abides in the vine

neither can you unless you abide in me I

am the vine you are the branches whoever

abides in me and I in him he it is that

bears much fruit for apart from me you

can do nothing

the question is have we fully embraced

our identity to abide in him or are we

somehow still trying to prove

ourselves this is a foundational mark

because it addresses so much of what the

world tries to tell us that our worth is

defined by our work our achievements our

abilities our

relationships but when we begin to

internalize in adopt the identity as

God's beloved for ourselves that will

begin to shape not only how we view our

work our gifts our relationships but

those around us those who are far from

him accepting and adopting this identity

is hard

work it is why through these Mark's

reflection questions there are some

habits and rhythms to consider

integrating into our lives for example

how am I delighting in God through

personal personal and corporate worship

this week how am I confessing my

challenges with sin this week and

experiencing his

forgiveness how am I in experiencing

increasing Security in Christ by praying

and listening to God how am I creating

more margin and rhythm in my life for

rest and

renewal not only do we strive to create

space and margin Our Lives to listen to

the voice of our creator through prayer

and reading of his word but we fill that

space with practices intended to deepen

our relationship with him practices like

confession and worship and

rest all too often our lives are filled

again optimized by some standard to be

oriented To What We believe We ought to

be doing but taking time to continually

surrender those plans to the Lord is a

posture

we are to work towards as his

beloved again if you want a copy of

these bookmark uh these questions we

have bookmarks in the lobby every

quarter we're going to change them out

for each of these marks for you to just

keep uh with you as you read and asking

with the Lord's uh

help Jesus increased in wisdom in

stature in favor with God and finally

Jesus increased in favor with man the

mark of a bridge

builder remember how when his parents

were trying to find Jesus and he said to

them why were you looking for me did you

not know that I must be in my father's

house don't miss what follows in verse

50-51 and they did not understand the

saying that he spoke to them and he went

down with them and came to Nazareth and

was submissive to them and his mother

treasured up all these things in her

heart

heart having humbled himself to be born

already as a baby having to go through

all the stages of development he never

lost sight of his purpose here on Earth

which was not which was to not only be

the perfect sacrifice for mankind so

that we may be reconciled to the father

but so that we may have a high priest

who is able to sympathize with our

weaknesses and to help us when we are

tempted but before that time came what

was requ ired of him as a boy was to as

the Eternal Son of God be submissive to

his Earthly

parents it is this kind of humility this

kind of love this complete dependence on

God's timing and plan to work out is

what he has called us to as his

followers which brings us to our last

foundational Mark which is that as

Bridge Builders we build Bridges to

share the love of Christ wherever we are

Jesus Jesus Built Bridges with others

wherever he was at whether it was a

young boy with his parents or meeting a

tax collector in the tree or talking

with a Samaritan woman at the well Jesus

came to break down the very barriers

that man put up to separate and to

discriminate and as his followers we are

to do the

same see there are times when going on a

mission trip will help us to see how we

might be able to share the gospel out

home but to think that we can only do

missions out there is to miss the

opportunities and the people God has

sovereignly placed you with here the

class that you're in the workplace that

you're working at the neighbors that are

living around you these are all by The

Sovereign hand of God for you to build

Bridges with so that at the right time

that chyos time that I talked about a

few weeks ago we might see the power of

the Gospel transform lives for

eternity Building Bridges doesn't mean

that every conversation that we have is

about the gospel in fact there might be

times when doing so may burn a bridge

but Building Bridges means taking the

time to show interest in the other

person this is what Paul talks about in

Philippians 2 right before he talks

about Christ's humility Let each of you

look not only to his own interest

interests but also to the interests of

others have this mind among yourselves

which is yours in Christ Jesus who

though he was in the form of God did not

count equality with God a thing to be

grasped but emptied himself by taking

the form of a servant being born in the

likeness of men building that bridge

from Heaven to Earth to show interest in

the other person means to cross that Gap

that once existed between you and the

other person and to build a bridge based

on

love so the set of questions for this

Mark are as follows how am I

representing Christ in my

vocation how am I connecting with other

generations and cultures in Christ how

am I pursuing

reconciliation within my family church

and other

relationships how am I stretching myself

to better Engage The unchurched with the

gospel goel notice the verbs here

representing Christ in our work

connecting with others pursuing

reconciliation stretching

myself Building Bridges is not easy work

it's far easier to stay within our

comfort zones our tribes our friend

groups interest groups Church groups

than it is to take that proactive St

step of welcoming another into the fold

and as you sit with these questions I

ask I invite you to pray for the Lord to

bring to mind who he might be inviting

you to build Bridges with and this is

why our life group Vision to be a place

where the weight is not on every single

person to do that but on the group as a

whole to be a place of

welcome our 10-year vision of expanding

the tent is dependent on us as followers

of Jesus to be intentional and growing

with the holy spirit's help in these

foundational marks of Truth Bearer

teammate beloved and bridge

builder because churches are planted

when groups are welcoming sojourners

home and groups become welcoming places

when we first find our life defined by

Jesus instead of this

world I'm excited to invite you to take

the marks self assessment the link is uh

whcc home.or

gmsa short for Marks self assessment you

can take a picture for later bookmark it

in your favorites this is a tool that

has been in the works for the last year

it's designed to be taken on an annual

basis where you set aside 10 to 15

minutes there's about 40 questions and

you answer them prayerfully with the

Holy Spirit and when you're finished the

prayer is that one of the four marks

might show up as an area to explore more

deeply with the Lord with your small

group or life group or with a spiritual

director this is why at the end it's

optional for you uh to enter in your

name it's first and foremost a tool to

help you discern where God might be

inviting you to grow in this year but if

you want follow up and more resources

the name is the contact information is

there for us to follow up with you now

now I know the Temptation with these

things is to approach it as if it's a

grade as if it defines and determines

our spiritual maturity or to view it as

a source of shame because maybe we're in

a place where we don't want to be resist

that Temptation instead see this as an

opportunity to check in with God I found

that the spirit tends to call us to grow

in one area at a time

not this

multitasking kind of mindset that we

tend to approach it so the priority for

us is to ask where is God at work in our

lives in my life right now for some God

might be inviting us to explore more

deeply a particular Mark that we talked

about

today while for others God might be

revealing to us that we are currently

stuck at a wall in our spiritual world

walk as one writer put it at the wall

exhaustion pain grief unanswered

questions doubt

discouragement aloneness or spiritual

dryness seems to block our way to

God now for many of us we may never had

language about the wall in our spiritual

Journeys thinking it must be because I'm

a bad Christian or maybe I've had little

faith but in reality part of the

spiritual journey is learning to break

through the wall because it is at the

wall where one writer put it our will

meets God's will face to

face all of us when we first believ the

gospel had to go through the wall of

unbelief but as we mature and grow in

our

faith there will be seasons of loss of

grief of Doubt of disappointment where

we question a new our faith and as you

honestly and prayerfully work through

the self assessment and you come to see

that you might be at a wall I encourage

you to reach out to someone a friend a

pastor a small group leader to be able

to process where you are because there

is no avoiding the wall just like that

children's book there's no way over it

no way under it no way around it but

through it those of you who are parents

of young kids you probably remember this

I know there are people here who have

gone through walls and are willing to

help you walk through it just remember

that even though we walk through valleys

consumed by Shadow or

death the Lord is with you he has not

left you nor forsaken you so friends as

you take the self assessment I'd love

your feedback again we hope for this to

be an annual tool that uh you take to

help you discern what God may have you

focus on so that collectively we could

all be growing as truth bearers

teammates beloved and Bridge Builders

let us

pray gracious heavenly

father just as

Jesus grew

uh and wisdom and stature and favor with

you and favor with

man father we are to grow just like him

and so father we confess of the ways

that we've tried to grow

ourselves by pursuing the different

things whether it's what the world tells

us or what we ought to think is what we

need but father we need you we need your

spirit's help to tell us to show us us

to reveal to us God the ways in which we

are to grow in our lives in this moment

in this season help us to be faithful in

meeting with you seeking you so that you

may grow us collectively as a church we

love you in Jesus name we pray amen