Becoming Like Jesus

The scripture reading comes from Matthew chapter 4 and Luke chapter 6.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention Luke 6 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.

In Matthew 4 verse 13 we read,

Matthew 4:13

And leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea,

in the territory of Zabulon and Naphtali.

Then in verse 17 we read,

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying,

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

While walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,

Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother,

casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

And he said to them,

Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

And he went throughout all Galilee.

And going on from there, he saw two other brothers,

James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother,

in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets,

and he caught them.

Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,

and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,

and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

And in Luke 6, verse 39, we read,

Luke 6:39

He also told them a parable.

Can a blind man lead a blind man?

Will they not both fall into a pit?

A disciple is not above his teacher,

but everyone, when he is fully trained,

will be like his teacher.

Amen.

This is the word of God.

Amen.

Great.

Thank you so much, Angeline.

Just such a great privilege and pleasure to be with you this morning.

Let me just pray for us as we dive into God's word together.

Father, I just want to thank you that your word is powerful,

that you call us to follow you.

And I pray this morning that even as I speak and we listen,

Lord, I pray that you'd remove the distractions from our hearts.

And I pray that you would open our eyes to see you in a fresh way,

and to see in a fresh way what it means to become like you as followers,

to have a new goal,

to be people who are transformed into your image.

And I pray this in Jesus' wonderful name.

Amen.

Amen.

Great.

It's such a privilege to be with you guys this morning.

We're continuing, again, in our series looking at what it means to follow Jesus.

And if I was to ask you a quick trivia quiz question,

what is Watermark's mission statement?

I don't know how many of you would be able to answer that.

But our mission statement is all about we're here to make mature disciples of Jesus,

who then make more disciples of Jesus and more disciples of Jesus,

and fill this city and transform this city to the glory of God with people who are followers,

disciples of Jesus.

And so we're looking at this idea of what does it mean to follow Jesus in everyday life?

That following him is not just something which is a Sunday thing,

but actually in all of your life,

from your social media to your dating choices, your parenting,

every aspect of life is shaped by what it means to follow Jesus.

And so last week, Kevin looked at what it means to be a Talmudim,

a first century disciple of Jesus.

And he showed us that an apprentice in the first century to a rabbi

would be someone who has gone through a whole load of education,

and they qualify to be a disciple of a rabbi

by having passed basically a disciple job interview,

where they show their performance.

And he showed us how Jesus was so different,

that Jesus didn't require a performance grade to get in,

that he chose a random bunch of people out of pure grace.

It was his initiative.

And then he showed us that he was not just the normal rabbi like everyone else,

he's the king of heaven who is inviting us,

not just to follow him as an ordinary teacher,

but as the king of heaven who is bringing in the kingdom of heaven.

And he showed us that the goal of a disciple was three things.

To be with Jesus, which we looked at last week,

to become like Jesus,

and to do what Jesus did, what your rabbi does.

And so he showed us last week,

everything that we do comes out of,

and everything we're going to carry on in the rest of this series

comes out of that sense of abiding with,

of being with Jesus in relationship with him.

Everything else is not kind of,

we've moved on from that.

Everything else flows out of this relationship with Jesus.

We don't just do a Bible study or a quiet time in the morning

and then forget about Jesus.

The whole of our lives are to be lived in the presence of Jesus.

And so we've talked about that last week,

and today we're going to move on to what it looks like as a disciple

to become like Jesus.

And I'm going to read to you that verse again in a second.

Well, that verse which says,

Can a blind man lead a blind man?

Will they not both fall into a pit?

A disciple is not above his teacher,

but everyone, when he's fully trained,

will become like his teacher.

Now, Don Whitney, who's an author,

he illustrates this principle by saying,

imagine if you are a six-year-old kid

who has been forced by your mom or your dad

to do piano practice.

And it's death.

Like, you're just dying.

You hate it.

And then suddenly an angel comes down from heaven

and whisks you away during your piano practice,

takes you away to this incredible concert hall,

maybe Asia World Expo,

and there is this piano genius,

a virtuoso,

playing the hardest Mozart piece,

his sonata number 18,

and it's breathtaking.

It is effortless.

It's incredible.

And the angel turns to you and says,

what do you think?

And you go, wow.

And then the angel turns and says,

that's you in 20 years' time.

Then he turns to your piano and says,

but you must practice.

And the angel disappears,

and you're left there with your piano.

Now, what's just happened?

If he remembers who he's going to become like,

his day-to-day practice

has just got a totally new vision.

He's just got a whole new direction,

a whole new goal,

which is going to move him into his future.

His practice will not look the same again.

And that's what Jesus is saying in this parable.

He's saying,

who you want to become like,

the vision that you have of your life,

and your teacher,

who you want to be like,

that is going to change and shape everything

that you do in your life.

Everyone, when he's fully trained,

will be like his teacher.

So what Jesus is doing,

he's trying to give us a vision

for where he's going,

to be like Jesus.

Here's how Paul says the same thing.

He says, 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18,

2 Corinthians 3:18

he says,

and we all with unveiled face,

beholding the glory of the Lord,

are being transformed.

That is a present continuous,

that's an ongoing process,

into the same image of Jesus,

from one degree of glory to another.

You see what he's saying?

That word transformed

is the word metamorphosis.

It's the word,

it's that process of transformation,

when you go from a caterpillar,

all the way,

changing stage by stage,

to become this beautiful butterfly.

And he's saying,

that this is what,

some people call spiritual transformation,

or sanctification.

This is what the goal,

of the Christian life is.

Author Dallas Willard,

said it like this,

spiritual formation,

in the Christian tradition,

is a process,

of being increasingly possessed,

and permeated,

by the character traits of Jesus,

as we walk,

in the easy yoke of discipleship,

with Jesus as our teacher.

Do you see what he's saying?

The goal that Jesus saved you for,

was not simply to go to church.

It was not simply,

just to get into heaven.

It's not simply so you read your Bible,

and become a nice moral person.

The reason,

that Jesus saved you,

is so that you,

and I,

and we as a church,

will be conformed,

will be transformed,

will be metamorphosized,

into,

the image,

of Jesus,

that we become,

like him.

He is God,

we are not.

But our character,

can look ever more,

like his,

incredible,

all glorious character.

And for first century disciples,

this was not theory.

I read about,

a,

someone who,

a group of rabbi,

a group of disciples,

who in imitating their rabbi,

their rabbi had a stoop.

And so,

he would walk behind,

his disciples would walk behind,

and everyone else,

would have this stoop,

as his disciple.

I heard other,

there's another story,

where,

disciples so wanted,

to be like their teacher,

that they would hide,

in the bedroom,

of the rabbi,

to see how,

he made love to his wife,

so they knew how to do it.

This is,

serious business.

You know,

I don't know if you've ever seen,

that Japanese TV,

game show,

called Human Tetris.

It's,

it's very funny.

It's,

they have this moving wall,

with a hole,

cut out in different shapes.

And,

and there are contestants,

and what they have to do,

they have to,

as the,

the wall moves towards them,

they have to make,

the shape,

of the hole,

otherwise they get knocked,

into the water,

a pool of water,

behind them.

And this is actually,

what Christian discipleship,

is.

It is human Tetris,

of a different time.

Jesus,

he's not just our saviour,

he's our lord,

and he's shaping us,

so that our lives,

begin to bend,

and conform,

and to flex,

into his,

cross shaped,

life.

That we look,

more like him.

That's the goal,

of discipleship.

But then the question is,

if we are meant to,

shape and flex,

into him,

why should we,

even do that?

Why should we,

follow Jesus?

Well firstly,

recognize,

every one of us,

is following someone.

You know,

Taylor Swift,

has 88 million followers,

on Twitter.

Justin Bieber,

has 113 million,

I just found out.

What do followers,

do?

Followers,

get shaped,

and influenced,

by who they follow.

My brother-in-law,

is what you might call,

a key opinion leader,

in food,

and restaurants,

and staycations.

His YouTube channel,

has hundreds,

thousands of subscribers.

And what do they do?

What he recommends,

people follow.

That's why advertisers,

pay him money.

But when Jesus says,

can a blind man,

lead a blind man,

will they not,

both fall into a pit?

He's referring,

to the religious leaders,

the Pharisees.

And he's saying,

who you follow,

really matters.

Because,

if they are blind,

your teacher is blind,

you are going to fall,

into a pit in your life.

And so the reality,

he's saying is,

follow someone,

who is going to give you,

a beautiful future,

not someone,

who's going to lead you,

into a pit.

And there's a question,

and here's the reality.

You're not autonomous.

You are being discipled.

Who is discipling you?

Well,

if you do nothing about that,

let me tell you,

here's one thing,

that's discipling you,

this city,

is discipling you.

You know,

when I first came to Hong Kong,

I didn't,

need to feel,

any moments of kind of,

you know,

when you're waiting for the MTR,

you're waiting for something.

And I was so relaxed,

I was fine,

and I would laugh,

at everybody else,

who was just kind of,

rushing around,

restfully,

trying to get into the lift,

trying to kind of,

all the time on their phone,

any spare minute,

like,

like they were an addict,

or something.

And I would laugh at it.

I thought,

well,

that's ridiculous.

And then I got sucked in.

And two years ago,

I suddenly realised,

I was just like them.

I couldn't get into a lift,

for 30 seconds,

without pulling out my phone,

and kind of looking,

at a WhatsApp message,

that I'd already looked at,

like a minute before.

And I got FOMO,

fear of missing out,

if I didn't check,

when the notification ding went off.

My heart,

had been captured.

This city,

is discipling,

what you love,

and what you fear,

and to desire,

certain things,

through your habits.

Your parents,

have discipled you,

more than anybody else.

They've influenced you,

and your responses today,

are much,

much shaped,

by what they,

have shaped,

in your life.

You don't need to do anything,

except wake up tomorrow,

and you're already being discipled,

by someone.

And conformed,

into their image,

which is why,

James Smith,

says this,

discipleship,

with Jesus,

is a way,

to curate your heart,

to be attentive,

to,

and intentional,

about,

what,

and who,

you love.

He's saying,

we've got to be intentional,

about,

what it means,

to follow Jesus.

But you think,

well,

why Jesus?

Why not Elon Musk,

or Li Kao Xing,

or your boss?

Here's why.

Anyone else,

you follow,

will weigh you down,

with expectations,

you can't live up to.

But Jesus wants to free you,

from the burdens,

that people put on you.

Matthew 23,

describes the religious leaders,

of the time.

Here's what he says about them.

These other teachers,

he says,

they tie up heavy burdens,

hard to bear,

and they lay them,

on people's shoulders,

but they themselves,

are not willing,

to move them,

with their finger.

Do you know what he's saying?

He's saying,

any other teacher,

self-help books,

religion,

devoid of relationship,

with Jesus,

Hong Kong culture,

this city,

what does it do?

It lays expectations,

on you.

It lays standards,

for you to have to live up to.

And if you manage,

to reach them,

you are filled,

with self-righteous pride,

and if you don't,

you get crushed,

in shame,

in guilt,

in just this sense,

of burden on your back,

that you're a failure,

never good enough.

And no one comes,

and lifts those burdens,

off you.

Here's what Jesus says.

Come to me,

all,

all,

who are weary,

and heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you,

and learn from me,

for I am gentle,

and lowly,

and you will find rest,

for your souls.

Isn't that an amazing promise?

You see,

that yoke,

was a rabbi's term,

actually,

for someone's teaching.

They talked about the yoke of the law,

and things like that.

But,

but literally,

it was a wooden weight,

that you put,

on an oxen,

to,

around their neck,

to train them,

to plow,

a field straight.

And Jesus here says,

I have a yoke of training,

but it's not a weighty yoke.

It's an easy yoke.

He's not saying,

it's easy for life,

as a Christian.

It's not.

But he's saying,

I don't load you,

with all the other burdens,

all the other expectations,

all the guilt,

all the shame,

all those other things,

that even in religion,

even in church,

you can feel that,

when we're not walking with Jesus.

But Jesus says,

on the cross,

I've taken them.

I've taken them.

My yoke is easy.

My burden is light.

Your guilt,

your shame,

those unmet expectations,

that you can't lift by yourself,

and you can't carry,

your own sinfulness,

I lift that off you.

I'm not harsh,

and punishing.

I'm gentle,

and lowly.

I'm accessible.

I'm with you.

And if you're trying to,

if you're starting to take those burdens,

on your back,

those expectations,

of all the things that you've got to be,

but you know you can't be,

that's because you're trying to take another yoke,

not mine.

Your training with Jesus,

is not about meeting a standard.

Jesus has met the standard for you.

This yoke is a yoke of grace.

But here's the key thing.

Grace is not opposed to effort.

It is opposed to earning.

Earning is an attitude,

where you never feel you've done enough,

but effort is an action that you have to do.

Jesus,

when calling us to become like him,

he's not calling us to try harder,

but he's calling us to train.

You know,

I love my son.

When he wasn't walking,

I loved him.

Now he's walking,

I still love him,

okay?

My love for him is not determined

whether he walks or not.

But,

I have still spent ages

encouraging him how to walk.

I've held his hands.

I've walked with him step by step.

I've encouraged him

as he's kind of fallen over again

and he's come back up again

and we've gone on this journey

again and again and again

and again and again.

Why?

He wasn't earning my love.

He already had that.

But what was he doing?

He was training to become

the person he was made to be.

Someone who can walk.

Someone who is going to flourish.

That as a father

who loves his child

is what I want.

That when God looks at us

and he calls us to train

is what he wants for us.

He is conforming us

into the image of his son

because that's where we flourish.

That's where we find rest.

To be like Jesus.

Follow me, he says.

That's where we're going.

But you know,

sometimes I think as Christians,

don't we often look at our lust

or our lack of self-control

or our complaining

and all the things

that we see that we do wrong

and then we look at Jesus'

perfect responses

and we go,

yeah, but that's Jesus, isn't it?

I'm not Jesus.

I can't do that.

And we just kind of carry on

living our own way.

And in one sense, it's true.

You can't do that now.

But if my son had looked

at someone running

while he still couldn't walk

and said,

I can't do that.

It's true.

He couldn't at that moment.

At least not yet.

But with practice,

he will.

And he is.

Jesus says,

everyone when he is fully trained

becomes like his teacher.

That means you can be partially trained.

We're not fully trained yet.

But we're in that training process

which will continue

for the rest of our lives.

And he's saying,

I'm leading you

to become more like me.

Will you trust me?

Some people think

that that just should happen

miraculously.

We say things like,

let go and let God.

Which is actually

terrible theology.

You see,

it's like God will do

everything for you.

No, it's a partnership.

If I say to my son,

we're just going to lay hands on you

and pray that you're going to walk

without any effort.

That's a miracle.

God does that in our lives.

But if that happens

every single time,

he's going to need a miracle

every time he tries to stand up.

But God says,

no, I want to partner with you.

I'm going to take the weight

of the yoke

so you don't have to earn my love.

You've got it.

It's a light yoke.

And I'm giving my spirit in you

to empower you.

You just need to walk with me,

to be with me,

as Kevin was saying last week.

And I'm going to lead you there.

I'm going to lead you there.

And I know often in my life,

I've wanted to change.

Don't we want to change?

I've wanted to change.

But I've just not known how to change.

And so here's what I want to spend

the rest of our time looking at.

We've talked about what it means

that the goal is to be like Jesus.

It's by grace.

But let's see,

how do we get chained by Jesus?

I've got four things here,

how Jesus trains us.

The first is through his word.

You know,

the world around is discipling us

to believe a certain story about life,

a vision of the good life.

You know,

what's the Hong Kong story?

It's like life is a competition.

You,

your value is based

on how you perform

in this competition.

So,

for you to be a success,

for you to be worth anything,

what have you got to do?

Well,

you've got to

get in the best schools,

you've got to study hard,

you've got to get the best jobs,

you've got to get promotion,

you've got to then buy a flat,

get married,

buy a bigger flat,

earn enough money

so that you can retire early,

so that then your kids

can get into the best schools,

can study hard,

can get the best jobs,

and it just goes on and on and on and on and on,

and that's the cycle.

And anyone who's not in that race,

or anyone who's like a loser

down in last place,

they're just,

they're just a loser,

a failure.

And we can look down on them.

So just get working,

get harder.

How much does that burden us?

Parents,

students,

workers,

the poor,

how much do we feel

the heaviness of that yoke?

And yet that's a vision

that many of us,

all of us are saturated with

every single day

as we go out into Hong Kong.

Jesus comes and he says,

learn from me.

I want to give you a new story.

I want you to see who I am.

And this is why teaching

and scripture is so important.

It's why Sundays are so important

to get your mind.

Here's what Romans says,

don't be conformed to this world,

but be transformed.

So the renewal of your mind,

there's the same metamorphosis word.

Your mind needs to get changed

and transformed by God's word

as you're reading scripture,

as you're listening to sermons,

as you're discussing it together.

God's word,

worship music,

needs to flood your heart

so you have a new

and a better story,

a new and a better goal,

a new and a better teacher

to have your eyes fixed upon.

And this is not just about

getting information,

it's about getting a new set of lenses

and desires

and loves to shape you

in all of life.

You know,

when Etienne was five months old,

Fiona downloaded an app

for baby activities.

And before you could get on the app,

there was this survey to fill in.

And at the end of it,

suddenly it pulled up

all these statistics.

And it said,

your baby is 19th percentile,

19% percentile for communication,

14% for movement.

And by this I'm going,

oh my goodness,

12% for brain development.

And I'm going,

he's going to be a failure

for all of his life.

49% for something else,

I don't know.

And I went,

at least he's normal in that one.

And then suddenly,

I stopped.

And I thought,

that's ridiculous.

My son's life is in God's hands.

He loves us.

He cares for us.

He's got our future

in his hands.

Why am I so worried

about this little stupid thing

at five months old?

But isn't that exactly

what social media,

what the rest of Hong Kong

does to us every single day

and how we respond?

But scripture

is what will recalibrate you

to see life

through a different lens.

And it gets you out

of that performance insanity

that we're just soaked in.

But many Christians in Hong Kong,

we think transformation

is about just information.

And so we think

more Bible knowledge

equals more godliness.

That's why we do

tons of courses.

We do whether it's BSF

or Bible story course

or Bible studies.

We listen to famous preachers.

And it's all great stuff

we need to learn.

We're all about the Bible

here at Watermark.

But I think many of us,

our view

of how we learn Jesus

is shaped more

by the city's view

of education

rather than Jesus' view

of discipleship.

Because, you know,

you could study this passage

about come to me

and I will give you rest.

You could listen

to sermons about it

and listen all year

and you never actually

experience the rest

that Jesus wants to give you.

Do you know why?

Because you're not learning

to be with Jesus

as you're reading.

You're just doing it

for information.

He wants you to listen

to this sermon.

He wants you to read scripture

saying,

God, I want you to speak to me.

I want to know you.

And it's not just

you're not learning

to be with Jesus,

but actually

there are habits

in our life

which directly

counter

everything we're reading

and start to shape us

so they offset

everything that God

is trying to form us into.

Which is why

learning scripture

is not enough.

It's important.

But we also need

the second thing,

which is

we need to practice

his godly habits.

Do you know your,

this is what

James Smith says.

Your deepest desire

is the one manifested

by your daily life

and habits.

Just stop there

for a minute.

Just think about that.

Your deepest desire

is the one manifested

by your daily life

and habits.

This is because

our action,

our doing,

bubbles up

from our loves

which are habits

we've acquired

through the practices

we're immersed in.

And here's what he says.

I might be learning

to love a goal

that I'm not even aware of

and that nonetheless

governs my life

in unconscious ways.

This is what Jesus,

you know,

the Bible says,

sow to the spirit.

Because what you sow,

you'll reap.

How easy

is it to get into habits?

Bad ones,

really easy.

Good ones,

really hard.

Sin is a bad habit

hardwired into our hearts.

Good godliness

is a good habit

that the spirit

is wanting to work

and change our hearts

to desire and practice

inside.

My son will not let us

brush his teeth.

He hates it.

He shuts his mouth.

He turns his head away.

But I can guarantee

if he's anything like me

in 20 years' time,

if he goes one day

without brushing his teeth,

he's going to go,

man,

there's something wrong.

I just don't like this.

How do you get

from hating something

to loving it?

One of the key ways

is you just practice it.

Your habits,

your desires

just get shaped

by these habits

so your responses

become automatic.

I don't even think

about brushing my teeth now.

But the habits

you have today

are forming

your future.

This is what

scripture's saying.

What you reap

is what you sow

is what you reap.

What the first thing,

just think,

when the first thing

you do in the morning

and the last thing

you do at night

is look at your phone,

don't think

that isn't shaping you,

it is.

Don't think,

if you have nothing

to do for four minutes

without,

and you have to

reach for your phone

and mindlessly look

through Facebook

or YouTube

or something,

you're going to enjoy

rest with God

in the present.

Don't think you will.

That habit is countering

everything Jesus

wants to do in you.

Our culture's discipling us

into restless mediocrity

where we struggle

to relate to anyone else

when Jesus wants

to bring us

into flourishing.

What if we as a church

started a gospel rebellion

against our restless culture?

What if the first thing

that you did in the morning

was to train yourself

to say,

thank you, Father,

that I'm a dearly loved child

of God today.

Today's your day.

I am living for you.

I need your grace.

What if the last thing

you did every day

was to look back

over your day

and say,

God,

search my heart.

Show me

where there is any sin

and you confess it

and you thank God

for his grace.

What if you made

scripture

a daily habit?

You set a time,

you set a place,

15 minutes

every single day

in God's word.

That is going to

shape your life.

That is going to

metamorphosize you.

Here's what's going to happen.

Let me just kind of

flesh this out.

Let's say you've got

a habit of grumbling

and complaining.

When life goes wrong,

you just get miserable

and grumpy.

Anyone like that?

Okay.

And you read

Hebrews 12

that says,

Jesus,

for the joy

that was set

before him,

endured the cross.

and you go,

Jesus,

in the hardest

situation,

what is he?

He's got this joy

that is sustaining him

through this

most agony.

And there's this new vision

of how we can live life.

And what we go is,

oh, well,

that was just Jesus, right?

I can't do that.

Because we've forgotten

that Jesus gave his spirit

in us

to make us like him.

And then

we read in James 1

where it says,

consider it pure joy,

my brothers and sisters.

Whenever you face trials

of many kinds

because this is testing

your faith

and it's growing you mature

and we read that

and we hate that verse,

don't we?

Because we realize

that that's commanding us

not to be grumpy

all the time

but actually to rejoice

and we go,

yeah, I know that

but I can't do it.

And Jesus says,

yes,

not yet.

But you will

if you let me train you.

And so you go,

you grit your teeth

and you go,

okay,

I'm going to be joyful today.

Good luck.

That's going to last

about five minutes.

Because Jesus' yoke

is not a self-reliant yoke.

It's a yoke

of dependent prayer.

God,

that's where I want to be

but I'm not there right now.

Change my heart.

Forgive me.

Make me new, Lord.

I need you.

Spirit, fill me.

What are you doing?

That's a new habit

of the heart

of Jesus' reliance

not self-reliance.

And so you fill your soul

with Jesus.

You put other scriptures

about joy and thankfulness

on your screensaver.

You listen and read

Christian biographies

of videos

of joyful believers

who are just

imitating Jesus.

You start praising God

when you don't feel like it.

You keep praying

for God to change you

through that process.

And then

God gives you opportunities

to get grumpy.

That annoying colleague.

Your kid's just playing up.

Everything going wrong.

And you go,

okay,

this is an opportunity

for Jesus

to change me.

And you thank God

and it works

for a few minutes.

And then something else

hits you

and then you just spiral down

into complaining

and you go,

oh, there you go,

it didn't work.

And you give up.

That's just like people

who go to the gym

once

and then afterwards

they look in the mirror

and they look at themselves

and what do they see?

Nothing.

No change.

So they go for

maybe two weeks,

three times a week,

look in the mirror,

what do they see?

Nothing.

But do that

for six months,

for nine months,

for a year,

what will you see?

Change.

Change.

You see,

spiritual transformation

is this partnership

with the Spirit of God,

getting in His Word,

allowing Him

to bring us

to our knees,

requiring Him

filling our soul

with Jesus

in whatever way we can

in the long haul,

not just the short term.

But what helps you

to not give up?

What helps us

to persevere

in this?

Well,

we need training partners.

That's Christian community

that's coming around us.

How much easier

is it to go to the gym

if you've got somebody

to go with?

This is why

community is such a big value

for us as a church.

Because you know

who you hang around with

shapes

who you become

and what you love.

Make your non-believing

family or friends

your primary community

and unless you are

really alert,

their loves,

their desires

rub off on you.

Guaranteed.

So if you are not

in Christian community

right now

during COVID,

if you're just doing this

by yourself,

let me tell you,

you are being discipled

by everyone else,

but Jesus has probably

got a whole lot of stuff

he wants you to grow in,

but you won't be hearing him

because you need

community in that.

You know,

what community does,

it exposes

and encourages you.

When I'm feeling

restless,

burdened,

and someone shares

how Jesus and his word

is filling them

with joy

in the midst

of tough circumstances,

do you know

what that does?

It exposes me again

and goes,

hey,

I'm not there,

but I want to be like that.

And it shows you

you come back to God again

and go,

God,

forgive me.

And it just encourages you,

it spurs you on

as Hebrews tells us.

It's like,

let's keep gathering,

Hebrews says,

so that we urge each other,

spur each other on

to love and good deeds.

And you go,

Jesus,

I want that,

change me.

And there is just

this new vital hope.

That's why we're starting

something called

Transformation Groups,

TGs,

which are two to four people

who meet a couple of times

a month.

And the goal of that

is that they're going to

encourage us

and expose us

to help pursue

Christ-likeness

together.

And if you are not

in a community group,

because in community groups

we're going to be doing this,

if you're not in one of those,

but you know

you need to be in a TG,

then like,

let me know

or let Kevin know

or one of the staff,

because we want to

just gather you

together with one of those

because this is so crucial

for your health

and the health

of those around you

and the health

of the church.

So we get God's word,

learning Jesus,

and that reshapes us,

it reshapes our desires,

that we desire him more.

We learn new habits

in community.

The final thing

is Jesus trains us

through the hard knocks

of life.

You know what 1 Peter

tells us?

It's through trials

and testing

that we get refined

like gold.

You know,

nothing in life

that's worthwhile

ever happens

without pain.

We're about to give birth

to our second child.

That's painful.

If you get a master's,

that's painful.

If you're a great athlete,

there's a pain

in training

that you have to go through.

But how does the yoke

be easy in your life?

It's not that the pain

is not real.

It's not that there's

not real effort involved.

But as Jesus is using

those trials,

the challenges

that you may go through

to sculpt you

to become more like Jesus,

your eyes,

if your eyes are fixed

on that prize,

I want to be like Jesus,

then anything that happens

to you

is a place to rejoice

because Jesus is going

to use that

to make you more like him.

and we do that together

in community.

Hong Kong's story

tells you live for comfort,

avoid suffering.

That's why we get

so grumpy at hardship.

But if you see this pain

as an opportunity

to be trained by him,

to become more like him,

in God's word,

in community,

man, you're going to see

Jesus displayed

more and more

and more in our lives.

I heard a podcast

of a man recently

who'd just been struggling

with cancer

for quite a while.

It's just a really tough situation.

But he said this,

and I'll paraphrase him.

I wouldn't trade this

for anything else

because I've discovered

Jesus in a new way.

I've learned to rejoice

in a new way.

I realized how shallow

my life was before.

I always used to sing

Jesus enough for me,

but I actually thought

that him and something else

was enough.

That really Jesus

wasn't totally enough.

But he said,

now, when everything

is stripped away,

now I know that it's true.

Jesus says,

follow me.

Be with me.

Get in my word.

Learn new habits.

Be in Christian community.

And you'll walk through life,

and there'll be ups

and there'll be downs.

But as you rely on my spirit

to change you,

we,

and as a church,

will look more and more

like Jesus.

The question for us is,

do you want that?

Do you want to follow Jesus?

Because this is where

he's leading us.

This is the call.

And this is the journey

that we're on together.

Let me pray.

Father,

I know there are some,

some of us who,

you know,

we look at Jesus,

and we,

it's,

your character seems

so far off.

And we look at our lives,

and we see the areas

where we struggle.

And we,

we almost give up

the goal that you have

called us to,

to be conformed,

to be transformed

into your image.

Because we often think

it all relies on ourselves.

Or we're more captivated

by other stories.

Or we've built so many

habits in our lives

that we have failed to see

that actually

those are shaping us

away from you

rather than drawing us

to you.

Lord, I pray,

change us as a church.

Open our eyes

to see that you are

the great shepherd.

You are a great rabbi,

a great king.

You're the one

who is leading us.

Not to just wait

and sit and wait

for heaven,

but you today

want to begin

and want to continue

this transformation work.

I pray as a community,

we will be more

centered

on that goal

than any other goal.

Lord, I pray

that we would

earning more money,

getting a great job,

getting a spouse,

having kids,

having all the other things

would be way down

the list of goals

compared to that goal

in our lives, Lord.

I pray reorient us

to see that you

are the place

of flourishing,

that you want to give us

rest in our souls.

And Lord,

let us walk with you

together today

with effort,

with struggling,

but knowing

that you're the one

who has already

gone before us.

You're the one

who suffered for us.

You died for us

so that you could

make us like you.

Work this in us,

I pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.