Vision Talk | Habakkuk 3:2, Matthew 28.18-20 | Coleton Segars

I was talking to someone about the um the idea of vision and um direction for the church and they were saying like interested to hear what the Lord has placed on your heart about you know what the church is is is where it's going and the direction it's going and things like that.

I was like, it's it's really not that interesting or new, I say it that way, it's not that new.

I hope it's interesting.

It's not that new.

Um it's just based on to me what the scriptures actually testify about what a church is supposed to be in the direction that we're supposed to take.

And so I want to focus on two passages that I do want to be the guiding force for our church, mainly because I believe that um Jesus is seeking to guide us in this particular direction.

And so um, however you receive this talk, vision talk, vision sermon, or anything like that, uh, it is just supposed to be a space of going as a church, we're gonna aim in this direction.

And um, yeah, so uh the two passages I want to read that will be the uh kind of launching point for this particular talk is uh Habakkuk 3.2 and then Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

So this is Habakkuk praying.

It says a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet.

Lord, I have heard of your fame, I stand in all of your deeds, repeat them in our day, and in our time, make them known.

And then Jesus in Matthew 28 says, Then Jesus came to them, the disciples, and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

This prayer of Abakuch, his his prayer for the famous deeds of God to be repeated and made known in his time, was ultimately answered six hundred years later in Jesus.

Jesus is the answer to this prayer.

The prayer continues and says, In wrath, remember mercy.

And so, in a space where judgment was supposed to fall on the people, judgment ended up falling on Jesus so that we could experience mercy.

And so Jesus is the answer to God's long-awaited answer to this particular prayer.

And then Jesus comes on the scene after his resurrection, and he's with his disciples about to ascend into the heavens, and he basically gives his vision for what people should be aiming at, his vision for what the church, those who follow him, those who are believers in him, here is his vision for what the church should be.

And his vision is that the church would make disciples, that we would, as a church, that we would form followers of Jesus in the world, as we interact with people, that we would form followers of Jesus in the world.

And then when that happens, when people not only believe in Jesus but are formed into his image, what they are experiencing is what Habakkuk prayed again, that the famous deeds of God, the regeneration, the renewal, and the transformative power of the gospel gets into a person, changes them completely, makes them into somebody completely brand new.

And then the things that define them before no longer define them anymore.

And the guilt that they once lived in, they no longer live in that.

And the death that they weren't once was experiencing, now they get to live into life.

And so Jesus' vision for the church is really to form followers of him that ultimately experience the fame and deeds of God repeated in their time and then among them and around them.

So as a church, we will be a church that pursues Jesus' vision for the church.

We will be a church that seeks to form followers of Jesus who practice the way of Jesus, the way that he calls us to practice and put his word into practice, so that we actually experience the fame and deeds of God in our time, not just for ourselves, but for those around us.

Now, a church that makes disciples is maybe doesn't sound like super new, and it's not.

And maybe it should be standard.

The issue is it's not boilerplate anymore.

In many ways, the way to say a church we're gonna be a church that makes disciples, that should be like, well, of course, that's what most churches do, but I would suggest that that's not what churches do, and in my experience, that's not what we aim at.

In our Christian culture, uh, making disciples isn't our focus, making converts is our focus.

And that's not what Jesus says to go and make.

Or at least not to stop there.

Converts isn't his goal.

Followers is his goal.

Um, the most common question that you can hear in the church is, are you saved?

Are you going to heaven when you die?

Where will you spend eternity?

And we just forget that Jesus never asked any of those questions.

Like we they become everything that we think about and ask other, like, when did you get saved?

When did you get saved?

And Jesus never asked any of those questions whatsoever.

Not that it's necessarily bad, but to make that the focus is to kind of drift away from where Jesus was actually trying to get us.

Churches primarily seek to make converts of Jesus, not followers of Jesus.

And what this has led to is many people will convert to Christianity, will convert to being a uh to Jesus, but then they stop there and they never move into becoming a follower of Jesus.

They're like, I was converted, and that's all the church really cared about, getting me saved, and then maybe getting you baptized.

But then I just stopped because we've made such a high view of conversion.

People just go, like, well, I did the thing.

You asked me to get saved, I got saved, and therefore I stopped.

And it's like, but Jesus didn't ask us to just get saved.

Jesus didn't ask us to just convert, he asked us to make and to form disciples.

People who are converts in our world today may call themselves disciples because they've been converted, but it doesn't really work that way.

David Guzick says this He says, disciples are not spontaneously created at conversion.

Disciples are made.

That's why he says, go and make disciples, form them.

It takes time to form them.

You can be a convert like that.

You can be justified in a moment.

But to be renewed into the image of God, to be a follower of his, that takes formation.

And again, we know that because Jesus actually says, go and make them.

Don't get them to decision into it and check a box.

It's not that.

Make them.

Don't simply convert people and make them believe in me, but form them into followers.

Discipleship is a way of formation, it's being formed into the likeness of the person that you follow.

And in our culture, to use the name convert and disciple synonymously, or convert and follower synonymously, is just wrong.

It doesn't work that way.

A convert of Jesus and a disciple of Jesus are not the same thing.

They're really not even that close at all.

A follower of Jesus and a convert, completely different things.

And so I would argue that most of what is wrong with the church, and if you've ever been at a church where you've been hurt by the church or you have people in your life that is disenfranchised with the church, normally what the issue is is that they've experienced converts of Jesus and not followers of Jesus.

Because converts know enough just to be dangerous.

And it's great that their eternity is secure, but they haven't been formed into the likeness of the man who drew crowds to him and was constantly gracious and compassionate and all these different things.

Converts don't talk like Jesus.

Converts of Jesus don't interact with people the way Jesus did.

They don't love like Jesus.

They don't forgive like Jesus.

They don't have compassion like Jesus.

And it's not their fault.

They just haven't had the time to be formed into his image.

They don't know what Jesus promises them in this life.

They just know what he promises them after in the afterlife.

Like that a convert is a great thing, and we all need to enter into this space with Jesus by converting to Jesus.

But we have to be formed, and this is what Jesus is getting at.

Converts focus on heaven, followers focus on Jesus.

And so the purpose, realistically, in our salvation, according to the scriptures, isn't just to get you saved.

That is a piece of it.

We do want you to believe in Jesus.

But the purpose of your salvation is what Paul says in Romans 8.29.

It says, this is God's great design in our salvation, to be conformed into the image of his son.

And then in 1 Thessalonians 4.3, it says, here's God's will.

If you've ever wondered, like, what's God's will for my life?

What's his will?

He wants to sanctify you, to transform you slowly over time into the image of Jesus, into the likeness of him.

So what is God's will for me?

What college is God's will for me?

No, no, no.

The will of God for your life is to maybe go to college, but it's to be formed into his likeness.

If that college forms you into his likeness, great.

If that one does, awesome.

Because the will of God isn't which college.

The will of God is to be formed into his image.

That is it.

That's what he wants for you.

And so our culture has made this idol of conversion.

Like, get them saved, get them saved.

And it's like, man, that's awesome.

But if you stop there, you miss out on all the beauty of Jesus.

You receive one gift of Jesus, eternal life with him, one day in heaven.

And you miss thousands and a multitude of gifts that you can have in walking with this man.

And so there's supposed to be this space in the church where Jesus was not confusing.

There's certain things that he says, you're like, I'm not totally sure what he means here.

Here we know what he means.

What is the vision that he has for the church?

It is to form followers of him as we go along to do those things.

Not just to simply convert people and make converts of Jesus, but to make followers of Jesus.

So as a church, we will pursue Jesus' vision for the church, to form followers of Jesus.

I do want people to come to faith.

I want them to believe in Jesus for who he says he is, and I believe he builds his church on that.

But I really, really believe that if that's where we stop, just getting people saved.

Then what we give to the world are people who don't actually live like him, love like him, and then they experience people who call themselves Christians and call themselves people who look like Jesus.

And then what the world gets is someone that doesn't actually look like Jesus but just bears the name and is hurt by the person, and then that person goes, maybe Jesus is as mean as this person is, and then they're disenfranchised with Jesus.

We need followers of Jesus, not simply converts of Jesus.

So what I want to do for the rest of our time, and I want to do this quickly, y'all, but I gotta be honest, it might take a second, but I've probably I've got some illustrations in here, some good quotes.

It's gonna be interesting.

If you need to get up and like do something, it's not gonna take that long, I hope.

Okay.

But what I want to do for the rest of our time is look at what Jesus means when he calls followers, when he says disciples, and why he wants those things, what he actually means when he says that.

Because back in Jesus' time, when a rabbi like Jesus would call disciples and tell them to follow him, what because that was consistently happened.

Jesus didn't invent that idea, and I've read this quote before and I've shortened it a little bit, but it wasn't new for the people to hear it.

When he said, Come and follow me, or go and make disciples, those were, that was already lingo that they were hearing back in their day.

And so when Jesus says, I want you to follow me, I want you to be my disciple, it meant primarily three different things, and this is what John Mark Comer says.

The way of discipleship functioned like this.

Rabbis would call their followers by saying something like, Come follow me.

And then from that day on, the followers' entire life was organized around three driving goals.

The first goal, be with your rabbi, be with your teacher.

You would leave your family, your village, your trade, and follow your rabbi 24-7.

You were a student and class was life.

You would spend every waking moment with your rabbi, sleeping at his side, eating at his table, sitting at his feet, and end up after long hours behind him, covered in his dust.

The second goal, not just being with him, but to become like him, to be formed into the image of your rabbi.

This was the heart and soul of discipleship.

Being with your master for the purpose of becoming like your master.

You would copy his tone of voice, his mannerisms, his figures of speech.

You wanted to be him.

That was the goal of discipleship.

And then the finally, the third goal was to do as your teacher did, to do as your rabbi did.

The whole point of discipleship was to train under a rabbi in order that one day you would become a rabbi yourself, and one day that you would begin making disciples yourself.

If you made it through the gauntlet of discipleship, then when he thought you were ready, your rabbi would turn to you and say something like, Okay, I give you my blessing.

Go and make disciples, which is exactly what Jesus says here.

This is what it meant to be a disciple back in the day.

This is still what it means to be a disciple here and now.

And this helps us understand what Jesus is saying in this passage.

He tells them, Go.

I have formed you've been formed into my likeness.

You were with me.

And he says this in Mark 5 or 6.

He's like, I called you that you might be with me.

Now you've become like me.

I formed you into my image.

And now go and do what I did.

Go into the world and make disciples.

That is what he wants for followers, and that's what he's saying.

He wants us to be with him so that we take on his qualities and become like him, so that we ultimately move out into the world and just give his qualities away because they've been formed into us.

And so I want to take these three in turn be with him, become like him, do what he did.

And I want to look at why Jesus wants those particular things for us.

Why does he want us to be with him?

Why does he want us to become like him?

Why does he want us to do what he did?

So the first, Jesus wants followers and not simply converts.

Jesus wants followers so that we will be with him and experience the qualities of Jesus' life in our lives.

To be with him so that what exists inside of him, what the characteristics and the qualities that make up his person, that we would just sit with him and experience those things for ourselves.

There's a friend of mine at an old church I used to go to that was just a naturally generous person, and he had like loads of money, so it helped, and it was easier for him to be generous, maybe.

But uh one day I roll up in my like old school before I had saved up money and bought a Jeep, and I rolled up in like a car that had like was missing like two wheels or something that had like two spare tires on them, one of them I borrowed from a buddy, and uh he was like, Hey man, what happened to your car?

And I was like, Oh yeah, flat tires, I'm trying to save up.

I need$40.

I have to save up, I need$40 to go to uh this place off of summer that has uh that gives you like uh new tires, but they're not new, they're just old tires that other people threw away that they found on the street, but they still don't have holes in them.

And so I'm gonna save up$40 to$20 tire.

I'm gonna get those things.

And he's like, Cool, man, that's a that's a sad story you guys, you know.

But it's been that when and uh and then that was it, you know, and we went into church and whatever and moved on.

And um I got a call uh like two days later, whatever, and it was him, and he was like, Hey, take your car to this body shop here, and just just get if you can get your stinking car there, like just get it there, they'll take care of the rest.

I was like, I don't have any money.

He was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I know.

I've seen your car.

He's like, just just get your car there.

And so I got it there, and like they like replaced all of my tires with like legit real tires with like tread.

Like I had tread, like I had real, you know, and uh and like clean the inside and stuff, which was probably more costly than the tires themselves.

But it was just the whole thing, and I was I was so thankful.

And I'm like at the end of it, I was like, I don't have any money, like I have no money, I'm gonna have to live here and like work on cars for a living.

And uh the guy was like, oh no, he took care of it.

It's it's totally fine, he took care of it.

And I was like, man.

But to me, it was one of those things I didn't ask for that.

It was just the man is generous, a quality that existed in his life was generosity.

And generosity kind of accidentally spilled over into my life.

And I think that's what naturally happens with people who are that way.

I hang out with people like John Hahn, who's wise, and then all of a sudden his wisdom transforms some of the conversations and deal things that I'm working on in my life.

I hang out with my wife who's encouraging, I hang out with uh Matt Lawrence, who's super encouraging, I hang out with these people, and I'm like, I walk away feeling better about myself, and I'm like, man, I'm not- maybe I'm not a terrible person.

It's like, why?

Because something exists in them that just accidentally, over a meal or over a conversation comes from them, spills over into me because it naturally just happens that way.

When you're around people, the things that they embody, the things that just live in them, accidentally make their way into your life, and that's what happens in Jesus as well.

When we are with him, when we spend time with him, the qualities that exist in him accidentally spill over into our lives.

And I would say, actually, on purpose, he wants those things to actually do that.

And so you see this in his life.

The people who encountered him, I have a list here.

These are just some of the things that people experience, the qualities of being with him.

So people who were with Jesus in the gospels, they were taught by him because he was wise and could teach.

They were healed by him because he had healing powers within him.

That was a quality.

They were encouraged by him, given greater faith.

They were guided by him.

Many of them were set free because freedom existed in him.

Many were struck with wonder and amazement because the man was amazing and wonderful.

They felt protected by him, and they were protected by him because he was a shepherd of the sheep to protect and care for the flock.

They were shown grace because he was gracious.

They were made whole because he is not broken like we are.

He is whole.

And so to be, we're broken and show up to him, and it's like, you're I'm broken, and it's like, yeah, but I'm whole.

And so the quality and characteristics of my wholeness will move into your life and create wholeness in your life.

They were loved, they filled with, were filled with joy.

They experienced his strength and power breaking into their lives.

Lifelong longings were fulfilled in him because he is the person who fulfills those things.

They were given peace, given purpose, had their questions answered, which is simple, but like very important.

We have questions for God.

They were shown compassion, they were given mercy.

Like those qualities existed in him, and therefore, when people were around him, that's what they experienced.

And it wasn't because they were constantly asking for those things, some of them were, but many of them just acted as it only stumbled into his presence and experienced this thing breaking into their lives, and his power and his qualities breaking into their lives.

And this is what he wants for us.

Because in the things that exist in him, he wants us to be with him so that the qualities that we're lacking, or the qualities that we have in us that we're longing for something better, he's like, I have those better qualities.

I want you to sit with me and be with me so that as you spend time with me, who I am spills over into you.

This is why he wants followers.

Converts don't simply get that.

They get heaven when they die, but they don't, if they're not gonna spend time with him, they have to wait for years until that time, then they get to spend time with him.

And it's like, man, you could experience some of those things now.

He wants us to be his followers because as a follower, you're forced.

If I'm gonna follow you, I have to be with you.

And if I'm gonna be with you, then I'm gonna experience who you are breaking into my life.

This is why in John 15 he says, uh, abide in me.

I want you to abide in me.

Be with me, be with me consistently.

Everything that I have is something that you need, and you won't experience what you actually need if you aren't with me.

That's what he says.

He says, You apart from me, you can do nothing.

Apart from me, you will experience nothing.

But if you're with me, I have everything.

And if you're with me, you will experience those things because they just naturally break out that way.

That's how relationships work.

And then he tells us how.

Well, okay, I want to abide.

How do I abide with him?

And he says, You abide by obeying my commands.

He says, Abide in my love.

Go to the next slide here.

Remain in my love.

If you keep my commands, you'll remain in my love.

And this makes so much sense because we're like, how do we follow Jesus?

Like it was easier then.

He was a real person walking down a street in Jerusalem.

It's easy to be like, there he is, I'm gonna go follow that man.

And it's like the way that we follow him is by taking what his words and going, I'm over here, and taking that word and following him in that direction and taking his word and actually doing that.

And this is what he's saying.

If you want to be with me, take what I say and then do those things, not to make me love you, but because when you do the commanded things that I say, we walk step in step together and we do this thing together, and that keeps you abiding in me.

This is why in Matthew 7, when Jesus is talking about his words, he's like, the wise person hears my words and then puts it into practice.

They actually do the thing.

And he says, the unwise person hears my words, but they don't put it into practice, and then their lives are qualitatively different.

Storms come for both of them, but the quality that exists in the person who practice his word, who was with Jesus, ultimately like the storm came, but it didn't crush the house.

But those who put my who heard my word but didn't put it into practice, who weren't with me, they experienced a very different quality of life.

The storms came, they hit, and it fell with a great crash, is what he says.

It's like it's not because I love one better than the other, because I love this one, they did what I said, and I don't love this one, not that.

It loves both of them.

It's like one chose to be with the person who can hold the house when it's being ravaged by a storm, and one chose to be without the person who cannot hold the thing up.

And it's like, man, the quality of your life is completely different because of who you were with.

And that's why he's saying it's like, put my word into practice.

I want you to abide in me by doing the things that I say so that you experience my qualities breaking into our lives.

Jesus wants us to be with him so that we experience those things.

And I think for us, if we just stick with, I'm just supposed to get saved and that's it, we just again, you receive one gift of Jesus and not all of them.

Because I think for us, we need to feel loved.

And it's like, man, great, you need to feel loved.

Like, great, go spend time with the one who is willing to love you enough to give his life for you.

Spend time with him.

I promise.

That quality in him will spill over into your life and you will feel more loved by God because that exists in him.

We want to feel protected and secure.

So spend time with the one who fights for you, the one who has all authority in heaven on earth, who sits upon a throne, who rules and reigns and power, and no one can take that from him.

You want to feel secure?

Spend time with someone who is secure and hold security.

We want comfort.

Spend time with the one who understands what you're going through better than anyone else in the world.

Counselors are great, friends are great, spouses, loved ones, great.

Spend time with the one that knows your heart, what's going on in there.

You will feel more comfort from him than you will from anybody else because what exists in him is comfort that you don't even understand.

Peace that surpasses understanding.

That's what exists in him.

We want wisdom.

Spend time with the one who's greater than Solomon and has so much wisdom.

He will guide you.

He's not like a weird, angry father that's like, well, I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but I hope you do the right thing.

Like, what?

No, that's not who he is.

He's not gonna do that.

We want to feel forgiven for our spent, our sin.

Then spend time with the one who always forgives you, who's filled with grace, who's constantly filled with compassion.

Like, I feel bad over my sin, I feel shame, I feel guilt.

Don't run from him, which is what we normally do.

Don't run from him, run to him.

You will experience the quality of grace breaking into your life because that's what he has.

Has in there.

He doesn't condemn anybody because there's no condemnation in him.

He doesn't have it to give, even if he wanted to, he can't.

Because it's not a quality of his.

Everything we lack, everything we lack is found in him.

And this is why Jesus isn't just satisfied with converts.

We need more than heaven after we die.

We need more than that.

And he's like, I have that for you.

The things that exist in me are available to you.

And when we spend time with him, we experience his qualities breaking into our lives.

That's the first.

That's why he wants us to be with him.

There's probably a number of other things, but one of the most significant ones is so that you actually experience the joy of your salvation, which is to be with God Himself and then to be sitting with Him and go, like, everything I've been longing for and lacking exists in you as qualities.

And when I'm with you, those things just spill over into my life.

What a gift.

That's why he wants us to be with him.

Secondly, Jesus wants followers so that we will become like him and not just experience his qualities, but take those qualities on ourselves to be formed into those qualities.

So everything that exists in him takes shape in us and transforms our lives from we were mean and now we're gentle because Jesus is gentle.

We were angry and now we're forgiving because Jesus is forgiving.

All of those different things.

He wants us to not just experience his qualities, but to be shaped by those things.

Donald Miller in his book Scary Close talks about the phenomenon of you just become naturally around like the people you're around.

So you surround yourself with people, you just become like those people.

This is what he says.

It's a rather long quote, but I'll read it.

He says, I read an article that said in the next five years, and I think this is true for everybody, the next five years we will become a conglomerate of the people we hang out with.

The article went so far to say that relationships were a great, a greater predictor of who we will become than exercise, diet, or media consumption.

And he says, and if you think about it, the idea makes sense.

As much as we are independent beings contained in our own skin, the ideas and experiences we exchange with others grow into us like vines.

And they reveal themselves in our mannerisms and language and our outlook on life.

And he says, after I read the article, I got pickier about who I spent time with.

I wanted to be with people who were humble and hungry and had healthy relationships and were working to create new and better realities in the world.

So as a result, I handpicked some guys I wanted to be friends with.

I already had some good friends, but knowing you become like the people you hang around, I decided I wanted to take more responsibility for who I was becoming.

I looked around and identified four guys who worked hard and they were faithful to their wives and they were intelligent.

And I asked each of them if they would get together for breakfast on Tuesday mornings in Portland.

I told them that essentially I thought of them as great guys and wanted to figure out how we could spend more time together helping each other's businesses and running our lives through the collective filter of our experiences.

And to my surprise, each of them said yes.

And so we met and I'm becoming like them.

These aren't guys who complain about their bosses or disrespect their wives.

And so naturally, when I encounter men who do that sort of thing, it strikes me as weak and I pull away.

That's just not who I want to become.

And to me, it's this just beautiful idea of like, man, this is just how it's baked into our existence.

It's as simple as that because that's how we were formed to be relational beings who take on the qualities of the other person that we're around.

And so this, I mean, Jesus is sitting there going, I want you to spend time with me so that you take on my qualities, not just experience them, but are formed by them.

And you actually talk like me, act like me, show compassion like me, forgive other people the way I do.

That your natural reaction isn't the brokenness of your world and what you're made or are formed by this world, but your actual natural reaction will be like, I'm going to respond like Jesus, not because I'm actively trying to think of what he would do, but because I've been formed into his image.

And it happens in the gospel, or it happens in the book of Acts.

You actually see it really openly.

In Acts 4, the Pharisees see Peter and John when they are kind of grilling them, and it says, when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled and ordinary men, thanks for that.

They were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

They just become like him.

Like there was a time when they were afraid and fearful and running from them, and Peter snagging swords, trying to kill everybody.

Like he doesn't know what he's doing.

And now all of a sudden there's like, man, there's something about these men.

These men have been with Jesus.

And it was their courage that they noticed.

Like they're unflappable, and we're like ready to kill them.

And they're like, bring it, man.

To live is Christ, to die is gained, I can do, you know, whatever.

And so they took note of that.

Stephen in Acts 7, if you remember, he was the first martyr post-Jesus' death on the cross.

And as he's being killed, he says, Lord, do not hold this sin against him.

Lord, do not hold this sin.

He's been killed.

Lord, do not hold this sin against him.

Why does he say that?

And the reason is because he follows a man who literally said the exact same thing to the people who were murdering him when they were crucifying him to a cross.

Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing.

And so Stephen, being killed by similar people, maybe some of the same people, has been formed into the image of Jesus, has taken on the quality of forgiveness of Jesus, and while he's being killed, says the exact same thing that Jesus said because he's been formed into his image.

And so this is what he has for us.

They had become like Jesus, they had taken on his qualities because they had been with him.

And the qualities that existed in Jesus ultimately began to shape their lives as well.

David Guzick says it like this he says, We become, regardless of whether we want to or not, we become like those we follow.

And all of us are going, all of us follow something.

All of us, we all have a rabbi, we all have a teacher, something that is guiding and directing our lives.

Some of it's just us, some of it's the news, some of it's social media, some of it's money, some of it's relationships.

All of us have something that guides the direction of our lives and is our rabbi.

And you will be shaped into the image of your rabbi.

You will be shaped into the image of your teacher.

It's just the natural way that we're formed to be, which is why it's so important to actually choose a teacher, to choose someone that's like, do you actually want to be formed into what money will form you into?

Do you actually want to be formed into what social media will form you into?

Do you actually want to be formed into what your selfish ambition and your job will form you into?

Because you will be formed by those things.

It's not if you're being transformed, it is you are.

And so choose someone that you want to follow so that you experience their qualities and not the other ones that are actually dangerous.

This is why Jesus wants us to follow him, so that we become like him, taking on his qualities.

And this is what Paul is getting at in Galatians 5.

He talks about this idea where he's like, hey, the works of the flesh, the things that you will struggle with.

He says, sexual immorality, we'll struggle with that.

Impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, rioting, and the like.

Those are the, he's like, that's what we'll struggle with in this life.

And it's a it's a long list, it's not the all list, but it's a long list.

But then he says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And what he's getting at, he's like, this is the this is the natural way that you are, you will act in the world.

In your natural being, you will act and struggle in these things, in the in the works of the flesh.

He's like, but but being with Jesus, but like the way that fruit is just being on the vine and stays on the vine, you will be formed into somebody different.

And so go to this next slide here.

What it will look like is, there we go, he is actually giving this to us and showing us this is what happens over time if you abide in Jesus, if you stay on the vine, if you actually are, like fruit will grow in you.

Sexual morality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, and witchcraft will be replaced with love.

Sexual morality and impurity and debauchery is like love for self in a distorted, perverted way.

Idolatry and witchcraft is love for other gods.

He's like, true love will replace agape love, will replace it.

The more you're with Jesus, you'll become more loving towards other people and more loving towards God Himself.

Hatred, discord, all those things will be replaced with joy and peace and patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness.

Drunkenness and rioting in your drunkenness will be replaced with self-control.

And what he's saying, he's like, look, this is just the natural thing.

Here are things that we're gonna struggle with.

Here are the natural qualities that exist in you.

And if you spend time with someone who doesn't have those qualities, you'll be formed and take on the qualities of Jesus, which is why he says, like, this is how it grows in you like fruit.

You don't have to work at it, you don't have to strive for it.

You just need to be with him.

And you will naturally over time take on those qualities in your life, not by striving, not by working for it, but just being connected and abiding in Jesus.

You will take on his qualities.

It will form you.

And it will go slow and it will be slow, and many times it'll be frustrating.

And I talk to Christians all the time, like, why do I still struggle with?

And I'm like, Because it's a process, because it's a journey and it's a walk.

Jesus isn't like, run after me, run with me.

Like he's not marathoning out.

Like that's not what he's saying.

He's walk with me, spend time with me.

It'll be slow, and that's okay.

I don't want to crush you right now.

When Teddy was growing up, when he was one year old, I was just trying to get him to not eat everything he saw: bugs, food, toys, like that's the first thing now, he's almost nine.

We're teaching him how to play chess.

Can you imagine at one year old me trying getting so frustrated with him and he doesn't know how to play chess?

Like, you idiot.

I can't believe you one year old, you ten month old, don't even know how to play chess.

Oh no, you can't even talk either, can you?

Like that would be rude.

Jesus isn't gonna do that for us either.

He's like, when he when we come to faith, he's not running with us and be like, all right, let's change everything in your whole life right now.

He's like, hey, I'm in it for the long haul.

Let's go slow.

Let's move slowly together.

David Guzick in his commentary says, Everyone wants to know how can I change?

How can I change?

The best and most enduring change comes into our life.

We are transformed by time spent with the Lord.

There are other ways to change, such as guilt, willpower, or cor or coercion.

But none of these methods will bring change that is as deep and lasts as long as a transformation that comes by the Spirit of God as we spend time in the presence of the Lord.

This is God's great design in our salvation.

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined, and that they would be conformed into the image of his son.

If you have stepped into the convert life of Jesus, I believe in him.

His will for you and design for that salvation is not the great design of your salvation is to get you to heaven.

It never says that.

There's not a verse that says that.

But the great design of your salvation is to be formed into the image of the Son, for heaven to invade the earth, so that when you actually get to this space where you do see him face to face, you're like, man, I've become so much like you.

And there's still more, but I've become like you.

And I experienced your heaven life breaking into my earthly life, and I'm so thankful for that.

He wants us to be formed into his presence, and that's how we change.

It's slow and it takes time, but eventually we take on his qualities.

This next slide here is just how it works.

The ways that we're stuck and trapped will over time with Jesus be shaped by his freedom.

The ways that we're selfish will over time be shaped by his selflessness.

Even if we don't want it to.

If we spend time with him, eventually we'll want it to.

Like I want to want it to, or I don't even know if I want it to.

Like it will over time be shaped by him.

The ways where we're greedy will over time be shaped by his generosity.

Proud over time shaped by his humility.

Self, we're not self-controlled, over time will be shaped by his self-control.

The places where we're short-tempered will over time be shaped by his patience.

The areas where we're we struggle to forgive will over time be shaped by his grace, compassion, and mercy.

Where we're faithless, his faithfulness.

Where we're mean and vengeful will be shaped by his kindness.

Where we're harsh, his gentleness.

Where we're unwise, his wisdom.

Where we struggle with sin over time will be shaped by his victory over sin.

Where we're scared and fearful and anxious over time, shaped by his courage and trust and peace.

The ways that we worry replace about what people think about us will be replaced by what he thinks about us.

And we'll stop worrying about how other people think about us because we'll be shaped by his thoughts, not other people's.

All of these different things, the places where we're ashamed will be shaped by his forgiveness and mercy.

All of this stuff where we struggle with hate will be shaped by his love.

This is just the way it works, and this is what he wants for us.

And to me, one of the most important things that our world needs today are more people who actually love like Jesus, act like Jesus, talk like Jesus, respond to conflict like Jesus, that deal with suffering the way that Jesus does.

Jesus dealt with suffering on the cross in such a way that when he died, a man was like, you know what?

I think he was the Son of God.

Oh my gosh.

Can you believe it?

We just killed him.

Like, like there, he he died, he suffered so well, it led a man to faith.

Like what?

Like, we we need to be formed into his image so that people get to see this thing.

We we live in this generation of time where people are disenfranchised with Jesus, and it's like, what you're mad at isn't him.

Like you're mad at people who converted and they get to go to heaven when they die, but they look nothing like him, they talk nothing like him.

They don't love like him, they don't forgive like him, they're not gracious like him, they're not compassionate like him, they don't show mercy like him.

They hold grudges and they're bitter and they're angry, and it's like, yes, I think his grace is strong enough to get you to heaven, even though you're kind of a jerk.

But honestly, if you were formed into his image, then you would be somebody that people look at and be like, what a compelling vision.

What is so different about you?

And it's like, oh, I'm a follower of Jesus.

He's forming me into his image, has nothing to do with me, but his grace breaking into my life.

Like it's this wonderful thing that we're supposed to be like.

I just for people to notice us and not to see us, but to see his qualities and go, why are you like this?

And it's like, because I spent time a lot with this man, and he has walked faithfully with me in my struggles and my trials and my sins and my failings, and he's never left, and he's never forsaken me, and he's never walked away.

And he's consistently formed me into somebody that lost people look at and go, I don't want anything to do with the church, but I want something to do with you, and I'll hang out with you.

And it's like, the read what you see is Jesus.

You don't see me, you see him because I've been formed into his image.

And y'all know this more than anything.

The people in your lives, the people who don't want anything to do with church, they've never darkened the door of a church at all.

What they still need is Jesus.

And if they're not seeing it in the church, you're not going to get in the church, then it's going to be from us being formed into his image, able to give that to him, not capitulating to their sin, but able to actually look at them with compassion the way that Jesus looked at sinners, the way that he looked at people who disagreed with all of his way of life and was like, but I love you deeply.

And they felt it in their bones.

That's what we, that's what he wants.

It happens not simply by being a convert, it happens through abiding.

We become like him because we're formed into the image of the person that we follow.

That's why he wants us to follow him.

And last, Jesus wants followers because he longs for us to do what he did.

Longs for us to do what he did.

To me, it's not difficult to see why Jesus wants us to do what he did.

If you just read the Gospels and just do a perusal through any of the Gospels and look at what he did and the way he treated people, it's easy to see why he wants us to do that thing.

Jesus constantly left people better than he found them.

He protected people who could not protect themselves.

He elevated people in society like women and children when the rest of the culture would have rather have kept them down.

He cared for the forgotten and overlooked.

He noticed people that everyone else wanted to not notice and wanted to shove off into the corners.

He helped people that nobody else would help, loved people that others thought unworthy of love.

He healed people, he set people free from darkness and evil that had its grip on them, and he preached and he taught them.

People who encountered him experienced life from him.

And so it makes sense that he wants more people to step into the world so that other people can experience those very same things, so that people will leave our presence and we left them better than we found them.

He wants to see that happen.

And he he knows, and we know, like if God so loved the world, that's what he wants for the world.

He wants the world to experience his presence and not be cast away from him because we don't emulate him well, and because people are making decisions to run away from him because they've had bad experiences in the church.

He wants people to experience his likeness and what he's like.

And so when people interacted with him, it changed their lives, and he wants that to be the common experience for the people in our lives.

Do what I did, treat people the way that I did, so that you have the exact same result take shape in their lives that you see in the gospels, and it will actually start to happen for them.

And it's not something that we have to like, oh WWJD, you gotta do what Jesus did.

Again, it's not that.

It's not like this conjuring work that we have to do, although brain power would, I mean, helps every now and then.

But it's this abiding in him, becoming like him, and then doing what he did.

People who sit with him become like him, and they naturally do what he did because they've been formed into his likeness.

Again, right now I think our world is plagued with people who go by the name of Jesus and carry the name, but they look nothing like him.

And they do things in Jesus' name and they're proud of it, and it's like, man, he wouldn't do any of that stuff.

But it's because they haven't been formed into his likeness.

And so for us, when we look at, we want to be followers of Jesus, who become like him, who be with him, become like him, and do what he does.

It's so that the world experiences what he's actually like.

Alan Kreider, in his book, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, talks about that the church used to be shaped this way.

Like that there used to be this space where like the early church did it right.

Like they followed Jesus so well that the outer world, the pagan world, looked at it and was like, what the heck is that?

Like, I want some of that.

It's like, well, we believe in this other God.

And they're like, oh, cool.

I believe in like 12 gods.

Do I need to get rid of those?

Yeah, you should probably get rid of those.

Um, but you should, and then if you want my thing, you can come into this thing.

And like it just it was it was captivating.

So this is what he says.

He says, What the pagan outsiders saw in the church was not their worship.

They didn't see this.

They didn't come, we didn't, they didn't even have this.

They didn't see their worship, they saw their way of life, the Christians' way of life.

According to Tertullian, the outsiders looked at the Christians, saw them energetically feeding poor people, giving proper funerals to those who couldn't afford them instead of being tossed out in the street, caring for the orphans who lacked property and parents, being attentive to the aged slaves and prisoners.

And they interpreted these actions as a work of love.

And they said in Latin, Vide, Vide, look.

Look how they love.

They didn't say ade, listen to the Christians' podcast message.

They didn't say legge, read the cool book he wrote.

They didn't say any of that.

Hearing and reading were important too, but we must not miss the reality.

The pagans said, look.

Christianity's truth was made visible because it was embodied and enacted by its members.

It was made tangible, and people were drawn by what they saw to approach the Christians and inquire about their faith.

And this is what Jesus wants for followers.

This is why he wants followers of Jesus.

I want you to do what I did so that people are like, What the why are you that way?

Why did you do that?

Why did you respond in that way?

Everybody else responds like this.

Why are you this way?

Why?

Look at you.

Why are you this way?

And he wants the beauty of Jesus to be made visible in the presence of people who do not have a good picture of Jesus.

He wants it to be seen so that it will lead people to go, like, if that's what Jesus is like, because that has not been my experience, but if that's what he's like, I do want him.

Because I think most people are enthralled by Jesus when they hear about him.

But they're pushed away by people who call themselves Christians who don't do not act like him.

And so the world gets to, when there's followers, not converts, the world gets to experience what Jesus was like.

Because the people have been formed into his image and they do what he did.

But then also, not just for the world, for us as well, the purpose of God is not just to be conformed into his image, but to do the things that he does.

He says this in John 14.

Jesus says, Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me converts to me, will do the works that I've been doing, and believe is not just, again, it's not just convert, it's it's believe and then move forward in that.

We'll do the things that I've been doing.

And they will do even greater things than these because I'm going to the Father.

And so Jesus is saying, like, look, hey, if you're going to be a follower of Jesus, it's not just like this space where it's like, okay, I believe cool things and a placard on a thing on whatever, and I got my baptism card.

It's not that.

We're supposed to move out into the world doing what he did.

The purpose of following Jesus is so that we do the cool stuff that Jesus did.

And that's what he's saying.

He's like, truly, you will do the things I've been doing.

You'll do greater stuff than I've been doing it.

And I think, again, we live in this world where people are bored with Christianity because what they think is like following Jesus is basically read my Bible, try to pray, and try not to sin.

And they're bored with following Jesus.

I'm like, bro, I'm bored you talking about following Jesus that way.

That's boring.

Like, that's not what it means to follow Jesus.

We're supposed to be doing the things that He did.

And Jesus says, This is why I've called you, this is why I want you to believe.

I want you to do the things that I did.

I don't want life with me to be boring.

It was never supposed to be that way, and it was never that way in the gospels.

The disciples in Acts are doing the things that Jesus did, and they're experiencing life and adventure and joy and peace in spaces where it's like, I don't even.

Why do they experience those things?

Because they're doing the works that Jesus Himself did, and this is what he has for us, not to be bored in our faith, but to be doing the things that he calls us to do.

The vision of Jesus for the believer is that we experience the fame and deeds of God in our time, to actually go and do what he did so that we see when he did those things, we see the results of those things that he saw.

And we see those things for ourselves.

And we need that.

We don't need boring Christians who are lifeless and are like, yeah, I follow Jesus, it's okay.

Like, man, okay, not that.

Because sin is more interesting than that.

Sin is a lot more interesting than just read your Bible, try and pray, and don't sin.

Sin is more interesting than that.

We need people who are actually just enthralled by him doing the things that he does.

Again, we were in Mexico, well, even Wednesday.

Wednesday, we were at, we're, you know, Andrew set up the thing at Calvary and we're serving these homeless men.

And I was sitting there and we're leading worship and we're talking to these guys and we're serving them food and all this stuff, and I was like, man, there was a space in my life where I was like, I could never get past.

My sin.

Like as a kid, I was like, why would I ever trade what I can do for like this Jesus thing?

Why would I ever do that?

I was sitting there in Mexico and at this space and going, This is so life-giving.

This is so fulfilling.

Like sitting with these guys and hearing their story and talking to them and leading worship for them and doing all this stuff.

Like it's so fulfilling.

And Jesus says this when he's talking to the woman at the well, the he talks to the woman at the well in John 4, and then the disciples roll up to him and say, hey, we got food for you to eat.

We don't have this slide.

But we've got food for you to eat.

And he's like, I have food you know nothing about.

And what he's saying is, like, my food is to do the will of the Father.

And what he's he's he's referencing, like, I'm fulfilled, truly fulfilled, in a way that food can't fulfill me.

Like, I'm fulfilled by doing the will of the Father.

And what he's pointing to is like, there are spaces in your life and in your heart and in your journey where you're like, I'm just, I'm still unfulfilled, I'm still discontent, and all this different thing.

Like, if you do the will of the Father, those things are fulfilling.

And so he set this up to like do what I did so that you experience life beyond what you can experience by yourself.

You will experience fulfillment and satisfaction and a way of living that exists for you, that Jesus is packaged in doing what he did.

And there's more life there, there's more fulfillment there.

And so these are the things that he wants for us.

This is what Jesus wanted for the church.

Not simply converts of Jesus, but followers of Jesus.

People that have this space in Him with Him where we sit with Him and we're with Him and we experience the wonderful qualities that exist in Him just spilling over and breaking into our lives.

And then having those qualities take shape in us so that our jobs are transformed, so that our relationships are transformed, so that the people around us are experiencing a different type of person, and we're not riddled with and defined by the brokenness that existed in us before.

But over time we're shaped into a new person, a new creation.

And then that we would move into the world, doing things that do feel good to us, but also bring renewal to the world itself and the fame and deeds of God, the miraculous things that take shape when you sit with people that everybody else has forgotten.

When you do things for people that like, the only reason I'm doing this is because Jesus did it.

It's like, yeah, you'll you'll experience far more, far greater things, things that matter when you do those things.

And it's not going to earn God's love for you, it's not going to make him love you anymore, but it will be a space where you're like, I'm not bored in this following anymore.

I'm not just a convert.

I'm actually walking with a man who's trying to lead me into real, real life.

And that's what he wants for us.

And so as a church, we will pursue not simply converts of Jesus, but developing followers of Jesus.

I want you to come to faith if you do not know Jesus.

I do that.

I do want that.

But I want you to practice his way of life.

I want you to be with him, become like him, and to do what he did because the world needs that, not more converts.

The world doesn't need more converts.

I want people to be converted.

The world needs more followers, more people who follow this man and become like him.

There was a painting that I love named uh by a man named Filippo Lippi.

I believe we have it, yeah.

It's uh the Madonna and Child.

Um for a number of years, uh, it was like in the 15th century when he painted this, a number of years uh art critics uh hated this painting.

They thought it was like, hey man, you got better work.

This is terrible.

And um the reason was is because it was hanging in an art gallery, and the critics would look at it and like the mountains were all out of, everything was out of just distorted and out of focus and just didn't really work.

And one of the art critics was was writing on this and saying, like, this is just terrible, it's bad.

And then uh he had a realization that one day he went to the art gallery and was like, oh, this thing used to hang in a monastery.

So he's like, so the way that people used to look at this painting and the way that this painting was meant to be looked at was on your knees.

You're supposed to be on your knees looking at this painting, and so this art critic like gets down on his knees to look at this painting, and all of a sudden all the formations come into order and come into space.

And it turns from a painting that was been criticized to actually this beautiful, beautiful painting because it was meant to be seen from your knees, not meant to be stared at while you're standing up there.

And I love that idea because I do think that Jesus is meant to be experienced in following him.

He is not meant to be experienced in just converting to him.

And if you want to experience the fullness of what it means to be a Christian, you must posture yourself behind him as a follower, not someone who just believes a thing.

Because you'll experience some of him.

I just I'm I ascribe to the beliefs of Christianity, you'll experience some of him and you will receive the gift of eternal life.

What a gift.

That's awesome.

But if you want to experience the fullness of what he's called you into and what the scriptures actually testify to, if you follow him, if you do the things that he says that we're called to do, not to earn his favor, but to experience those things.

If you follow him, you will actually experience more and more of his life, very similar to the way a person has to posture themselves to see this painting fully.

You have to posture yourself behind him.

And so I want that for us.

I want our church to be about that.

And over the next couple of weeks, we're going to look at really what it looks like to practice and follow the way of Jesus.

Um I'm excited about that.

But um yeah, I love you guys.

Let me practice.

Your call was to form a different type of person, a different type of people.

A person that is completely conformed and transformed into a new human.

Someone that's made like you so that they experience life like you, and so that others experience life from them the way that they experience from you.

God, I pray that you would bless our church as we seek to just live out the vision that you had for the church.

We would form people into followers of the way of Jesus.

And Lord, that you would bless that endeavor.

Seeing people renewed, seeing people come to faith, seeing people healed, praying for impossible things and watching that stuff break out among us.

Because when we follow you and the people who followed you, they experienced impossible things happening all around them.

And so, God, I just pray that you would bless that, make that happen here with our pursuit of your mission and vision for the church to bring honor to you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We're going to um celebrate communion.

Good Lord, y'all.

Sorry, that was long.

My bad.

Podcast stops now, so now I can just apologize.

Really sorry, really sorry.

Um we're gonna take communion and then we're gonna do the baptism class.

But um, we take communion because we want to follow Jesus.

We want to be reminded consistently.

So if you help set up communion, please come and pass out the elements.

Um, but come take take the elements, be reminded.

He says, do this in remembrance of me.

There's something about practicing the way of Jesus and remembering what he's done for us.

So that our sin that defined us this past week no longer defines us today.

So that we're not riddled with guilt or riddled with shame and thinking, like, I don't know.

Like, what can he do?

Well, he can bring dead things back to life, and we're reminded of that as well in this particular thing.

So come receive communion.

We'll say a liturgy together, and we'll partake, and then we'll sing, and then we'll be on our way.