Like Jesus Resource by BC Yukon Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada

JESUS CHARACTERISTICS OF A FULLY DEVOTED FOLLOWER OF JESUS

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM: Dr. Jeff Beck Dr. Rob Bedard Dr. Chuck Coats Dr. Mick Nelson Dr. Michael Wilkinson

Copyright 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without premission in writing from the publisher, except in the cse of brief quotations embodied in critial articles or reviews. Scripture quotations, unless noted otherwise, are taken from the Holy Bible New International Version. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS

Loves Like Jesus

Dr. JEFF BECK

Trained Like Jesus

Believes Like Jesus

Lives Like Jesus

To Produce Fully Devoted Followers of Christ

DR. ROB BEDARD

DR. CHUCK COATS DR. MICHAEL WILKINSON DR. MICK NELSON

Chapter One

Loves Like Jesus x x

Andrew Murray was a pastor and a prolific writer who lived through a great deal of the 19th century (1828–1917).1 In one place he wrote, “Jesus’ life of dependency on the Father was a life lived in the Father’s love. What the Father’s love is to Jesus His (the Father’s) love will be to us.”2 This paper will briefly explore “What the Father’s love is to Jesus” and what the Father’s “… love will be to us.” There is something very foundational and fundamental in what Andrew Murray wrote that many of Jesus follower’s, perhaps, overlook to their peril. For instance, if a person spends any time at all within many of the congregations of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), they will experience congregational singing that focuses on the Father’s love and sing words that express a reciprocal love to Him and Jesus. They will listen to teaching that goes in essentially the same direction. But have many of those folk considered that while they are singing or listening and taking notes, that the same love that they sing about and hear about and experience of the Father (and can anticipate experiencing) is the same love that Jesus experienced from Him as well? That is the implication of what Andrew Murray is writing. There is something to this that is important for Jesus followers to 7

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grasp in their journey of discipleship. More often than not, the motivation for living as Jesus follower is based on an understanding of performance, rather than unconditional love. Performance based living is so much less than the “life to the full” (John 10:10, New International Version: NIV) that Jesus promised. Examining the description of Jesus’ life that the Gospels provides reveals that Jesus’ experience of the Father’s unconditional love was foundational for Him in every part of his living and provided the underpinning for his ministry while visiting this planet, clothed with flesh. As the “second person” of the “Trinity,” it is a fair assumption that Jesus has never been outside of the love of the Father. Erickson writes, “… love has always been present among the members of the Trinity.”3 Yet, when Jesus was living among us, there were two recorded times when a voice from Heaven indicated in a public way, the love and approval that Jesus had from God the Father.4 When John baptized him, Matthew 3:17 reports that a voice from heaven said of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (NIV) The logical question is for whom those words were intended? Were they for Jesus to reveal something new to him that he did not already know? Were they for him to confirm what he already understood in his human experience? Or were they intended for John who baptized him to confirm what he felt God was saying to him about Jesus? Or were they for those on the shore of the river who witnessed Jesus being baptized that day to announce that God’s Messiah was about to embark on the public phase of his life? The answer is in recognizing subject of what was said. The words were about Jesus and not directed primarily toward him. The direction of the content of what the voice declared was for John and those who witnessed Jesus’ baptism.

River that day, did the message have significance for Jesus? It is obvious that in the timeline of Jesus’ life, his baptism and the voice from Heaven and the content of the message marked the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry and set the tone for it. It is not difficult to assume that the message was important for Jesus. The voice from Heaven and the content of the message was the public “sign” that the Messiah was beginning the work he had come to do. Also, because it was such a public sign, from that point forward, if anyone wondered about what Jesus was saying or doing that may have been outside the understanding of normal ancient Jewish living and Torah (Law) abiding, they could point back to his baptism and the events surrounding it and the content of the message from the voice from Heaven as proof that he had God’s love and approval. Some time later in Jesus’ life, a similar event occurred where a voice from Heaven repeated almost identical words as what was said at his baptism to those who were accompanying him. The event was the Transfiguration. When Jesus was transfigured in the presence of Peter, James and John about a year before his crucifixion, a voice from Heaven said to those men, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,” but added the command, “Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5, NIV). The context of the voice and the message was a response to Peter’s wonder and suggestions about building three shelters for Moses and Elijah who had materialized and were talking with Jesus.

The next question is, even though the direction of the message was for John and the crowds on the banks of the Jordan

So at the beginning of his public ministry and close to the end Jesus and others with him, heard God’s voice declaring love and approval towards him. The voice at his baptism spoke before he had carried out any public ministry. The voice when he was transfigured spoke after he had completed much of his public ministry. The point that we can draw is that Jesus was loved consistently throughout his public min-

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istry and while “… there has been an eternal exercise of God’s love, even before there were any created beings,”5 the Father’s physical voice declaring that truth must have been a great encouragement to Jesus. The Greek verb of “to love” that God used was ἀγάπῃ (agapay). Thomas Jay Oord has defined agape as “an intentional response to promote well-being when responding to that which has generated ill-being.”6 It is loving without conditions, positive or negative. At his baptism, for the Father to tell others that he loved Jesus unconditionally and that he was pleased with him was a message that God was sending about unconditional love. At this point, Jesus had not “performed” any miracles or made any public declarations. God’s love was not based on activities publicly performed or words publicly spoken, but was grounded in his very existence. It meant that God loved Jesus, not because he was Messiah, not because he was completely obedient, not because he performed miraculous signs because of the anointing and infilling of the Holy Spirit (which he did), but because he existed. God had miraculously brought about his conception, but even that wasn’t the why God the Father loved him. He was loved, according to the voice, with an unconditional love. It was not a performance based love relationship.

mous. There are many Jesus followers who are of the opinion that God is very interested in their performance. They work very hard in their lives for the Church, for God and do lots of good things. Ethically, they work hard on avoiding being smudged by sinful activities. They study Scripture and identify laws and rules that they are convinced God would want them, (and every other Jesus follower) to live according to in order to merit God’s love. That is the key, God’s love is to be merited, rather than just experienced without condition. A performance-based relationship is not unconditional love, but duty. Performance-based understandings about one’s relationship with and to God do not naturally and joyfully bring about the “… good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV) This is why Andrew Murray’s observation about Jesus’ experience of the Father’s love is so foundational. It’s the kind of love that is available for every Jesus follower.

It was from the foundation of this love that Jesus lived his private and public life and ministry. Murray’s quote at the beginning of this article presumes that it is the same for us. The unconditional love of God that Jesus knew and experienced is the same love that everyone who has put faith in Jesus’ work on earth for salvation can potentially know and experience. The primary place that reveals this incredible possibility is John 17:23, “I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (NIV) The implications of this for us are enor-

This dichotomy between the experience of the unconditional love of God and the need for performing to merit God’s love is unmasked by the glorified Jesus in Revelation 2 in his message to the congregation in Ephesus. “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.” (Revelation 2:2a, NIV) Jesus noticed that they were good performers and if that were of primary importance in their relationship to God, to Jesus, then they would have been commended for that. However that was not the case. While Jesus noted their good deeds and perseverance, he also noticed what those things were not motivated by. “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.” (Revelation 2:4 NIV) It is hard to imagine God suggesting to Jesus that his good deeds and perseverance were noticed, but that he had forsaken his first love as the believers in Ephesus were. Jesus good deeds and perseverance flowed from his experience and understanding of the unconditional love of God and he did not perform in order to get God’s attention or approval.

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Unconditional love formed the basis of his ministry. Jesus’ ministry would not have happened with a different understanding and experience of God’s love and it was his concern that the believers in Ephesus had forsaken that which was so concerning to Jesus. In a great ethical section of his letter to Corinth, Paul wrote extensively about the unconditional love of God being the basis of everything that makes following Jesus of worth. He wrote, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” Contextually, the Jesus followers of ancient Corinth lived with disunity, spiritual pride and moral sin. They needed to hear what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write here. Metaphorically, what Paul was saying was that no ecstatic spiritual experience or great acts of bravery or benevolence are anything more than an empty act of a dead religious duty. They were simply empty religious performances without the motivation of unconditional love.

The remedy that Jesus identified for his followers in Ephesus was to repent, “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” (Revelation 2:5, NIV) If the faith a person is living is based on performing for God to get his attention, the same commandment from Jesus stands for them as well. Unconditional love needs to form the basis of not just our relationship with Jesus, but everything that we do in our living. It’s a good exercise to evaluate the motivation that we are using to live as a Jesus follower. Is it from an experience of unconditional love, the same experience as Jesus? Or is it to perform to get noticed? A life of following Jesus is a life that flows out of God’s incredible, unconditional love that he has toward us.

Jesus experienced and ministered out of the unconditional love of God and he is our example of how God sees and values people. He gave us an example of how we should treat others, whether we consider them family, friend, or foe. He experienced God’s love in his life and it was from that foundation that he ministered and unconditionally loved those he interacted with. Jesus loved people from every social strata, not for what they did for him, but because they were. Jesus followers are called to do the same with the same foundation of the experience of the unconditional love of God. It ought to be this love that defines Jesus followers. 12

Chapter Two

Trained Like Jesus x x

The Chief Executive Officer of a large company flew his top executives to his sprawling Florida mansion. There, he unveiled his looming retirement, along with his eleventh-hour succession plan. Leading his team to the precipice of a deep water hole teeming with snapping alligators, he announced, “Whoever jumps in and gets to the other side I will apprentice to take over my company!” Not surprising, no one jumped in. Turning on his heels, the CEO led his team back toward his mansion when suddenly he heard a commotion behind him. One of his top executives danced on the heads and tails of the alligators below, reached the other side of the water hole and scaled the wall to safety. “Well done!” the CEO affirmed, “Ladies and Gentlemen, my apprentice and your next CEO!” “Thank you sir, I’m honoured!” the apprentice announced, “Now, for the first order of business: I want to know who pushed me in!” Fortunately Jesus didn’t throw together His succession plan like this short-sighted CEO, nor did He throw His successors into the task without first properly training them. Had He done so, it is unlikely His disciples could have succeeded Him very well and for very long. Instead, Jesus began his ministry with the end in mind.7 That is why Jesus recruited 15

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and trained his disciples to continue His work after Him. Since Jesus commissioned all disciples to make disciples,8 how exactly can one do so? By doing what Jesus, the Master Disciple-Maker, did with His disciples. To uncover the Master’s plan of discipleship, one must uncover the series of steps Jesus took to disciple His followers. Let us do so by shadowing Jesus throughout His three-year process of discipling Simon Peter. Disciple Validation In 1st Century Judaism, Rabbis scoured the land for Jewish boys to apprentice as disciples of the Mosaic Law. When a Rabbi identified a potential disciple, he recruited him to follow him. Prospective recruits had to excel in both zeal and aptitude for learning the Law and the Prophets. If, by his thirteenth birthday, a Jewish boy had not yet been fortunate enough to be recruited by a reputed Rabbi, he would remain at home, being trained in his father’s business.9 Simon Peter, let alone the rest of Jesus’ disciples, were such rabbinical rejects. Jesus, however, perceived the true character and untapped potential of Simon, so much so He accordingly renamed him Peter.10 When the Master pronounced to Simon Peter the call of discipleship, “Come, follow me,”11 Jesus thereby validated this once rabbinical reject, conferring him a chosen disciple of the greatest Rabbi ever.

her, but in doing so removed any lingering family doubts of Jesus’ divine pedigree, thus validating Peter’s radical decision to ground his fishing boats in order to follow Jesus fulltime.12 If one is to train disciples as Jesus did, one must begin by valuing and validating those to whom s/he disciples, just as Jesus did His disciples. Validation is merely the first step in the Master’s plan to disciple others. The next step the Master Disciple-Maker, Jesus, took in discipling Simon Peter was to provoke him to spiritual maturity. Disciple Provocation Soon after Jesus selected his twelve disciples He gave them authority to drive out demons, heal the sick and preach the Gospel.13 Meticulously following Jesus’ instructions resulted in their preaching and healing ministry success.14

A further validation of Peter came when the Great Rabbi humbly entered and affected Peter’s world. Warmly accepting the hospitality of a Jewish friendship meal, Jesus entered Peter’s private world through the front door of Peter’s family home. Upon entry, Jesus discovered Peter’s mother-in-law lay sick in bed. Jesus, the Master Disciple-Maker, who had entered his apprentice’s world also went on to radically affect it. By touching the sick woman, Jesus not only healed

Jesus went on to provoke spiritual maturity in His disciples by attempting to cause them to anticipate what He might say and do in uncertain situations. For instance, look at the time when 5,000 men, not counting women and children, were devouring Jesus’ teachings without noticing that their stomachs had grown hungry.15 Now although Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana turned full vats of water into wine,16 His disciples had not yet faced a challenge like feeding thousands of hungry people with as little as five loaves of bread and two fish. It was here that Jesus led His disciples deeper into the realm of imitating Christ, by provoking them to plumb the depths of the divine imagination to then respond with divine imitation. Before blessing and breaking the loaves and fish, Jesus challenged His disciples, saying, “You give them something to eat.” The Master wanted His apprentices to imagine what He would do and then imitate Him exactly, however, not even Peter could fully imagine what Jesus could fully do with so little.

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To Peter’s credit, he made up for his daftness soon thereafter. Immediately following the feeding of the multitude, Jesus made his disciples sail across the Sea of Galilee while He remained on land to pray. The twelve disciples, some of whom were seasoned sailors, feared for their lives when they saw before them what appeared to be an apparition – a ghost – walking on the water. Was this the angel of death coming on the water to claim yet another crew of mariner souls, as the well-known mariners’ legend of their day spoke of?17 After Jesus identified Himself, Peter uttered possibly the most profound words of any apprentice: “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”18 Impregnated in his words, Peter was declaring that even though no prophet of God had ever done this before, if he was being called to apprentice Christ, then, he reasoned, he would be enabled by God to do everything Jesus could do, including walking on water. Notice, this was before Jesus promised, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these.”19 Through the Gospels’ pages we see Jesus provoking His followers onto spiritual maturity. This was a critical part of the Master’s plan of discipleship, but it didn’t stop there. For His apprentices to successfully carry on His mission, Jesus ensured that His disciples, including Simon Peter, were educated well on the truths of the Kingdom of God.

as a disciple of Jesus it wasn’t always the words Jesus spoke, but rather the things Jesus did, that taught the deepest truths. This might explain how Peter could declare, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” when asked by his Master, “Who do you say I am?” Jesus confirmed that this truth was not voiced by men, but rather revealed by God in Heaven.20 Soon after God revealed truth to Peter, God voiced truth to Peter, James and John. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the icons of the Jewish faith, Moses and Elijah, stood before Jesus. Suddenly God the Father took part in educating the disciples on the supremacy of Jesus Christ, proclaiming, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” For when one listens to and obeys Jesus, the Living Word of God, s/he fulfills both the Law of Moses and the teachings of the Prophets.21 Little did Peter, James and John know when they began to follow Christ the level of intimacy they would encounter with Jesus. On three separate occasions, Peter, James and John formed a private audience22 of Jesus, while the other nine disciples did not. Why only these three? Suffice it to say, Jesus knew it was essential for them to fulfill their future mandates. Interestingly, with each private audience, Peter received a new revelation of who Jesus Christ was, thus deepening his spiritual and ministerial education.

Disciple Education Day after day the Master worked His master plan of discipleship by educating His disciples. Sometimes Jesus cloaked His teachings in cryptic language; often times He buried truths in parabolic stories; and still other times He spoke in elementary terms – terms even a child could understand. Even a simple skim of the Gospels would reveal that almost every time Jesus taught, His disciples learned something. Perhaps

Disciple Examination Whether disciples learn Jesus’ words and ways through the Word of God or throughout their walk with God, one thing is for sure: All disciples will face examinations along the way. Tests came in various forms at various times to Simon Peter. Once in a while Jesus examined Peter in true rabbinical fashion by asking open-ended questions to test if he was grasping

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His teachings. One time, when Jesus was confronted with the thorny issue of whether or not Jews should pay Roman taxes, Jesus examined Peter’s heart and mind by asking, “What do you think, Simon?”23 When stumped over something Jesus said or did, His disciples frequently asked for clarification. Godly disciple-makers seize every opportunity to answer their disciples’ questions. After Jesus taught on confronting a brother who sins against you,24 Peter asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?” As gracious as Peter was when he volunteered “Up to seven times?” instead of the usual three-strikes-and-you’re-out approach of the Jews,25 he must have been rattled to the core of his soul when Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.”26 When we endeavour to train up disciples around us, Jesus’ example teaches us at least two things: 1) Whenever disciples ask their masters questions, they must be ready to hear the truth, and 2) Whenever masters answer their disciples, they must speak the truth, even when it hurts. This brings us to the fifth step of the Master’s plan of discipleship: Correction.

Hours later, when Jesus found Peter sleeping in the Garden of Gethsemane, He lovingly reproved Peter, “Are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”28 Minutes later, when Jesus was arrested and Peter retaliated by drawing his sword and assaulting the servant of the high priest, Jesus lovingly rebuked Peter, saying, “Put your sword away!29 Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” Discipling sometimes hurts both the disciple and the disciple-maker, however, when correction is given in love, disciples can learn or relearn valuable lessons from their masters. At times however fear, doubt and sin caused Jesus’ disciples to stray away from their Master. Yet as we discover in Peter’s case, the Master’s plan of discipleship never ends with disappointments and denials. Rather, those are the precursors to restoration.

Disciple Correction Godly disciple-makers will speak the truth in love, even when it hurts, because they know that correction is needed, especially when failure and destruction are looming. Sadly, throughout the three and a half years of intensive discipleship of Peter, Jesus needed to bring the most and the strongest correction on the eve of His own death. After Peter adamantly swore his undying devotion and loyalty to his Master, Jesus lovingly corrected his erring disciple. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “Today – yes, tonight – before the rooster crows twice, you yourself will disown me three times.”27

Disciple Restoration Lurking in the dark corners of the Garden of Gethsemane, we uncover the hardest step of the Master’s plan of discipling Simon Peter. As fate would have it, the Master’s darkest hour became this disciple’s worst hour. Before Jesus’ rebuke to Peter could be heard, His gut-wrenching cry for support could be heard – by a ministering angel, but not by sleeping Peter.30 This sixth step of the Master’s plan of discipleship was the most challenging. Early on in His ministry, Jesus had entered Peter’s world. Now, at the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus had invited Peter to enter His darkest hour. Disciple-makers must unreservedly open their hearts and lives – even during their darkest hours – that they might experience and share life with their disciples. Such vulnerability is a challenge for even the most veteran disciple-maker. Nevertheless, any-

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thing short of this will most certainly diminish a disciplemaker’s impact upon his disciple’s life. Unfortunately, Peter snoozed when he should have supported his Master. One can only wonder if Peter’s imminent remorse was caused by more than just his three denials of Christ. After everything Peter did – and didn’t do – during His Master’s final hours before the cross, Jesus lovingly restored him back onto his spiritual journey. In John chapter twenty-one we read that three times Jesus pricked Peter’s heart by asking, “Do you truly love me more than these?”31 Thrice the Master probed His disciple – once for each of Peter’s denials, or once for each of his finalhour mishaps, nobody but Jesus knows. During the Master’s darkest and the disciple’s worse hour, had Peter recalled Jesus’ answer to his earlier inquiry, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?” If he did, then Peter likely recalled Jesus’ answer with gratitude, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.”32 Such words indisputably would have soothed Peter’s tattered soul, as they would every fallen disciple of Christ. How great is the Master’s plan of discipleship. For the closer a disciple comes to his master, the more his master expects of him. Subsequently, the closer the master comes to his disciple, the more risk his disciple’s failure impacts the master. Disciple-makers, like Jesus, always lovingly forgive and restore their followers, regardless of the pain they encounter along the way. Moreover, to equip them for the future, disciple-makers impart whatever they can to enable their disciples to succeed however they need to. Impartation is the seventh and final step of the Master’s plan of discipleship.

Jesus appeared to Peter privately.33 Neither Paul nor the Gospel writers reveal what was said or done during that private appearance, but it seems that Jesus imparted love and forgiveness, hope and direction for Peter. Rather than returning to his fishing boats yet again,34 Peter returned to Jerusalem. There, Jesus promised, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”35 Ever wonder if Peter bemoaned Jesus’ words, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem”? After all, the last time Peter tried standing up for Jesus in Jerusalem, he ended up slinking away from Him; and the last time Peter tried defending Christ in Jerusalem, he ended up denying Him. Nevertheless, because of the ironclad trust imparted by Jesus to Peter, he returned to Jerusalem. Ten days later, just as Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit came, empowering Peter to carry out his Master’s work as only a well-equipped apprentice could. While Jesus alone can impart the Spirit’s power into a disciple’s life, we disciple-makers can assist Jesus in imparting God’s love and forgiveness, hope and direction when and where most needed.

Disciple Impartation The Apostle Paul reported that, after our Lord’s resurrection,

The Master’s plan of discipleship had succeeded. Jesus Christ had validated Simon Peter and his radical decision to follow Him. Jesus had included Peter in intimate settings encountered only by a private audience. Over the years, Jesus never stopped provoking Peter to grow in faith. Always educating, frequently examining and occasionally correcting, the Master continued to disciple Peter. During Jesus’ final hours, Peter finally grasped the truth buried within his Master’s words, “No servant is greater than his master.”36 Rather, Peter discovered, “The Jesus paradox is that only Christians lead by following.”37 Peter indeed learned this lesson well. When the pressure seemed too much and the task too great for Peter to withstand, resulting in failure, Jesus lovingly restored him

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and imparted to him all he would need to succeed in carrying out his Master’s plan. Succeed, he did. Peter preached his first post-Pentecost sermon, where 3,000 newborn disciples bowed their knees before Jesus38 – perhaps alongside kneeling Peter – for that was and always would remain the rightful place of every disciple of the Master Disciple-Maker, Jesus the Christ.

Chapter Three

Believe Like Jesus x x

Our churches abundantly and correctly proclaim that true Christians endeavor to live as Jesus lived. Most commonly, this is in reference to the “heart;” viz., the will and intentions that form moral or virtuous behaviour. That’s good. We need that sort of input. However, a danger in our circles is that we do not as abundantly nor so clearly proclaim that true Christians endeavor to think or believe like Jesus did. With reference to the “mind,” we are not so articulate. This is an error that, as the previous century taught, unleashes dramatic repercussions. As surely as we regularly point to the Sermon on the Mount, for example, for guidance on how to respond to an adversary of the believer himself, so should we just as readily turn there for illumination on how to respond to an adversary of Christian belief itself. It ought to be self-evident that the follower of Christ, the “Jesus-ian,” would not only live like Him, but believe and proclaim like him. Within the enormous sphere of what, exactly, Jesus believed there would be an untold plethora of subjects ranging from the critical to minutia. Multiple volumes would be required to address it all. Therefore, let’s limit our perspective to a 27

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foundational aspect of His belief system. Even this will have to be greatly truncated, but let’s examine the question of, “What did Jesus think about Scripture?” Since being a Christian means being a “follower” of Jesus, that question then transitions into: “What should we think about Scripture?” There are the obvious gospel references that come to mind as to what Jesus held in this regard. In Matthew 5:18 He states, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Given the chronology of His statement, this refers, of course, to the Hebrew scriptures, the Tanach, or what we would call the Old Testament. His affirmation is quite graphic here, since He doesn’t approach the question in macro terms (“Was God involved in any way with the Hebrew writings?) but with the micro perspective. The “smallest letter,” He says is secure in terms of divine revelation. In fact, the Yod is only one quarter the size of other Hebrew letters, and the pen stroke, (KJV, “tittle”), is an even smaller entity, the slight mark distinguishing one letter from another similar one, as, for example, between a Daleth (‫ )ד‬and a Resh (‫)ר‬. Obviously, Jesus’ illustrative point is not to intend that Hebrew words would not evolve over the centuries, such as the spelling of names, etc., but that the whole of the Hebrew canon was a faithful security to the one depending on it in any way. It would never let him down. Jesus enumerates the major divisions of that whole canon in Luke 24:44, specifying the three divisions of the Torah, the Prophets, and the Wisdom Literature (Hagiographa). He further declares that their contents were in direct reference to His Person—the living Truth.

to whether those that later reported what He had said did so accurately with the pure propagation of His thoughts and words—His further exposition in the fourth gospel broadens the base. John 14:25-26 coupled with 16:13f. thoroughly address the question, stating that not only will the Spirit remind the early church framers (the Apostolic band) what He Himself had said, but that this Spirit was Himself the Spirit of Truth, not of error. For Jesus, the accuracy of God the Spirit is directly tied to the accuracy and the import of Scripture. Moreover, Jesus the Living Word avers that God’s word, what He has disclosed or declared, is truth, John 17:17. It’s instructive that He does not use an adverb here, i.e. it is “true,” but an adjective. God’s words are the very embodiment of truth. The statement so comprised outstrips a mere description; no, the Words of God are very truth in themselves.

His similar logion pulls that same framework into the New Covenant era by saying, as in Mark 13:31, that His own words would likewise never pass away or come to dissolution. For one who may doubt the extent of this guarantee—as

A more subtle demonstration of what Jesus believed derives from the manner in which He treated the Scriptures in everyday interaction. An example of this passes by many scholars let alone most general readers. In Matthew 19:3f. Jesus is dealing with the Pharisees’ question on divorce. Quoting Genesis, He states that the Creator had in the beginning “made them male and female,” and then said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” The point, however, as it relates to this discussion, is that in the Genesis text the Creator did not say that. The narrator of Genesis adds that note. The human component in the inspiration of scripture is the grammatical source in that text, not God. The point to be had here is that, for Jesus, everything taught in the Scriptures is ultimately from God, regardless of human mediator. Jesus handles this passage with the same understanding He employs with every other Old Testament text He touches on. He regards the human constituents of the Scriptures as so superintended by the Almighty that it can rightly be said that

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God “θεόπνευστος”—“breathed out” the entirety of what is said in those writings, regardless if it came through a Moses or a Chronicler. The Scripture are, in themselves, what God says. In a pivotal passage for not only the Jewish mind and context but also ours, Jesus bases His Scriptural understanding of the resurrection of the dead on what boils down to be not just a single verb, but the mere aspect of that verb that denotes what we would call tense. Answering the Sadducees in Mark 12:26-27, Jesus argues that because the Scriptures state that God is the God of the forefathers (not was), they must be alive and not dead since the statement came centuries after those Patriarchs walked the earth. That such a major doctrine is supported by Christ in such manner is indicative of His thorough trust in the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture. This narrow slice of the entirety of what Jesus believed is no way disconnected from the broader question of godly ethics and behaviour. For example, when asked a question that cut to the heart of Godly living, Christ’s immediate response was, “What is written?,” Luke 10:26. Moreover the phrase “haven’t you read” or a synonymous one on Jesus’ lips is scattered across the Synoptics such that it’s clear it was a refrain for Him. Because this is what the Son of God turned to, i.e., “What is written” it is therefore flatly bedrock for any disciple of His. This unseen understanding forms the foundation for the public edifice of his Christ-following life. Such, alone, however, is not enough. What Jesus believed about the content of Scripture is only part of the equation. He also believed that content was to be scrupulously mined. In Mark 7:6-13 He rebukes His opponents telling them they have distorted—even nullified—God’s words. In Matthew 22:29 He tells them their error stems from not knowing the scriptures. To be Christ-like, then, one must not only believe what Christ did about Scripture, but must intimately know 30

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that Scripture, a demand that requires ongoing and morethan-superficial study. As an adjunct at Summit Pacific, I can relay to you what for me is a sobering fact. Each year our Bible-knowledge assessment exam given to each student upon entry into the school yields information on how well we, as parents and churches, are doing in educating our young. For very many years, the graph has been descending. Year after year our young people know less and less of the Bible when they enter college. Could this be one reason that statistically 80% of those entering secular schools leave the church? Christian conduct or discipleship is indissolubly tied to what Jesus theologically held, for thought precedes action. Just as we rightly exhort one another toward a sanctified behavior, i.e. a lifestyle mirroring that of Jesus’, so we ought to press each other toward a mental or worldview sanctification that roots our lives in that foundation. For from that foundation will spring behaviour. To live like Jesus requires that we believe like Jesus. It’s my conviction that our PAOC preaching and teaching will best develop fully-orbed disciples if our pulpits and classrooms are committed to more-than-surface addresses. May the Living Word empower us by the Spirit of Truth to proclaim that which is the truth, God’s written Word.

Chapter Four

Live Like Jesus x x

Dietrich Bonheoffer’s book The Cost of Discipleship is a classic in Christian literature for two very important reasons. First, the book is an invitation to live like Jesus. Bonheoffer focussed on the Sermon on the Mount in his book where the teaching of Jesus shapes how Christians ought to live. Second, the book is a classic because Bonheoffer lived like Jesus. His life and death inspires Christians to follow Jesus even if it leads to death as Bonheoffer did when he spoke out against the Nazi regime of the early twentieth century. Living like Jesus, Bonheoffer believed, was characterized by a life of obedience. It was a radical call to repent of “cheap grace” and enter into the kingdom of God. I want to focus on the Sermon on the Mount as one of the central teachings of the New Testament that will help us think about living like Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount is probably the most well known of the gospel texts. It consists of chapters 5, 6 & 7 in Matthew’s gospel. The “Golden Rule” is also familiar to people in our culture, even if most cannot link the teaching to Jesus. The Golden Rule summarizes the teaching: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (7:12). Yet, the Sermon on the Mount is far more instructive than 33

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the Golden Rule. There are several reasons why the Sermon on the Mount is important for Christian discipleship. First, the Sermon contains a series of teachings from Jesus about how his followers are to live. Whether Jesus was teaching about the beatitudes, salt and light, letting your light shine, good deeds, forgiveness, humility, prayer, or love, together his teachings constitute a moral theology. By moral we simply mean teachings about how we ought to live. Throughout the Sermon Jesus would say, “you have heard… but I tell you.” This is a very important strategy. Jesus confronted the religious people in his day and reminded them that the duty to love God entailed more than “not hating” your brother or sister. Jesus turned their moral viewpoints upside down. He challenged them to see the inconsistency in their lives. Jesus asked his hearers, for example, why they thought they were living a good life because they did not murder. Jesus went deeper and said if we are truly going to be a disciple we cannot think too highly of ourselves because we are not murderers. Rather, and here is where he turns his message from prohibition to action, when he says, if we truly are his disciples we will love one another. Furthermore, where we have hate in our hearts, we are no better than the person who has murdered. The Sermon on the Mount re-orients his followers to carefully consider how they live and whether or not their actions are truly linked with a pure heart. Second, the Sermon on the Mount is what we call in sociology an exercise in sociological imagination or what some might call using your theological imagination. Here’s what I mean. Throughout the Sermon, Jesus presents an alternative way to live that contrasts with the current cultural norms. Jesus’ teaching has the effect of “waking people up” from their current way of living to consider or imagine another way. Jesus, in effect, says, we think we live in a really good world because we do not hate one another. But, imagine what life would be like if we lived in a world where we love one an34

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other? This strategy is powerful because it gives his followers a clear example of what life could potentially be like if people were re-oriented to a different set of values. Imagination is a powerful cultural “tool” that inspires and gives vision. Imagining what life could be like if we were to fully live as a disciple of Jesus motivates people to act as if that new world is real – a world that is characterized by God’s kingdom in contrast with the world’s opposing ways. Living like Jesus is about being an example of an alternative way of life. It captures our imagination and those around searching for another way. Third, the Sermon on the Mount is a clear call to enter into the kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God represents another way of living. The kingdom of God is the heart of Jesus’ message. It is the gospel or the “Good News” of Jesus. The gospel is especially appealing to people who are marginalized from the central power of culture. It is good news to those who are poor. It is good news for those who are abandoned. It is good news for those who need the love of a heavenly Father. It is good news for the orphans and the widows. It is good news for those who need to be set free. As Jesus said in Luke’s gospel, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (4:18-19). All Christians are called to live a life that demonstrates faithfulness to the kingdom of God. All other “principalities and powers” (see Ephesians 6) are to be rejected. Living like Jesus requires a re-orientation of self, society, and our understanding of God. The Sermon on the Mount turns us towards Jesus. Central to the sermon is a challenge to consider our motivations and our actions. It calls us to love one another with a greater love than any allegiance to a nation, sporting team, business, or denomination that may hold our 35

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heart. To love one another, fellow-Christians as well as anyone thought to be an “enemy” is how we live like Jesus. It is a radical call – a call to love. Love, often so misunderstood in our culture, cannot be reduced to self-interest where we only love those who love us in return. Love, the central cultural characteristic of the kingdom of God, shapes how we live, because God is love and we too must love as God loves us

To Produce Fully Devoted Followers of Christ

What is Spirituality? Spirituality is finding a center at the core of your being that connects, organizes, and defines every aspect of your life. For a Christ follower, that center is knowing Jesus. Christian spirituality is intensely relational. When asked to explain spirituality in a nutshell, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and all your strength.” And then he said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” For a Christ follower, spirituality is about loving God and loving others. What is Spiritual Growth all About? Spiritual growth is about becoming mature in all of its dimensions. The Bible encourages us to be become “mature in Christ”. And the Scriptures define maturity as growing into the “fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ”. Becoming like Christ is the product of a growing spirituality. What is the Goal of Spirituality? Christian spiritualty is about becoming like Jesus Christ in... His Convictions – Believing what Christ Believed His Character – Living Like Christ Lived 39

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TO PRODUCE FULLY DEVOTED FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST

His Spirituality – Training like Christ Trained His Relationships – Loving like Christ Loved His Service – Ministering like Christ Ministered His Purpose – Leading like Christ Led (mission)

The first three pursuits are about “loving God”. The second three are about “loving others”. This is the goal of the spiritual life and the outcome of knowing and following Jesus. Becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ is an ongoing, lifelong journey. Spiritual development is a process of growth that happens as we move toward knowing and following Jesus Christ. The pathway begins with being Unfamiliar with Christ and moves on to Exploring Christ. Once you have decided to follow Christ, you enter the Beginning in Christ Stage of the journey and then move on to Growing in Christ. The final stage is living your life Centered in Christ. As a supportive and Christ-following community, we want to help you take the next step forward in your relationship with Christ.

ers continue to grow by engaging in spiritual practices that become part of a new way of life. How Do I Start Making Spiritual Progress? The most catalytic thing you can do to move forward in getting to know and follow Christ is to take responsibility for your spiritual growth. The best relationships of our lives are a result of an intentional investment we have made. Investing in your relationship with God involves making habits of regular spiritual practices that make room in your life to hear from God and allow his Spirit to do a work of transformation in your life. At Broadway, we emphasize and encourage the essential practices of prayer, reading and reflecting on the Bible, and telling others about Christ. These three practices are basic to a vital and growing spiritual life. Other spiritual practices include solitude, silence, Sabbath rest, journaling, confession, corporate worship, serving, meditating on the teaching of the Bible, and others.

How Do I Grow Spiritually? There are three essentials that are critical for spiritual growth. The first is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God is currently active through his Spirit to bring about maturity in the life of a Christ follower. The second essential is the teaching of the Scriptures. The Bible provides all the knowledge and direction we need to love God and love others. The third is the community of Christ followers. Spirituality is not a solo pursuit. We grow with the help and support of others on the journey. Spiritual growth begins with a decision to follow Jesus. The first step for a new follower is to be baptized in water which serves as a public announcement of the decision we have made and our desire to live a new kind of life. Christ follow40

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page 7 1 According to Wikipedia, he penned “over 240 books” during his lifetime. 2 Quoted by Hayes, Bryan J., http://www.vintage.org.uk/jesus-and-hisfather.html page 8 3 Erickson, Millard. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, pg. 292. 4 The voice speaking is not identified, but refers to Jesus as “my son.” The assumption is that this is God’s voice and orthodox scholars rightly point out that all three members of the Trinity are identifiable in this story with the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. page 9 5 Erickson, pg 292. 6 “The love racket: Defining love and agape for the love-and-science research program,” Zygon, vol. 40, no. 4 (December 2005), pp. 919-938. page 15 7 Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. 1989. New York: Simon & Schuster, p.97.

14 Luke 9:3-6 15 Matthew 14:13-21 16 John 2:1-11 page 18 17 R.T. France, The New International Commentary of the New Testament: The Gospel of Matthew. 2007. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B. Eerdmans, p.569. 18 Matthew 14:22-33 19 John 14:12 page 19 20 Matthew 16:13-17 21 Matthew 17:1-5 22 Luke 8:49-56; Matthew 17:1-13; 26:36-46 page 20 23 Matthew 17:24-25 24 Matthew 18:15-20 25 Job 33:29-30 26 Matthew 18:21-22 27 Mark 14:27-31 page 21 28 Mark 14:32-38 29 John 18:11 30 Luke 22:39-45 page 22 31 John 21:15-17 32 Matthew 18:21-22

page 16 8 Matthew 28:18-20 9 Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship. 2006. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, p.63. 10 Matthew 16:18 11 Matthew 4:19

page 23 33 1 Corinthians 15:5 34 John 21:1-14 35 Acts 1:8 36 John 15:20 37 Leonard Sweet, I Am A Follower. 2012. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, p.21.

page 17 12 Matthew 8:14-15 13 Matthew 10:1-4; Luke 9:1-2

page 24 38 Acts 2:14-41