I'm excited for us to begin this ten week journey of learning to Walk like Jesus! It's definitely not too late to get into a small group. We have space, our staff team will make sure you find a group. If you're ready to go deeper, we have $10 "Walk as Jesus Walked" study books available. And BTW, you don't need to be in a group to work through the study book. You just need 15-20 minute day, 5 days a week.
Think of all the frivolous things you spend $10 dollars on. The other night I was on the lake and lost two lures in the span of minutes [slide]. Those lures cost more than $10. Ten bucks is the cost of a candle, a round of golf, a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Invest in yourself! You can get your book, or sign up for group, next to the coffee bar.
I want to begin talking about the nature of faith itself. In the Bible, Jesus' basic invitation to us is to "repent and believe" (Mark 1:15). At the most basic level, repentance involves changing your heart and mind about something. Maybe you've been really angry and bitter toward God, because of what's happened in your life. Maybe you stopped believing in God years ago, and have just been going through the motions of church.
When God asks you to repent he is asking for you to be open-hearted, and open-minded, so he can speak into your life. Maybe you feel God has been silent a really long time, and you don't understand why. The Bible says "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13). Why not open your heart to God again? What do you have to lose? This is nature of repentance.
When Jesus invites us to believe, he's inviting us to try on a new set of glasses, a new paradigm, a new set of lenses, through which we view our life. Let me give you a few examples of belief:
God Is. The most foundational belief (I can think of) is either God is, or He isn't. Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
One of the most powerful proofs for the existence of the Living God is life itself. I was reading this book on the history of blood & violence, and the atheist writer was reflecting on how universally, throughout the history of mankind, people have always made sacrifices. It's strange to think about. But when hunters killed a buffalo, they would go through a religious ritual to affirm that it takes a life to sustain a life. The premise of the Christian faith is that God is life, and he freely offers his life, to sustain our lives. First he breathes life into our mortal soul, but then He dies, offering the life of his Son, that we might have life everlasting.
Spirit Is. Another belief is that the Spirit of the Living God has been active, making God known to mankind, since the beginning of time. 1 Corinthians 2:10 says, "these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." In other words, God has insatiable desire to be known.
Bible Is. Yet another belief is that the Bible is a trustworthy account of God's efforts to be known, and bestow eternal life on mankind. In 2 Peter 1:16, 21 we read, "For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. . . For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
The Bible is a trustworthy record of the Living God, by his Spirit, speaking and acting, in history, to make himself known and to bestow eternal life on all mankind. It's up to us to know the Scriptures, and evaluate the Scriptures, so we can walk in the paths of truth, righteousness, and life. All of this bring us to a fourth core belief...
Jesus Is. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the treasure trove. Colossians 2:3 says in Christ "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Everything you ever wanted to know about the Living God... his character, his nature, his purpose & plan, his personality, his intentions, his motives, his message... is stored up like buried treasure in Christ Jesus. But it only remains buried and hidden if we're content to leave it buried/hidden.
Now this is very important. If what I'm saying is true, there ought to be total congruence between everything God Is... and the Spirit reveals... and the Bible records... and that Jesus is shown to be in the gospels. Why not investigate this for yourself?
When Jesus reveals himself to be the Son of God in the Gospels he points to the Living God and says, "That's my Father. I'm his Son. I speak only what I hear him speaking. I do only what I see him doing." What's incongruent between Jesus/God?
Jesus also points to the Spirit of the Living God. He was conceived by the Spirit, born of the Spirit, anointed for ministry by the Spirit, made powerful by the Spirit, filled with the fruit of the Spirit, raised from the grave by the Spirit.
Jesus also points to the Scriptural record. Jesus introduces himself literally by quoting the Old Testament record. When you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John notice the hundreds of footnotes and Old Testament allusion. Jesus is the Son of Man, the promised Messiah, the Christ, the seed, the child threw whom all nations would be blessed.... The one who the Living God (by his Spirit) promised from very beginning.
You might remember on the Road to Emmaus, after Jesus was raised from the grave, how Bible records that "beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus explained what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself" (Luke 24:27)
This was also the strategy of the Apostles. Not, "hey take our word for it..." but rather, "... what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared..." (1 Corinthians 15:3-5a)
In his famous Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them! For truly I tell you, until heaven and earthy disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" (Matthew 5:17-18).
The congruence between everything we'd expect God to be, everything the Spirit's been revealing, everything recorded in the OT/NT Bible, and everything Jesus showed himself to be... forms the very foundation of our faith.
The grand introduction of Jesus in John's Gospel says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:1-5)
John 1:14, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Hebrews 1:1-3, "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he provided purification of sins (dying for the world, his life to sustain ours!) he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."
Colossians 1:15-20, "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the Church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him, to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."
We can know God because of Jesus. We can see Living God in face of Jesus. You can peer right in the heart of God, and the mind of God, by knowing Jesus. Repent (open heart/mind) & Believe (try on this paradigm of faith).