Saturday, January 22, 2011

23.01.11 - Follow Me

I mentioned last week that I have very few opportunities left to preach here. I am away for the next two Sundays doing Moderator stuff. That means there is only today and our last Sunday here which will be 13th February. As I have thought about what I want to say on those occasions, I have chosen to simply reiterate some things that I believe are of the utmost importance.

Last week I simply said that it is all about Jesus. Our faith and our lives must centre on the person of Jesus. It is not about living a certain lifestyle. It is not about serving an organisation; the church. It is about trusting and serving Jesus Himself, and then, on that basis, choosing to live in a way that honours Him and choosing to commit to His church and so on. Jesus is to be central. The other things follow.

Today I want to consider one word that I think sums up what we are called to do in our relationship with Jesus: Follow.

It was a word that was one of Jesus’ favourites. Very often His invitation to people to come into a relationship with Him was “Follow Me”. When He called Peter and Andrew, James and John to leave their nets, the words were, “Come. Follow Me.” When He called Matthew to leave his tax collector’s booth, it was “Follow Me.”

It became the general term for people’s relationship with Jesus. Jesus said,
Mark 8:34 If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Anyone who would be a Christian is called to follow Jesus. Indeed, Christians were called “followers” long before they were called “Christians”: followers of Jesus, followers of the Way.

Why use that word? What does it mean to follow someone?

The most basic meaning is to walk behind or to travel behind. I think it is used that way in the Bible. We are several times told that crowds followed Jesus. It doesn’t necessarily mean any great commitment just that they travelled around after Him and enjoyed the teaching and seeing the miracles. In, fact, often when we are told that there were great crowds, we find that Jesus challenged them. The verse I just used (Mark 8:34) actually begins, “Then He called the crowd to Him along with his disciples and said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Jesus was looking for a type of following greater than simply travelling around behind. Jesus was looking for more than spectators. To follow does have a much deeper meaning.

If I was to say that I was a follower of Bob Marley that would probably mean that I looked to him as my teacher and inspiration. It would mean that I adopted his Rastafarian views and modelled my life on him. It would almost certainly mean that I wore dreadlock and a multicoloured crocheted hat. I would be committed to reggae music and possibly would try to imitate Bob Marley on the guitar. In other words, I would think like Bob Marley, talk like Bob Marley, dress like Bob Marley, look like Bob Marley, live what Bob Marley liked, behave like Bob Marley and believe what Bob Marley believed.

If I was a committed follower my whole life would be influenced by Bob Marley. Everything: what he ate, what he read, ethical standards musical tastes. Everything.

Likewise if I was a follower of Karl Marx or Mahatma Gandhi! There are all those people who try to look like Elvis Presley and sing like Elvis Presley. That is somewhat trivial perhaps but in some instances people will lay down their lives for the sake of the person they have chosen to follow. People would die in their devotion to Karl Marx and his philosophy.

Think of the lengths followers of Mohammed will go to. Every day, in Islam, we see examples of what it means to follow.

Following, in that sense, means committing one’s whole life to another person. It includes
• Imitating that person
• Becoming like that person
• Adopting the teachings and beliefs of that person
• Promoting the teachings and beliefs of that person.
• Taking instruction from that person.
• Maybe dying for that person.

Another way we might describe a follower of someone would be to say that he is a disciple of that person.

All of that is true when we consider Jesus’ invitation: Follow Me. It literally meant to travel around with Him but the being with Him was so that these other things might happen; so that people would know what he was like and imitate Him; would gradually become like Him; would learn from Him and adopt His teaching; would do what He did and would be committed to the point of being willing to die for Him.

Jesus said that: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross; deny himself; be willing to die.

If people will die for Karl Marx or Mohammed, is it asking too much for people to be willing to die for Jesus? Even if it doesn’t mean actually losing one’s life, it does mean giving up our lives completely. It does mean dying to self so that we become nothing and Jesus becomes everything. It means I surrender everything about myself in favour of Jesus. I surrender my own ambitions, my own views, my own future, my right to make my own decisions and my own preferences. I surrender my own comfort and my so-called “rights” in order to become like Jesus and think like Jesus and talk like Jesus and act like Jesus and take my instructions from Jesus. My one goal is to glorify Jesus (not myself).

Does that sound extreme? Ridiculously extreme? Is that too much? Jesus asks for our complete allegiance. He asks that nothing else comes ahead of Him. Remember He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:26-27) “Hate” is hyperbole. It is overstatement. Jesus wants us to love our families but His point is that our love for Him must be so much greater that it completely overshadows our love for our families. Without that level of commitment we cannot be His disciples, He says.

Is that asking way too much? Jesus is God. Are we willing to be 100% committed to God? He is not a human being like Marx or Mohammed. We are talking about God asking for our allegiance.

But not only that, we are talking about the God who sacrificed Himself for us – the God who loves this world so much that He gave His one and only Son to die nailed to a cross. Can a God who died for us legitimately ask for our complete allegiance?

There is no doubt that that is what Jesus is asking for. He doesn’t invite us to negotiate the terms. We either accept His terms or we don’t. What about you? Are you willing to give Jesus your whole life?

Is saying “I am a follower of Jesus” different from saying, “I am a Christian”? It seems to me that “Christian” is a label that doesn’t necessarily imply that I am doing anything. But if I am a follower I must be doing something. Following implies modelling my life on Him, learning from Him, being willing to obey Him and go where he says to go.

Basically, followers try to become like their leader. Followers of Jesus Christ seek to be like Him. Let’s think in terms of head, heart and hands. Head implies our thinking and our beliefs. The Bible talks about having the mind of Christ. We are to learn to think like Him. We are to believe what He says.

Heart involves our character and our affections. In character we are to be Christ-like. The fruit of the Spirit would be one description of Christ-like character that God wants to see in us. Christ-like affections mean that we like what Jesus likes and we prioritise what Jesus prioritises. Our values come from Him.

Hands means that we do what He did. Christ-likeness isn’t only about inner transformation. The Christ-like person acts like Christ. It means praying and worshipping like He did. It means caring for the needy and going to social outcasts. It means calling people to follow Jesus and training those who do. It means being a person through whom God can work miraculously. Followers do what their leader modelled.

There is an Old Testament passage that very beautifully picks up what it means to be a dedicated follower. Remember Ruth’s words to her mother-in-law, Naomi. Listen to them again.

Ruth 1:15-17 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”


16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

Notice how Ruth doesn’t ask to negotiate these things or share the leadership. She completely submits to Naomi’s leadership. Where Naomi goes Ruth will go. If Naomi stops and stays somewhere, Ruth will stay there. Ruth was a Moabite and Naomi was a Jew but Ruth said that Naomi’s people would be her people. She would even submit to Naomi’s God. He would become her God. She would die where Naomi died and be buried with her. Not even death would separate her from her mother-in-law.

It is a very beautiful statement. Could you make that same statement to Jesus. Could you say to Jesus, “Where you go I will go”? Are you willing to follow Jesus if He leads you to the mission field or to your neighbour’s house? Ruth models perfect submission.

When Jesus says it is time to move, are we willing to move? When Jesus says we will stay here then are we content to stay?

Your people will be my people. Commitment to Jesus’ church. These are God’s people therefore they will be my people. I will be part of this team. I will love these people. I will put into practice all that the Bible says about the church. I won’t just hang around the fringes. These are my people.

Jesus, your God will be my God. I will believe what you believed and what you taught. I will submit to Your Father. I will worship. I will serve. I will listen to Him. Your God will be my God.

Where you die I will die and there I will be buried. The Bible says a lot about dying with Jesus. I think that is an area we know too little about but we are called to die with Him and to rise to a new life.

Ruth, surprisingly, says that not even death will separate them. For followers of Jesus, death will actually be a coming together. Those who have committed to following Him will, at long last, be with Him.

Jesus must be at the centre. Our response is to follow. Jesus very explicitly calls us to follow and very explicitly talks about what it means to be a follower. He seeks absolute devotion but then the rewards promised to followers of Jesus will make every sacrifice worthwhile.

Matt 19:18-19 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

16.01.11 - It Is All About Jesus

I have only three more occasions when I will preach here. I am here this week and next, then away on 30th January and 6th February and then 13th February will be our last Sunday. Obviously, I have asked myself what I want to say in these last opportunities.

Eighteen months ago, I got an email that quoted an article called “The Amazing Disappearing and Reappearing Cross”. It was about preaching. Its main point was that a lot of preaching doesn’t even refer to Jesus or, more particularly, to the Cross. The Cross has disappeared. A lot of preaching is like the self-help books that you can buy in any book shop. How to be successful. How to be a better person. How to have a better marriage. Six steps to answered prayer.

It is good to be successful. It is good to be a better person and to have a better marriage and to pray. It is good for preaching to be practical. The question is: Was Jesus required? Or could we do it by ourselves?

Preachers might tell people what they ought to do. That’s fine but how are people going to live by that moral standard? This article says, “It takes a life transformation to live by the moral standards of Jesus. That transformation can only come through the cross.” The preaching is not Christian unless it comes back to the cross.

It is not only preaching. In our discussions in our small groups or to our conversations with friends we can tell people what to do and how to do it, in a way that doesn’t require Jesus. It is self-help. Even if it reflects Jesus’ teaching, if it can be done without Jesus then anyone could do it. A good-living Hindu or Muslim or atheist could do it. The cross has disappeared.

For example, Jesus said, “When someone strikes you on one cheek, turn the other cheek to him.” Any good Hindu or atheist might agree with that and might even go some way towards living it out. But self-protection and the desire for retaliation and revenge are built into us. They are part of our nature. The only way our nature changes is through the death of Jesus on the cross. Anyone can have a high ideal. That is not uniquely Christian. But only the person who has died and been raised again with Jesus, has that new nature. The new nature is the Christ-like nature and Jesus wasn’t driven by a desire for retaliation. Being a new person in Christ is uniquely Christian. An atheist can agree with Christ’s teaching but an atheist cannot be a new person in Christ.

Another example: how do you grow a church? Well there are all sorts of things that it is just wise to do. The worship should engage people. The preaching needs to be relevant. Being entertaining helps. Small groups are key. Make people feel welcome and valued. You know two of the most important things are nice toilets and high quality child-care. Those things are really important but any savvy business knows that it needs to look after people and provide excellent services. That has got nothing to do with Jesus.

If Jesus isn’t required, then it is not Christian. Any fool could do it.

Paul, the apostle, talking about growing a church said, “I planted the seed; Apollos watered it but God makes it grow.” (1 Cor 3:6). In fact he went on to say,
1 Cor 3:7-9 So neither the one who plants, nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their labour. For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

In one sense, those who clean the toilets and those who develop the programmes are nothing because growth comes from God. In another sense, they are co-workers with God. We need to plant and water. We need to clean the toilets and have good programmes – but the growth comes from God.

Another example: you read your Bible (because the preacher said you should) and you are reminded of the story of the exodus of the Jews out of Egypt. But did you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? What have you done that was different from what a non-Christian could do? Reading the Bible is not necessarily Christian. Anyone can read the Bible. Not anyone can hear God speak through the Bible.

Do you hear what I am saying? It is all about Jesus. It is all about the cross – the saving, transforming effect of the cross. Paul said,
1 Cor 2:2 I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

It is not about self-improvement. It is not about good living. It is not about what we can do. It is about Jesus and the cross. It is not about being good people. It is about being changed people, new people.

We can simply live by a high moral code but not be changed people. We can visit the sick but Jesus be no part of it. We can serve as part of the church family and rely completely on our human abilities. If Jesus isn’t required, we are doing no more than any other highly motivated atheist.

The New Testament does contain lots of commands as to how we should live. It can sound like moral advice but I suggest to you that it is always linked back to Jesus
• These things are to be done as our response to Jesus, as people saved by Jesus
• These things are to be done because we are to imitate Jesus, as people following Jesus
• These things can be done only by the power of Jesus, as people transformed by Jesus

For example, Romans 12-16 contain instruction as to how Christians should live but the first 11 chapters contain a detailed description of what God has done for our salvation. In particular, chapters 6-8 talk about us dying with Jesus and being raised to a new life in which sin has no power over us. So the ethical instruction does not stand alone. It follows on from all that has been said. It is the consequence of the gospel. Paul makes that clear by starting chapter 12 with “therefore”. That links the ethical instruction to the salvation we have received. In fact, Paul makes it more explicit:
Rom 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s great mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is true worship.

The ethical living is an act of worship explicitly a response to the mercy of God. No atheist is motivated to worship God or to respond to God’s great mercy or to offer his body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is specifically Christian.

Not only that but in the next verse Paul says,
Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Paul doesn’t say, “Transform yourself” but “be transformed”. Who is going to do the transforming? This is us being transformed by God.

The verse also talks about a daily conversation with God as we discern His will. Christianity is not just about good, ethical living. It is about living in a relationship with Jesus and living by the power of Jesus.

Although those later chapters of Romans do contain lots of ethical instruction and not every one is linked back to Jesus, we run across verses such as:
Rom 12:5 ...in Christ we, though many, form one body...

That is not true of Hindus and Muslims and atheists. It is only as we are in Christ that we form one body.

Romans 13:14 Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

The ability to no longer gratify our sinful natures comes only as we clothe ourselves with Jesus. Even the most moral atheist cannot do that.

What I am trying to say is that it is all about Jesus. It is about Jesus being at the very centre of our lives; about Jesus being the motivating and empowering presence in our lives. It is not about living ethically. It is about living by faith In Jesus.

I think the Christian life is summed up nicely in an Old Testament passage.
Proverbs 3:5-6 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Ponder those words. See how it centres around the Lord. Everything centres around Jesus and a wholehearted trust in Him. “With all your heart... in all your ways”. Everything centres around Jesus.

It is about trust. It is about believing that God is good; with all our heart believing that God is good; believing that God knows what He is doing and I can trust Him. He loves me and He is not going to hurt me so I will do whatever He asks of me.

Sometimes God will ask of us things that we don’t understand and that don’t seem rational. Asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac made no sense at all but Abraham did not rely on his own understanding. He trusted God and that trust is referred to several times in the New Testament as the epitome of faith.

It doesn’t mean doing stupid things. It means trusting God – believing that God is good – so much that we will do what He asks even when we don’t understanding.

It also means that, for example, in growing a church, it is not just a case of relying on techniques – human wisdom. Trust God. Don’t rely only on clever programming.

In all your ways submit to Him. All your ways – everything we do – no exceptions. There is no part of our lives which is to be kept separate from our Christian lives. There is no part that we can control while other bits we allow Jesus to control. Jesus is to be Lord of all our lives.

Submission means we acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and we are not. Everything is offered to Jesus with us saying, “Lord, what do you want? May your will, not mine, be done.”

The promise at the end is “and He will make your paths straight”. Or it can be translated “and He will direct your paths”. If we trust God and give all of our lives to Him, He will guide us. He will make our path easier. It doesn’t say it here but it does elsewhere: He will be with us.

Is Jesus at the centre of your life? Are you living in a relationship with Him and communicating with Him? Do you let Him speak to you through the scriptures and by His Spirit? Are you praying?

Have you given yourself to Him? Have you offered your body as a living sacrifice? Is everything you do submitted to Him?

Are you living the new life that comes only through having died and been raised with Him?

Sometimes the question is asked of churches: If the Holy Spirit departed, would you notice? In other words, how much of the life of this church depends on the presence and power of God and how much is it simply a human organisation that would carry on regardless?

The same question can be asked of each individual Christian. We can live a sort of Christianity that doesn’t include Christ. We can be ethical and serve in the church but Jesus can be absent. One of the things I want to stress before I leave is: It is all about Jesus. It is about knowing Jesus, relating to Jesus, serving Jesus and being transformed and empowered by Jesus. Please centre your life on Jesus.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

09.01.11 - Learning The Way Jesus Taught

I want to do one of those mind-reading tricks. Think of any incident involving Jesus and the disciples. Focus on that for a minute... Wow! That’s amazing! Some of you were thinking of them crossing the lake in the storm which is what I was thinking of too! That is incredible!

On the basis of that, let’s read that story. READ Mark 4:35-41

This was a teaching moment – provided by the testing circumstances of the storm. The disciples were clearly in grave danger. Some of them were fishermen and must have been in storms before but this storm was apparently so violent that they feared they are going to drown.

There were other boats travelling with them, so lots of people were in danger.

If this was a teaching moment, what was the potential lesson? It wasn’t about sailing. It wasn’t about water safety. What was it about? We can see it in the questions Jesus asked at the end: Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? The lesson was one of faith – in the midst of the storm being able to trust God and, trusting Him, not being afraid. It is a lesson about the peace that comes from faith in God.

Have you learnt that lesson? What would your reaction be in a similar situation? What is your reaction when you face some frightening situation? Have you learnt the lesson of this incident?

If you have learnt to trust God and not be afraid, how did you learn that? Someone might have told you that you can trust God; how to trust God and that you should trust God. But is being told enough for you to actually trust God? Don’t you have to experience it? Don’t you have to be in a situation where you are challenged to trust God and you do and you discover Him to be trustworthy. You might say you trust God but you won’t know if you really do until that trust is test by a situation – like a storm.

God will bring about those tests. It is part of the learning. If you are learning about patience, God will set up some little experiment to test that. If you are learning about giving, God will test that.

That happened to the disciples all of the time. It is what we see here. Would they trust God in a storm? On other occasions... Could they heal the boy with a demon? How would they feed 5000 people with only 5 loaves and 2 fish? Did they understand who Jesus was? How would they get on ministering in the villages when Jesus sent them out? All of the time they were being tested. It is part of the learning.

They were tested as they crossed the lake. I don’t think this storm happened by chance. God put them in that situation to see how they would react. Or, maybe, so they could see how they would react.

When God puts us in a testing situation, it might be primarily so that we can see how we are getting on – how much we are learning; what progress we are making. Sometimes it is encouraging. Sometimes...

So, a large part of this teaching moment was experimentation – being in the situation so as to see how they would react; giving it a go to see if we can do it.

Another part of what happened here was that Jesus went to sleep. In the midst of a storm that caused fishermen to fear for their lives, Jesus went to sleep. They had to wake Him. He didn’t seem at all phased by the storm. He was perfectly at peace – which is what they should have been.

In front of their eyes, Jesus demonstrated a different response. That response was so staggering they couldn’t understand it. They thought He didn’t care about them. They thought He should be doing something. It was so staggering that it must have made a huge impression. Later, they must often have thought “in the midst of that storm, Jesus slept.”

Demonstration – showing a different attitude or response; showing how to do it – was a major part of Jesus’ teaching technique. They observed Him. He showed them how to heal, how to pray, how to serve, how to react to criticism, how to worship. He showed them. In fact, I can’t think of anything that He taught them that He hadn’t already demonstrated.

His example, His modelling of it for them was perhaps the very foundation of His teaching method. He taught by demonstrating.

Which raises another point. The context for His teaching was not a classroom but life and more particularly, mission. They learnt about life in the context of life. They leant about ministry in the context of ministry. They learned about mission by being with Jesus when He was involved in mission and watching His example and experimenting themselves. They learnt about trusting God, in a storm.

When they woke Him, He got up and rebuked the wind and the waves and they stopped. He demonstrated a faith response that resulted in a miracle. In this storm, Jesus demonstrated peace and power.

So we have Jesus’ demonstration and their experimentation but there is something else in this passage. When Jesus had completed the miracle, He turned to the disciples and asked two questions: “Why are you so afraid?” and “Do you still have no faith?” He wanted them to think about what was going on; what was going on inside themselves; why they had reacted as they had; and why they hadn’t trusted God.

In other words, part of the process was reflection. And they did reflect. We are told they asked each other, “Who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!” “Who is Jesus?” is a good thing to reflect on when it comes to questions of faith and fear.

Demonstration, reflection and experimentation but there is one obvious thing missing from this account. What about teaching? Jesus spent a lot of time teaching. He is known universally as a teacher. I said that the disciples learnt by watching him on the job, but that is not the whole picture because there were also times when they withdrew and He gave them instruction. There were the equivalent of classroom times, as well as public teaching.

If we take those four components we see that two are primarily the responsibility of the teacher (although the student is involved) and two are primarily the responsibility of the student (although the teacher may well be involved.) Two involve the practice and two involved theory. Together, the make a powerful training package. Powerful? Well it is the method Jesus modelled and he was pretty effective.


There are two other things I would like to include but I am not going to spend time on. I think they can come into play at any point on that grid. One is challenge. A challenge asks for a response from the other person. Remember when the disciples suggested sending the crowd away, Jesus said “You feed them.” That was a challenge. “Who do you say that I am?” “Follow me.”

The other side of the challenge coin is a turning point. It was a turning point when the disciples left their boats and nets to follow Him. It was a turning point when Peter said, “You are the Christ the son of the living God”

(Just as an aside, if you take the initial letters of those six things it spells DIRECT.)

So what? Why am I talking about Jesus’ training method?

Firstly, because this, I suggest, is how Jesus grows people. If we want to grow in our own faith – and I hope that might be one thing you have reflected on over the holidays and one thing that you are prioritising for yourself in this new year – if you want to grow, this is how Jesus will do it. We have His example and His teaching and we need to be reading our Bibles to get as much of that as we can. But we also have the examples of other people and we will receive teaching from other people. It might be in reading a Christian biography that we see the example of a man or woman of God. It might be as we observe a Christian we respect. It might be through a deliberate mentoring relationship.

If we want to grow, we should be seeking out people who can show us and people who can teach us.

But Jesus’ method also requires that we reflect. John Piper says we shouldn’t read a lot of books. We should read a few books and reflect on them. It is in the reflection that we grow. Reading without reflection is superficial. Living without thinking about it and learning from it is superficial. Watching others or hearing teaching without taking time to reflect on it, is superficial.

And Jesus will also require us to step out and give it a go – experimentation, which may lead to more reflection, more instruction etc. In the end it is not about knowing about it. It is about doing it – being doers of God’s word.

So, the challenge is: In this new year are we going to seek out people who can show us and people who can teach us and will we give time to reflecting and will we put into practice what God is teaching us?

But then the second reason for talking about Jesus’ method is this: How can we best fulfil the Great Commission? How can we best bring people to faith in Jesus and bring people to maturity in Jesus? How can we teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded? Well, what method did Jesus demonstrate? What method did He teach? Let’s reflect on that and let’s experiment with it. Let’s do it.

My impression is that we tend to rely heavily on instruction. We preach; we watch courses on DVD; we go to conferences. If we are doing it as a group, we might add in some reflection – some discussion and thinking – but the emphasis is on the theory. Perhaps the area we need to develop is the practical. Who is going to demonstrate studying the Bible and praying and coping with stress and evangelism and caring for the poor? Who is going to not just talk about it but show how it is done?

Of course that is more challenging. It is harder to do it than to talk about it. But doing it is a lot more powerful and has more credibility. Jesus first modelled in His own life everything He wanted to see in His followers. We too need to ensure we can model being a Christian, not just talk about. We need to do the equivalent of sleeping in the boat and let people see that we can have peace in the midst of turmoil because we trust God. We need to do the equivalent of calming the storm. Could you trust God for that? Before we try to teach people about trusting God, we need to trust God.

Then conversely, we need to give the “student” opportunities to experiment – to give it a go. The storm provided an opportunity. Being sent out to preach the gospel, heal the sick and raise the dead provided an opportunity. We need to give opportunities for real ministry.

Churches often rely most heavily on our small groups for growth but small groups often stop at a bit of instruction and some reflection. Imagine what might happen if small groups gave equal weight to demonstration and experimentation. Let the group members see the group leader (or someone else) do what it is they are learning about. And then, give the group members opportunities to do it. If the group is learning about faith, then go into situations where faith is required. If the group is learning about evangelism, then evangelise. Experiment and then reflect and then read another book so as to get more instruction and then ask an accomplished evangelist to say what he does.

We can include these four elements in any order and repeat them any number of times. The point is that when all four are present, we will be most effective.

Ultimately, in response to a challenge, there will be that turning point – the point at which the person does believe or does act or does trust. That’s what we are after – real growth. That’s worth celebrating. That’s worth the effort.

Jesus demonstrated a training method that involved Demonstration, Instruction, Reflection and Experimentation. And He commissioned us to carry on His work. Now it is up to us to reflect on the method and learn more about it. But then the challenge is: will we do it? Will we pick up those four key elements and do them? Will we model what it is to be a Christian, teach about what it is to be a Christian, encourage reflection on that and then give people opportunities to live out their Christian faith?