In this section of this school we’ve gone over the spiritual sacrifices of the New Covenant priest. The New Covenant is based on the one sacrifice of Christ, it’s all about developing a heart-to-heart relationship with Father. As His very own sons and daughters He simply wants us to be obedient children, who serve Him from a heart of love. It’s all about change from the inside out. It’s learning to live the cruciform life of Christ in us by faith working through love.
If you’ve been going through this school then you know we have covered a lot of material. Now any good teacher is going to do a review to make sure what we are learning is being put into practice. If we aren’t applying our knowledge, then what good is learning?
The whole purpose of learning is to apply our learning to daily life, so that it changes us and helps us along on our journey in the life of faith.
James chapter 1 verse 22 tells us to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. When we learn something, but don’t apply that knowledge to our daily lives, James tells us that we are deceiving ourselves. I find this one of the biggest problems we have in modern life and modern Christianity. It’s the idea by which we equate knowing facts with actually living those ideas out in our daily lives.
We live in the age of information and we have more knowledge at our fingertips than any generation ever living on the planet combined. That’s not hyperbole and exaggeration, but that’s a reality. We carry around in our hands a computer by which we can access instant knowledge about anything around the world, past, present and even future predictions.
The vast amounts of information at our disposal is a double edge sword to be certain because there is also a tremendous amount of misinformation floating around.
Jesus was the Word made flesh. He was a living representation of the Father’s heart, demonstrating those ideas through his obedience. James goes on to say in verses 23 thru 25 that if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Our learning must be applied to our daily living by being obedient and accountable to what we’ve heard.
So, let’s do some review and let me remind you of some of the things we’ve learned so far in this discipleship school. Remember, discipleship is about growing in the knowledge of God and being changed from the inside out. John chapter 8 verses 31 thru 32 Jesus said if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
The main focus of Section one of this discipleship course was covering Hebrews 6:1-2 which is an outline of the basic teachings of Christ. If you remember Hebrews 5:12 the author is correcting these believers for still being immature. In the New Living Translation, it says that you have been Christians a long time now and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. The word of God teaches us that as we grow up into Christ, we will not only learn, but we will also learn to share what we’ve been taught with others. Babies just receive from their parents, but as a child grows, he has something to share.
The author of Hebrews says that we need to share with others what God's word says.
This is not saying that you have to stand in front of a pulpit or classroom and teach. It is saying, however, that as a believer you should know the word of God well enough to share it with your family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. You should be able to share with others what the Bible says concerning salvation, faith, baptism, judgment, etc...This should be one result of our maturing in our faith.
Doctors, educators and psychologists tell us that the first three to five years of a baby's life are the most important. The foundation that a child receives in these formative years will stay with them the rest of their lives. This same truth applies to us as believers. Hebrews 5:12 says that we need to be taught the "first principles of the oracles of God". The Phillips translation calls them "the ABCs of God's revelation to men". The Kenneth Wuest Translation says they are "the rudimentary things of the very beginning in the oracles of God." The phrase "the first principle of the oracles of God" reads literally in the Greek, "...certain principles of the beginning of the words of God." The Greek word for 'principles' is `stoicheia'. This was used in classical Greek in the sense of 'walking in line' and 'being in rows'.
It's like when I was taking care of my infant son. I put him on formula at 3 months old. He started out on infant formula and then went to the next step of formula until we put him on regular milk. There was a progression in his growth. The author of Hebrews calls these 'first principles of the oracles of God' the milk of the word. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1 thru 2 lists six different milk bottles and calls them a foundation of 1. Repentance from dead works and 2. Faith toward God, 3. Instruction about baptisms and the 4. laying on of hands 5. Resurrection of the dead and 6. eternal judgment.
We covered a lot of material in Section one of this course and it’s okay to go back and review. You probably need to go back and listen to many of these lessons again and you will be surprised how much new information that you pick up and understand.
Repetition is one of the main keys to learning. Think about watching a movie. I’m sure some of you have your favorite movie that you’ve watched multiple times and you always seem to see something new.
Now in section II, Created unto Good Works, we’ve been covering a New Testament pattern for worship and good works. Worship has to do with our personal devotion and spiritual relationship with God, while good works are the practical outworking of this relationship with Him. This is not a calling for just a few elite people in the body of Christ, but it is the call of each believer. Each person in the body of Christ is a ‘living stone’ who is being built together with the other members into a spiritual house or dwelling place for God’s Spirit. At the same time, we are each also called to be ‘priests’ who offer up ‘spiritual sacrifices’.
We’ve covered the sacrifice of our bodies, the sacrifice of prayer, worship, the sacrifice of giving, stewardship, relationships and we just finished Lesson 35: Civil Authority which instructed us how to relate to our government. Paul says, in Romans chapter 6 verse 17 that you were once slaves of sin, but now you’ve become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. Obedience from the heart means that for us to truly be free, we have to be obedient. Obedience and discipleship are synonymous terms.
To be a disciple is to be a disciplined learner who bears fruit because the whole purpose of learning is change from the inside out.
Jesus was the perfect obedient Son who fulfilled the Father's desires and the Father was well-pleased with Him. Christ’s obedience is our example. He fully carried out the will of God. Jesus says in speaking to the Father that I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do that’s in John chapter 17 verse 4. He put the Father's will above His own. He looked away from what looked good and went God's way of suffering being obedient to the place of death. He followed the cruciform way of living, giving us an example to follow.
As followers of Christ, we need to obey God's will above our own. We must be willing to fully carry out His desires no matter what the cost. Obedience is a choice. God is not asking more from us than we can do. You know any good father never holds their children accountable for things they can’t accomplish, but we definitely need to hold them accountable for what they can do.
If our children do not do the things they are expected to do then there should be consequences because we love them and want what’s best for them.
There are times, when like any child, we need to be corrected. However, if Father God is correcting us, it’s because He loves us and doesn't want us to hurt ourselves or anyone else. It’s important that we understand the correction of our Father. I find many people misunderstand God’s love when they are being corrected. If you misunderstand the Father’s love, then when He corrects you, you won’t respond the correct way.
We don’t have to work for God’s approval. He just wants simple obedience.
Let me tell you a story from In I Samuel chapter 15 just after Saul had been made the first king of Israel. He was given an order and he did not fully carry out that order. The prophet Samuel makes an interesting statement to Saul concerning his disobedience when he says, has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice...The Message Translation says it like this:
Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him!
The role of the prophetic ministry historically in the Old Testament and in the New Testament for today has been a call to lead people away from the pathway of destruction, living for self, back to the narrow path of life or you could also say back to the life of covenant. It is an oversimplification, but prophets in the Old and New Testaments deal with motives of the heart and the end result is to bring forth a heart wholly dedicated to worshiping the Father. This is what Samuel was trying to create in Saul by correcting him which is a heart of obedience. Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production, thinking that’s going to get you somewhere with God.
You know the truth is God has to save us from ourselves sometimes.
That’s why Jesus says that whoever wants to be his disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow him. Samuel was saying just because it looks good, feels good and gives you man’s approval does not mean it’s God. If what you are doing causes you to directly disobey God’s clear directions, then it’s not God. It doesn’t matter how much religion you wrap it in. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, looked good, tasted good, but its fruit brought death not life.
Disobedience is setting our will above God's will and we can’t disobey God's without consequences.
Obedience is simple just like the instructions you give to your children. As I said earlier God does not ask us to do things we are unable to do, but only that which we have been graced to do in our lives. If we are not obeying, then we are being self-willed and doing our own thing. It’s been my experience of walking with God for over 35 years that we will daily have to decide to follow God with our whole heart and choose His way above ours. It’s those times when we decide to do our own thing, that’s when we need to be corrected.
Correction is a lot of times just a reminder of what we were supposed to do.
If you’ve ever had a child that you tell to go do something sometimes you can find them just wandering around because they forgot. You have to remind them and get them back on track. You know that’s what God has to do to us many times, just remind us. Obedience is about relationships and disobedience affects our relationship with God. You know when we are disobedient, we are many times just aimlessly wandering around because we have lost our purpose.
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 says the Lord disciplines the ones He loves. God corrects us for our good, so we can fully carry out His desires and fulfill our purpose. How should we respond to discipline? The proper response to discipline is humbling ourselves to what God says and allowing it to change our attitude, conduct and getting us back on track. Discipline is never enjoyable for anyone. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 11 says discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness, to those who have been trained by it. If we train ourselves to receive correction then we will grow in grace. Growing in grace means that we are learning to yield to God’s Spirit becoming obedient sons and daughters.
The wrong way to respond to discipline is being self-willed and not listening.
Being self-willed is called rebellion. Rebellion is more than just not listening, it’s exalting our own way above God's ways. Proverbs 29:1 says that “a man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken...". In lesson 10: Part I A Lifestyle of Repentance, I said the cure to disobedience is learning to daily turn away from self by identifying with the cross and turning our hearts in humility towards the Spirit of life. It’s a lifetime commitment and a daily walk. It’s what the Bible calls discipleship. It is a place of great humility and dependence on Christ in you. It’s an active participation in daily joining ourselves to the covenant of grace poured out from the throne of the lamb.
To be a disciple is to be one who pursues the heart of God. James the brother of Jesus reiterates this same message in his epistle when he says in chapter 1 verse 21 to in humility receive the word implanted. The Greek word implanted is derived from two other words, En means a fixed position and pho which means to puff or to blow up or to grow. Jesus taught us that the word of God is like a seed planted in the ground. We must put a high value on the word of God. It must become more important to us than our opinions and feelings if we want it to grow in our hearts.
Jesus was the Word made flesh. He was a living representation of the Father’s heart, demonstrating those ideas through his obedience.
The Incarnation is what I call Christ in us and us by faith allowing him to live His life through ours. It’s learning to lean on the strength of another, whom you cannot see, but who is our covenant partner. It’s the cruciform life of simply relying on the grace of God to lead you, strengthen you, protect you and provide for you along your journey.
It’s all about fulfilling God’s will for our lives through vertically loving God with all of our hearts and horizontally loving others as ourselves.
It really is that simple. I never said it’s easy, but it is simple. We have been saved so that Christ can live his life through us, since we are his body on this earth. The word becoming flesh in our hearts is the goal of all true teaching. Just as Jesus was a living representation of the Father’s heart, it’s the same thing he wants to do in our lives. It’s why a life of obedience is so important.
Like I said earlier, if you’ve ever had a child, you tell them to go do something and sometimes you can find them just wandering around because they forgot. You have to remind them and get them back on track. Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 6 had to remind Timothy his disciple to fan into flame the gift of God. He said to the Corinthians that I remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. Peter in his second epistle said I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder.
It’s human nature to forget much of what we read, watch, think and even learn. It’s why the word remember is used over 250 times in the Bible.
Research shows that an average learner forgets 70% of what they learned within 24 hours and 90% of what they learned in a week if they don’t make an effort to retain it. Discipleship is not just about learning, but also about retaining, applying and multiplying that learning by giving it to others. The last command Jesus gave was recorded in Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 thru 20: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
All of us have been commissioned to teach others.
If you remember Hebrews 5:12 the author is correcting these believers for still being immature. In the New Living Translation, it says that "you have been Christians a long time now and you ought to be teaching others. The author of Hebrews says that we need to share with others what God's word says. This is not saying that you have to stand in front of a pulpit or classroom and teach. It is saying, however, that as a believer you should know the word of God well enough to share it with your family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. You should be able to share with others what the Bible says concerning salvation, faith, baptism, judgment, etc...this should be one result of our maturing in our faith.
It’s one of my goals as a teacher, to not only give you information, but help you to retain the information and put it into use for daily living. However, I also have a goal of equipping you to be able to teach others. Learning retention is the ability to store new information in one’s long-term memory so a person can easily recall it and put that knowledge to use in the future. Jesus was a great teacher and he applied a variety of teaching styles.
The National Training Laboratory developed what’s called the learning pyramid. It’s a pyramid showing how effective each teaching style can be in your students retaining information. It’s estimated that people normally only retain 5% of the information they learn in a lecture. 10% through reading and 20% through the audio-visual method which may include pictures, infographics, charts, videos, slide shows, whiteboards and more. The demonstration style of teaching involves an instructor who shows learners how to perform a task using a step-by-step approach. As they show “how,” they also “tell” what they are doing and this method increases learning retention to 30%. All of these teaching styles are called passive styles because the learners are just passively receiving.
It’s when you start putting material into practice, which is called active teaching styles, when knowledge retention accelerates. It accelerates because the learner becomes actively involved in what they are learning. It starts moving from the head into the heart because if you are not applying what you are learning then it’s really not becoming a part of you. Practice makes perfect as the saying goes and it’s entirely true when it comes to learning. Learning retention rises to the level of 75% when you apply this method.
I call this hands-on discipleship where a team leader or manager takes the role of coach or mentor. The coach will explain how to perform a specific task, then observe their trainee performing it and provide constructive feedback. We can also pair a trainee with someone at the same level, but really good at a certain task. The trainee observes how job tasks are performed by their peer in a real-world setting and repeats the actions. However, the most effective method to make sure you are retaining what you have learned is to teach others.
If you can teach other people about your subject, it means that you understand it well and can easily recall it whenever you need to.
Now Jesus implemented all of these teaching methods and it’s important that we utilize all of these methods if we want to be disciples and make effective disciples. It’s why in this discipleship course we have a lecture, which is what you are listening to now. We have reading, so I encourage you to get one of these books that you can read. You can purchase this book from my website or you can go directly to Amazon and most locations can get the book in less than a week. Also, as you are listening, you can take notes and we have study questions at the end of each lesson which you should spend some time answering. We have group discussion ideas because it’s as you get other people’s perspective that learning is retained.
All of these are very important aspects of learning and retaining the information, but they are all passive styles of learning. We need to utilize all of these methods, but we have to put this material into practice. Application is where the rubber meets the road.
Everyone has different strengths in the way that they learn. By nature, more intellectual people love to read and listen to lectures. It’s how they are made and easily learn and retain information that way. However, a lot of people’s primary way of learning is hands on. The last 10 years I’ve done a lot of training in a corporate setting and I’ve found that the coaching method is very effective in really implementing learned ideas. It’s something that Americans can really understand because it’s a part of our culture.
Coaching is simply applied discipleship.
In finishing up this lesson let’s take a look at Peter as an example of being coached by Jesus. First of all, Jesus built a relationship with Peter. His coaching began with trust-building. We see Jesus hanging out with Peter before he asks him to do anything. He further earns trust by meeting Peter’s felt need – he heals his mother-in-law that’s in Luke chapter 4 verse 39.
In their next interaction, Jesus partners with Peter in ministry. He uses Peter’s boat as a floating preaching platform. Then, he again met Peter’s felt need by helping him with his business that’s in Luke chapter 5 verse 4. By this time, Jesus has earned enough trust that he began to cast a vision in Peter’s life, challenging him to become a partner in ministry that’s Luke chapter 5 verses 10 thru 11.
At this point, Jesus engages in the first phases of spiritual coaching: teaching and modeling within a small group which you see in chapters 6 and 7 of Luke. Periodically they are in a large group setting, but Jesus uses the small group to debrief His teaching. Jesus modeled his teaching before their eyes and then he sent them out to do it themselves that’s in Luke chapter 9 verse 2.
Jesus pulls Peter aside for spot coaching, encouraging him at points of breakthrough. He even corrects him when his faith has faltered. Jesus, the spiritual coach, developed Peter over a period of three years into a spiritual leader.
It’s what this school is all about developing you into the man or woman of God that you’ve been called to be. It’s my heart’s desire to see you fulfill your purpose.
To fulfill our purpose, we must become ‘obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching that has been committed to us. As I’ve already said in this school the teaching philosophy that I have is to make the word of God simple, attainable and applicable. If it’s not simple, then you won’t understand it. If you don’t understand it, then you won’t be able to attain it. As John said we must touch, taste and experience the word of God so that we can apply it to our lives. If we are not applying the word of God to our personal lives, then what we have learned is of no practical benefit to us nor to anyone else.
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Next Lesson: Lesson 37 - A Life Of Mercy
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