The scripture reading comes from Matthew chapter 4 and Luke chapter 6.
Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.
In Matthew 4 verse 13 we read,
And leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea,
in the territory of Zabulon and Naphtali.
Then in verse 17 we read,
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying,
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
While walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother,
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
And he said to them,
Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
And he went throughout all Galilee.
And going on from there, he saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother,
in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets,
and he caught them.
Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
And in Luke 6, verse 39, we read,
He also told them a parable.
Can a blind man lead a blind man?
Will they not both fall into a pit?
A disciple is not above his teacher,
but everyone, when he is fully trained,
will be like his teacher.
Amen.
This is the word of God.
Amen.
Great.
Thank you so much, Angeline.
Just such a great privilege and pleasure to be with you this morning.
Let me just pray for us as we dive into God's word together.
Father, I just want to thank you that your word is powerful,
that you call us to follow you.
And I pray this morning that even as I speak and we listen,
Lord, I pray that you'd remove the distractions from our hearts.
And I pray that you would open our eyes to see you in a fresh way,
and to see in a fresh way what it means to become like you as followers,
to have a new goal,
to be people who are transformed into your image.
And I pray this in Jesus' wonderful name.
Amen.
Great.
It's such a privilege to be with you guys this morning.
We're continuing, again, in our series looking at what it means to follow Jesus.
And if I was to ask you a quick trivia quiz question,
what is Watermark's mission statement?
I don't know how many of you would be able to answer that.
But our mission statement is all about we're here to make mature disciples of Jesus,
who then make more disciples of Jesus and more disciples of Jesus,
and fill this city and transform this city to the glory of God with people who are followers,
disciples of Jesus.
And so we're looking at this idea of what does it mean to follow Jesus in everyday life?
That following him is not just something which is a Sunday thing,
but actually in all of your life,
from your social media to your dating choices, your parenting,
every aspect of life is shaped by what it means to follow Jesus.
And so last week, Kevin looked at what it means to be a Talmudim,
a first century disciple of Jesus.
And he showed us that an apprentice in the first century to a rabbi
would be someone who has gone through a whole load of education,
and they qualify to be a disciple of a rabbi
by having passed basically a disciple job interview,
where they show their performance.
And he showed us how Jesus was so different,
that Jesus didn't require a performance grade to get in,
that he chose a random bunch of people out of pure grace.
It was his initiative.
And then he showed us that he was not just the normal rabbi like everyone else,
he's the king of heaven who is inviting us,
not just to follow him as an ordinary teacher,
but as the king of heaven who is bringing in the kingdom of heaven.
And he showed us that the goal of a disciple was three things.
To be with Jesus, which we looked at last week,
to become like Jesus,
and to do what Jesus did, what your rabbi does.
And so he showed us last week,
everything that we do comes out of,
and everything we're going to carry on in the rest of this series
comes out of that sense of abiding with,
of being with Jesus in relationship with him.
Everything else is not kind of,
we've moved on from that.
Everything else flows out of this relationship with Jesus.
We don't just do a Bible study or a quiet time in the morning
and then forget about Jesus.
The whole of our lives are to be lived in the presence of Jesus.
And so we've talked about that last week,
and today we're going to move on to what it looks like as a disciple
to become like Jesus.
And I'm going to read to you that verse again in a second.
Well, that verse which says,
Can a blind man lead a blind man?
Will they not both fall into a pit?
A disciple is not above his teacher,
but everyone, when he's fully trained,
will become like his teacher.
Now, Don Whitney, who's an author,
he illustrates this principle by saying,
imagine if you are a six-year-old kid
who has been forced by your mom or your dad
to do piano practice.
And it's death.
Like, you're just dying.
You hate it.
And then suddenly an angel comes down from heaven
and whisks you away during your piano practice,
takes you away to this incredible concert hall,
maybe Asia World Expo,
and there is this piano genius,
a virtuoso,
playing the hardest Mozart piece,
his sonata number 18,
and it's breathtaking.
It is effortless.
It's incredible.
And the angel turns to you and says,
what do you think?
And you go, wow.
And then the angel turns and says,
that's you in 20 years' time.
Then he turns to your piano and says,
but you must practice.
And the angel disappears,
and you're left there with your piano.
Now, what's just happened?
If he remembers who he's going to become like,
his day-to-day practice
has just got a totally new vision.
He's just got a whole new direction,
a whole new goal,
which is going to move him into his future.
His practice will not look the same again.
And that's what Jesus is saying in this parable.
He's saying,
who you want to become like,
the vision that you have of your life,
and your teacher,
who you want to be like,
that is going to change and shape everything
that you do in your life.
Everyone, when he's fully trained,
will be like his teacher.
So what Jesus is doing,
he's trying to give us a vision
for where he's going,
to be like Jesus.
Here's how Paul says the same thing.
He says, 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18,
he says,
and we all with unveiled face,
beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed.
That is a present continuous,
that's an ongoing process,
into the same image of Jesus,
from one degree of glory to another.
You see what he's saying?
That word transformed
is the word metamorphosis.
It's the word,
it's that process of transformation,
when you go from a caterpillar,
all the way,
changing stage by stage,
to become this beautiful butterfly.
And he's saying,
that this is what,
some people call spiritual transformation,
or sanctification.
This is what the goal,
of the Christian life is.
Author Dallas Willard,
said it like this,
spiritual formation,
in the Christian tradition,
is a process,
of being increasingly possessed,
and permeated,
by the character traits of Jesus,
as we walk,
in the easy yoke of discipleship,
with Jesus as our teacher.
Do you see what he's saying?
The goal that Jesus saved you for,
was not simply to go to church.
It was not simply,
just to get into heaven.
It's not simply so you read your Bible,
and become a nice moral person.
The reason,
that Jesus saved you,
is so that you,
and I,
and we as a church,
will be conformed,
will be transformed,
will be metamorphosized,
into,
the image,
of Jesus,
that we become,
like him.
He is God,
we are not.
But our character,
can look ever more,
like his,
incredible,
all glorious character.
And for first century disciples,
this was not theory.
I read about,
a,
someone who,
a group of rabbi,
a group of disciples,
who in imitating their rabbi,
their rabbi had a stoop.
And so,
he would walk behind,
his disciples would walk behind,
and everyone else,
would have this stoop,
as his disciple.
I heard other,
there's another story,
where,
disciples so wanted,
to be like their teacher,
that they would hide,
in the bedroom,
of the rabbi,
to see how,
he made love to his wife,
so they knew how to do it.
This is,
serious business.
You know,
I don't know if you've ever seen,
that Japanese TV,
game show,
called Human Tetris.
It's,
it's very funny.
It's,
they have this moving wall,
with a hole,
cut out in different shapes.
And,
and there are contestants,
and what they have to do,
they have to,
as the,
the wall moves towards them,
they have to make,
the shape,
of the hole,
otherwise they get knocked,
into the water,
a pool of water,
behind them.
And this is actually,
what Christian discipleship,
is.
It is human Tetris,
of a different time.
Jesus,
he's not just our saviour,
he's our lord,
and he's shaping us,
so that our lives,
begin to bend,
and conform,
and to flex,
into his,
cross shaped,
life.
That we look,
more like him.
That's the goal,
of discipleship.
But then the question is,
if we are meant to,
shape and flex,
into him,
why should we,
even do that?
Why should we,
follow Jesus?
Well firstly,
recognize,
every one of us,
is following someone.
You know,
Taylor Swift,
has 88 million followers,
on Twitter.
Justin Bieber,
has 113 million,
I just found out.
What do followers,
do?
Followers,
get shaped,
and influenced,
by who they follow.
My brother-in-law,
is what you might call,
a key opinion leader,
in food,
and restaurants,
and staycations.
His YouTube channel,
has hundreds,
thousands of subscribers.
And what do they do?
What he recommends,
people follow.
That's why advertisers,
pay him money.
But when Jesus says,
can a blind man,
lead a blind man,
will they not,
both fall into a pit?
He's referring,
to the religious leaders,
the Pharisees.
And he's saying,
who you follow,
really matters.
Because,
if they are blind,
your teacher is blind,
you are going to fall,
into a pit in your life.
And so the reality,
he's saying is,
follow someone,
who is going to give you,
a beautiful future,
not someone,
who's going to lead you,
into a pit.
And there's a question,
and here's the reality.
You're not autonomous.
You are being discipled.
Who is discipling you?
Well,
if you do nothing about that,
let me tell you,
here's one thing,
that's discipling you,
this city,
is discipling you.
You know,
when I first came to Hong Kong,
I didn't,
need to feel,
any moments of kind of,
you know,
when you're waiting for the MTR,
you're waiting for something.
And I was so relaxed,
I was fine,
and I would laugh,
at everybody else,
who was just kind of,
rushing around,
restfully,
trying to get into the lift,
trying to kind of,
all the time on their phone,
any spare minute,
like,
like they were an addict,
or something.
And I would laugh at it.
I thought,
well,
that's ridiculous.
And then I got sucked in.
And two years ago,
I suddenly realised,
I was just like them.
I couldn't get into a lift,
for 30 seconds,
without pulling out my phone,
and kind of looking,
at a WhatsApp message,
that I'd already looked at,
like a minute before.
And I got FOMO,
fear of missing out,
if I didn't check,
when the notification ding went off.
My heart,
had been captured.
This city,
is discipling,
what you love,
and what you fear,
and to desire,
certain things,
through your habits.
Your parents,
have discipled you,
more than anybody else.
They've influenced you,
and your responses today,
are much,
much shaped,
by what they,
have shaped,
in your life.
You don't need to do anything,
except wake up tomorrow,
and you're already being discipled,
by someone.
And conformed,
into their image,
which is why,
James Smith,
says this,
discipleship,
with Jesus,
is a way,
to curate your heart,
to be attentive,
to,
and intentional,
about,
what,
and who,
you love.
He's saying,
we've got to be intentional,
about,
what it means,
to follow Jesus.
But you think,
well,
why Jesus?
Why not Elon Musk,
or Li Kao Xing,
or your boss?
Here's why.
Anyone else,
you follow,
will weigh you down,
with expectations,
you can't live up to.
But Jesus wants to free you,
from the burdens,
that people put on you.
Matthew 23,
describes the religious leaders,
of the time.
Here's what he says about them.
These other teachers,
he says,
they tie up heavy burdens,
hard to bear,
and they lay them,
on people's shoulders,
but they themselves,
are not willing,
to move them,
with their finger.
Do you know what he's saying?
He's saying,
any other teacher,
self-help books,
religion,
devoid of relationship,
with Jesus,
Hong Kong culture,
this city,
what does it do?
It lays expectations,
on you.
It lays standards,
for you to have to live up to.
And if you manage,
to reach them,
you are filled,
with self-righteous pride,
and if you don't,
you get crushed,
in shame,
in guilt,
in just this sense,
of burden on your back,
that you're a failure,
never good enough.
And no one comes,
and lifts those burdens,
off you.
Here's what Jesus says.
Come to me,
all,
who are weary,
and heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you,
and learn from me,
for I am gentle,
and lowly,
and you will find rest,
for your souls.
Isn't that an amazing promise?
You see,
that yoke,
was a rabbi's term,
actually,
for someone's teaching.
They talked about the yoke of the law,
and things like that.
But,
but literally,
it was a wooden weight,
that you put,
on an oxen,
to,
around their neck,
to train them,
to plow,
a field straight.
And Jesus here says,
I have a yoke of training,
but it's not a weighty yoke.
It's an easy yoke.
He's not saying,
it's easy for life,
as a Christian.
It's not.
But he's saying,
I don't load you,
with all the other burdens,
all the other expectations,
all the guilt,
all the shame,
all those other things,
that even in religion,
even in church,
you can feel that,
when we're not walking with Jesus.
But Jesus says,
on the cross,
I've taken them.
My yoke is easy.
My burden is light.
Your guilt,
your shame,
those unmet expectations,
that you can't lift by yourself,
and you can't carry,
your own sinfulness,
I lift that off you.
I'm not harsh,
and punishing.
I'm gentle,
and lowly.
I'm accessible.
I'm with you.
And if you're trying to,
if you're starting to take those burdens,
on your back,
those expectations,
of all the things that you've got to be,
but you know you can't be,
that's because you're trying to take another yoke,
not mine.
Your training with Jesus,
is not about meeting a standard.
Jesus has met the standard for you.
This yoke is a yoke of grace.
But here's the key thing.
Grace is not opposed to effort.
It is opposed to earning.
Earning is an attitude,
where you never feel you've done enough,
but effort is an action that you have to do.
Jesus,
when calling us to become like him,
he's not calling us to try harder,
but he's calling us to train.
You know,
I love my son.
When he wasn't walking,
I loved him.
Now he's walking,
I still love him,
okay?
My love for him is not determined
whether he walks or not.
But,
I have still spent ages
encouraging him how to walk.
I've held his hands.
I've walked with him step by step.
I've encouraged him
as he's kind of fallen over again
and he's come back up again
and we've gone on this journey
again and again and again
and again and again.
Why?
He wasn't earning my love.
He already had that.
But what was he doing?
He was training to become
the person he was made to be.
Someone who can walk.
Someone who is going to flourish.
That as a father
who loves his child
is what I want.
That when God looks at us
and he calls us to train
is what he wants for us.
He is conforming us
into the image of his son
because that's where we flourish.
That's where we find rest.
To be like Jesus.
Follow me, he says.
That's where we're going.
But you know,
sometimes I think as Christians,
don't we often look at our lust
or our lack of self-control
or our complaining
and all the things
that we see that we do wrong
and then we look at Jesus'
perfect responses
and we go,
yeah, but that's Jesus, isn't it?
I'm not Jesus.
I can't do that.
And we just kind of carry on
living our own way.
And in one sense, it's true.
You can't do that now.
But if my son had looked
at someone running
while he still couldn't walk
and said,
I can't do that.
It's true.
He couldn't at that moment.
At least not yet.
But with practice,
he will.
And he is.
Jesus says,
everyone when he is fully trained
becomes like his teacher.
That means you can be partially trained.
We're not fully trained yet.
But we're in that training process
which will continue
for the rest of our lives.
And he's saying,
I'm leading you
to become more like me.
Will you trust me?
Some people think
that that just should happen
miraculously.
We say things like,
let go and let God.
Which is actually
terrible theology.
You see,
it's like God will do
everything for you.
No, it's a partnership.
If I say to my son,
we're just going to lay hands on you
and pray that you're going to walk
without any effort.
That's a miracle.
God does that in our lives.
But if that happens
every single time,
he's going to need a miracle
every time he tries to stand up.
But God says,
no, I want to partner with you.
I'm going to take the weight
of the yoke
so you don't have to earn my love.
You've got it.
It's a light yoke.
And I'm giving my spirit in you
to empower you.
You just need to walk with me,
to be with me,
as Kevin was saying last week.
And I'm going to lead you there.
I'm going to lead you there.
And I know often in my life,
I've wanted to change.
Don't we want to change?
I've wanted to change.
But I've just not known how to change.
And so here's what I want to spend
the rest of our time looking at.
We've talked about what it means
that the goal is to be like Jesus.
It's by grace.
But let's see,
how do we get chained by Jesus?
I've got four things here,
how Jesus trains us.
The first is through his word.
You know,
the world around is discipling us
to believe a certain story about life,
a vision of the good life.
You know,
what's the Hong Kong story?
It's like life is a competition.
You,
your value is based
on how you perform
in this competition.
So,
for you to be a success,
for you to be worth anything,
what have you got to do?
Well,
you've got to
get in the best schools,
you've got to study hard,
you've got to get the best jobs,
you've got to get promotion,
you've got to then buy a flat,
get married,
buy a bigger flat,
earn enough money
so that you can retire early,
so that then your kids
can get into the best schools,
can study hard,
can get the best jobs,
and it just goes on and on and on and on and on,
and that's the cycle.
And anyone who's not in that race,
or anyone who's like a loser
down in last place,
they're just,
they're just a loser,
a failure.
And we can look down on them.
So just get working,
get harder.
How much does that burden us?
Parents,
students,
workers,
the poor,
how much do we feel
the heaviness of that yoke?
And yet that's a vision
that many of us,
all of us are saturated with
every single day
as we go out into Hong Kong.
Jesus comes and he says,
learn from me.
I want to give you a new story.
I want you to see who I am.
And this is why teaching
and scripture is so important.
It's why Sundays are so important
to get your mind.
Here's what Romans says,
don't be conformed to this world,
but be transformed.
So the renewal of your mind,
there's the same metamorphosis word.
Your mind needs to get changed
and transformed by God's word
as you're reading scripture,
as you're listening to sermons,
as you're discussing it together.
God's word,
worship music,
needs to flood your heart
so you have a new
and a better story,
a new and a better goal,
a new and a better teacher
to have your eyes fixed upon.
And this is not just about
getting information,
it's about getting a new set of lenses
and desires
and loves to shape you
in all of life.
You know,
when Etienne was five months old,
Fiona downloaded an app
for baby activities.
And before you could get on the app,
there was this survey to fill in.
And at the end of it,
suddenly it pulled up
all these statistics.
And it said,
your baby is 19th percentile,
19% percentile for communication,
14% for movement.
And by this I'm going,
oh my goodness,
12% for brain development.
And I'm going,
he's going to be a failure
for all of his life.
49% for something else,
I don't know.
And I went,
at least he's normal in that one.
And then suddenly,
I stopped.
And I thought,
that's ridiculous.
My son's life is in God's hands.
He loves us.
He cares for us.
He's got our future
in his hands.
Why am I so worried
about this little stupid thing
at five months old?
But isn't that exactly
what social media,
what the rest of Hong Kong
does to us every single day
and how we respond?
But scripture
is what will recalibrate you
to see life
through a different lens.
And it gets you out
of that performance insanity
that we're just soaked in.
But many Christians in Hong Kong,
we think transformation
is about just information.
And so we think
more Bible knowledge
equals more godliness.
That's why we do
tons of courses.
We do whether it's BSF
or Bible story course
or Bible studies.
We listen to famous preachers.
And it's all great stuff
we need to learn.
We're all about the Bible
here at Watermark.
But I think many of us,
our view
of how we learn Jesus
is shaped more
by the city's view
of education
rather than Jesus' view
of discipleship.
Because, you know,
you could study this passage
about come to me
and I will give you rest.
You could listen
to sermons about it
and listen all year
and you never actually
experience the rest
that Jesus wants to give you.
Do you know why?
Because you're not learning
to be with Jesus
as you're reading.
You're just doing it
for information.
He wants you to listen
to this sermon.
He wants you to read scripture
saying,
God, I want you to speak to me.
I want to know you.
And it's not just
you're not learning
to be with Jesus,
but actually
there are habits
in our life
which directly
counter
everything we're reading
and start to shape us
so they offset
everything that God
is trying to form us into.
Which is why
learning scripture
is not enough.
It's important.
But we also need
the second thing,
which is
we need to practice
his godly habits.
Do you know your,
this is what
James Smith says.
Your deepest desire
is the one manifested
by your daily life
and habits.
Just stop there
for a minute.
Just think about that.
Your deepest desire
is the one manifested
by your daily life
and habits.
This is because
our action,
our doing,
bubbles up
from our loves
which are habits
we've acquired
through the practices
we're immersed in.
And here's what he says.
I might be learning
to love a goal
that I'm not even aware of
and that nonetheless
governs my life
in unconscious ways.
This is what Jesus,
you know,
the Bible says,
sow to the spirit.
Because what you sow,
you'll reap.
How easy
is it to get into habits?
Bad ones,
really easy.
Good ones,
really hard.
Sin is a bad habit
hardwired into our hearts.
Good godliness
is a good habit
that the spirit
is wanting to work
and change our hearts
to desire and practice
inside.
My son will not let us
brush his teeth.
He hates it.
He shuts his mouth.
He turns his head away.
But I can guarantee
if he's anything like me
in 20 years' time,
if he goes one day
without brushing his teeth,
he's going to go,
man,
there's something wrong.
I just don't like this.
How do you get
from hating something
to loving it?
One of the key ways
is you just practice it.
Your habits,
your desires
just get shaped
by these habits
so your responses
become automatic.
I don't even think
about brushing my teeth now.
But the habits
you have today
are forming
your future.
This is what
scripture's saying.
What you reap
is what you sow
is what you reap.
What the first thing,
just think,
when the first thing
you do in the morning
and the last thing
you do at night
is look at your phone,
don't think
that isn't shaping you,
it is.
Don't think,
if you have nothing
to do for four minutes
without,
and you have to
reach for your phone
and mindlessly look
through Facebook
or YouTube
or something,
you're going to enjoy
rest with God
in the present.
Don't think you will.
That habit is countering
everything Jesus
wants to do in you.
Our culture's discipling us
into restless mediocrity
where we struggle
to relate to anyone else
when Jesus wants
to bring us
into flourishing.
What if we as a church
started a gospel rebellion
against our restless culture?
What if the first thing
that you did in the morning
was to train yourself
to say,
thank you, Father,
that I'm a dearly loved child
of God today.
Today's your day.
I am living for you.
I need your grace.
What if the last thing
you did every day
was to look back
over your day
and say,
God,
search my heart.
Show me
where there is any sin
and you confess it
and you thank God
for his grace.
What if you made
scripture
a daily habit?
You set a time,
you set a place,
15 minutes
every single day
in God's word.
That is going to
shape your life.
That is going to
metamorphosize you.
Here's what's going to happen.
Let me just kind of
flesh this out.
Let's say you've got
a habit of grumbling
and complaining.
When life goes wrong,
you just get miserable
and grumpy.
Anyone like that?
Okay.
And you read
Hebrews 12
that says,
Jesus,
for the joy
that was set
before him,
endured the cross.
and you go,
Jesus,
in the hardest
situation,
what is he?
He's got this joy
that is sustaining him
through this
most agony.
And there's this new vision
of how we can live life.
And what we go is,
oh, well,
that was just Jesus, right?
I can't do that.
Because we've forgotten
that Jesus gave his spirit
in us
to make us like him.
And then
we read in James 1
where it says,
consider it pure joy,
my brothers and sisters.
Whenever you face trials
of many kinds
because this is testing
your faith
and it's growing you mature
and we read that
and we hate that verse,
don't we?
Because we realize
that that's commanding us
not to be grumpy
all the time
but actually to rejoice
and we go,
yeah, I know that
but I can't do it.
And Jesus says,
yes,
not yet.
But you will
if you let me train you.
And so you go,
you grit your teeth
and you go,
okay,
I'm going to be joyful today.
Good luck.
That's going to last
about five minutes.
Because Jesus' yoke
is not a self-reliant yoke.
It's a yoke
of dependent prayer.
God,
that's where I want to be
but I'm not there right now.
Change my heart.
Forgive me.
Make me new, Lord.
I need you.
Spirit, fill me.
What are you doing?
That's a new habit
of the heart
of Jesus' reliance
not self-reliance.
And so you fill your soul
with Jesus.
You put other scriptures
about joy and thankfulness
on your screensaver.
You listen and read
Christian biographies
of videos
of joyful believers
who are just
imitating Jesus.
You start praising God
when you don't feel like it.
You keep praying
for God to change you
through that process.
And then
God gives you opportunities
to get grumpy.
That annoying colleague.
Your kid's just playing up.
Everything going wrong.
And you go,
okay,
this is an opportunity
for Jesus
to change me.
And you thank God
and it works
for a few minutes.
And then something else
hits you
and then you just spiral down
into complaining
and you go,
oh, there you go,
it didn't work.
And you give up.
That's just like people
who go to the gym
once
and then afterwards
they look in the mirror
and they look at themselves
and what do they see?
Nothing.
No change.
So they go for
maybe two weeks,
three times a week,
look in the mirror,
what do they see?
Nothing.
But do that
for six months,
for nine months,
for a year,
what will you see?
Change.
You see,
spiritual transformation
is this partnership
with the Spirit of God,
getting in His Word,
allowing Him
to bring us
to our knees,
requiring Him
filling our soul
with Jesus
in whatever way we can
in the long haul,
not just the short term.
But what helps you
to not give up?
What helps us
to persevere
in this?
Well,
we need training partners.
That's Christian community
that's coming around us.
How much easier
is it to go to the gym
if you've got somebody
to go with?
This is why
community is such a big value
for us as a church.
Because you know
who you hang around with
shapes
who you become
and what you love.
Make your non-believing
family or friends
your primary community
and unless you are
really alert,
their loves,
their desires
rub off on you.
Guaranteed.
So if you are not
in Christian community
right now
during COVID,
if you're just doing this
by yourself,
let me tell you,
you are being discipled
by everyone else,
but Jesus has probably
got a whole lot of stuff
he wants you to grow in,
but you won't be hearing him
because you need
community in that.
You know,
what community does,
it exposes
and encourages you.
When I'm feeling
restless,
burdened,
and someone shares
how Jesus and his word
is filling them
with joy
in the midst
of tough circumstances,
do you know
what that does?
It exposes me again
and goes,
hey,
I'm not there,
but I want to be like that.
And it shows you
you come back to God again
and go,
God,
forgive me.
And it just encourages you,
it spurs you on
as Hebrews tells us.
It's like,
let's keep gathering,
Hebrews says,
so that we urge each other,
spur each other on
to love and good deeds.
And you go,
Jesus,
I want that,
change me.
And there is just
this new vital hope.
That's why we're starting
something called
Transformation Groups,
TGs,
which are two to four people
who meet a couple of times
a month.
And the goal of that
is that they're going to
encourage us
and expose us
to help pursue
Christ-likeness
together.
And if you are not
in a community group,
because in community groups
we're going to be doing this,
if you're not in one of those,
but you know
you need to be in a TG,
then like,
let me know
or let Kevin know
or one of the staff,
because we want to
just gather you
together with one of those
because this is so crucial
for your health
and the health
of those around you
and the health
of the church.
So we get God's word,
learning Jesus,
and that reshapes us,
it reshapes our desires,
that we desire him more.
We learn new habits
in community.
The final thing
is Jesus trains us
through the hard knocks
of life.
You know what 1 Peter
tells us?
It's through trials
and testing
that we get refined
like gold.
You know,
nothing in life
that's worthwhile
ever happens
without pain.
We're about to give birth
to our second child.
That's painful.
If you get a master's,
that's painful.
If you're a great athlete,
there's a pain
in training
that you have to go through.
But how does the yoke
be easy in your life?
It's not that the pain
is not real.
It's not that there's
not real effort involved.
But as Jesus is using
those trials,
the challenges
that you may go through
to sculpt you
to become more like Jesus,
your eyes,
if your eyes are fixed
on that prize,
I want to be like Jesus,
then anything that happens
to you
is a place to rejoice
because Jesus is going
to use that
to make you more like him.
and we do that together
in community.
Hong Kong's story
tells you live for comfort,
avoid suffering.
That's why we get
so grumpy at hardship.
But if you see this pain
as an opportunity
to be trained by him,
to become more like him,
in God's word,
in community,
man, you're going to see
Jesus displayed
more and more
and more in our lives.
I heard a podcast
of a man recently
who'd just been struggling
with cancer
for quite a while.
It's just a really tough situation.
But he said this,
and I'll paraphrase him.
I wouldn't trade this
for anything else
because I've discovered
Jesus in a new way.
I've learned to rejoice
in a new way.
I realized how shallow
my life was before.
I always used to sing
Jesus enough for me,
but I actually thought
that him and something else
was enough.
That really Jesus
wasn't totally enough.
But he said,
now, when everything
is stripped away,
now I know that it's true.
Jesus says,
follow me.
Be with me.
Get in my word.
Learn new habits.
Be in Christian community.
And you'll walk through life,
and there'll be ups
and there'll be downs.
But as you rely on my spirit
to change you,
we,
and as a church,
will look more and more
like Jesus.
The question for us is,
do you want that?
Do you want to follow Jesus?
Because this is where
he's leading us.
This is the call.
And this is the journey
that we're on together.
Let me pray.
Father,
I know there are some,
some of us who,
you know,
we look at Jesus,
and we,
it's,
your character seems
so far off.
And we look at our lives,
and we see the areas
where we struggle.
And we,
we almost give up
the goal that you have
called us to,
to be conformed,
to be transformed
into your image.
Because we often think
it all relies on ourselves.
Or we're more captivated
by other stories.
Or we've built so many
habits in our lives
that we have failed to see
that actually
those are shaping us
away from you
rather than drawing us
to you.
Lord, I pray,
change us as a church.
Open our eyes
to see that you are
the great shepherd.
You are a great rabbi,
a great king.
You're the one
who is leading us.
Not to just wait
and sit and wait
for heaven,
but you today
want to begin
and want to continue
this transformation work.
I pray as a community,
we will be more
centered
on that goal
than any other goal.
Lord, I pray
that we would
earning more money,
getting a great job,
getting a spouse,
having kids,
having all the other things
would be way down
the list of goals
compared to that goal
in our lives, Lord.
I pray reorient us
to see that you
are the place
of flourishing,
that you want to give us
rest in our souls.
And Lord,
let us walk with you
together today
with effort,
with struggling,
but knowing
that you're the one
who has already
gone before us.
You're the one
who suffered for us.
You died for us
so that you could
make us like you.
Work this in us,
I pray.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.