Leadership
Let’s open our bibles together to John’s gospel and find chapter 8 with me. John Chapter 8, and we will be in verses 30-32. When you find John, Chapter 8, let’s have someone read it to us. Just let the group know what version you’re reading from, and let’s get a couple different versions read for these two verse. (Read John 8:30-32) Over the past few weeks there’s this main idea that I’ve been trying to nail down during our time together.
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? What does it mean to be formed into the image of Jesus as we carry the presence of Jesus? We’ve talked about habits. I mentioned that everyday there are hidden habits in our life that go unnoticed. We learned that, “By default, our life is shaped by our love for the world. And that our habits drive our everyday life, and everyday we have hidden habits that are not Christ like.
If you recall, I mentioned a few weeks before we began this new series, that typically we never notice the selfishness in our lives. It takes others in our life, through love, to notice and say to us, hey, what you’re doing is not Christlike. We examined how God calls us to be together in community and how our love for Jesus and love for one another gives us the grace we need to love one another in our faults.
Jesus does tell us that others will know that we are His disciples by the love we have for one another. Last week, we examined how in Galatians, we practice works of the flesh. And the difference between practicing the works of the flesh and abiding in Christ. Is that, Abiding is believing, and trusting, and delighting in, and resting, and receiving. Jesus is very clear, “If we are not united to the vine, nothing of any lasting value will ever come from us.
This week, I want to look at another angle of being formed into the likeness of Jesus in his leadership. And it’s through this word call narratives. “Narratives are the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of life.” Do you know what narratives are? Narratives in our life, are the driving story that gives us purpose direction and energy, especially in the face of opposition, pain and suffering. It’s human to say, “okay, suffering has come into my life.
What is the story behind this, why is this happening to me?” So, Narratives are our way to understand how this story of our life is understood. Our brains are hardwired for narrative. I read an article this week that showed how, at the most primal stages of human history, since we didn’t have fangs, or claws, or blinding speed, our advantage has always been our problem-solving ability and in particular, our ability to solve problems as a group.
Jut let me throw this in here as a rabbit trail… being together, and united together isn’t just some new age idea. People are designed to be together. I believe gathering together is Gods plan. And this article went on to talk about how, by us coming together, learning to communicate, and learning to tell stories, and learning to create these stories that we pass down from one generation to another, this ability to make a story stick in our minds, and the more it sticks the more durable it becomes.
So, essentially what it means is, our narrative, and the story we play out in our mind helps us make sense of life. And this is why someone who has a poor identity of themselves can be so easily be discouraged, while someone who’s more sure and confident can be encouraged to do things others wish they could. I think of my mom. For years, she told herself she couldn’t drive.
And over a course a 3- 5 years she went from driving longer distances, to driving shorter distances, to not driving at all. And all the time she would say, I can’t drive, I can’t drive… until my dad passed away. When he passed away, my mother was forced to drive. And now she drives because she changed her mind, she changed the story in her mind that went form I can’t, to, I can do this.
I often wonder how many of us live that way everyday in our faith? Trapped by the wrong truths in our minds, that we can’t do something? I wonder, How many times in our life, has our narrative been… I can’t. Or I don’t have this or that, so I can’t. Or I’ve never done it before, why change and do it differently now? Or how about this one, that’s not my gift.
How many of us miss out on God truly working in our lives, and God doing amazing things through us, because we have trained our narrative to say, I can’t do it that way. I’ve learned a lot of the time, we say I can’t, but actually what’s keeping us from experiencing God in other ways is simply because we say internally, I wont. Think about our Scripture today.. Jesus says to those who was believing in him, 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Here’s the thing about this Scripture….. these believers, believed. But they weren’t disciples. Do you know what the word, “truly” means? It means “really”. In other words, there are real and unreal disciples. It’s absolutely possible to be classified as a disciples of Jesus but yet not be a real disciple. How does that happen? How is that possible.
It’s having the outward appearance rather than in internal change. Remember last week, I said, the danger we find in many churches is the fact that the people who attend church are no different than the paint on the wall. That’s harsh thing to say, but true. We come too church, we love the worship, we love the building and how it looks, we love the message, we can even leave encouraged but not changed into the image of Christ.
We can live lives following Jesus, and then at the end of our life find that, that’s all we’ve done. Was follow him without surrendering to him. Right.. There are authentic and inauthentic disciples. There is discipleship that is merely outward, and discipleship that goes down to the root. The Bible tells us there is coming a great delusion in the world. Did you know that in the end times, there will be a great delusion in the world?
We're told in the word, that in the end of days, and in that age, there will be a system called the lie and a great delusion will sweep over the people of that generation. They will believe a lie and they will reject the truth. Many people believe we are living in that generation right now. Paul says, that as a part of sin in Romans 1, that the people of that day had changed the truth of God into a lie.
Paul also said in Romans, the first chapter, in the eighteenth verse, "who hold the truth in unrighteousness” In other words, you can know the truth and not live it. And the most scary part of that, is this… the bibles says, the wrath of God is against such people. Have you ever read this and asked, “Why did Jesus bring up this distinction?” He brought it up because of what we read in verse 30…
“As he was saying these things, many believed in him.” Think about it. As Jesus was teaching and healing, and debating with the pharisees, There had been a large response to what he was teaching. There was even a time where people go, He’s teaching like no other.. and with such power. Remember in Mark, Jesus comes into a synagogue, and casted out an unclean spirit, out of another person, and the people were astonished and said, he teaches with such authority.
The bibles says, At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. Any time, you see a large response to anything, you know that there are some who’s being carried by the crowd. If your friends are going, it’s easy for you to go, even if you wouldn’t go on your own. You are along for the ride. Peer pressure isn’t just for drugs or booze… it can also happen in the christian world as a follower of Jesus.
What these verses, is showing is that not all belief is real. There narratives were skewed. You can say one thing and not totally believe it in your heart… you can think one thing, but it not be totally true in your life… And I can only guess.. here’s a danger… lean in… If that is true, the longer we let the wrong narrative, or the bad story stew, that we are followers and disciples of Jesus, but yet it brings about no change in our heart and our minds…
the harder it will to repent and walk in the Spirit. Hardness of heart comes by the way believing your story more than the gospel story. And I believe it's Because we’ve been deceived. People can go years!!!! Believing, attending, serving, giving to faith, and at the end find out they’ve been no different than the paint on the wall. I remember this week I watched a video of a preacher telling this story.
He painted the mental picture… he goes, , “Imagine you’re standing in a great crowd and by chance, somehow, Paul is standing beside you. And He’s there, and he goes, I’ve been beaten for my faith. I’ve been shipwrecked and had nothing but Christ to sustain me. I’ve been ridiculed, and made fun of. I’ve been imprisoned and hated. And then at the end of it all, I had the blessing of being martyred for my faith to bring much praise and glory to my Lord, Jesus Christ.
At the end of my life, I can say I have suffered for the glory of God. I’ve waited for this day for centuries… And then Paul looks to you and says, “tell me about your christian life…… What would you say? How would you answer that. One of the greatest blunders in todays Christianity is that we believe we’re only called to do something if I have the gifts. Look at me…
I can’t speak very well, I’m not some handsome George Clooney, that while I get older I get handsomer. I’m not rich. I don’t have a great mind like so many of my other pastor friends. I ask everyday, God why me? And his answer for the last 5 years has been… because you’re willing. Even when you’re ridiculed and criticized… your willing. Even when all the odds are against you, you’re willing.
Even when others desert you and you’re alone, you’re willing to trust and obey because you love me. The truth is, we live at the mercy of our narratives. Warren weirsbe says this. The worst bondage is the kind that the prisoner himself does not recognize. He thinks he is free, yet he is really a slave. The Pharisees and other religious leaders thought that they were free, but they were actually enslaved in terrible spiritual bondage to sin and Satan.
They would not face the truth, and yet it was the truth alone that could set them free. When it comes to our narratives, the danger is we never question what we believe. Maybe it’s because we get addicted to our comforts. Perhaps we get into a routine of tradition and we believe that it’s only to be this way, or that way. I remember a dear friend of mine once said to be in the front seat of his old pickup…
he goes, Matthew, If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. There’s more of Christ I want o have all that he’s willing to give to me.… and if you haven’t notices, God gives everything…… Maybe I need to let go of somethings so I can fully embrace all that he is. I tell you the truth, we can not be disciples of Jesus if we don’t examine the narratives in our lives with the truth of God’s word.
I spoke with a dear friend this week and here’s what they said to me… Matthew, Im afraid to study the word at times because I’m afraid I might learn something that goes against what I already believe. I said to them.. isn’t that what were called to do as a disciples? Read the Bible, read God’s truth, and perhaps see that we’re believing one thing, but actually the word says something different?
I can’t tell you how many times, I’ve read something in God's word and I actually closed my Bible because I was convicted. I’m learning in those times of when I’m convicted, to repent. Instead of closing the Bible, and closing myself off to the Spirit, I’m learning to open up my self and say, God examine me. And its rough at times. I’m scared. Do you know what I’m scared of…
Seeing the reflection of my life and it being not of Christ as I thought it was. I’m afraid that I don’t reflect the glory Christ. So here’s a question we have to ask ourself. What’s a false narrative we believe because of the enemy and what is the corresponding truth? How would you fight that false narrative? In my life I’ve learned that there is three narratives that we believe by default.
The first one is this… My hope is in what I can do. We actually, as people with sin masquerade this as freedom. We think true freedom is just doing what you want to do. Doesn’t matter if you claim that it’s truth or not. What we say is man, true freedom and true hope is doing what I want when I want to. The issue to this.. if you remember last week by default we indulge and practice in the works of the flesh.
And many times these practices go unchecked in our life. This is why I believe Jesus makes so much emphasis on this word abiding. We see it here in John, but we also see it when it comes to the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians. We make our faith about what we do, and not about why we do it, for who we do it for. Im sure you’ve heard me say, our faith should be more about being than doing.
I say being is greater because think about this.. doing relies on what I can accomplish. My own power, my own strength and provisions. Of course I can live an easy, faithful life if I’m never challenged in my faith. But being is interior. It’s abiding, it’s intimacy, and rest, and real life. Being relates to our character, how we make a life. Doing is more tangible. Being is more intangible – the kind of people we become on the inside, things that can’t be measured by awards and accolades.
Our hope needs to be in Jesus. His word. Where truth is found. The second default narrative that we believe is this: My hope is in what I can have. The world says, I can have whatever if I work hard for it. I can have anything if I sacrifice enough for it. Jesus say, what do you profit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul? I’m not condemning working through hardships and working to make your life better.
What I’m saying is this… it’s easy, and often times natural for us to let go of Spiritual things for material things in our life. It was hard for Alicia and I to give up a 6 figure job for ministry. After praying together, God was callings into ministry, and in 2016 it was time to take this call serious. I can’t tell you how many times in my life, I had to let go of things that pulls me away from Jesus.
If I’m not aware, its easy to get caught up scrolling on my phone. It’s easy to pursue things I want rather than to save. But it’s not just material things.. it can also be other things we pursue. Like I said earlier, our comfort. Or prestige, or influence. The world constantly pulls us into this status game where we’re fighting people for status. But in the spiritual realm its not status we seek, but humility.
To be humble as servants, like Christ is humble. Our competition as chrsiitnas is to lower ourselves to serve others. Thirdly, My hope is in what others think of me. By far this is my hardest struggle in life. I’m a people pleaser and I deal with the pain of trying to please others. For those of us that struggle with what others think of us… we put our hope in performing for others because we think we need their approval and that narrative can lead to all sorts of destruction and hear me, we cannot be fully formed by Jesus if we believe any of these default narratives.
So right this down if you want.. The teachings of Jesus call us to redream our vision of reality. Being a disciple of Jesus calls for us to examine all of our natives and truths….. Look back in verse 31.. Jesus says, if you are really my disciples… you’ll do what…??? you will know the truth and it will set you free. Freedom comes not through the hope of what I can do, or have, or what others think of me…
its by abiding in Christ and knowing his word, and truth. And, so I ask this question again… who or what is forming you. Is your daily life forming you? Is the fact you can have the freedom to do what you want forming you? Think back to what Paul said to the Galatians… 3 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
What if a part of our formation as followers of Christ, was meant to be disciples of Christ together, as a church? learning together, and walking together? That’s the beauty of grace. In Christ, we no longer live at the mercy of the world’s narratives. We live in the grace of God’s truth. I want to live in God’s grace and I want to do it with those God has brought into my life and that’s all of you.
So, as we do every Sunday, as we get ready and prepare our hearts for communion… Let’s together ask ourselves this one underlining question… is there any hidden narratives in your life that prevents you from growing in Christ, and growing in grace? Think of it for a moment. Are you trapped by something that you’ve believed you’re whole life but is it truth? Does it exalt Christ, does it being you closer to Christ?
Pick out that one thing…. Now, ask yourself… What’s the lie beneath the thought, feeling, and/or sensation that reveals my false narrative? (If God has revealed something to you, are you brave enough to share it with the group so that we can pray for you together) - Mine is being a people pleaser, and basing my idinety on what others think of me. And then, ask, What’s the truth? The truth is, “The kind of people-pleasing that pleases God is not a self-serving need for love or approval.” I get that in Christ.
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