Seeing the Way Clearly as Followers of Jesus

Following Jesus is hard. It’s easy to feel paralyzed or rudderless in the midst of our sinful reality. Jesus himself said that the narrow way would be difficult and it would be easy to stray onto the way of destruction. More than that, Jesus wants us to invite people onto that narrow way and to introduce them to the One who seeks and to saves the lost. So how do we do it? How do we take this gift of faith and make the kind of difference Jesus wants us to make? How do we see the narrow way clearly in the dense fog of accepted sinful behavior?

Jesus has given us what we need, if we could only see it and put it into practice. Jesus is the Rock upon which our house is built. The structure of that house is simple. It’s in His mission, His words, His example and the example of those who first followed Him. Here’s what that structure looks like:

The Mission of God

God created an interdependent paradise, where everyone and everything unselfishly provided for the other. Selfishness crept in and began to fracture God’s beautiful creation, resulting in death. The fundamental unit of marriage and the family was corrupted. God’s mission was to bring his beautiful paradise back. He adopted a people to bless the world. He saved them, instructed them, loved them, and yet the paradise was not restored. Finally he sent his Son, Jesus, who embodied the perfect creation and whose selfless death and glorious resurrection opened hearts to God’s love. Jesus then commissioned his followers to lead others to the truth of God’s interdependent paradise, foreshadowed now, and perfected in eternity. God’s mission is our mission.

The Image of God

So who are we? We are made in the image of God. Jesus restored us to that image in our baptism and showed us that identity through his baptism. We are children of the Father, who loves us and provides us with all that we need. We live in the name of Jesus, whose death and resurrection has given us forgiveness, and the calling to forgive others. We are guided by the Holy Spirit, who gives us hearts to live in selfless interdependency in the midst of our broken world. As followers of Jesus, we are made in the image of Trinity.

The Image of Self

The greatest threat to the image of God in us is our love of self. Without even thinking, we take the blessings of God in this world and use them for selfish purposes. Jesus showed us this through his three temptations in the desert. When we love possessions, prestige or power more than people, they become our masters and we will sacrifice so much to worship those idols. We must learn to recognize and resist those temptations and use all of God’s blessings in selfless love for others.

The Narrow Way

Discipleship is a skill, and no one masters a skilled craft immediately. There is a process of growth and maturation through multiple stages that takes time and is often quite difficult. Following Jesus is no different. That’s why Jesus gave us the path to spiritual maturity in his Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. From the first repentant baby step of faith, to the struggles of adopting meekness, to the joys of showing mercy, and to the challenges of peacemaking, Jesus has shown us the way and walked it ahead of us.

The Church’s Devotion

The first followers of Jesus learned from him, witnessed his death, his resurrection and his ascension. They were commissioned to make followers and to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. So, we can learn much from the way they chose to live and use their pattern of life as the basis for our own corporate devotion. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Their devotion is our devotion. This is church.

Years ago, I took a sabbatical to write the Harvest Incubator for Mission (HIM). It is a study that instructs followers of Jesus how to see these simple structures in Jesus’ teachings and to apply them to their lives and ministries. If you are familiar with Agape Sticks, it is deeply incorporated into the teaching. I have been blessed to teach HIM many times and I would invite you to join in this powerful teaching the next time it is taught. The study usually takes about a year, if taught every other week. It’s a commitment, but so is following Jesus. My life has been changed by this, and I am confident yours will be too.

Drop a note to me in the form below below if you are interested in learning more about the Harvest Incubator for Mission.