Learn

Recap the first three missional habits:

Bless: Words of affirmation, acts of kindness, gifts. - They get blessed we become generous.

Eat: Having meals with others. - We build deeper relationships and we become more hospitable.

Listen: To the listen to the Holy Spirits and become Spirit-led.

L in B.E.L.L.S. is learn.

I will spend at least one period of the week learning Christ.

It was fashionable some years ago to ask, “What would Jesus do?” when confronted with a

life choice or major decision. I think that if we’re being sent into the world to live

questionable lives, to arouse curiosity, to answer people’s inquiries about the hope we have

within, we need more than ever to know what Jesus would do or say in any circumstance.

C.S. Lewis, wrote: “In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to

make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions,

sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.”

Becoming little Christ does not mean we are like Jesus Himself. For example, we can’t die for others like Jesus did, but we can offer ourselves sacrificially in service of others. “Learning Christ” helps us understand Jesus better and provides the tools for appropriating His example into our lives.

Actors have a process for becoming the character they are to portray.

The process actors take to become the character they will portray.

1. Do a Close Reading of the Script -

2. Analyze Your Character’s Motivations - Why they do what they do.

3. Pay Attention to Action Words in the Script -

4. Envision Your Character’s Physicality - How did they walk and talk.

5. Leave Yourself at the Door - You are becoming someone else.

6. Find a Source of Inspiration -

Tom Hanks in Cast Away. In the film, Hanks played a man stuck on a deserted island. The character gets so desperate for companionship that he names a volleyball "Wilson" and speaks to him. Hanks said in an interview that he went "nuts" by the end of filming. "When Wilson was born, I had dialogue with him, and I heard his dialogue in my head. I did go crazy 'cause I never had a day off. I never had a shot off; I was never off camera for anything. It was… what the whole movie was like, point and shoot. I don't even recall hearing 'Action' and 'Cut.'"

Tom Hanks learned how to fully immerse himself into his character.

What would our lives look like if we were fully immerse in becoming little christ?

If we are to become little christ then we need to learn how to imitate Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

What is Paul saying here, Again I am not Jesus but I am do my best to imitate His life and actions and set an example you can imitate as you try as I to become more like Christ.

Imitating Christ will, at times, feel unnatural and insincere. But this doesn’t make it hypocrisy. We act contrary to our natural impulses not to deceive anyone or be phony but to surrender and retrain those impulses in the power of the Spirit.  Over time, what initially may feel artificial and foreign becomes like second nature–our truest nature in Christ.  

In his classic book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis has a chapter titled “Let’s Pretend” Lewis says something remarkable happens over time, the more you act patient, the more patient a person you become. “Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already.”

How do babies learn? They imitate.

So we want to learn more and more about Jesus so we can more and more like Him.

Galatians 2:20 NIV

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I know longer live, Christ lives in me, the life I know live, - I live in a different way.

Steps to learning to become little Christ.

1. Study the Gospels

Matt, Mark, Luke, John - Three guys that were right there and another did detailed interviews of eye-witnesses. Who better to learn from?

When you study the Gospels read it like an actor would.

What did Jesus: Say, do, act, and live.

2. Read about Jesus

Books about Jesus - The Jesus I never knew.

3. Watch movies

The Passion of the Christ / The Chosen - QR code that goes to the Chosen?

You are who you hang with.

Acts 4:13 NIV

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

They took note that these men had been with Jesus.

The more time you spend “learning Christ” and “Listening to to the Spirit” the more you will become like Him, care like Him, and love like Him. - The more people will take notice as you live on mission for Him and alert them to His reign and His love for them.