Being Transformed by Being With Jesus

Jesus’ call was and is ‘Follow Me.’ Last week we looked at how Paul - an early follower of Jesus, though one who came to Jesus after Jesus’ life, death, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension - experienced living with Jesus. His writings to gatherings of believers across the Roman Empire are challenges to follow Jesus - to experience His fullness of life - in the same manner and pattern as Paul.

Today and next Sunday I want us to walk through a day in the life of Jesus. As we do this we are going to look into how Jesus modeled practices that shaped His life and practices that He uses via the indwelling Holy Spirit to shape all who are followers.

Believers in the early NT era understood a couple of basic truths about Jesus.

a). Hebrews 2:14-15

Hebrews 2:14–15 HCSB

Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the Devil — and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.

Jesus experienced life - in exactly the same way you and I do. Hot, cold, wet, dry, hungry, weary, thirsty - all these descriptive words we use describe experiences Jesus shares with us.

b). Hebrews 5:7-8

Hebrews 5:7–8 HCSB

During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Though He was God’s Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.

Jesus ‘learned’ obedience in the same way we do. To ‘learn’ is to be shaped by experiences and knowledge gained through those experiences. It is a different way of expressing the idea of transformation!

READ Mark 1:21-34

A. Worship

“He entered the synagogue....” Luke, in his account of Jesus’ life reminds his readers that it was Jesus’ custom, habit, or regular practice to attend synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath.

The Gospel according to Mark (The Authority of Jesus (1:21–28))

Unlike the temple in Jerusalem where animal sacrifice was practiced by priests, Jewish synagogues, according to rabbinic nomenclature, were “assembly halls” or auditoriums where the Torah was read and expounded.

There was but one temple (in Jerusalem), whereas synagogues, the Greek derivation of which simply means “gathering places,” could be found throughout the Mediterranean world wherever ten or more Jewish males, thirteen years of age or older, were present.

The only official in charge of a synagogue was the “ruler of the synagogue,” a position that included the responsibilities of librarian, worship committee, custodian, and perhaps schoolteacher.

The ruler of the synagogue did not preach or expound the Torah, however, which meant that Sabbath teaching and exposition fell to the laity, and on this occasion to Jesus.

This was not Jesus’ first time in a synagogue. From infancy He had been taken by His family to synagogue services. Even prior to His public ministry it is extremely likely Jesus attended synagogue.

In the synagogue songs were sung, prayers were prayed, and Scripture (portions of the OT - particularly the TORAH [the first five books of Moses]) were read and taught regularly.

In other words - much of what we do Sunday by Sunday is a reflection of what God’s people have been doing for centuries!

Today we call what Jews did at synagogue ‘corporate worship.’

Lexham Theological Wordbook Concept Summary

Worship is the reverential response of creation to the all-encompassing magnificence of God

In the OT worship occurs in families - Abraham and his descendants would build altars on which they would offer sacrifices to God. As God’s people travelled in the wilderness a tabernacle was built. This tent was placed in the midst of God’s people and it was the place for worship - prayers, offerings, and so on.

After being established in the Promised Land Solomon, the son of David, built a huge and magnificent Temple to replace the tent known as the tabernacle.

When Jerusalem fell in 587 BC and God’s people were taken to Babylon, the concept of the synagogue was born - to enable God’s people to keep alive the songs of their faith, the prayers passed down through the generations, and the regular reading of God’s Word.

Think for a moment how ‘corporate worship’ shapes the lives of believers.

Most of us learned to pray by listening to others pray in public.

We share a common vocabulary of music with others across the world by the songs we sing. Sometime take a hymnal home - we have several - and look up the nationality and ethnicity of the writers.

We are shaped by corporate worship as we learn to read God’s Word together. And whenever God’s Word is read, His promise is that it will accomplish His purpose!

We could worship at home, alone. And we should worship at home - alone. But we need to come together to share our hurts, burdens, our cares and concerns. We grow spiritually by being with others, listening to them, hearing their hearts as they pray, as they sing, as they share what God is doing in their lives.

B. The Word

Not only did Jesus customarily attend synagogue, when He attended He often was given the privilege of reading from God’s Word and sharing from that Word.

Again, think with me as to how exposure to God’s Word transforms people. Last week we heard how individuals lives have been radically changed by the possession of a New Testament!

We should read the Bible on our own. We should study in small groups around the Word of God.

But we must always submit ourselves to the corporate reading and explanation of Scripture. This is one of God’s ways of transformation in our lives.

C. Spiritual Encounters

We read of accounts such as this in vs 23-ff and are surprised. Why are we surprised that spiritual things happen when God’s people gather to acknowledge God’s presence?

What else would we expect except that when God shows up, so does the enemy?

One of the tools God is using to conform us to the image of His Son is awakening us to the reality of His presence.

The Apostle Paul, whom we heard from last week wrote several letters to believers in Corinth. In the first of these letters he reminded them that not everyone has a spiritual sensitivity - only those to whom God has given the Spirit

1 Corinthians 2:10–12 HCSB

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.

Notice that Jesus did not call out the demon possessed man but that the demon possessing the man responded to the presence and the message of Jesus.

We don’t need to go looking for the enemy! He will make his presence known if we are seriously embodying the presence and message of Jesus!

Jesus’ response is instructive for those early disciples - and for us.

Jesus ‘rebuked’ the demon. The word ‘rebuke’ as used by the gospel writers parallels the OT use. For example Psalm 104:5-9

Psalm 104:5–9 HCSB

He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be shaken. You covered it with the deep as if it were a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away — mountains rose and valleys sank — to the place You established for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; they will never cover the earth again.

Here in Mark’s account Jesus, with the authority of God, rebukes the demon, and the demon must obey.

Jesus orders the demon to be silent. Jesus does not need the testimony of the enemy.

Jesus’ words and presence make the Kingdom of God real, visible, present in ways that are unmistakable.

Reading on in the NT we can see the early followers of Jesus make the same claim.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch - Acts 8;

Peter in the home of Cornelius - Acts 10-11.

THE TOOLS GOD USES

The invitation of Jesus is still, Follow Me. Dallas Willard offers the following description of what it means to be a disciple, a follower:

I am learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live my life if he were here.

Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (San Francisco, CA.: Harper San Francisco, 1998), 283.

Time is of the essence

We learn from Jesus only if we spend time WITH Him. Learning anything requires time. In the busyness of our days we are wary of anything that might take time away from us.

If we are serious about being conformed to the image of Jesus the first issue we have to confront: will we spend time with Jesus? I read this week on social media of one of my heroes of the faith and a recent experiment.

He took his Bible and set an empty chair across from where he was sitting.

He envisioned Jesus sitting in that chair - and as he read the Bible he read as though Jesus were speaking carefully and clearly to him.

Does that take time? Yes. Is it time well spent? Yes.

Practices worth repeating

Why did Jesus regularly attend synagogue? I mean, here He is, creator, sustainer of the universe.

But even He needed to be with other believers, to be surrounded by people of like mind and heart.

Even Jesus benefited from hearing the Word of God read, from reciting prayers of His physical ancestors, from singing songs that spoke of God’s nature and character.

If Jesus needed that, how much more do you and I need it!

Jesus was constantly aware of the spiritual climate around Him.

He didn’t need to confront the enemy. Rather, He was always prepared to respond when the enemy confronted Him!

Dallas Willard, whom I quoted a moment ago suggests two specific actions I want to leave with you today:

ASK

In your regular times of prayer and Bible reading, ask Jesus that you might see Him as He really is.

Dwelling, Immersing ourselves in His Word

John 8:31–32 (HCSB)

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples.

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Dwelling or immersing ourselves is not just reading and studying. It also means ‘doing.’ Asking ourselves: What does this passage tell me to do - is there an action I need to take?

Is there an attitude I need to change?

Is there something specific I can take from this passage?

Decide/Intend

Willard writes,

…in the last analysis we fail to be disciples only because we do not decide to be. We do not intend to be disciples.

Divine Conspiracy, 298.

Will you choose to follow Jesus today?