Disciples Abide and Obey
Notes
Transcript
Square Hippies. Lowkey Tryhards.
If we call Jesus Lord and “Follow” him, we will obey him. Do what he says. Any other meaning of “Lord” is a lie, and Jesus calls it out over and over again. Our sinful nature rebels against Lordship, but only in submission and re-submission to him do we find life as it was meant to be. Abide.
Thaddaeus and Bartholomew
Thaddaeus and Bartholomew
Two disciples of Jesus we know almost nothing about. So I’ll make up some stuff about them… and you might recognize a disciple you know… or maybe yourself.
Thaddaeus
Thaddaeus
We might call Thaddaeus a “Hippy Christian” or just “Lowkey Chill”.
He is a follower of “Jesus”, but not super into labels, or organized religion, it’s all about “Jesus” and “love” and where does Jesus take me, man.
Thad the Chad.
And, as different as he can be
Bartholomew
Bartholomew
Don’t call him Bart, he doesn’t like it. He is Bartholomew.
We might call him a square, a tryhard, he is the SUPER Christian, at church every day, doing all the things, doing them right, and maybe making sure folks know he is doing all the things and doing them right.
And he would never say it of course, not out loud, but it’s quite clear that he is doing it more right more often than you are.
Marks of Discipleship
Marks of Discipleship
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?
What does it look like when we are one?
What does it look like when we make one?
Disciples follow. They hear the call of Jesus and they follow.
Disciple love. They love first, they love always, they love everyone.
We could stop there. Rightly understood that covers everything. If one truly follows Jesus, everything else proceeds. Love proceeds, we love because He first loved us.
And all the other marks, all the other laws, all follow from Love. Love God. Love Others.
He gave of himself for our good.
So we give of ourselves for others: The giving of us for the gooding of you.
But let’s make up “love” to be whatever we want. Love is love, man…
How are our two disciples doing here? Let’s here from Thaddeus:
Hippy Lowkey Abiding
Hippy Lowkey Abiding
I just… abide in Christ, man!
Take it as a kind of “life with”, in its “doing it together” sense. Just me and Jesus, me and him, him and me.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
He is the vine and we are the branches… his banner over me is love.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
(You might notice I skipped a verse there, that one isn’t nearly chill enough.)
I abide in Jesus, I ask whatever I wish, it’s done for me! Yes! Vending machine Jesus, Venmo Jesus, Yes, Please!
So I am abiding, I am loving whatever and whoever and however, just me and Jesus kind of growing wild and free… and doing our thing!
There’s a truth in here, buried in here a bit… it is about life with Jesus, and there is radical and beautiful freedom in that. It is about more than a church building or service, it is about life with Jesus.
Maybe that’s you, that’s where your heart goes. Some of us are going to have that bent. But I can guarantee that is where some disciples of Jesus are going to go, a trap to their left.
What do you say? Why is that wrong?
Well, here comes the Square Tryhard Bartholomew telling us exactly why it is ALL the way wrong!
Square Tryhard Obeying
Square Tryhard Obeying
I do ALL THE THINGS!
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;
4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;
6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.
7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.
1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
And so, so, so many more!
Out of zeal, out of duty, out of thankfulness, we strive with ALL our might and will and effort to FORCE ourselves to obey in every regard so that we shall BE holy like Jesus.
And, likely, we bring that same standard to which we hold ourselves to those around us, in our sphere of influence, that THEY should be at least as holy as we are… and isn’t it “loving” that I should make them holy too?
Maybe that’s you, that’s where your heart goes. Some of us are going to have that bent. But I can guarantee that is where some disciples of Jesus are going to go, a trap to their right.
Licentiousness and Legalism.
Antinomianism (anti law) vs. Judaizers
Gentile vs Pharisee?
How do we dodge the trap, how do we walk the way?
It isn’t complicated… the answer is Jesus. Walking after Jesus, there is absolutely no trap, no false dichotomy, no trick, and really no complication.
Abide = Obey
Abide = Obey
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
People love to quote that one out of context.
“Abide in my word… know the truth… and the truth will set you free.” (It isn’t just any truth that sets free, it is Jesus Word, His Truth, which is The Truth).
And in a very particular way, Jesus is building to something here, a certain way of being free:
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
That bit about abiding earlier? The vine and the branches? He goes on to say exactly this:
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
And John unpacks this in 1 John 2:3-6
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
To abide is to obey. To obey is to abide.
Is that a mark of discipleship? Isn’t that what Jesus said?
Disciples Abide and Obey
Disciples Abide and Obey
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples”
That’s what Jesus said, right? If we abide… and he said abiding means obeying, we are truly his disciples.
We never never never stop abiding. Dwelling with Jesus, connected to Jesus, the branch to the vine. It is always being before doing. We are His, every act of the rest of our lives is under His lordship. Every act of obedience, of submission, of turning our life over is out of His righteousness, His love, His lead.
This is the antidote to any legalistic, prideful, arrogant self-righteousness. We can’t run ahead of Jesus saying “Look, I did it myself, I don’t need you now!” No. We abide, we follow, he leads us into all righteousness. That doesn’t mean it’s easy and effortless or automatic… it means he is with us. We abide in him.
But make no mistake:
But Jesus will lead us out of sin and into righteousness.
Jesus just said “anyone who practices sin is a slave.” He loves us too much to leave us in slavery. He sets us free.
Yes, free in the cross forever and amen! AND he is breaking chains now, breaking chains today, setting folks free from addiction, free from shame, free from abuse and abusing, free from anger and fear, free from idolatry, free from EVERYTHING that enslaves.
He sets us free forever… for eternity… and he brings eternity into the present, into the beautiful here and now.
Because he loves you, he is not content that we remain in chains. The manacles unlocked but still gripping the chains like your life depends on it.
Maybe that’s you… and maybe you see that in someone you love. Someone you are discipling, to follow you as you follow Christ.
We said last week, we “Love First” to Everyone Always. That’s a mark of discipleship.
So… when does Love lead us into this? Into, with Christ, breaking chains, breaking strongholds, leading someone to Abide and Obey.
Very rarely, the Holy Spirit will lead you to be a voice of conviction. Very rarely, because we are all too often too wrapped up in judgment and condemnation to know conviction when we see it.
Most often, in discipleship, the Spirit will already have done the work of conviction. You will see it in them. You will see the wrestling, see the struggle, see the hurt, see the hard.
And often, very often, there will be questions:
The legalist, the tryhard is asking some deep questions:
If I do the right things, will God love me? God loves you before you ever knew what a “right thing” was. He died for you while you were still a sinner, and there is no collection of “right things” that will mean he leaves you more.
I made a mistake, does He hate me know? He already knew, He already died for that sin too, and he will lead you into freedom.
But whenever we are convicted of sin, questions come with it too:
Why does God call that sin? Because God knows death when He sees it, and He brings resurrection. God knows chains, and He is a chain breaker.
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Why do I have to do what Jesus says? Because that is what it means to follow AND what it means to love AND he invites you into life and life abundant.
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Can I hold this area of my life back from Jesus? I will follow Jesus with my Saturday morning, my Sunday morning, maybe even my tithe, but the rest of mine.
Jesus is not content that we hold back onto our chains of slavery. He loves us too much.
Jesus is not content that we hold on to a piece of death. He wants to bring life to all, eternity to all, redemption to all, freedom to all!
He wants our worship, our religious practice, our Monday mornings, our identity, our politics, our gender, our sexuality, our past, present, and future. He wants to rescue and redeem ALL of it.
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free!
Disciples Abide and Obey, for Jesus is Lord, Jesus is King, and Jesus is Good.
We truly are his disciples, turning our WHOLE lives over to him, knowing that is, He is, the Way, the Truth and the Only Life.
We teach others, exactly when he gives us the opportunity, we teach them to Observe, Know and Obey ALL the commands of Jesus. For He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
For he was obedient, even to death on a cross. Even to the tomb. Even to resurrection.
We abide in him. Even to the cross. Even to the tomb. With him in resurrection.
