The Disciple's Formation

Introduction

How long does it take for a river to erode a canyon? As a Christian, you need to let the Word of God flow through you until it forms Christ in you.

What are the events of your life that have shaped you the most?

Aristotle once said that character is not formed in a moment, but over a lifetime. Every day your character is being formed. The formation of you character depends upon what is flowing through you.

You may grow frustrated with how long it takes you to grow.

God is forming you into what He desires for you to be.

Jesus placed a high value on the teaching of the Word of God because He knew that it was the Word of God that has the power to accomplish God’s desire (ref: Isaiah 55:11; Heb 4:12).

Teaching is Central to Christianity

· The word is used 97 times in the NT

· Dates back to OT

Deuteronomy 11:18–21 CSB

“Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates, so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.

Nehemiah 8:8 CSB

They read out of the book of the law of God, translating and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was read.

One of the earliest documents used by the church besides Scripture was called the didache. Literally means “teaching.”

· Teaching involves two elements:

o Correct belief

o Moral instruction that comes from correct belief

o **Believe right things about God and you will live to please God. Where preaching seeks to engage the mind and the heart, teaching seeks to engage the mind and the hands.

· In the Bible, teaching is done in two settings:

o Formal – think Sermon on the Mount and Luke 4 in the synagogue.

o Informal – the withering of the fig tree and the coin from the fish’s mouth.

What does *observe* mean?

· To guard; To preserve; To protect

· **As we faithfully teach the Word of God, we are preserving the Gospel of Jesus Christ—both in what in means and what it accomplishes.

· App: Many of us want to revere the Bible. Few of us actually want to preserve the Bible. The Bible is not preserved by keeping it in a safe place. The Bible is preserved by keeping it in your heart.

Three reasons that teaching is central to the Christian faith

The Teaching of God’s Word Forms the Church

Acts 2:36–42 CSB

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!” So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

a. The church is the creature of the Word. It is the Word of God that brings unbelievers to belief. It is the Word of God that creates holiness within believers. It is the Word of God that guides us through our confusions, strengthens us in our trials, and warns us of dangers. The church is the creature of the Word.

b. Illus:

c. Pragmatism tends to be the rule of the day. Faithfulness has taken a backseat to effectiveness. We seldom ask if it’s faithful. We ask if it *works.*

d. We think and we speak rightly about God only when what we think and speak accurately reflects what God has spoken.

Addition: Trains the Church in Godliness

1 Timothy 4:6–8 CSB

If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed. But have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness. For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

2 Peter 1:1–3 CSB

Simeon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Subtraction: Keeps the Church from False Teaching

2 Peter 2:1–3 CSB

There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them. They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.

The Teaching of God’s Word Informs the Christian

a. Objective truth is not popular today.

b. We have become largely an experience-based culture. But what you believe matters. People want an *experience with the Spirit* when they need is *exposure to the Word.*

c. Many people will cling to every word of their favorite news commentator and yet give very little regard to God’s Word.

d. The most important thing that you think is what you think when you think about God.

e. Negligence of the Word of God is negligence for the health of the soul.

Amos 8:11 CSB

Look, the days are coming— this is the declaration of the Lord God— when I will send a famine through the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

Jeremiah 15:16 CSB

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I bear your name, Lord God of Armies.

f. It is the teaching of God’s Word that shapes you, strengthens you, and preserves you.

g. Many Christians are struggling today, not because of circumstances. Not because church “is not like it used to be.” But because they are starved for God’s Word. Do not **feed** yourselves on the “way things used to be.” Feed yourself on “the way things are going to be.”

The Teaching of God’s Word Transforms the Sinner

Transforms: The Word of God Calls us to salvation

Romans 10:17 CSB

So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

James 1:18 CSB

By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

The Word of God awakens your heart to see your sin and Christ’s beauty.

Transforms: The Word of God forms Christ within us.

1 Peter 1:22–25 CSB

Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.

We often think of the Bible as a roadmap. Roadmaps can tell you where to go. But they have no capacity to get you there. Roadmaps get outdated. GPS can mislead.

The Bible not only gives you guidance of where you need to go. But consistent exposure to it actually creates within you the faith to get you there.

Three things that you should do with Word of God:

Read it

Hear it

Obey it

It is through simply repeating the Word of God in an explanatory voice that we come to reflect God.

Conclusion

Character is not formed in a moment, but over a long period of time. Keep doing the right thing as God re-forms the image of Christ in you. As the river shapes the canyon, so the Word of God shapes Christ in us.

The teaching of God’s Word always demands a response. The core-principle of the teaching of the Bible is the event of Jesus Christ. Everything taught flows from that when it is rightly understood.

The primary message of the Bible—all other messages flow from this Message—is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ for your salvation.