Following Jesus Step By Step

5-10 lumens vs 30000+ lumens

Luke 6:39–45 (CSB)

39 He also told them a parable: “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

41 “Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye, but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the beam of wood in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the splinter in your brother’s eye.

43 “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

Following Jesus Step By Step: The Text In Its Context

Classic parables- Jesus loves to use them. Parables are more than examples that help explain meaning. They come with a message of their own that often is left unexplained, so that the hearer has the responsibility of working out what Jesus is getting at. Sometimes the meaning seems obvious, or is determined by the context, but often the imagery used allows a variety of applications, so that different hearers may hear different messages and challenges. Some may respond in one way, some in another, and others may simply choose to be left undisturbed. Because parables do not just illustrate, their pithy form and often surprising imagery aim to get around the hearer’s defenses and to subvert unquestioned assumptions. This is ones of the wonders of Scripture. Jesus’ parables are so powerful and memorable that people of any time, circumstance, or citizenship hears a word from God that strikes to their very soul. The Holy Spirit may use these parables in many different ways with you- but each of those ways will clearly point to Jesus.

If the Holy Spirit has helped you understood a parable, you’re life will never be the same again. This may indeed take some thought as to what exactly Jesus is calling for. You must rely on the Holy Spirit to properly understand the purpose,

You will remember the lesson, you will pray that God empowers you to live that lesson, and you will make every effort to live it out!

Don’t overthink things, God is sovereign and must empower. You have free will and must choose to obey. God acts first, but both are required. Don’t waste time meant to be used living truth trying to understand something that is clearly contradictory but also clearly God’s intention. If you love God, hear Him and obey!

True Disciples Avoids Hypocrisy

Hypocrite! Jesus attacks a critical spirit, by mentioning the quickness with which we are aware of a little fault in someone else but ignore the log in our own eye. Hypocrisy never seem to go out of style, it is the default condition of our fallen world. We are harsh in our judgement of the people around us, and often ignore or make excuses for our own issues.

Imagine Dale doing some work around the church, that shouldn’t be too hard to imagine. Dale is a blessing to us, and a good carpenter. He sets up his table saw and asks me to help hold it. Knowing my skill, I cause the blade to twist, and the board splinters and flies up in the air. I check my fingers, and am happy to still have all 10. But I notice that Dale got some sawdust in the eye from the fragments. Worried about Betsy's reaction to my causing Dale pain I immediately tell Dale to try and flush that while calling 911 for him. In my concern to get Dale fixed up I never notice the blood weeping from eye, covering the phone I am using. One of the large chunks of wood somehow ended up in my own eye.

Every person has a log of one sort or another in their eye. The only question is whether we see it on our own, or need help from others to realize that it is there. There is always the possibility of two people having logs in their eyes, both trying to fix the other. I believe I myself might have had some discussions with believers where each of us should have listened to the other, because the other had pointed out a true issue.

G. K. Chesterton once wrote wryly about critics, giving words of caution that certainly apply to any person who criticizes others:

“Now the mistake of critics is not that they criticize the world; it is that they never criticize themselves. They compare the alien with the ideal; but they do not at the same time compare themselves with the ideal; rather they identify themselves with the ideal.” --G. K. Chesterton

The answer isn’t to leave the specks alone either. The speck in the other persons eye might be a real problem, one that desperately needs to be attended to. Jesus simply calls for us to take care of our sins and shortcomings before going after the people around us to correct them.

Paul gives step by step commands regarding how, when, and why true disciples can offer criticism or judgement biblically.

Galatians 6:1–5 (CSB)

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. 5 For each person will have to carry his own load.

Be A True Disciple

Luke 6:39–40 (CSB)

39 He also told them a parable: “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

A blind teacher leading a blind student ends up with an ER visit. AMEN? The parable doesn’t need much explanation does it? If you try and teach others without first being trained you might as well pick a pit to jump into. Try to pick one with a nice soft landing spot!

You can only teach what you know, anything else you are faking. Potentially having the consequence of answering to Jesus for your mistake. You can only know God’s truth if you are a true disciple, following the leading of the Spirit.

Everyone who is fully trained will will be like his teacher is a daunting statement.Ultimately, every true disciple is following in the footsteps of Jesus. We cannot equal Jesus, but as our discipleship progresses we will look more and more like Him. We will never stand above Jesus, but we should all eagerly desire to follow Jesus step by step and grow to have a character an love like Jesus’.

Part of being a true disciple is acknowledging that you are not perfect, and need to be aware of your You cannot correct others when you yourself need correcting. We all need to be willing to listen to our teachers.

True Disciples Produce Spiritual Fruit

Luke 6:43 (CSB)

43 “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit.

There may be rotten or malformed apples among a good crop, but Jesus is speaking of the overall goodness of the crop produced on a tree and the pain caused by the thorns on brambles. The same goes for people, good people sometimes do bad things. But the focus is on the person’s overall lifestyle.

The way you live and speak reveals the sort of person you are.

A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

John the Baptist teaches that good fruit begins with repentance

Luke 3:8 (CSB)

8 Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.

Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is

Galatians 5:22–23 (CSB)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

True Disciples Have Solid Foundations

Luke 6:46 (CSB)

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?

It is a complete waste of time and effort to tell people that you follow Jesus but ignore living by his teaching.

It might seem to be enough, it is definitely easier to build on the shifting sand or sun-hardened clay instead of digging a foundation down to the underlying bedrock. There is a reason to put the time and effort into finding a firm foundation for your house. The hardened clay of the Middle East seems to be as solid as rock during the dry season, bit it turns into mud during the rainy season.

The solid foundation represent a life built on Jesus. It isn’t as quick and easy as building on the clay, but it is safe and durable. To build on Jesus you must repent your sin, and make every effort to obey His commands. You need to respect the authority of the Bible as the way to determine those commands.

True discipleship is not about an optional lifestyle decision; it is about life and death, in the ultimate sense. There is no salvation in hearing without obeying. Jesus’s teaching in this sermon is probing and discomforting. It keeps before us the two possibilities of being saved and being lost, and it invites those who hear it to apply that distinction not only to other people but also to themselves.

Following Jesus Step By Step: Contemporary Application

The different parables and epigrams in this section focus mainly on the distinction between true and false, between profession and performance, between outward appearance and inward reality.

Make Sure Your Pastor And Teachers Follow Jesus

Jesus calls for us to be careful about which teachers we follow. This includes the pastor and teacher at your church, the authors you read, and the religious programming that you follow on tv or social media. They all need to be actually following Jesus themselves if they are going to help us follow Jesus.

The Pharisees tried to control the to control how others behaved by building fences around sin. They took God’s Word and added to it. For example, God declared working on the Sabbath was sinful. Desiring to protect people the Pharisees put limits on how far people could walk on the Sabbath so they didn’t accidently sin. Eventually people started calling breaking the boundary of the fences was the same as sinning.

If you are pondering God, having a time of worship as you walk through the town or park, walk as far as you want. It is not a sin. In the same way some of our modern day denominations or religious traditions will teach something as sinful, when truly they are just looking to protect us from accidently falling into sin. Drinking is a good example. There is no sin in a having a glass of win, there is sin in getting drunk and losing control. There is also sin in drinking with a person who struggles with alcohol because we become stumbling blocks and enablers for them.

There is no perfect human religious tradition or teacher. Only one teacher is worthy of being followed—Jesus himself. So follow me only so far as we are both following Jesus. Use the Bible as your compass to make sure that we are headed that way together.

We must be accountable to Jesus, and listen to the Holy Spirit’s leading. In a practical sense that accountability starts with ourselves. We often are aware of little faults in others, such as our children or our spouses, while we ignore our own great faults. Jesus calls such priorities hypocrisy. He calls his disciples to self-accountability.

The goal of removing spiritual eye problems is always restoring the person who has trouble to fellowship with Jesus and His church. Those who do the best job of restoring others in their walk are those who can restore themselves. Not fix the problem, that is God’s work, but we need to be willing to receive rebuke and honestly going before the Lord so that our beam may be removed. Only then are we ready to consider how to help a fellow believer remove the speck from his or her eye.

Jesus also tells us that we are what we produce, especially when it comes to what we say. The mouth is a litmus test of who we are spiritually. If we evaluated the character and tone of our daily speech, would it register like acid instead of the gentle love Jesus calls for? When we rebuke it must be gentle! As James testifies, we need to learn how to control the tongue (James 3:1–12). Only the mature can do so.

In the end, being a true disciple comes down to responding to Jesus and living the life that He commands. His rebuke to those who call him “Lord, Lord,” but ignore what he says, indicates just how seriously he takes concrete response. In fact, a biblical text or an exhortation from Jesus is not really understood until it is applied. The disciple who responds to Jesus and does what he calls for is able to stand up to the harsh realities of life in a fallen world. We often stumble during hard times, but the Holy Spirit uses the hard times to purify us and our walk. True disciples may have stumbled in the face of face their disappointments and injuries that life often brings. But they let Jesus pick them back up, dust them off, and put them back into the world. True disciples are brought closer to God in our troubles.

Jesus’ remarks here are not designed to examine individual moments in life but the pattern of life as a believer following Jesus step by step. This point is significant because everyone sins or perhaps even goes through a period of sin. True disciples will deeply regret their failure afterwards. Many think that their bad fruit in a period of rebellion makes it impossible to say they know and love Jesus. If this describes you, you must remember God sent Jesus to save, not to condemn.

If you find yourself using this truth to continue living in sin- follow Paul’s advice and

2 Corinthians 13:5a (CSB)

5a Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves.

Paul was so concerned about the lack of Corinthian fruit that after a long period of time, he asked them to examine themselves to see if they were in the faith. Paul didn’t understand how they could be true disciples while living a pagan lifestyle. The way Paul asks the question is a master class on how to live out Jesus’ sermon on the plain. He does not state he knows the answer, looking in from the outside; rather, he raises the issue for their own reflection.

Scripture clearly that true disciples bear some sort of good fruit. Total absence of fruit, particularly love, does raise the question about the presence of regeneration and faith (Rom. 8:1–16; James 2:14–26; 1 John 3:1–9).

Salvation is by faith through grace, but that grace bestows a changed heart that accepts God as Father and responds to His presence. The speed of the response and transformation is different for every person, and is often different for different sins in the same person. If the seed of new faith is present, it will sprout. Jesus is calling for His true disciples to to grow in him, to listen to him. Those who do will not have to worry about looking for fruit; they will be producing it by his grace.

Points To Ponder

“What It Means to Follow Jesus” by Trent C. Butler

The Savior’s call for faith means we have to decide if we will follow him. To follow him means to recognize his authority as Lord of all religion and all religious traditions. To follow him means to realize the end of the road—death at the hand of religious leaders who are not willing to let him be Lord of religious traditions. To follow Jesus means to join the apostolic faith, to know the people Jesus first entrusted his mission to, to know the source of authority—the Bible—they left behind, and to live out and pass on that apostolic faith to the next generation. To follow him means to follow his teaching—truths that stand in stark contrast to normal religious teaching.

Check your “hater” at the door. You have no more need of it. Love is the only theme—love for every person on earth no matter how they treat us. Retire from the judge’s bench. That task should be left in God’s hands. He is the judge. We are called to test ourselves and to make sure hypocrisy and evil have not gained control of our lives. We are called to be master teachers, setting our goal to become like the Master. We have no excuse for being blind to the truth or following those who are blind. We must build our lives on the solid rock of faith in Jesus Christ. Then we will bring forth good fruit for him.

PRINCIPLES

Jesus and God’s Holy Word are the only absolute authorities we have to follow.

Church traditions too often become church laws, keeping people away from God rather than leading them to him.

Doing good is more important than obeying traditions.

Prayer should precede all of life’s decisions.

Kingdom blessings rest on the poor, the hungry, those who mourn, those who are persecuted.

One’s position in human society does not determine one’s position in heaven.

Earthly prosperity may be the only reward we will ever get.

Love for others, especially those who oppose us—not protection of self—is life’s guiding principle.

We are called to judge ourselves, not others.

God expects from us good fruit that is shown in obedience to him and love for others.

APPLICATIONS

Beware the limits the church places on who, where, and when we can minister in Jesus’ name.

Look for opportunities to do good to other people no matter what people will say about the kind of people we are associating with or the way things have always been done in the church.

We can expect to be attacked by religious people when we follow Christ completely.

Pray every day and especially before every decision you face.

See if wealth, position, or power in this world is preventing you from joining those God is blessing with eternal rewards.

Take your enemy list down to zero by praying for and loving every person on the list. The question is not how they are behaving but how much we are loving.

Every time you find reason to judge someone else for an action or an attitude, look inward and see how much of that action or attitude controls your life.

Ask God to show you the foundation on which you have built your life.

[Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 95–96.]

“Call to Righteousness, Fruit, and Wise Building” by Darrell L. Bock.

The warning about following Jesus and not anyone else (v. 39) reflects a fundamental value of the church. Jesus is the center of the faith. The apostles he commissioned are called to reveal his way. Thus the importance of following the right teacher is important. One must hear Jesus, for he is the unique hub of the Christian faith, the mediator of our relationship to God. That claim is the offense of the gospel, which makes sharing Christ difficult in a world that compares religion to a vast interstate highway system where all roads lead to God. Jesus did not present himself as one of many ways, but as the way. In fact, it is this section of the parallel Sermon on the Mount that led me, as an unbeliever, to consider the Lord’s claims more seriously. After reading it, I clearly felt that Jesus did not merely teach a way of wisdom, but the way to knowing God. The challenge to build wisely by responding to Jesus is what led me to him years ago.

There is also a great need for fruitfulness today in one’s testimony for Christ. All too often the lost refuse to listen to the claims of Jesus because they know Christians who are hypocrites. When such a charge is raised, there is some value in pointing out that Christians are not perfect, just forgiven sinners—but that will only go so far. The church needs people who know God and walk with him in such a way that the roots of their relationship to God shine forth as light. Fruitfulness makes that clear.

In sum, this sermon is a timeless ethical outline of how believers should manifest the gracious character of the Father as his children. Mercy, love, and grace should dominate our character, even if it requires great personal risk.

[Darrell L. Bock, Luke, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 195–196.]

A Week’s Worth Of Scripture

Monday Galatians 6:1–5 (CSB)

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. 5 For each person will have to carry his own load.

Tuesday Luke 3:4–9 (CSB)

4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight! 5 Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low; the crooked will become straight, the rough ways smooth, 6 and everyone will see the salvation of God.

7 He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Wednesday Galatians 5:19–26 (CSB)

19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Thursday Hebrews 13:20–22 (CSB)

20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

22 Brothers and sisters, I urge you to receive this message of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.

Friday 2 Corinthians 13:5–11 (CSB)

5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test. 6 And I hope you will recognize that we ourselves do not fail the test. 7 But we pray to God that you do nothing wrong—not that we may appear to pass the test, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear to fail. 8 For we can’t do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. We also pray that you become fully mature. 10 This is why I am writing these things while absent, so that when I am there I may not have to deal harshly with you, in keeping with the authority the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Saturday 2 Peter 1:3–15 (CSB)

3 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. 4 By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. 11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

12 Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder, 14 since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me. 15 And I will also make every effort so that you are able to recall these things at any time after my departure.