Jesus called and continues to call us to follow him. His perennial word to all humanity is come. The church are called to echo Jesus heart cry, for all to come to Him. As we continue to have a heart posture of coming to Jesus and trusting Him, we learn from Him. This is discipleship, and spiritual formation. It is this simple, yet occurs through complexity.
Matthew 11:28-30 says: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
The point I am making in this blog is; we grow through coming to Jesus and learning from Him,from the beginning of our following until the end. This is being Christian.
We learn about being Christian through many sources; sermons preached in church, a song, a book, a podcast, reading the bible, a friends comments in Life group, life happening all around us. Through all this we hear and learn from Jesus. On Sundays I preach, you may hear and learn something through me; I hope you do: what I always want is that while hearing through me you learn from Jesus. He is the living word of God to whom all the written word testifies. He is the focus of all the revelations of the Holy Spirit.
When we learn from Jesus, the truth we learn may shock us, challenge us, comfort us, encourage us, and rebuke us; sometimes at the same time. The truth we learn will be re-writing our beliefs and values, it transforms us (This always means we change our views). When we learn truth from Jesus, usually through a human medium; the Holy Spirit is writing into our hearts, it becomes part of who we are; and always brings faith and produces hope.
If we were looking for tests regarding impressions and thoughts we are having; as to whether these are learning from Jesus; we could reflect on Matthew 11:28-30. Do these thoughts and feelings lead and grow my souls rest in Jesus, i.e. they move us from tension and hostility to peace. Do these words bring a sense of ease and lightness to our souls, for though challenging Jesus says; his yoke of learning is easy and light. It’s still a burden, but it fits, it works, and it produces its promise by his power and our agreement, not our determined obligatory performance of duty.
I am almost continually praying for Unite people to be learning from Jesus, especially from my attempts at preaching and in Life Groups. To be freed from the lies of Satan, perhaps these lies are the gates of hell Jesus mentions in Matthew 16:18. I desperately want you to learn from Jesus, to live in his rest, peace joy, hope and freedom. And I am confident, that if you want this, and are prepared to leave all your old ideas, thoughts, feelings, moods etc. Jesus will lead you into a life of increasing peace, joy, and freedom in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17 check it out) I find myself thinking a new car, then will feel convicted, and begin to pray for sous to be saved and transformed by the mercy and grace of Jesus, give me souls, give me souls, saved, set free, growing in mercy and grace, freedom and the fullness of the Spirit of God.