Volume 8: Obedience to Jesus
Summary of Volume 8
During His time on earth, Jesus established himself as a rabbi to His disciples, a friend to sinners, and through the cross as King to his followers. Being a disciple of Jesus is an all-encompassing decision. We do not get the luxury of passively following Jesus only as a religious teacher with good teachings. When Jesus calls us to follow Him, it is an invitation to carry our cross, to die to ourselves, and to submit to His Lordship. Discipleship is a shift in direction, a repentance of posture, and a whole life submission to Jesus. As King of Kings, Jesus requires and deserves obedience. In this handbook, we will explore how we can live lives that give allegiance to our King, Jesus.
Topics
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To say “Jesus is Lord,” means that in the same breath we say that “Ceaser is not.” As we follow Jesus and submit to His lordship, we must acknowledge the cost of our “yes.” In order to understand what it will cost us, we must understand what it costs God for the kingdom of God to be established, and for us to be a part of it.
When we engage with the sacrament of Communion, we are reminded of the many faceted reality of God’s kingdom and Jesus’ lordship. Through Communion, we ground ourselves as disciples, and commit our roles, agendas, and lifes to the one and true King.
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In the life and story of Jesus, we are in full view of His life as being one that is “holy”. His life is “set apart” from others for we see Him defying the status-quo of societal norms all out of full obedience to God His Father. He is even referred to as being “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). Jesus’ life was fully surrendered to God, and out of that posture of full surrender, He is radically pursuing holiness. Before we begin to talk about what it looks like to pursue holiness in our own lives, it’s important for us to begin to dive into Scripture to see how this word is used, modeled, and translated.
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The biblical narrative is an ongoing saga of two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of Heaven. This means that when we hear Jesus instructing his followers to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” we know that His desire is for the kingdom of Heaven to come to Earth. But as we read the story of these two kingdoms, one does not look like the other. The kingdom of Heaven always works radically different than the kingdom of this world. So what exactly does it look like for Heaven to invade Earth and how can we participate in this “kingdom life” today? When we consider the narrative of God in three parts we can easily locate our place in the story.
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Exercise: Something that is done or practised to develop a particular skill.
Discernment: The quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure.
God is always speaking, working, and moving. Whether we are paying attention is a different conversation. The reality is that our enemy is also always working against us. He is cunning and can confuse us in our daily walk and discipleship. Part of walking with Jesus is learning from Him, to be like Him, in paying attention and discerning what the Father is doing, in partnership with the Holy Spirit.
We as disciples must learn to exercise discernment, in all situations to be faithful partners of the Kingdom of God.
