Discipleship – Become Like Jesus
Read Matthew 7:24-29 and your notes from Sunday morning’s sermon.
Intro:
Who are you becoming? That is the question we ask ourselves as we continue to study discipleship. Everyone is being spiritually formed. From before you were even born, and all throughout your life, things have shaped you and formed you into who you are right now. Think genetics, family environment and patterns, education, decisions you’ve made along the way, and more. You are formed and you continue to be formed every day. The question is, who are you becoming and how can you direct your formation? John Mark Comer in his book “Practicing the Way,” says this: “We are being either transformed into the love and beauty of Jesus or malformed by the entropy of sin and death.”
Our goal as followers of Jesus is to be formed into His image. The sticking point here is that this is something that we need God’s help for. We can not form or transform ourselves without his help. What we CAN do is make ourselves available to God. This is where abiding in Him comes into play. We have to continue to be with Jesus, surrendering ourselves to Him daily. Christlikeness is the byproduct of Christ in us.
Becoming like Christ will not be easy. It is not only a slow process but a difficult one. You will not wake up one day 20 years from now realizing you became like Jesus over time without training to be like Him. We have to practice the practices of Jesus, in community, with help from the Holy Spirit.
Questions:
- When you think of Jesus and who He was, what traits do you think of?
- How can you develop those same traits or qualities in yourself? (Keeping in mind that you can’t do it alone.)
Feel free to discuss or ask additional questions as they arise
Spiritual Practice:
This week as you continue to practice solitude, ask God to reveal to you the things that need to be stripped away in order to become more like Jesus. Maybe its anger, fear, anxiety, worry, or hurry. In your solitude with God, lay all of it at his feet. Do this each day all week long. You may or may not notice any big changes right away, but I bet you’ll at least notice a change in your attitude towards that thing that you are struggling with. You’ll notice a new awareness of it that you can now point to when it takes hold, and ask God for help with immediately.
Closing Verse: Luke 6:40 – “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.”
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