Six ways I listen and follow Jesus’ teaching

Six ways I listen and follow Jesus’ teaching

Posted on by Matthew Laker

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.” Matthew 7:24 (NLT)

 

fall pathJust how do we listen to Jesus’ teachings and embrace them in our life?

 

It was a Saturday night and I was sitting on our back steps and reflecting on life. I started to think about the sermon I would preach the next day. I was talking about the need to learn the ways of Jesus and embrace him in the everyday moments. I wondered to myself, just how do I learn the ways of Jesus.

 

Here are six things I wrote down in my journal of ways I go about learning the ways of Jesus and embracing in him my life.

 

These are in no order.

 

Six ways to listen and follow Jesus’ teaching

 

a. Time for self reflection

 

Life goes so fast we fail to slow down long enough to actually reflect upon our experiences and their impact in our life. It is during these moments that I am looking at my life in light of who Jesus is. I am not sure if I do this well yet, but am learning as I walk this journey.

 

b. Regular reading of and meditating on God’s word

 

It is no secret that one of the biggest catalysts we can have in growing our faith is a regular reading and meditating on God’s word. I have learned to not get so hung up on completing a certain amount of text, but picking up where I left off. For example I do use some version of a bible reading plan. However, if I miss a time, I just pick up either where I should be in the plan or where I left off. I am not concerned about completing it, as I am about spending time in God’s word.

 

c. Investing in others (serving)

 

There is no better way to learn the ways of Jesus than to help others learn the ways of Jesus.

 

d. Regular gathering with God’s people for teaching, worship, prayer and fun.

 

Community is a big part of our faith journey. Many struggle with it for many different reasons. However if I am honest, it is part of how I listen to Jesus and follow him.

 

e. Learning from Saints now and before.

 

This one is connected to the community one above. The example as well comes out of Hebrews 11 and I have found it useful. You can do this through reading the stories of those who have gone before and those who are now. You can do this meeting with other followers of Jesus and being intentional with your questions and learn from them.

 

f. Walk the path

 

This is literally about putting his words into practice. It is that easy and that hard. It is about how I use my time, what I read, how I react and in what I trust. It is not easy.

 

What about you? How do you go about learning the ways of Jesus and putting them into practice?

Observations From The Life of Jesus on Time Management

Observations From The Life of Jesus on Time Management

Posted on by Matthew Laker

When we look at the life of Jesus there are some observations we can make that can help us in our use of time. One main observation is that once time is gone, it is gone. This is what makes time precious.

Generally, as a culture, we are obsessed with time. We judge people based on what they can produce in a certain amount of time. We struggle in the tension of handling our time wisely. For all of us our values and wants are usually the driving force as to how we use our time.bread

 

As we look at the life of Jesus there are five things, to start, that can help us with our own time management.

1. Jesus is not rushed

Jesus seems to never be in a big rush to go anywhere. He knows where he needs to go but he seems to take his time. As he goes to where he needs to, he gives what we might call today margin.

As you read through the bible you will often see that God is not in a hurry. He often may not take what we think is the most efficient route.

God is not concerned about our perceived speed of time, but instead how we use that time.

 

2. Jesus gives time for people and sometimes just one person.

In the gospel of John chapter 4, he spends a long time speaking and investing in just one person. He also seems to spend more time with smaller groups of people rather than with larger groups. He spent more time with the 12,for example, then he did with the 120, and even among the 12 he spent more time with three. Yet even in the midst of that focused time, he still allowed others in. As he walked along the road he listened to those who crossed his path and gave them his time.

 

3. Jesus accepted interruptions.

In Mark 6 the Apostles come and report back after a training mission. Jesus shares they need rest and so they get in a boat and cross the lake. However, a large group of people end up following them and meet them on the other side. All they wanted was to find rest and be quite for some time but these people have interrupted them. As we look at the life of Christ, we see him use interruption as potential God opportunities. He uses this moment to teach and serve that crowd.

 

4. Jesus understood seasons of time and rhythms

As flip through the gospels, we see Jesus in moments of craziness with lots of people and moments of him just with himself. He would often pull away to get rest and take care of his own soul. There were times for being generous with his time, and time for taking care of his own life.

 

5. Focused

In Mark 1:36 Simon (Peter) comes to find Jesus and says “everyone is looking for you!”

Listen to his reply, “let us go somewhere else-to the nearby village-so I can preach there also. ”

Jesus knew what God called him to do. Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to be good Christians and helping everyone and doing all kinds of good work with our time that we miss what Jesus is asking us to do. Sometimes, like Peter, have expectations or listen to the expectations of parents, others, friends, culture and we do not live lives worthy of our calling.

 

Jesus was generous with his time, but in a way, was also ruthless with his time. I do not like the word ruthless because it means no compassion and Jesus had compassion. Jesus was focused, sometimes at the expense of not healing everyone. Did you notice that Jesus did not help everyone in that moment? He focused in on what God called him to do for that season, and did not worry about what others expected him to accomplish.

 

What is one thing you can take from the life of Jesus on how he used his time?

P.S.

One extra – Jesus practised a Sabbath rest. More to come on that later.

Beginner’s guide to Advent: What is advent?

Posted on by Matthew Laker

Series: Beginner’s guide to Advent

Growing up every year, my mom would buy us advent calendars filled with chocolate. For me, advent was not spiritual, but a Christmas tradition that counted down to Christmas day.

I grew up in a church that practiced lighting advent candles and had parents that did their best to teach their kids about the purpose of this tradition. However, it was not until my adult years I really started asking what the role of advent was. I wondered just what was commercial and what was tradition in the church? Was there any connection to Jesus, or was this a tradition developed by man?

To understand advent I first must make mention of the church calendar. One writer comments on the use of the calendar as “time itself could be an entree into worship, a retelling of the Christ story”(http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2014/december/our-own-kind-of-time.html).

 

The church calendar takes the 365 days in a year and coordinates with the solar calendar and the life of Christ. There are the major holidays which many know, like Christmas, Good Friday and Easter, as well as Pentecost. Then there are other special days or seasons that fit around these days.

 

One challenge is there is not one universally accepted calendar for the church year. However, the idea of the church calendar can have benefits to discipleship and spiritual growth of people.

 

Advent is the beginning of the church year. The word “advent” means “the coming.” It starts four Sundays prior to Christmas day. The length will vary depending on the date of the first Sunday. It is about a time to prepare to be worthy to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord’s coming into the world – his incarnation. It is not so much an event as it is a preparing season to position to meet with God.

 

Those who have gone before us have chosen Scripture for this journey that speaks to three aspects of advent.

1. The advent of Christ coming into our own lives.

2. The advent of Christ’s physical birth in Bethlehem.

3. The advent of his second coming at the end of history.

 

In most traditions there are four themes, one for each week of advent. The common ones are hope, peace, joy, and love.

Hope (Isaiah 9:2);

Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7; John 14:27);

Joy (Isaiah 65:18; Galatians 5:22-25);

Love (Deuteronomy 10:17-19a; John 13:34-35)

 

There seems to be no fast rule about this. As one can find many themes, here is another example.

Waiting (Isaiah 52:7-10);

Accepting (Luke 1:26-38);

Journeying (Isaiah 55:6-13);

Birthing (Luke 2:1-7)

 

There is a place in our journey for a longer season of reflection so that we may be what God has called us to.

It’s during advent that as the world speeds around, advent calls us to slow down and mourn, hope and prepare.

It is a time to face the brokenness of our world and in ourselves and embrace healing in Jesus.

It is a time to be reminded we are an alternative kingdom.

 

It is a time to reflect upon how the Jesus follower uses time, power, money, our bodies, possessions, work, how we understand race, injustice, relationships, God, forgiveness and how they can be at odds with our culture’s way of doing life.

Advent is a call to realign our life with Jesus.

The Apostle Peter, us and fear

Posted on by Matthew Laker

Series Walking with Peter part 4

In Matthew 8:14-17;23-27 we find Peter, and the rest of the apostles, in a boat and full of fear.

The disciples have been listening to Jesus share about faith and trusting him. Peter and the disciples watched as Jesus healed Peter’s mother in law. Now they are in a boat and a great storm comes. In this moment they will learn more of who Jesus is and who they are.

The storm is fearful and scary and Jesus looks at them and says “Why are you so afraid?”

It is a question we really need to ask ourselves.

Why are you so afraid to follow Jesus?

Do we believe that Jesus is powerful enough?

If we do believe that, how does that change how we view ourselves and how we live? In the boat the disciples were afraid and doubted. I can be just like them at times. I know that God is leading my life and yet I get into situations and wonder and struggle with fear. Yet like the disciples I have seen God at work.

Where have you seen God at work in your life?

When we are in our storms what do you think the characteristic of Jesus will be? Will God hold back his grace and mercy? Will he leave you alone? Will Jesus use the storm for his glory and to shape you?

Peter learns about Jesus’ sovereignty, grace and mercy.

Many followers of Jesus are inclined to look to the uncertainty of the storm and not the certainty of Jesus.

To follow Jesus is to put our trust in him; that he is good enough and great enough. So when we fear, we assess it in light of who Jesus is. We respect what our fear tells us, but we see it through the lens of Christ.

When Jesus asked Peter and the disciples his question, he was revealing the unbelief that was still in their hearts. He was revealing to them and to us that fear does not have to become a driving force in our life. He was revealing that death is not our end as followers of Jesus.

As psalm 27:1 shares, “Whom shall we fear.”

I am not there yet. But Jesus is revealing a radical way of living that he is slowly calling Peter to.

The truth, however, is it is not just Peter he is calling to this life, but us as well.

Prayer, Why?

Posted on by Matthew Laker

inside church 2webWhy does God insist on our asking?

If God already knows what we need and even what we will be asking, why do we read in the New Testament the call to ask?

We underestimate who God is and the reality of his desire to want a relationship with us.  Prayer at its core is about connecting with God.  For many, they want to say their prayer, get what they want, and never talk with God again.  However, God wants a relationship.  For many that is a struggle to understand. It is not like the relationships we have with each other.  However, in one sense it is. 

I still struggle with the conversation around prayer. The struggle is often between my experience in life and what Jesus says about prayer.

Jesus is both King and Groom.  The language of the scripture is very relational in how God sees us and wants to interact with us.  Yet how do we speak with the King and Groom?

I am, over time, learning that the process of prayer is more about connecting us with God, then it is about praying for others. It is relational. Often our view of who God is, is the challenge to our prayer.  

At times, you and I may feel like the writer in Psalm 55 when he says, 

“God, listen to my prayer; don’t avoid my request.”

So what if prayer is about something else and not our request?

Many people carry an image of God that is more like Santa Claus than what scripture reveals.    A tension arises because scripture on one hand says ask and you receive, but then on the other, our experience knows often there is no answer or we must wait.  Then we wonder, why should we ask if there is no answer or why do we not receive? 

What if prayer is not about getting, but about knowing?

Jesus talked about perseverance in prayer ( Matthew 7:7-8).  The language used there carries with it a continued present tense.  This means we should keep asking, keep seeking.  Then as we do that, as we come to Jesus, we will find all that we need. There is a sense in which knowing Jesus begins to fill greater wholes in our life. This does not mean he will not provide the physical answers. Just that prayer has more to do with getting to know Jesus.

Hebrews 4:16 says, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

Hebrews 4:16 speaks about how we come to the throne of God and there we find peace and mercy.  It is in the coming to the throne of God and the perseverance of asking that we receive mercy and grace to endure the moment we are in.  

God may very well know what we are about to ask and for sure knows our needs.  However, asking is about opening our life up to God’s presence and allowing God room in our life.  Only then will answers and transformation come.    

There is still tension around this conversation of prayer for me. However, our asking is about becoming aware of God’s presence and giving room in our life for his power to work.