Obedience Based Discipleship
We got a good start on Luke 9 this morning with 9 men at our Monday Morning Bible Study. We started to work through the sending out of the twelve disciples to preach the kingdom and to heal the sick. We had a good discussion of Jesus giving them the authority and the power to heal and to cast out demons. However, this evening I feel led to focus on the other part of our study.
Jesus had taught the disciples in several different ways according to Luke's Gospel. However, He had done more teaching through His own example of showing them the power of God than by simply talking to them about God. This led them to an experiential knowledge of Jesus being the Messiah. Now, Jesus decides to send them out to preach and to heal, even though their discipleship was "incomplete." Why did He do that? It is an example of the fact that all discipleship that works is obedience based, instead of being knowledge based. We can know a lot of facts about God, but until we trust Him, and do what He says, we will not grow spiritually. Jesus knew that, so He commanded them to go out in His Name.
We need to apply this truth to our own lives. We must obey what we know each day in order to grow as disciples. We can't just add more knowledge. We have to exercise the knowledge. I pray that each of us will grasp this important spiritual reality so we can become more like Jesus every day.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Samuel 1-3.
Jesus had taught the disciples in several different ways according to Luke's Gospel. However, He had done more teaching through His own example of showing them the power of God than by simply talking to them about God. This led them to an experiential knowledge of Jesus being the Messiah. Now, Jesus decides to send them out to preach and to heal, even though their discipleship was "incomplete." Why did He do that? It is an example of the fact that all discipleship that works is obedience based, instead of being knowledge based. We can know a lot of facts about God, but until we trust Him, and do what He says, we will not grow spiritually. Jesus knew that, so He commanded them to go out in His Name.
We need to apply this truth to our own lives. We must obey what we know each day in order to grow as disciples. We can't just add more knowledge. We have to exercise the knowledge. I pray that each of us will grasp this important spiritual reality so we can become more like Jesus every day.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Samuel 1-3.