Intro: As some of you know if you’ve been with us the last two weeks, the theme for the semester is Roots. And the past two weeks Julie has impressed on us the importance of having roots or being rooted. Last week we talked about the difference between trying to live the Christian life vs. training or being trained to do.
Transition:
a. Julie talked to us about being transformed. About metamorphosis. Being Changed. A verse that gives us a reminder of what Julie said.
a. Julie talked to us about being transformed. About metamorphosis. Being Changed. A verse that gives us a reminder of what Julie said.
b. Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
c. So just like Julie said last week and we see again here in Romans, the way that we are transformed is by being in relationship with Jesus. Jesus is our foundation, our root. He’s our starting point. The one that transforms us and trains us for reality is Jesus.
d. Well what now? If we know that we are supposed to be transformed and trained and that the way we start this process is by entering into a relationship with Jesus what do we do now?
e. Well who here has ever been trained or in training? When you have a coach or a teacher and they tell you something to do what are you supposed to do? Typically, if we want to continue training we obey our coach, right? We may not enjoy doing what our coach says at first but most of the time we defer to our coach because we trust his judgment and experience and know that if he tells us to do something that it’s for our own benefit.
f. So if Jesus is our trainer, our coach, I think it’s worth looking at some of the commands and instructions Coach Jesus has for his followers.
I. Mark 12:28-31
28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. 30 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’* 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’* No other commandment is greater than these.”
a. So according to this passage, the primary and overarching command or instruction Coach Jesus has for us is to Love God with our everything.
b. And the second command Jesus has for us is to love your neighbor as yourself. Tonight this second command is where we will be spending our time. We are going to be talking about how our relationships or time spent with other followers of Jesus is a part of our training process.
Transition:
a. When we think about training, what will come to mind for most of us will probably be baseball or football. Right? On the news people talk about spring training. We think sports when we think of training.
b. Well most of the experience that I’ve had with training has been related to Martial Arts and the Army.
Point 1: Training for reality requires people
II. Not Meant to Train by Yourself
a. (Brick breaking picture) Now if I were to tell you that I have a 5 brick punch, that might seem impressive right? Certainly, if I can break 5 bricks with one punch I can break someone’s face right? Well, here’s the thing, the bricks don’t move. They don’t hit back. If I base my ability to fight people on how many bricks I can break then I have an improper view of reality.
b. To be really proficient at fighting you need to train the way you will fight. To be a good fighter you need to put yourself into situations that will resemble reality as closely as possible.
d. When you train to fight, you’re fighting other people. So if I want to become proficient at fighting I need to train with other people. They move and make me move. They keep me on my toes and show me where I’m vulnerable by hitting me back!
e. So how does this relate to the Christian life?
Galatians 5:22-23
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
Just like board breaking, the fruit of the Spirit needs to be put into the context of reality. You can’t really say you have patience or kindness if it’s separate from your relationships with people.
f. To really train for reality and put into practice all these abstract ideas we might see in Scripture, we need to learn how to apply them to our lives. God didn’t intend for us to live in a holy bubble. He wants us to get out into the world and get into the game.
James 1:22
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. [1]
Transition:
a. All the spiritual disciplines of prayer, scripture memory, quiet times they’re all great things. They’re building blocks and exercises that get us fit to fight. But each of those disciplines in themselves isn’t the main event. Doing all that stuff isn’t what God has primarily tasked us to do.
b. Matthew 28:18-20. Making disciples requires you to be in relationship with other people. Implies you are being made into a disciple and discipling someone else.
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,* baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [2]
c. Philippians 3:17. Following the pattern of other believers and joining with others in following the example of Jesus Christ.
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.[3]
d. Hebrews 10:24-25
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. [4]
Transition:
a. We’re going to switch gears a little here, because hopefully we've established that in order to prepare and train for reality we need training partners. But that leaves us with the question how do we select who to train with?
b. I want to you to keep that question in mind the rest of the night, be thinking about who you are training with.
Proverbs 27:17
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
III. You’re only as good as your training partners
a. You've all probably heard this verse and its true iron does sharpen iron, but some people sharpen us better than others. We've got to keep in perspective that when we first come to Christ, we're just a dull blade.
b. Well let me go back to Martial Arts, and show you what I mean. I've been doing martial arts a long time and one of my good friends has been doing martial arts with me 16 years. I like training with him, we're about the same age and same skill level. Training with him is fun. He's encouraging.
c. But if we want to do serious training, it’s probably best that we don't exclusively train with each other, because we tend to be unproductive. When you put the two of us in a room everyone already knows not to let us do drills together because we're gonna just goof off.
d. Now we don't suck, skill wise and talent wise are probably better than most of the people in the room. But we don't push each other to get better. We're content where we are.
Transition:
a. That brings me to the first category of “sharpeners.”
My friend is a great maintainer. He doesn't let me get any duller than I already am. He encourages me and keeps things fun. But if I want to get honed to a razor sharp point, then I need a different kind of sharpener. I need someone more abrasive.
b. So who is a maintainer in your life? Who are the people that encourage you and keep you excited about following Jesus?
IV. The Pusher
a. So back to martial arts, I have another friend that I train with. He's a little bit older than me, a little more experience and he's definitely a bit better than me. Dude's a beast.
b. When I fight with him he's always keeping me on my toes. He doesn't let me relax or grow complacent. He shows me where my weak areas are...by hitting me.
c. I would call this friend a pusher. Relating this back to the Christian life, this is a person that is more mature than me spiritually. Has a little more experience at following Jesus. This person is my friend, but he also gives me a reality check by pointing out areas in my life that need work.
Transition:
a. So who is a pusher in your life? Who keeps you on your toes and encourages you to grow?
b. Something annoying about my friend is that he doesn't teach me or tell me how he hits me. And it’s not that he doesn't want me to get better. He just can't explain how he does what he does. He can't show me how to get better.
c. So I need another kind of sharpener. My pusher friend is very abrasive, but when you’re trying to create a sharply honed weapon, sometimes too much abrasiveness can harm the blade. I need a fine finish to get me ready for battle.
V. The Teacher
a. When I can't figure out why I keep getting hit. When I don't know what I need to do to get better, I go to my teacher. When the collective knowledge and experience of the maintainers and pushers in my life falls short I need to go to a source outside of my peer group.
b. I’ve been with my instructor over half my life. He's a guy that has a lot of experience. He sees things differently than I do or even my friends. He can take one technique and show me 5 different applications for how to use the technique.
c. He can explain to me why I get hit and what I need to do to not get hit. He puts me through exercises and drills that help me develop the skills I need to improve.
d. I know that when he gives me advice that he’s speaking from experience and that gives me confidence to trust what he tells me. He’s a person of integrity that I want to be like.
e. So ask yourself this question: Who are followers of Jesus Christ that you want to be like? Who are the disciples of Jesus that can mentor and teach you?
Transition:
a. So to recap the major point from all that is simply this: We need other people to train for reality.
b. So we know that God has called us to be in relationship with Him, and to be in relationship with other Christians. That in order to be obedient to the instructions and commands of Coach Jesus that we need to be in relationship with others. God uses others to shape us into instruments to be used His glory.
c. But here’s the deal, if you’re still thinking that your training is for an individual event then that’s still a skewed perspective on reality. Because the reality is that God has called us into a war
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
c. So just like Julie said last week and we see again here in Romans, the way that we are transformed is by being in relationship with Jesus. Jesus is our foundation, our root. He’s our starting point. The one that transforms us and trains us for reality is Jesus.
d. Well what now? If we know that we are supposed to be transformed and trained and that the way we start this process is by entering into a relationship with Jesus what do we do now?
e. Well who here has ever been trained or in training? When you have a coach or a teacher and they tell you something to do what are you supposed to do? Typically, if we want to continue training we obey our coach, right? We may not enjoy doing what our coach says at first but most of the time we defer to our coach because we trust his judgment and experience and know that if he tells us to do something that it’s for our own benefit.
f. So if Jesus is our trainer, our coach, I think it’s worth looking at some of the commands and instructions Coach Jesus has for his followers.
I. Mark 12:28-31
28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. 30 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’* 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’* No other commandment is greater than these.”
a. So according to this passage, the primary and overarching command or instruction Coach Jesus has for us is to Love God with our everything.
b. And the second command Jesus has for us is to love your neighbor as yourself. Tonight this second command is where we will be spending our time. We are going to be talking about how our relationships or time spent with other followers of Jesus is a part of our training process.
Transition:
a. When we think about training, what will come to mind for most of us will probably be baseball or football. Right? On the news people talk about spring training. We think sports when we think of training.
b. Well most of the experience that I’ve had with training has been related to Martial Arts and the Army.
Point 1: Training for reality requires people
II. Not Meant to Train by Yourself
a. (Brick breaking picture) Now if I were to tell you that I have a 5 brick punch, that might seem impressive right? Certainly, if I can break 5 bricks with one punch I can break someone’s face right? Well, here’s the thing, the bricks don’t move. They don’t hit back. If I base my ability to fight people on how many bricks I can break then I have an improper view of reality.
b. To be really proficient at fighting you need to train the way you will fight. To be a good fighter you need to put yourself into situations that will resemble reality as closely as possible.
d. When you train to fight, you’re fighting other people. So if I want to become proficient at fighting I need to train with other people. They move and make me move. They keep me on my toes and show me where I’m vulnerable by hitting me back!
e. So how does this relate to the Christian life?
Galatians 5:22-23
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
Just like board breaking, the fruit of the Spirit needs to be put into the context of reality. You can’t really say you have patience or kindness if it’s separate from your relationships with people.
f. To really train for reality and put into practice all these abstract ideas we might see in Scripture, we need to learn how to apply them to our lives. God didn’t intend for us to live in a holy bubble. He wants us to get out into the world and get into the game.
James 1:22
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. [1]
Transition:
a. All the spiritual disciplines of prayer, scripture memory, quiet times they’re all great things. They’re building blocks and exercises that get us fit to fight. But each of those disciplines in themselves isn’t the main event. Doing all that stuff isn’t what God has primarily tasked us to do.
b. Matthew 28:18-20. Making disciples requires you to be in relationship with other people. Implies you are being made into a disciple and discipling someone else.
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,* baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [2]
c. Philippians 3:17. Following the pattern of other believers and joining with others in following the example of Jesus Christ.
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.[3]
d. Hebrews 10:24-25
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. [4]
Transition:
a. We’re going to switch gears a little here, because hopefully we've established that in order to prepare and train for reality we need training partners. But that leaves us with the question how do we select who to train with?
b. I want to you to keep that question in mind the rest of the night, be thinking about who you are training with.
Proverbs 27:17
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
III. You’re only as good as your training partners
a. You've all probably heard this verse and its true iron does sharpen iron, but some people sharpen us better than others. We've got to keep in perspective that when we first come to Christ, we're just a dull blade.
b. Well let me go back to Martial Arts, and show you what I mean. I've been doing martial arts a long time and one of my good friends has been doing martial arts with me 16 years. I like training with him, we're about the same age and same skill level. Training with him is fun. He's encouraging.
c. But if we want to do serious training, it’s probably best that we don't exclusively train with each other, because we tend to be unproductive. When you put the two of us in a room everyone already knows not to let us do drills together because we're gonna just goof off.
d. Now we don't suck, skill wise and talent wise are probably better than most of the people in the room. But we don't push each other to get better. We're content where we are.
Transition:
a. That brings me to the first category of “sharpeners.”
My friend is a great maintainer. He doesn't let me get any duller than I already am. He encourages me and keeps things fun. But if I want to get honed to a razor sharp point, then I need a different kind of sharpener. I need someone more abrasive.
b. So who is a maintainer in your life? Who are the people that encourage you and keep you excited about following Jesus?
IV. The Pusher
a. So back to martial arts, I have another friend that I train with. He's a little bit older than me, a little more experience and he's definitely a bit better than me. Dude's a beast.
b. When I fight with him he's always keeping me on my toes. He doesn't let me relax or grow complacent. He shows me where my weak areas are...by hitting me.
c. I would call this friend a pusher. Relating this back to the Christian life, this is a person that is more mature than me spiritually. Has a little more experience at following Jesus. This person is my friend, but he also gives me a reality check by pointing out areas in my life that need work.
Transition:
a. So who is a pusher in your life? Who keeps you on your toes and encourages you to grow?
b. Something annoying about my friend is that he doesn't teach me or tell me how he hits me. And it’s not that he doesn't want me to get better. He just can't explain how he does what he does. He can't show me how to get better.
c. So I need another kind of sharpener. My pusher friend is very abrasive, but when you’re trying to create a sharply honed weapon, sometimes too much abrasiveness can harm the blade. I need a fine finish to get me ready for battle.
V. The Teacher
a. When I can't figure out why I keep getting hit. When I don't know what I need to do to get better, I go to my teacher. When the collective knowledge and experience of the maintainers and pushers in my life falls short I need to go to a source outside of my peer group.
b. I’ve been with my instructor over half my life. He's a guy that has a lot of experience. He sees things differently than I do or even my friends. He can take one technique and show me 5 different applications for how to use the technique.
c. He can explain to me why I get hit and what I need to do to not get hit. He puts me through exercises and drills that help me develop the skills I need to improve.
d. I know that when he gives me advice that he’s speaking from experience and that gives me confidence to trust what he tells me. He’s a person of integrity that I want to be like.
e. So ask yourself this question: Who are followers of Jesus Christ that you want to be like? Who are the disciples of Jesus that can mentor and teach you?
Transition:
a. So to recap the major point from all that is simply this: We need other people to train for reality.
b. So we know that God has called us to be in relationship with Him, and to be in relationship with other Christians. That in order to be obedient to the instructions and commands of Coach Jesus that we need to be in relationship with others. God uses others to shape us into instruments to be used His glory.
c. But here’s the deal, if you’re still thinking that your training is for an individual event then that’s still a skewed perspective on reality. Because the reality is that God has called us into a war
Ephesians 4:12
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. [5]
VI. God’s Army
I told you earlier that I’m also in the Army, and a lot of my training experience comes from that culture. One of the things that we learn early on is that we are a team. Alone, you won’t accomplish much. In fact in most cases you won’t accomplish anything if you are alone. We train as team. And we fight as a team.
If you look back at that passage in Ephesians, it says that we are in a fight. And this fight isn’t against people but against things in the spiritual realm.
So ultimately every time we engage in an argument or disagreement and we struggle or fight against one another, we need to keep in mind that the fight for the followers of Jesus Christ isn’t among other followers of Jesus Christ.
Our fight is out there against the lies and blockades that keep people from entering into relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church. One team. One Fight!
Ephesians 4:12-16
Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. [6]
VII. Conclusion
We’ve talked about a lot tonight and each of you may be in a different place. For some of you maybe you’re still at point # 1. A relationship with Jesus Christ. You’ve been trying to live the Christian life, but never submitted to Coach Jesus and allowed Him to be your trainer. You haven’t allowed Him to transform you. You can’t say that you have a place in the body. If that’s you, you can start today. If you want to start this journey of being rooted and growing in Jesus. Just where you are, raise your hand.
Now maybe tonight, thinking through some of the questions you’ve realized that you’ve been living the Christian life alone. You haven’t been training for reality. You know that you need relationships with people to help you grow into the full and complete standard of Christ. If that’s you tonight would you raise your hand.
For others tonight, there are some in this room who have been in relationships with people. Growing in head knowledge of Jesus Christ. But you haven’t been using the spiritual gifts God’s given you. You’ve taken what other people give you but you haven’t been giving back. You haven’t been obedient to Jesus command to Go Make Disciples. Tonight you’ve just seen people around you who are new brothers and sisters in the faith. People who are alone and in need of community with followers of Jesus Christ. If that’s you…you have the opportunity now to make disciples. To be obedient to God’s commands. To love God. And to Love Others.
[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Jas 1:22.
* 28:19 Or all peoples.
[2] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Mt 28:18–20.
[3] The Holy Bible: New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), Php 3:17.
[4] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Heb 10:24–25.
[5] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Eph 6:12.
[6] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Eph 4:12–16.
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. [5]
VI. God’s Army
I told you earlier that I’m also in the Army, and a lot of my training experience comes from that culture. One of the things that we learn early on is that we are a team. Alone, you won’t accomplish much. In fact in most cases you won’t accomplish anything if you are alone. We train as team. And we fight as a team.
If you look back at that passage in Ephesians, it says that we are in a fight. And this fight isn’t against people but against things in the spiritual realm.
So ultimately every time we engage in an argument or disagreement and we struggle or fight against one another, we need to keep in mind that the fight for the followers of Jesus Christ isn’t among other followers of Jesus Christ.
Our fight is out there against the lies and blockades that keep people from entering into relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church. One team. One Fight!
Ephesians 4:12-16
Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. [6]
VII. Conclusion
We’ve talked about a lot tonight and each of you may be in a different place. For some of you maybe you’re still at point # 1. A relationship with Jesus Christ. You’ve been trying to live the Christian life, but never submitted to Coach Jesus and allowed Him to be your trainer. You haven’t allowed Him to transform you. You can’t say that you have a place in the body. If that’s you, you can start today. If you want to start this journey of being rooted and growing in Jesus. Just where you are, raise your hand.
Now maybe tonight, thinking through some of the questions you’ve realized that you’ve been living the Christian life alone. You haven’t been training for reality. You know that you need relationships with people to help you grow into the full and complete standard of Christ. If that’s you tonight would you raise your hand.
For others tonight, there are some in this room who have been in relationships with people. Growing in head knowledge of Jesus Christ. But you haven’t been using the spiritual gifts God’s given you. You’ve taken what other people give you but you haven’t been giving back. You haven’t been obedient to Jesus command to Go Make Disciples. Tonight you’ve just seen people around you who are new brothers and sisters in the faith. People who are alone and in need of community with followers of Jesus Christ. If that’s you…you have the opportunity now to make disciples. To be obedient to God’s commands. To love God. And to Love Others.
[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Jas 1:22.
* 28:19 Or all peoples.
[2] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Mt 28:18–20.
[3] The Holy Bible: New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), Php 3:17.
[4] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Heb 10:24–25.
[5] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Eph 6:12.
[6] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Eph 4:12–16.
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