We are working toward becoming one church community united by common learning goals, even as we are scattered commuting people.
This week we’re studying a passage from Ephesians that includes this line: “until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”
We want to highlight the process involved. The aim is to become more and more like Jesus, not just in outward appearance, but completely, the “full stature”. This is clearly not instant, but a maturing process, since no one on this earth has ever been completely like Jesus.
I have shared a few stories from when I studied engineering, and the importance of learning problem solving and analysis. That principle can be applied to any scenario, even the unprecedented and complex ones.
Discipleship is about theological problem solving in similarly complex and unexpected situations. Paul was involved in discipleship to help his church members avoid being thrown around by every idea, doctrine like a small boat in wind and waves.
Contrast a road and ocean. Some want faith to be a roadway, with clear boundaries, signs, maps and directions to follow. But the problem is that real life is much more like an ocean, where you can’t give a plan for every scenario , but follow a compass heading with a specific end in mind, but the actual journey will be less strictly defined. This is the pursuit of discipleship, to set a compass heading of what the bible calls “Christlikeness” – becoming like Jesus Christ. We will get there by navigating all sorts of wind and wave action, and keeping focused on the end goal.
This is a series on church community, becoming like family. Discipleship is a family effort, done in a group. I remember engineering projects that would have been impossible for me to do it alone – I knew one aspect of the project, while others knew theirs, and together we accomplished something greater than any one of us could do on our own.
In the same way, we aren’t meant to grow as a disciple alone. We need challenge, encouragement, and complementary gifts like the five we saw yesterday.
Question: Are you more comfortable in a spiritual ocean or roadway? What part of life feels like an ocean today?
Coffee Hours this Week:
Have questions about the challenges, do you want to meet others exploring the same content, or connect with Ryan?
Join us for our coffee shop drop-in tonight, Wednesay, October 30th from 7:30pm-9:00pm at the Starbucks in the Ajax Chapters. Look for Ryan Sim in the drink line, or a Redeem the Commute postcard on a table.
If you know in advance that you’re coming, please RSVP here
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Jesus said this about judgement:
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5 ESV)
This is one of the best known, but most misunderstood and abused sayings of Jesus.
Often people will quote this passage to suggest Jesus says no one should ever judge anyone else. It makes it seem like Jesus was saying to turn a blind eye to injustice, brokenness, hurt in our world.
One take on why people quote this passage, is that when we see other people hurting, we often love ourselves too much to tell the truth…we want no pain for ourselves so we let others hurt, and use this as an excuse.
Jesus is not saying there should be no courts of law, no one should help another person out of a bad situation they don’t recognize.
How do we know? He judged.
Right in this passage, he spoke about hypocrites. He expected his followers to judge, discern, too. In the Sermon on the Mount, he told them to be more righteous than Pharisees. Later, he speaks about false prophets. He wants his followers to see the difference - to judge.
You can also see, right here in this passage, he commands his followers to engage in judgement: to be aware when there is a speck in someone’s eye.
So what's the difference, between good judgement and bad judgement? Good judgement is to see truth, then speak the truth in love. A healthy critique based on standards we can both recognize and try to follow is okay.
As Paul said in Romans 14:4: Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4 ESV)
The problem is when people go looking to judge others by standards they don’t keep. This turns to harsh self-righteousness, as if we are becoming the master of others.
We all do it – if someone criticizes us – we will immediately look for a way to criticize them.
We'll see more tomorrow, but first,
Question: What is difference between critique and judgement?
