Our Life in Christ: The Deeper Journey of a Disciple
A Discipleship Bible Study
October 7th - Nov 11th, 2020
Chris Coon, Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church
"There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self, and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God" (David Benner).
As we spend time in scripture, we will address these questions (and more):
Who are we created to be?
What gets in the way of the life that God has for us?
How does Jesus answer our deepest needs?
- Week 1 -
We are created in God's image for the purpose of knowing and loving God and others.
- Week 2 -
Sin broke - and continues to break - our relationship with God and others.
- Week 3 -
We are set free from sin to fulfill our purpose of loving God and others.
- Week 4 -
Godly love is the motivation for the good we do.
- Week 5 -
The nature of Godly love is seeking the blessing of the other; this love will last forever.
- Week 6 -
This series on Our Life in Christ has been all about learning to look at discipleship differently - that is, to see that the goal of following Jesus is to love God and to love people with the same kind of agape love that Jesus has shown towards us. And in learning to love like Jesus, we are fulfilling the purpose for which we were created and for which we were redeemed by Jesus. Love is the defining purpose in our lives as disciples.
I want to thank you all for being a part of this Discipleship Bible Study. I've enjoyed our continuing conversation and the opportunity to grow together as followers of Jesus.
I'm planning for another Discipleship Bible Study in January - I'll send out more information as we get closer.
Blessings as we continue on this journey of faith,
More from Pastor Chris Coon on becoming a disciple...
4min
6min
13min
6min
A continued conversation
Subscribe to the PBPC email list on Our Life in Christ
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Join in on the active conversations or start your own by
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Pastor Chris and the members of PBPC welcome you to our continued conversation on Our Life in Christ: The Deeper Journey of a Disciple.
The Sermon on the Mount
A Discipleship Bible Study on Matthew 5-7
April 22nd - May 27, 2020
Chris Coon, Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church
What is a discipleship bible study?
In order to be disciples, we must learn what Jesus taught us. Discipleship Bible Study gives us the opportunity to do this together. Our goal is to follow Jesus and learn from Him so that we can become like Him.
What is the Sermon on the Mount?
The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ longest and most well-known set of teachings, found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5-7.
Jesus announced the good news that the kingdom of heaven has come near (Matthew 4:17.) By this he meant that life lived in loving relationship with God, under God’s rule, is now available to all people through faith in Himself.
The life of discipleship – the life of following and living as Christ teaches us – is the way of life in God’s kingdom. Disciples obey and put into practice what Jesus taught and demonstrated for us. In this way our lives are changed, and we become more like Jesus – in other words, we become the people that God created us to be.
The word disciple occurs 269 times in the New Testament, while the word Christian occurs three times and was introduced to refer to Jesus’ followers when it became necessary to differentiate them from other groups of Jews. There is no difference between Christians and disciples - to be a Christian is to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus!
The entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is a description for Jesus’ followers (and his would-be followers) of what life in the kingdom of God is like.
The Beatitudes (“Blesseds,” 5:1-12) describe the people for whom the arrival of the kingdom will be good news; the values of the kingdom are upside-down compared to the world around us - the poor in spirit will be blessed vs. the proud, the peacemakers vs. the winners, etc.
Jesus’ followers are to be salt and light to the world (5:13-16), meaning that our lives should bless those around us and point them towards God.
Jesus teaches that he is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law (5:17-20); from now on all of the Law should be understood in light of Jesus’ own teachings and commandments. Most importantly, Jesus wants his followers to have a righteousness of the heart rather than merely superficial obedience of the rules.
In this next section (5:21-48), Jesus will begin interpreting the Law, specifically the Ten Commandments, for his followers so that we can understand what kind of person can be a part of the kingdom of God. As N.T. Wright says, Jesus takes the commands of the Law and shows how “they provide a blueprint for a way of being fully, genuinely, gloriously human.”
In this section (Matt. 6:1-18), Jesus moves from reframing scriptural commands to challenging our religious behavior, so that we are not behaving as hypocrites, or religious actors. Jesus provides us with a model for how a disciple should pray with what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer.
In this section, Jesus now challenges his disciples’ priorities. He calls on us to lay up our treasures in heaven, to make sure that we are not allowing money to become the master of our lives, and to not let our lives become filled with worry about our daily needs.
This week we begin with Jesus’ teaching that we are to be very careful to not become judgmental people. Our focus is to be upon our own lives and our own righteousness before God. He then encourages his followers to not be hesitant to pray and ask God for what we need. Finally, Jesus summarizes much of the sermon is what has become known as the Golden Rule.
In this final section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus concludes with a series of warnings about taking seriously what he has taught. He contrasts the life of the one who hears and acts with the one who hears and does not act.
Conclusion
As Dallas Willard said, grace is opposed to earning, not to effort. The call to discipleship requires effort on our part. Following Jesus is the life of discipleship, which is life in God’s kingdom. We are called, received and forgiven by God’s grace, so that we can begin the lifelong adventure of following, obeying, and serving Jesus.
A continued conversation
Subscribe to the PBPC email list on The Sermon on the Mount
1) Send a blank email to: bible-studies-the-sermon-on-the-mount+subscribe@pbpc.org
Join in on the active conversations or start your own by
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Pastor Chris and the members of PBPC welcome you to our continued conversation on The Sermon on the Mount