The Ways of Jesus

Following Jesus is not just about accepting a list of truths. It actually has almost nothing to do with that. Following Jesus is about a way of life. Jesus lived life in a specific way and He invites us to follow Him in His ways. Following Jesus in His ways is what we understand discipleship to be. Below is a brief outline as to what it means to follow in the ways of Jesus.

Invitation & Challenge

Jesus invites us into intimate relationship with Him. As we follow Him He invites us to be transformed by challenging the understanding of our world, priorities, and desires.

Repentance & Belief

As Jesus challenges our ways with His, He invites us into the process of repentance, which simply means, to change your mind. Jesus wants to change our thinking away from our own understanding, priorities, and desires and transform it to His. Once our thinking changes we, have to believe it into action. When we allow our thinking and actions to be transformed by the ways of Jesus then God’s Kingdom breaks through and changes our lives and the world around us.

Radical Spirituality

Jesus regularly makes space to step away to worship and be with the Father. He would do this even when people needed him and at times at the sacrifice of His sleep. He modeled this by regularly doing it and inviting His disciples into it as they went.

Radical Community

Jesus invites His disciples to follow Him. They left everything and together, coming from all political and socioeconomic perspectives, they become an extended family on mission. They followed Jesus from city to city. They ate together, slept together, and grew in the ways of Jesus together.

Radical Mission

Jesus isn’t the only one who heals, teaches, and loves others throughout Jesus’ ministry, Jesus invites His disciples to go and heal, teach, and love their neighbors. Eventually Jesus commissions the disciples and empowers them to do even greater things than Him through the Holy Spirit and they changed the world.

New Identity

Jesus teaches His disciples that they are not defined by the world. They are not defined by their circumstance, nor what others think of them. They are instead given the identity as God’s children who are empowered by the Holy Sprit to live in obedience as participants in the Kingdom of God for God’s glow and the benefit of others.

Work - Rest Balance

Because we have been given a new identity we no longer have to build it with our work. Instead our work can be a product of obedience, joy, and service to the world around us. We are also not created exclusively for work. Jesus invites His disciples into regularly rhythms of rest and celebration to enjoy creation and come near to Him.

Giftings

Jesus, through His Spirit, invites us to discover and use our God given gifts to serve the world around us for His glory and our joy! Every person and gifting is important. It by using our shared gifts in community that we get to operate as the lived presence of Jesus to our world!

People of Peace

Jesus sees people we often overlook. Jesus calls us to love and engage with the people we interact with everyday. When we find someone who is a person of peace we have the opportunity to serve them by living and proclaiming the gospel before them. It is through pursuing people of peace and declaring the good news of Jesus that we invite others to live into the ways of Jesus in their own lives.

This is just a small list of the ways of Jesus, but it gets us started in understanding that there is a fuller way to live. We invite you to join us as we walk this faith journey together in following Jesus, sharing life, and changing the world in the ways only Jesus can.