Pastor Thanael Certa-Werner
JOHN 8:31-38 NIV
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”
Two weeks ago, we started by remembering the story of Pentecost and how we are incorporated into that same story by baptism by water and the Spirit. We talked about our calling to bring children into this body of Christ and to help them to not stumble. Last week, looked at choosing the way of the Spirit over the way of the flesh and how the flesh often is misleading. Now, we come to the natural expression of the last two weeks. Through baptism, we are incorporated in the Body of Christ, by dwelling in the Spirit, we are led into faith. All of this leads us to discipleship.
To start with, we need to address a serious and important question: Who here puts their toilet paper with the “flap” under and who here puts it with the “flap” over? How many of you discovered that when you got married, your spouse did things differently? What other things did you discover they did differently than how you had been taught? Maybe it was how you fold the towels? Or maybe how you wash the dishes? The big question is, why do you do these things the way you do these things? For most people it’s because that’s they way that they were taught by their parents – but why do you trust the way that you parents taught you? Because you trust that they know the best way to live life and that their way is the best way. This, at it’s most basic, is what discipleship is all about.
Discipleship is a church word that we use a lot, because it’s at the very center of what it means to be a Christian. It is the essence of our call as followers of Christ given to us by Jesus Himself in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” In these words, all those who follow Jesus Christ are called to go and make disciples.
But, surprisingly, discipleship is not solely a Christian concept. While it is not often called discipleship in other settings, discipleship is all around us. Politically, we can say things like that there are many democracies in the world which are disciples of the United States – they have taken the political system which was created in the United States and used it for themselves. Cooking-wise, there are entire schools of culinary arts devoted to certain individuals and countries. In science, there are the fathers and mothers of thought which people follow to this day: people like Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin – still have disciples to this day.
So what is discipleship? Ultimately, and in its most basic form, it is the conforming of one’s life to another. In religions across the world, this is done when people decide to live not as they want but as an important leader or thinker in their faith. But for Christians, it takes a whole step further. When we are disciples, we conform to the life of Jesus Christ, who is not simply human, but is also fully divine. In transforming our lives to be as Christ’s, we are forming our lives not only after a great prophet, or wise teacher, but after God Himself. In other words, we are not what we have been designed to be – humanity is not living into its full potential. Yet through the life of Jesus, we can see exactly what that looks like – what it means to set aside our own ways to choose, instead, God’s perfect ways.
Ultimately, this is our greatest calling and our greatest downfall. From the beginning, this has been God’s call to humanity: trust me to lead you in the way of living the best way possible. Yet, our sin is our constant choosing to follow our own decisions instead. In our scripture for today, Jesus reminds us of this. The people of Israel, who are God’s chosen people, remark that they have never been slaves to anyone. Jesus responds, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill Me, because you have no room for My Word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”
In other words, when we choose to follow after sin – or live life our own way – we then choose to be slaves to ourselves. We are trapped to our own ways and forced to live out our days in servitude to ourselves. But Jesus reminds us that we have been given a way out of this bondage: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Our freedom comes from life lived as disciples of Christ. John Wesley talks about this importance in his sermon, The One Thing Needful:
Now this great work, this one thing needful, is the renewal of our fallen nature…To recover our first estate from which we are thus fallen is the one thing now needful—to re-exchange the image of Satan for the image of God, bondage for freedom, sickness for health. Our one great business is to raze out of our souls the likeness of our destroyer, and to be born again, to be formed anew after the likeness of our Creator. It is our one concern to shake off this servile yoke and regain our native freedom; to throw off every chain, every passion and desire that does not suit an angelic nature. The one work we have to do is to return from the gates of death to perfect soundness; to have our diseases cured, our wounds healed, and our uncleanness done away.
In other words, the one thing which we need to do in our lives is choose to get ride of ourselves, in order that we may follow the One Who gives life. As John Wesley says, we need to shake off the yoke of our slavery to sin – everything which does not come from God – so that we may be made perfect. That’s right, perfect. John Wesley called it complete Sanctification, or sanctifying grace.
This is the idea that when we openly choose to abandon our ways in favor of living for Christ When we actually give up the ways of sin for the ways of life we are justified before God. Through our constant pursuit of Godliness and Holiness, we are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and made more and more perfect. Through this process of being made perfect by the power of the Holy Spirit and our pursuit of Holiness, we are sanctified – or made special for Christ. It is entirely possible for people on this side of heaven to be as God has made us to be. Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have been given the gift of entire sanctification – complete Christian perfection – as we are made holy by the One Who is Holy.
What this all means is: As Christians, and especially as United Methodists, we are called to live the life of a disciple. We are to live in ways which choose Jesus Christ over ourselves and devote ourselves to the careful study and following of Jesus Christ. John Wesley suggested that to do this well, we should participate in the following: Prayer, Searching the Scriptures, Public worship, Receiving the Lord’s Supper, Fasting, and Christian conferencing. These are called acts of piety. They are completed with acts of mercy which John Wesley said are: Doing good works, Visiting the sick, Visiting those in prison, Feeding the hungry, Giving generously to the needs of others, Seeking justice for the poor, oppressed, and marginalized, Stewardship of the earth, and Sharing one’s faith with others.
Through these practices and through faith in Christ, we heed the call of Christ, to “hold to My teaching, … Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” So let us do that, let us hold to Christ’s teaching, that we may know His Holy Truth, and come to be made perfect in His sacrifice. Amen? Amen.