Saturday, January 09, 2010
School of Witness
Hi all, while its 3-4 days old in my mind, i will do my best to share with you what we have learnt at the School of Witness. Other participants of the school, please feel free to correct anything i have misintepreted or edit anything you feel you can do better justice to :)
Edwyn, our co-ordinator, gave us the opening session on Jesus calling his first disciples. Before we can become witnesses for Christ, we have to first understand as well as become his disciples. The passage for study is Luke 5:1-11 - Jesus calls the first disciples. The message was powerful simply in the manner it was delivered: the more it was broken down, the more obvious its meaning became. Edwyn handled it verse by verse, literally breaking God's Word in that sense, to present to us the story and the process that is necessary to become a disciple of Christ.
Disclaimer is that vocabulary being used may differ between bible versions.
V1 "the people were pressing to listen to the Word of God"
The Bible is the key to our faith, and without meditating upon and devouring this Word of God we cannot grow deeper in this relationship with Him. From this School, I have realised that the Bible DOES hold a lot of answers, if only you would open it daily : )
as the people of that day were PRESSING to listen to the Word of God, pushing and shoving their way to hear him teach, so must we too have the same desire and thirst to know Him more. 1 Peter 2:2 tells us to be like newborn babies and thirst for the pure spiritual milk. As a grumpy baby is inconsolable and cries until he receives his milk, and suckles on it with all the satisfaction in the world. This applies to our desire for God, especially in his scripture, our spiritual food.
V2 " the men were away from their boats and washing their nets "
A fisherman's vocation is to fish, and without being on their boats they cannot earn their livelihoods. Being out of their boats washing their nets represents the attachments that we carry in our lives that bring us AWAY from a more perfect relationship with God. To push the analogy further, our nets often become tangled and we are drawn further into our burdens we carry.
Although i find this link sometimes a bit tenuous because the analogy might be used to say that nets are their tools and they are tending to it, the symbol of the BOAT in this story is essential as seen in verse 3 and should not be intepreted otherwise.
V3 " and he got into one of the boats, belonging to Simon Peter... "
A fisherman requires his boat to earn a living, and he entrusts his life and lifetime to his boat. Jesus literally steps into the life of Simon Peter, and who better to receive as His first disciple than the man upon which he will build His Church! We must ask Jesus to step into our lives and rock our boat : )
V4 "Put out into the deep water and let your nets out for a catch"
Jesus will not ask us to serve Him in shallow waters where we will find everything such a breeze. Serving God means going into the deep water, where risks become apparent and our fear grows. This is the call to be radical, to spread His Word where it is most challenging.
V5 "Master, we have caught nothing, but if you say so we will let down our nets"
The disciples fished for an ENTIRE DAY and caught not even an ikan bilis, which must have broken their spirits and left them feeling very down. Their spirits were probably empty like their nets. But it is only when we realise how empty our lives are that God can begin to fill it. And our biggest step here is to trust.
Even after a whole fruitless night of fishing, Simon trusted the will of Jesus against all his own fisherman instincts that the nets will probably come up empty once again. We have to depend on his strength and not our own, especially where our human instincts and minds run the show in our lives.
V6 "They caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break"
Our God is a God of abundance, and should we choose to entrust our lives into His hands we will receive far greater gifts possible than on this Earth. We are always caught up with how much fish can God possibly give us in our lives before we even comprehend or take the step to trust God.
V7 " They signalled to their companions to help and they filled both boats to sinking point"
Along the way in our life many times we have cried out to our friends and our loved ones to help us, to provide us with the support and encouragement and with their prayers. Just as Jesus lived his life on earth with his disciples in community, we have the need for community in our lives where we can live out our faith journey.
Personally, i find that to practise my faith individually is a near impossible task, and i would have lost my way a long time ago without the support of my community. and such is the love of god that we share, to grow in faith together :)
V8 "Simon fell on his knees in front of Jesus and said, go away Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
In this verse we are aware of the unworthiness and repentance of Simon. He tells Jesus to go away not because he does not want Jesus but because he is not worthy of the Lord. Our unworthiness is not justification to shy away from the Lord but to turn to him continuously to seek absolution for our sins and to strengthen ourselves through His Love.
John 12:24 says that unless a grain of wheat falls onto the ground and dies, it remains but a single grain. if it dies, it will bear much fruit. We too, must seek this willingness to deny ourselves and to DIE TO OURSELVES, and through this only then can we truly live as his disciples did.
V9-10 " Do not be afraid, for I will make you fishers of men "
Truly God has a greater calling for every single one of us, one that is greater than us, but never enough to consume us. As fishers of men our call to evangelisation is clear, to BUILD THE KINGDOM OF GOD by spreading His Word, Love and teachings. Matt 11:29-30 "Take my yoke and put it on you for I am gentle and humble in spirit. My yoke is easy and my burden is light"
The words "do not be afraid" appear many times in the Bible, but lets take another context. Listen to the chorus of the song Jesus Take The Wheel by Carrie Underwood, and truly we must LET GO. What do we let go of?
V11 " They left everything and followed him "
Its not about how much fish the disciples have caught, but how they gave up everything and followed Jesus. What have we or will we sacrifice in this journey for Christ, only you, my brothers and sisters, have that answer for yourself : ) pray to God and in the silence and calm of your heart, as you sit there ever so still, will He begin to reveal His plans.
And thats all for this teaching, I hope it has touched you in some way. God Bless! Continue to pray for us in our disciple building, and we will have you in our prayers always :)
Joel
God created us to know Him, love Him, serve Him and be with Him.
School of Witness
Hi all, while its 3-4 days old in my mind, i will do my best to share with you what we have learnt at the School of Witness. Other participants of the school, please feel free to correct anything i have misintepreted or edit anything you feel you can do better justice to :)
Edwyn, our co-ordinator, gave us the opening session on Jesus calling his first disciples. Before we can become witnesses for Christ, we have to first understand as well as become his disciples. The passage for study is Luke 5:1-11 - Jesus calls the first disciples. The message was powerful simply in the manner it was delivered: the more it was broken down, the more obvious its meaning became. Edwyn handled it verse by verse, literally breaking God's Word in that sense, to present to us the story and the process that is necessary to become a disciple of Christ.
Disclaimer is that vocabulary being used may differ between bible versions.
V1 "the people were pressing to listen to the Word of God"
The Bible is the key to our faith, and without meditating upon and devouring this Word of God we cannot grow deeper in this relationship with Him. From this School, I have realised that the Bible DOES hold a lot of answers, if only you would open it daily : )
as the people of that day were PRESSING to listen to the Word of God, pushing and shoving their way to hear him teach, so must we too have the same desire and thirst to know Him more. 1 Peter 2:2 tells us to be like newborn babies and thirst for the pure spiritual milk. As a grumpy baby is inconsolable and cries until he receives his milk, and suckles on it with all the satisfaction in the world. This applies to our desire for God, especially in his scripture, our spiritual food.
V2 " the men were away from their boats and washing their nets "
A fisherman's vocation is to fish, and without being on their boats they cannot earn their livelihoods. Being out of their boats washing their nets represents the attachments that we carry in our lives that bring us AWAY from a more perfect relationship with God. To push the analogy further, our nets often become tangled and we are drawn further into our burdens we carry.
Although i find this link sometimes a bit tenuous because the analogy might be used to say that nets are their tools and they are tending to it, the symbol of the BOAT in this story is essential as seen in verse 3 and should not be intepreted otherwise.
V3 " and he got into one of the boats, belonging to Simon Peter... "
A fisherman requires his boat to earn a living, and he entrusts his life and lifetime to his boat. Jesus literally steps into the life of Simon Peter, and who better to receive as His first disciple than the man upon which he will build His Church! We must ask Jesus to step into our lives and rock our boat : )
V4 "Put out into the deep water and let your nets out for a catch"
Jesus will not ask us to serve Him in shallow waters where we will find everything such a breeze. Serving God means going into the deep water, where risks become apparent and our fear grows. This is the call to be radical, to spread His Word where it is most challenging.
V5 "Master, we have caught nothing, but if you say so we will let down our nets"
The disciples fished for an ENTIRE DAY and caught not even an ikan bilis, which must have broken their spirits and left them feeling very down. Their spirits were probably empty like their nets. But it is only when we realise how empty our lives are that God can begin to fill it. And our biggest step here is to trust.
Even after a whole fruitless night of fishing, Simon trusted the will of Jesus against all his own fisherman instincts that the nets will probably come up empty once again. We have to depend on his strength and not our own, especially where our human instincts and minds run the show in our lives.
V6 "They caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break"
Our God is a God of abundance, and should we choose to entrust our lives into His hands we will receive far greater gifts possible than on this Earth. We are always caught up with how much fish can God possibly give us in our lives before we even comprehend or take the step to trust God.
V7 " They signalled to their companions to help and they filled both boats to sinking point"
Along the way in our life many times we have cried out to our friends and our loved ones to help us, to provide us with the support and encouragement and with their prayers. Just as Jesus lived his life on earth with his disciples in community, we have the need for community in our lives where we can live out our faith journey.
Personally, i find that to practise my faith individually is a near impossible task, and i would have lost my way a long time ago without the support of my community. and such is the love of god that we share, to grow in faith together :)
V8 "Simon fell on his knees in front of Jesus and said, go away Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
In this verse we are aware of the unworthiness and repentance of Simon. He tells Jesus to go away not because he does not want Jesus but because he is not worthy of the Lord. Our unworthiness is not justification to shy away from the Lord but to turn to him continuously to seek absolution for our sins and to strengthen ourselves through His Love.
John 12:24 says that unless a grain of wheat falls onto the ground and dies, it remains but a single grain. if it dies, it will bear much fruit. We too, must seek this willingness to deny ourselves and to DIE TO OURSELVES, and through this only then can we truly live as his disciples did.
V9-10 " Do not be afraid, for I will make you fishers of men "
Truly God has a greater calling for every single one of us, one that is greater than us, but never enough to consume us. As fishers of men our call to evangelisation is clear, to BUILD THE KINGDOM OF GOD by spreading His Word, Love and teachings. Matt 11:29-30 "Take my yoke and put it on you for I am gentle and humble in spirit. My yoke is easy and my burden is light"
The words "do not be afraid" appear many times in the Bible, but lets take another context. Listen to the chorus of the song Jesus Take The Wheel by Carrie Underwood, and truly we must LET GO. What do we let go of?
V11 " They left everything and followed him "
Its not about how much fish the disciples have caught, but how they gave up everything and followed Jesus. What have we or will we sacrifice in this journey for Christ, only you, my brothers and sisters, have that answer for yourself : ) pray to God and in the silence and calm of your heart, as you sit there ever so still, will He begin to reveal His plans.
And thats all for this teaching, I hope it has touched you in some way. God Bless! Continue to pray for us in our disciple building, and we will have you in our prayers always :)
Joel
God created us to know Him, love Him, serve Him and be with Him.