Practicing the Way

Following Jesus involves deliberate, daily practice, and the whole journey depends on God's grace. Pastor Josh opens Heartbeat Church's eight-week Practicing the Way season by holding those truths together. Romans 12:1-2 gives us the starting point for offering our whole lives to God.

By the Mercies of God

House churches will work through John Mark Comer's book and course together over these eight weeks. The book is a resource. It must never become our Bible, and its emphasis on intentional practice must be understood within the gospel.

This course is not about how we can earn salvation.

Paul's appeal in Romans 12 follows everything he has said in chapters 1 to 11 about what God has done through Jesus and righteousness by faith. God's mercies are the foundation for the response he asks of us. Living out the gospel is our response to what we have received.

Ephesians 2:4-5 makes the beginning clear: God made us alive with Christ while we were dead in transgressions. We have been saved by grace. That same grace continually fuels us with the power to walk. We need the Holy Spirit working in our hearts and minds as we learn to follow Jesus. Philippians 1:6 gives us confidence that God will complete the good work he began in us.

Reading one book can make us proud of what we think we know. Struggling to practise it can leave us beating ourselves up with guilt and shame. Come back to grace. God is working in us, leading and empowering us. We are weak, and our willpower is limited. Trust him from the beginning.

Present Your Bodies

The word present calls for a complete response. The Moody Bible Commentary describes it in terms of standing before another to serve, with the emphasis on the completeness of placing ourselves at God's disposal. It cannot be reduced to a single act of dedication that leaves the rest of life untouched.

Offering ourselves includes our wallet, marriage and home. We cannot surrender half of ourselves and keep the rest out of God's reach. Romans 6:13 calls us to present ourselves to God as people brought from death to life.

A living sacrifice involves continually offering ourselves. Presenting ourselves means making a deliberate choice:

Intentional, decisive, repetitive act to position yourself in the place of influence.

That means deciding to reorganise our lives so we can engage with these eight weeks. Waiting until we feel like it leaves practice to chance. We cannot change ourselves through sheer effort, but we can keep placing ourselves where God can influence us.

After one hard workout at the gym, Pastor Josh looked in the mirror and was shocked that his six-pack had not arrived. Muscles require repetition, and so does practice in following Jesus. When you fail, come back and do it again.

Christians vs Apprentices

There are no two classes of believers where disciples follow Jesus and ordinary Christians simply hold a ticket to heaven. Following him belongs to the Christian life. An hour or two on Sunday does not exhaust what Romans 12 asks of us. Jesus' call reaches the rest of the week, including the parts of life nobody at church sees.

Looking Christian can become a substitute for living out the gospel. After swearing at a badly hit golf shot, Pastor Josh immediately checked whether anyone had heard him. What shook him was being more worried about someone seeing him swear than about the swearing itself.

We can become preoccupied with looking good in front of people. House church gives us a place to be honest, to be welcomed as we are and to live out the gospel with others. Transparency is required. No one stands alone, and we cannot keep hiding behind a religious appearance.

Luke 9:23 calls anyone who would follow Jesus to deny themselves and take up their cross daily. Daily matters. Hearing another sermon gives us something to practise. Admiring the preaching while leaving the word undone would only build the preacher's fan club.

From Conformed to Transformed

Romans 12:2 calls us to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. Paul connects this with learning to discern God's will, what is good and acceptable and perfect. God is far more interested in who we become through him than what we achieve for him. The world's measures of bigger, higher and more can shape even the way we judge ministry.

Outward behaviour alone cannot tell us what is happening in the heart. We can avoid certain behaviours while holding on to pride, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness and anger. Those things need to be presented before the cross of Jesus too.

The picture is of a worm becoming a butterfly. Giving the worm a different colour leaves it a worm. The change reaches deeper than a respectable appearance.

We are already and always being formed by something or someone. What we repeatedly allow into our lives influences us. The night before this sermon, Pastor Josh deactivated Facebook and Instagram. His craving for likes and approval was feeding anxiety and insecurity. He also created an Instagram account for Heartbeat people so he could continue using it for ministry.

Change takes time. You may not feel different tomorrow, or even after eight weeks. Keep positioning yourself where God can work. His morning prayer commitment was meant to last six months and has continued for almost six years. Waking and praying have become a habit.

Start Again Repeatedly

Begin with a daily prayer rhythm. Create a time and place for:

• Solitude
• Silence
• Prayer

Go home and put it into action. Choose something doable and manageable, then keep returning to it. Habits are powerful enough that he once drove to his old home and walked in before remembering he had moved two days earlier. Imagine prayer becoming so familiar that coming to God becomes your habit.

Failure does not need to become a reason to quit. There is room for joy, for laughing at ourselves and for getting up again. We are learning to follow Jesus through life's highs and lows together, well beyond the end of a course. The closing challenge is practical:

Okay, I'm going to get back up. I'm going to start again. Start again repeatedly. And constantly put yourself in the presence of God every day and see what happens.