Jesus yoke, or rule-keeping?
Published: Mon, 05/22/17
The Table of Contents tells the story: Chapter 1: Jesus’ Easy Yoke Chapter 2: Transformed by Training Chapter 3: Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind Chapter 4: Transformed by Worship Chapter 5: Transformed in Community Chapter 6: Transformed by Habit Chapter 7: Transformed by the Power of the Holy Spirit Chapter 8: Transformed by Example Chapter 9: Transformed by Trying Chapter 10: Transformed by Faith Chapter 11: Transformed by Speaking the Truth Chapter 12: Transformed by Pain Chapter 13: Transformed by Sovereign Grace Contact: josh@joshhhunt.com 575.650.4564 Lessons are around $10 per teacher per year for medium-sized churches. Other plans available. See www.mybiblestudylessons.com
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Ortberg suggests that we have replaced Jesus’ yoke with rule-keeping: A recent study by the Barna Group found that the number one challenge to helping people grow spiritually is that most people equate spiritual maturity with trying hard to follow the rules in the Bible. No wonder people also said they find themselves unmotivated to pursue spiritual growth. If I think God’s aim is to produce rule-followers, spiritual growth will always be an obligation rather than a desire of my heart. “Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith,” Paul wrote, “but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping.” In other words, it only results in a rule-keeping, desire-smothering, Bible-reading, emotion-controlling, self-righteous person who is not like me. In the end, I cannot follow God if I don’t trust that he really has my best interests at heart. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. There is an enormous difference between following rules and following Jesus, because I can follow rules without cultivating the right heart. John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010).
The book and study guide are both available on Amazon. The study guide is also avail as well as part of my Good Questions Have Groups Talking subscription service. This service is like Netflix for Bible Lessons. You pay a low monthly, quarterly or annual fee and get access to all the lessons. New lessons that correspond with three of Lifeway's outlines are automatically included, as well as a backlog of thousands of lessons. Each lesson consists of 20 or so ready-to-use questions that get groups talking, as well as answers from well-known authors such as David Jeremiah, Charles Swindoll and Max Lucado. For more information, or to sign up, click here. |