Jesus on How to Grow and Change

Jesus told his disciples, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. -Matthew 13:11-12.

I don't know about you, but I want to be one who has an abundance! Being a disciple of Jesus is the most important thing you can do in life. It means learning about and putting into practice exactly what God, your creator, has designed you for.

But so many people miss the "knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven." We see this often today. Even people who attend church services regularly never seem to experience the radical transformation that New Testament Christianity promises. Why? I think we need to pay more attention to the way Jesus made disciples. Here are five key strategies Jesus used:

1. Preaching.

We have many examples of Jesus preaching in the New Testament, most notably the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). This was a key part of how Jesus made disciples. However, many listened to Jesus' sermons and did not become disciples. In fact, Jesus never intended for his preaching to make disciples by itself, that is the point of Matthew 13:11-12 above. This is a common theme in the Bible. God sent the prophets in the Old Testament to preach to the people, but they rejected the message. While preaching is useful for changing hearts and compliments the other processes of discipleship, it is largely ineffective by itself to bring about real and lasting change.

2. Small Group Discussion

It was the smaller group of disciples that followed after Jesus wanting a fuller explanation of the parables and illustrations he used in his sermons who learned biblical truth. Jesus put a lot of emphasis on small groups, spending much of his time with the twelve disciples and meeting frequently in homes with other disciples and potential disciples. He also took Peter, James, and John aside for more focused discipleship. Jesus used great questions to provoke curiosity and conversation. He asked, "Who do you say I am?" (Matthew 16:13-17), and caused confusion with "I have food to eat that you know nothing about" (John 4:32). In both occasions (and many others), Jesus used the resulting conversations as teaching moments. Jesus didn't only proclaim truth, he dialogued with small groups to develop understanding. The practical application for us is that we need both the preaching that is common in a Sunday morning worship service, and a small group with good discussion about the Bible, such as a Sunday School class or discipleship group.

3. Teaching Assignments

The Bible warns against being "a hearer of the word and not a doer" (James 1:23). Jesus did not preach and teach merely to get disciples to grow in knowledge. They needed to go do things. Jesus started small. He had his disciples do baptisms early on (John 4:1-2). Then he moved them towards more independent ministry when he sent them out on a short-term mission trip (Luke 9:1-6). When they returned, they reported to Jesus what happened, showing that Jesus held them accountable to the ministry he assigned to them. Finally, he sent them out on the Great Commission, but not before they had worked their way up to this great task by doing smaller tasks first. We need more than good preaching and Bible study. In order to grow, we need an action plan and accountability.

4. Modeling

Jesus lived his life in front of his disciples, modeling for them how they should live. After washing the disciples feet, Jesus declared, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you" (John 13:15). Jesus did this throughout his earthly ministry. We need godly role models in our lives that we can observe and learn from.

5. Scripture Study and Memorization

Jesus emphasized knowing the Scriptures. The Sermon on the Mount is a lot like a Bible study. Jesus quotes passages and explains what they mean and how to apply them in daily life. Jesus told Satan, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). We need every word from God to have "life" in any meaningful sense. Jesus told the religious leaders that they were in error because, "You do not know the Scriptures" (Matthew 22:29). These people read the Scriptures more than anyone, but they studied in order to defend their positions rather than to hear from God. Jesus went on to say, "Have you not read what God says to you," (Matthew 22:31), demonstrating that we are to hear God speak to us through the reading of the Scriptures.

I believe Jesus also emphasized Bible memory. He emphasized the importance of every letter of the Old Testament (Matthew 5:18). He emphasized every command in the Old Testament, including Joshua 1:8, "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” The Bible speaks about changing to be the person God wants you to be when you are constantly "meditating" on God's Word. That must include going over it again and again in your mind. It also says to keep it "always on your lips," so you are to speak it frequently.

Although we don't see examples of Jesus spending time with his disciples working on Bible memory, we do see evidence of it. If you read Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, you will notice that Peter quotes from the Old Testament a number of times. In one instance he rattles off five straight verses from the book of Joel (Acts 2:17-21). He was an uneducated man. Clearly, he worked on memorizing this passage at some point, and it was almost certainly during his time with Jesus.

Consider also James 1:25: “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-- he will be blessed in what he does." It is not enough to read or know about the content of biblical verses, but we must look at them “intently.” James adds that we must not forget what we have heard. This does not necessarily mean a word for word memorization of the verses, but it certainly means being able to remember everything about the content of a verse that you have looked at intently. The best way to follow this command is to memorize.

Do you have these five elements of discipleship in your life? If you want the "abundance" of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus promises, commit to: 1) Regular preaching, 2) A small group Bible study focused on discussion 3) A mentor, teacher, or ministry leader that can give you things to do to put your faith into practice (talk to your pastor if you need help with this), 4) Look for people in your life that you can look up to as godly examples, 5) Commit to a regular Bible reading/study and memory plan. Pick out at least 12 verses to memorize in the coming year, one for each month.

 

Trust the Bible's purpose is to grow your confidence that the Bible is true and the ultimate resource for life." You can join the Facebook group by clicking here. Trust the Bible is a weekday radio program that begins at about 8:10 each morning on WDOG 93.5 in Allendale, SC. Listen to previous programs online: www.fairfaxfbc.org/trust-the-bible.html

Reincarnation and the Bible

A four-year-old tells his family that he misses his "previous" family. He remembers living as a child in a different town with different parents and siblings as an older boy. Five years later, he sees a man that he believes is his "real" father. The man acknowledges that he had a child that died right around the time that the four-year-old was conceived. They take the boy to the man's house and he recognizes the other family members and is very emotional, crying as he sees them. This is one example of many well-documented cases supposedly demonstrating evidence of reincarnation (see Ian Steven's "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation"). The situation described above is a true account. Does this mean that reincarnation is real?

Billions of people in Eastern religions like Hinduism believe  in reincarnation. Many others also say they believe in reincarnation, from the half-joking to the more serious. There are many reasons for doing so:

1. There is a motivation to believe. None of us want this life to be all there is. Reincarnation explains that life continues after this one. In addition, I think all of us like the concept of a "do-over." We've made mistakes in life and we want another chance to get it right. It's not hard to see how the idea of reincarnation became popular.

2. Many religious texts teach reincarnation. Reincarnation seems plausible because sources claiming a certain level of authority on truth claim that it is true. I will speak specifically about the "Bhagavad Gita" below.

3. Specific examples are given, like the one above. Sometimes these involve children knowing a foreign language that they have never heard before. Compared to the number of people in the world these examples are rare, but altogether there are many cases like this.

But how does this compare to what the Bible says? The Bible also teaches that this life is not all there is. However, the Bible does not allow for a "do-over." Hebrews 9:27 says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." Many accounts in the Bible emphasize that after death, our soul continues to have the same identity and continues to exist in either heaven or hell, awaiting the resurrection of the body and a final judgment. (See Also, "What About Hell?")

Both of these views cannot be true. Either reincarnation is true and the Bible is false. Or the Bible is true, and reincarnation is false. How should we decide? The more reasonable position is the one that can explain the evidence for the other. Let's look at the evidence.

1. There is a motivation to believe. Clearly, this should not matter. No matter how much we may want something to be true, that has nothing to do with whether or not it is true. However, I think there are many reasons why reincarnation is not something we should even want to be true. It fundamentally doesn't make sense.

One of the more popular Hindu texts that supports reincarnation is the Bhagavad Gita. It retells a conversation between Arjuna (a warrior leading an army into battle), and Krishna (one of the most important gods in Hinduism). Arjuna has a moral dilemma. Should he go into battle and kill many people? Krishna responds that Arjuna should go into battle. His argument does not focus on the just cause of the war, but rather on the implications of reincarnation. Essentially, he says that since Arjuna is a warrior, he is supposed to fight. The people he kills in battle will simply reincarnate and start life again in a new form. The people who die have done bad things in their life and have built up a need to suffer (karma). By killing them, Arjuna is helping to burn off their bad karma and allowing them to enter into a new life free from the bad karma. (Admittedly, this is an oversimplified explanation.)

Therefore, the implication of reincarnation is that you have to keep trying to do better and better each lifetime to reach some goal (the goal varies in different religions). But anything you do to hurt others is actually helping them burn off bad karma and anything you do to help them is causing them to expend their good karma. There is no meaningful way to do right and wrong. There is an almost hopeless cycle of going through different lives, suffering immensely, and hoping to one day escape through your own strength.

Christianity offers real hope. This life matters. You can achieve perfect righteousness right now! You receive it as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ.

2. Many religious texts teach reincarnation. Yes, but they have no supporting evidence like the Bible. We don't really know anything about who wrote the Bhagavad Gita or even when. Nor do we have any reason to think Arjuna was a real person or that the events described in the book actually happened. The only way we can evaluate the claims is to ask ourselves, "Does this seem like truth to me?" But that is not a very good method. We are simply guessing, with nothing to guide us (except for #3 below).

The Bible is a very different kind of book. It identifies the authors and places them in real places and times. People may question that the Bible is right, but you can investigate it historically, it is not simply internal guess work. In addition, the Bible is authenticated by miracles. Jesus claimed to be God and proved it by dying and rising from the dead. The Bible's verification is based on a historical event that occurred in public with many eye-witnesses. You may doubt the claims of Christianity, but it is a matter that one can study historical evidence for and against. The evidence is not based on personal, subjective feelings. (See, "How Do We Know the Bible is God's Word?") Rather, it is based on historical facts.

3. Specific examples are given, like the one above. Yes, reincarnation is an explanation for these stories, but the Bible also offers an explanation for cases like the four-year-old described above. I think the Bible offers a better explanation.

First, the Bible says that Satan blinds the eyes of unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4). Believing that reincarnation is true is an obstacle to believing in Jesus as the hope for eternal life. Clearly, if Satan is a real being as the Bible says, he has a motive to deceive people into believing reincarnation. In fact, God tells us that this is exactly what Satan does, he acts to deceive people into believing things that conflict with the truth.

Second, Satan can use spirits, or demons, to communicate to people. In Acts 16, Paul encounters a woman who had a "spirit" and earned money as a fortune-teller. She followed Paul, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God." She knew things about Paul because of what a spirit was telling her.

In the case of the four-year-old boy, the Bible would say that he never had a previous life. Instead, a spirit was telling him things about a boy who lived earlier. Growing up in a Hindu home, he either interpreted the messages to be about his previous life, or he was deceived by the spirit into thinking he really used to be the former boy. This is exactly the kind of thing the Bible says Satan does, and fits with the mechanisms available to Satan.

This is a better explanation for several reasons. First, there are similar stories that reincarnation cannot explain. Ian Stevenson documents cases where the "earlier person" was still living when he supposedly reincarnated into another person. For example, suppose a case just like the four-year-old boy described above. Yet, this time, imagine that the "previous child" who died, died a year after the four-year-old was born. Many cases like this have been recorded. Reincarnation clearly cannot explain this, because it requires a person to reincarnate into another human embryo a year or more before dying. The Bible offers a better explanation for these cases. There is a demonic spirit at work. The biblical view is the only one that can explain all the evidence, not just the cherry-picked cases.

Second, notice that the Bible can explain the evidence for reincarnation with no difficulty. However, those who believe in reincarnation do not have an easy explanation for all the evidence supporting the Bible.

Third, the whole system of reincarnation is full of logical difficulties, as outlined above. Who started reincarnation? Who enforces it? How long has this been going on? What is the real goal or purpose? Many Eastern religions seem to offer creative approaches to these questions, but none offer objectively verified evidence. Christianity offers a historical person that revealed everything we need to know about God, the purpose of life, what we must do, and how we can have eternal life. The events of his life were done in public with objective evidence available for any person to examine.


Trust the Bible's purpose is to grow your confidence that the Bible is true and the ultimate resource for life." You can join the Facebook group by clicking here. Trust the Bible is a weekday radio program that begins at about 8:10 each morning on WDOG 93.5 in Allendale, SC. Listen to previous programs online: www.fairfaxfbc.org/trust-the-bible.html

What About Science?

"I trust science, not an outdated religious text," is an often cited reason for rejecting the Bible. There are two assumptions behind this statement that I think are false:

1. Science is useful tool to find the truth about everything.
2. Science and the Bible are in conflict with each other.

Assumption #1 overstates the case for science. There are many truths that science is useful for, but not everything. Why was Abraham Lincoln assassinated? How can we find the answer to a question like this? Certainly we would not run experiments, record observable data, and demonstrate scientifically the reason. We would instead read documents that John Wilkes Booth and others wrote. We might look at other evidence like court records and eye witness testimony. We would study history to find the answer, not science. In fact, we cannot even know that Lincoln was shot at all if science is our only source of information to answer the question.

Similarly, we cannot answer basic spiritual questions using science. "Does God exist?" A question like this is a matter of theology or philosophy. Science is by definition limited to the study of the physical world. It is not equipped to make a case for or against the non-physical, supernatural world.

Many people reject miracles because they are "not proven scientifically." But think about that for a moment. A miracle occurs when something happens when the normal laws of nature do not operate properly. A biologist can give a natural explanation behind a pregnancy. However, if a religious text claims that a virgin conceives, we know it is referring to a miracle - something other than the only available natural explanation occurred. A scientist might claim, "A virgin birth is scientifically impossible," and they would be right. It is scientifically impossible, but does this mean it is impossible? If God can create the universe, can he not cause a virgin to conceive? Can he not reveal that this occurred through the Bible? I believe this happened because Jesus says it is so, and Jesus rose from the dead. I can trust him. You cannot prove it scientifically, but you cannot prove it wrong either. It is a truth claim that science simply isn't equipped to address.

Assumption #2 is difficult to demonstrate. The Bible does make scientific claims. Science can either verify or falsify those claims. Take, for instance, Genesis 1:1. The Bible claims that there is a beginning to the universe. Only in the last 100 years has science advanced enough to verify this claim. Many philosophers, atheists, and Eastern religions assumed that the universe has always existed. However, during the 20th century the evidence that the universe must have had a beginning steadily increased. The data observed by the Hubble telescope in the 1990s put the issue completely to rest. How could ancient writers have known this if God did not reveal it? Perhaps it was a lucky guess. However, any religious text that gets this wrong loses credibility. Science can help confirm the trustworthiness or untrustworthiness of any religious text that makes scientific claims.

But doesn't the Bible make many other scientific claims that are wrong? I don't think so. I believe that when science and the Bible seem to conflict, either the science is wrong, or our interpretation of the Bible is wrong, or both. My assumption is that the Bible is infallible, but my interpretation may be wrong or science may be wrong (it has often been wrong).

For instance, some people think that the Bible teaches that the earth is flat. Numerous places speak about the "four corners of the earth." However, this is best taken as a metaphor for the four directions on a compass. No Christian church ever believed or taught that the earth was flat. It is often believed that Columbus was trying to prove that the earth was round on his voyages. This is a myth created by Washington Irving in the early 1800s. All political and church leaders believed the earth was round from the very beginning of the church. The Bible even records that God "sits enthroned above the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). The Bible often uses metaphorical language, just like we do. We often talk about the "sunrise" or "sunset" even though we know that the earth's rotation merely makes the sun appear to rise or set. I do not know of any instance where their is a contradiction between a proper interpretation of Scripture and proper science.

But what about evolution? Many books have been written on the topic, and I can only say so much here. However, I do believe once again that either science is wrong, or our interpretation of the Bible is wrong, or both. There is no need to think the Bible is wrong.

One issue with evolution is the origin of life. Part of the claim of evolution is that life originated from nonliving matter, and that this happened through natural processes. However, this isn't really science. There is no scientific evidence for such an event. It is really just an assumption that natural processes can explain everything in our world. That is an assumption the Bible rejects.

In Darwin's day, it may have seemed feasible that simple life forms could randomly form out of nonliving matter. The problem is that since that time, our knowledge of "simple" life forms has increased dramatically. Today, we know they are complex machines. Consider this diagram of a cell membrane, the "wall" around simple living things:

This is just the cell membrane! Multiple different parts inside the cell are much more complicated and all work together to make a living organism. So where did the first living organism come from? Scientists look to find the best natural explanation. The Bible says God created it. The explanations scientists can offer are very limited. Remember, they aren't even looking for the best explanation, they are only looking for the best natural explanation. I think the biblical view of God creating life is a much more plausible explanation than anything science can come up with on the topic.

The Bible greatly encourages science. The Bible tells us that the God we worship is the creator of nature and all there is. He has given humans the unique ability to study and observe nature in a way that helps us know about God (Rom. 1:20). He has given us the instruments we need to study nature (eyes, ears, etc.) He gives people the charge to "rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky..." (Gen. 1:26). This is why many of the great scientists like Kepler, Galileo, and Newton were deeply committed Christians. God wants us to explore and understand our world. But understand that science is a discipline that can only answer certain kinds of questions. Problems come when science is viewed as the ultimate vehicle for finding truth.


Trust the Bible's purpose is to grow your confidence that the Bible is true and the ultimate resource for life." You can join the Facebook group by clicking here. Trust the Bible is a weekday radio program that begins at about 8:10 each morning on WDOG 93.5 in Allendale, SC. Listen to previous programs online: www.fairfaxfbc.org/trust-the-bible.html