Saturday, August 3, 2024

LIFE of DISCIPLESHIP

Life of discipleship

We are at a regular time of the Church year. Regular time might sound like a boring idea – non-eventful, every Sunday our beautiful Zion altar is covered with green, many familiar faces left for their vacation places… On the other hand, it is a good time to think about the walk in Christ or life of the discipleship (Col. 2:6-7). When you read the Bible, you do not find a verse about napping in Christ or – take an another extreme – running in Christ. The discipleship is a walk in Christ – steady, sometimes non-eventful, sometimes with no familiar face around or even alone…

When you come to our Fellowship Hall, you’ll find a passage from the Book of Acts 2:42 on the back wall of the stage: and they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the praying. “They” to be the members of the First Messianic congregation in Jerusalem – Jewish believers who recognized Jesus as the promised Christ, the foretold Messiah. They formed the community being moved by the Holy Spirit, for their hearts were pierced when St. Peter told them that the Messiah was killed because of their sins. Actually, he was more poignant: Let the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2:36). First congregation was built on this very message: every one of them and every one of us was a reason for the crucifixion, but God in Him won the battle with the death and devil, resurrecting Jesus, and reconciling the whole world to Himself. Whole world! Every one of us!   

This happened about 2000 years ago miles and miles away from our beloved Zion Lutheran church. How the Good News of Jesus was able to make it to the Central Coast? The answer is both simple and difficult. The difficult part is discussed in the books on the Church History – thousands upon thousands of names, places, and dates can and should be remembered, faith heroes honored (not worshiped), and great ideas that shaped our theology and practice commemorated. The simple option sounds like this: daily, weekly, monthly, every year in every century the Church of Christ continued in the same manner. They were studying the Holy Scriptures, meeting with one another, partaking in the sacrament at the Table of the LORD, and spending time in prayer (both communal and private).

The thing is – the reach of Good News to the Central Coast is not a matter of milage only, it is a generational challenge – I’ll repeat myself, 2000 years. So, the life of the discipleship is a life of acquiring deep Biblical convictions, practicing them in daily life, teaching them to your children and to your children’s children or – as psalmist put it – “from generation to generation” (Ps. 78:6), and also sharing these convictions with others.

Therefore, there are three basic challenges to godly discipleship. First, a church can stop sharing the Good News with others, living comfortably as a good family of believers. The second one, is stopping to teach our children. And the third one, going through gestures and motions with no reflection on what the deep conviction of forgiveness is about.

Life at Zion IS a life of overcoming these challenges – we share the love of Jesus distributing the gifts provided via Harvest Bag, Zion Preschool should become a center of godliness. LWML is reaching out to organizations like Fort Hope that look for the lost and/or abandoned. Our Sunday School is full of laughing, singing, and studying children of our families. And we have many opportunities for adults to dive into the Word, enjoy the Fellowship and Communion of the Saints. Recently, the Bord of Elders decided to begin a prayer service – every Wednesday at 11:30. We will hold them in the sanctuary, but if you are unable to attend – join us wherever you are, praying to the needs of the church, giving thanks for the outpouring of His love in our lives, and praising His holy name, giving glory to God, creator, redeemer, and provider. 

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