To become like Jesus, Don't Miss the Meanings of the Moments
Use a Revelation Response Review Process
We saw in the previous post that Christian Maturity comes when we respond to Moments in ways that change the Minutes of our lives. But that doesn’t always happen.
The Disciples Miss the Meaning of Two Miraculous Feedings
The disciples had front row seats at not one but two miraculous feedings. And yet they didn’t understand or respond to the implications of these Moments. The path from Moment to Maturity was Interrupted:
Mark 8:17 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they replied.
20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
They answered, “Seven.”
21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
Jesus Responds by processing Moments in His Small Group
In Mark 8:22 - 10:51 Jesus processes a lot of these Moments in small group settings. In typical Markan style, the record of the processing discussions is brief, but three phases emerge:
Revelation - Jesus brings some insight relevant to the Moment
Response - some action is either identified or implied
Review - the initial revelation is revisited often in response to subsequent events
Observing the progression in Mark 8-10
In Mark 8:22-10:51 Jesus visits and revisits issues of Power, Control and Greatness on at least 4 separate occasions:
1. Mark 8:27-38
In a small group setting Jesus gets them to reflect on who he is.
There is a Moment of recognition of Jesus’ Messiahship and Jesus provides
A Revelation about his upcoming crucifixion which is a radical reworking of their expectations of power and greatness of the Messiah.
A Response for his disciples to take up their own crosses which is a radical challenge to imitate Jesus completely
2. Mark 9:30-41
Jesus Reviews his previous teaching about his crucifixion but they still didn’t have complete understanding
Jesus helps the Disciples recognise the Moment of their argument about greatness on the road and he provides:
A Revelation about people wanting to be first must be the last which is a radical reworking of greatness
A Response encouraging people to welcome little children recognising that they are also welcoming Jesus and the Father.
John raises the Moment of the disciples telling someone to stop driving out demons and Jesus provides:
A Revelation - People who actually do things in Jesus name are on the ‘same side’ . And even giving people water (let alone driving out demons) is a kingdom reward worthy ministry.
A Response - ‘Do not stop him’
This Revelation and Response is saying that Jesus is about empowering people to do things not controlling who can do what.
These two moments of the argument and the question actually highlight smaller everyday applications of a Jesus-shaped approach to Power, Control and Greatness. They are part of the process of Review.
3. Mark 10:13-16
In the middle of a public ministry event, Jesus takes time to address the Moment of the disciples rebuking people for bringing little children to Jesus.
This is a Moment of Review.
The disciples didn’t realise that whenever they were rejecting (ie not welcoming) a little child, they were also rejecting Jesus.
They also didn’t realise that they were acting as gatekeepers seeking to control access to Jesus just like they had previously tried to control who was allowed to drive out demons.
So Jesus provides:
A Revelation - you need a childlike approach to enter the Kingdom
A Response - practice this truth by making it easy for actual children to come to Jesus.
4. Mark 10:35-45
Jesus again Reviews the teaching about his crucifixion. Then James and John come to Jesus. They may have internalised the teaching about greatness but they shift slightly and ask for positions of significance and control.
The other disciples get indignant and Jesus convenes another small group meeting to process the Moment. He provides
A Revelation - Lording it over other people is forbidden in the Kingdom of God. And Jesus himself is being a servant/slave in giving his life as a ransom.
A Response - Become servants and slaves if you want to be truly great
This is a Review of Jesus’ revelation and response to the argument in Mark 9:30-41. But in it he also deepens and strengthens the connection to his original teaching about his crucifixion. It is a review of the whole sequence.
We see that the moments came from many different sources, not just miracles, sermons or bible studies:
personal reflection about Jesus’ identity
arguments
reflecting on what they did during ministry
ministry failures
personal desires
We see that Jesus had to help them learn to identify the Moments.
We see that Jesus helped the disciples learn about their Moments from different angles.
3 Questions to use in Jesus-Shaped Small Groups
Jesus-Shaped small groups help people recognise and the process the Moments of their lives in ways that lead to Maturity.
The best way to do this is to make space in small group time and help people identify and process Moments from their lives.
To help identify a moment, ask people to reflect one or two of the following categories:
highlights/lowlights from the last few weeks.
recent experiences of success/failure
recent times they have felt close to/distant from God.
ideas that have stood out to them from recent services, sermons, songs etc.
As you discuss the moments, help people answer:
Jesus, what are you saying to me? (Revelation)
Jesus, what step of faith do you want me to take? (Response)
And then at a subsequent small group meeting:
How did it go? (Review)
When introducing these questions into a small group we need to keep in mind the following:
When we talk about Revelation, we are not talking about adding new things to the bible. We are talking about recognising some teaching from the bible that is new to us, or understood in a fresh way, or is recognised as particularly timely.
Small Groups need to be safe, confidential spaces for these conversations to happen.
When you are talking about one person’s moment in the group, other people will benefit from the conversation even though it isn’t directly about them
I have found that processing Moments in a small group setting has revolutionised my own growth in discipleship - I have grown more like Jesus.
It has also revolutionised my small group leading - the conversations in the group are deep and relevant, people go away with achievable action steps, and people report back that they are becoming more like Jesus.