Nourishing the Spirit

July 21, 2015

“If any man wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the teaching whether it is from God…” (John 7:17)

Jesus gave us a principle that shows us how we can know His teaching is the teaching of God. The principle is this: If any man wills to do, he will know.  For millennia those who approach the proposition of faith intellectually have said, “When I know, then I will do.”  Their premise has been and remains: “the knowing leads to the doing.”  Pointing to their temples they say, “Reach me here.” Then, pointing to their heart, they say, “Then I will follow through here.”  They are essentially saying, “Reach me intellectually and then I will commit volitionally.”

Jesus cut through that when He proclaimed this principle:  the knowing does not lead to the doing.  The doing leads to the knowing.  When you commit your will to doing what Jesus teaches then the intellectual affirmation will follow.  It is only then that you will know the teaching of Jesus is the Word of God and not just the ideas of another Rabbi coming down the pike.

When people followed Jesus on His terms He called them ‘disciples.’  A synonym for that word is “apprentice.”  An apprentice and a disciple are learning what they’re doing and doing what they’re learning.

As Jesus apprenticed His disciples they discovered that the doing leads to the knowing.  Are we applying this principle to our faith as followers of Jesus Christ?

Dick Woodward, Lackey Free Clinic Health Beat, Summer 2009

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Posted by Dick Woodward

Apprenticeship

February 3, 2012

“If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” (John 7:17)

The Apostle John records the claim of Jesus that His teaching is not merely the teaching of another Rabbi coming down the pike.  His teaching is the teaching of God.  If we want to prove that, we must choose to do what He is teaching.  When we do it we will know it. The doing leads to the knowing according to Jesus.  The intellectually sophisticated person usually claims: “When I know it I will do it.”  Jesus told us when we do it we will know it.

That profiles what we call “discipleship” and “apprenticeship.”  These two words are actually synonymous.  A disciple is literally “a learner who is doing what they’re learning and learning what they’re doing.”

I once heard the vice president of a large shipyard explain to the business community of Norfolk, Virginia how they had just been given another contract to build yet another large aircraft carrier.  He said he could answer their question in one word: “apprenticeship.”

He explained that a college student takes in huge amounts of information and then regurgitates that information periodically.  After doing that for four years they are given a piece of paper that says they’re an educated person.  But often they cannot actually do anything.  He explained that at the shipyard they put a person in the classroom for two weeks and in the shipyard for two weeks.  After five years the graduates of their apprenticeship school build large aircraft carriers.

Have you been apprenticed in your journey of faith?  Are you apprenticing others in their faith journey?

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Posted by Dick Woodward