The VineSample

What Following Looked Like in Scripture

Imagine you were one of Jesus’s followers while He was on earth. You talked with Him often and listened to His teachings. You watched Him die and were terrified and amazed when He came back to life. Jesus tells you that He’s going back to the Father in heaven and will give you His Spirit to guide you, but before He does, He leaves you one last instruction. After everything you have witnessed in Jesus’s life, you know this must be important. You lean in, eager to remember every word so you can follow it closely.

He tells you to intentionally bear witness to His good news everywhere you go (Acts 1:8). And that makes sense. If belief in Jesus' death and resurrection is the only starting point to reversing the world’s brokenness, then everyone needs to know this! But how do you start this new life following Jesus’s teaching? Where do you begin?

Jesus’s command in Acts 1:8 is the same for followers of Jesus today, and our question might be the same for His first followers: what do we do? What does our life look like? After Jesus ascended, His disciples answered that question by remembering how Jesus modeled life for them. He spent time alone in prayer and communion with God the Father. He also spent time with His community, preaching His gospel and serving people in need. Jesus had a personal and communal devotion to His life on earth, and His followers imitated that model as they obeyed Jesus’ command to tell the world what He has done.

In the next few lessons, we will take a closer look at what it means to grow in personal devotion to Jesus and into a community of faith, the church. Consider preparing your heart now through a prayer like the one below.

Prayer

“God, thank You for inviting me into Your plan to redeem what’s broken in the world. I trust that You have good work to do in my heart as I grow in my relationship with You and in my devotion to your church.”

Explore at Your Speed

If you want to jump ahead to get an idea of where we’re going, spend some time reading John 15:1-17 and Acts 2:41–47. These passages demonstrate what a personal and communal life committed to Jesus looks like. Ask yourself, “What is this teaching me about Jesus and/or God?” and “What is this teaching me about people and/or myself?”