I was 9 or so when Mark Norman invited me to Vacation Bible School at Big Bottom Baptist Church. I remember not because of the lessons that were taught or the songs that were sung but because of the crafts. Actually, one craft—a woodpecker doorknocker. I have no idea what that craft had to do with the lessons. But what I remember is sitting around the long tables in the dreary basement of that church trying to piece together the pre-cut pieces into a workable doorknocker.

It was then and there that I discovered I was "carpentarily" challenged. Paul Giraudin, Lloyd Holmes or Drew Terry could have whipped that bird together in no time. But not me. I struggled and struggled and struggled—and even when I got it together it wouldn’t knock. The woodpecker wouldn’t peck the wood as it was supposed to do. Finally a kind, old man—he was probably 40 or so then—took it home and fixed it for me.

Still, the scar remains. To this day I am overwhelmed by feelings of incompetence at the thought of building something—anything.

Of course, you probably don’t share my aversion to building projects. I hope you don’t. But what I have discovered is that many people experience the same fear and trembling when it comes to developing their spiritual life. They may feel as incompetent at building a meaningful relationship with God as I do building a birdhouse.

For the next six weeks, we are going to explore dimensions of discipleship. We are going to look at what it takes to build a solid, secure and meaningful relationship with God. Think of it as a blueprint that—with the right help—you can follow.

So where do we begin?

It should come as no surprise that we begin with Jesus Christ. After all, this is a Christian Church. We are Disciples of Christ. Where else could we begin? Jesus has to be foundational. The problem is, "Which Jesus?" Just as in his day, different people offer different answers to the question "Who is Jesus?"

One Jesus that is popular today is what I call the Ticket-Punching Jesus.

Do you remember the final Indiana Jones movie, the one with Harrison Ford and Sean Connery? There is a scene in which Ford and Connery are on a blimp, hoping to escape Nazi Germany. Ford steals a steward’s uniform and goes from table to table, asking people for their tickets. At one point, when he is about to be exposed, he throws a Nazi leader out the window. Of course, people are aghast. "No ticket; No ride," he says.

Some today see Jesus in that way. He is the one who punches our ticket for heaven. We declare our faith; he stamps us with approval. All that is left is to wait for the pearly gates, golden streets and glorious mansions.

I don’t belittle that understanding. I believe Jesus is the key to eternal life. The problem is that such an approach tends to make Jesus irrelevant to this life. People may be born again, but that new birth doesn’t translate into being a new person with a new character and a new ethic. And why should it? Christians are created, but not necessarily disciples.

At the other end of the scale is the Jesus who is supposedly a wise but imperfect teacher.

She was a member of one of my former congregations. We were discussing the Sunday School program when talk turned to Jesus. She volunteered that she liked a lot of what Jesus had to say—his emphasis on love, his care for the lowly and outcast, his emphasis on equality, and the like. "But I don’t think he was God or anything."

That is a common view today. It is the view of Bishop Spong and the Jesus Seminar. It is the view of many people, even in the church. On the one hand, Jesus is hailed as a great teacher—a prophet or philosopher or self-help guru. Yet at the same time he is dismissed as being mistaken about his own message and ministry. His claims to be the Messiah are considered delusional. His anticipation of the kingdom of God is considered wrong. His miracles considered, at best, the creation of his fans, and, at worse, magic tricks used to dupe the crowds.

But what sense does it make to follow such a man? As others have asked, how can anyone accept as a great moral teacher someone who they believe to be delusional? How can anyone say they follow his teachings when they dismiss much of what he taught as naive or in error? No one should embrace him if that is the case—and those who do are to be pitied.

Ultimately, discipleship cannot be built on either a Ticket-punching Jesus or The Wise-but-Deluded one.

So on which Jesus can discipleship be built?

The answer lies in the Jesus Peter confessed at Caesarea Philippi. It was there that the truth of Jesus’ identity was revealed. "You are the Christ," Peter said, "the Son of the Living God."

To appreciate what that means, we have to better understand the terms.

First, Jesus is the Christ.

Many of us have seen too many action-hero movies to appreciate what is meant by the word "Christ" or "Messiah." We imagine Jesus riding into town and single-handedly defeating evil, much the way Clint Eastwood used to do in his westerns. But such a view ignores a fundamental fact about the Messiah. The Jewish people expected a Messiah, the new king, to come and overthrow Roman oppression. But the king was not expected to do it single-handedly. Kings have subjects; generals have troops. He was to gather the people of Israel and lead them into this work of God.

When we confess that Jesus is the Christ, we are declaring that he is the ruler to which our lives are to be given. It is a surrender to his leadership, a declaration of our willingness to follow his word and command, a commitment to live under his reign.

But how do we know we can trust him with our lives?

Because he is "the Son of the Living God."

Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a vineyard. The owner of the land planted a vineyard, built a fence around it, dug a press and built a watchtower. Then he left for another country, leaving tenants in charge. When the time came to collect the harvest, the owner sent slaves to collect. But the tenants beat one, killed another and stoned a third. And when more slaves were sent, they were treated the same way. So the owner sent his son. The reason was simple—in that culture the son was the very embodiment of the father. He possessed the same character, power and authority as the father.

When we say, Jesus is the Son of the Living God, we are saying that Jesus is the very embodiment of God.

1. As the story in Luke is told, he is conceived of the Holy Spirit, the divine presence of God.
2. As the birth narrative in Matthew says, he is "Emmanuel," which means "God with us."
3. As John puts it, he is the Word—the Wisdom that is God—made flesh.
4. As Paul notes, he was in the form of God, but emptied himself to be born in human likeness.
5. And as the author if Hebrews has said, he is the "exact imprint" of the invisible God.

Since he is God, then he can be trusted to lead us as the Messiah, the ruler of God’s people.

That truth has been proven time and time again.

Some of you are familiar with Streams of Living Water, a book by Quaker theologian Richard Foster. In it he outlines six traditions of spirituality that have emerged through the history of the church. In each he identifies people who embodied that tradition:

1. Saint Antony and Frank Laubach,
2. Phoebe Palmer and Dietrich Bonhoeffer;
3. Saint Francis and William Seymour;
4. John Woolman and Dorothy Day;
5. Saint Augustine and Billy Graham;
6. Susanna Wesley and Dag Hammarskjold.

They are a diverse group—men and women from every walk of life and era of history. But they are all deeply spiritual. And although they represent differing traditions, all have the same foundation—Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Each had built his or her spirituality of the reality of God’s presence in Christ.

One of the ironies of life today is the fact that many, many people in our culture and even in the church long with substantive spiritual lives. Yet at the same time they almost out of hand dismiss devotion to the one person on which such a life can be built—Jesus, not just any Jesus, but Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

If you share that longing for a spiritual life of depth and meaning, then start with Jesus. Start by making a decision today to know him, to put him at the center of your life, to build on him and him alone. For as the Apostle Paul notes: No one can lay any other foundation other than the one that God has laid; [and] that foundation is Jesus Christ."