A simple yes is not enough. Those who wish to draw closer to Jesus must set out on a journey, step by step. Here is the road map from a divine service with the Chief Apostle.
“I like that,” said Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider. “It’s a very beautiful image for the saving activity of the triune God.” Abraham represents God the Father, his son Isaac represents Jesus, and the servant represents the Holy Spirit.
In a divine service in Eberbach, Germany on 7 December 2025, everything revolved around the journey taken by a bride to meet her bridegroom. The sermon was based on Genesis 24: 58: “Then they called Rebekah and said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ And she said, ‘I will go.’”
The context in brief: Just as the servant—traditionally identified with Eliezer—tried to win Rebekah’s heart for his master’s son, blessing her and telling her about the glory of his master’s house, so too the Holy Spirit works. He calls on us to have faith in Jesus Christ, testifies to the beauty of the kingdom of God, equips believers with special gifts, and poses the crucial question.
“And we say, ‘Yes, I want to belong to the bride of Christ. I want to enter the kingdom of God.’” And then the journey begins, the Chief Apostle explained, listing a series of stages on the way to meeting the bridegroom.
Distancing ourselves: “Like Rebekah, we first have to leave the old country.” And that means distancing ourselves from all evil. “Evil lives within us and that is why we constantly have to work on denying ourselves and overcoming ourselves. The road is long; let’s not give up.”
Setting priorities: “Our priority is our salvation. We need time. Time for prayer, time for divine service, time for our own salvation, time for God, time for our neighbour.” It is important not to waste time and energy on useless things. “We don’t have to have everything. We don’t have to experience everything. We don’t have to know everything.”
Mustering confidence: The beautiful young Rebekah followed the stranger into a land she had never known. “She simply had to trust him and let herself be guided. Dear brothers and sisters, we have not yet seen our homeland either, and we must trust God and the Holy Spirit fully, even if the path we must walk sometimes seems very strange to us. Trust God. He is faithful.”
Forgiving: “We want to move forward. We want to become more and more like the Lord.” And this includes heeding Jesus’ call to forgive just as He forgives. “How many times? Seventy times seven times. Endlessly forgiving the same person for the same offense. This is such a tedious journey.” But: “That is part of coming closer and closer to the Lord. Let us persevere in forgiveness.”
Serving: “Many people are willing to participate, they want to be involved, they want to contribute.” But serving is something else, the Chief Apostle said. “Someone else determines who does what, where, and when. You do what God asks of you, but you get no reward, no thanks, no recognition, no praise. That is serving. This is what Jesus did? Becoming involved and contributing is nice, but serving is better.”
Enduring challenges: “When you are on the side of Jesus Christ, you are not always admired. Sometimes the world does not understand us, and sometimes, more and more often, we realise that we are actually on the wrong side of the road: everyone else is going in the other direction. We do things differently and follow the Lord Jesus. And we do not necessarily reap praise, but are often criticised and sometimes even attacked. That is part of following Christ.”
Loving like Christ: “Jesus loves every human being unconditionally, without limits. That does not mean that I love everyone the way I love my wife and children. It is not about an emotion.” Rather: “It is my sincere desire, my deepest wish, that even those who are completely different receive the same salvation as I do. That is the love of God.”
“These are the stages of our preparation,” the Chief Apostle said in conclusion. “We are on a pilgrimage. We have heard the call of God—and we have accepted it. On this journey, we want to draw ever closer to the Lord. Let us not allow ourselves to be held back, but move towards the Lord step by step.” The rallying cry is: “Forward, let us go to meet the Lord.”
Photos: David Schäfer
