Dock Resource Kit
Sunday sermon, 7 September 2025
Summary
This week Phil began our new vision series by looking at 2 Corinthians and reminding us that discipleship is shaped by where we give our attention. In a world of constant distraction and competing voices, he challenged us to see attention as the most valuable thing we own — a spiritual act that forms us for good or for ill. We become what we behold, so if our gaze is fixed on Jesus we are transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory.
Key Points & Takeways
Vision begins with discipleship — everything else flows from becoming and making disciples.
Attention is discipleship currency — what you give your attention to will shape you.
We become what we behold — fix your eyes on Jesus and be transformed into his likeness.
Distractions are everywhere — money, success, spirituality without surrender, and pick-and-mix “my truth” all compete for our loyalty.
Attention is a spiritual act — every choice to pray, open Scripture, worship, or join community is an act of allegiance to Jesus.
Discipleship is long-term — not a one-off decision but sustained attention to Jesus over years.
Take one step — choose a deliberate act this week that says, “Jesus, you have my attention.”
Dock Discussion Questions
Attention and formation — Where do you notice your attention being pulled most often, and how does that shape the way you think and feel?
Distractions and counterfeits — Paul warns against “another Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel.” What modern distractions or false gospels do you think most easily compete for people’s attention today?
Habits of attention — What simple habits could help you direct your attention toward Jesus in the middle of your daily routines (work, commute, home life)?
Discipleship and imitation — Paul says, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” How might your own discipleship practices help others around you fix their eyes on Jesus?
Long-form, editted transcript
Vison & Values
Make Disciples:
The Battle For Your Attention
2 Corinthians 3:18, 11:2-3
Hebrews 2:1, Colossians 3:2
Matthew 5:13-16, Acts 2:42-47
1 Corinthians 11:1
You may have heard it said that vision leaks. And it does. Vision doesn’t stick like a tattoo. It fades, it gets scrubbed out by the pressure of life. Unless we keep returning to it, unless we allow God to write it on our hearts again and again, we forget who we are, why we are here, and what we are called to do. That goes for each of us and for us as St Paul’s Shadwell.
This September, as we often do, we begin a new vision series. Over three weeks we’ll look again at the heart of who we are as a church.
First, our vision: Make Disciples, Transform Communities, Plant Churches.
Second, our values: presence, participation, parties, partnerships, planting.
Third, our context: the place God has planted us here in the East End in this Harbour of Hope, and what it means to land well and be launched into God’s purposes today.
We begin at the beginning: Make Disciples, Transform Communities, Plant Churches. This is our vision. The amazing thing is, we don’t just get to talk about this vision — we get to see it. This is what God is doing among us. So why don’t you turn to your neighbour and remind them what the vision is, what it is we see — it’s good to speak it out.
We talk often about Planting Churches — you can see some of the amazing story God has been writing here on the boards under the gallery. What we’re really talking about here is giving away things that grow.
Raising and releasing leaders.
Forging generous partnerships.
Starting new worshipping communities here in east London and beyond.
That’s something we do together, and also each of us can ask: how do I give away things that grow in my life? How do I steward the time, money, and creativity God has entrusted to me for the sake of his Kingdom?
We talk about Transforming Communities. That’s not only about centrally run SPS compassion projects, though those really matter. It’s about every one of us being an agent of transformation where we live, work, and play. Each one of us asking, how am I being salt and light in my communities?
But what I want us to focus on today is Making Disciples. Because this is where everything else flows from. If we don’t make disciples, we will never transform communities or plant churches.
Discipleship — becoming disciples and making disciples — is the heartbeat of Jesus’ Great Commission. It was the heartbeat of the early church. And it must continue to be the heartbeat of St Paul’s Shadwell.
The challenge today is not whether people are open to Christianity. They are. In fact, there is a quiet revival of spiritual interest. Recently the media have run story after story about young people turning up at church, queuing for prayer meetings, discovering Jesus for the first time. Emily Maitlis, the former Newsnight host, even reported from the Wildfires Festival this summer, interviewing Pete Greig and young new Christians. She was seriously exploring what is being called the Quiet Revival.
The challenge is not whether people will come to faith. They are. We see it here every year at SPS — people invited to a quiz night, or a gym class, or to Alpha, finding faith and saying yes to Jesus. That’s amazing. But the real challenge, the harder challenge Jesus gave us, is discipleship. That person who first prayed the prayer — are you still walking with her three years later? Is she closer to Jesus today than when she first said yes?
That is the test. Not a fleeting spiritual experience, not even conversion, but discipleship — ongoing, life-shaping formation for all of us. That is the challenge. That is what we are here for. And that is what I want to talk about today — and specifically within that the battle for your attention.
Because you will be discipled by whatever you give your attention to.
The Value of Attention
In fact, your attention is probably the most valuable thing you own.
That’s why advertisers spend billions to capture it. That’s why your phone lights up with notifications every few minutes. That’s why Netflix autoplays the next episode before you even have the chance to think. You are a commodity in the attention economy, and in the age of the algorithm you are constantly targeted by powerful programming designed to hook and steal away your attention.
There is a battle for your eyes, your ears, your mind, your heart. Because your attention is the gateway to your soul, and for these companies, to your wallet. To invert Jesus’ words, where your heart is, there your treasure will be also.
And the spiritual reality behind all this is that attention is not just a psychological commodity. It is discipleship currency. And it is finite. You cannot give it to everything. But whatever you do give it to will shape your life.
So the big discipleship question is:
Who has your attention?
The question is never, are you being discipled? The only question is — who, or what, is forming you?
Give your attention to the endless scroll of Instagram and you will be discipled into comparison and envy.
Give your attention to 24-hour news and you will be discipled into fear and outrage.
Give your attention to the markets and you may be discipled into anxiety about money.
Give your attention to sport, politics, celebrity gossip, career ambition — none of these are terrible in themselves, but if they take your best attention, they will be the things that shape you, form you, disciple you.
It’s so easy for our attention to get pulled these days. You start a doom-scroll, or you get lost down an internet rabbit hole, and suddenly 30 minutes has gone.
Is that just me?
I have to snap myself out of it. Because I’ve noticed that when my attention gets stolen by whatever online rubbish is being spoon-fed to me, something shifts.
How I feel changes. How I think changes.
This is powerful stuff. My very being is moulded this way and that.
The Bible backs this up:
We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away. (Hebrews 2:1).
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:2).
And as Paul writes to the church in Corinth — and we’re going to stay focussed in 2 Corinthians a bit today — we all, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18).
You become what you behold.
You become like the thing you give your attention to. If you behold the glory of the Lord, then you are transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.
That is why discipleship and spiritual formation is not first about information or consuming content — however godly — but about attention. It is not about learning ideas but about fixing your eyes on Jesus.
The Danger of Distraction
A little later in his second letter to the church in Corinth — Paul writes with real concern — in chapter 11 he says,
I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches another Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. (2 Corinthians 11.3–4).
Paul is not worried here about whether the Corinthians will come to church or even come to faith. He is worried about what holds their attention once they are here. He is worried about what captures their imagination, what pulls at their loyalty, what seduces their devotion.
He names it plainly: another Jesus, a different Spirit, a different gospel.
In other words, distractions and counterfeits. They may look spiritual, sound attractive, even use some of the right words, but if they pull your attention away from the real Jesus, the real Spirit, the real gospel, then you are in trouble.
And the same temptations are alive today. Paul’s world was full of competing spiritual options, and so is ours.
Back then polytheism — the idea of many gods — was a big deal. We may not bow to Zeus or Apollo, but the gods of money, sex, and power are still alive and well. They demand our attention. They divide our loyalty. They promise life, but they deliver slavery.
The notion of pantheism is still with us — the idea that everything is divine. God as a force or an energy you can tap into. Today it can sound like talk about “the universe,” mindfulness without surrender, or spirituality without obedience. Transcendence without relationship.
And there’s syncretism (some of you will remember Michael Traynor talking to us about all this over the summer) — syncretism is a pick-and-mix approach. Take a bit of this, a bit of that, blend together what feels good, and call it “my truth.”
Each of these ancient approaches to spirituality can still look attractive today. Aspects of them are packaged and preached in increasingly personal and sophisticated ways, projected through the megaphone in our pocket. They grasp for our attention, but they cannot save.
They leave us chasing an experience that feels powerful but is not centred on Jesus and not fuelled by his Spirit of holiness. They offer a gospel — a story — that promises self-fulfilment but not repentance, and not the new life found only in Jesus.
Paul says don’t be distracted. Don’t let your attention be stolen away from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
What you give your attention to will disciple you.
You become what you behold.
The Real Jesus, the Real Spirit, the Real Gospel
So let me remind us today: the real Jesus is not the Jesus of convenience or comfort. He is not the one-dimensional Jesus of TikTok quotes or the domesticated Jesus of Western culture.
The real Jesus is the Son of God who stepped into our world. The one who called fishermen and tax collectors to leave everything and follow him. The one who touched the sick, welcomed children, confronted hypocrisy, carried a cross and suffered. He was crucified and rose on the third day in glory and power. He ascended, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
This Jesus is Lord. Not an option among many. Not a lifestyle brand. He is the centre of history, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. And yet he is near. He is your friend and mine. He is here, today.
And he has given us the real Spirit. Not just a warm feeling or a vague inspiration.
The Spirit is not an accessory we plug in for a boost. The Spirit is the very presence of God with us and in us. He convicts us when we would rather hide. He leads us into truth when we are tempted by lies. He pours the love of God into our hearts when we feel empty.
The Spirit is holy. He gives courage when we are weak, power when we are afraid, gifts to equip the church, and comfort when our hearts are breaking. He makes us more like Jesus.
To give your attention to the Spirit is to welcome God himself into your life, not chasing an experience but receiving a person — the living God dwelling in you.
And the real gospel, the good news, is not a story of self-help with a Christian twist or a path to self-fulfilment. It is not sprinkling religion on top of the life you already wanted.
The gospel is the announcement that Jesus is King and his kingdom is breaking into the world. It is the call to repent and believe, to turn from idols and trust the living God.
This gospel is grace — undeserved and unearned, received by faith. It is the power that sets captives free, reconciles enemies, and brings the dead to life.
This is where your attention must be. Behold the glory of the Lord. Fix your eyes on this Jesus. Open your ears to his Spirit. Ground your heart in his good-news gospel story. Because if you do, you will be shaped into his likeness. Slowly but surely, you will become like him.
But if your attention drifts — to another Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel — you will be shaped in another image. And one day, without even noticing, you may find that what you are following is not Jesus at all.
You become what you behold.
Discipleship in the Attention Economy
So what does this look like in practice? What does it mean to behold Jesus, to be a disciple of Jesus in the middle of the attention economy and battle for your eyes and your ears?
Let me give you an ABC:
First, it means accepting that attention is a spiritual act. Every time you open your Bible instead of WhatsApp, every time you choose prayer over distraction, every time you gather with others in worship instead of staying home with Netflix, you are declaring with your life that Jesus has your attention. These are not small choices. They are acts of allegiance.
Second, it means building habits that, in the power of the Spirit, direct our attention to Jesus. The battle for your attention is fierce, so you need a plan. The earliest disciples devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. They built a rhythm that made space for God. We need the same.
For you, it might mean starting your day with Scripture before the markets open or before the school run. It might mean carving out ten minutes on the DLR or the bus to pray instead of scrolling. Choosing a moment of quiet in the midst of all the noise.
One of my favourite things at the moment is putting my noise cancelling headphones on and not playing anything, while I’m on the train, by busy road, in the middle of a crowd, practicing silence and allowing God to speak.
It might mean joining a Dock this term, being with a small group of others who point your attention back to Jesus when the world pulls it away. It might mean opting for worship over overtime, or a night serving with the youth rather than another evening of emails.
Third, it means choosing long-term attention over short-term excitement. Our culture trains us to crave constant novelty — another episode, a new post, a fresh update. But discipleship is about sustained attention, walking with Jesus for the long haul. Remember the question is not whether someone once prayed a prayer, but whether we are still walking with her three years later.
So what will you go on giving your attention to? If it is money, you will become greedy. If it is beauty, you will become vain. If it is power, you will become controlling. But if your attention is fixed on Jesus, you will become like him — patient, compassionate, courageous, holy.
You become what you behold.
The Challenge to Act
So, my challenge to you as we start this new term: choose one deliberate act of attention — something that says, Jesus, you have my attention.
It might be prayer before your phone. It might be silence on your commute. It might be committing to a Dock or to serving on a team with others. Whatever it is, take one step.
And remember, this is not just about you. Because this is also how we make disciples.
Paul told the Corinthians, you become what you behold. He also wrote, follow me as I follow Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
As you give your attention to Jesus, you are formed into his likeness. And as others see him in you, they learn to give their attention to him too.
That is how disciples are made. That is how the gospel spreads. That is the beginning of how communities are transformed and churches are planted.
So fix your eyes on Jesus — for your sake, and so that others might turn theirs toward him too.
This is the heartbeat of our vision: to make disciples, to transform communities, to plant churches. And it all begins with where you give your attention. Always giving your best attention to Jesus.
Would you stand with me as we pray, and at the beginning of this new season, let’s take a moment to recommit ourselves — to turn our attention and our affection to Jesus.