Tourist or Pilgrim: Walking with Jesus in Community

The choice between tourist and pilgrim names two very different ways of living before God. A tourist moves through life chasing the next big thing, navigating by personal instinct, trying to stay in control, and leaving unchanged when the experience is over. A pilgrim enters a bigger story, slows down, receives hospitality, follows ancient paths, and returns different because the journey has touched something deep.

The gospel invites people to place their fragile and uncertain lives inside God’s solid and unshakable story. Relationships, status, performance, possessions, recognition, and experiences cannot carry the weight of a life. Jesus opens the door of hope and calls people to follow him, fixing their eyes on the champion who initiates and perfects faith. The long obedience of pilgrimage means progressively reorientating a life towards Jesus, especially when the terrain is difficult.

Community forms an essential part of that road. Hebrews pictures a huge crowd of witnesses who have already run the race, while the Songs of Ascent picture pilgrims travelling together toward Jerusalem. Psalm 133 arrives at the point where people from different regions, tribes, and status gather in worship and discover something truly wonderful and delightful: brothers and sisters living together in sweet unity.

Unity is not ordinary human niceness. Psalm 133 compares it to sacred, scented oil flowing down Aaron’s head, beard, and priestly robes. The oil is fragrant, refreshing, consecrated, and abundant. The image shows that Christian unity is a gift from God, not something people can manufacture, purchase, or replicate through common interests alone. Many things divide people, but only God can unite them around worship and purpose.

Unity also resembles the dew of Mount Hermon flowing down upon Zion. The water from the high place brings renewal, fruitfulness, and sustaining life to dry ground. God’s blessing flows through a community as people depend on the Spirit and serve one another. The promise of life forevermore is not detached from this shared life, but is glimpsed in it.

Transforming community will not be frictionless. Community brings disappointment, irritation, challenge, sacrifice, confession, forgiveness, patience, generosity, humility, and grace. Comfort and formation are not compatible. The small decisions to prioritize God over a lifetime tear down idols, while real relationships form character in the detours and single-track, sheep-blocked laneways of life. The road of pilgrimage calls each person to move toward Jesus and toward others, trusting that God makes such a people fragrant, refreshing, and overflowing with blessing.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Choose pilgrimage over spiritual tourism
  Pilgrimage gives life a direction that tourism cannot provide. A tourist may collect Christian information and still remain in control, disconnected, and unchanged. A pilgrim places personal desires, disappointments, and detours inside God’s larger story. That surrender turns ordinary movement into a road of transformation. [31:20]
• 2. Fix your eyes on Jesus
  Jesus is not merely a landmark to visit selectively while personal instincts direct the journey. Christ initiates and perfects faith, and his endurance through suffering gives weary people reason not to give up. Faith becomes steady when attention moves from immediate terrain to the one who has already gone before. The race requires endurance because following Jesus is a long obedience. [39:14]
• 3. Unity is God’s consecrated gift
  Psalm 133 presents unity as holy oil, flowing in abundance from the priestly head down to the robes. Christian harmony is more than natural chemistry, shared preferences, or carefully managed agreement. God gives this fragrant and refreshing blessing to a people gathered around him. The church therefore receives unity with gratitude and guards it with reverence. [49:29]
• 4. Friction forms Christlike character
  Real community will disappoint, challenge, and irritate because it brings broken people into close relationship. Comfort may protect the ego, but it cannot do the deep work of formation. Patience, forgiveness, humility, confession, and sacrifice become real only where relationships carry genuine cost. The Spirit uses that friction to tear down idols and make people more like Jesus. [53:20]
• 5. Small obedience tears down idols
  Transformation rarely arrives through one dramatic decision alone. Small choices to prioritize God, receive help, offer hospitality, and remain present in hard relationships slowly expose false securities. A lifetime of such obedience reshapes what a person loves and trusts. God forms a faithful people through ordinary acts done again and again. [53:53]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [28:09] - Tourist or Pilgrim
• [31:20] - The Journey of Following Jesus
• [32:39] - How Tourists Navigate Life
• [38:33] - Jesus Opens the Door of Hope
• [40:12] - Pilgrimage Happens in Community
• [41:37] - Arriving at Psalm 133
• [43:19] - The Wonder of Sweet Unity
• [46:20] - Reorientating Life in God’s Story
• [49:14] - Unity Like Sacred Oil
• [51:54] - Dew From Mount Hermon
• [53:20] - Comfort and Formation
• [56:00] - Transformation Through Real Relationships
• [59:00] - A Fragrant and Refreshing Community
• [1:00:31] - The Next Step of Pilgrimage

1. In Psalm 133, what two pictures are used to describe the goodness of God’s people living together in unity, and what details show that both images are abundant and life-giving? [49:29]
2. According to Hebrews 12:1–3, what are believers called to lay aside, how are they called to run, and where are they to fix their eyes?
3. What contrasts are drawn between a tourist and a pilgrim: how they navigate, relate to others, and respond when the journey becomes difficult? [32:55]
4. What kinds of people are pictured gathering on the road toward Jerusalem, and what makes their shared worship especially remarkable? [42:02]

1. Psalm 133 describes unity as sacred oil flowing over Aaron, the high priest. What does this image suggest about Christian unity being a holy gift from God rather than merely people getting along well? [50:12]
2. The dew from Mount Hermon brings water and fruitfulness to dry places. How does this picture help explain the way God’s blessing can renew and sustain a community? [52:33]
3. Hebrews 12 connects endurance with fixing one’s eyes on Jesus and remembering his suffering. How might this change the way a believer understands seasons of weariness, disappointment, or difficulty in community?
4. James 1:17 says that every good and perfect gift comes from the unchanging Father. Why is it important to see genuine unity as God’s gift, especially in a world and in families where conflict is common? [44:14]

1. In what area of life is there a temptation to be a “tourist”—wanting the benefits of faith while keeping control, moving on when things become difficult, or remaining unchanged? What would a pilgrim-like next step look like there? [36:55]
2. What is currently competing with Jesus for attention and trust—such as status, performance, possessions, recognition, relationships, or experiences? What could help shift the eyes back to Jesus this week? [36:04]
3. Who are the “witnesses” or fellow pilgrims whose example has helped sustain faith? Is there someone further down the road who could offer wisdom, encouragement, or prayer in the present season? [40:25]
4. Where has disappointment, irritation, or conflict in a relationship tempted withdrawal rather than patient engagement? What might humility, honest confession, forgiveness, or generosity look like in that specific relationship? [53:22]
5. What is one small decision that could prioritize God and weaken an idol over time—for example, receiving help, offering hospitality, staying present in a hard conversation, or serving someone without recognition? [54:02]
6. How can this group become more fragrant and refreshing to one another—more trustworthy, compassionate, dependable, and willing to give and receive grace? [59:16]