Tag Archives: faithfulness

Sep 29 2012

devoted

 

NOTE: Following is a copy of the discussion guide that will be used in MoSt Church’s LIFE groups tomorrow, Sept. 30. This guide will enable your follow-up of the morning’s worship gathering, as we add begin a new sermon series entitled “Devoted.” Look under the category title “LIFE group guides” and you’ll find an archive of previous discussion guides.

Aim

To introduce and explore what it means for each of us to be completely given over to God.

Word

The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. 43 A sense of awe came over everyone. (Acts 2.42-43 CEB)

Open

Icebreaker questions are meant to help us all start talking. Choose one of the following to discuss as a group.

1. Tell us about something, anything, you’re totally into doing.

2. I think it’s important for a person to be devoted to ____________. Why?

3. I find my devotion to a belief or person reinforced and strengthened by ____________.

Dig

These questions are meant to help us grapple with Scripture related to this morning’s sermon. Choose some.

1. What would you say is a component of, or a synonym of, the word “devoted?” Why?

2. Christians here are tagged as “believers” (vs. 42a). What does “belief” have to do with “devotion” and vice versa?

3. This passage says the new believers devoted themselves to God in four ways (vs. 42b). What are those four things? How do each of these matters express belief in Jesus as Lord?

4. How might the “sense of awe” (vs. 43) these believers experienced come to grow out of their expression and practice of devotion?

5. What other Scriptures come to mind when you think of a person being “devoted” to God?

Reflect

These questions facilitate our sharing what we sense God’s Spirit is doing with us thru his word. Choose some.

1. What sort of pain do you experience when a friend clearly demonstrates that their devotion to you is only lukewarm? What sort of joy is yours – and how do you express it – when you see that their devotion is obvious and strong?

2. What things most frequently challenge your living a life devoted to God and how are you doing battle with such?

3. When you sense your devotion waning, what is usually happening in your life? Similarly, what do you see going on when your devotion is clearly growing?

4. Is a person’s devotion to God solely a product of their own determination and effort or is it more like a co-partnering with God? Why?

5. What is God’s role in our devotion to him?

6. A new Christian asks your advice how they can consistently grow their devotion to God. How would you respond? Why?

7. Pray together as a group for enduring devotion to Christ on the part of each member of your group. Continue this prayer every day this week in your own life by daily praying for all of your group’s members by name.

Sep 23 2012

picture Bible commentary

Brothers and sisters, we must always thank God for you. … we … are bragging about you in God’s churches. We tell about your endurance and faithfulness in all the harassments and trouble that you have put up with. … God’s judgment is right and … you will be considered worthy of God’s kingdom for which you are suffering. (2 Thessalonians 1.3-5)

Sep 14 2012

Galatians: Wright on 2.11-21

 

In Galatians 2.11-21 Paul homes in on the crucial issue between him and Peter in Antioch: what does it mean, in practical terms, to be a member of God’s people? The discussion only makes sense if we assume that the Christian community in Antioch has been living as in some sense the renewed Israel, and that they now face the question of whether or not uncircumcised Gentiles count within that company, or whether they belong at a separate table. Verses 14 and 15 indicate that the question, ‘What does it mean to be a Jew?’, lies behind the argument: ‘If you,’ Paul says to Peter, ‘though you are a Jew, live in a Gentile fashion rather than a Jewish fashion, how can you force Gentiles to Judaize?’ Peter, by separating himself from uncircumcised believers, is implying that if they want to belong to God’s people they must take on themselves the identity of ethnic Jews by getting circumcised. There then follows the first ever statement of Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith, and, despite the shrill voice of detractors, it here obviously refers to the way in which God’s people have been redefined. ‘We,’ affirms Paul, ‘are by birth Jews, not “gentile sinners”; yet we know that one is not justified by works of Torah, but through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah; thus we too have believed in the Messiah, Jesus, so that we might be justified by the faithfulness of the Messiah and not by works of Torah, because through works of Torah no flesh will be justified.’

There is enough there to keep us going all day, but let me simply spell out three points. First, I have translated pistis Christou* and similar phrases as a reference, not to human faith in the Messiah but to the faithfulness of the Messiah, by which I understand, not Jesus’ own ‘faith’ in the sense either of belief or trust, but his faithfulness to the divine plan for Israel. … Second, the passage works far better if we see the meaning of ‘justified’, not as a statement about how someone becomes a Christian, but as a statement about who belongs to the people of God, and how you can tell that in the present. That is the subject under discussion. Third, the point of ‘works of Torah’ here is not about the works some might think you have to perform in order to become a member of God’s people, but the works you have to perform to demonstrate that you are a member of God’s people. These works, Paul says, simply miss the point, as Psalm 143.2 has indicated, partly because nobody ever performs them adequately, and partly because, here and elsewhere, works of Torah would simply create a family which was at best an extension of ethnic Judaism, whereas God desires a family of all peoples, the point which is repeatedly emphasized in Galatians 3.

Paul by N.T. Wright

* Editorial note: Most modern English renderings of this phrase appear as “faith in Christ” or the equivalent (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, etc.). However, N.T. Wright renders the phrase “faithfulness of Jesus.”

Sep 1 2012

this went thru my mind

 

Faith/faithfulness: The Faithfulness of Jesus, or Faith in Jesus?

“It is Jesus’ faithfulness I can rest in, and not my own sometimes weak, wavering, and even battered faith. It’s not that I am excused not to hold on to faith, or keep the faith. But I can better do so by realizing that it’s because of the faithfulness of Jesus that I can continue in that stance of faith, and nothing more nor less. Of course the Spirit is at work in God’s grace in Jesus to help us, all part of what comes out of the faithfulness of Jesus.”

Firearms, gun ownership & violence: Why This Christian Will Never Own a Gun by Bruce Reyes-Chow

“When I say that I will never own a gun because of my Christian faith, that does not mean that I am saying that you are not a Christian if you do.”

Gospel: The Gospel … A Family Story by K. Rex Butts

“If we were to ask a hundred Christians what the goal or aim of the gospel of Jesus Christ is, I’m guessing a good bit of that number would provide an individualistic salvation answer. They would say something like, ‘to save me from my sins so that I can live eternally with God.’ … However, the aim of the gospel is reconciliation of people back to God and each other into “one body” so that we all are one community, the ‘household of God’ (Eph. 2:14-22).”

Government & taxes: Render to Caesar What is Caesar’s by Scott Elliott

“N.T. Wright has correctly said, ‘If Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not.’ First century Christians understood that professing Jesus as Lord could ultimately mean death because of its political implications. Becoming a Christian means that Jesus is our Lord and we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. We cannot serve two masters. Our sole allegiance is to God and His Kingdom.”

Growth: * The Myth of Endless Growth by Larry Osborne [required reading]; * Reflections on a Red God by Dan Bouchelle

* “I’ve always been told that if a business or church isn’t growing, something must be terribly wrong. After all, healthy things always multiply and grow. But frankly, that’s hogwash. It’s based on idealistic and wishful thinking. It’s a leadership urban legend. And a dangerous one at that.”

* “Perhaps our models of church have hindered the growth of the church as much as aided it. Perhaps the Christian faith grows best when it travels light. … The more I read … the more I’m convinced that we need to be doing what God is blessing instead of asking him to bless what we are doing. The mission is his. He is in the lead.”

Holiness, humility & respect: Committed to Holiness But Not Holier Than Thou [required reading]

“We hold to our convictions, firmly believing that we are right. Yet we can do so without judging others and without believing that our stance somehow makes us better than others. I will try to convince others of my position and hope they will try to convince me of theirs. That’s how we grow as Christians. Yet it must always be done with an air of acceptance and respect.”

Joy: Four Simple Things Stealing Your Joy (And What to do About Them) by Chris Altrock

“Richard Foster writes about four obstacles that keep us from joy. The first obstacle is inattention. … A second obstacle is the wrong kind of attention. … A third obstacle is greed. … The final hindrance is conceit.”

Politics: The Attack Ad, Pompeii-Style

“A.D. 79 was a rough year for Marcus Cerrinius Vatia. … Since tradition in Pompeii kept ads from being blatantly defamatory, a favorite trick of local politicians was to plaster the tombs and walls of the town with fake endorsements for their opponents from unsuitable supporters — runaway slaves, gamblers and prostitutes. In Roman politics, where the appearance of honor and dignity was all important, even obviously false endorsements could bring shame and defeat to a struggling candidate. The almost 3,000 political inscriptions that survive from Pompeii tell us more about Roman elections …”

Prayer: Pray Continually: Thoughts on Praying with the Church by John Byron

“The exhortation to “pray continually” is common to Paul’s writing and his life (Rom. 12:12; Eph 6:18; Col. 4:2; 2 Tim 1:3). … When we pray, whether alone or corporately and whether we realize it or not, we pray together with all the people of God.”

Silence: Only In Silence, The Word

“… when you are alone with just yourself and God, you find out how noisy your interior world is …”