Great Expectations: Jacob and family

Genesis 15:1-6, Genesis 21:1-7

Listening guide

Discussion questions

Notes 

1. Depending on the number of people discussing, it may be easier to split into same gender groups.  

2. You will not have time to discuss all the questions. Discuss those that interest you. 

Getting talking 

1. Share a “high” from the week and a “low” from the week.  

2. Who is someone in your life that is as close as a blood relative?  

Getting into Genesis 

1.  God made a covenant with Abraham to give him many descendants. However, there was a time that he and his wife, Sarah, doubted God’s words. What lessons can be gained from the ill-advised Hagar and Ishmael episode in Genesis 16?  

2. In ancient societies, having a blood line heir was important. However, God tells us that the unity of believers is a special bond that transcends genetic ties. “Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother and sister and mother.” (Jesus, Matthew 12:50) 

3. Read Galatians 3:6-9 

4. In Genesis 17:9-27, God instructed Abraham to circumcise His descendants as a sign that they were heirs of the covenant God made with Abraham. In somewhat similar fashion, God’s covenant to rescue us through faith in Jesus has a sign: baptism. We baptize children and new Christians as a sign of their entrance into the new covenant and as a means by which God gives the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39). 

5. “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we are all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” - 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 

6. Many passages in the New Testament (ex: Matthew 5:24, Galatians 6:10) reinforce the idea that we are to have a special bond as fellow believers, even to the point of calling one another “brother” and “sister”.  

7. On a scale of 1-10, how easily do you let new people into your life? Why?  

8. What’s a step you can take toward having more fellowship with other believers?  

9. What was God’s purpose in promising Abraham many descendants? (See Genesis 12:3) What’s a step you can take to invite non-believers to rub elbows with believers in your life?  

Wrap up 

1. How did you see God at work in your life this week?  

2. What has God been teaching you in his Word?  

3. What’s something that you would like someone else to check in with you about this week?  

4. What kind of conversations are you having with non-Christians? 

5. Pray for one another.   

Christian Funeral of Harold Osgood

Psalm 46

Eternity ... awesome

Isaiah 65:17-25

17 “See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
    and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
    will be heard in it no more.

20 “Never again will there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred
    will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
    so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
    the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
    they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
    while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
    and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

Listening guide

What makes you glad?  

__________________, _________________________, _____________________ 

“I will create new heavens and a new earth.”  

______________ is a better, more wonderful _______.  

God gives _______________ we ask and we learn heaven is __________.  

“______ will be with _______.”  

Eternity is awesome.  

Discussion questions

Notes 

1. Depending on the number of people discussing, it may be easier to split into same gender groups.  

2. You will not have time to discuss all the questions. Discuss those that interest you. 

Getting talking 

1. Share a worry and a success from your life right now.  

2. What do you look forward to the most about eternal life?  

Getting into Isaiah 

1.  According to verse 17, what will God create after the end of the world?  

2. According to verse 17, once people enter into eternity what will people think about their life before the end? What does that mean in your own words?  

3. Many people ask, “Will I recognize my loved ones 

4. According to verse 18, what will God create Jerusalem to be? Do you feel that way about where you live now? What do you think about that?  

5. From verses 17-19 as well as the rest of your biblical knowledge, how would you summarize the place of our eternal life?  

6. In verse 20, is God saying that people in eternal life will die at some point?  

7. In verse 23, what will still be part of eternity? How does that make you feel?  

8. From verses 20-25 as well as the rest of your biblical knowledge, how would you summarize the people of eternal life?  

9. How does hope for a renewed creation and eternal life with the Lord matter to your life now?  

Prayer 

1. Pray for one another  

Wrap up 

1. How did you see God at work in your life this week?  

2. What has God been teaching you in his Word?  

3. What’s something that you would like someone else to check in with you about this week?  

4. What kind of conversations are you having with non-Christians? 

Welcome Home: You're free to be yourself

John 8:31-38

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.[a]”

Listening guide

“be you”  

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:32) 

Edna Foa – immersive exposure therapy  

1st idea: Only the ____________ can set you _________________. 

“Everyone who sins is a slave to sin ... and if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.” (Jn 8:34-35) 

2nd idea: The more our truth is __________ and his ___________ over sin, death, and the devil, the more we will know his ________________. 

“a son belongs to it forever” (verse 35)  

Bible = An aerial view of your life  

“Our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before,  

Since we have seen His beauty, are joined apart no more. 

To see the Law by Christ fulfilled, to hear His pardoning voice, 

Transforms a Slave into a Child, and Duty into Choice.”  (John Newton)

Discussion questions

None

Text

Not long after I came to Otsego, I had the chance to meet with the mayor. She gave me this advice about working and leading in this town. “be you”. “Don’t need to be trendy”, just “be you”.  

When were you last told “be yourself”? If you can, tell the person next to you. (Pause for 30 seconds)  

“be yourself” is probably the most common advice we give to students in high school and college. It means so much more to us than, “(My advice to you is to)  be true to yourself and everything will be fine.” (Ellen Degeneres, 2009)  One journalist urged her audience to “honor your character, your intellect, your inclinations, and, yes, your soul by listening to its clean clear voice instead of following muddied messages of a timid world.” (Anna Quindlen) That’s what “be yourself” means to many of us. 

And the Bible actually says some of the same. It’s just deeper, more nuanced. It’s richer. St Paul told the people in Colosse, “He is the one we proclaim … so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.” (Col. 1:29) You know what that means, don’t you? It means God wants you to grow up fully. He wants you to become who you are supposed to be. Another example is Philippians 3. Paul says, “I want to attain the resurrection of the dead.” Again that means, he wants to be the post-resurrection person he is supposed to be. God intends to make you into that person.  

God actually wants you to be yourself. What he wants is richer, more nuanced than what you and I actually mean. So he says today, hey, let me show you that you are free to be yourself. You’re free to be yourself. And he is going to tell us three things: what makes us free, getting free to be me, and staying free and becoming me 

What makes us free 

The main verse today is really popular, really well known. Jesus says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:32) Even if you aren’t a church going person, I bet you know this statement. “The truth will set you free”.  

This statement is widely accepted. Both religious and nonreligious people accept it, even though it challenges us. It means that we have to face some kind of deep, dark scary monster to be free. Let me give us just one example of it.  

There is a doctor out east named Edna Foa. A few years ago she was one of Time Magazines Top 100 people. She is a pretty well known person. And that is because she specializes in one kind of therapy. She calls it “immersive exposure therapy”. She works with women who have post traumatic stress disorder. What she does is actually pretty traumatic. She makes them live that traumatic experience again and again and again. She sits them down on her couch and makes them describe the experience in excruciating detail. The sights and the sounds and the smells. Over and over and over. She says that what happens, the process destimulates those events.  It is rough. But it’s undeniably clinically beneficial. She would say two things happen: 1. the women get a chance to confess it. They got to confess what they went through. Number 2. The path from sickness to wellness, that is from A to B inevitably involves obstacles. Most people want to avoid the obstacles. You have to confront those obstacles head on. You have to run through them. Only the truth can set you free.  

That's just one example. I would think to convince you, we’d probably need to do another 5. The basic point is just this. If you want to be free to be yourself, you have to have the truth. You can’t live in lies and falsehoods and be free. You have to face your monsters to be free. Only the truth can set you free.  

Getting free to be me 

That’s what makes us free. The truth. I would guess though that every one disagrees with me right now. Even if you’re saying, yes, that’s right, pastor, the truth sets you free. I still bet that if push came to shove every one of you would say, no pastor, the truth actually constrains me. I understand if you’re saying, how can the truth set me free? In my experience the truth constrains me. It controls me.  

From my perspective, the truth forces me to do things that I don’t want to do. It forces me to feel things I don’t want to feel. It doesn’t seem to set me free. 

I bet this example sounds familiar. I open my budgeting software. I see that my credit card payment went through. Does that make me feel free? (wait for an answer) Almost every morning I walk downstairs and an hour or two later 2 little kids walk downstairs (the other 2 are still sleeping). The first thing they say is, “Good morning. What’s for breakfast?” Does that make me feel free? Here is one more example.  

I’ve been playing piano since I was a child. I think I started taking lessons around 10 years old. I played for a few years because my mom really wanted to and it was okay. But its not cool for a teenage boy to take piano. So when I was 12 or 13 I started to resist playing lessons. I definitely felt conflicted about it. On the one hand, I wanted to play music. I wanted to excel at it. I wanted to make beautiful music that people would love and enjoy. And the truth or the reality was, I wasn’t amazing, but I was on the way. It was slowly happening. On the other hand, I wanted my peers to accept me. I wanted them to approve of me. The truth or reality was I had a deep need for my classmates to like and they would only like me if I was good at cool things, like basketball and baseball. And so I wanted to quit.  

You can sense how much conflict I was in. It was terrible. Awful. I remember when I was 14, I went to a few piano lessons at the beginning of the year. That was the deal. I told my mom I had decided to quit. She must have talked to dad and a few days later came back and said, Nathaniel, I’ll pay you if you take lessons for the year. I’ll pay for the lessons and pay you to take them. And if you next year you still want to quit, you can. 

I remember driving up to the piano teacher’s house that next lesson. I hadn’t fully made up my mind. I bet I could still find that house. I decided, ok, I’m going to take the lessons. I didn’t instantly feel free. I didn’t walk out of there lighter than air. But slowly, surely, I began to see value of piano. I got to play in high school. I started to play for churches. I learned to sing well because I could easily read music. And now, I fill in gaps at Peace when it works.  

I didn’t realize it then, but my mom did an incredible thing. 

Did you hear what she said? She was telling me, I see you are in captivity. I see that your desires create conflict in you. On top of that, the truth that you need a place to belong and you need people to accept and love you trap you. They enslave you. She also said, I will buy you free from your captivity. I will pay the price so you don't have to be trapped between your desires and your classmates.  

Jesus himself says, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin ... and if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.” (Jn 8:34-35)  

What he means is, I see that you are in captivity. I see that your desires create conflict in you. I see that you simultaneously desperately want to love people and want them to love you. I will buy you free from your captivity. I will enslave myself to human beings and your desires. I will let you rule over me. I’ll do that so when sin, death, and the devil nail me to the cross, they’ll lose all power over you. Those desires won’t be your truth. Instead I will become your truth. I will be your truth. And you will be set free.  

You and I will always have conflicting desires in us. But what is going to set us free is when there is someone outside of us, more beautiful, more wonderful, more excellent. When he is our truth instead of sin an death and the devil, then you and I are free. The more our truth is Jesus and his victory over sin, death, and the devil, the more we will know his freedom.  

Staying free and becoming me 

That’s not only how we get free. That’s how we stay free.  

What the gospel is, is this: Jesus is the only legitimate child of God. He is the only real child of God. But because of his great love for us, he came and gave his life so that you and I, who are illegitimate children of God, can become legitimate children of God. (“a son belongs to it forever” (verse 35) 

If you want to become you, you’ve got to constantly say, I don’t deserve to have God as a Father. I don’t deserve a thing. But because of Jesus Christ, I get to call God my Father and I get to live life in his house.  

That is going to be hard, incredibly hard for each one of us because it means we are going to have to confront the deep, dark monsters of our lives that keep us from actually calling God our Father. We’ve got to stop trying to go around all that hard stuff and we’ve got to go through it. As Jesus says in the beginning today, we’ve got to hold to the teaching.  

As an example, let’s imagine you are a person that just doesn’t happen to have a lot of hope in life. You don’t hope that God is watching over you, working for your good and taking care of you.  

So now imagine you’re going through life and it’s kind of like being on M89 and then m40 all the way from here to Holland. You inevitably get stuck behind a truck going ten miles under the speed limit and you have to stop at all the lights in Allegan. As the miles creep by, you start to lose hope that you are going to get there on time, that you are going to finish your errands, and that in general your day is going to go well.  

All you have is a linear view of the road. You can just see the truck and around the truck as you go around the curves. And as you sit there creeping along, you think I wish I had an aerial view of the road. I wish I had a helicopter up there that would show me what’s done the road. Because then I could see that there are no cars for miles and its totally safe to pass this truck even though I don’t have any idea what is coming next.  

You know what the Bible is? It is God with an aerial view of your life.  

The Bible is God saying to you, I know you don’t have much hope for your relationship with your coworker. But I want you to know that Jesus is on the other side of every conflict.  

The Bible is God saying to you, I know that you don’t have much hope about this direction of this world and life in general. But I want you to know that heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass way.  

The Bible is God saying to you, I know you don’t think you will ever succeed in life. But I want you to know that my ways are so much higher than your ways. And if I could take an insignificant Jewish man from an insignificant Jewish town who lived a mostly insignificant life and change the world, what can’t I do for you?  

It’s God saying, do this, don't do this. Here is how to treat people. Here is how to manage your money.  

It’s the aerial view of your life.  

If you can submit to that, just imagine how much freedom you and I would have to finally become ourselves. We would finally be free to be the right versions of ourselves. The people that God created us to be, Jesus redeemed us to be, and the Holy Spirit is changing you to be.  

I don’t think I can say it any better than John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace.  

“Our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before,  

Since we have seen His beauty, are joined apart no more. 

To see the Law by Christ fulfilled, to hear His pardoning voice, 

Transforms a Slave into a Child, and Duty into Choice.” 

Welcome Home: Ask for help with your heart.

Hebrews 2:9-18

9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 

10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.[g] 12 He says, 

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; 
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”[h] 

13 And again, 

“I will put my trust in him.”[i] 

And again he says, 

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”[j] 

14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them,[k] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. 

Listening guide

If every family is not really or actually a family, then not every group of believers is really a ___________ _____ _______________. 

Become a real family of believers.  

• How Jesus feels about us 

• How we feel toward each other 

• What we can say to make it happen  

Verse 11 “Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” 

Jesus wants to _____________ with you.  

Verse 14 “he shared in their humanity … to break the power of death … and free those … held in the fear of death.” 

We _____________ people into the group. 

Verse 18 “he[Jesus] is able to help those being tempted.” 

• You got to say here is what is going on in my life. What is God trying to tell me.  

• You gotta say, here is what I read in the word. What is God trying to say to me? 

Ask someone for help with your ________. That’s how you become more of a family. 

Sermon

 Some creatures can reproduce asexually – worms and such. Every human being has to be part of a family. Humans bare minimum have a mother and father. There is at least a family by blood.  

Similarly, Christians don’t reproduce all by themselves. Everyone has a spiritual father or mother or siblings. There is a spiritual family. That comes from a real physical connection. That comes from Word and Sacrament.  That’s just a fact.  

Some of you have lived in families that aren’t really families. Even though you are related by blood, the families have been broken. Abuse is probably the worst. Neglect. Absenteeism. If you describe your family life, you would say, we’re not really a family. I fully recognize that not every family actually is a family.  

Here is the push today.  

The same is true of a group of believers. Not every group of believers is genuine group of believers, a spiritual family.  

There can be spiritual abuse. Neglect. Absenteeism. We’re not really a family.  

You can’t expect family dynamics in a congregation. People will frequently say, “we’re a family of believers”. That’s true. What they mean is, we share a physical connection by baptism and the Word of God. We also share a nonphysical bond. Large group dynamics will never be the same as family dynamics. You can’t expect the same intimacy. You can’t expect the same transparency. If you do, you’re setting us all up for disappointment.  

Let's push on that. Not every group of believers is really a family. Immorality can hurt a group of people. Take the biblical example of Jacob who married both Leah and Rachel. 2 wives and 2 concubines made for a tough life. After Leah had her first kid she said, “Surely my husband will love me now.” Wow, that is a lot of pain. The poor woman. About money there is the reminder that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. These things easily hurt or damage the physical connection a group of believers has. Baptism and the Word start to mean different things when immorality and greed are commonplace in a group of people.  

Most of us, we can’t do a whole lot about the physical things that challenge a group of believers. You can’t do much about someone else’s moral choices. You can’t do much about someone’s financial choices. You can make a huge difference to a group of believers when you focus on the nonphysical connection.  

The writer to the Hebrews here today, he challenges us and he says, if you’re good at dealing with immorality or greed in a group of believers, what you’re really saying is all we have to do is protect the physical connection and we’ll be just fine. We’ll really be a family of believers. What he says is, you need to be good at dealing with the deeper, spiritual connection. That’s the way to be a real family of believers. That’s his invitation 

Let’s become more of a real family of believers. Let’s deal with this deeper spiritual connection and become more of a family. And he has this great progression for us that helps us become more of a family. First, how Jesus feels about us, then how we can feel toward one another, and lastly, what we can say both to him and each other. Those three things, how Jesus feels about, how we can feel toward each other and lastly, what we can say to make this happen.  

First, how Jesus feels about us. He says it pretty plainly. “Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” (Verse 11) Wow. Incredible, isn’t it? Jesus isn’t ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. 

One part of the Bible that everyone skips over quickly is the genealogies. Literally. I actually tell people when they start reading the Bible to skip the book of Numbers except for the first 10 chapters or so. It will kill your happiness. I’m sorry. Save that until you’ve read the Bible 5 times or so. Same with huge chunks of 1 Chronicles.  

But there is one genealogy you need to know something of. Here is the genealogy of Jesus.  

• Rahab  

• Solomon 

• Ruth  

• Tamar  

• David 

Do you know any of these names? Do you know these people?  

• Rahab – prostitute from Jericho 

• Solomon - polygamist son of David  

• Ruth – widow foreigner, eager to remarry 

• Tamar - incest 

• David – murder, adulterer 

These are the people Jesus is not ashamed of. These and many more. I know there are many times where I have either jokingly or seriously said, “Them? I don’t know them.” Jesus says, “they’re my brothers and sisters.”  

What’s he doing? He is identifying with us. If someone loses a key for the church, we might make them feel badly. Maybe badly enough that they don’t want to be around anymore. Jesus says, I gave up my key to heaven for you. Threw it down into hell. We might say something that makes someone feel badly about how they clean, so badly they don’t want to clean again. Jesus says, I came into the mess of life. I am okay with rolling around the muck of life with you.  

And by doing this, what he has done. He has shifted our attention from all the stuff we thought was hurting our physical connection. What hurts he says is shame. What helps you, he says, is me identifying with you.  

We think immorality, greed hurt our physical connections. They do. They cause problems without a doubt. We hurt our spiritual bond just as much when we’re ashamed of someone who cleaned the church.  

What he feels about us, what he feels about you, can totally change how you feel about yourself. It doesn’t matter how bad you think you are. Jesus wants to be with you. He wants to connect with you. He wants to identify with you. He feels so strongly for you. That’s how he feels for you.  

How should we feel for each other.  

In verse 14, the writer says, “he shared in their humanity … to break the power of death … and free those … held in the fear of death.”  

What he is saying, he is saying that people live in fear of death. You and I, we live in the fear of death.  

I think most of us would say, no I don’t. It’s been a while since I’ve thought of death and been afraid for myself. I do a lot of funerals. I often think of death. I realize my life is short. I’m afraid of the insignificance of my own life. But I’m not usually afraid of death.  

If I had to admit, I would say that I am afraid of the death of other people. I think about the loss of my parents and what it would be like without them. My family. Some of my friends.  

So you know what does dominate my thinking? The fear of the loss of connection. That’s shame. Shame is the fear of the loss of connection. This is incredibly corrosive to our lives.  

The German psychologist Sigmund Freud actually has a comment here that helps us. He points out that the fear of death dominates our consciousness. On the one hand, he said, we have a death wish – feelings of guilt, shame, not living up to what we ought to; on the other hand there is an enormous fear of death, it seems like the end of everything; the unknown. Our response is to repress the whole conflict. We hate to think about it.  

If you come home at the end of the day and someone says, And so instead of incorporating people into our lives by telling them what is going on, we leave people out. We experience guilt, shame, and judgment and fear death. We hate it all. We repress it. We push it down. We step by step separate ourselves from other people instead of letting them in.  

What Jesus does then is incorporation. I’m going to take away the fear of death and death itself and bring you in.  

Jesus defeats death. He puts death to death. And not only that he raises life to life.  

What he is giving you is a family where there is no shame and guilt. You’re forgiven really and truly, so there is no death wish. Plus there is no death itself. Life lives. So there is no fear of the loss of connection.  

Believers in Jesus will live forever. You can stop repressing and hiding all the stuff you’re thinking about. This is a good place to talk about it. There is no shame. Come be part of this family.  

His resurrection naturally brings people. It says all that fear that drives doesn’t need to anymore.  

We got to see a pretty unique example of all this in the last few weeks, but it took three people to pull it off which shows us just how special what Jesus does actually is. 

As a country we have experienced the trial of Amber Guyger who shot Botham Jean. That was pretty awful.  

What Amber is experiencing now is shame. She was afraid that she would lose her position as a police officer, as a family member, and as a part of society,  

Everyone noticed when Brandt Jean forgave Amber. He was giving his testimony. He said this. He said, “I forgive you, and I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you.” It was an incredibly powerful moment. Great compassion. People have praised him to no end for what he said.  

A few people noticed what his mom said. Allison Jean who lost her son, watched Brandt forgive Amber. She hugged her. She also said, “Forgiveness for us as Christians is a healing for us, but as my husband said, there are consequences. It does not mean that everything else we have suffered has to go unnoticed,”https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/october-web-only/botham-jean-forgiveness-amber-guyger.html  

She is right. The sorrow, the guilt it’s incredible.  

Who is paying those consequences? She is. Allison is. Amber is. Brandt is. And the country is. We’re all slowly taking away Amber’s shame. Brandt got to hug her. We take away the shame. 

What Jesus does, he is all three roles. Jesus is all the Jeans. Jesus has done what it took Brandt and Allison and Botham to do. Jesus made himself the sacrifice. He gets to incorporate you into a family where there is no fear of death because he died himself.  

The way we should feel about others is no shame. Incorporate them. Bring them in.  

We incorporate people into the group.  

What we can say 

So what do we say to make this all a reality.  

The last verse of our lesson says, “he[Jesus] is able to help those being tempted.” Verse 18 

Sometimes you get help you don’t want. It’s called unwelcome or unsolicited advice. How many of you are good at taking help that you didn’t ask for? (Show of hands)  

Most of the time help goes better if you as for it. It just does. 

If you want to be a family, a real family, you got to ask for help.  

You got to say here is what is going on in my life. What is God trying to tell me. You gotta say, here is what I read in the word. What is God trying to say to me?  

Here is what I want you to do this week along with all the other homework I give ya.  

Take one of those two questions and ask someone else.  

Ask someone for help with your heart. That’s how you become more of a family. You ask someone for help with your heart.  

Unbelievable value!

Genesis 12:1-8, Philemon 1, 10-21, and Luke 14:25-33

Discussion guide

Getting talking 

1. Share a high and low from your week.  

1. How do you feel about moving? Which place have you lived in that you liked the most?  

Into Genesis 12:1-8 

1. How many times did God call Abram?  

   1. Acts 7:2 

   2. Genesis 12:1 

2. In 12:1 God told Abram to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household. Describe what God is making Abram leave behind. 

3. “By leaving Ur and Haran, where moon worship was the dominant cult (the name Terah is related to the Hebrew for ‘moon’, Abram would be set free from the drag of the familial culture… and the ancestral tradition as far as these were idolatrous…” (Joyce Baldwin, Genesis 12-50, p. 29)  

4. The blessing of verses 2-3 is one of the most wonderful in the Bible. Explain some part of it. What’s your favorite line?  

5. What is something that God might be calling you to through his Word and his people? What will you have to leave behind to do it? What might you discover if you do it?  

6. How much risk or fear do you feel in following Jesus?  

7. According to verse 7, what does Abram do when he gets to the new land? What brings you the joy of worship?  

Prayer 

Dear Lord, we all must build some of our identity on the things around us: our family, our county, our nation, and our work. That easily leads us to confusion about what is truly good and God pleasing about us and what is false and of the devil. Thank you for calling us to leave behind everything that misleads us and giving us a new person set up by your promises and blessing. Give us this new identity in Jesus’ name, Amen.  

Wrap up 

1. How did you see God at work in your life this week?  

2. What has God been teaching you in his Word?  

3. What’s something that you would like someone else to check in with you about this week?  

4. What kind of conversations are you having with non-Christians? 

5. Pray for one another.   

Unbelievable mercy!

James 1:1-13

2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? 

8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “You shall not murder.”[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 

Listening guide

“believers …. must not show favoritism” (verse 1)  

 -- Not Aristotle, nepotism, and art criticism 

What’s better than fairness?  

Partiality breaks the law. 

“Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (verse 13) 

Fair is _____, but mercy is ________. 

 (Dissociation) 

Fair is fine, but mercy is more.  

Discussion questions

1. In this section of Scripture, James urges followers of Jesus that “mercy triumphs over judgment” (v 13). Christians have a pretty bad history of injustice or oppression. A small example would be the pastor who walks into the local coffee shop and expects free coffee. A more egregious recent example is Bill Hybels (Willow Creek Church) who sexually harassed ladies from his position. What examples of failures to show mercy have you seen from Christians, or perhaps perpetuated yourself?  

2. In your experience, what leads people, even Christians, to fail to show mercy?  

3. In verse 5, James says that “God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith”. One of the odd facts of history is that Christianity often gains a better hearing in poor countries. The countries where Christianity is currently growing the quickest are on the African continent into the middle and far East. What reasons can you think of for this?  

4. In verses 2-4, James offers the hypothetical example of giving special attention to a rich person. What is wrong with favoritism? That is, what law or laws does it break (see verse 4 and 7)?  

5. It may just be a chance occurrence, but right now two curious trends are happening at the same time in the United States. First, church membership and practice is declining. Secondly, inequality (the gap between the rich and the poor) appears to be increasing. Do you think there might be any connection between the two?  

6. Mercy is really hard to practice in our daily lives. What are some ways you and I can practice mercy? 

Sermon

James talks to us today about fairness and favoritism. He says “believers …. must not show favoritism.” (verse 1)  

We don’t realize how awesome, incredible that is.  

One of the greatest people in world history is Aristotle. - “In the first book of his “Politics,” written in the 300s B.C., Aristotle argues that some people are by nature (rather than circumstances) fit to be slaves: “For that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.”  (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/04/06/aristotle-father-of-scientific-racism/, accessed 09/19/2019) 

Woah, right? Crazy? He supports slavery basically on the basis of external appearance.  

That shows how awesome what James says is. We’ve gone far. We’ve gone from one of the greatest thinkers in the world saying, “Slavery is right based on birth” to “all people are created equal”.  

That’s not to say that Christians have always done the right thing or the best thing along the way. The word nepotism. The word nepotism is from an old Latin word meaning “nephew”. During the late medieval times, it was the practice of popes - not average Christians – but popes to put their nephews into prominent leadership positions. One of the worst, a pope actually made his 14 and 16 year old nephews cardinals – some of the most important leaders in the Catholic church. Nepotism means putting people into leadership positions because of relationships and not skills. It’s the exact opposite of fairness. 

Now that doesn’t mean fairness is perfect. Or that it is working out the best for us as a society or a culture right now.   

Let’s say I have these three pieces of art. Which is the best?  

If I asked you your preference, that’s no problem. But that’s not what I want to know. I want to know which is the best. We’ll all say, “woah, I’m no art expert.” and “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. The thing is, even art experts would say much of the same. In 2011 an art critic wrote a summary article on the art of the last 40 years. And he had to admit that intellectually, from a professional perspective, “there was no way to establish any aesthetic criteria – no one had the right to say that this art was good or this was bad.”  

What he is talking about is postmodernism and that’s a complicated thing. All we need to note is that yes, fair is good, but if you push the idea of fairness too far, you get stuck saying nothing is good or bad.  

I don’t think that is really the kind of world any of us want to live in. Are we really going to give up arguments that the Wolverines are better than the Spartans or that Dean’s ice cream is better than Plainwell (which it is by the way). Absolutely not!  

Really then what James has for us this morning is something better than fairness. Fairness is good, we need fairness he says, but that’s just the start. It’s not the end. Right now all the kids are saying, wait a second, are you saying that if grandma makes 12 cookies for 4 of us, there is a way to get more than 3 cookies? That would be fair. That would be equal. But I can get more?! And James is saying, yes, yes you can. There is a way to get more cookies that isn’t unfair.  

What is better than fairness?  

He starts this way. In verse 5 he puts it this way: “has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith (verse 5); I realize that saying, “God has chosen the poor” doesn’t mean God rejects the rich or hates the rich or kicks the rich out. He still says God has chosen the poor.  

This is hard. This is something that we need to wrestle with. Because we grow up thinking and feeling, hey, if I have a poor person and a rich person in front of me, I better treat them the same way. They get the same thing. Everything fair. Equal. Then we see what God actually does.  

Take a look at all the places where Christianity is growing most rapidly. Go home and look it up. The fact is that most of the people who become Christians are people of lower socioeconomic status. Today Christianity has grown 1,000 percent in the last 50 years or so in Latin America and Africa and Asia. Those are poorer places. That is where Christianity is growing.  

And what about your own experience? I can tell you that in my own personal experience, I’m way less likely to discuss Jesus’ sacrifice with someone who has a big house on Gun Lake or Gull Lake than I am with someone who has lost their job, their house, and calls the church looking for any kind of help.  

I realize some of you live on those lakes. And we’re friends. I’m your pastor. We love each other. If we don’t talk like that, we say it’s because we have different interests, different priorities, and different experiences. We don’t have anything in common. All that is true.  

The thing is, the good news of Jesus isn’t theoretical. It’s not a philosophy. It’s immensely practical. It’s God’s whole life.  

The poor, for the most part they are already seeing and feeling God’s message. They’re wrecked. They’re disasters. They know it. They live it every day. They can see that in so much that counts, not just house and car and job, but in character and love and morality and genuine goodness and self-worth and identity, just how broke they are. How hard it is.  

The only thing they have that gives them any confidence is the good news. Because of Jesus, they are richer, they are valued, they are worth something. They are priceless. They’re good. People around them don’t see it but they are good. That’s what the poor person experiences and feels all the time.  

 Does the hardworking and fairly successful person worth a couple of million dollars really want to hear, “you’re a wreck, you’re a disaster, you put on a good show but it’s all worthless”. Do they really want to hear that only in Jesus are they actually successful, worth something, and have great value?  

Look, I’m not trying to beat on you. I love you. I’m with you. I’m in the exact same boat. I may not be super wealthy, but I’ve never gone without food for more than, maybe 36 hours. I’ve been homeless a couple of times for a few weeks, always had a friend or parent to stay with.  

And then I see how important this is to God. He says in verse 9 that if I show favoritism, I break the law. I break the big law. I’m as bad as a murderer and an adulterer. There is no way that I’m as bad as a murderer because I’m playing favorites. That's what he says.  

God never says, “Let’s call it equal. I’ll give you a fair shot.” In verse 8, James doesn’t say “be fair to your neighbor”. He doesn’t say “treat your neighbor like an equal.” He says, “Love your neighbor.”  

What God says is, “let me put you on the winning team. Let me give you something that you don’t deserve.”  

A guy named Matt Chandler tells this story. He says that in college he played on a flag football team. For intermurals. They had a great team. They were actually really bad at football, but they were all good soccer players and so they could just run and run and run. They beat all the other teams until they had to play the rec league staff.  

They were on this great run. Should have had the game in the bag. But they were decimated. There was this one guy named Mitch Ables. Just one athlete. He says that at one point Mitch through a 30 yard pass to himself. No idea how it happened. Two guys man on, two guys in a zone, he still throws a pass to himself. There was nothing they could do to stop him. He has no memory of anyone else on that game. Mitch won it all. (https://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/sermons/judgment-mercy)  

What God does, he doesn’t need any good wide receivers or offensive lineman or anyone else on his team. He’ll take the poor, the weak, the worst and he’ll welcome them all. And in a very real way, he takes the worst of the worst and makes them all winners.  

That’s the cross. He dies for the worst. The sinners. The lost. The broken. And he says to all of them, you win. Now go make other people winners.  

In verse 13 he says it really plainly. “Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”  

 So we can just say this: Fair is fine, but mercy is more. Mercy is so much more.   

Action: Show mercy 

I need you all, no God wants you all to really take hold of this. Some of you are just baby Christians. You are just starting out. Enjoy this victory. You are a symbol of God’s victory. You give us so much hope. You’re awesome encouragement. Praise God mercy wins.  

For all of us, especially those of us who don’t see the win, don’t feel the win so much. Mercy starts with simple stuff. Don’t prefer certain people at church. I know we all have our friends. We have the people we like to talk to. We have people we like to hang out with. We need to say to ourselves, I’m not going to talk to the people I like to talk to. I'm going to walk over to that person there and deal with them. I'm not going to criticize or condemn. I’m just going to enjoy them.  

But I think the bigger deal we need to see goes like this.  

James says, “believers … must not show favoritism”. The word “favoritism” is literally a word that means “to receive someone’s face”.  

Have you ever done one of those stare at an image see a different image exercise? I’m sure most of us have. Here is one if you haven’t.  

If you stare at this image for 30 seconds or so, then stare at the wall or something else that is pretty flat, you will see the face of Jesus. And the longer the you stare at this image, the longer you will be able to see that face of Jesus on the wall.  

An Italian scientist named Caputto actually did this with people. He had 40 volunteers stare into each others eyes for 10 minutes.  

And what happened is that after 10 minutes, basically everybody said they started seeing things. Their partners face got distorted. They saw monster figures. They saw faces of relatives or their own face! It’s called dissociation. The human brain actually dissociates the image of the person you stared at for a long time.  

He has given you the only face that you can look at that will both make you feel loved and keep you from despising other people. If you look at the face of a poor person, you might feel pity, or maybe you feel sick to your stomach. But you would never look at the face of that person and feel loved.  

And if you look at the face of a friend, you might feel loved.  

The face of Jesus is the only face where you can feel mercy. It’s a face that is both broken and full of love.  

The most merciful, the most compassionate, the most considerate people don't spend their time looking for people to be nice to or worrying about how much money they have. They fill their eyes, their ears, and their hearts with the face of Jesus Christ. So that when they look everywhere else all they do is they see his face. 

And the more you see that, the more you stare in his face and see how beautiful he thinks you are, the more you will not just be fair. No, for you, mercy will be so much more.  

Let’s pray for that.  

Unbelievable strength!

Judges 7:1-8

7 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ 3 Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” 6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

Listening guide

“I’ll do it myself.”  

Gideon = least likely to succeed at Ophrah High 

We need _______________ for _____________. 

Strength often breeds ______________ and ______________. 

God makes ____________ those who give up their __________. 

Discussion questions

1. “I’ll do it myself.” When do you most often find yourself saying this? Is it a good plan?  

2. Skim Judges 6, 7, and 8. Summarize the story of Gideon.  

3. The external idolatry in Gideon’s life is pretty obvious. How would you describe the idolatry of his heart?  

4. Gideon must have been terrified to go to war with only 32,000 men against 135,000. I have to imagine his terror increased when he only had 300. When have you experienced something similar in your own life?  

5. It’s almost always easy to see in retrospect when we have relied on our own strength. How can we learn to see it in the moment and so avoid doing it?  

6. How is Gideon’s victory over the Midianites a picture of the gospel?  

7. How we can get God’s power in our weakness?  

8. Judges 8:28-35 What is the sad ending of Gideon’s story? How does that serve as a reminder for all of our lives?  

Open Hearts: When he gives everything, then we can give something.

Mark 12:38-44

38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Listening guide

“They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need” (Acts 2:45)  

“I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week.” J.D. Rockefeller  

Andrew McNair, “One of the mysteries in my wealth management practice is the glaring coincidence that a large majority of my wealthiest clients are some of the largest givers and tithers I have ever met.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2014/04/21/why-i-tithe-and-so-should-you/#24c998aa77a5 

Let’s get to giving:  

• What real giving is  

• what giving does  

• What real giving makes 

“41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.” 

Verse 43 “This poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.” 

2 couples  

Point: Some giving is actually _____________. 

Is money more to you than it should be?  

• Can you give large amounts of money away (whatever large might be for you)?   

• Are you scared that you might have less than you are accustomed to having?   

• If you see a person who is doing better than you, even though you might be a harder worker or a better person, does it get under your skin?   

Giving is giving away the __________ to control your own _________ 

Verse 44 ““she out of her poverty put in everything – her whole life.” 

Real giving is to go so far as to give away our _________ so others may __________.  

Charles Blondin 

If he gives away everything, then we will be able to give away something. 

Discussion questions

1. Roughly calculate the following amounts in your life right now. We won’t share these numbers with others. How do you feel about these choices?  

   1. income for the year 

   2. amount given away and where it was given 

   3. amount spent on possessions 

2. In Mark 12:41, contributions are placed into the temple treasury. The treasury would have been a locked room, like a vault. Most likely the offerings were placed into one of 13 chests around the temple. Each was shaped something like a trumpet. Some churches have the habit of passing the plate, others place offerings in a box around the sanctuary (like the temple). First, what do we learn from this about appropriate cultural adoption? Second, do you think it would be better to use boxes?  

3. The poor widow gave a quadrans, which was a Roman money denomination. The contrast between this event and the last (the master and his stewards) is incredible. This woman’s offering wasn’t worth 10 minutes of work (it would be like someone making minimum wage and throwing a buck in). In the other story, one slave gave 40 plus years of money to his master.  

   The research on Americans and generosity is mixed, but it seems like generally speaking, the wealthier a person is, the less they give. 

   1. In 2011, the top 20% income achievers gave about 1.3% of their income. The bottom 20% income achievers gave 3.2% of their income. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/why-the-rich-dont-give/309254/  

   2. "The research is also mixed on whether people with more money are more likely to give it away. While some studies suggest that wealthier people are more likely to donate money, other studies do not." https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wealthy-people-give-to-charity-for-different-reasons-than-the-rest-of-us/ 

   3. "Those who earned less in salary actually gave more to the poor. In fact, according to a recent study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, based on IRS data, those earning $25,000 or less donated an average of 16.6% of their adjusted gross income. By comparison, high-earning citizens gave only 4.6% of their incomes. The higher you go in income, the lower the percentage of your salary that you gave to charity. So if someone earned between $50,000 to $75,000, their giving only rose to a trickle of 5.7%." https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/oct/09/wealthy-give-less-back-society 

   What are some reasons behind this? Is this good, bad, or irrelevant?  

4. Mark 12: 43 Jesus says the woman put more into the treasury than all the others. Explain what he is saying.  

5. Do you see the woman’s gift as an act of love, of generosity, of worship, or of foolishness?  

6. What do you learn about true generosity from this passage? 

7. There is somewhat famous example from Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China.  

Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission, was called to a home to pray for a sick woman. He was chosen because, unlike other religious leaders of the day, he did not charge the family to pray for her.  

The woman was very poor. When Taylor saw her poverty, he clutched the coin in his pocket. It was the only money he had. He wished that there were two so he could give one to her. After all, he had only two meals left at home for himself.  

He knelt to pray for the woman, but found that he could not pray. God was asking him to give up his precious coin. He tried again to pray. How could he walk away with nothing to live on? Again he could not pray. Finally he gave her the coin, was released by God and felt great freedom and blessing as he prayed. 

Is your heart as moved as Taylor’s was?  

Open Hearts: We become trustworthy with resources when we see he trusts us.

Matthew 25:14-30

Listening guide

Which piece of advice are you most likely to follow?

1. Think happy

2. If you want to offer people something truly extraordinary, don’t ask your current customers.

3. Money is the answer for everything.

We tend to think: The more we have, the more trustworthy we become.

“5 bags of gold” not talents

Matthew 6: 22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, you whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness.”

Money makes you blind.

The more he had the less trustworthy he became.

Everyone still needs to trust something.

We become trustworthy when we see God’s trust in us.

Discussion questions

1.     Matthew 25:14 says the master gave the servants or slaves his possessions. What are you trying to do with the possessions you have now and what would you do if you had more?

2.     Do you know your net worth? Did you know your net worth 10 or 20 or 30 years ago? Are you living in such a way that even if you don’t increase your net worth, you can say you have increased your net kingdom worth?

3.     In Matthew 25:24-25, what mistakes and failures does the third man commit? (Hint: there are a few)

4.     According to Matthew 25:21, how does Jesus praise the servants? I’m confused. What does Jesus praise them for? What exactly is the standard for winning?

5.     Remember that parables about God’s kingdom always use things we know (bags of gold, making money) to tell us about God’s kingdom and his ways (which we don’t know). What is something surprising we learn in this parable about God’s kingdom?

6.     Capitalism says that we should increase our own assets and resources. Socialism says we should share our resources with others so that everyone has an equal amount, particularly by letting the government redistribute that wealth. How does this teaching from Jesus challenge both?

7.     In Matthew 25:29 Jesus teaches us that “whoever has will be given more”. He doesn’t say that whoever accomplishes a lot or whoever achieves a lot will be given more, but simply that whoever has will be given more. What do you have? How much more do you imagine God gives?

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

Open Hearts: Generous living begins with God first giving

Haggai 1:1-15

Haggai 1:1–15 (NIV)

A Call to Build the House of the Lord

1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua  son of Jozadak,  the high priest:

2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’ ”

3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”

5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.

Listening guide

Listening guide

Giving: the gardener and the nobleman

Which of these challenges to giving do you most often face?

• I give unwillingly or even begrudgingly.

• I give selfishly, almost manipulating. I give in order to get.

• I gave scarcely, focusing on my lack of resources instead of how much I have.

• Others?

The Bible describes the generous giver

• cheerful 2 Corinthians 9:7

• Honest, unmanipulative Matthew 6:3 “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

• Generous 1 Timothy 6:18 “Command … to be generous”

Scarcity often comes from the wrong priority.   

The challenge of giving: rocks in the container  

Verse 13 “I am with you.” 

Generous living begins with God first giving. 

Can you give to God first?  

Generous living begins with God first giving. 

Discussion questions

1. Introduction: What do you think are some of the biggest obstacles that hinder or prevent people from using their resources well? Both internal and external forces should be considered.  
    

2. Read Haggai 1:1-11. What is the situation the Israelites are going through?  
    

3. In Haggai 1:2, we hear that the people decided not to build the Lord’s house. What reasons do you think might have led the people to not build the Lord’s house?  
    

4. Around the world, thousands of Christians gather without a church building. Is this passage suggesting that it is wrong if we decide not to build or have a church building?  
    

5. According to Haggai 1:5-6 what should have alerted the Israelites to the fact that they had a problem? 
    

6. Are you seeing signs that we have a stewardship problem? What signs are you seeing?  
    

7. In Haggai 2:1-9, what does God promise the Israelites to spur them on in stewardship?  
    

8. It is easy to think of “stewardship” as being a discussion about money. Consider the following quote: “Stewardship isn't a subcategory of the Christian life. Stewardship is the Christian life. After all, what is stewardship except that God has entrusted to us life, time, talents, money, possessions, family, and his grace? In each case, he evaluates how we regard what he has entrusted to us—and what we do with it.” (Randy Alcon in Money, Possessions, and Eternity, p. 140) 

Deeper Connections: Watchfulness only works with acceptance

Romans 14:1-9

1Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the LORD is able to make them stand. 5One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6Whoever regards one day as special does so to the LORD. Whoever eats meat does so to the LORD, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the LORD and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8If we live, we live for the LORD; and if we die, we die for the LORD. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the LORD. 9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the LORD of both the dead and the living.

Listening guide

Last week: When connected Christians pay attention to his Word (watch his Word), we stay safe. 

John Koehler 

What goes with watching?  

14:2 “One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.” 

Watching well cannot keep us from ______________ ___________________ the gospel to our lives. 

14:3 “The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not [eat everything].” 

14:1 “Accept the weak” 

Shantung Compound  

“There was a quality seemingly unique to the missionary group, namely, naturally and without pretense to respond to a need which everyone else recognized only to turn aside. … If there were any evidences of the grace of God observable on the surface of our camp existence, they were to be found here.” (Langdon Gilkey, Shantung Compound, pg 192) 

People with the gospel don’t just ___________ the weak, they ____________ the weak. 

14:8-9 “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.” 

Watchfulness only works with _____________________. 

Discussion questions

Deeper Connections: When connected people watch his Word, we stay safe.

Matthew 7:15-29

Matthew 7:15–29 (NIV)

True and False Prophets

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

True and False Disciples

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The Wise and Foolish Builders

7:24–27pp—Lk 6:47–49

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Listening guide

“Nathaniel, the towel is on fire.” 

Lot 

“Watch out for false prophets.”  

Separatism =  

Christians don’t stay safe by ___________ from everyone. 

Arius and Socinus 

Unionism =  

Christians don’t stay safe by __________ with everyone. 

Test 
You have only three minutes to answer these questions. 
 
1. Read everything before doing anything. 
2. Put your name on the upper right hand corner of this paper. 
3. Circle the word "name" in sentence two. 
4. Draw five small squares in the upper left-hand corner of this paper. 
5. Put an "x" In each square. 
6. Put a circle around each square. 
7. Sign your name under the title. 
8. After the title write "yes, yes, yes". 
9. Put a circle around each word In sentence no. 7. 
10. Put an "x" in the lower left hand corner of this paper. 
11. Draw a triangle around the "x" you just put down. 
12. On the reverse side of this paper multiply 703 by 9805. 
13. Draw a rectangle around the word "paper" in sentence number 4. 
14. Call out your first name when you get to this point in your paper. 
15. If you think you have followed directions up to this point in the test, call out "I have". 
16. On the reverse side of the paper add 8950 and 9850. 
17. Put a circle around your answer. 
18. Count out loud in normal speaking voice backwards from ten to one. 
19. Now that you have finished reading, do only steps one and two. 

What we _________ ________________ ______, we _________________. 

Discussion questions

1. Here’s an interesting historical development reported by the NY Times. “Just one senator voted against the Patriot Act, calling it a violation of civil liberties when it passed in the frightening, angry days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly 14 years later, 77 senators voted to advance a bill ratcheting back its expansive scope.” Which do you value more: security or freedom?  

   The Christian church has concerns about both freedom and security. This lessons helps us think through those concerns.  

2. What reasons are there to be concerned about the safety or security of Christians?  

   1. See Matthew 7:15-18 

   2. Romans 16:17-19 “17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. 19 Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”  

   3. 2 John 7-11 “7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we[a] have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.”  

3. How do we recognize false teachers? False disciples?  

4. One thing the Bible teaches us is that some people are weak and need encouragement to mature whereas others are false. How can we differentiate between the two?  

5. Romans 15:1-2 “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.”  

6. Hebrews 5:12-14 “12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”  

7. When would you know that you should leave a teacher or group of Christians?    

8. Have you ever felt compelled to leave a group of Christians or a Christian teacher? Can you explain why?  

Deeper Connections: Satisfied Christians build stronger connections

1 Corinthians 11:17-22, 27-34

1 Corinthians 11:17-22 17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20So then, when you come together, it is not the LORD's Supper you eat, 21for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!

1 Corinthians 11:27-34 27So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the LORD in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the LORD. 28Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the LORD, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world. 33So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. 34Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.

Deeper Connections: Christians connect deeper

1 John 1:5-10

5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Listening guide

We become most like the people who ___________ ___________________ ________ ____.

Christians need to be good at _______________.

Fellowship means Jesus ___________ himself with us. 

Christians connect _____________.   

Discussion questions

1. What are the biggest things that hinder you from sharing with someone else, or other people from sharing with you?  

2. Verse 9 – what does it mean to “confess our sins”?  

3. Verse 9 – John says that if we confess our sins, God will share something with us. He will share forgiveness and purify us. In your own words, explain how confession leads to fellowship with God.  

4. Verse 9 and 10 – according to these verses, what keeps us from God?  

5. What does these verses suggest will be the single biggest thing to strengthen our fellowship?  

6. What do you think hinders fellowship in a congregation? Are they the same things that hinder you from sharing with someone else?  

7. Share a time when you confessed and you found greater fellowship. Can you imagine if that would happen around here?  

Faith makes amazing people

Luke 7:1-10

When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Gospel for life: Work

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Listening guide

When is the last time you took a whole day off? Here is how I’m defining a day off:  

1. Stop all paid and unpaid work  

1. Rest by engaging in activities that restore and replenish us.   

1. Delight in God’s creation and all the gifts he offers us in it.   

1. Contemplate and ponder the love of God  (Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality)  

Dorothy Sayers “Why Work”  

If we want rest, we need to work well 

Work is an expression of __________. 

Good work comes from _______ ________. 

God has ____________ so _________ for you in Jesus Christ   

God has worked so hard for you in Jesus Christ, so get some rest.   

Discussion questions

1. Everyone has certain events and stories that reflect their perspective on work. Share some of the events of your life that describe your perspective on work.  

2. In Genes 1:26 and following, God’s creation account shifts into the majestic first-person plural, “Let us make...”. Adam and Eve are immediately put to work. List the jobs that God mentions.  

3. According to the following passages, what are some descriptions God uses for our activity in eternity:  

   1. Isaiah 60:4-10 

   2. Matthew 25:23 

   3. John 5:17 

   4. 2 Timothy 2:12 

   5. Revelation 2:26-27 

   6. Revelation 21:24-25  

   7. Revelation 22:3  

4. In 1 Thessalonians 4:9, Paul says, “about your love for one another” and then goes on to talk about our daily lives. One commentator describes the concern in this way, “It was rather common for Greek men to leave the manual labor to their wives and slaves. This left the men to spend their days in the marketplace. There they would gather to discuss political and economic issues, and (all too often) to indulge in idle gossip. Thus they often became busybodies in other people’s affairs.” What is Paul teaching us by connecting our love to our daily lives and work?  

5. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 Agree/Disagree Love for one another is the most important fruit of our faith.  

6. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus famously tells us not to store up treasures on earth, but to work for and store up treasures in heaven. What are some good ways you have seen people work to store up treasures in heaven?  

7. The most important phrase in that section is Matthew 6:21, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. We might expect it to say, where our heart is, that is our treasure. But Jesus teaches us that our hearts follow what we treasure. How does Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection change what you treasure?  

8. A little cliché has become popular: “Don’t “rest from work”, “work from rest”.” What might people who say this be trying to communicate?  

9. One way to ensure that we work well is to celebrate, reflect on, and give thanks for all the good things God has given us through our work and the work of others. This is part of what we don on the Sabbath. In an article called “Bring Back the Sabbath” in the New York Times Magazine we read,  

“There is ample evidence that our relationship to work is out of whack. Let me argue on behalf of an institution that has kept workaholism in reasonable check for thousands of years. Most people believe that all you have to do to stop working is not work. The inventors of the Sabbath understood that it was a much more complicated undertaking. You cannot downshift casually and easily. This is why the Puritan and Jewish Sabbaths were so exactingly intentional. The rules did not exist to torture the faithful. Interrupting the ceaseless round of striving requires a surprisingly strenuous act of the will, one that has to be bolstered by habit as well as by social sanction.”  

This quote explains that scheduled rest will not work without a great deal of intentionality and discipline. Brainstorm the kind of practical habits and useful practices that can help us observe Sabbath.  

Gospel for life: Eternity

Isaiah 60:15-22

15 “Although you have been forsaken and hated,
    with no one traveling through,
I will make you the everlasting pride
    and the joy of all generations.
16 You will drink the milk of nations
    and be nursed at royal breasts.
Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior,
    your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
    and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze,
    and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor
    and well-being your ruler.
18 No longer will violence be heard in your land,
    nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
    and your gates Praise.
19 The sun will no more be your light by day,
    nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun will never set again,
    and your moon will wane no more;
the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your days of sorrow will end.
21 Then all your people will be righteous
    and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted,
    the work of my hands,
    for the display of my splendor.
22 The least of you will become a thousand,
    the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the Lord;
    in its time I will do this swiftly.”

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Listening guide

Time to move!  

For sale: The city of God, the new Jerusalem 

Price: Buy without money 

60:11 Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations— their kings led in triumphal procession.” 

God has brought the good of all creation into eternity.  

____________________________________________________ home and city for sale.  

60:18 “No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.” 

People themselves have been healed and the relationships they have with one another have been restored.  

___________________________________________ neighbors and community.  

60:19-20 ““The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.”  

The entire city is filled with the glory of God. 

______________________________________________  

Your heart and a home here won’t fit together. 

When you let God make his home with you, then you will be home. 

Let God’s heart give you a home.  

Discussion questions

1. Sociologists point out that there are basically 5 attitudes religious and believing people have toward the cities and people groups around us. These attitudes are not 5 neat or separate groups, but still generally reflect categories. Which one of the following do you most hold to?  

   1. #1 Assimilating the city – Christians give in and adopt the culture’s values and worldview. The goal is to blend in and lose any distinct identity. The time of the Judges offer many examples.  

   2. #2 Reflecting the city - Christians keep some aspects of Christian faith and practice, but they adopt the more fundamental values and worldviews of the dominant culture. Faith is for Sunday services and does not shape the way they live, their lifestyle is fundamentally no different. Micah and his mother in Judges 17 & 18 is an example.  

   3. #3 Despising the city – Christians respond to the culture with hostility. They feel polluted by the unbelieving arts, culture, and education. They may either disengage from civic life and denounce the decay, or they may attack and try to gain power to change the culture. The Pharisees and Zealots tried this approach.  

   4. #4 Ignoring the city – Christians focus almost entirely on building up the church and their own numbers. They believe God performs miracles, but forget God works through people. Hananiah in Jeremiah 28 is an example.  

   5. #5 Loving the city – Christians simultaneously accept and challenge the city. They operate out of a very different view of money, relationships, human life, sex, and power even when they engage in the same actions as the people around them. Jeremiah 29 and Acts 4 are examples of this.   

2. What will heaven be like according to Isaiah’s description in verses 17-21? How does this compare with the description in Revelation 21:1-4, 22-27?  

3. According to Isaiah 60:9-16, how will God’s people know that the Lord is their Savior and Redeemer?  

4. How can the knowledge that there will be no violence or destruction in the future kingdom help us, and those we come into contact with, to cope with the violence and destruction we experience around us?  

5. Richard Mouw writes, “My own hunch is that God has provided us with a rich storehouse of diverse images of the afterlife, all of them hints in the direction of something that is beyond our present comprehension, so that we can be free to draw on one or another of theme as a particular situation in our life may require.” Try this exercise. Each person in the room should share some situation they are currently experiencing in life. Then everyone else can try to apply a theme or image of eternity to encourage or direct that person.  

6. What attitude have you adopted toward eternity? Share it with someone.  

Gospel for life: Witness

Acts 7:54-60

54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”  

57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.  

59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. 

Listening guide

Fearful <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> Confidence 

Let’s become wonderful witnesses. 

“Verses 54-56. 54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, (Sanhedrin = ruling religious leaders of the day) they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 

Everyone cares about what someone thinks about them. 

When you look around, your witness will fall down. 

V55 “Stephen looked... and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God”. 

See Jesus standing for you and I can promise you you will become a more courageous witness. 

“59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.” 

When Jesus shares himself with you, you will be filled with wonder. 

You’ll be a wonderful witness.  

Follow up questions

1. “There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people... Religion, Politics, and The Great Pumpkin.” (Charles Schultz) Despite the fact that some people think the Internet is changing that maxim, the chart below shows large percentages of American Christians believe it is wrong to share the gospel with someone else.  In your experience, what do you think are the reasons for that?  

2. Isaiah 55:1 gives us one way to express the witnessing message. List some characteristics of that message and describe them.  

3. Acts 7:56-58 Why do you think the religious leaders were furious when Stephen said, “I see heaven open”? What does this tell us about our witnessing? While we can’t control how other people respond/react to us, what could we do to help everyone have healthy conversations about these important matters?  

4. Isaiah 55:17 tells us what is often the most detrimental to our witness: our “sinful greed” and “willful ways”. Are there any instances of sinful greed or willful ways that have hurt our witness that you would like to point out so we can confess our sin?  

5. Isaiah 55:5 tells us that witness work is summoning nations we do not know. Most people would think of witness work in a foreign land. How can witness work in our own neighborhoods and cities often feel like summoning nations we do not know?  

6. I found this quote from Frank Retief, a pastor, and have heard similar sentiment from WELS pastors and missionaries: “People without Christ go to hell – if you believe that you’ve got to take risks, take a chance, and be prepared to fail.” What do you think of that statement? Do you agree?  

7. Peter Wagner, a leading missiologist, writes, “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven.” What are some reasons that starting new churches is the most effective way to reach people?  

8. What are some of the greatest obstacles for you to witness to others? How can I/we help?  

9. A little acronym I have found helpful for witnessing is BLESS.  

B = Begin with prayer.  

L = Listen with care 

E = Eat together 

S = Serve with love 

S = Share your story  

1. One or two people that God might be calling me to pray for would be __________________ and __________________. 

Gospel for life: Community

Acts 2:41-47

41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke breadin their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Listening guide 

Gospel for life:  

• Jesus fights the _______ and we live with __________ __________. 

• We exchange our _________ for the stuff with _____________ in God, then the stuff has less power over us. 

God invites you to be his __________.  

That new _________ is incredibly _________.    

Verse 44 = They were __________. They’ve become together. 

Devoted people make for a lively community.   

Follow up questions 

1. In your experience, how do people naturally relate to one another? Well, not so well?  

2. Have you experienced a strong, healthy, vibrant community? What do you think made it so good and strong?  

3. What practices does Dr Luke list in Acts 2 that make for a good, strong, healthy Christian community? Explain each.  

4. What other practices, not listed in this section of Scripture, are also important or even necessary to make a strong, healthy Christian community? What practices might not be good or helpful or useful, perhaps even hurting the body?  

   1. Affirming one another’s strengths, abilities, and gifts 

   2. Affirming one another’s equal importance in Christ 

   3. Affirming one another through visible affection  

   4. Sharing one another’s space, goods, and time 

   5. Sharing one another’s needs and problems 

   6. Sharing one another’s beliefs, thinking, and spirituality 

   7. Serving one another through accountability  

   8. Serving one another through forgiveness and reconciliation  

   9. Serving one another’s interests rather than our own  

   10. Some unhelpful or unhealthy practices would be........ 

5. What are some practical ways we can put these practices into this group or another group to strengthen our community?  

   1. Romans 12 offers a good list of ways to love even people we do not naturally like. Which of them tends to be a weakness for you? Which tends to be a strength? Is there a time or place where you strength could help others?  

   2. Love honestly, speaking out against what is wrong v.9 

   3. Love even unattractive people, because they are your brothers and sisters v.10 

   4. Love by making others feel honored and valuable v.10 

   5. Love by being generous in practical ways with your home, money, and time v.13  

   6. Love without bitterness. Don’t “pay others back,” or hold resentment against others. V.14  

   7. Love with empathy. Be willing to be emotionally involved with others. V.15 

   8. Love with humility. Be willing to associate with people who differ from you. V.16  

6. How do you react to this quote from Don Carson? If it is true, what does it say about the power of the gospel? “Ideally, however, the church itself is not made up of natural “friends.” It is made up of natural enemies. What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything of the sort. Christians come together, not because they form a natural collocation, but because they have been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him a common allegiance. In the light of this common allegiance, in light of the fact that they have all been loved by Jesus himself, they commit themselves to doing what he says – and he commands them to love one another. In this light, they are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake.” (Love in Hard Places)