Home Group Notes Eph.2:11-22

Paul’s vision of the gospel and its work is global.  He is gripped by a vision of a truly international Church that has been reconciled and united to God and to one another through the Cross of Christ (a foretaste and foreshadowing of Eph.1:10). 

But it is important to notice the order in which things happen.  We might think that we are reconciled to God in Christ first, and then on that basis we are reconciled to each other across racial and cultural boundaries.  But in fact, the order is the way round.  We are reconciled to each other first, and then together ‘in one body’ we are reconciled to God through the cross (2:16).  The mechanics of the Cross mean that we cannot be reconciled to God without being reconciled to each other.  The two are inevitably intertwined. 

This is God’s vision of Church, a gloriously international phenomenon in the light of which all secular visions of multi-culturalism, failing as they are, pales into insignificance.  Again we find the Church answering the highest aspirations of our society.   Only in Christ is such a vision achievable.  Indeed, in Christ it is inevitable.

There is only one way to the Father, and it is together, through the cross, and by the Spirit (2:13 & 18).  And we must come this route whatever tribe, tongue, language or people we are from.   But even such a miracle as this is not an end in itself.  It is a thing of incredible beauty, but the goal is not merely for us to become fellow-citizens, or even members of His household.  It is that in Christ, we together become a ‘holy Temple’, a ‘dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit’.  We are caught up together into the life and the mutual indwelling of the Living God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  As I often say, this vision of God who has community built into His very being is the basis on which we can be brought together in unity without being pressed into uniformity, and in which we can celebrate our diversity without that leading to division.

Questions:

What do you make of Paul’s description of Gentiles before they are brought near by the blood of Christ (2:12-13)? 

What is ‘circumcision’ all about, and why is Paul making a big deal of it here (2:11)?  And what is the problem when it is only done by human hands?  What does ‘circumcision of the heart’ look like (Deut.30:6; Jer.4:4; Rom.2:29)? 

In what sense has Christ set aside the Law (2:15)?  And in what sense is He not setting it aside (so Matt.5:17)?

Would you have said that His purpose in going to the cross was to create ‘one new humanity out of the two’ (2:15)?  What do you think Paul means by this?  How can we contribute to this, or experience this more fully at MIE?

How does Christ come and preach peace (2:17)? 

What does it mean to you that you are ‘fellow citizens with God’s people and members of His household’ (2:19)?  How do these images shape your thinking about being a Christian, and being a member of a Church?

How do ‘the apostles and prophets’ function as a foundation for the Church (2:20)?  And how does Jesus function as ‘the chief cornerstone’?

How do we experience the Lord’s building us together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit (2:22)?  What is that like at MIE?  What can we point to that suggests we are a ‘holy Temple’, or that God is present by His Spirit?

Home Group Notes Eph.1:3-14

Anyone who reads St. Paul’s epistles knows he had a rare gift for crowding a huge number of thoughts into a remarkably few number of words.  Perhaps this is nowhere more evident than in this opening chapter of the Book of Ephesians.  Paul grapples with limits of human language as he seeks to convey the immensity of God’s work in, and purposes for us, and indeed in all creation.  It’s important that we recognize that Paul’s teaching is rooted in and leads to worship (Eph.1:3 & 6).  Things go awry quickly when we don’t see the connection between doctrine and devotion.

It's such an important passage in the midst of a series such as the one we are doing in the run up to Easter.  We have been reflecting on different dynamics in God’s work at the cross, this creation-defining moment when the Son offers Himself unblemished, by the Spirit, to the Father (Heb.9:14).  We have a fatal propensity to reduce everything – even something as vast as the death of Christ – to the confines and limits of our own experience of life.  What does this mean for me?  … or perhaps what does it mean for my Church?  Paul won’t let us be so minimalistic.  It isn’t that the Cross has nothing to say to our personal experience.  Rather, the problem is that if we confine our thinking, worship and vision to that we end up with a truncated and disfigured idea of what is going on.  And that will hinder our whole discipleship project.  We end up seeing things like ‘adoption’ (Eph.1:5), ‘forgiveness’ (Eph.1:7), and ‘redemption’ (Eph.1:7) as ends in themselves.  We even end up thinking that ‘grace’ itself finds its terminus in me.

Paul refuses to let us be so parochial.  He puts the Cross, the shedding of Christ’s blood, in the context of God’s purposes for the whole of creation.  Purposes that stretch back before its beginning and that will continue into the everlasting ages of its renewal.  Purposes that cannot be derailed or disrupted.  When we become Christians, we don’t invite the Living God in our lives and plans, as if we fit Him into what we already have going on.  We are invited and included in His life and His plans and purposes for all of creation.  And grasping that give us a very different perspective on what is happening when we are ‘included in Christ’ (Eph.1:13), and what inevitably follows. 

Questions:

How does words like ‘chosen’ (1:4 & 11) and ‘predestined’ (1:5 & 11) make you feel as a Christian?  Do they connect with worship (1:3 & 6), and your sense of God’s love (1:5) in the way we see in Paul, or does it cause you anxiety and concern? 

What is the Father’s purpose in choosing us from before the creation of the world (1:4)?  What do you think Paul envisages in that?  How is it reflected in your own life as a Christian, and in your involvement in MIE?

How many ‘spiritual blessings in Christ’ (1:3) can you identify in this passage?  How would you explain them to someone who wasn’t a Christian?

What is God’s will and purpose for creation?  How should that shape the way we engage with Church life? 

How are people included in God’s purposes for creation?  How does that affect our idea about what it means to be a Christian… or to be part of a Church?

How does the Cross fit into those purposes?

Why is the Holy Spirit described as ‘a seal’ (1:13), and a deposit (1:14)?  How does that shape our expectations of our experiencing His presence?  What would someone be like if they really understood these elements of the Spirit’s ministry amongst His people?

What is ‘our inheritance’ (1:14) that the Spirit guarantees?  Why does Paul talk about those who will inherit as ‘those who are God’s possession’ (1:14)?  How do you feel about that?

Home Group Notes I Cor.10:14-17

What happens when we take Communion together?  It’s a moment that remains one of the most profound moments in Christian worship.  Precisely because it is so profound, it is at the same time fraught with danger and potent with blessing.  The 39 Articles of the Church of England pick up this exact passage (I Cor.10:16) when they teach us: ‘The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the mutual love that Christians ought to have among themselves.  Rather it is a sacrament of our redemption through Christ’s death.  To those who rightly, worthily and with faith receive it, the bread that we break is a partaking of the body of Christ, and similarly the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ’ (Art.28).  Article 29 by contrast warns that ‘those who lack a living faith … are in no way partakers of Christ.  Rather, by eating and drinking the sign or sacrament of so great a thing, they bring condemnation on themselves’. 

The significance of taking Communion is so dramatic because in this act of worship, the Spirit is deeply present joining us in the death of Christ, such that we ‘participate’ in His body and blood.  Put another way, the bread and wine – by the working of the Holy Spirit – convey to us the reality of what they symbolize.

But it isn’t just that through Communion the Spirit binds us to Christ.  He binds us to each other.   Communion is never an individual thing.  As we’ll see in the ‘Hour before the Cross’ on Good Friday, our relationship to each other is in focus every bit as much as our relationship with Christ.  ‘We who are many are one body, for we all share the one loaf’ (I Cor.10:17).  We do not come to the Cross alone. 

The fact that this is Spiritual doesn’t make it any less real.  Paul shifts seamlessly into warnings about demonic involvement (10:18-22), and later to weakness, illness and even death resulting from abusing the Lord’s Supper (11:30-31).  Christian spirituality is physical, and it refuses to be confined to one isolated arena of our experience.

Questions:

Do you think Christ by His Spirit is present at Communion in a way that He isn’t at any other time?  …or perhaps: that you are present by the Spirit with Christ at Communion in a way that you aren’t at any other time?

When have you experienced Christ’s presence in Communion in a unique way?

What does Art.28 mean when it warns us to receive the Bread and Wine ‘rightly, worthily and with faith’?  How can we be sure we are receiving Communion in such a manner?

Do you think people would still be in danger – spiritually or physically – if they took Communion inappropriately? 

Paul’s language throughout I Corinthians reveals a multi-facetted understanding of Communion and the relationship of the Bread and Wine to Cross and to the Church.   

In what sense are we proclaiming (I Cor.11:26) the Lord’s death when we repeat this meal?  In what sense are we ‘remembering (I Cor.11:24-25) His death?  Why is it important that we do these?

Does Paul suggest something more than proclaiming and remembrance is going on in I Cor.10:16?  What does he mean by ‘participating’?

What is the connection between taking Communion and the unity of the Church as the Body of Christ?   

Is there a time when you should refrain from taking communion?  …or when someone shouldn’t be allowed to take communion?

Given Paul’s connecting Communion with unity, are there any conditions under which we should refuse to take communion with someone?  

How would it affect you / the Church if you took Communion whilst not in communion with others in the Church?

Home Group Notes I Cor.1:18-31

Sometimes a passage is difficult because it contains a lot of ideas in a small space, or because of the intensity of the logic.  Sometimes they are difficult because they prove so incisive and challenging that we kind of sub-consciously protect ourselves against what they are saying: we won’t let ourselves understand what is being said because the consequences are more than we can deal with.

If my own experience is anything to go by, we’re dealing with the latter scenario as we turn to I Cor.1:18-30.  We are so susceptible to the same temptation, to making the same mistakes, as Corinth.  We have a (well-intentioned) desire for the Church to be influential in the world.  We often want the Church to have a kind of cultural credibility, financial clout, or political influence.  Or if we are a bit more subtle, we long to see a more overtly ‘spiritual’ power.  We want people to think the Church is relevant and accessible (in a bygone generation we might even have said ‘cool’).  We want people to be impressed.  We want to be seen as rational and educated and sophisticated.  For the good of the Gospel, of course.

We are, in other words, very Corinthian. 

And Paul has little patience with such spiritual posturing.  We cannot preach the Gospel using methods that critically undermine that Gospel.  And a community brought into being by the cross must not reject being shaped by that cross.   The end does not ever justify the means when it comes to the economy of God. 

Paul is challenging that whole way of thinking…  and is calling us back to a humble dependence on the Holy Spirit and the Gospel of Christ…  that affects how we present ourselves and how we are perceived.  Paul categorically rejected everything that his culture would have considered essential to getting a message across effectively.  He consciously rejected the wise and persuasive, and relied instead on a ‘demonstration of the Spirit’s power’ (2:4).  It is when we have lost the Spirit’s power that we rely on production values, marketing techniques and cultural credibility.   Which is ironic, because often Churches that shape themselves in these ways are most vocal about their experience of the Spirit’s power!

Read I Cor.1:18-31

Where do we see the Church today aspiring to use the ‘power’ and ‘wisdom’ of the world in its evangelism and worship?   Why is this so compelling to Christians?

Is it legitimate for a Church to do this, or is it sinful? 

What would you say to someone who decided they were going to start going to a Church that was embracing such techniques?

Do you think Paul is unduly pessimistic about humanity’s pursuit for knowledge of God?  What about those who are sincerely seeking God?

Why has God made truth so obscure and elusive?  Why is our ‘boasting in the Lord’ so important?

Do you think God is deliberately frustrating humanity in their search for truth?  Can you show why you think what you do from this passage?  If you think the answer is ‘Yes’, why would God do that? 

If ‘demanding signs’ is a bad thing, what do you make of the idea that people would become Christians if they saw more miraculous signs?

If ‘wisdom’ is a bad thing, do you think we should work hard at explaining what we believe and why we believe it?  What does Paul have in mind when he talks about wisdom?  What might be a contemporary equivalent?

Why do you think Paul is so derogatory about the Church (v.26-27)?

How does this passage affect our approach to evangelism? 

(When you have answered this question, read I Cor.2:1-5.  Does that change your answer in any way?)

What would a Church be like that followed Paul’s teaching and example?  Where do you think we have this right at MIE?  …and where do we have it wrong?

Home Group Notes Rom.5:12-21

Individualism is rampant in our culture, but thinking of ourselves as individuals makes it particularly difficult for us to grasp the Bible’s teaching on our relationship with Adam, or what has become known over the years as ‘original sin’.  Nevertheless, as we focus on the different ways that Christ’s death deals with different aspects of our sin and fallenness, we must negotiate this key area of the Bible’s teaching. 

It has been said that all of Christian belief is governed by the fall of Adam and the raising of Christ.  Certainly all of humanity is governed by its relationship with these two men.  In the Bible, we are not just ‘involved in mankind’, or somehow vaguely connected to each other (Acts 17:26).  Rather, we deeply integrated into one or other humanity that is in turn indelibly connected to one of these two Representative Humans.  We are in Adam or in Christ, and everything about us is determined by who we are united with, and the ‘one act’ of sin or righteousness supremely associated with them.

Adam’s original sin is not like any other sin - even any of Adam’s own other sins.  In the case of Adam a sinful state followed a sinful deed; in our case, the sinful state gives rise to sinful deeds.  Secondly, in the wisdom of God, this first sin introduces sin to creation, welcomes death; it changes the rules of the game, and the structure of creation.  Nothing is the same after this cataclysmic moment of dislocation from God.  It is the originating sin, which plunges the entire subsequent experience of creation into guilt, pollution, shame, and curse. 

But likewise, Christ’s one righteous act (Rom.5:18) has cosmic ramifications for those who are identified with Him.  This gift of grace and righteousness results in ‘many being made righteousness’.   It also is not like any other act of righteousness.  Our righteousness doesn’t result in the justification of ourselves, let alone anyone else.  No other act of righteousness by anyone else will many be made righteous.  Christ’s supreme act of obedience to His Father (the definition of righteousness) is utterly unique.  It is a righteousness that infects and affects all who look to Him as ‘Head’

Questions

Do you think it is just / fair for God to relate to us on the basis of someone else’s decisions and behaviour?  Does the idea Original sin confuse the Gospel for you, or make it clearer?  Does it help in our evangelism, or make it harder?

Do you think it is still possible for people with a corrupted humanity - and who have not become Christians - to do what is good and right before God? Why / why not?

Are we responsible for the sins of our parents?  Should we apologise or repent for sins committed by our nation, or our family, or the Church in the past?

How does the doctrine of Original Sin affect the way we think Christians should raise their children?  

Read Romans 5:12-21

Why do you think the contrast isn’t set up as between Eve and Christ?  Why isn’t it called Eve’s trespass?   What is Eve’s responsibility in the situation, if any?

Does the fact that everything hinges on Adam or Christ take away human responsibility? 

What is the essence of Paul’s argument in 5:12-14?  How does he prove his contention that Adam’s sin is credited to everyone’s account?

How are the dynamics of Adam’s relationship with humanity and Christ’s relationship with humanity similar?  …and in which ways dissimilar?  Does this highlight the grace we enjoy in Christ in the way that Paul seems to want it to?

How does the cross of Christ deal with the consequences of Adam’s sin?

In 5:18, Paul writes that the one ‘righteous act [of Christ] resulted in justification and life for all people’.  Is Paul teaching that everyone is saved through Christ’s death?  Why / why not?

In 5:20 Paul tells us that the Law was brought in ‘so that the trespass might increase’.  Does that surprise you?  Why would God want the trespass to increase?

p.s.

The Anglican Church took pains to outline and defend this doctrine in its foundational documents.  Article 9 is entitled ‘of Original, or Birth Sin’ and locates original sin in ‘…the fault and corruption of the nature of every man (sic) that is naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil … and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation’.    And this infection of nature doth remain in them that are regenerated … although there is no condemnation for them that believe’.

It did so because at the time, very few Christians took seriously this aspect of the Bible’s teaching, preferring to think that humanity still had a free will and that, with the right education, a good role model and favourable circumstances, could still live righteously (do good).   Most Christians didn’t believe that we had inherited consequences from Adam’s transgression so that we were all born sinful, and under God’s judgement.  In such a context, Cranmer et al felt the need to remind people of the Bible’s teaching that we do what we do because we are what we are.  They understood this was at the very foundation of the Christian faith, and that without it, Christianity would be fatally compromised.

Home Group notes Rom.3:21-31

When we become Christians, our relationship with everything and everyone is fundamentally transformed, in many cases utterly inverted. It affects us psychologically, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, relationally … and legally. The legal change in our standing before God is what the Bible is talking about when it uses the word justified / justification. ‘Justification’ is the opposite of ‘condemnation’ in the Divine Court of Law. It speaks not merely of acquittal, but of a right legal standing, a vindication, of being judged to possess a perfect human righteous. The implications are breathtakingly. The mighty Dutch Reformed theologian, Bavinck wrote: ‘Of all the benefits [of our union with Christ] first place is due to justification, for by it we understand the gracious, judicial act of God, by which He acquits humans of all the guilt and punishment of sin, and confers on them the right to eternal life’.

It is a powerful spiritual reality that takes us to the heart of one of the deepest mysteries in the Bible: How can God justify (i.e. declare righteous) the wicked (Rom.4:5)? How can God look on a life that is riddled with intrinsic sinfulness and declare it to be righteous, without violating His own righteousness? If he is going to do what is right, then He ought to look at a life that is sinful and wicked and declare it to be sinful and wicked, and deal with it accordingly (Dt.25:1; Prov.17:15; Ps.11:4-7 etc.). This is a question of God’s righteousness as much as it is ours. How can God ‘not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us according to our iniquities’ (Ps.103:10)? It is the deepest problem of a fallen creation. How does God in His wisdom, resolve that problem without causing dissonance within His own being? How can He be gracious and righteous, forgiving and just?

The answer is found at the cross. God’s putting forth Christ as a sacrifice is first and foremost a demonstration of His own justice … so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Rom.3:26). It is what Martin Luther describes as ‘the great exchange’ that comes about through faith. In one direction, my sinfulness is credited, attributed, imputed to Jesus and as He takes to Himself a sinfulness that is not His own, so He takes to Himself God righteous condemnation of that sin. In the other direction, His righteousness as a Man who has lived in total obedience to the Law (Gal.2:16; 3:11) is credited to my account, and on that basis God declares me to be righteous (Rom.5:17-19). Remember that this is a legal transaction. None of this changes my nature, or affects my spiritual condition. I remain a sinner who is at the same time declared righteous. You may have heard this referred to in disparaging terms as a ‘legal fiction’. But as there is nothing fictitious about Jesus becoming sin on the cross and dying a God-forsaken death, so there is nothing fictitious about my becoming the righteousness of God and as such being vindicated (II Cor.5:21). It can feel counter-intuitive to begin with, but it is liberating, both for God and for us. The demands of obedience to the Law have been satisfied and fulfilled on my behalf by Jesus.

This has always been the understanding of the Church, and as such, it finds its place in the CofE’s basis of faith: We are accounted righteous before God solely on the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, through faith, and not on account of our own good works, or of what we deserve. The teaching that we are justified by faith alone is a most wholesome and comforting doctrine…’ (Art.11, see also the Homily on Salvation).

Questions

Have you ever wondered if God is continuing to punish you for sins you committed in the past? How does this study help you to think this through?

The Canons of the Council of Trent (1545-63) still stands as the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Canon 9: “If anyone says that by faith alone the impious is justified … let him be anathema.” Why do you think RC-ism takes such a strident view of this? How do you feel about it?

Read Rom.3:21-31

How has the righteousness of God now been made known (v.21)? Why is it important to realise that this stands in line with the Old Testament?

How serious is that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (v.23)? How would you describe the impact of sin on us as humans? …on the world?

What would you say to someone who said they knew people who weren’t Christians who were better people than the Christians they knew?

Why is Paul underlining the issue of ‘sin’ so emphatically in this whole opening section of Romans (see esp. 1:18-32; 2:1-16; 3:9-20)?

What is a ‘sacrifice of atonement’ (v.25, NIV)? What is Paul teaching us about the nature of Jesus’ death on the cross?

Other translations render it: propitiation (ESV - some of you may recognise this word from BCP); sacrifice for sin (NLT); or ‘God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin’ (The Message).

In what sense has sin prior to the cross been left unpunished (v.25)? How does that call God’s righteousness into question? How is this resolved in the cross?

What does Paul mean when he describes God as ‘the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (v.26)? What does it mean to be justified (also vv.28 & 30)?

How does Paul’s teaching lead to humility (v.27)?

What is a Christian’s relationship to the Law of God as laid out in the OT? Should we keep the Law or not (v.27-31)?

Isaiah 40:1-11 Bible Study

What do you think Isaiah / the Lord has in mind when h/He speaks of ‘Comfort’? How you answer this question might prove more revealing than you would think! We need to be careful to let the passage tell us what it means, rather than impose on the word what we might hope it means. God has a very specific idea of the kind of pain and suffering into which he wants to pour His comfort. To understand Is.40, it helps to see how this passage is picked up in Lk.3:4-6.

We have almost certainly recognised these words as referring to John the Baptist, who in an unprecedented way was sent to prepare a people ready to meet with God. What does that look like? … to be a people ready / prepare to meet with God. The word we most naturally associate with John’s ministry is the call to ‘Repent’ (Matt.3:2; Lk.3:3 etc.). Essentially, that is what it means to be a prepared people – it is to be a repenting people.

Such repentance is born out of a grief and sorrow at the ongoing reality of our sin. It is born out of a godly and appropriate frustration at our lack of Christlikeness. It is born out of a desperation to turn away from a way of life shaped by this word, and its passing desires and priorities. It is a grief born of the psychological and emotional impact of our sin. I’m broken-hearted because I’m not like Jesus (II Cor.7:10).

And it is in response to that experience of sorrow, grief and trauma that the Lord speaks these words of ‘comfort’. It is those who are undergoing the struggle and pain of repentance and of fleeing sin that Jesus tends and gathers and carries and gently leads (40:11). Blessed are those who mourn, for the shall be comforted (Matt.5:4).

This dynamic is part of authentic Christian spirituality. It is something that is consistently part of or drawing near to God, and of His drawing near to us. Historically the Church has spoken variously of ‘a perfect agony of conviction’, ‘penitential pain’ and ‘distress of soul’. The traumatic sound of such language often raises concerns in our own generation about how ‘healthy’ repentance might be. But our desire is for a total re-envisioning of life as God desires it, and for my heart to desire that rather than ‘the fleeting pleasures of sin’.

Questions:

Are there other passages you can think of that do suggest God’s comfort for us in other situations and circumstances of life?

What is your experience of the conviction of sin?

How would you explain repentance to someone who wasn’t familiar with the idea?

Why, in Is.40:2, is Isaiah told to proclaim that ‘she has received from the Lord’s had double for all her sins? Wouldn’t that be unjust?

How does Is.40:3-5 correspond to the ministry of John the Baptist?

Would you say MIE was a Church characterised by ‘repentance’? What does a repentant Church look like? How would it prepare us to meet with the Lord?

What does it look like when the ‘glory of the Lord’ is revealed (Is.40:5)? What did it look like after the ministry of John? What would it look like today?

Why is repentance particularly necessary in the light of Is.40:6-8? Why does Isaiah contrast ‘all people’ and ‘the word of our God’ in the way he does in these verses?

Why is it good news that the ‘sovereign LORD comes with power’ (Is.40:10)? What is His reward and His recompense?

What event does Isaiah 40:11 refer to?

Family Worship ideas: Is.35:1-10

It’s such a visual, image laden passage that we might easily miss the profound spiritual truth that is being conveyed.  Isaiah is striving to capture the incredible transformation that will overtake the whole of creation when Jesus returns in glory and splendour (35:2).  Some of this week’s family worship can simply be about allowing the power of the imagery to take hold; and to connect it with the idea that this is what Jesus comes to do. 

Print out the passage (see below) and have some coloured pens ready.  Pick any different colour for each of the following activities relating to Is.35:1-10:

Highlight every image that describes this passing fallen age.

Highlight every image that captures something about the New Creation.

What are these collections of images trying to help us to see and understand.

Highlight what causes such an amazing change throughout all of creation.

Highlight the bits of the passage where Isaiah tells us how we should respond to our New Creation hope.

Highlight any parts of this passage that you think you’ve heard before.  Can you remember where?

Can you draw the picture that you think Isaiah is seeing as he writes this chapter? Mark will be giving out a small prize on Christmas Day to anyone who brings their picture with them (if your kids are planning to bring a picture, let me know – to avoid disappointment!).

You could plant up a pot of crocuses … and write Is.35:1-2 on the pot!!

10 days before Christmas (when we celebrate Jesus’ first coming) is a ‘gift’ of an opportunity to talk about the excitement we can feel when we are looking forward to something special. 

What is there about this age that makes us sad? … angry? …disappointed?

What are we looking forward to about the New Creation?

How does this passage encourage us as we think about:

…things that go wrong with people’s bodies?

…things that go wrong with the environment?

…things that go wrong with our own discipleship?

Why do you think Jesus doesn’t come back right now to make the world this amazing?

When Isaac Watts wrote his song: Joy to the world, it wasn’t originally designed for Christmas, but for the second coming of Jesus when creation would be renewed. 

You can hear a contemporary version of Joy to the World here

…a ‘kids version’ here

…and a more traditional version here

Heavenly Father

thank you that you have a great plan to fix everything that is wrong with the world.

thank you that Jesus is that plan

help me to look forward to the new creation

help to live as if I was already there!

Amen.

a bit of a trickier puzzle for older kids:

About 700 years after Isaiah wrote these words, John the Baptist was in prison (you can read about it in Matt.11:1-15).  He was asking some hard questions about his relationship with Jesus, and about whether Jesus was who He said He was.  This gives us a chance to talk and pray with our child(ren) about times when we’re not sure about being a Christian, or about what we believe about Jesus. 

How do we deal with those kinds of questions?  John sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask the question straight out.  Jesus sent John back to think about Is.35.  Can you work out why? 

Is.35:1-10 Bible Study

You don’t have to have been a live for very long before you realise that the world can be a cruel place.  If we have enough money, we might be able to shield ourselves for a while, but eventually the bubble bursts.  None of us can scape suffering in some form or another.  It is a world under a curse (Rom.8:19-21).  It is broken, and at some point the sharp edges cut into our experience of life.

Becoming a Christians doesn’t change the reality of the world we live in.  I am changed, but the world is still the same, and remains characterized by darkness, suffering, loss, confusion and pain.  The Bible never denies the reality of the falleness of our world, not the struggle it is to live in it.  What it does offer is the chance to find in our faith the resources we need to live in this world in a way that honours Christ and is faithful to His call on our lives.  Isaiah 35 offers one such resource.  Suffering is complex and multi-layered, and so is the Scripture’s dealing with it.  But one layer is here.

Isaiah captures the  reality of our world with great poetic power: it is a desert, a parched land, a wilderness.  It is a world of suffering and of bodies that don’t work the way they should.  But he also foresees a Day when this world will be changed; when there will be a new creation of splendour, of healing, and which will be saturated with the manifest glory of the Lord.

And the reality of that hope carries with it the resources to steady, strengthen and encourage the Church in the midst of struggle (vv.3-4).  We take each painful step down the Highway of Holiness because – in pat – we know that when we ‘enter Zion’ we will know it was worth it!  It is the same psychology of discipleship that we in Jesus (Heb.12:2), and in Paul (II Cor.4:16-17, Rom.8:18).

And this is how Jesus uses the passage when John’s disciples come to ask Him if He is the One (Matt.11:4-6).  Imprisoned and facing martyrdom, John is asking deep questions.   And Jesus doesn’t just answer John’s question, He speaks to the fear that lies behind the question.  Jesus is saying to the fearful hear: Be strong, do not fear.  Jesus invites John to look out through the bars of his prison window, to glimpse the foreshadowing of New Creation that is in Jesus’ ministry, and to remember that faithfulness to Him will be worth it when John enters Zion with everlasting joy.

Questions:

Is this just ‘pie in the sky when you die’ kind of thinking?  Would it be a problem if it was?

What do we lose when we dismiss or shrug off a vision of the New Creation? … or let it remain insubstantial, or uninformed by Scripture?

How would you describe the New Creation to someone who wasn’t a Christian?

How does the healing of the environment, or the healing of human bodies that awaits us in the New Creation affect our engagement with environmental and medical issues today?  How does the connection in Is.35 between that healing and the seeing of the glory of the Lord affect your answer?

Do you find the idea of the New Creation compelling? …exciting?

How does being a Christian change the way we experience suffering and struggle in this old, fallen creation?

What does it look like to walk the Highway of Holiness in the midst of suffering?

What is the connection between ‘holiness’ as the way to Zion, and the joy that awaits us when we get there?

Do you think joy and gladness will be your experience of New Creation life?

Is.11:1-10 Bible Study

As we come out of Is.10, the impending destruction of Judah is pictured as deforestation on a massive scale (remember 6:11-13 from last week, using the same imagery). ‘The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones will be brought low. [The Lord] will cut down the forest thickets with an axe…’ (10:33-34). The sense of ruined former glory is palpable. All that is left is a remnant that serves to remind us of what once was a super-power.

The scene is evocative: bleak, hopeless, inviting us to despair at what has occurred, and at a lost future. And yet, the LORD is a God who brings hope where there is no hope. He’s been doing that since Israel found themselves hemmed in on the shores of the Red Sea. And against all hopelessness, from the stump of the family tree of Jesse, a shoot will come up (11:1). A fruitful Branch will grow up from the midst of this desolation. He will be anointed (christ-ed) with the Spirit, through whom ‘He will delight in the fear of the Lord’ (11:2-3). As we read through the Gospels we find how literally this prophecy is fulfilled, but Isaiah lifts our gaze beyond the ‘days of Jesus’ life on earth’, and to the great Day when Jesus returns to his earth in glory. The Incarnation sets in motion a drama that finds its resolution only at the end of the age. The wisdom, understanding, counsel, might knowledge and fear of the Lord that Jesus has by virtue of His unique relationship with the Spirit are brought to the task of judging the living and the dead (Rev.20:11-15).

Isaiah is at pains to underline the fact that this Righteous Branch can be trusted with the epic task of bringing justice to bear on all of human history. For us, who can barely make right judgments in any given single situation, the complexity of judging everyone who has lived throughout all of history is breathtaking. Yet we are reassured that Jesus will see to the foundational truth, that He will not be swayed by appearances, or intimidated by status. His judgments will be exhaustive, accurate, just and final.

But such cosmic judgment is not an end in itself. Isaiah’s vision extends beyond even this great and terrible Day. He perceives the profound reconciliation and renewal that awaits the entire creation in Christ, and through His death (Col.1:19-20). As all things are reconciled to Christ, so they are reconciled to each other. Humanity’s relationship with the rest of creation, throughout the animal kingdom, and throughout the nations of the world, there is fully and finally shalom. And ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’ (11:9).

Questions:

Why is it critical that as Judge, Jesus fears the Lord (11:2-3)?

How far can our own ‘anointing’ with the Spirit reflect the experience of Jesus? What would it look like if we were characterized by wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the Lord? How would that affect our dealing with people?

What is wrong with judging by what we see and hear (v.3) How else can we judge?

Who are the ‘needy’ and the ‘poor of the earth’ (v.4)? Why do they get preferential treatment?

Why is it important that we know Jesus will judge the worl in this way?

Why is it good news that Jesus will ‘slay the wicked’? Who do you think constitute ‘the wicked’?

In Ps.36:1, the ‘wicked’ are defined as those who have no fear of God. Does that change your sense of what Isaiah is anticipating?

How does this connect with Jesus as one whose ‘delight is in the fear of the Lord’? What is the ‘fear of the Lord’? How can we cultivate it as a Church? Would you want to?

How can we explain such a radical re-ordering of the world? How can this speak into our world’s concerns about our relationship with our environment?

What is the centerpiece of the New Creation? What is the goal of Christ’s work of redemption?

Look at Is.11:1 & 10. What is the significance of the Branch being both a shoot from Jesse, and a Root of Jesse (see also Rev.22:16, and less obviously Mk.12:35-37)?

Family Worship Ideas (Isaiah 6)

A great place to start Family Worship at the start of this season for Advent is with the question:

How do you know the Bible is the Word of God? 

That’s worth a bit of a discussion…  there are a number of texts that different religions claim to be inspired in one form or another.  What sets the Bible apart?  One part of the answer is ‘prophecy’.  The fact of hundreds of prophecies made specifically about the coming of Christ is unprecedented and unique (to say nothing of prophecies about other national and global events in history).  We can be so familiar with the phrase ‘This was to fulfil what was said through the prophet…’ (or similar) that we have forgotten how extraordinary a thing it is for the Spirit-inspired prophets to be able to foretell the future with such absolute accuracy.

If it helps, here’s a puppet telling us about some of those prophecies…  if you can find a better video that helps underline this point, let me know:

Advent is a time for preparing. We tend to think of it as preparation for Christmas (think: Advent Calendars). But really it is about preparing for the second coming of Jesus. And when we see who Jesus is (in our reading from Is.6), when the veil of His flesh is lifted, we can see why such preparation might be necessary!

We often represent this sense of preparation visually with an Advent Wreath. These are pretty easy to make, and can be a simple as four candles stuck with blue tack to the table. But they are often decorated in a host of different ways. An image search will give you plenty of ideas if you are struggling. Here’s a short video that might give you some ideas…

We light a candle each Lord’s Day between now and Christmas. You may wish to add a different coloured candle for Christmas Day.

But don’t forget that we are preparing for the second coming of Jesus, albeit in the light of His first coming.  Reflecting together on how we can do that, and praying together about the ideas and answers that you come up with would be an amazing thing to do as a family.

When we read about Isaiah’s experience, one key thing we need to do is ‘repent’.  We hear John the Baptiser talking a lot about this as he gets people ready for Jesus’ coming.  For Isaiah this is captured by a multi-sensory experience in His encounter with Jesus.

In the holiness of Jesus, Isaiah becomes very aware of his sin (see Matt.12:34 - that’ll help explain Isaiah’s preoccupation with his lips!).  He needs to be cleansed and his sin needs to be atoned for – which happens from the altar.  Jesus wants a ‘clean’ people when He comes back.  That is why He came the way He did first time.  So that in His sacrifice of Himself, He could clean us…  and change how we live in the future.

Isaiah’s response is one of desiring to serve Christ.  Can you think together of ways in the Bible that Jesus says he wants us to serve Him?  How can you do that over Advent?  You could make an Advent ‘maze’, where an angel moves one star closer each day to the coming of Christ.  And each start could be an act of service we’ll do that day as we learn how to live as Jesus calls us to.

Isaiah 6:1-13 Bible Study

Over the season of Advent, we will be looking at snapshot of what Isaiah has to teach us about the coming of Jesus, as the Word made flesh.  Theologians and Bible scholars of past generations sometimes spoke of Isaiah as the ‘fifth Gospel’, so deep were his insights into the coming of the Messiah.  Indeed, Isaiah often explores and presents the Gospel in terms that are ‘internal’ to the life of the Trinity.  As we ponder the chapters of this ancient prophecy, we hear the advent of Christ being spoken of between the Father and the Son, and from within the mind of Christ Himself.  We come to grasp His own intentions and purposes as He takes on human nature; as the Sovereign Lord sends Him endowed with His Spirit (Is.48:16).

The actual Gospel writers fully grasped the significance of Isaiah’s writings, and as such freely referenced them.  There are many allusions to Isaiah as we work through the Gospel accounts if Jesus’ life on earth.  And there are many places where the writings of Isaiah are explicitly and consciously cited.  We’re taking several of those passages as our readings for the Advent season.  Each will reveal to us the dynamics of the incarnation and God’s gracious purposes in sending His Son to redeem His people. 

But before we get into the details of each specific passage (and there are more than we will be able to cover through Advent), the fact of their existence is worth pause for thought.  The fact that such passages exist at all is a unique phenomenon.  The fact that hundreds of them exist almost defies belief.  And again, it is Isaiah who teaches us how to make sense of what is going on.  One of my favorite sections of the Book compares and contrasts the Living God of heaven and earth with the lifeless idols of human creation.  The Lord mocks them and calls on them to prove their claim to divinity.  Amongst other challenges, the Lord suggests they ‘declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds.  Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear’ (Is.41:22-23).  Two things are worthy of note as we begin our study this week.  The first is that the capacity to foretell the future is a quality that belongs to God alone.   The fact of prophecy evidences the integrity of the inspiration of Isaiah by the Spirit of God; and of the events which he foretells.  And secondly, our response when confronted by One who can ‘declare to us the things to come’ should include dismay and fear.  We are confronted by One whose relationship to history is fundamentally different to ours.  We are used to thinking of Him as a baby in a manger.  But Isaiah’s dealing with Christ stretch back before His Incarnation.

Read Is.6:1-13

Why do you think the Lord grants Isaiah this vision ‘in the year that King Uzziah died’?  What is it about King Uzziah’s death that invites this encounter?

What difference does it make to you that this is the Lord who became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth (John 12:37-41)?

Why is the holiness of the Lord Almighty worthy of worship (6:3)?  And why is this the attribute of Christ that inspires the seraphim’s worship?  Does it inspire worship in us?

Why does this encounter with Jesus provoke the response it does from Isaiah (6:5)?  Should this be part of our response to Jesus? 

What are the similarities and differences between Jesus’ pre-incarnate glory as seen here by Isaiah, and His post-incarnate glory as seen for example by John (Rev.1:12-18)? 

Why does the coal take away Isaiah’s guilt?  What does it mean for the seraph to say that his sin is atoned for (6:7)?  How does this pre-empt the incarnate ministry of Jesus?

Why can Isaiah not hear the voice of Christ before v.8? 

Why doesn’t Jesus simply send one of the Seraph to do His bidding? 

Why does the Lord send Isaiah on such a counter-productive mission (vv.9-13)?  How are these dynamics replicated in Jesus’ incarnate ministry (John 12:37-41)?  Are they replicated in the experience of the Church today?

Why is Isaiah willing to undertake such a hopeless mission?

Luke 8:16-21 Bible Study

Jesus doesn’t finish the Parable of the Sower, and then launch out into a completely new subject.  Luke 8:16 follows Luke 8:15, and Jesus’ thinking follows too.  He is continuing His reflections on the indiscriminate nature of the proclaiming of the Word of God.  We saw this in the previous parable: the farmer scatters the seed everywhere...  even to places where we could predict with some degree of confidence that there would be no yield.  But that isn’t the point.  The point is that we don’t pre-empt the Spirit’s work in revealing the reality of who people are by virtue of their response to the Word.  The Word is spread everywhere...  without fear or favour.

Jesus changes the imagery, but the point remains.  It is inconceivable to Him that the Word (Ps.119:105) should be hidden, or displaced from its position of prominence (Lk.8:16).  That is where it needs to be in order to fulfil its purpose of disclosing, and bringing into the open the reality of what is in our hearts (Lk.8:17).  That is done by how we respond...  see previous parable.  Yes, people will love the darkness (Jn.3:19-20).  But that is not a reason for the Church to hide the light in a clay jar... or anywhere else for that matter.  We might not realise that is what we do, but it is – every time we decide not to proclaim the Word of God.  We might have good reasons not to.  People might not like it...  they might get angry... or stop coming... or reject us...  Yes, they might, but none of that is a good reason to take the Word of God down from its position of prominence.  We might think we can by-pass the Spirit’s work of sifting people by their response to the Word.  But we can’t, and it is both dangerous and foolish to try.

But just as He did in 6:37-42, Jesus is careful not to let us apply His teaching only to others.  And in Lk.8:18, He turns the spotlight back onto us.  ‘...Consider carefully how you listen’.  This is critical because our relationship with the Word we have received is not static.  It turns out it is very dynamic, and we will receive more or less depending on what we do with what we have already been given.  If we store it away, refusing to act on what we know to be true, refusing to change our minds, our behaviour, our character, we lose what we think we have (Lk.8:18).  If we prove trustworthy, and put into practise what we have received, we will be given more.

And right on cue, Jesus’ family turn up...  only to be met with quite a blunt rejection.  At this stage in Jesus’ ministry at least some of his ‘flesh and blood’ family did not believe in Him.  Still less did they ‘hear God’s Word and put it into practise’.  For Jesus that forms a profound line of demarcation.  Not even His own family can bypass this great non-negotiable of discipleship.

Questions:

Jesus uses the image of lighting a lamp to continue developing His point about the indiscriminate nature of the Word of God ‘shining’ forth.  In what ways does this resonate with His use of the same imagery in Matt.5:14-16?  ...and in what ways is it different?  What do we learn from Jesus’ use of the same imagery in these passages?

Why is this relentless exposure of who we are a necessary part of the experience of the Church?   How does the Word of God function to disclose, and bring out into the open the truth of who we are?

Can you run any ‘Christian’ mission without proclamation being a central focus of what you do?

How do we try and pre-empt the work of the Spirit exposing what is ‘hidden’ both in ourselves and in others?  How can we stop doing that?

Do you see this ‘disclosure’ as the purpose of preaching and evangelism?  How does that affect your sense of an effective sermon?

Does Jesus’ dealing with His family give us precedent for likewise seeing our Church-family as having a greater priority than our ‘blood’ family?  Why / why not?

What does it mean to ‘hear God’s word and put it into practise’?  Given the critical nature of our response, how can we better support each other in our putting what we hear into practise?

What do you think Jesus means when He says that ‘what they think they have will be taken from them’?

Family Worship ideas Luke 8:1-15

The Parable of the Sower is the foundational parable - the parable that explains how to makes sense of all the other parables, and even what parables are. Luke 8:10 is the key moment in the passage. Far from parables making things clearer, they are designed to hide the truth from people! or at least certain kinds of people… that’s a great place to start the conversation.

Why would Jesus want to keep secrets from the crowds?

What might those secrets be?

What is it that means the disciples can understand the parables, while the crowds can’t?

How can we learn from their example?

Activity idea

Potting soil, plant pot or paper cups, and cress seeds (or other ‘easy’ seeds to grow). Before you put the potting soil in the cup they can write Psalm 119:16 “I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word” on the cup. Pray together that our hearts would be ‘good soil’, and that we would hear the Word, retain it and by persevering produce a crop (Lk.18:15). Plant the seed!!

As you are working on this, start a conversation about what each of the soils represent.

When and where is the seed of God’s word sown in us?

How can we make sure - as a family - we respond well to the Word of God?

Are you worried that you might be a different kind of soil?

Luke 8:1-15 Bible Study

Sometimes our very familiarity with a passage is our greatest enemy to grasping its meaning.  Especially if that familiarity is skewed by our rendering it as a children’s story!  We have a tendency to do this: to take the Bible’s most combative and challenging material, and deflect it by rendering it in child-friendly terms.  That usually means we strip it of everything we find disturbing.

Think of the story of Noah’s Ark.  It’s a global flood, articulating unmitigated Divine wrath and judgment against human sin. It’s warning us of the terrible reality of Jesus’ return in glory to judge the living and the dead.  And we turn it into a ‘learn to count’ story, or a moralistic crusade on looking after our pets.  Something similar happens with passages like ‘the Parable of the Sower’. 

As Jesus’ parables go, this is one of the more disturbing, but we managed to inoculate ourselves against it by turning into a children’s story about a silly farmer who doesn’t know how to sow his seed very well...  and maybe about how important it is to listen well to Jesus’ words.  It might be about that, but when we reduce everything about the parable to that, we are losing some important insights Jesus wants us to confront.

The first one is that parables are not designed to reveal truth, they are designed to conceal it.  Like the story of Noah’s Ark, this is a story about God’s judgment.   This is the most fundamental thing we need to understand about the parable of the sower (or the parable of the soils as it is increasingly referred to).   In fact, this is the parable that explains all parables.  And all parables contain this same dynamic.  Jesus is far more reticent than we are about holding out the deep and precious things of the Gospel to those who will only respond with contempt and disregard.  The parables sift and sort those who – for a multitude of reasons, and not all of them good – find themselves listening to Jesus.  The ‘secrets of the kingdom’ are not for general consumption.  They are for the disciples, for those in relationship with Jesus.  The Kingdom cannot be entered apart from him; it cannot even be understood apart from Him.  In fact, there is no Kingdom apart from Him. 

Only in relationship with Jesus are the secrets to be revealed.  Only to those who prize Him above all the riches and pleasures this world has to offer; only to those who prize Him sufficiently to suffer with Him and for Him; only to those who refuse to be robbed of something so precious as His Word; only to those will the secrets of the Kingdom be revealed.  All others may see, but they will not see; they may hear, but they will not understand.  Such are already under God’s judgement.

Not so much of a story for little kids...

Questions:

If the secrets of the Kingdom aren’t for everyone (v.10), why is Word of God (v.11) sown without discrimination?  What do you think the ‘secrets of the Kingdom’ are?

Why would Jesus want to conceal those ‘secrets’ from the crowds that are following Him?  Doesn’t God want ‘all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth’ (I Tim.2:4)?

How do you feel about the idea that Satan can in some sense be present wherever the Word of God is preached (v.12)?  Do you think he is sometimes present in MIE?  What would that look like?

What constitutes a ‘time of testing’ (v.13)?  Is testing always a bad thing (see e.g. James 1:12)?  Why does such testing result in a falling away in Jesus’ parable?

How would you recognise someone who was ‘choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures’ (v.14)?  What might their ‘Christianity’ look like?

Do you think there is any hope for those whose faith has no root, or is growing among thorns (have a look at Heb.6:4-8)?

If ‘every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart is only evil all the time’ (Gen.6:5, 8:21); and if ‘The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure’ (Jer.17:9), then how can Jesus talk here about ‘those with a noble and good heart’ (v.15)? 

How can we retain the Word of God and persevere in it?

Does it surprise or trouble you that our response to the Word of God is so determinative of our spirituality?

What does Jesus envisage the crop produced in His disciples’ life being?

Luke 7:36-50 Bible Study

Sometimes the ‘titles’ the NIV (and other translations) give to passages can be really helpful.  Other times, not so much.  This one falls firmly into the latter category.  It risks our framing the passage in a profoundly unhelpful way, and maybe even in a way that obscures what’s going on.  Take a step back, and ask yourself who is sinful in the passage?  It is ‘just’ the woman?  Clearly she is a sinner...  but is she any worse a sinner than Simon, the self-righteous Pharisee?  Is Jesus’ parable aimed at Simon, or at the women by His feet?  By the end of the passage, we might feel we would want a better title over these verses?

It turns out that how we see ourselves shapes how we see Jesus.  The unnamed woman who enters Simon’s house uninvited, and whose extravagant, reckless love for Jesus has been incorporated into the Gospel story, knew she was a sinner.  It seems that is how everyone else saw her (Lk.7:37), and it seems that is how she saw herself.  Emboldened by hope and the prospect of grace, she violates any number of social conventions, and bestows on Jesus an act of such indiscreet intimacy and audacious affection that we may feel unsure that it is entirely appropriate?  She sees Jesus as a Saviour, a Redeemer, One who has the authority to forgive sin, and the compassion to want to.  Does she know that in order to bestow such forgiveness will commit Christ to the cross?  She sees herself as a sinner, and Jesus as a Saviour.  And she treats Him as such.

How does Simon the Pharisee see Jesus?  His perception of Jesus is also shaped by how he sees himself.  Unlike the woman in the passage, the Pharisee emphatically does not see himself as a sinner.  OK, well maybe a bit sinful.  But not really.  And certainly not a sinner like ‘her’.  And he certainly doesn’t need a Saviour.  Maybe someone who can touch up his own righteousness; but not a Saviour.  And because of how Simon sees himself, he sees Jesus differently.  He sees an intellectual curiosity, Someone to be assessed, judged, critically engaged with.  But not bowed before...  apparently not even treated with common cultural courtesy (vv.44-46).  He likely thought Jesus should feel honoured to have been invited to dinner with him.

But it is the woman who goes home that night forgiven and at peace.   By the end of the story, Simon is all but forgotten in his own home.   The guests are focussed on Jesus (v.49), and the question of authority lingers in the air.  And Jesus, He is focussed on the woman and her faith in Him.  That is what captivates His vision.

Questions:

What happens when we lose the love we had at first (Rev.2:4)?  How does that change our experience of being a disciple?

Can we be a disciple without love for Jesus?  Does it have to be the extravagant kind of love we see in this woman? 

Would you want to cultivate this reckless kind of love?  Why might some Christians be fearful of this?

How can we avoid the self-righteousness of Simon?  Based on this passage, what are the tell-tale signs of that self-righteousness?  How would you counsel someone if you saw this developing in them?

Read Jesus’ parable in Luke 7:41-42 (&47) again. 

Is Jesus teaching that we can only really love Him if we have a sordidly sinful past?  What about those who became Christians at a very young age? ...or who have never committed ‘big’ sins?

Is Jesus teaching that some people’s history of sin is worse than others?

Who do you think is the person with the ‘bigger debt’ in this passage?

Can some people love Jesus more than others?   What provokes that greater love?

What do you think Luke is hoping to achieve in telling the story of these events?  Why does he include it here in his Gospel?

Family Worship ideas Luk 7:18-23

This week’s passage tackles one of the most troubling aspects of Christian experience: doubt.  If you’ve done DTP, you’ll know this is one of the first issues we tackle in Session 1.  You know it’s an issue when someone of the spiritual stature of John is assailed with it (see Jesus’ estimation of John in Lk.7:28).  Doubt clearly isn’t a sign of spiritual immaturity!

As you negotiate this with your family there are two main areas I’d suggest you focus on:

the first is the experience of doubt itself.  This is tricky with younger children.  It may never have occurred to them to be unsure about what you have taught them about Jesus.  It might be easier to tackle this from the side of assurance.  Playing into the God-given ‘visual aid’ is so helpful here.  As a parent, you are a model of God, and your relationship with your child(ren) reflects the dynamics of God’s relationship with us.

This makes it easier to conceptualise!  Do you know that [fill in the blank here] loves you?  How do you know?  Are you ever scared that [fill in blank] doesn’t love you?  What would you do if you were scared like that? 

It’s easy then to shift this to our relationship with God...  Do you know that God loves you?  How do you know?  Are you ever scared that God doesn’t love you?  What would you do if you were scared like that?

John was scared.  Not quite about whether God loved Him, but about whether Jesus was God!  It’s important to help our children understand that questions are OK... more than OK – they are good things.  Jesus doesn’t tell John off for asking such a deep question.

but neither does He answer the question directly!  He sends John on a bit of a treasure hunt!

you can have a lot of fun with this as a family.  set up a treasure hunt with verses from the Bible and other prizes to be found.  There are some great ideas for tresure hunts here

The treasure hunt Jesus sends John on gets him exploring the Bible. 

read Luke 7:21-22.  What is Jesus doing here?  He is sending John back to the writings of the prophet Isaiah, where everything He is doing is prophesied (e.g. Is.35:5-6; 61:1).  This is how Jesus teaches us to resolve doubt. 

This is a great skill to begin to teach our children as early as we can...  how to search the Scriptures to engage our doubts.  Asking questions that pre-empt the kind of things we find ourselves doubting, and then showing our child(ren) where to find passages that speak to those questions is a fantastic thing to practise as a family

Father in heaven,

There are times when I have so many questions.

Help me to trust your Holy Spirit as He teaches me through the Bible.

Teach me in my heart as well as in my head about what it means to follow Jesus.

In His Name.

Amen.

And that passage we were working from in our service (this - or part of it could be a great memory verse):

Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees.

With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth.

I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.

I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

Ps.119:12-16

Luke 7:18-35 Bible Study

Christian thinker and author, Os Guinness, once wrote that ‘If faith does not resolve doubt, doubt will dissolve faith’.  Doubt is part of Christian experience in a fallen world.  Christian belief and faith is complex, and doubt can be every bit as complex.  It can have many different causes.  Some doubt is driven by intellectual questions.  Many Christians read just enough to discover questions asked of their faith, but not enough to discover the answers!  Other doubt can be the result of suffering.  In a fallen world things happen to us that simply overwhelm our faith.  Still others find themselves doubting because of lifestyle decisions that undermine their faith.  In some cases, we are emotionally overwhelmed.  Sometimes we simply haven’t given our faith enough to feed on, we haven’t nurtured it.  Or it can be the result of wrong thinking about God, or our relationship with Him: assumptions we have made that simply aren’t justified by the Bible’s teaching.   We are holistic beings, and doubt can be triggered by exhaustion, loneliness, stress, illness; accident; jealousy; discouragement, failure...

Whether doubt is a positive or negative thing (or indeed whether different kinds of doubt could be either) is something I’ll leave you to reflect on in your discussion.  But Jesus doesn’t define John by his doubt.  He doesn’t demote John, or call into question his mission or spiritual credibility because of this display of doubt.  He publically re-affirms John’s status as a prophet, indeed the greatest ‘among those born of women’.  It would appear that nothing about doubt demeans us in the sight of Christ.  Arguably what we do with our doubt is more important than the fact of its existence.  John doesn’t sit in his cell wrapped in self-pity and existential angst.  He goes to Jesus (albeit through his disciples!).  And Jesus deals with John’s doubt by turning John to the Scriptures. 

It’s telling that Jesus doesn’t give John a direct answer.  Rather he gives John the tools necessary to resolve his doubt through confronting Scripture.  Or rather, He gives the Spirit to resolve John’s doubt through the Scripture.  By pointing out the immediate effects of His ministry, and presenting those effects as He does, Jesus is evoking Isaiah 35.  Interestingly, he expects John to be sufficiently familiar with the writings of Isaiah to recognise his allusion and to understand its significance. 

My own hunch is that by addressing John’s question in this way Jesus is not just resolving his doubt, but strengthening his faith.  John’s greatest battle still lies ahead, and in His wisdom and mercy, Jesus is equipping him for it.

Questions:

How do you deal with doubt in your own experience of Christian discipleship?

What is it that triggers John’s doubt?  What is it about John and his situation, and what is it about Jesus?

How can someone whose life (even from before birth) has been so wrapped up in his experience of the Lord now be unsure about whether He is, in fact, the One to come?  What does John’s designating of Jesus in these terms reveal about what he believes and understands about Jesus?

Why might we be tempted to stumble on account of Jesus (v.23)?

What does Jesus mean by a ‘reed swayed by the wind’ (v.24)?  Why would it be a problem for John to be like this?  Do you know anyone who is like this? 

Does Jesus have a problem with ‘expensive clothes’ (v.25)?  ... or with indulging in luxury?  ...or with palaces?

What is it about John that makes him so ‘great’ in Jesus’ eyes (v.28)?  Why is the least in the kingdom of God actually greater than John?  How does Jesus ‘grade’ people?

How is Christian baptism similar to John’s baptism (vv.29-30)? ...and how is it different?   And why can being baptised reveal our acceptance or rejection of God’s purposes?  Can people be Christians without being baptised (Acts 2:38)?

Why are people critical of John and Jesus (v.32-34)?  How can we learn from them how to handle such criticism?

What is a ‘child’ of wisdom?  ...and how does it prove wisdom’s rightness (v.35)?

Luke 7:11-17

One of the most traumatic and painful duties I have to perform as a minister is the burial of a child.  Of everything I see and do, nothing brings home to me the real horror and brokenness of a fallen world more acutely than watching parents through their child’s funeral.  Throughout Scripture death is seen as a horrific intrusion into a creation called into being by the God of life.  And yet, in a fallen world it remains among the most fundamental experiences of humanity.  It threatens to render life ‘meaningless’ (Eccl.1:1-2), and takes the dubious honour of being ‘the last enemy to be destroyed’ by virtue of the redemptive work of Christ (I Cor.15:26).  Death is never to be thought of as ‘natural’, or as simply a ‘fact of life’.  Death is always tragic and catastrophic.  But the death of a child is likely the most brutal expression of the spiritual calamity of our creation. 

‘As He approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out – the only son of his mother, and she was a widow’.  Such deep pathos in such an economy of words.  Our familiarity with the story can mean that it’s easy to miss the layers of tragedy and grief it contains.  And that same can equally dull us to the extraordinary sequence of events that follows.  Jesus has already demonstrated His authority over disease, restoring someone ‘about to die’ to full health (Lk.7:2).  But this is a categorically different situation.  This ‘only son’ has already been taken by death.  Coming back from the brink is one thing...  unusual perhaps, but not beyond the realms of human experience.  Coming back from death itself – that’s a very different proposal!  Not unprecedented, but almost.  And yet Jesus’ authority extends, seemingly effortlessly, even beyond the boundaries of life.  Death, at least for now, no longer has dominion over this young man.

There are rare examples in the Old Testament of similar event – notably in the ministry of Elijah (I Kings 17:17-24), and Elisha (II Kings 4:32-37).  It is likely this resonance with these prophets that leads the crowd to their conclusion that ‘A great prophet has appeared among us’ (Lk.7:16).  Perhaps even the great prophet (Deut.18:15)? 

We are utterly helpless before death.  It takes us whether we wish to go with it or not.  It takes those we love, whether we wish it to or not.  Nothing else quite has the capacity to expose the vulnerability of all we achieve in life.  Perhaps few moments in the Gospels underline just how different from us Jesus is.  Fully human (Heb.2:17), and yet so very different from our humanity...  at least for now!

Questions:

Many Christians suggest that this kind of authority and power is (or at least should be) available to Christians today.  What do you think? ...and why?

How does Christ’s authority over death change the way we grieve as Christians?

As a Church, how can we support those who are grieving in a distinctively Christian way?

How should we prepare for death?  What do you anticipate are the unique temptations we will face in those moments?  How can we die in a way that honours Christ?

This story doesn’t appear in any of the other Gospel accounts.  Why do you think Luke makes a point of including it in his?  What does this teach us about Jesus that other resuscitation-miracles don’t convey (see e.g. Lk.8:50-56)?

How can we cultivate this Christ-like tenderness and compassion (7:13)?  ...or is compassion a character trait that we simply may or may not have?

In what ways are the crowds right in their response to what Jesus does (7:16-17)?  and in what ways are they wrong?

Fammily Worship ideas Luke 7:1-10

There is a kind of optical illusion where at first glance it looks like one thing, but on closer inspection it turns out it’s a picture of something else.  The picture with this Family Worship is a bit like that – at first it looks like some one playing a saxophone, but on closer inspection, it is a picture of woman...  or vice versa!

There are plenty of other illusions like this online.  Why not have a look and see what you can find?

Our passage this week is like one of these optical illusions. At first glance it is about a Centurion’s servant being healed... but on closer inspection it turns out Luke is wanting us to learn something about Jesus: His authority.

Depending on how old your child(ren) is, you might want to play something like a game of ‘Simon says...’, or you might want to think about being a soldier, and obeying orders. What happens if you get an order you don’t like?

The Centurion is a soldier (Plenty of opportunity for craft / dressing up here!). He really gets the idea of authority, and how it works. we have authority because we are under authority.

so think of someone directing traffic – it makes a big difference whether they have the authority to do that or not.  How do they get that authority?  It is given them by the Law of our land.  Police are under authority, and therefore they have authority ... for a specific job for which they are responsible.

Discussion:

Why do the Elders think that Jesus should help the Centurion?  Are they right?

Who is in charge of you? Why? What gives them the authority to tell you what to do?

Who gives Jesus His authority (Lk.10:22; Matt.28:18)?

How do you feel about Jesus having complete authority?

Look through Luke Chapters 7 & 8.  What and who does Jesus have authority over?

If Jesus has such authority, what does that mean about how we should hear His teaching?

You might want to take it further and explore the fact that Jesus practices what He preaches.  He has just spoken about loving our enemies (Lk.6:27), and on the way home from preaching that sermon He is confronted by a situation in which an enemy of His people is asking Him for help.

The Centurion is a Gentile (see Luke 4:28-29 for the last time Jesus engaged with the question of Gentiles!!!).  And he is an officer responsible for enforcing the political and military rule of the occupying Roman Empire.  What will Jesus do?  He will do exactly what He told His disciples to do.  He will love His enemy...

Family Prayer

Dear Lord, you offer grace and forgiveness

to all. Please help us accept your love with

trust and faith.

teach us wisdom about who to trust.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.