Ephesians, Part IV

Over the last several weeks, we’ve been using the book of Ephesians as a way to look at the question. Here is some of what we talked about along those lines in our discussion of Ephesians 4:

• Unity is a major topic in this chapter. Paul stresses how the followers of Jesus all believe the same thing and we are all part of the same body. In fact, in verses 4-6 Paul uses the word “one” 7 times. We are all bound together by the things we have in common in Jesus Christ. Everyone who says that they follow Jesus should have these things in common. We are all on the same team.

• In the middle of this unity, there is a great deal of diversity. In Ephesians 4:11, Paul mentions 5 different types of people with different jobs within the Church – and these are just types of jobs that are designed to help equip followers of Jesus for the work of ministry. In other places in his letters, Paul lists still other jobs and gifts that God has given different people for their work in the Church and in the world. Different people have different interests, skills and abilities, so God gives them different jobs and gifts so that together the body of Christ can be as effective as possible at affecting the world for Jesus.

• Maintaining unity in the midst of diversity can be a difficult thing. It can be very easy to think “that person isn’t as good as me because they don’t have the same gifts and the same job as I do.” Or sometimes it can go the other way – “I’m not as good as that person because they have more gifts and a better job in the church than I do.” Either attitude can lead to rivalry, hurt feelings, and disunity. These kinds of feelings can make it difficult to remember that all followers of Jesus are on the same team and that we should always be working together.

• Paul addresses this potential problem in two ways. First, he urges us to walk “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love” (4:1). Paul knows that if we are humble, gentle and patient, and if we always have love as the primary way that we deal with others, disunity won’t be a problem. If we can do those things, we won’t be jealous of what we feel like other people have that we don’t, and we won’t be proud or arrogant about what we feel like we have that other people don’t. I really think that these four traits – humility, gentleness, patience, and love – go a long way to maintaining unity. The second thing that Paul does is that he compares the church to a physical body. Our bodies have lots of different parts, and each one has its own function. If any part doesn’t work well, the entire body suffers. And no part can go it alone without the other parts. Paul is saying that the church, which is the body of Christ, works the same way. There are lots of different parts, but they are all necessary. If we don’t all work together, then the entire body suffers. Paul knows that unity is crucial for the church to be as effective as possible in the world.

• If we are going to live like a follower or Jesus, we are going to need to live our lives differently than we did before we decided to follow Jesus. In the second half of this chapter, Paul talks again to the gentiles. In the first half of the book, Paul repeatedly talked about how the gentiles were on equal footing with God as the Jews. God doesn’t see the gentiles as being any different than the Jews. Both have the same access to God. But now, Paul tells the gentiles that, as followers of Jesus, they should no longer live as the gentiles do. Paul says that we need to “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (4:22-24). Paul recognizes that in our lives without Jesus, we conform to the actions and ideas of our culture, but these things don’t line up with the desires of God. Paul lists some of the elements of everyday life, such as sensuality, greed, impurity and falsehood. These are things that we still see in the culture around us today. Paul reminds us that these things don’t match up with who Jesus is or what God wants. Therefore, we need to put these things aside. These are part of the “old self” that we should be putting away. Instead, we should be putting on the “new self,” which includes things like righteousness, holiness, truth, building each other up, giving grace to others, kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiving others. Paul makes it clear that following Jesus should have an impact how we live our lives. The things we do and the way we interact with others should be different because of our relationship with Jesus.

This should give you a good idea of what we talked about concerning Ephesians chapter 4. Look for a discussion of Ephesians chapters 5 and 6 in the next few days.

Ephesians, Part III

As you know, at Quest we have been discussing what our lives will look like if we are truly following Jesus. We’ve started looking at the book of Ephesians with that idea in mind. Last week, we discussed Ephesians chapter 3. Here is some of what we talked about:

• Paul continues his thoughts on the unity between the Gentiles and the Jews. In fact, this idea is so important to him and such a new concept that he refers to it as “the mystery of the Gospel” (Eph 3:6) It can not be stressed enough that under the rules and regulations of the Old Testament that God was for the Jews alone. He had a covenant relationship with them and with no one else. This affected the culture of the Jews, the way they treated and interacted (or didn’t interact) with the Gentiles, the way that they worshiped, and even the structure of the Temple. Paul tells us that with Jesus, this division no longer exists. All people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are joint heirs and we all have the same access to God.

• We see Paul’s humility in this chapter. He refers to himself as “the least of all saints” (Eph 3:8). I think lots of times that people say humble things because they think it’s expected. Even if we know that we are kind of a big deal, we also know that nobody likes a braggart. But there is more than just that going on here. We can see throughout Paul’s writings that he never forgot that he spent his early life trying to kill Christians. He hunted down people who followed Jesus so that they could be put to death. Because of this, he knew that he didn’t deserve God’s grace. He felt that God would have been justified in condemning him. However, not only did God not condemn Paul, he called Paul to take the message of Jesus around the known world. Because he knew how far God had brought him, he remained humble.

• Paul is writing this letter from prison, and he recognizes that this fact has the potential to affect his readers. When this letter was written, the Christians lived under at least the threat of persecution. Following Jesus created at least the possibility of problems with the rest of society. Paul was living proof of this, as he under house arrest. It would be easy for people to think “if even someone important like Paul can be imprisoned, think what can happen to me.” Fearing the consequences could lead to people being quieter and more passive about their faith in Jesus. In fact, this kind of persecution could create the situation of the shallow soil from Jesus’ parable of the sower. (Luke 8:4-15). In the parable, some of the sower’s seed falls on the rock grew up quickly, but when the sun came out it withered because it had no moisture. Jesus says that this represents people who receives the gospel message with joy but who fall away when the time of testing comes. Paul, on the other hand, knows that the message of Jesus runs against the rest of culture and wants to remind people not to be discouraged. In fact, Paul says that our reaction should be the opposite. Because of what Jesus has done for us, and because of our relationship with him, we should have boldness and confidence.

• Paul prays that God will give his readers strength and understanding. He knows that if his readers have these things, they will not become discouraged. With strength and a fuller understanding of God, people will become bold and confident, and they will no longer be concerned about the consequences from the world around them. Paul seems to indicate that the key to this is coming to understand the love of God. The love of Jesus is so wide and so long and so high and so deep that it surpasses knowledge. It is impossible to figure out where the “end” of Jesus’ love is. If we come to understand that, the love of Jesus will overcome all of the problems we may have in the world.

• God is able to do more than we can possibly ask or imagine. Paul wants to remind us that we can sometimes put God into a box because we think he can only act in the ways we can think of. Paul reminds us that God can do things beyond our imagination. He can also do these things while working through us. Because of God working through us, we are able to do things for Christ that are beyond what we would imagine with God.

• The end of this chapter sounds like an end. It sounds like a conclusion, and it ends with an “Amen.” Paul is clearly wrapping up one section of his letter and is getting ready to move on to his next topic. He has given us a three chapter description of who we are in Jesus. In the next three chapters he will begin to discuss some of the ways that we should live because of who we are in Jesus.

This should give you a good idea of what we talked about concerning Ephesians chapter 3. Next week, we will continue our discussions on the book of Ephesians and look at chapter 4.

Ephesians, Part II

As you know, at Quest we have been discussing what our lives will look like if we are truly following Jesus. We’ve started looking at the book of Ephesians with that idea in mind. Last week, we discussed Ephesians chapter 2. Here is some of what we talked about:

• In verses 8-9, Paul tells us that we have been saved by grace through faith, and that this is the gift of God so that no one can boast. There are a number of important ideas here. The first is that we are saved, and we have the ability to have a relationship with God, because of grace. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. In fact, we shouldn’t be able to have it because we proven ourselves unworthy. But in spite of that, God shows us grace and enters into a relationship with that. We are able to receive that grace when we have faith in God. When we act in faith, God gives us his grace.

• It’s important that God’s grace is a gift rather than something that we can earn. If we could earn God’s grace by doing good things or by checking off everything on some religious list, then it would be about us and what we did. We would essentially be able to say “God wants to have a relationship with me because I’m awesome. I deserve it.” This is what Paul means when he says “so that no one may boast.” Because God’s grace is a gift, and is something that we don’t deserve and haven’t earned, it’s not about us or what we have done. It is about God and what he has done. We can’t say “I have a relationship with God because I’m awesome.” Instead, we have to say “I have a relationship with God because he is awesome.”

• Everyone who follows Jesus Christ is one. God doesn’t divide people based on class or anything else. This is not how it has always been. Before Jesus came, God essentially belonged to the Jews. If a non-Jew wanted to become a believer in God, they essentially had to become culturally Jewish. Even then, they could enter the Temple, but they could only enter the Gentile court. There was a wall that divided the court the Gentiles could use and the one that the Jews could use. There was a reminder written on the wall telling the Gentiles that if they tried to get closer to the center (and therefore symbolically closer to God) they would be killed. To the Jews, Gentiles were second class citizens. But because Jesus came, the division between the Jews and the Gentiles has been removed.

• Because of what Jesus did, people who were once separated from God are now able to come close. This has special meaning for the Gentiles, because they weren’t permitted to come close under any circumstances before. However, this is true and important for all of us. As Paul says, we were dead in our transgressions. Because of our sins, we are separated from God. However, because Jesus died and rose again we are now able to draw near to God. We are no longer strangers or aliens as far as God is concerned. Because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we are citizens of his kingdom and members of his family

• At the end of the chapter, Paul tells us that we have “been joined together” and we are being “built together.” If we are followers of Jesus Christ, then we are part of a single group. Unfortunately, as people we tend to divide ourselves back up. We divide on denominational lines. We divide on racial or ethnic or cultural lines. We divide on class lines. Often, even if we want to be inclusive an welcoming, a person who doesn’t share the dominant background of the people in our church can feel like they don’t really fit in. This is sad. In the eyes of God, the followers of Jesus make up a single group – a single Church. He doesn’t see the divisions that we make among ourselves. Unfortunately, these divisions often make it more difficult for us to work together for the benefit of the kingdom of God. In fact, they can even make us spend so much time fighting among ourselves that we waste time that could be spend on advancing Jesus’ kingdom. Paul reminds us that we need to see all followers of Jesus as one. We are all part of the same community, and we need to be able to work together.

This should give you a good idea of what we talked about concerning Ephesians chapter 2. Next week, we will continue our discussions on the book of Ephesians and look at chapter 3.

Ephesians, Part I

Over the last several weeks at Quest, we have been discussing what our lives will look like if we are truly following Jesus. We recognize that as we follow Jesus our lives and our character will begin to change. That change should affect us both internally and in how we interact with the world around us. We started looking at these ideas in the book of James. Last week, we moved out of the book of James and began discussing the book of Ephesians. Here is some of what we talked about concerning Ephesians 1.

• Paul wrote this letter to the people of the church of Ephesus, although it was likely intended to also circulate among the other churches in the region. The letter was for everyone in the church, so some of its readers would have been well established in their faith, while others would have been new to the church and just checking out this whole “Jesus thing.” It is important to remember that Paul is writing to people who are already part of the church. That means that he is assuming that they already understand who Jesus is and what the message of the Gospel says. You can see this assumption in how he quickly summarizes the story and importance of Jesus in about 3 verses (Eph. 1:19-21). He assumes that his readers already understand the stuff in the first couple hundred pages of the New Testament. He is trying to build on what they already know and believe. He is adding explanation and details to what they know, and he is trying to help them figure out how to put it into practice in their lives. When reading the epistles in the New Testament, we need to read them through the lens of the Gospels, because Paul is assuming that his readers already understand that part of the story.

• We’ve been adopted by God as sons. This is a big deal, for a couple of reasons. First, Paul is making it clear that God has accepted Gentiles on the same basis as the Jews. In the Old Testament, God belonged almost exclusively to the Jews. If someone from the outside wanted to worship God, they essentially needed to become culturally Jewish. If they didn’t become Jewish in every way, then they weren’t permitted to worship God. After Jesus, this is no longer the case. Everyone who is willing to follow Jesus has been adopted into the spiritual family of Abraham. Gentile believers in Jesus have the same inheritance as the Jewish believers in Jesus.

• The even more significant message here is something that is easy to miss for those of us with a 21^st century, Western view on adoption. In our society, we generally adopt children as an alternative way of having a family. We adopt children, and then raise them into the family. This is not typically what adoption mean in the 1^st Century Roman world. In that time, many women died in childbirth, and many people died early in life. Also, it was only the sons who inherited from the parents. (Women would be married, and so they would benefit from their husband’s inheritance.) It was not uncommon for an influential or wealthy man to have no son to inherit his property. Rather than having the property go to some other, more distant part of the family, these men would adopt someone, who would then become their heir. However, they did not adopt children. Instead, they would find someone who was already an adult, and whose character they admired. In adopting this person, they would essentially be saying “you are worthy enough to be my son.” That is what God does for us. In spite of the fact that we are sinful, in spite of the fact that we have damaged our relationship with God, because of the sacrifice of Jesus, God looks at the followers of Jesus and says “you are worthy to be my child.” What an amazing, powerful, humbling thing.

• In verse 18, Paul says that he prays that the eyes of our hearts will be enlightened so that we know the hope to which he has called us and that we will know how rich and glorious his blessings are. Right before Quest, I had been reading some of the stories about Elisha in 2 Kings. In one of the stories, the enemies of Israel sent an army to capture Elisha. As the enemy surrounded the city, Elisha’s servant became afraid. When he asked Elisha what they should do, Elisha prayed that God would open his servant’s eyes. When God did, the servant saw and army of chariots of fire surrounding the invaders. One of the lessons of this story is that God is always at work, and there is always more going on than we see or understand. Like Elisha prayed for his servant, Paul is praying for his readers that our eyes will truly be opened to the things that God is doing and that we will truly be able to see those things that God is doing around us.

• Paul also prays that God will give us a spirit of wisdom and understanding so that we will know him better. One of the things that this tells us is that we will never completely and fully know and understand God. In one sense, some people may find this discouraging because it tells us that we will never fully “arrive.” We will never get to the point that we completely know and understand everything about God. On the other hand, this can also be very refreshing. It tells us that our relationship with God should never get stale. There is always something more to learn about God. There are always going to be ways that we can get to know him better. In fact, we can spend all of eternity with God and still be learning more about him. That’s a very cool, very amazing thing.

This should give you a good idea of what we talked about concerning Ephesians chapter 1. We also recognized that chapter 1 is really a kind of preview and introduction to the rest of the book. Paul covers a number of topics quickly before diving into the meat of what he wants to say in his letter. Next week, we will begin to get into the meat of the letter in chapter 2.

What should we do? Part V

Last week at Quest we concluded our look at the book of James. We have been using James to help us answer the question of what we should be doing if we are truly following Jesus. Throughout this study, we have noticed that there is both an internal and an external part of the answer to this question. The interal aspect is a spiritual response that impacts our relationship with God and our affects our character. The external aspect is the response in how we live our lives that affects our relationships with others and the way that we live our lives in the world around us. Here is some of what we talked about in our discussion of James 5:

• One of the major focuses in this chapter is prayer. It reminds us that prayer is effective. It reminds the reader of the story of Elijah. Elijah prayed that it would stop raining in Israel. Once he prayed, it stoped raining, and it didn't rain for another three and a half years. After three years, he prayed that it would rain, and it rained again. Elijah was a man just like us, but God listened to him.

• The key to having that kind of effective prayer, we need to be righteous. One of the keys to being righteous is confession. We need to confess our sins. Confessing our sins and the things we do wrong will make us righteous before God. What is interesting here is that it doesn't talk about confessing our sins to God. Scripture tells us that this is an important part of confession, but it is not the only aspect of confession. James tells us that we also need to confess our sins to our fellow followers of Jesus.

• This idea of confessing sins to each other is a foreign concept to many of us, especially those of us who come from evangelical or pentecostal background. In fact, we often feel the pressure to do the exact opposite. We are taught that we should confess our sins to God, but that there are significant consequences to letting other people know about our sins. This is particularly true for people in leadership positions. If a leader sins and that sin becomes public knowledge, they could lose their position of leadership. Even if we don't lose some kind of position, we still know that people will judge us for what we have done. The result is that we confess to God, but we keep our sins secret from each other. James says that this is wrong. We should confess to each other as well.

• James knows that if we are to live in community with each other, then we need to not have secrets. When we hide things from people, we keep that part of us from them, and as a result they can't know us completely. The more we hide, the more difficult it becomes for us to truly build relationships with people. Confessing our sins lets people know who we are and what kind of things that we struggle with. Confession can help us create stronger relationships, and it can help our friends to help us in the areas where we struggle.

• There is one major element of James' discussion of prayer that can be difficult. James 5:15 says "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up." This seems like a definite, black-and-white promise. However, most of us who have been followers of Christ have known people who were sick and had people pray from them in faith, but they didn't get well. This is no easy answer. We can come up with all kinds of reasons, based in scriputre, for why bad things continue to happen. However, that doesn't make it any easier for us.

This should give you a good idea of what we talked about concerning James chapter 5. Next week we will turn to the book of Ephesians as we continue our discussions of what it will look like if we truly are following Jesus.

What should we do? Part V

Last week at Quest, we continued our walk through the book of James while looking at the question of what we should be doing if we are really going to be followers of Jesus. As we have discussed in the past, we have noticed that there are two different aspects to the answer. There is an internal response that affects our relationship with God and the building of our character, and there is an external response that will affect our relationship with others and the actions we take in our life. This week, within that context, we looked at James chapter 4. Here is some of what we talked about:

• James addresses the idea of friendship with the world, and tells us that being a friend with the world is being an enemy with God. We talked about how we, as followers of Jesus, tend the use the word “world” in two different contexts. Sometimes we use it to mean the environment and culture that we live in. Other times we mean the people who live in the world who don’t have a relationship with Jesus. James seems to be using the first meaning of “world.” If you are friends with someone (or something) it means that you have things in common and are supportive of each other. The environment and culture of the world around us emphasizes ideas like selfishness and pride and tells us that sinful or unethical behavior is okay. These ideas are opposed to the ideas of God. If we are becoming friends with ideas and values that the world emphasizes, then we are going to be moving farther away from God. This is why being a friend of the world is being an enemy to God.

• This idea that being friends with the world means being an enemy to God doesn’t seem to fit when we talk about being friends with people in the world who don’t have a relationship with Jesus. We need to be able to build relationships with people who aren’t Christians. It is when we become friends with someone that we have the best chance to demonstrate the love of Jesus and to talk to them about Christ. The adage “people don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care” is true. A friend is much more likely to listen to what I have to say about Jesus than someone that I don’t have a relationship. Building friendships with people who don’t have a relationship with Jesus is critical to spreading Jesus’ message.

• At the same time, when followers of Christ are friends with non-believers, there still needs to be a level of separateness. We need to build relationships with people who don’t know Jesus, but when we do so, we need to let them see that we are different. We can be friends and develop relationships without participating in things that are wrong, or that show that we are friends with the world. When our non-believing friends get to know us, they should also realize that there is something different about it. If they don’t recognize that there is something different, then we should ask ourselves whether we are really being true to our relationship with God.

• There is a lot in James 4 dealing with pride. In the first part of the chapter, James talks about how God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. In the middle of the chapter he tells us that we should not judge others. When we do that, we are raising ourselves to the position of judge, which is a position that really belongs to God. So when we judge others, we are elevating our own status, which is a form of pride. At the end of the chapter, James talks about how we should not make plans to go someplace and prosper (v. 13). Again, this focuses attention on our own plans and our own abilities to accomplish things. This is another form of pride. Instead of being proud, we should be humble. Remember, being humble is not about saying that we don’t have talents or abilities. It really is about putting the interests of others, and especially the interests of God, before our own interests. When we put the interests of God first, we can receive his grace. When we put the interests of God and others first, we won’t judge others because we will understand that it isn’t our job to do that. When we put God and others first, we won’t be trying to do things for our own benefit, but will be concerned about doing the will of God.

• When we think about sin, we often think about some kind of list of things that we shouldn’t do. Sins are typically defined bad things, and we sin if we do them. This seems particularly true for those of us who come from evangelical or Pentecostal backgrounds. James tells us that this isn’t the only definition of sin. He reminds us that if we know the good that we should do, and don’t do it, it is sin. When we know that there is something good that we should do, we need to do it. If we don’t, it is sin, just the same as if we did something bad. There is no difference to God between sins of omission and sins of commission.

That should give you a feel for what we talked about in our discussion of James chapter 4. Next week we will conclude our look at this short book by focusing on James chapter 5.

What should we do? Part III

At Quest, we have been continuing to discuss the question of what we should be doing if we are really going to be followers of Jesus. We've been using the book of James to help us explore the answer to that question. As we have looked at this question, we have noticed that there really is both an internal and and external response to this question. The internal response to following Jesus is a spiritual response that affects the development of our character and our relationship with God. The external response relates to the world around us and affects our relationship with others and the actions we take in our life. In Part III of our discussion, we looked at James chapter 3. Here is some of what we discussed:

• The first part of the chapter talks a lot about the tongue and what we say. It compares the tongue to the rudder of a ship or the bit in the mouth of a horse. A rudder is small compared to the size of the ship. The bit is small compared to the size of the horse. However, both are used for control and steering. It is rudder that guides the ship to where the captain wants it to go. If you can control the rudder, you can control the ship. However, if the rudder is broken, it becomes impossible to make the ship go where you want it to. Similarly, our tongues can help us get to where we want to go in life.

• We could all think of times when we said things that caused damage to ourselves or our relationships with others. Sometimes, it's because we intentionally decide to say hurtful things. Other times it's because we were just talking, and something came out. In those cases, there was no hurt intended, but hurt certainly happened. Unfortunately, once you say something, you can't un-say it. It's out there. No matter how hard you reach or grab, you can't get it back. When we don't watch what we say, we can hurt people, and when followers of Jesus hurt people, it can drive them away from Jesus.

• So part of our response to following Jesus is going to be controlling what we say externally. This fits in with James' instruction in 1:10 that we should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. If we can consistently do those things, we should be able to watch what we say. However, this is more difficult than you might think. In fact, James tells us that "If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." (James 3:2). This is because, as Jesus said, it is "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34). As we come closer to Jesus, we should see a change in our character. As our heart changes, what comes out of our mouth should change as well.

• In the second half of the chapter, James talks about wisdom. He reminds us that the wisdom from heaven is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. (James 3:17). When we are truly following Jesus, we should see these characteristics showing up in our lives. These should be replacing the wisdom of the world, which is based in bitter envy and selfish ambition. (v. 13-16) This envy and selfish ambition lead to disorder and every evil practice.

• As we truly follow after Jesus, we should see our character change. As our character changes, we should see the things that we say and the things that we do start to change, because those things spring from our character.

That should give you a good feel for our conversation about James 3. Next time, we'll take a look at James chapter 4.

What should we do? Part II

At Quest, we have been looking at the question of "what should we do?" If we are really going to be followers of Jesus, what should we be doing? As we have looked at this question, we have noticed that there are two different aspects to the answer. There is a spiritual response to following Jesus that is largely internal and that affects the development of our character and our relationship with God. There is also an aspect of the answer that relates to the world around us. This is largely an external response that will affect our relationship with others and the actions we take in our life. We've started looking at these answers to the question "what should we do?" by looking at the book of James. Recently at Quest, we looked at James chapter 2. Here is some of what we talked about:

• In some ways, James 2 is a very easy chapter. It is very straightforward, which means that it doesn't really invite much discussion. What James is saying is very clear. The hard part about James 2 (and much of the book of James, really) is the challenge of putting into practice. It is easy to internally respond with "yeah, but..." The key is to actually put it into practice.

• One of the two major topics of the chapter is sin. Sin comes down to one of two things: either doing things that we shouldn't or not doing things that we should. A message that comes through loud and clear is that God doesn't rank sins. People have the tendency to say that some things are worse than others. Murder is considered a "worse" sin than lying. Some sins seem to even become acceptable in churches. Gossip is a good example of this. While most Christians would tell you that gossip is wrong, it is still prevalent in the church because "it's not that bad." But while sins like these are tolerated, other sins are not. Some sins are considered to be so bad that someone who committed that sin would not be welcome in the church. James tells us that this type of thinking is flawed. James 2:10 makes it clear that a sin is a sin. Whoever breaks only one part of God's law is guilty of breaking every part of God's law. God sees every sin is the same. To him gossip is the same as lying, and they are both the same as murder.

• James also address the sin of partiality. In the first part of the chapter, James addresses an issue that had become a problem for his readers. They were treating some people who came to their gatherings as better than others. They were showing special favoritism to the rich and important people who came, and they were treating newcomers who were poor badly. While the specific issue was one of treating the rich better than the poor, the general rule James lays down applies in any situation where there are different types of people. James tells us that when we show partiality towards people, we are violating the command to "love our neighbor as our self," and when we do that, we sin. (James 2:8-9). If we treat one group of people better than another group, we are not demonstrating to the group we are treating poorly. We are not loving them as we love ourselves.

• What we see is that one of our responses to having a relationship with Jesus is that we will love our neighbors as ourselves. When you think about it, most of the things that the Bible talks about as sins are violations of love toward God or people. In other words, the things that are sinful are the things where we demonstrate that we love ourselves more than God or more than others. If I am showing love toward someone, I won't kill them or steal their things. If I am demonstrating love toward Cheryl, I won't commit adultery. If we can get to the point where we are consistently showing love to everyone, the problem with sin should take care of itself. We won't be committing sin because we won't be violating the love we have toward people and God.

• The second major topic in this chapter is the balance between faith and works. James addresses the question of whether or not it is possible to have faith without works. This can be a tricky subject. Too much emphasis on works, or the things we do, leads to the place where we start thinking that we earn our relationship with God. This doesn't match what we see in the Bible about our relationship coming through grace, which is a gift that can't be earned. So the extreme response against the idea of a works-based relationship with God is to rely solely on faith, with no works at all. But James tells us that this kind of faith without works is dead. He says that the way show that we have faith is by the works that we do, or the actions we take.

• Faith and belief in God should result in action. We should live out the principles that we learn from Jesus. If we live them out, it should have an effect on the actions we take as we go around in the world we live in. We should be working to make the principles that Jesus taught come to life in the people and the situations around us. If we do that, we will demonstrate to others that our faith is alive, and that should help them to see Jesus.

That sould give you a feel for what we talked about in our discussion of James 2. In the next part of "What should we do?" we will take a look at James 3.

What should we do? Part I

At Quest, we recently started a series on the book of James. As we began the series, we started with the question of what we should be doing if we are really going to be followers of Jesus. There really are two aspects to this the answer to this question. There is an internal spiritual respons to following Jesus that will affect our character and our relationship with God. There is also an external response that will affect our relationships with others and actions we take in our lives.

In James chapter 1, we can begin to see both types of responses that should take place when we have a relationship with Jesus. James address both the internal spiritual response and the actions we should begin to take among others in the world around us. Here are some of the things that we discussed:

• We see the spiritual actions we should be taking when James says things like in verse 21, when he tells us that we should but away all filthiness and rampant wickedness. In verse 27 he tells us to remain unstained by the world. These are internal changes. Before we come to know Jesus, filthiness and wickedness are often parts of our lives. This is because the culture of the world teaches us to put ourselves first, and if doing things that make ourselves happy bothers or causes problems for other people, well that’s just too bad for them. These attitudes of the world have the tendency to stain us and to affect us, even if we are trying to be a good person. Once we decide to follow Jesus, we should have a change of character and attitude. We should put aside this selfishness and the filthy and wicked attitudes that culture teaches us are normal.

• We see the external actions we should be taking when James says things like in verse 27 when he says that “Religion that is undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit the widows and the orphans in their affliction. . .” Doing things for others, even when it is not in our best interests, is part of what it means to follow Jesus. In the society of the 1st Century, the man of the house was the principle (and usually the only) bread winner. If something happened to him, the family was left without a way to support itself until a son was able to provide for the rest of the family. This means that the “widow and the orphans” where people who were essentially helpless. James is telling us that, as followers of Jesus, we should be taking care of the people who are helpless. It is when we do this that we have a “religion that is undefiled before God.”

• This leads to some tension, however. In our culture there are widows and orphans and others who are helpless. At the same time, there are also people who aren’t helpless, but are lazy and are looking for others to take care of themselves. While James clearly says that we have the responsibility to take care of others, it is also clear from the New Testament that people do have a personal responsibility to try to avoid being a burden on others. This causes some tension because it leads to the question of how we help without enabling the lazy or the people who just want to take advantage of others. This is a particularly difficult line to draw in our culture where we don’t have the same time of easily identifiable classes that are literally helpless. This is a difficult area with no easy answers.

• James reminds us that we should be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Far too often followers of Jesus have the reputation for doing this exactly backwards. We have the reputation of being slow to hear, quick to speak, and quick to anger, especially when it comes to people who don’t know Jesus. A week ago we talked about how the earliest followers of Jesus had the favor of all of the people. When you do these things, it is easy to see how this is the case. When you are quick to listen and slow to speak, you are going to develop relationships with people. Once those relationships develop, people will be willing to listen to what you have to say, even if they initially disagree. Far too often, followers of Jesus simply tell people what they should do or think, rather than building the kind of relationships that will make people truly listen to and care about what we have to say.

• James also tells us that we need to be doers of the word, not just hearers. In fact, he compares people who only hear the message of Jesus but don’t put it into action to a person who looks in the mirror then immediately forgets what they looked like. The words and actions of Jesus and the contents of the Bible should be a mirror. They show us what we look like (or at least what we should look like) when we choose to follow Jesus. They give the picture of how we should live and what our relationships with God and others should look like. However, if we only listen, even if we say we believe it, but don’t actually put it into action, then it is as if we forgot who we are. We have forgotten what a follower of Jesus should look like and what they should do. The fact that we have heard the message of Jesus, and even the fact that we have believed it, become meaningless if we don’t put it into action.

It starts small

Last week at Quest, we continued our discussion of the Kingdom of God, especially the parables from Matthew 13 that Jesus begins with the phrase "the Kingdom of Heaven is like..." This time we looked at two similar parables that Jesus told together. He compares the Kingdom of Heave to a mustard seed (Matt. 13:31-32) and to yeast (Matt. 13:33). These are similar parables, but the differences between the two help us to see some slightly different aspects of the Kingdom. Here is some of what we discussed about these parables:

• Both a mustard seed and yeast are very small. Mustard seeds were the smallest plant seeds known to First Century farmers. Similarly, you only need a few grains of yeast in order to make a large loaf of bread rise. So both of these start small but create something or have an impact this is much, much larger.

• The impact of the Kingdom of Heaven should be visible to others. While a mustard seed is the smallest garden seed, it creates a plant that can grow to be 10 feet tall. If you think of a garden being planted behind a house, you would be able to see the tops of the mustard plant from in front of the house. There would be no hiding that it was being grown. The Kingdom of Heaven should have that kind of impact in our lives. If we have a relationship with Jesus, the effects of the Kingdom should be apparent in our lives. Even if we wanted to try to hide it in the "back yard" of our lives, it should be visible to everyone.

• The Kingdom of Heaven should be useful and beneficial to others. Jesus tells us that once the mustard plant has grown, the birds of the air come and perch in its branches. (Matt. 13:32). Outsiders, who have no direct connection with the Kingdom of Heaven, can receive a benefit from it. And this impact should extend beyond simply other people who are themselves connected to the Kingdom of Heaven. It is interesting to note that Ezekiel uses the phrase "birds of the air" to refer to Gentiles, who would be people who did not know God. Therefore, when the Kingdom of Heaven is working is us, and when we are operating within it, it should have a positive impact on people who do not yet know God.

• Once the Kingdom of Heaven starts its work, you can't stop it. Once you plant the seed, it is going to grow. Short of cutting the plant down, there is nothing that the gardener can do to keep the plant from growing, or to make sure that it only grows 3 feet high. This idea is even more evident in the Parable of the Yeast. Once a person starts mixing yeast into dough, the process can't be stopped. That person can't remove the yeast. They can't contain it to only one part of the bread. The yeast works its way into the entire loaf. Similarly, the Kingdom of Heaven should work its way into all parts of our lives.

That should give you a feel for our discussion of the Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast. next week, we will continue to move through Matthew 13 by looking at the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Near

Recently at Quest, we started to explore a new topic. We had been looking at the idea of forgiveness and discussing the importance of forgiveness between ourselves and God and between ourselves and others. The last aspect of that topic we discussed was the idea of repentance. Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached the message “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 3:2 and 4:17) Over the next several weeks, we are going to be discussing what all this idea of the “kingdom of heaven” or the “kingdom of God” encompasses. Here is some of what we talked about as we introduced this idea:

· The word “near” is interesting because it has a couple of different meanings. It can refer to either location or time. Both of those are relevant when thinking about the “kingdom of God.” We can really think in terms of there being two aspects to the “kingdom.” There is the part that is coming in the future when the followers of Jesus will be together with him for eternity. There also is the aspect of living out the message of Jesus in the world around us. The future that we will spend with Jesus is heaven is “near” in the sense of time. It is coming, and (at least in comparison to eternity) it is coming soon. And the way we represent Jesus and live out his message here on earth is “near” in terms of location because it is all around us.

· It is important to remember and to balance these two different meanings of “near.” We need to both be prepared for the future kingdom and to live out the message of Jesus here on earth. Focusing primarily (or exclusively) on one or the other can lead to real problems. If our primary emphasis is on the future kingdom, we run the risk of not really living out the message of Jesus here on earth. It can become easy to ignore issues of injustice that were obviously important to Jesus when he was alive. At the same time, if we put too much emphasis on the kingdom in this world, we run the risk of creating a very legalistic form of Christianity that looks only at whether or not a person is doing the right things, and checking the right boxes, and doesn’t look at the heart. We need a balanced view of the kingdom of God that recognizes the kingdom both in this world and in the next.

· When going back to the Greek expressions that are translated as “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of Heaven” imply that there are a couple of different aspects to the definition. In one sense, the kingdom of God is made up of everywhere that God is sovereign, which means that it is everywhere. At the same time, there are people who are in rebellion against God. So the “kingdom of God” can also be used to refer to those places where the sovereignty of God is recognized; that is, in the lives of those who follow God. To illustrate this distinction, I used the example of the Civil War. According to the Union, it was not possible for a state to leave the U.S.A., so the Confederacy was still part of the United States. However, because of the rebellion, the authority of the United States was only recognized in the North. Similarly, while God is sovereign everywhere, we will really only see his kingdom operating among the people who want to follow him.

· The ideas of repentance and the kingdom of God go together. In fact, both Jesus and John give the nearness of the kingdom of God as the reason to repent. As we talked about last week, repenting involves turning away from the old life and going in a new direction. This goes hand in hand with the kingdom of God because the kingdom of God operates on different principles and has different priorities than the rest of the world. When we choose to become a part of the kingdom of God, we need to realign our principles and priorities with those of the kingdom. In order to do this, we need to turn away from, or repent from, our old way of looking at the world. It is only when we do this that we can become an effective part of the kingdom of God.
Over the next several weeks, we will begin to explore these principles and priorities of the kingdom of God, and we will see how Jesus intends for this kingdom to operate.

Forgiving like God

At Quest recently, we’ve been discussing forgiveness. One of the stories that we’ve looked it is the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-35). In this story, Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother who sins against him. Up to seven times? Jesus responds by saying “not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:22). Jesus then tells the story of a servant who has his own huge debt cancelled, but won’t cancel the smaller debt a fellow servant owed him. In this story, we can see forgiveness working in several different directions. Here is some of what we talked about:

· Peter thinks he is being generous when he offers to forgive someone 7 times. If you think about it, from a human perspective this does seem generous. If the same person does the same thing to you 7 times, and you forgive them each time, then most people are going to think that you have gone far beyond the call of duty. Jesus responds by say that when you reach that point, you’ve only begun. We need to continue to forgive. This is hard to do. But this can also be encouraging because it also means that no matter how many times we sin against God, if we repent he is willing to continue to forgive us.

· We can see two sets of relationships in this story. First, there is the relationship between the servant and his king. This is similar to the relationship between us and God. There is also the relationship between the servant and his fellow servant. That is similar to the relationship between us and other people. So in this story, we can see how forgiveness works both vertically (between us and God) and horizontally (between us and other people).

· The debt we owe God is far beyond our ability to every repay. The servant owed the king millions of dollars. Yet the average worker only made a few dollars per day. There is no possible way that the servant could have made enough money to repay the king. Similarly, the damage caused in the relationship between us and God that is caused by our sin is beyond our ability to repair. We can’t possibly repay that debt.

· The servant asked for a payment plan. He went to the king and asked for time to pay the debt back. The king responded by erasing the debt altogether. Often, what we are looking for with God is to develop a way to repay the debt we owe him. But God doesn’t work that we. He doesn’t need us to repay the debt or to earn forgiveness. He gives it to us for free. Sometimes this can cause us problems because we don’t feel like we deserve forgiveness. It is human nature to want to do something to “earn” God’s forgiveness. But the truth is, we can’t. The debt is so big, there is nothing we can do to earn it. The only way for it to happen is for it to be something God just does.

· The servant was owed 100 denarii by a fellow servant. At that time, a denarii was a day’s wages. Compared to what the servant owed the king, this was a very small amount of money. On the other hand, it would be between 3 and 4 month’s salary. This is still a significant amount of money, although it is an amount that a person could conceivably pay back. It is clearly something that a person would miss, and not being paid back would hurt. The lesson here is that we need to forgive others when they hurt us, even when there is real hurt. Even if, from a human standpoint, the person doesn’t deserve our forgiveness, we should respond by being forgiving because God has forgiven us so much.

· God’s forgiveness of us is conditional. What is interesting is that it isn’t conditional on us not doing things in the future that need forgiveness. It isn’t conditional on us being good. It isn’t conditional on anything involved in our relationship with God. It is conditional on us forgiving others. Because we have received forgiveness, our natural response should be to offer forgiveness to others.

This story is both encouraging and challenging. The story is encouraging because it shows us how forgiving God is toward us. He is willing to forgive our debts that are far beyond our ability to ever repay, and he offers this forgiveness without requiring us to do anything to earn it. And it is encouraging because he is willing to forgive us repeatedly. However, it is challenging because he asks us to live up to the same standards. It is challenging because it sets a very high standard for us when it comes to forgiving others. It can be hard to continue to forgive people who sin against us. It can be hard to forgive people who hurt us badly. But we have the responsibility to forgive in those circumstances.

The full extent of humility

Last week at Quest we continued our discussion about humility. This time, we looked at a couple of well known stories. First we talked about Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, and then we discussed Jesus feeding of the 5,000. While these stories are talked about often, we don't always look at them from the perspective of humility. However, once you start thinking about how you can see humility in action in these stories, you can see it at work on several levels.

Here is some of what we talked about:

• Jesus is humble in the way that he responds to his mother's request. When Mary learns that the wedding feast is out of wine, she knows that Jesus can take care of the problem. Jesus responds by asking why she has come to him because his time had not yet come. (John 2:4). While he seems to be indicating that it isn't time for him to start his public ministry yet, he honors his mothers request. This demonstrates humility because he is willing to do what Mary asks, even though it might not match his timing for doing things publicly.

• This is a big miracle. Jesus isn't just turning a pitcher of water into wine. He has the servants fill 6 jars, each holding between 20 and 30 gallons. In other words, he is creating somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of wine. Yet he does it very quietly. The only people who knew what had happened were Jesus, Mary, the servants who filled the water jars, and Jesus' disciples. Almost no one even knew that there was a problem with the wine running out, let alone that the problem had been fixed. Even if he didn't want to actually broadcast the miracle, Jesus could easily have said something like "I've got this taken care of, you don't need to worry about it any more." That is what a lot of people would have done. It is easy to want people to know what we have done, even if we don't want them to make a big deal about it. But that isn't being humble. Jesus shows true humility. He doesn't even create a miracle that everyone will know about, even if they don't know who did it. Instead, he takes care of the problem in a way that no one will recognize what actually happened.

• In the feeding of the 5,000, we see a similar thing. Jesus takes 5 loaves and 2 fish, and very quietly turns them into enough food to feed everyone. He doesn't announce what he is doing. He doesn't tell the people who are eating where the food came from. It is only the disciples (and possibly only Philip and Andrew) and the boy who donated the lunch that knew what was going on. We again see Jesus not trying to take any kind of credit for the miracle. Instead, he performs the miracle in a way that people won't know what he had done.

• Jesus even goes one step further. Once the people figured out what Jesus had done, they recognized that he must be "the Prophet who is to come into the world," and they wanted to make him a king by force. (John 6:14-15). Jesus responds to this by running away from the crowd and withdrawing to a mountain by himself. Here we see humility taken to the extreme. Jesus isn't just trying to avoid public attention for his miracle. When the people respond by trying to force honor on him, he doesn't let them. Often, even when we try to be humble, when people try to make a big deal out of what we have done, we eventually respond by saying "yeah, you're right. It is kind of a big deal." We allow people to give us honor, even though we weren't actually looking for it. Jesus demonstrates the ultimate in humility by refusing even that honor.

Jesus doesn't just act humbly. He is humble. When he does big, impressive miracles, he isn't looking for credit or honor from people. Even when people try to give him that honor anyway, he still refuses it.

Often, even when we are acting humbly, we are still hoping that someone will notice what we have done and to give us some credit for it. The truth is, as long as we are hoping that we will receive credit, even if we aren't actively trying to get it, we are not truly being humble. Yet if we are trying to be like Jesus, we should try to be humble like he was humble. And that means not caring about whether or not we receive credit for the things we have done.

Being saved from our sins

I've started reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book, and I really like it. I'll blog more completely about it once I'm done, but there was something I read just as my train was pulling into the station this morning that really struck me.

He said, "Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin." (Chan, Francis. Crazy Love. (Colorado Springs, Colo.: David C. Cook), p. 68.)

This got me thinking about the difference between being saved from our sins and being saved from the penalty of our sins. The American Evangelical church often puts the emphasis on Jesus' work in taking on himself the penalty for the sins of everyone. It is clear from the Bible that Jesus did this, and that if we have faith in Jesus we no longer have to pay the penalty for our sins.

I think that the problem comes when we begin to think that the penalty is the only thing the Bible means when it says that Jesus will "save his people from their sins." There is so much more to it than that. Being saved from the penalty of sin is certainly a part, but only a part. It also implies that we will be saved from committing the sins in the first place. It means that we will be saved from the consequences in the next world, but it also means that we will be saved from the consequences of our sins in this world.

Too often, followers of Christ focus almost exclusively on getting to heaven and how wonderful it will be once we get there. When we do that, it becomes easy to forget that we should be having an impact on the world we are living in, here and now. If we are truly following Jesus, we should try to do everything we can to erase the affects of sin in the world we are currently living in, not just in the next one.

Lessons from Abraham's servant

At Quest, we have spent the last couple of weeks using the stories of Abraham to get a picture of what God wants the relationship between God and people to look like. This time, we moved on to the story in Genesis 24 about Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for Isaac. To summarize the story, Abraham’s servant goes back to land Abraham originally came. When he gets there, he prays that God will bring the person God intends him to choose to the well and that the young woman will offer to give him and his camels water. The first young woman he talks is Rachel, and she does exactly what he prayed for, and she “just happens” to be from the family of Abraham’s uncle. Rachel’s family acknowledges that this is something from God, and they send her with the servant to be Isaac’s wife. Again, there are a number of lessons that we can learn here:

· God listens to us when we talk to him, even if we aren’t anyone who is “important.” One of the things that we see here is that God doesn’t only listen to Abraham. It isn’t Abraham who prays that God will work in finding the right woman. It is the servant. And God hears and answers this prayer, even though he is only a servant. You don’t have to be important for God to be interested in you or to listen to you. He will respond to anyone who wants a relationship with him.

· At least sometimes, God begins to work to answer our prayers even before we ask. In this case, Rachel was there even before the servant finished praying. (Genesis 24:15) This means that God had set events in motion to answer that prayer well before the servant actually started praying it.

· The servant recognized the work of God. Once he knew that his prayer had been answered, the first thing he did, even before he explained who he was to Rachel, was to bow down and worship God and to thank God for answering his prayer. I think this gives us a good model for how we should respond when God answers our prayers.

· We also see the importance of relationships with God in our interactions with others. While it is unstated, it seems fairly certain that at least one of Abraham’s motivations for looking for a wife for Isaac among his family is that he didn’t want Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman, who would follow the Canaanite gods and who would teach her children to do the same. Abraham’s family seems to have at least some understanding of who God is, and they recognize that the hand of God is at work in the situation. Because of this, they do not hesitate to send Rachel to be Isaac’s wife. It is much easier for people who have at least some relationship with God to recognize and understand when God is working in situations.

Those are the highlights of our discussions over the last couple of weeks. In both of these stories we see that God cares about people and will provide for the people who follow him. Next week we will continued looking at stories from Genesis and what they can teach us about the relationship between God and people.

Weekly Bible Readings - April 1-7

For those of you who are reading the Bible along with Quest, here are this week's readings.

Tuesday, April 1 – Numbers 31:25-32:42, Luke 8:40-9:9, Psalm 40:1-8

Wednesday, April 2 – Numbers 33 & 34, Luke 9:10-27, Proverbs 8:22-31

Thursday, April 3 – Numbers 35 & 36, Luke 9:28-56, Psalm 40:9-17

Friday, April 4 – Deuteronomy 1:1-2:23, Luke 9:57-10:24, Psalm 41:1-6

Saturday, April 5 – Deuteronomy 2:24-4:14, Luke 10:25-11:4, Psalm 41:7-13

Sunday, April 6 – Deuteronomy 4:15-5:33, Luke 11:5-32, Proverbs 8:32-36

Monday, April 7 – Deuteronomy 6, 7 & 8, Luke 11:33-54, Psalm 42:1-6

Lessons from Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac

At Quest the recently, we continued looking the pictures we can get of what God intends for the relationship between God and people to look like. This time, we looked at Genesis 22, where Abraham is asked to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God. Here is some of what we talked about learning from that story:

· God wants to be the top priority in our lives. There are times that he will test us to determine if other things are more important to us than God is. Isaac was the son that God had promised Abraham, and it is obvious that Isaac was the most important thing on earth in Abraham’s life. God put Abraham in a position to have to choose between God and Isaac. We can see the same thing in the story of the Rich Young Ruler from Matthew 19:16-30. In that case, Jesus asked the man to choose between God and money, but in this case he couldn’t leave behind his money. I think that God will continue to test his followers to see if God is more important to us than anything else, including things like family, relationships and money.

· We God tells us to do something, we should go. Abraham didn’t wait around, or try to convince God to change his mind. God told him to go, so Abraham packed up that night and left in the morning.

· God wants us to have faith in him. Abraham knew that God had promised that Isaac was going to be his heir and that it would be Isaac’s line would be the one that God would bless. Yet here is God telling Abraham to go kill his son. Even though Abraham didn’t understand why God was telling him to do this, he still had faith and trust in God. In fact, Hebrews 11:17-19 tells us that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead.

· If we have faith, God will provide for us. When Abraham raised the knife to sacrifice Isaac, God stopped him and provided a ram for the sacrifice instead. Abraham knew that Isaac was the child promised by God, and he had faith that God would find a way for that to still happen, even though he didn’t see it. God responded by providing a way.

· We can also see a parallel between this story about Abraham and Isaac and with what God will do with Jesus. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son for the sake of God. Similarly, in the New Testament, we see that God is willing to sacrifice his son Jesus for the sake of people. In both cases, the willingness to sacrifice demonstrates the depth of the love that is intended to exist between God and people.

Weekly Bible Readings - March 25-31

For those of you who are reading the Bible along with Quest, here are this week's readings.

Tuesday, March 25 – Numbers 19:1-21:3, Luke 5:33-6:11, Proverbs 8:1-11

Wednesday, March 26 – Numbers 21:4-22:20, Luke 6:12-36, Psalm 37:21-31

Thursday, March 27 – Numbers 22:21-23:26, Luke 6:37-7:10, Psalm 37:32-40

Friday, March 28 – Numbers 23:27-25:18, Luke 7:11-35, Psalm 38:1-11

Saturday, March 29 – Numbers 26:1-27:11, Luke 7:36-50, Proverbs 8:12-21

Sunday, March 30 – Numbers 27:12-29:11, Luke 8:1-18, Psalm 38:12-22

Monday, March 31 – Numbers 29:12-31:24, Luke 8:19-39, Psalm 39:1-13

Weekly Bible Readings - March 18-24

For those of you who are reading the Bible through with Quest, here are the readings for the next week:

Tuesday, Mar.18 Numbers 7:1-65, Luke 2:21-40, Psalm 35:1-10

Wednesday, Mar. 19 Numbers 7:66-9:14, Luke 2:41-52, Psalm 35:11-18

Thursday, Mar. 20 Numbers 9:15-11:3, Luke 3:1-22, Psalm 35:19-28

Friday, Mar. 21 Numbers 11:4-13:25, Luke 3:23-4:13, Proverbs 7:21-27

Saturday, Mar. 22 Numbers 13:26-14-45, Luke 4:14-37, Psalm 36

Sunday, Mar. 23 Numbers 15:1-16:35, Luke 4:38-5:16, Psalm 37:1-9

Monday, Mar. 24 Numbers 16:36-18:32, Luke 5:17-32, Psalm 37:10-20

Lessons from God's visit to Abraham

At Quest, we continued looking at the life of Abraham. Abraham, and his interactions with God, can tell us a lot about what God wanted the relationship between God and people to look like in the aftermath of sin entering the picture. This time we looked at the long story in Genesis 18 and 19 where God comes and visits Abraham, then Abraham pleads for Sodom (where his nephew Lot lived), and finally God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah but saves Lot. In this one story, we see a number of different aspects in the relationship between God and people.

• Once again, we see that God is interested in an actual, personal relationship with people. In this case, God actually shows up at Abraham’s house. God has dinner with Abraham and has conversations with him. It is also worth noting that, in this case, it isn’t Abraham going to and pursing God. God is coming to where Abraham is to interact with him. So we see God pursuing the relationship with Abraham. So God isn’t just some aloof presence waiting for us to come to him. He wants to actually pursue a relationship with us.

• As a side note, in Abraham’s treatment of the visitors, we see a perfect example of someone loving their neighbor in the sense that Jesus talked about in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37). Three people show up unannounced at Abraham’s house, and before he knows who they are, he essentially demands that they let him make them dinner. He brings them bread and steak. However, when they show up, the bread is still flour – 5 gallons of flour, actually. And the steaks are still walking around in the pasture. He doesn’t just share his dinner with them. He fixes an extravagant meal from scratch. Then when they are eating, Abraham doesn’t join them. Instead, he stands under a tree, waiting. In other words, in spite of his wealth and power, Abraham acts as the servant of these men who he has never seen before while they eat a banquet of the finest food he can serve them. That is about the best possible example of loving your neighbor.

• God doesn’t just want interaction with Abraham. He actually wants to include Abraham in his planning session. God is essentially having a war counsel. He decides to have it on Abraham’s front lawn and invites Abraham to be a part of it. He actually begins that part of the discussion by saying that he can’t keep Abraham in the dark about what he is about to do. (Genesis 18:17-19). Because of his relationship with Abraham, he feels like he needs to let Abraham know what is going on. Think about that. God is interested enough in the people who follow him to want them to be in on what he plans on doing.

• God cares about Abraham’s opinion. When God tells Abraham that he is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham realizes that Lot’s life is on the line. So Abraham asks God if he would spare Sodom if he could find 50 righteous people living there. (Genesis 18:23-26). He then continues to negotiate with God until they get down to 10 people. (Genesis 18:27-33). If God can find even 10 righteous people in Sodom, he will save the city. God cares about what Abraham wants, and he is even willing to change his plans because his friend Abraham asks him to. God really cares about the opinions and desires of the people who have a relationship with him.

• When the angels show up in Sodom, Lot treats them much the same way as Abraham did. It is in a city context, rather than a country one, but Lot offers them a meal, a place to stay, and all the protection that he can offer. (Genesis 19:1-9). He is even willing to risk the well-being, and potentially the lives, of his children to protect these men who he has never met before. Like Abraham, Lot is demonstrating love for his neighbors in the sense that Jesus talked about. Compare this to the way that the rest of the people of Sodom wanted to treat the visitors. (Genesis 19:5). Their desire to rape the visitors is about as far from demonstrating love as possible.

• God cares enough about Abraham to give him what he wanted, even though it wasn’t really what he asked for. When Abraham was bargaining for Sodom, what he was really trying to do was to rescue his nephew Lot. When God couldn’t find 10 righteous people, he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. But he rescued Lot, which is what Abraham really wanted. God really does care about what the people who have a relationship with him want. And when the things we want are right, he is willing to provide those wants, although it might not happen quite the way we thought it would.

Those are the highlights of our discussion about God’s visit to Abraham and Sodom and about what this story tells us concerning God’s desire for his relationship with people. Next week we will continue looking at some of the events in the life of Abraham to see what they can teach us.