Dust

We had a full house today in Sunday School.  Some students are in from school because the semester is over.  It is good to have a full class and we had a good lesson today.  It was called Dust and gave so many good insights into the way the 1st century Christians and Jews would have understood some things that were happening.  I will try to share a few of them with you this week.

The first thing we learned was to think about Jesus being a Jewish rabbi and what it took to become a rabbi.  Boys received their education and it consisted of memorizing the first 5 books of the Bible.  They are called the Torah by the Jews and are the most important scriptures because they were written by Moses.  When this was finished, by the time a boy was 9 or 10, the best students were selected to further their education.  This phase required them to memorize all the rest of the Old Testament.  Pretty mind boggling, if you ask me.  Now when the boys were 14 or 15, most boys studied a trade and became an apprentice.  But the best students went to a rabbi and asked to be a disciple.  The rabbi evaluated the student to see if he had what it took to know what he knows, do what he does and BE LIKE HIM.

Now when we see Jesus call his disciples, we have greater insight into what was happening.  When he calls them he is choosing men who are not the brightest students.  They didn't make the cut and get selected to study under another rabbi.  And so this new rabbi shows up and says, "Come, follow me."  He's telling them he thinks they have what it takes to be his disciple.  He has evaluated them and is telling them they can know what he knows, do what he does, and BE LIKE HIM.

No wonder they dropped everything and followed him.  

More later.

I have neglected my blog the last couple of weeks and so, with Alyssa's prodding, here I go again.

Last Sunday we had a lesson called Luggage. It was all about what a burden it is to be seeking revenge against others when we have been wronged. When we fail to forgive and seek vengeance what we are saying to God is that we don't trust Him to do what needs to be done to that person. So we take over God's job, like we can do it better than He can.

As a part of the lesson I spoke a little about the steps we must take to forgive someone as outlined by Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Life. However, in the course of talking about this I felt like I was having a hard time saying what I meant. I mean, words were coming out, but I felt a little like the girl in the clip at this youtube address:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww


So with that said, let me summarize here what Rick Warren had to say about the steps we should take when we have been wronged OR when we have wronged someone else.

1. Talk to God before talking to the person.
Tell God about your frustation or how the incident happened. Ventilate vertically.

2. Always take the initiative.
God always expects YOU to make the first move. See Matthew 5:23-24.
"Delay only deepens resentment and makes matters worse....Acting quickly also reduces the spiritual damage to you. The Bible says sin, including unresolved conflict, blocks our fellowship with God and keeps our prayers from being answered, besides making us miserable."

3. Sympathize with their feelings.
"Don't try to talk people out of how they feel at first. Just listen and let them unload emotionally without being defensive."

4. Confess your part of the conflict.
This requires humility in acknowledging that, whether intentional or not, most of the time we have had some part in causing this problem.

5. Attack the problem, not the person.
"Don't use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you." Eph. 4:29

6. Cooperate as much as possible.

7. Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution.
"Reconciliation focuses on the relationship, while resolution focuses on the problem. When we focus on reconciliation, the problem loses significance and often becomes irrelevant."

What good thoughts! And how hard they are to put into practice. Let us all strive to live by these principles.

Romans 12:18 - "Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody."

Noise

I am sitting here on Thanksgiving morning in my silent house.  Everyone is still asleep and it is so quiet.  So unlike how it will be in an hour or so.  I have been up and read my Bible and some other things I am reading, and I am so thankful for this quiet time.

This week in Sunday School we listened to Rob Bell talk about noise in our lives.  We are surrounded by noise, both auditory and visual, 24/7.  It takes a profound and sustained effort to create quiet in our lives.  And it is in this quiet that God speaks.  Have you found your quiet spot?  What are you doing to get yourself in a position to hear God?  What small change can you make to begin a habit that will lead to quiet?

1 Kings 19

¹¹ The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." 

      Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹²After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.(Some translators say the idea here is "silence.") ¹³When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. 
      Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

In this holiday time it is especially easy to get lost in the "noise."  Make finding some quiet time a priority during this season.

Sunday

On Sunday we had  a good group again...all regulars.  Always good to see them all out.  This week our DVD was called "Sunday."  Rob Bell said about church, "Is this really what God had in mind?"

When you think about church on Sunday, first of all, do you think about how the service is organized?  Why do we do the things we do?  Why do we do it the same every week?  Mostly we keep it the same because change makes people uncomfortable.  And we ALL like to be comfortable.  But we are all unique, and different things are meaningful to us.  In the book Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas identifies nine ways people draw near to God.  Naturalists are most inspired to love God out-of-doors, in natural settings.  Sensates love God with their senses and appreciate beautiful worship services that involve their sight, taste, smell, and touch, not just their ears.  Traditionalists draw closer to God through rituals, liturgies, symbols, and unchanging structures.  Ascetics prefer to love God in solitude and simplicity.  Activists love God through confronting evil, battling injustice, and working to make the world a better place.  Caregivers love God by loving others and meeting their needs.  Enthusiasts love God through celebration.  Contemplatives love God through adoration.  Intellectuals love God by studying with their minds. (Taken from Purpose Driven Life)

I see myself strongly in some of these descriptions and much less in others.  I'm sure that's true for everyone.  But I think we really need to make a greater effort to incorporate each of these into our services from time to time.  I know it will make the worship more meaningful and give us a variety that will speak to us in different ways.  And we need to get more comfortable with changes so that we can give others what they need.

Trees

This week in Sunday School we had 3 regulars and a new couple in our class.  We enjoyed to ideas they brought to the class and the discussion they engaged in.

This weeks DVD was called "Trees."  It talked about the tree in the Garden of Eden and then the tree from Revelation that will be in heaven.  Rob Bell said, "We live between two trees."  But the point was about how we live.  If all we are doing is waiting for a new life and all the good things we will experience in heaven, if our main goal is taking everyone we can with us to this new and wonderful place (worthy goal though it is), then we have put aside the wonder of living the abundant life now.  Too many people become Christians and act like the event of their salvation is the end when it is only the beginning.  It is the beginning of a journey the goal of which is to bring God's love for everyone and everything to life.  It is to live out "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."  And in doing so we bring abundant life to those around us and attract them to the God who loves them beyond their imagination. 

 

Flame

We had 4 in class today. One new student...a welcome addition. It is always helpful to have someone come who is willing to talk. It makes class much more interesting. Today's lesson was called Flame and was about relationships and sex. This is certainly not the easiest topic to address, but it is most assuredly a topic that they need to have a biblical understanding of in order to honor God in this area of their lives.

We talked about the three dimensions that a relationship is designed by God to have. The first is identified by the Hebrew word "raya". It pertains to being friends, soulmates; and we discussed how this is where a relationship needs to begin. The second Hebrew word is "ahava" and this word denotes a committment of the will in loving the other person. This is the "'til death do us part" part of the relationship. The third word is "dod" and identifies the sexual part of the marriage relationship. This is where many young people in our culture start their relationships and obviously this causes great problems.

We discussed how so many times we as humans mess this up by trying to get satisfaction from one of these areas(flames) without engaging the others. For example, adultery certainly involves "dod" but hardly ever includes "ahava" or "raya." But God intended for us to find in our marriage the great satisfaction of having the three flames combine into a beautiful fire that warms us and shines its light for others to follow.

Great thoughts on an important subject for these young people. They aren't going to hear these ideas in our culture if they don't hear them from us. The film ended with these words:

"May you honor the way God created you.
May you have a profound sense of respect for the fact that you are a deeply spiritual and mysterious being, and that love is ultimately a profoundly spiritual thing.
May you realize that the three flames are meant to burn together.
And may you discover the big flame."

Quote 2

"To  grasp the ironic brilliance of Jesus' response, it's helpful to know that the Jews of this time were deeply offended by currency that bore the image of the emperor.  They saw it  not only as egotistical on the part of the emperor but also as a direct violation of the commandment against making images (Ex.20:4; Lev. 26:1).  Only God can make an image of himself, and he did so when he made humans. (Gen. 1:26-27).

"Jesus ingeniously linked the issue of pagan egotism and idolatry with the issue of paying taxes.  with a tinge of sarcasm (I imagine Jesus with a wry smily giving this illustration), Jesus was in essence saying, "You of course believe this coin is an egotistical and idolatrous offense to God.  So why should we who are God's people fight with each other over how much of THIS we should keep or give back to the egotistical, idol-making offenders?"  The thing people should rather be concerned with, Jesus is saying, is whether or not they are giving to God what bears HIS image and what therefore belongs wholly to him--namely, their very lives.  Indeed, Jesus was ironically suggesting that  an inappropriate preoccupation with what we should do with Caesar's image may reflect a heart that is insufficiently preoccupied with what should be done with God's image.  Even if someone comes up with the 'correct' position on paying taxes (is there one?), what good does it do her if she loses her soul (Mark 8:36)."