1^st Sunday in April (Week 14) Christian’s Mission (2 Timothy 1:1-2:13 and 4:1-5; Proverbs 2:1-22; Acts 21-26 and John 21 and 1 & 2 Timothy)

Overview

This is the last month in the Disciple Cycle, and you may wish to plan now for a celebration for all of your leaders who have participated with such discipline and commitment.

As Paul matured in his faith (and yes, even an apostle like Paul was always growing and maturing in faith!) he became more preoccupied with exhorting his followers to endure, persist, and remain strong. Already the Christian movement was beginning to pay a price for its very success … and this is true for churches in the contemporary world today. So long as the church was weak, claimed few adherents, and transformed no lives, the general public and officialdom did not care. Yet once the church (then and now) successfully multiplied disciples and actually transformed lives, the authorities and corporations and officialdoms feel threatened. Paul already saw the coming persecution and prejudice, and began preparing his followers.

Team Meditation (Proverbs 2:1-22)

According to the ancients, true wisdom lies in the “fear of the Lord” and the “knowledge of God”. This is very foreign to us, for we have been raised in the public education philosophy of John Dewey, the scientific and technological world, and the conviction that “knowledge is power”. Why else would we pursue knowledge, if not for more power? We want to “know things”, because then we can “control things”, and make our lives better, safer, more productive, and so on. So the idea that true wisdom lies not in power, but in powerlessness, is foreign. Yet the ancients believed that true wisdom lay in the “fear” of God … awe, respect, surrender, obedience, and yes, even fear, toward the will of God. The art and challenge of living lie in aligning yourself with God’s purposes, and being part of God’s plan. The “knowledge of God” that we seek is not to understand the “how” of life, but the “why” of life. It is to discern the motivation and source of existence, and the purpose and destiny of living. These are the secrets ignored by modern people … and look where it has got us? Pandemics, wars, victimization, global warming and more! Now is the time to seek true wisdom.

Worship Theme (2 Timothy 1:1-2:13 and 4:1-5)

2 Timothy 2:10-13   ¹⁰ Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with its eternal glory.  ¹¹ The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him;  ¹² if we endure, we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;  ¹³ if we are faithless, he remains faithful -- for he cannot deny himself.

About 200 years after Paul’s death, the controversy over allowing “second repentance” would shake the Christian church. Even before that time it would be an issue, but not in such a large scale. The controversy erupted following every persecution of the church, culminating in the attempted suppression of Julian the Apostate after the death of Constantine. The problem was that a large number of Christians abandoned their faith, and swore allegiance to the emperor as divine, in order to escape financial hardship, imprisonment, or even death. After it was over, most of the Christian sought to return to the church. This left the faithful remnant with a question: Should they be readmitted? Eventually, forgiveness won out. It was based on Paul’s more mature understanding of the original sin and weakness of humans, and the triumphant power of God. Grace would never be deserved, and even we deny Christ, God will never forsake us. This same issue is emerging once again in the Christian movement, because persecution and prejudice is growing in North America, as also in Africa, Asia, and Europe. How broad is your forgiveness?

Small Group Discussion (Acts 21-26 and John 21 and 1 & 2 Timothy)

Read John 21 aloud. Imagine what it must have been like for the disciples. They were grieving the death of Jesus … and then had some relief to discover he was alive … but now they thought the great adventure was all over and they could return to their old livelihoods. And suddenly Jesus was back … calling them to “follow” just as he did years before. And this time, it was even more radical.

Make a list … a good, thoughtful, serious list, of all the things, people, places, events, habits, careers, ambitions, and goals that you hold most dear in life. Meditate on each one of them … and then answer the question: “Do you love ME more than these?” Do you love Christ even more than all these things? And what does that mean? What risks might that entail?

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2^nd Sunday in April (Week 15) Christian’s Mission (Colossians 3:1-17; Psalm 121; Acts 27-28 and Colossians 1-4)

Overview

Before God calls us into Christian mission, God calls us into Christian living. Mission requires more than words and deeds. It requires modeling and mentoring. You have to show people Christ, by behaving like Christ. You have to mentor people into faith, which means you have to have the credibility of living the faith. It is actually quite easy to do good deeds and say right words, and if we stop there the Christian movement will plateau and decline. This is exactly what has happened in the 20^th century. We must go further to model the spiritual life, so that others will actually imitate Jesus, believe the good news, and by changing their daily behavior change the world. Salvation does not lie in public policy, protest movements, or great sermons. It lies in daily living in imitation of Jesus.

Team Meditation (Psalm 121)

We often say we look to the Lord for strength. But do we really? Are there not many other people, programs, social safety nets, and financial investments that are our real source of strength?

Colossians 3:2-11   ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  ³ For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  ⁴ When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  ^{…  11} Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.

Note that Paul does not say that you will die, but that you have died. You have died to sin, and been born again in Christ. The more you open yourself to be filled by Christ … through prayer, meditation, conversation with brother and sister Christians, labors of love, and service to strangers … the more Christ fills you. You become less anxious, less afraid, and less worried … but you trust more and more that no matter how dire things get, God will be there to rescue you.

Worship Theme (Colossians 3:1-17)

Colossians 3:12-17   ¹² Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience,  ¹³ forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.  ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Small Group Discussion (Acts 27-28 and Colossians 1-4)

Although the epistle to the Colossians begins like a sermon or a doctrinal treatise, it ends on an extraordinarily personal note. Paul commends a list of friends by first name, and exhorts his readers by first name. There is a clear sense of camaraderie, like soldiers serving a common cause, or like travelers risking dangers to arrive at a common destination. Imagine yourselves in such a companionship. What are the words that you most want to hear from your mentor? What are the words you most want to say to those you love? Say them. Say them aloud. Say them in the company gathered around you. If you feel too shy, then write them down anonymously, and then read them together. Pray that you can hear these words … and say these words … in the week that comes.

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3rd Sunday in April (Week 16) Christian’s Mission (Romans 1:16-17 and 5:1-11; Psalm 42 and 56; Romans 1-5 and Revelation 1-3)

Overview

Faith is revealed in adversity. It is one thing to trust in God at times of peace; sitting in the church board room; reflecting on the scriptures in your home; confident in you will awaken healthy, happy, and still employed in the morning. It is another thing to trust in God at times of anxiety; sitting in the hospital waiting room, forlorn, and uncertain if you will eat in the morning. It is not really true that God deliberately sends us bad experiences our way simply to test our faith, but it is certainly true that God’s adversity is inevitable this side of heaven and that we really do not know the reality of our conviction until we apply it in times of trouble. Wiser people will be modest about how strong their faith is until they have found strength in it in adversity. But the wisest will be confident, not in their faith, but in God’s faithfulness, for even when we fail, God will help.

Team Meditation (Psalm 42 and 56)

 Psalm 56:9-11  This I know, that God is for me.  ¹⁰ In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise,  ¹¹ in God I trust without a fear. What can man do to me?

I often wonder who decided to place the motto “In God we trust” on the currency of the United States. Presumably it was one of the founding fathers of the constitution, and presumably they were expressing their conviction that enlightened democracy would work if everybody unselfishly was committed to God. Actually, that makes sense. What does not make sense is to write it on the nation’s money. What was that person thinking? Why write your claim to trust God ON MONEY! Financial wealth throughout history has been the primary way people demonstrated they did not trust God.

That implicit contradiction, however, runs through all our lives, and especially in the “First World” countries of considerable wealth and relative security. It would seem easy to have faith here, because it is untested. And perhaps this is why one actually does not find much faith! There is more faith in financial security and wealth than in God. Ironically, in places of great poverty and insecurity, you find remarkable faith. Faith seems to grow wherever it seems hardest to grow it! That is because faith is God’s doing, not ours.

Worship Theme (Romans 1:16-17 and 5:1-11)

RSV Romans 1:16-17  For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live."

NIV Romans 1:17   ¹⁷ For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

NJB Romans 1:17  As it says in scripture: Anyone who is upright through faith will live.

TNT 1534 (15 Romans 1:17  ¹⁷ For by it the rightewesnes which cometh of god is opened from fayth to fayth. As it is written: The iust shall live by fayth.

I like the old Tyndale New Testament translation from 1534 the best. I translates the Greek to mean God’s “righteousness … is opened from faith to faith”. It conveys the sense that a mentor who is faithful “opens” the minds of his or her disciples to receive faith. Or the Holy Spirit specifically “opens” the hearts of seekers to receive faith.  Faith is not revealed in the sense that a magician magically produces a rabbit from a hat, or a student suddenly understands a complicated algorithm. Faith is like a door that is opened with a special key … and that key is Jesus Christ. When the door is opened we walk into a changed world in which the old laws of nature do not seem to work anymore. It is a world that functions by a different set of laws. Death doesn’t work; sin doesn’t work; selfishness doesn’t get you anywhere; ego doesn’t satisfy anymore. It’s a different world; faith is the doorway into it; Christ is the key to unlock it; and a faithful mentor is the person to provide the seeker with that key.

If I had one symbol with which to equip every usher and greeter, band and choir member, it would be a large, old fashioned, key that would dangle from the belt or pocket. This key is the symbol the church historically associated with the Pope, but like a good Protestant I would give it to every Christian. Newcomers and seekers would enter the church, receive a warm welcome by the greeter and usher, and wonder at that key. It is an odd key … it would fit no modern lock. And they would have to ask: What is that key you wear on your belt? And you would answer …

Small Group Discussion (Romans 1-5 and Revelation 1-3)

The church as a whole was barely a hundred years old, and already individual congregations and Christians were falling away from total trust in God through Christ. The “key” was getting rusty through disuse; fewer people spent much time through the doorway in the new world; and people were returning to the old habits of pride, greed, lust, gluttony, violence, and sloth. Perhaps it was because the church was persecuted and they were afraid; or it was because the church was not persecuted and they were content. Fundamentally the reason was that the self-destructive habits even Christian people perpetually denied (i.e. sin) was stronger than anyone imagined.

Try to recall the “moment of faith” in your life … perhaps it was at some critical life stage of birth, marriage, or death; or perhaps it was a religious moment like baptism, confirmation, or ordination; or perhaps it was some mystical moment who you were filled with the awareness of God. Compare how you lived your life today …this very day … to the ideals you may have imagined then. Have you fallen short? What would your own Christian Self from that single moment of faith say to your Real Self as you lived this day? What advice would you give yourself?

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4th Sunday in April (Week 17) Christian’s Mission (Romans 8:1-39; Psalm 51; Romans 7-8 and John 11-12 and Deuteronomy 5:1-6:9)

Overview

The idea that we are “children of God” is expressed in very different ways. Some think we are
“children of God” because each person contains a divine spark and is a “piece” of God. Some think it is because our ancestors were chosen by God. And some think it is by right, because our ability to think and create makes us like God. Paul’s idea was that we are “children of God” because God adopted us. God took pity on the orphaned and lonely children wandering the streets of life, and formally adopted us into his family.

Team Meditation (Psalm 51)

Psalm 51:10-13   ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.  ¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me.  ¹² Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee.

This prayer makes a good deal more sense when we realize it is the prayer of an adopted child to his or her benevolent parent. The parent trains the child to live with the values and convictions of the parent, and gains the loyalty and affection of the child because they rescued the child from being lost. In losing sight of the parent, the child becomes loses the way and joy of living. So the child cries out to the parent to rescue them again, and restore them to a relationship of true love.

Worship Theme (Romans 8:1-39) 

Nothing shall separate us from the love of God. Nothing! Stated as simply and universally as possible, sin is separation from God. That may be due to pride or evil deeds or circumstances beyond our control, but for whatever reason, we continually find ourselves separated from God. Faith breaks down that separation. It reunites us with God. If faith were our own responsibility, and dependent on our own actions, we would never be able to reunite with God. The obstacles between us and God are enormously wide and deep and powerful and enduring. Yet God can overcome them. God shatters the obstacles, and tramples the enemies, and leaps over the barriers, and searches and searches, calling us by name. When he finds us, he sweeps us into his everlasting arms and kisses our face and takes us home.

Small Group Discussion (Romans 7-8 and John 11-12 and Deuteronomy 5:1-6:9)

The story of Lazarus is unique to the Gospel of John, and has enjoyed enormous popularity over the centuries. People readily identify with the story. Lazarus is a kind of Everyman, and his family is like our families. It is not hard to picture the personalities gathered at any funeral home. One sister weeps inconsolably; another sister hides her grief serving tea; over there the “religious” people talk about doctrine, and over there the “irreligious” people gossip about the dead and the living. Lazarus may have been a good man, but opinion is divided over how tragic his death really is and where is money ought to go. Enter Jesus, and his credibility has not been improved by being late to the funeral.

Talk about what you saw, heard, and experienced in the last funeral you attended. Imagine Jesus arriving late and announcing that everybody was mistaken. Lazarus is not dead. He proceeds to raise him from the funeral casket, scaring everybody to death, and causing them to worry about Zombies. Yet Jesus simply commands “unbind him and let him go free”, and there is good old Lazarus, back from the grave, just as he was and better than before. Now do you believe?

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5th Sunday in April (Week 18) Christian’s Mission (1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:24; Jeremiah 31:7-14 and 33:14-16; Romans 10-11 and 1 Thessalonians and Revelation 21-22)

Overview

Christ has always been both here and not-yet-arrived. He was there at the beginning of the world, but also he did not arrive until Jesus’ time in history. He is here at the beginning of your work day, but also he won’t arrive until later this week … or maybe next year … or maybe next century. With Jesus it is never either/or, but always both/and. He is both present and anticipated; both real and beyond imagination; both companion and judge.

Team Meditation (Jeremiah 31:7-14 and 33:14-16)

Jeremiah 33:14  ¹⁴ "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made …

The days may be coming, but what exactly do we long for as leaders of the church? Do we long for institutional survival, or personal glory, or doctrinal vindication, or what? Do we long for the day when we can shake our finger at the world and declare “I told you so!” The day of the Lord anticipated by Biblical people has involved accountability and justice (and so it may be painful to everybody, since everybody is unjust), but primarily it involves forgiveness, cleansing, and reunion. It is a day when people are gathered from the four corners of the earth in peace; when people are washed of the sins and sit with Christ in celebration; it is a day when tears and sorrows vanish. It is a day of everlasting joy. Is that what you really, really want?

Worship Theme (1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:24)

If the day is coming, the natural question is “When?” There always seem to be people who believe faith is really a matter of secret knowledge, and they think they can calculate the hidden code and fix the date of Christ’s return. Faith, however, has never been about knowledge (secret or otherwise). It has always been about trust. We simply trust that the Lord is coming, and therefore we keep ourselves constantly ready.

• Keep focused on Christ;
• Keep imitating Christ’s behavior;
• Keep spreading the Gospel of hope;
• Keep fighting evil and sustaining the good;
• Keep exploring the depths of God’s mercy.

Paul’s biggest fear is that we will relax our spiritual discipline, and he is right. We are by nature lazy people who want instant gratification. So Paul exhorts us to shape our whole lifestyle around the spirituality of waiting for the Lord.

Small Group Discussion (Romans 10-11 and 1 Thessalonians and Revelation 21-22)

Isn’t it interesting how we tend to project our own state of mind, or our own feelings, onto the coming of Christ. If we are basically angry people, we seem to expect Christ’s coming to be in anger. If we are hurting, his coming will be in healing. If we are peaceful, his coming will be in peace. Christ’ coming is always envisioned to match our yearning. For what do you yearn? What act of God would bring resolution and completeness to your life?

Another way to envision Christ’s coming is to project our perceptions of global need on God. If we perceive war to be the big problem, Christ will come in justice. If we perceive global warming to be the big problem, God will come to restore Eden. If we perceive family fragmentation to be the big problem, God will come to restore harmony. For what is the world yearning? What act of God would bring resolution and completeness to the world?

The truth, however, is that God will come when God will come, and God will do whatever God will do, and we do not really know. What the world really needs may not be what I think it needs; and what I really need may not be what I really need. God knows. So in the end it all boils down to trust. Do you trust God? Are you willing to surrender everything, everyone, to Christ? Are you prepared to imitate Jesus every minute of every day? And are you committed to walk in companionship with Jesus to give hope to the world?