1st Sunday in February (Week 6) Jesus’ Purpose (John 1; Zechariah 9:9-10; John 1 and I Corinthians 3)

Overview

Think about it! How many times have you experienced something profound, and had an insight into some mystery, or saw something you knew was important … but the depth and breadth and power of the experience only became known after considerable thought and meditation? Modern people (particularly theological skeptics) like to criticize the later reflection of the church, believing that only the original kernel of experience is important. Academics like the “Jesus Seminar” want to discard layers of “later reflection”, believing that only the original kernel of historical fact will be true. Yet it is only the later reflection, matured and tested by experience that finally plummets the depth of the Jesus experience.

Team Meditation

There is no more paradoxical image of the incarnation than Zechariah’s prophecy that the Messiah will come riding on the colt of an ass. The King of Kings comes not on a white horse or a war chariot, but on the lowliest of creatures. This paradox of the sublime in the profane, the infinite in the finite, the divine in the midst of creation, or the Word made flesh, is repeated over and over again in stories, metaphors, and teachings of the New Testament. Somehow the fullness of God is revealed in a simple, homely creature. The power of God is unexpected. It is so great that it does not even require the images of greatness. Intuitively, we, like the ancients, discern that our salvation lies in this mysterious incarnation of God.

Worship Theme

The ancients believed that in Christ God defeated both sin and death, or, more precisely, that in Christ we can defeat both sin and death. Unity with Christ implied unity with God, who is and was and always shall be beyond sin and death. It took over a century of prayer and reflection for ancient Christians to understand the implications of this. Why so long? It was just that profound! If Christ conquered time, then he must be timeless. He must have “been before” … before creation, before anything at all. That would make Christ the same as God … and here words fail us to describe how Christ and God are the same and distinct at once. In the same way, words failed us to describe how Christ could be fully human without losing any of his divinity. These are mysteries we cannot explain, yet which are true. That is why incarnation is a paradox. The ancient Christians used the metaphor of the Word-made-flesh to describe this timelessness that could overcome death, because the ancient Israelites did the same thing when describing the creation of the world. God’s “word” created heaven and earth. God, and God’s Word, were the same and yet distinct. Christ is the very breath of the divine.

Small Group Discussion

In order to demonstrate how long, mature reflection helps reveal the truth about things of great significance, invite the individuals in the small group to individually describe someone they deeply love (spouse, parent, friend). Speak the words aloud “I love you, ____!” Now explain what it felt like to say those words. And then explain what that love is. Keep pressing. Define that love in detail, completely, in such a way that the strangers in the group understand perfectly and totally why you love, why you love this person in particular, and why that love is different from all other loves. Soon words begin to fail. Science will turn into prose, sentences will turn into essays, and then to metaphors, and then to sheer poetry, and ultimately to silence. Then ponder the unsettling truth that you will no more about your beloved, and why you love the one you love, next year; and even more the year after that; so that even after 50 years of loving relationship you will know more, yet still not know enough. Now you begin to understand the nature of theological reflection.

Before we complete the section of “Jesus’ Purpose”, share once again your own personal experience of Jesus Christ. What is it about your experience with Jesus that your family, friends, work associates, and neighbors cannot live without? What is it about your experience with the beloved that you just have to shout to the rooftops … or whisper urgently into someone’s ear … that will bring them as much joy and hope as it has brought to you?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2^nd  Sunday in February (Week 7) Christian’s Mission  (Acts 1:6-11 and Matthew 28:16-20; 2 Kings 2:1-12; Mathew 28, Luke 24, Acts 1, 1 Peter, and 1 John)

Overview

Today we begin the theme of “Christian’s Mission”. Notice that this is deliberately phrased in the singular, rather than in the plural. We are not just talking about the mission of the church, but your personal mission. This may seem uncomfortable to Christendom people. Once the church became the established religion of the Roman world in the 4^th century, and then went on to be the normative religion of the western world, and subsequently became so popular that it was inconceivable (at least in Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand) that anyone might NOT be Christian, we began thinking about mission in general terms. By the 20^th century, it was considered embarrassing, if not egocentric, to talk about personal mission. Only a handful of professional ministers and priests should talk about “call”. Now that Christendom is over, the experience of Christ has gotten personal again. His mission is your mission. The very risk of being Christian means that you have a mission. Your unity with Christ demands that you walk in Christ’s way, and follow him in Christ’s mission.

Team Meditation

2 Kings 2:9   ⁹ When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you." And Elisha said, "I pray you, let me inherit a double share of your spirit."

The relationship between Elijah and Elisha is one of the great illustrative stories about mentors and disciples. Elisha sticks to Elijah through thick and thin, and the true disciple sticks to the master with utter persistence and dedication. The master teaches the disciple by word and example, and introduces the disciple into the mystery and power of God. When the master dies, his or her spiritual authority is transferred to the disciple … but only under a specific obligation. That obligation is that the disciple will now mentor other disciples. After all, what is important is neither the master himself, nor the disciple himself, but the truth and spirit that they embody. Jesus has exactly this relationship with his disciples. When Jesus is raised (as Elijah was raised), this spiritual authority is transferred to the disciples … but only under a specific obligation. Now they must go and make more disciples. Note that the core of the disciple-making process (mentor and student) has nothing to do with memorizing dogma or institutional membership. It is all about the spirit. It is all about handing down the spirit of Christ, the power of God, from master to disciple, to disciple, to disciple, and so on. This is about relationship to God, not just membership in a church.

Worship Theme

The Great Commandment is that you should love the Lord with all that you’ve got; and the Great Commission is that you should follow the Lord with all that you have. Be a disciple. Make disciples. It has been fashionable among Christian churches in the 19^th and 20^th centuries to differentiate between these two great principles. Churches claim to be aligned with one or the other, but not necessarily both. That is just silly … or an excuse to evade the full power of the Gospel. To be a disciple necessarily implies making more disciples; and making more disciples necessarily implies being one. One cannot profess to be united in Christ, without joining Christ in mission; and one will never have the courage or integrity to be with Christ in mission if one is not profoundly united with Christ and Christ alone.

Small Group Discussion

What exactly happened to the disciples after Jesus was raised into heaven? We often think of the resurrection itself was the culmination of the Gospel story. It seems like such a happy … and tidy … ending. The “Jesus story” is told around the table after dinner, and once the resurrection segment is recited everyone sighs with satisfaction, stands up, and goes to bed. Yet that is really not the end of the story, and it seems that even the twelve disciples didn’t realize that at first. 

Read Acts 1 aloud, taking turns to read each verse slowly. Now let everyone choose the verse or phrase that most captures their heart and attention, and go around the circle reading that aloud. Do not offer any explanation at this time. Just read it. Now pray silently, and only now share why a particular verse or phrase caught your imagination. Notice three things in particular about Pentecost. It is personal, spiritual, and risky. Individuals are touched … by the spirit of God … and carried away in a new direction. All this begs the questions: How have you been touched? How do you know it is God’s spirit? And where is it taking you?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

3rd Sunday in February (Week 8) Christian’s Mission (Acts 2:1-13 and 37-47; Joel 2:28-29 and 3:14-16; Luke 14 and Acts 2:1-6:7 and James and Romans 12-15)

Overview

The preeminent sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit is love, and this is revealed in the first experiment in church life. However flawed that experiment might be (and we will see how the Spirit corrects the church by sending it into mission to the gentiles), the early apostles saw clearly that love was the real key to authenticity. Perfect love is a triad, not a duality. It involves three persons … me, the other, and God. When the author of Acts says that the church “had all things in common”, he really meant that all things were shared because all things belonged to God. Equality on earth is only possible through absolute surrender to God.

Team Meditation

The future of the Christian mission does not really lie in strategic planning. It lies in “dreaming dreams” and “seeing visions”. God’s mission is the fruit of a spiritual formation discipline, not a strategic planning process. It is not that the apostles were not practical. They were extremely practical people, even planning the sharing of daily food and adjudicating personal disputes. Yet they saw clearly that mere planning would not accomplish God’s purpose. They needed to invest themselves in waiting for the Lord, searching for God’s will, and risking all for the sake of the Gospel. The church is not about “getting real”, but about “catching the spirit”. Worship designers and church leaders must invest considerable time, and hold themselves rigorously accountable, to their personal disciplines of prayer, Bible reflection, theological conversation, and conversation with cultures around them. This is the context from which dreams emerge and visions are revealed.

Worship Theme

Church growth … and personal growth … is really all about spiritual depth and mission impact. This is the unity of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. The most visible sign that Christians really are going deep is that they experience ever more profound unity with Christ and with each other. Love abounds. Love expands. Love overcomes personality conflicts, heals old wounds, rescues the victims, feeds the hungry, and reveals the joy of the Lord. The most visible sign that Christians really are having a mission impact is that disciples multiply. Simply stated, the church grows numerically. There are more people, from more micro-cultures, who speak more languages, so that the church mirrors the demographic diversity of the community and the world.

The same can be applied to your personal growth. It’s about going deep into Christ, and going far with Christ into mission. The most visible sign of personal growth is that you experience … and share … the serenity, healing, rescue, satisfaction, and joy of the Lord. Moreover, you have the courage and motivation to expand your circle of relationships … including people of other cultures and races … befriending strangers … reaching out to friends, neighbors, work associates, spontaneously and generously giving away the Good News and the Great Experience of Jesus Christ.

Small Group Discussion

Romans 13:14 - 14:1  ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. 

So what does unity with Christ and others, and total surrender to Christ’s mission, really look like? Translate that into day to day behavior. That is what Paul does in Romans 13-15. He is not being legalistic or limiting. Life in this spirit looks like this … it is more than this … but it looks like this. Essentially, it is about making your life (your attitude, lifestyle, speech, relationships, and career) look like Christ. “Putting on” Christ is not like dressing in a costume, or pretending to be something you are not. Paul means that the inner being, you very self, is transformed so that in your every spontaneous word and deed, and in every risky venture, your life is attuned to the spirit of Christ.

Make a list of all the practical advice Paul gives. On a scale of 1-10 score yourself … and then score your friend sitting next to you. Compare the results, and talk about it.

Romans 15:13  ¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

The bottom line … speaking in practical terms … is not to measure love, but to measure hope. At the conclusion of any conversation or encounter with other people, at home or work or play, do you leave people with more hope than when you first met them?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

4^thSunday in February (Week 9) Christian’s Mission (Galatians 5:1-25; Isaiah 49:8-13; Acts 8-12 and Galatians)

Overview

Ancient people abhorred insincerity just as much as we do today. We long to meet “authentic” people … and although we are often afraid, we like to imagine ourselves being “authentic” people. The way to do this is to align our heart with our behavior … our intentions with our actions. The metaphor of “tree” and “fruit” is appropriate. Good trees bear good fruit. If you eat bad fruit, it is a sign that this is a bad tree. Jesus told parables about how a wise farmer would cut down the trees that bore bad fruit, and prune and nurture the trees that bore good fruit. That is exactly the divine attitude toward faithfulness. Faithfulness is not just about doing good things, but about being a good person; and conversely it is about revealing a good heart through good deeds.

Team Meditation

Comfort the people and have compassion on the afflicted. That is the goal of worship design. Comforting the people, of course, does not always mean making the people feel “comfortable”. It means healing their wounds and renewing their energy, encouraging their efforts and guiding their actions, assuaging their fears and reassuring their longings. Having compassion on the afflicted does not always mean accepting people as they are. It means challenging their sinfulness, and calling them to repentance. It means chastising those who knowingly or unknowingly victimize others, or block others from the fullness of God. Yet comfort and compassion do lie at the core of Christian living. The shades of meaning, and the seemingly paradoxical strategies are informed by our discipline of prayer and Bible reflection. But if there is a “bottom line” to Christian experience, it is this. The question is: are you doing this?

Worship Theme

Galatians 5:22-23  ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.

Paul is not against the law. He simply recognizes that you cannot legislate faithfulness. The fruits of the Spirit cannot be enforced. People cannot be compelled. No set of rules will encompass what it means to be faithful, and sometimes faithfulness will lead us to break the rules. Faithfulness is a matter of the heart, but it is revealed in the work of our hands and feet. If everyone in the sanctuary were asked to define in a sentence or two each of these things, there would be quite a variety of definition. Yet if everyone were asked to tell a real life story that demonstrates what each of these things is like, there would be remarkable congruity. In our gut, we know what these mean. We know love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control when we see it. “There it is!” It may be fleeting. It may appear and suddenly disappear in the same person, on the same day, from minute to minute. It may flicker in us. The flickering may be more frequent in us, less frequent in the saints we revere, but still imperfect. There is only one person whose light remains absolutely steady to reveal the fruits of the spirit, and that is Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate model. We can only be imitations. Yet one day, we can be united fully with the divine.

Small Group Discussion

It is helpful to understand Paul’s motivation in writing to the Galatians. Their initial Christian enthusiasm was diminishing. They were “falling away” due to persecution or temptation. Their actions were no longer their intentions; and their deeds were no longer aligned with the spirit of Christ. In a word, they were hypocrites. Some of them probably did not even know it. They may well have resented receiving this letter. Yet Paul … like all Christian leaders … was compelled to tell the truth.

Does your behavior reveal Christ? Yes or no? If we can measure it in degrees, on a scale of 1-10, are we a perfect 10? Is our self-perception exaggerated? Are the perceptions of us by others distorted? The Christian life is all about accountability to one another and to God. The best way to evaluate ourselves, however, is not to dogmas and principles, but to stories of faithfulness. So tell some stories that reveal each of the fruits of the spirit. Keep telling more and more stories. Some may be historical … but try to tell stories from your real life experience. And as you tell stories, make them more and more current, until you are telling stories from this week or even yesterday. Hindsight tends to embellish stories … and also makes us less willing or able to emulate them. The more current they are, the more possible they become. Now keep these stories in your mind as you live the next week.