What is Salvation?

For 8/7/2011
Romans 10:8-17 From The Message Version

Today Paul gives us the ‘core’ of his preaching; what is salvation and what needs to be done for those who do not know about it. Paul’s writing can be difficult to follow but these paraphrases from The Message offer a perspective that reads differently than the conventional texts which supplements the other translations.

Define salvation, how would you explain it to someone who does not have a church background? Has your understanding of it changed over time?

Romans 10:8-10 It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—"Jesus is my Master"—embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!"

• How does Paul describe salvation? What are the components? What is our role and what is God’s? Where is Jesus in our path to salvation?
• A core of this scripture is “God doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead.” How does salvation raise us from the dead? What do we learn from the resurrection that might apply to our own salvation? Can you explain how we are different before and after salvation?
• What must we affirm to receive salvation? What did you affirm when you verbalized your commitment?
• What allows “God to go to work”? What happens as a result of God’s action? How do you feel about the reality that our faith sets things right with God and how important is this to you as you live your daily life?
• For Paul this reality changed his life and became the focus, direction and in a very real sense brought him the strength to be able to do what he did. What should we expect to occur because of a sound relationship with God? How would you imagine your life if this was not a reality to you?

11-13Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it." It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help."

This scripture comes in the midst of Paul’s struggle to explain the fate of the Jews now that Christ is a reality. It is tied to and refers to the prior scripture about salvation.

• What is the assurance that flows from this scripture? Who should feel assured? Who should not?
• Look back at our discussion on salvation, must a person meet these criteria before God will act in “the in same incredibly generous way” for them? Do you think that God ignores the calls for help from those who do not express a faith in Christ?
• The scripture refers to trusting God – trusting that God will respond to our faith – in terms of salvation. But after salvation what should we be trusting that God will be and do on our behalf? What does it take on our part to be able to build confidence that these things will occur?
• Have you ever chosen to make a decision or respond in a way that reflects confidence that God is present with you?

14-17But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That's why Scripture exclaims,
A sight to take your breath away!
Grand processions of people
telling all the good things of God!
But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: "Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?" The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ's Word is preached, there's nothing to listen to.

• Sum up the main points of this scripture; what is Paul urging upon us? Are there things that you agree with or have questions about it?
• Paul lived out this scripture, it became the focus of his life which he zealously pursued until his death. But what does it mean for me today with my responsibilities and problems, what should be expected of me?
• What is your reaction to ‘how can they know’ – what level of priority should we place on giving others the salvation message? How do you feel about the responsibility he seems to place upon us?
• What frustration does this diligent proclaimer of the word seem to incur? Can you relate to it and does it impact your actively taking on the telling of the salvation story yourself?
• So what have you learned today? What are you taking home after discussing Paul’s message this morning?

Closing Prayer
Almighty God, who has poured upon us the new light of Jesus, grant us that the same light ignited in our hearts might shine forth in our lives. We pray that the life of Christ within us turns all our fears to freedom helping us live for others. Amen.


Next Week’s Lectionary Scriptures: Genesis 45:1-15 or Isaiah 56:1, 6-8, Psalm 133 or Psalm 67, Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32, Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28

Our Human Nature Versus Our Spiritual Nature

For 7/13/2011

In Romans 7 Paul laid out a dilemma, that we want to do what is right but something in us causes us to fall short. He ends by saying, “He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.” Today’s scripture builds on that idea.
Paul uses strong words and images to make his points reflecting both his passion and as a way to penetrate into our thinking. Remember as a Pharisee he is an expert on the real world of living by the letter of the law, knowing it, knowing it’s interpretation, knowing how to apply it to all facets of life.

1-2With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
3-4God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

· Paul speaks to us about the solution to the dilemma of living as spiritual people. What must we do to avoid that ‘low-lying black cloud”? Do the words “Christ’s being-here-for-us” have meaning for you?
· Paul speaks of a new power; for review what was the old power? What is the imagery used to illustrate the freedom Christ and the Spirit of Life bring? Can you think of any examples of this “new power” “clearing the air” in your experience?
· What are we freed from and what practical meaning does it have for you? Do you feel that your faith has ever freed you from anything? Are there things that you would like to be freed from?
· What important about the way in which God dealt with humanities’ problem? What does sending Jesus say about God’s approach to dealing with the human condition? How do you feel about that fact?
· We have not overcome the “disordered mess of struggling humanity” as a whole? Why is this? What is keeping God’s good intentions from becoming a reality? Can we be part of the solution – how?
· Is the “deep healing” of the problems of the human condition complex? How do we “embrace what the Spirit is doing in us”? What has to happen in order for this to occur?

Paul with more words on God’s intentions for us:

9-11But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

· The first idea is for God to take up “residence in your life”. Have you ever had anyone do this for you? What was it like, what role did that person take, did it change your behavior? What meaning does Paul intend in these words for our understanding of what a faith life is like?
· What is it clear doesn’t change, if God is in residence does the pull of sin go away? What is different then? What does “experiencing life on God’s terms” mean to you? Whose terms are we experiencing it on if we don’t do this? Practically what difference does God’s presence make when we face the challenges of life? Would we deal with others or handle issues differently?
· The last section speaks to a new life with God’s presence. When you think about Jesus’ resurrection what are the implications of God “bringing you alive to himself”? Have you ever experienced something that made a real difference in your life? Something that changed the way in which you comprehend things, priorities, or sense of your abilities or skills? Can our faith change us in this way?
· How about God living and breathing in us? How does that imagery strike you? Does it come with any reservations? What is the promise for us with that new life within us?
· Paul wrote about this change in many different ways. One was in the letter to the Galatians:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

This seems like good news to me.

Closing Litany (from Psalm 139)
LORD, you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Next Week’s Scriptures: Genesis 28:10-19a, Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24, Romans 8:12-25, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

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Jesus To Us - You Need To Pay Attention

For March 7,2011
All Scripture from The Message

In today’s scripture Jesus completes the Sermon on the Mount. In it he stresses the importance of incorporating the words he spoke into the way in which we live our lives. One summary of his words might be found in this quote:

Max De Pree, the well-known businessman and leadership author, is fond of saying that beliefs shape practices. If you want to know what you truly believe, you only need to examine your behaviors. Commentary on Gospel by Richard Beaton - WorkingPreacher.org

Jesus said it this way:

Matthew 7:21-23"Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance— isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.'

These are hard words, soul shaking words, words about our basic motivations for the things we do and say:
• Have you ever felt the need to know the correct format and words to use in a religious service or in group or personal prayer? What were some of the reasons that you felt that way? Are there benefits to having form and structure in community worship?
• Have there been times in your secular life when knowing the proper way to behave or words to say was important (think of a wedding for instance)? What motivated you to conform to the accepted practice?
• Has acting or speaking in the expected way ever given you feelings of insincerity or just going through the motions? How might we connect these feelings to Jesus’ words, “Knowing the correct password – is not going to get you anywhere with me”?
• The people come to Jesus at the Final Judgment saying essentially, “See, I have carried out the Great Commission – make disciples of all nations.” What is Jesus’ response to them? Why do you think that he said that they had, “missed the boat”?
• It seems that he might be referring to motivation, what drives our involvement in what would seem to be the appropriate behaviors and practices for a believer. What is Jesus’ take on what motivated them? How were they making themselves important?
• Do you think that there are examples from our times of endeavors undertaken in the name of religion that might receive this kind of evaluation from Jesus? But Jesus tells us earlier in the Sermon on the Mount to not hide our light under a bushel basket; can you reconcile these two seemingly contradictory statements?
• The second sentence might give us some ideas; how does he define “serious obedience”? Have you ever felt moved to do something by the gentle (or not so gentle) nudging of the spirit? Have you ever responded to a request to take on a responsibility or become involved in a project for the same reason? On the other hand have you ever done something because it was the ‘right thing to do”? Was there any difference in how you went about or felt about the one against the other?

This is not an easy teaching – how do we really act in a way Jesus laid out in the Sermon on the Mount? What can we learn about the motivations for his actions? Matthew tells us that in preparation for a collision with the temptations of the world that Jesus spent 40 fasting in the wilderness. We find him in prayer time and time again. Is it hard for us to begin to have this kind of intensity in our faith lives? He said “pick up your cross and follow me” – tough stuff.

But there are important benefits in living out his teaching:

Matthew 7:24-25"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.
26-27"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."

• What are we told about the words he spoke in the Sermon on the Mount? What are we to do with them?
• Have you ever had a traumatic event in your life that mitigated in some way by your faith? Did you have a sense that you were “fixed to a rock”? If it hasn’t happened to you do you know someone for whom it has?
• What are some things that make what we learn in our faith life difficult to incorporate in the life we live? Will our attempts to live our faith always be successful or be motivated entirely by the Spirit? Should we be discouraged or handle it in another way? How?

What can we learn from Jesus?

Matthew 7:28-29 When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying—quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.

• What brought Jesus’ words credibility? Wouldn’t it be great is we could even begin to approach that kind of credibility for ourselves?

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Closing Prayer

Holy God, when we seek you, meet us. When we try to flee from your presence, come into our midst. Open us to the many ways you reveal yourself, and prepare us to journey by the leading of Jesus the Christ. Amen. Seasons of the Spirit

Next Week’s Lectionary Scriptures: Psalm 32, Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11

First Priority - Prayer

For September 19, 2010

It is helpful to use this blog as a discussion starter for two or more people but it will also stimulate some thoughts if used by one reader.  The material is used by a Sunday Study Group at Hamilton Christian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. 

The letters to Timothy were probably written after Paul’s lifetime by someone who was familiar with his teachings. It was written at a time in which the faithful had come to terms with the fact that Jesus’ return was not imminent. They formed faith communities which would have had questions and sought guidance for their life together their relationship with the world in which they lived. This scripture contains some advice typical of that found in the two letters: It was also a time with many different interpretations of Christ; who he was and what his presence meant, all competing to be the mainstream Christian theology.

1 Timothy 2
1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.
4-7He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we've learned: that there's one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.

Prayer

· How important does prayer seem to be to the writer? What is your personal experience; how important has prayer been to your faith journey? If prayer brings so many benefits why does it seem that we need to be encouraged to pray; what keeps it from being self evident and contagious?

Martha Grace Reese has written in Unbinding the Gospel:

After years of talking with pastors and laypeople in churches that are thriving and churches that are failing, I am clear that the only way to do ministry successfully, to lead a church or to live a life in today’s United States is to pray deeply. We must hand ourselves over to God in clear-headed, accountable, non-naïve prayer. We need to rely as much on God for pragmatic guidance as we can stand! Without God vividly in the mix, we drift, life declines.

· What is your reaction to her conclusion? How do you feel about the role of prayer in our faith community’s life? Do you feel that we have grown in the past year in relying on prayer? How? What else should we be doing?

· Do you think that these words can also apply to our personal prayer life? Is it really natural to rely as much on God for pragmatic guidance as we can stand?

· How do you feel about praying with others? Is this something we should strive for in our personal and congregational prayer lives?

Pray For Everyone You Know

· What person has given you the most personal grief in the recent past? How do you feel about praying for them and what would you pray for?

· What group or groups do you feel most threaten us as a country? What might we pray for them and ourselves?

· What is the purpose of praying for everyone? Could it be the first words from verses 4-7, “He wants not only us but everyone saved”? How should this impact the nature of our prayers?

Pray For Our Rulers

· What was the environment for Christians at the time; what percentage of the population were they, how were they treated, what influence did they have in society? What role did the people have in the selection and influence on their rulers and governments?

· Based on the above realities what reason is given for praying for their leadership; what does the writer want for them?

· What should we include in our prayers for the government in today’s reality? How should a spiritual person connect with the politics and policies of governing the country? Should we be seeking going quietly about our business or something else? Should one of our prayers be for Christian leadership or something else?

Salvation

· One of the major reasons for prayer is seeking salvation for all, what are some of the reasons scripture and sermons say we should be seeking salvation? What has been your experience with personal salvation; what have you connected with as benefits during your faith journey?

· What do you think is behind it all, why does God provide for and desire that all find salvation?

· What is the path to salvation given to us by the writer? If you were to describe your path to salvation what words would you use and what has helped you move closer to God?

· Should we pray for people who are devoted to God through another faith? Should we be concerned about them? In the end who sets the terms of any individual’s salvation and what should our role be in supporting other seekers?

Closing Prayer

O Holy Spirit impart to us thoughts higher than our own, and prayers better than our own, and powers beyond our own, that we may spend and be spent in the ways of love and goodness. Amen. Eric Milner-White

Next Week’s Scriptures: Jeremiah 32:1-3, 6-15, Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16. 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16:19-31

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