PURPOSE: Love Actually

August 29, 2010

PURPOSE: Love Actually
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.


PART 1
Identify the Current Issue

You’ve probably heard it said, “Don’t talk about politics and religion.” The main reason is to avoid arguments and uncomfortable conversations that may strain otherwise good relationships. If we just consider religion, why is it so divisive? One reason is that there are so many different ideas of who God is, both between religions and within the same religions. People have very definite ideas of who God is, what He expects of us, what His rules are, and what His punishments are. Since we’re in church, it’s okay to talk about religion, and today we’re going to talk about one of the most divisive issues there is: Who is God? What is He like?

Let’s look at what a basic Google search of “God is” turns up to get an idea of how our culture currently perceives God.

If you Google "God is", here's a partial list of what you get:

God is imaginary. God is the watchmaker. God is love. God is dead. God is for suckers. God is in control. God is still speaking. God is light. God is not great.

Some top-selling books about God include: The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins), God Is Not Great: How God is Poising Everything (Christopher Hitchens), Where There Is Love, There Is God: A Path to Closer Union With God and Greater Love for Others (Mother Teresa), Heroes, Gods and Monsters of Greek Myths (Bernard Evslin), The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (Timothy Keller), More Money Than God: Hedgefunds and the Making of a New Elite (Sebastian Mallaby)

If you search Google images for God, here's some of what you get:



















[Q] Who does our current culture say God is?

[Q] Why do you think there are so many mixed messages?

[Q] How do you picture God?

PART 2
Discover the Eternal Principles

As you can see from the examples above, there is not a common consensus of who God is. Even Christians have a wide variety of understandings of God. If God is the ultimate power, the ultimate presence, the creator, the ultimate authority, the starting point of all that is, then it is important that we have an accurate understanding of who God is. There are many sources, traditions, religions, and people who will provide very different answers. Let’s begin by looking in the Bible for a definition.

Fortunately, we find a very simple answer to our question in 1 John 4:8.

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Teaching point one: God is Love.

Love has as many definitions and understandings as God, so let’s look at Paul’s famous passage about love in 1 Corinthians 13 to get a Biblical understanding.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Now that we have a clear definition of love, let’s look at the passage again substituting God’s name for love, since God is love.

God is patient
God is kind.
God does not envy.
God does not boast.
God is not proud.
God is not rude.
God is not self-seeking.
God is not easily angered.
God keeps no record of wrongs.
God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
God always protects.
God always trusts.
God always hopes.
God always perseveres.
God never fails

[Q] According to 1 Corinthians 13, what do you think the most common misconceptions about God are?

[Q] What part of the above passage is most consistent with your experience of God?

Teaching point two: God is patient, kind, etc.

Millions and millions of dollars have been made in the self-help industry by providing answer to these two questions: Who am I? What is my purpose? In the early chapters of Genesis, we learn that God creates us in His image. So, to begin to answer these two questions as a Christian, we must first ask Who is God? What is God’s purpose? In learning that God is love, we have also learned God’s purpose: to love. If we are created in God’s image, then we are to work to shape ourselves into the picture Paul painted in 1 Corinthians 13.

Teaching point three: We are made in the image of God.

The second question, “What is my purpose?”, is address by Jesus in Matthew in what are known as the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Let’s start with the Great Commandment.

Matthew 22:36-40 36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

From the Great Commandment, we learn that our purpose it rooted in love – first directed at God then directed at our neighbors. It is important to note that Jesus hinges obedience of the Law (all God’s previous Old Testament commandments) on obedience of these first two commandments – on love and loving.

Let’s look at the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:16-20 16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

The Great Commission can be intimidating. We are sometimes afraid of sharing our faith for a variety of reasons: we don’t understand it well ourselves, we don’t know to put it into words, we don’t want to offend someone, we have no training in theology, we’re afraid we can’t answer their hard questions, we don’t want people’s opinion of us to change, or we don’t want to be pushy or create an awkward situation.

The good news is that the primary thing we have to do to please God and to fulfill His commandments to love – to live lives that reflect His character. The most effective thing you could ever do as an evangelist is to behave towards other people so that they would be able to substitute YOUR name in 1 Corinthians 13. If you do that, people will be drawn to the love within you that comes from God. The rest will take care of itself.

Teaching point four: You can share your faith, and fulfill the Great Commission, with the picture of God painted in 1 Corinthians 13.

PART 3
Apply Your Findings

[Q] What has been your experience sharing your faith or explaining God to people?

[Q] Is there anyone in your life that you feel God challenging you, calling you, to show 1 Corinthians 13 love on His behalf?

God is love. Of all the things that we have decided He’s asked or demanded that we do, none is more important than love. Jesus said so. As you go through your week, keep a list of Paul’s definition of love near by. There will be at least one, and probably many, times when you will have an opportunity to love like God, and it will most likely be the opposite of how you will want to act naturally. Be on the look out for someone who needs the gift of your patience, someone who needs the gift of your kindness, the gift of your forgiveness, the gift of your perseverance, and so forth. By gift that gift to them, you will be a living sacrifice to God and a accurate reflection of His image in the world.

As an exercise, put your name in the blanks and remember this picture of yourself as a reflection of God throughout the week.

_______ is patient
_______ is kind.
_______ does not envy.
_______ does not boast.
_______ is not proud.
_______ is not rude.
_______ is not self-seeking.
_______ is not easily angered.
_______ keeps no record of wrongs.
_______ does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
_______ always protects.
_______ always trusts.
_______ always hopes.
_______ always perseveres.
_______ never fails

PRIORITIES: First Things First

August 22, 2010

PRIORITIES: First Things First
Matthew 6:33

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

PART 1
Identify the Current Issue

Since we were little, we’ve been learning the order in which to do things. We learned to count – in order. We learned the alphabet – in order. We learned how to put the letters of our name - in order. We learned how to get dressed – in order. But we’ve also learned that in other cases, order doesn’t really matter as long as everything comes out alright in the end. It doesn’t matter if you eat your carrots or your peas first as long as you clean your plate. It doesn’t matter if you study your spelling words or your multiplication tables first as long as you learn them both.

Does order matter in these examples?

3 + 2 = 5 or 2 + 3 = 5?
Julie or uJeil?
Shampoo + Conditioner or C + S?
Dessert + Salad or S + D?
Plug in computer and turn on or turn on computer then plug in

PART 2
Discover the Eternal Principles

As we’ve seen from the examples above, order serves different purposes in different contexts. Sometimes it is completely necessary, sometimes not at all. Other times, order helps you be more effective. And still at other times, order is a matter of tradition.

The question today is does order matter with our faith? Does it make a difference if we eat before we pray? If we complete our workday before we have a devotional? If we seek a certain salary or job location before we seek a call to ministry? According to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33, order matters. Order is everything. He gives an explicit order of things to His disciples concerning their priorities.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

The context of this passage is a conversation with Jesus and His disciples. They are concerned with what they are going to eat, what they are going to wear, and where they are going to sleep. After all, they’ve left their jobs, families, and homes to follow Jesus. Jesus assures them that if God takes care of the birds and the flowers, then He will also take care of their basic needs. When Jesus says “all these things” will be added to you, that’s what He is referring to. Notice that He didn’t say that once you’ve sought the Kingdom of God, then you are free to seek your basic needs. He says, instead, that if you seek the Kingdom of God first, these things will be added. It doesn’t say by whom, but the passive voice implies that they will be added by someone other than us. We can assume that ultimately they will be added by God.

Teaching point one: Order matters. Seek the Kingdom of God first.

Fortunately for us, Jesus’ words are clear in this passage ... sort of. He tells exactly what we are supposed to do first – seek the Kingdom of God, but what exactly is the Kingdom of God and how do we go about seeking it? It would be a lot easier if Jesus had said, “seek ye first a good education” or “seek ye first 10% of your salary in a savings account”, but He didn’t, so we had better get to figuring out what He means by the Kingdom of God if seeking it is to be our first priority. Our goal in this lesson is to know what the Kingdom of God looks like when we see it – and when we
don’t.

Teaching point two: The Kingdom of God is the small thing behind the big thing.

Jesus never directly answered the question, “What or where is the Kingdom of God?” Instead, He tried to explain it using analogies. When we look closely at His analogies, we learn that He is more concerned about describing how the Kingdom of God works than defining what it is. If we look at the original Greek word used for “kingdom” in Matthew, we find the word basileia. The definition is royal power, kingship, dominion, rule, not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom.

This helps us understand why Jesus doesn’t explain what the Kingdom of God as if it were a place. Since it is instead a power or authority, He tries to show the disciples what it looks like in action so they’ll know it when they see it. Listen now as Jesus’ compares the Kingdom of God to a pine nut or pine seed.

Read Luke 13:18-21
Then Jesus said, "How can I picture God's kingdom for you? What kind of story can I use? It's like a pine nut that a man plants in his front yard. It grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches, and eagles build nests in it."

The above verses are from Eugene Peterson’s modern translation of the Bible called The Message. In the original Greek text, the original story is about a mustard seed and mustard tree because those would have been familiar to the 1st Century audience. Peterson changes the example to use a pine nut and pine tree instead because we are more familiar with those.

In this passage there are four “characters” – the man, the pine nut, the pine tree, and the eagles. They each play different roles. Jesus is comparing the KOG to the pine nut, so let’s focus on it.

[Q] If the Kingdom of God is a kind of authority or power, what do we learn about it from the pine nut?

[Q] What is the pine nut’s purpose? How would you describe the change in the pine nut?

[Q] What happens to the pine nut at the end of the story?

[Q] How are the tree and the pine nut related? What’s the difference between them?

[Q] On the surface, which “character” in this story looks powerful?

[Q] Why does order matter in this analogy? What would happen if the order were reversed?

Teaching point three: The power of the Kingdom of God transforms rather than duplicates or multiplies.

In Jesus’ first example, we learned that the Kingdom of God is the small thing behind the big thing, that it’s the first thing before the last thing. He then adds a second example comparing the Kingdom of God to yeast put into dough. Before we read this passage, we’re going to watch a video of dough rising. Jesus used examples that He knew would be very familiar to his audience. Since most of us don’t make bread on a daily basis, we need to be sure we are familiar with dough rising if we are going to understand His analogy.






Now listen to this description of what’s happening in the dough.

If you’ve ever taken a bite of bread you’ve made, you may wonder how simple ingredients like flour, salt and yeast can produce raised, sometimes wonderfully bubbly bread. It makes people a little squeamish to know it that yeast makes bread dough rise because it is a live single-celled organism. Specifically it is a fungus which is harnessed to eat, drink and be merry, before dying a quick death when exposed to oven heat.

Yeasts for bread dough responds to warm water, which begins to bring the little cells to life. Then when exposed to sugars in bread and in flour, it begins to eat, digesting portions of these sugars. This eating process goes on for a short period of time only. Eventually the yeast will die within a few hours, especially if the dough is allowed to grow cold or exposed to too much air.

It might be embarrassing to the yeast to have to admit that this rapid eating/digestion cycle makes it just a trifle gassy. As yeast is feasting, it begins to release gas bubbles of carbon dioxide, and small amounts of ethanol alcohol. These bubbles, trapped in the bread dough, cause the rising action with which we’re familiar. This is why bread making can be time consuming; you’ve got to let this fungus work for a couple of hours in order to sufficiently rise dough.

Once dough has been acted upon by the yeast, not all of the cells are quite dead. Putting the bread in the oven is relatively macabre, from the standpoint of the yeast (if it had a point of view). The heat from the oven makes remaining cells go into overdrive, madly munching away at the sugars and expelling carbon dioxide prior to expiring from the oven heat. This is why bread continues to rise during its early cooking stages, and then may deflate slightly as cooking continues.

Now that we have a better understanding of how yeast works in dough, listen to Jesus’ analogy.

Jesus tried to explain the KOG to His disciples again. "How can I picture God's kingdom? It's like yeast that a woman works into enough dough for three loaves of bread—and waits while the dough rises."

[Q] What else do we learn about the power of the Kingdom of God from the example of the yeast?

[Q] How does the yeast do what it does? What happens to it? What is its purpose?

[Q] Why does order matter in this analogy? What would happen if the order were reversed?

[Q] What is the difference between transformation and multiplication?

Teaching point four: Seek, not muster or try to create.

One of the things that separates us from the rest of the creatures that God created is that we too have the power to create. We have a substantial amount of power – certainly the most of any creature on earth. We’ve become very convinced by our own power to do things, so much so that we often forget that there is a greater power and that we might actually benefit from, and in fact need, that power.

One thing is for sure – we cannot muster up or create the power of God by any means we have. We cannot do it through a great education, through financial security, through precisely planned and executed worship services, through a perfectly order home, through any use of any power we have.

Like an unplugged computer, we have an extraordinary amount of potential, but until we seek the plug in the wall, we are nothing of what we are created to be. If we remain unplugged from our power source, we are merely a decoration or an example in a museum. However, as soon as the computer is plugged into the wall, “all these things” are added to it. All of its basic needs or functions are right there.

Jesus is trying to tell the disciples, and us, the same thing. Order matters!!! Get plugged in first and the rest will follow. Bill Gates knew that the computer would need Windows and Microsoft Word, and he made sure that once the computer was plugged in, those things would be there. Likewise, God knows our basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. He created us to need those very things. If Bill Gates made sure the computer had an operating system and software, then we can trust God to make sure we have food, clothing, and shelter.

PART 3
Apply Your Findings

[Q] Why is it so easy to get our priorities out of order? To seek our “operating systems and software” before we bother to “plug in”?

[Q] Have you ever experienced the power of God transforming you or something you were a part of? Have you ever tried to transform something with your own power and ended up with 100 pine nuts and no tree?

Whatever real power we have is completely dependent upon the power of God. Without His power living in us, sustaining us, guiding us, and emboldening us, we are nothing that makes any eternal difference. We are a metal box full of glass and circuits sitting on a table cluttered with software boxes. But with the power of God (His Kingdom), Jesus promises that we will do the works that He has done “and greater works than these.” (John 14:12) He promises that if we plug into the power of God that we will have lives that have the transformative power of Christ’s life. This may sound sacrilegious, even blasphemous, since His life saved all of creation. It is not blasphemous because it is Christ’s life continued in us – not our own. Paul writes to the Corinthian church: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” He may have also said if Christ is in anyone, he is a new creation. We are “born again” – this time into the Body of Christ to be His hands and His feet working in this world.
Seek this. One chapter later in Matthew, Jesus promises, “Seek and you will find.”

PLANS: God, the Mapmaker

August 15, 2010

PLANS: God, the Mapmaker
Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

PART 1
Identify the Current Issue

We are all attached to plans – plans for dinner, recipes, work schedules, exercise routines, curriculum, 5-years goals, mortgage pay-off plans, vacation plans, etc. As humans, we need a plan in place to make the most of our time. Today we’re going to talk about the plan for our lives – how that plan is made and how we come to understand its specifics.

Let’s start by looking about how we make plans for a trip – driving directions. If I asked you, “what’s the best route?” what two pieces of information are essential for you to answer my question well. (starting and ending points)

Our starting point for this exercise is Athens, and our ending point is Knoxville.

[Q] What’s the best route from Athens to Chattanooga? What’s the quickest route? What’s the most scenic route? What if I’m afraid to drive on the interstates around Atlanta?

[Q] What if need to pick my nephew up from camp in Dahlonega and attend a wedding in Big Canoe on the way?


PART 2
Discover the Eternal Principles

The plans we have for our lives are a lot like the driving directions we make. We need to know where we are and where we’re going before there’s any point in making directions. Once we know those two things, the directions we make will depend on the things we feel are important to do on the way. Do we want to get there quickly? Do we want to do things on the way?

Making a life plan is daunting. If only there were a MapQuest.com for life. Fortunately, we read in Jeremiah that God already has a plan for our lives.



Teaching point one: God, the Great Mapmaker, has a plan for your life.

Even though we are all fairly new to this life, maybe 20-30 years into it, God has been involved in our lives since the beginning of time. He doesn’t turn His attention to a plan for our lives when we finally realize that we need one. He began and finished that plan before we came into existence.

Read Psalm 139:13-16.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

[Q] When did God first start planning our lives? Was He reacting to any decisions or life choices we had already made?

[Q] What do verses 13-14 tell us about how involved God was in planning our lives?

[Q] What does v. 16 tell us about when the plan for our life was made?


Teaching point two: The plan is good. It is for a hope and a future.

All of us want the best for our lives. We want to be successful and happy in every way that we know how. Sometimes it’s hard to trust anyone else to care as much about our own welfare as we do. Sometimes that’s even true with God. Have you ever said this to yourself:

Certainly the God of the entire universe couldn’t be interested in every little detail of my life, so I better help Him with those. Maybe He’s not really even interested in me at all, so I’ll make my own plans just in case.

The good news is that we can trust God with every hair on our head. He has told us that He has a plan for us that is for a hope and a future. But how can we be sure that God’s idea of a hope and future and ours are the same?

Read Psalm 23.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

[Q] What kind of hope and future does God promise us in this psalm?

Read John 3:16.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

[Q] What kind of hope and future does God promise us in this verse?



Teaching point three: God wants us to know His plan.

Even if we believe that God has a plan for our lives, it’s hard to imagine getting a copy of it. When’s the last time God sent a tablet of stones with writing on it down the mountain? Since very few of us hear God’s voice audibly, we struggle to understand the details of His plan for our lives, even if we believe that it is generally good.

God is a God of details. Look at nature around you. The details are what are so amazing! One thing you can learn from nature about God is that he doesn’t like exact duplication. Every single flower and creature is unique – not exactly the same as any other. Human beings are just the opposite. We find a pattern we like, and we repeat it over and over again in architecture, clothing, food, you name it. God loves unique details, and if He loves them so much, then He wants to share them with you.

But how? God speaks in many ways. Some of the most common are through scripture, prayer, worship, words of a friend. The one thing that you can count on is that God will speak to you in a way that you can understand.

Read Jeremiah 33:3

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

[Q] What are some ways that God communicates with us?


Teaching point four: God fulfills His plan in and through us.

When we start to understand the details of God’s plan for our lives, it is easy to wonder if we are doing a good job of it. Are we letting God down? Are we succeeding like He hoped? Sometimes God’s plan is hard and doesn’t look like the world’s version of success.

Read Philippians 1:6.

He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

[Q] What hope does this verse give us?


PART 3
Apply Your Findings

[Q] When you graduated from high school, what kind of road map did you make for your life? What considerations went into making it? Did anyone help you?

[Q] How has that plan helped you to this point in your life?

[Q] Has there ever been a time when you sensed God changing that plan to fit His? If so, how did you respond?

God has a plan for your life – a plan for a hope and future with specific details with you in mind. God wants to share that plan with you and help you live it out. No matter where you are on your journey with God – whether you are trying to decide if He exists at all or if you are several steps down the road on a plan that is unfolding – take time this week to trust Him at His world. Call out to him in prayer, and ask for great and unsearchable things that you do not know. Ask him to answer you in a way that you can understand. That may be during a church service or on a bumper sticker that catches your eye in traffic. God has no limits on how He can communicate with you.

Here is a simple prayer you can use:

Father God, I know that You have a plan for my life, and I want to understand it. Please reveal something of Yourself and something of that plan to me this week in a way that I can understand. Amen.