An Attitude of Thanks (Luke 17:11-19)

Our congregation celebrated Thanksgiving Sunday later than usual this year. With its origins in a more rural culture, there are a lot of churches that have a Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday early in the year before Lent to thank God for produce of the land. We held our Thanksgiving service later this year for two reasons. Firstly, the readings before Lent followed the Sermon on the Mount, and, with our discipleship focus this year, I wanted to focus on Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 5. Secondly, our church is more suburban than rural, so we’re not tied to the rural rhythm of the harvest.

I believe that it is still good to set aside a special Sunday each year to give thanks to God for the good things he gives to us each and every day. We live in a culture that makes being thankful for what we have very hard. We face unrealistic expectations from the media about our identity, appearance, relationships, possessions, probably just about every aspect of our lives. The consumer culture in which we live aims to make us dissatisfied and unhappy with ourselves and our lives so we will buy more to make ourselves feel better. The problem is that this constant search for new or better products, experiences or relationships doesn’t actually make us happy. Instead, because of the dissatisfaction that our consumer culture generates, we end up feeling discontent and unhappy.

Jesus teaches a very counter-cultural way of living. It begins with giving thanks for what we already have and recognising that every good thing we have is a gift from a God who loves us and wants the best for us. This is a theme that runs right through the Bible. We find it in the refrain of the psalms which call us to give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and whose love endures forever (see Psalms 106, 107, 118, 136). We have the story from Luke 17 in which the healed leper who returns to thank Jesus for his grace receives deeper healing and wholeness. Paul’s letters talk about being satisfied with what we have and giving thanks to God in all circumstances of life (see Philippians 4:12,13; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; 1 Timothy 6:6-8). As followers of Jesus, we are called to have thankful hearts for the good things God gives us each and every day, rather than focusing on what we don’t have and pursuing whatever appears to be new or better.

I know from my own experiences that when we start thanking God for the good things he is already giving us each day, our attitude towards the challenges we face in life change. This attitude grows from the faith that is God providing us with everything we need for life in this world and the next as an act of pure grace. This grace is seen most clearly when we look at the cross of Christ and see the love of God there as he gives us his all and holds nothing back so that we can live in a new relationship with him as his children. As we grow in this relationship with God through Jesus, trusting that he is our loving Father in heaven who ‘provides me with food and clothing, home and family, daily work, and all I need from day to day’ (from Martin Luther’s explanation to the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed in his Small Catechism), we can see the little blessings and the small graces he extends to us each and every day of our lives. When we recognise God’s love for us in the relationships, possessions and other good things we already have which he gives to us for the sake of Jesus, then his Holy Spirit grows thankful hearts and we can find contentment and joy in all the circumstances of life.

This isn’t natural for us and it doesn’t always come easy. That is why we need to be part of communities of faith which will embody the goodness of God for us and in which we can give thanks to God for all of his acts of loving grace to us. So we continue to celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday, not just for the harvest the farmers reap each year, but for all the good things God continues to give to each of us every day of our lives for the sake of Jesus.

More to think about:

• Do you generally find yourself focusing on good things you already have or things you don’t have? Why do you think that is?
• Do you think having more or better or newer possessions, relationships or experiences will make you happier or more content? Explain why you think that is…
• Do you think it is possible to find something good from God in every circumstance of your life, like Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18? Explain your reasons.
• If God loves you enough to give you his Son, how might that faith help you to see other good things your loving heavenly Father gives you every day?
• What are some things that God has already given to you that maybe you have forgotten or can take for granted? Make a list & then read through your list, thanking God for each of them.

Disciples Making Disciples (Matthew 28:16-20)

For the last six months I’ve been talking a lot about discipleship. We have followed the journey of Jesus’ disciples as he called them to follow him, as he taught and equipped them, and as he led them to the cross and empty grave to witness his grace and life-giving love. Now, at the end of Matthew’s gospel, the disciples’ journey culminates with what is often known as Jesus’ Great Commission.

It’s important to realise that the emphasis in Jesus’ words is not on ‘Go’ as a lot of translations suggest. Instead, the main point of Jesus’ instruction is for his disciples to make disciples. He assumes that they will be ‘going’ as a natural part of their lives. Wherever they might be going, Jesus wants them to make disciples. He then explains that the two main elements in making disciples is by receiving people into Christian community through baptism, and then teaching them ‘to obey all the commands’ he has given us (v20).

We are generally pretty good at the baptising part of the Great Commission. However, I get a little uneasy whenever we use this text in our baptism order because I wonder how well we really do in teaching others to obey Jesus’ commands, especially when Jesus’ commands look like this:

• Repent & turn to God (Matthew 4:17)
• Love your enemies (5:44)
• Don’t worry … seek the Kingdom of God above all else (6:25-34)
• Come to me … & I will give you rest (11:28-30)
• Turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me (16:24-27)
• Love God with all your heart, soul & mind … love your neighbour (22:37-40)

How well do these teachings of Jesus reflect your experience of Christian community? Are we living according to Jesus’ teachings? Are we equipping each other to teach others to live in the same way?

Jesus doesn’t give us a set of rules to live by. Instead, he is leading us in a new way of living that leads to life to the full (John 10:10). This is the narrow gate and the difficult road that he describes in Matthew 7:14. It is the solid rock he talks about in Matthew 7:24-27 on which we can build our lives so that, when the storms come, we can remain secure and upright instead of our lives crashing down around us. Learning to live in the way of Jesus is about learning ‘the unforced rhythms of grace’ (Matthew 11:29 MSG) that give us rest and flow into the lives of others through us.

What might our congregation be like if we took Jesus’ instruction to make disciples seriously? What might it look like if all we did was focus on learning to live the way of Jesus teaches? What might it be like if everything we did was focused on learning to live the way Jesus teaches and to help others live in the same way? This is what lies at the heart of our conversation about becoming a Simple Church. This is the challenge I would like to continue to keep in front of us as we plan for the future God has for us. If the one instruction Jesus gave to his disciples before he left them in Matthew’s gospel, if the one thing he wants us to do, is to make disciples who live in the way Jesus teaches, how do that faithfully?

There are a number of short video clips on YouTube which explain what discipleship can look like in a congregation like ours. You can look at one of them by following this link.

There is a lot more to talk about as we think about how we faithfully follow Jesus’ instructions to disciple others in the way Jesus teaches. For now, it’s worth asking the question: are we willing to live in the way Jesus teaches as his disciples, even if it means giving up some of the ways we think about church? How can we help others learn ‘the unforced rhythm of grace’ so together we can find faith, hope and love as Jesus’ disciples?

The conversation will continue…

More to think about:

• There’s a lot of talk about discipleship in the church at the moment. If someone who wasn’t a Christian asked you what it means to be a follower of Jesus, how would you explain it to them (in 25 words or less)?
• When you have heard the Great Commission in the past, have you focused on the ‘go’ or the ‘make disciples’ part? How might focusing on the ‘making disciples’ rather than the ‘go’ change the way you apply Jesus’ instruction in your life?
• How is the way you have understood Jesus’ teaching similar or different to the 6 examples I included above? What might your life be like if you lived in the way these 6 examples teach us?
• Discuss why living Jesus’ way is important, especially when you read Matthew 7:13-14 and 24-27? What is Jesus’ promise to us when we live in the way he teaches?
• How well have you been taught to live in the way Jesus’ teaches? How can we do a better job at helping you to live in the way Jesus’ teaches? How can we help you disciple others to live in the way of Jesus?

Disciples Forgive (John 20:19-23)

Six weeks ago, on the Sunday after Easter, we looked at this same story from the perspective that Jesus sends his disciples into the world. Discipleship is about Jesus preparing and equipping us to carry on his work in the world on his behalf by the power of his Spirit.

As we celebrate God’s gift of his Holy Spirit to his people at Pentecost, I want to look at this story again from the perspective of the work the Spirit empowers us to do.

I have had lots of conversations with Christians over the years about how the Holy Spirit works in the life of the believer. One aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work that doesn’t seem to get talked about a lot, however, is the Spirit’s work of forgiveness. Yet here, at the end of his gospel, when Jesus appeared to his disciples in the evening of his resurrection, John makes a strong connection between the gift of the Holy Spirit with the forgiveness of sins.

Maybe one of the reasons we don’t talk about forgiveness a lot is because our culture doesn’t like talking about sin. We still suffer from the effects of sin, though, even if we want to try to deny its existence. So many people that I talk to describe how they feel guilty, or have regrets in life, or carry a sense of shame. The remedy for these afflictions rests in the gift Jesus gave to his disciples in this story: forgiveness.

Another reason talking about forgiveness can be difficult is that it doesn’t come naturally to us. We tend to find it hard to believe that we can be forgiven for the wrongs we have done or the guilt that we carry. We can also find it hard to forgive people who have wronged us. That is why the gift of the Holy Spirit is so important for us. The Spirit of God works in us what we can’t do for ourselves. The Spirit creates forgiving hearts within us by giving us the forgiveness Jesus won for us on the cross and the empty tomb. Then, having experienced forgiveness, we are more likely be forgiving people. That is why Jesus taught his disciples, including us, to love others like he loves us (John 13:34). To love someone means forgiving them and not keeping a record of their wrongs (see 1 Corinthians 13:5).

This isn’t a gift that is just given to pastors, priests, or whatever your name for the professional clergy might be. Just as one of the emphases of the festival of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit is given to all of God’s people, so all of God’s people have the authority and the privilege to lift the burdens of guilt, shame and regret by forgiving others. We all pray ‘forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us’ in the Lord’s Prayer. The sad reality is that some people never hear words of forgiveness outside of worship, so I consider it a high priority each week to tell people who live in a harsh, judging and condemning world that they are forgiven for Christ’s sake. It is my constant prayer that the Spirit of the living Christ will use these words to breathe life into people’s hearts so they can believe they really are forgiven children of God whom he loves and with whom he is pleased (Mark 1:11 etc), and they can in turn extend God’s forgiveness to the people in their lives who need it.

Obviously, forgiveness isn’t all the Holy Spirit does in the life of a believer, but it is a vital and life-giving aspect of the Spirit’s work. As we celebrate the festival of Pentecost, it is good to remember firstly that Jesus’ disciples are forgiven people and to ask the Spirit of Christ to give us a bold faith to hang on to the forgiveness he gives to us. As Jesus’ forgiven disciples, then, we are also empowered by the Holy Spirit to extend that same forgiveness to everyone in our lives, especially those who deserve it the least but need it the most.

More to think about:

• Why do you think some people find it hard to accept forgiveness? Why do you think some people find it hard to forgive others?
• Do you find it easy to believe that you are a forgiven person? If you are living with guilt or shame or regret, where do you think these feelings come from?
• Why do you think John connects Jesus’ gift of the Holy Spirit to his disciples with the forgiveness of sins? (It might help to go back to Jesus promising the Paraclete [someone who stands beside us and speaks God’s truth to us] in John 14:16,17)
• Who is someone that you find difficult to forgive? How might the gift of God’s Holy Spirit help you to forgive that person?
• Who do you know that might need the gift of forgiveness? How might you be able to extend Jesus’ gift of forgiveness to them?

An Out-Going Church (Acts 1:1-11)

We all know what happens when you throw a stone into a body of water like a pond, lake or dam. When the stone enters the water (or when the water embraces the stone, depending on how Zen you want to be) it causes ripples to go out, starting from the point where the stone went into the water, and moving out towards the edges.

Ripples naturally move outwards, starting from the stone and moving out to the edges of the pond or lake.

When Jesus was talking to his disciples at the start of the book of Acts, he described what would happen after he had ascended into heaven. In the power of the Spirit, his followers were going to be his witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem, and then moving outwards to the surrounding countryside of Judea, then to the neighbouring country of Samaria, and continuing outwards to the ends of the earth (v8b). What Jesus was describing can be understood as a ripple effect of the gospel as people took the good news of Jesus outward from where they were, and into the whole world.

Grace naturally moves outwards, starting from Jesus and moving out to the lives of people of all nations.

Grace always causes a ripple effect because the gospel is an outward-moving event. From the birth of Jesus, God was moving from where he was in heaven to be one with us in this world and the realities of human existence. In the earthly ministry of Jesus, this outward flow continued as Jesus gave healing, hope, life and forgiveness to the people he met. Jesus’s death was an outward flowing event as his blood literally flowed from his veins on the cross, and he gave all of himself to us and for us in his death. Jesus’ resurrection was an outward-moving event as he defeated darkness and death and brought new life and light into the world by walking out of the tomb. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus caused a big splash in human history, but the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost then put this outward movement into effect in the lives of the disciples. They were able to witness to what they had seen and heard as the Spirit of God led them out from Jerusalem in ever-widening ripples that extended to the entire world.

We are caught up in these outward-flowing ripples when we also become witnesses to the grace and goodness of God in the gospel. As Jesus leads us to the cross, we witness God’s perfect and infinite love for us. As Jesus leads us to the cross, we witness the new life he gives us, a life that is stronger than death. The outward movement of God’s grace begins in us as the Holy Spirit gives us faith in Jesus’ work of salvation for us. We get caught up in the outward movement of the ripples of God’s grace as we witness to the grace we have encountered in all we say and do. We don’t need to travel overseas to do this. Just as the disciples began by witnessing to their own city of Jerusalem, so our witness begins in our homes, our work places, our schools and universities, our sporting teams, or wherever God leads us in life.

At this point, I could tell you to get out there and witness. However, I get concerned that at times we know we should be better witnesses, but we aren’t sure what we should be witnessing to. Being a witness involves two key elements: first, witnesses need to encounter an event, and then they are able to give a witness to what we have encountered. Before we can give a witness to Jesus, we first need to witness his grace for ourselves.

That becomes a vital element in being disciples. We need to follow Jesus to the cross and the empty tomb so we can witness for ourselves the life-changing love of God in the gospel. Once we have encountered God’s grace for ourselves, then are we able to ride the outward-moving ripples of God’s grace in the power of the Holy Spirit into our homes, our work, our schools and universities, or wherever God might lead us.

When was the last time you stood on the banks of a pond, lake or dam, threw rocks into the water, and watched the ripples move out to the edges? Find some time this week to do it. Throw some rocks into water and watch the ripples move out. As you do that, think about how God has dropped the stone of his grace and love into your life by connecting you with Jesus through the power of his Spirit. And then think about how he is carrying you along, in the power of his Spirit, in the outward-moving ripples of his grace, so you can witness to his grace and love in all your words and actions.

More to think about:

• In your experience of ‘church’ (however you understand that), do you think we tend to be more inward-looking or outward-flowing? Why do you think that way?
• Compare your experience of church with Jesus’ words about his disciples being his witnesses ‘in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8 NLT). Would you rather be part of a church that looks inwards, or is caught up in the outward flow of God’s grace? Give a few reasons for your preference…
• Do you agree that people need to witness something for themselves before they can witness about it to others? Explain why you think that…
• Where have you witnessed God’s grace for yourself? In what ways would you like to witness more of God’s grace?
• We don’t have to go on overseas mission trips to be part of God’s outward flow of grace; it starts right where we are. How might you be able to give witness to God’s grace in your life today?

Jesus in You (John 14:15-21)

Last week we heard Jesus say that we see the Father when we see him, and we get to know the Father when we get to know him, because Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus (vv1-14). From Jesus’ words we can think of discipleship as following him into a deeper and closer relationship with God the Father so we can participate with God in his work of redeeming, restoring and renewing the world.

But what about the Holy Spirit? As Christians who believe in and teach the Trinity, we believe that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. So what is the role of the Spirit of God in this new relationship we have with the Father through the Son?

In John 14, Jesus continues by promising that he will ask the Father who will give us the Paraclete (v16). This word means someone who stands beside us to speak for us and to speak to us, which is why it can be translated as Advocate, Helper, Comforter, Encourager or Counsellor. This is the Spirit of Truth (v17) which, Jesus promises, is with us and will be, or is already, in us (depending on how we read the verb).

We need to pause at this point because of our post-modern culture’s difficulty with the word ‘truth.’ Our society has a tendency to want to make all ‘truth’ relative so that there is no one, absolute truth. Instead, post-modernism argues, we live with many truths, yours being different than mine, with the end result that there is no one ‘truth’ we can rely on.

I understand and agree that we need to respect and value what people hold as ‘truth’ for themselves. However, we then need to ask, what is the ‘Truth’ that Jesus talks about, and is it possible for us to find a ‘Truth’ in him that we can trust enough to build a life on?

Earlier in chapter 14, Jesus said that he is ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (v6). One way we can think of the ‘Spirit of Truth’ that Jesus promises to give us as not an idea, a concept, or even a doctrinal theology to be discussed, debated or even defended. Instead, if Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, it is possible to think of the ‘Truth’ as a person – Jesus himself. This would mean that the Spirit of Truth that he promises us is his own Spirit, which will be with us and even in us!

This is what Jesus seems to mean when he says, ‘When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you’ (v20 NLT). The role of the Spirit of Truth that Jesus is talking about here is to bring us into the relationship that exists between the Father and the Son by living in us so as we live in him, he lives in us, and together we are one with God in perfect relationship.

There are times in life when this can be hard to believe. Especially when life is difficult or challenging, when we suffer from physical or mental illness, grief or loss of any kind, we can start to wonder where God is and why he is letting us go through pain or emptiness. This is where we need the Spirit to lead us deeper into the Truth. We can find in Christ that, even in the darkest times of life, we are one with the Father through Jesus by the power of the Spirit, and nothing can separate us from his love for us as his children whom he loves and with whom he is well pleased (Romans 8:38,39; Matthew 3:17 etc). We can understand the work of the Paraclete, then, as speaking words of grace and truth to us when we need them the most, and leading us into a deeper relationship with the Truth of God who is made a human being in the person of Jesus, so that, as people who are in the Father through the Son, we can live the life Jesus came to give us (14:19; 10:10).

As disciples of Jesus, following Jesus can mean living each and every day in this Truth, no matter what our circumstances might be, no matter whether we feel it or not. Living in the Spirit of Truth can mean that whether life is good or bad, whether we are cruising or battling, even if we struggle to get out of bed in the morning or to put one foot in front of the other, the Spirit of the living Christ gives us the ability to trust that God is with us, for us and in us. As the Spirit of Truth lives in us we share in the life of Jesus, and nothing, not even death, can overcome it.

Obviously there is a lot more we could say about the work of the Spirit of Truth in the lives of God’s people. There is good teaching on the Holy Spirit, and there are some ideas about the Spirit’s work that I struggle with based on what the Bible teaches. In a lot of ways, however, our understanding of the Holy Spirit needs to be founded on what Jesus says to us in this passage. The gift of the Paraclete is to bring us into God’s Truth – that we are one with the Father through the Son by the power of the Spirit. In this new relationship, we can find a God who loves us, that we can love in return, and we can live in ways that bring life to ourselves and to as we follow Jesus’ commands in faith, hope and love.

More to think about:

• How do you picture the Holy Spirit? What do you think of the picture of the Spirit as Paraclete – someone who stands beside us to speak for us and to us? What do you like about it? What is difficult for you?
• How do you understand the idea of ‘truth’? Do you believe there are absolute truths (always true, no matter what)? What might they be? Are some truths relative (different for different people at different times)? How do you work out what truths are absolute and which are relative?
• Some years ago I came across the idea that the Spirit of Truth Jesus talks about is his Spirit because Jesus is God’s Truth. What do you think of this idea: that Truth from a biblical point of view is more about a person with whom we can have a relationship than an idea to be discussed and debated?
• Do you find it easy or difficult to believe that you are one with God the Father through Jesus the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit? What makes it a challenge? What helps you to believe it?
• How might you live tomorrow differently if you were to go into it believing that you are one with God through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit? How might that faith shape what you do & say to others?

Know the Son, Know the Father (John 14:1-14)

If you were to draw a picture of God, what would it be? An old man with a long, white beard sitting among the clouds? A nature scene? A burst of light? Or something else…?

I think Philip, one of Jesus’ Twelve Disciples, must have been a visual person, because asking Jesus to show him the Father (v8) could have come from a desire to have some sort of picture about what the Father looks like. Instead of drawing him a picture, though, Jesus points to himself as the visual representation of the invisible God.

This is consistent with other parts of the New Testament that points to Jesus as the visible face of the invisible God (for example see Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3). What they are saying is that if we want to see God, the best place to look is at Jesus.

However, this is more than a picture of God. In Jesus we see the character and nature of God. Especially when we follow Jesus to the cross and empty tomb, we see the depth of God’s love for us and the power of his love which is stronger than death.

In seeing God in Jesus, we also get to know him (v7). Jesus says the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father (v10,11). The relationship between the Father and Son is so close that they exist in perfect relationship with each other. One way we can think of this relationship is like a mystical babushka (or matryoshka) doll. The mystery of the relationship between the Father and the Son is that not only is the inner doll nestled within the outer doll, but the larger outer doll also exists within the smaller inner doll. It defies logic and messes with my head, but this is basically what Jesus is saying – the relationship between himself and the Father is so close and intertwined that we cannot separate them from each other.

Jesus tells us this so that we can know the Father through the Son (v7). In our current culture, we usually think about ‘knowledge’ as an intellectual activity based on information. From a biblical perspective, however, knowing someone was a lot more than an intellectual exercise. Knowing someone meant having a relationship with that person. For example, there is a big difference between knowing about the Queen of England and knowing her well enough to drop into her palace for a cup of tea and scones with her and the corgis. Through Jesus, we can know the Father in a close and intimate relationship where we are participating with Jesus in God’s work of redeeming, reconciling and renewing the world (v12), and where Jesus promises that he will give us whatever we ask for to do his saving work and bring glory to the Father (vv13,14).

So, how is your relationship with God? One of the challenges we face in our time and place is that we can tend to over-intellectualise our faith. God want us to love him with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind (Luke 10:27 etc), and so our intellect plays a part in our faith. However, the language of faith that Jesus uses in this passage is about relationship. As we follow Jesus, he leads us deeper into a relationship with the Father. The more we get to know Jesus, the more we also get to know the Father. And the more we get to know God who is the author and sustainer of all life, the more we get to know his life in us (see John 10:10).

We’ve talked a lot about the relationship between the Father and the Son, but I’m guessing there will be people who will be pointing out that a Christian understanding of God is Trinitarian, and so we need to include the Holy Spirit in this relationship as well. Jesus goes on to talk about the role of the Holy Spirit in the next few verses, which we’ll look at next week…

More to think about:

• How do you picture God? Spend some time drawing how you visualise God…
• How does your picture of God compare with Jesus, given that he says that those who see him also see God (v9)? In what ways is your picture similar to Jesus? In what ways is it different?
• This isn’t just about the way God looks, but his character and nature which we encounter in Jesus, especially when we follow Jesus to his cross & empty tomb. What does Jesus’ cross & empty tomb say to you about the character & nature of God?
• Do you tend to think of faith is more an intellectual activity or a relationship? What might it look like to have ‘a personal relationship’ with Jesus? (think about other significant relationships you have in your life; what keeps those relationships strong? how can you do those things with Jesus to keep your relationship strong with him?)
• What do you think about the idea that discipleship is following Jesus into a closer & deeper relationship with the Father? What do you like about this idea? What might be challenging or uncomfortable about it for you?

Faith & Discipleship Articles

A couple of articles came through my facebook news feed earlier today. The first is from McCrindle Research on Faith and Belief in Australia. The second is from the Fuller Youth Institute about making discipleship a priority for our church (they’re the same people who are behind Growing Young which we’ll be looking at later in the year).

What connects them is McCrindle’s finding that, for a lot of Aussies, ‘the greatest attraction to investigating spirituality and religion is seeing people live out a genuine faith.’ How do we equip & help people to ‘live out a genuine faith’? We usually call that ‘discipleship’.

Coincidence? Or maybe God’s trying to tell me something…?

What do you reckon?