2004 Term 2 Week 5 - The Kingdom of God Part B
This week we used a lot of pictures. When I can figure out how to post pictures I will put the pictures here (they were some of my best ;).
The general idea was that the Kingdom of God (KoG) is separate to the earth. We talked about how Jesus established the KoG and will return to complete its work. And that the Holy Spirit is the link between the KoG and earth.
I drew a tree with a cherry (and a banana) with a rain cloud on the side. We said that Gavin was the tree, the cherry was joy (one of the fruits of the spirit that Gavin shows), and the rain cloud represents the work of the spirit. The fruit that appears is God's fruit not Gavin's. So Gavin shows us something of what God looks like (Joy).
It is through us that the KoG is revealed.
Homework:
Attempt to notice how people around you reveal the KoG.
Monday, May 31, 2004
Monday, May 24, 2004
2004 Term 2 Week 4 - Kingdom of God - Part A
Review of last week took up a lot of the time, so this topic will be done over 2 weeks.
In the beginning God created the world. When man sinned, God separated himself from man. The kingdom of God became separate to the world. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to establish God’s kingdom among people. God’s kingdom is spread by us (through his Spirit).
I had two circle drawn up. Its too hard to describe them. Simon or Brooksie can you see if you can find some html code for drawing. Thanks.
Review of last week took up a lot of the time, so this topic will be done over 2 weeks.
In the beginning God created the world. When man sinned, God separated himself from man. The kingdom of God became separate to the world. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to establish God’s kingdom among people. God’s kingdom is spread by us (through his Spirit).
I had two circle drawn up. Its too hard to describe them. Simon or Brooksie can you see if you can find some html code for drawing. Thanks.
Monday, May 17, 2004
2004 Term 2 Week 3 - What can I do?
Be with others.
Romans 12:9-21 (15)
DEFINITION OF WITH
If I were to come and sit with you would that be being with you? Let’s find out.
Here I am with my friend Mark. He doesn’t look excited to have me with him. I’ve made a big effort to come and be with him and he doesn’t seem to be very appreciative of it. And well he shouldn’t. I have come to him on my terms. And am asking him to be with me, rather than going to be with him.
If you think back to verse 15 it says “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” If I am going to be with you I need to know where you’re at. How can I know whether to rejoice or mourn unless I take notice of your mood?
And yet it is not that simple. I want to do a compare and contrast exercise. I am not trying to contrast between right and wrong, or even good and bad, just highlight how we struggle to be “with” each other. We don’t often rejoice with those who rejoice. Sometimes we:
* Give them a quite word and bring them back down to earth
* Stop them from getting a big head
* Tell a similar story that happened to me and steal the limelight
* Think what about me, why doesn’t that happen to me?
And even when it comes to mourning with those who mourn. Sometimes we:
* Try to cheer them up
* Avoid them because we don’t know what to say or that we might say the wrong thing
* Give them time on their own to ‘get over it’
Examples of Withness
I think we do a very good job of avoiding being with people. Such a good job that we struggle to know what it means to be with people.
When my friend Darren Webb announced his engagement to Karen I found it hard to rejoice with him because it brought up all my emotions about not having a girlfriend and how alone I felt.
I was a leader on a camp a few years ago and one of the guys on the camp was real depressed and was considering suicide. I felt so out of my depth. I didn’t know what to do, my every instinct was to run away, to pass the responsibility to someone else. And for some reason I didn’t. I knelt down beside him prayed. For me that is one of the loudest moments of being with someone.
On another camp I was a leader on … adoption.
We have a God who knows how hard it is to be with people. A God who knows the cost of remaining with people. A God who became one of us and walked as a man. The Bible tells us that he partied with people. The Bible tells us that he cried with people.
Matthew 20:1-16 – Parable of the Workers in the vineyard. The workers found it hard to rejoice with those who the landowner had been generous to.
Luke 15:11-32 – Parable of the Lost Son
Be with others.
Romans 12:9-21 (15)
DEFINITION OF WITH
If I were to come and sit with you would that be being with you? Let’s find out.
Here I am with my friend Mark. He doesn’t look excited to have me with him. I’ve made a big effort to come and be with him and he doesn’t seem to be very appreciative of it. And well he shouldn’t. I have come to him on my terms. And am asking him to be with me, rather than going to be with him.
If you think back to verse 15 it says “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” If I am going to be with you I need to know where you’re at. How can I know whether to rejoice or mourn unless I take notice of your mood?
And yet it is not that simple. I want to do a compare and contrast exercise. I am not trying to contrast between right and wrong, or even good and bad, just highlight how we struggle to be “with” each other. We don’t often rejoice with those who rejoice. Sometimes we:
* Give them a quite word and bring them back down to earth
* Stop them from getting a big head
* Tell a similar story that happened to me and steal the limelight
* Think what about me, why doesn’t that happen to me?
And even when it comes to mourning with those who mourn. Sometimes we:
* Try to cheer them up
* Avoid them because we don’t know what to say or that we might say the wrong thing
* Give them time on their own to ‘get over it’
Examples of Withness
I think we do a very good job of avoiding being with people. Such a good job that we struggle to know what it means to be with people.
When my friend Darren Webb announced his engagement to Karen I found it hard to rejoice with him because it brought up all my emotions about not having a girlfriend and how alone I felt.
I was a leader on a camp a few years ago and one of the guys on the camp was real depressed and was considering suicide. I felt so out of my depth. I didn’t know what to do, my every instinct was to run away, to pass the responsibility to someone else. And for some reason I didn’t. I knelt down beside him prayed. For me that is one of the loudest moments of being with someone.
On another camp I was a leader on … adoption.
We have a God who knows how hard it is to be with people. A God who knows the cost of remaining with people. A God who became one of us and walked as a man. The Bible tells us that he partied with people. The Bible tells us that he cried with people.
Matthew 20:1-16 – Parable of the Workers in the vineyard. The workers found it hard to rejoice with those who the landowner had been generous to.
Luke 15:11-32 – Parable of the Lost Son
Monday, May 10, 2004
Monday, May 03, 2004
2004 Term 2 Week 1 - Legalism
We all live by rules. Rules tell us that we are bad people. If we were good people we wouldn’t need rules to make us be good.
If we can keep the rules we somehow think we are better than those who don’t. This can lead to self-righteousness. I can make myself be a better person (or stop myself from being such a bad person). And when your righteousness (sense of worth, God-likeness) comes from self (by keeping the rules) you no longer need God. I am able to stop myself from doing bad things (I am not that fallen/broken/sinful) I can do okay by myself. God is not in the picture. The funny thing is that very act of using rules to keep me from needing God is the very thing that drives me towards him. If I notice that I need to have a rule to be kind, or generous, or loving, or godly then I start to have doubts about my motives. And if I’m honest I am not as sincere in my good deeds as I would like. In fact if I didn’t have the rule I would probably not do it at all. I become aware that I am not a good person and that my rules only make me look like a good person. I am deceiving people, myself included. When I realise this I will make some more rules in the hope that these new rules will do what the old ones couldn’t, bring about a good change. Though we all know the new rules are no more powerful that the original rules. I can’t make myself good. I am stuffed and so I cry out to God, “God I can’t do it. Save me from myself. Make me like you, as I cannot improve myself.”
Example:
I become aware that my relationship with my friends is not as good as I would like it to be. So I make a rule that I will spend more time with them. Whilst spending time with them I become aware that I am forcing myself to spend more time with them and that I would prefer to do other things (read/play computer games). So I make a rule that I will take more interest my friends I will be more curious about them, hopefully they will seem more interesting to me than reading. Later I become aware that I am not really becoming more interested in them. Ashamed of myself I seek another rule to try to change my heart. If I take the time to notice I see that my heart is unavailable to others, uninterested in others, and unable to be changed by me. And my next question will always be “So, what do I do now?” And there it is again. I want a rule to live by. My rules haven’t worked, tell me your rule and I’ll give it a go. So what do I do? I realise that rules wont save me or change me, note to self: “No rules”. And that is my new rule. I can’t help it. I keep making rules to fix myself. Not once have I cried out to God. If I want I could work “Christianity” into my rules. I will read the bible everyday. That will bring about the change I want. I could do a similar thing with prayer too, or even fellowship. “God I don’t want to give up being master of my destiny. It feels like my whole world will collapse if I stop fortifying my life with rules. I don’t trust in your love. I feel the need to earn it, to prove myself worthy of it. I cannot bear to be broken/sinful/fallen in my own eyes, let alone the eyes of my friends and family, let alone you. God, change me.”
God brings about change through surprise. And the change is not the change I was trying to achieve. I suddenly become aware that something in me has shifted, I have become a little bit different.
Romans 3:19-24
Rules: I gotta love my wife (will she feel loved?)
I gotta take more interest in my friends’ lives
I gotta exercise regularly / eat healthier
We all live by rules. Rules tell us that we are bad people. If we were good people we wouldn’t need rules to make us be good.
If we can keep the rules we somehow think we are better than those who don’t. This can lead to self-righteousness. I can make myself be a better person (or stop myself from being such a bad person). And when your righteousness (sense of worth, God-likeness) comes from self (by keeping the rules) you no longer need God. I am able to stop myself from doing bad things (I am not that fallen/broken/sinful) I can do okay by myself. God is not in the picture. The funny thing is that very act of using rules to keep me from needing God is the very thing that drives me towards him. If I notice that I need to have a rule to be kind, or generous, or loving, or godly then I start to have doubts about my motives. And if I’m honest I am not as sincere in my good deeds as I would like. In fact if I didn’t have the rule I would probably not do it at all. I become aware that I am not a good person and that my rules only make me look like a good person. I am deceiving people, myself included. When I realise this I will make some more rules in the hope that these new rules will do what the old ones couldn’t, bring about a good change. Though we all know the new rules are no more powerful that the original rules. I can’t make myself good. I am stuffed and so I cry out to God, “God I can’t do it. Save me from myself. Make me like you, as I cannot improve myself.”
Example:
I become aware that my relationship with my friends is not as good as I would like it to be. So I make a rule that I will spend more time with them. Whilst spending time with them I become aware that I am forcing myself to spend more time with them and that I would prefer to do other things (read/play computer games). So I make a rule that I will take more interest my friends I will be more curious about them, hopefully they will seem more interesting to me than reading. Later I become aware that I am not really becoming more interested in them. Ashamed of myself I seek another rule to try to change my heart. If I take the time to notice I see that my heart is unavailable to others, uninterested in others, and unable to be changed by me. And my next question will always be “So, what do I do now?” And there it is again. I want a rule to live by. My rules haven’t worked, tell me your rule and I’ll give it a go. So what do I do? I realise that rules wont save me or change me, note to self: “No rules”. And that is my new rule. I can’t help it. I keep making rules to fix myself. Not once have I cried out to God. If I want I could work “Christianity” into my rules. I will read the bible everyday. That will bring about the change I want. I could do a similar thing with prayer too, or even fellowship. “God I don’t want to give up being master of my destiny. It feels like my whole world will collapse if I stop fortifying my life with rules. I don’t trust in your love. I feel the need to earn it, to prove myself worthy of it. I cannot bear to be broken/sinful/fallen in my own eyes, let alone the eyes of my friends and family, let alone you. God, change me.”
God brings about change through surprise. And the change is not the change I was trying to achieve. I suddenly become aware that something in me has shifted, I have become a little bit different.
Romans 3:19-24
Rules: I gotta love my wife (will she feel loved?)
I gotta take more interest in my friends’ lives
I gotta exercise regularly / eat healthier
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)