In the Beginning...Grace

Leah found this sermon on Genesis 1 by Tullian Tchividjian, the pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian in Florida (and grandson of Billy Graham).  He makes many of the same points made in this week's Gospel Project lesson.  It's definitely worth a listen if you have time.

As he says in the intro, we often spend our time on Genesis 1 focusing on secondary things (at best).  For example, we focus on the heroes of the text (Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph) and what moral lessons we can learn from their examples.  But the "heroes" of Genesis aren't really heroes at all.  They fall, they fail, they lie, they make huge mistakes, they're selfish, they're egotistical, they're unreliable...

Genesis was not primarily written so that we would have a catalogue of heroes to emmulate.  It was primarily written to whet our appetite for another....for someone who will come and succeed where human "heroes" fail.  From beginning to end Genesis is a witness to a God who is full of grace...who gives, not because of our moral successes, but in spite of our moral failures. 



Ultimate Authority and the Suicide of Rebellion

The first section of this week's lesson from the Gospel Project carries the heading, "The God Who Speaks Has Authority".  This is a statement that few Christians would deny, but how does this truth affect our worldview and our day-to-day lives?  And why do we, though we profess this truth, continue to rebel against God's authority over our lives?

In 2010, Matt Chandler preached a series titled "Ultimate Authority".  This first message in the series has some great perspective on God's authority and our attitude toward His authority (and authority in general).

Ultimate Authority and the Suicide of Rebellion

It was helpful for me to follow along with the transcript of the sermon.

Power of Prayer

Over the past three or so weeks leading up to the start of the Gospel Project,  we have gone over how we are in need of a change:  A change in mindset, a change in heart, and a change in our actions towards others (full transformation).  We want this for ourselves and for the family growth in this class.   I wanted to end off these weeks with a sort of back to basics and I decided to do a lesson on prayer. 

As I prepared this study, I was impressed more and more about how prayer is centered on relationships.  Just like in any other relationship (marriage, kids, friends, family).  if we don't communicate, the relationship is strained.  When we don't communicate with God, our relationship with Him is strained.  

God truly does answer and listen to our prayers.

Matthew 7:7  Ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and  it will be opened to you.

Self study Questions:

1. How large a percentage of your prayer time is spent asking God for a better job, a better home, food, clothes and other necessities
2. Do you pray mostly out of a sense of obligation? Is prayer boring to you? Is it more of a duty than a pleasure?
3. When you either sit and brood in His presence, or you rush off to phone a friend to try to find help, what do you imagine that must do to God's heart?
4. When you're sad, downcast, heavy-hearted, confused, to whom do you run in such times? Whose company do you prefer then?
5. What is that the end-purpose of prayer?
6. What exactly do you get from your time of prayer, if it isn't something that could see you through the battle?
7. How do you react when your circumstances begin to fall in on you? Do you collapse after only a short while
8. Do you love to be with Jesus? Do you prefer Him above all others? Does your heart cry out, "Jesus, You're my everything. You are my hearts great pleasure - and I love Your company"?

Extra Prep for This Week's Lesson

Important topic this week...the most important, according to Jesus! (see text from Mark 12 below)  Please read the following texts in preparation for Sunday's lesson.  There are some "Challenge Questions" at the bottom of this post for you to consider before we meet on Sunday.  We'll have some other questions to discuss during the lesson, as well.  I hope you're all having a great week!

The Greatest Commandment
Mark 12:28-31

 

²⁸ And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?"
²⁹ Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
³¹ The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

 

"The Love Chapter"
1 Corinthians 13

 

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

 

Love and Hate Cannot Coexist

1 John 4:19-21

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.

²⁰ If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
²¹ And this commendment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

  

CHALLENGE QUESTIONS:

1. Jesus said the greatest commandment is, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."  The second greatest commandment is, "Love your neighbor as yourself"?  Why are these commandments above the rest?
2. How can we, individually and as a class, show love to other believers?
3. How can we, individually and as a class, show love to a lost world?
4. Why do so many non-believers view Christians as unloving?
5. What should our motive be in showing love to others? 

A Summary of the Bible in 311 Words

On his blog, Trevin Wax posted a summary of the Bible in 311 words.  The summary is something he and others at LifeWay created to go along with The Gospel Project's focus on the grand narrative of Scripture.  Here is the text:

God’s Word to You:

A Summary of the Bible in 311 Words

In the beginning, the all-powerful, personal God created the universe. This God created human beings in His image to live joyfully in His presence, in humble submission to His gracious authority. But all of us have rebelled against God and, in consequence, must suffer the punishment of our rebellion: physical death and the wrath of God.

Thankfully, God initiated a rescue plan, which began with His choosing the nation of Israel to display His glory in a fallen world. The Bible describes how God acted mightily on Israel’s behalf, rescuing His people from slavery and then giving them His holy law. But God’s people – like all of us – failed to rightly reflect the glory of God.

Then, in the fullness of time, in the Person of Jesus Christ, God Himself came to renew the world and restore His people. Jesus perfectly obeyed the law given to Israel. Though innocent, He suffered the consequences of human rebellion by His death on a cross. But three days later, God raised Him from the dead.

Now the church of Jesus Christ has been commissioned by God to take the news of Christ’s work to the world. Empowered by God’s Spirit, the church calls all people everywhere to repent of sin and to trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness. Repentance and faith restores our relationship with God and results in a life of ongoing transformation.

The Bible promises that Jesus Christ will return to this earth as the conquering King. Only those who live in repentant faith in Christ will escape God’s judgment and live joyfully in God’s presence for all eternity. God’s message is the same to all of us: repent and believe, before it is too late. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved.

Books Mentioned in Class

I wanted to post some information about some of the books that have mentioned in class.  The descriptions are from the publisher and the links are to Westminster Bookstore, which I've found is usually cheaper than Amazon.

If you have any books you'd like to recommend to the class, please feel free to send them to me, and we can put together another post.

CRAZY LOVE
By Francis Chan


Have you ever wondered if we're missing it?
It's crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe-the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor-loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss.

Whether you've verbalized it yet or not, we all know something's wrong.

Does something deep inside your heart long to break free from the status quo? Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of our world with tangible, even radical, solutions? God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself. Because the answer to religious complacency isn't working harder at a list of do's and don'ts-it's falling in love with God. And once you encounter His love, as Francis describes it, you will never be the same.

Because when you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything.

Learn more about Crazy Love at www.crazylovebook.com

192 Pages
Published May 2008

RADICAL
By David Platt


It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily...

BUT WHO DO YOU KNOW WHO LIVES LIKE THAT? DO YOU?

In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple--then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a "successful" suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus.

Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment --a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring.

240 Pages
Published May 2010

Francis Chan - Are Your Beliefs Biblical?

Hey guys... Leah and I came across this video by Francis Chan and thought it was a good follow-up to our discussion today.

How much of our belief system was fed to us, and how much came from the Bible itself?  He points out that we should listen to sound teaching, but that we should test everything we hear to see if it's really in the Bible.

This Sunday: Learning and Growing in Community

This Sunday we will be discussing the importance of learning, studying, contemplating, and discussing Scripture, and how we can help and encourage one another in those activities.  Our study breaks the lesson down like this:

We engage truth
We seek to understand
We put our learning into practice

The goal of our studying the Bible together must not only be information but transformation.  In Romans, Paul gave the following command:  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and pefect (Rom. 12:2).

We engage truth

As Christians who profess belief in the truth and authority of the Scriptures, we must engage the text with minds and hearts that are open to receiving that truth, even when it seems to conflict with our pre-existing beliefs.  We cannot hold up the Scriptures that we like and ignore the texts that challenge our beliefs or are difficult to understand.  If we believe that the Bible is God's revelation of Himself to humanity, then we must believe that all of Scripture is worth learning and studying.

The sum of your word is truth,

and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

Psalm 119:160

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching,

but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers

to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening

to the truth and wander off into myths.

2 Timothy 4:3-4

Our affections for and worship of God must be grounded in the truth of the nature and character of God.  Otherwise, we are not worshipping the true God of the Bible, but a god of our own imagination.  Understanding the nature and character of God and His work in the gospel is critical to right worship of Him.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers

will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking

such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him

must worship in spirit and truth.

John 4:24

 

We seek to understand

We must seek and ask for understanding.

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my
commandments with you, making your ear attentive
to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for
understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for
it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the
fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.  For
the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come
knowledge and understanding

Proverbs 2:1-6

The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
Proverbs 15:14

Understanding of the Scriptures comes from hearing/reading the word.

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through

the Word of Christ.

Romans 10:17

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore,

I hateevery false way.  Your word is a lamp to my feet

 and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:104-105

Understanding of the Scripture will not come without the help of the Spirit.

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom

but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths

to those who are spiritual.

1 Corinthians 2:13

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean
on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge
him, and he will make straight your paths.  Be not wise in
your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
Proverbs 3:5-7

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given
understanding to the mind?

Job 38:36

But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Alimighty,
that makes him understand.
Job 32:8

 

We should desire and pray for other believers to understand, as well.  Paul prayed that for the Colossians.

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to
pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge
of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to
walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him,
bearing fruit in every good work.

Colossians 1:9-10

We put our learning into practice

The end result of our learning and understanding should be the bearing of the fruit of the Spirit.  We are not saved by our works, but our faith should produce evidence of our faith...the fruit of the Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such

things there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus

have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  Let us not

become conceited, provoking one another, envying on another.

Galatians 5:22-26

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and
knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:2

Whoever says, "I know him" but does not keep his commandments

is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word,

in him truly the love of God is perfected.  By this we may know

that we are in him: whoever abides in him ought to walk in the

same way in which he walked.

1 John 2:4-6

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need,

yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and truth.

1 John 3:17-18

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them

will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And

the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat

on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded

on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine

and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his

house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came,

and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell,

and great was the fall of it.

Matthew 7:24-27

 Teach me your way, O LORD,

that I may walk in your truth;

unite my heart to fear your name.

Psalm 86:11

Update on The Gospel Project

Trevin Wax, Managing Editor for The Gospel Project, provided an update on The Gospel Project on his blog.  A few things of note:

Apparently, the demand for The Gospel Project has far exceeded LifeWay's expectations, to the point that they have a back-orders of adult study materials.  Ed Stetzer (General Editor) explains what happened:

Whenever we put out curriculum, we make projections as to how many people will want it, and how many pieces should be printed, when orders will come in, etc. Frankly, the response to The Gospel Project has taken us by surprise. It is selling nearly twice the original plan (and we planned high!). We are already rushing a second print run so we can accommodate the orders that continue to pour in. It looks like hundreds of thousands of people will have a TGP resource in their hands this fall.

 Also, there are some new resources available for The Gospel Project.

• The Gospel Project iPad App.  This might just be digital versions of the books.
• The Gospel Project iPhone App.  It looks like this is centered around the student curriculum.