This Sunday we’ll be continuing in our new study of 1&2 Timothy. We’ll be reading chapter 1, v 3-11.

After his quick greeting, Paul jumps right into correcting teachers in Ephesus (through Timothy whom he sent there in order to get them re-established), warning them that they’re veering off the path Paul originally pointed to.  What are some of the things he warns against in v4? 

So…we might start thinking: “what’s the big deal Paul?  Why is doctrine such a sticky issue with you?  What does it matter what some people believe?” We live in a day and age when doctrinal views and philosophies are fired at us as fast as water from a fire hydrant – so those kinds of questions seem appropriate. As we examine Paul’s words, how does v4 evaluate the results of what’s being taught in Ephesus?  What does that tell us about the importance of maintaining a healthy doctrinal understanding?

The issue seems to be a slide into mysticism, and another attempt to introduce the Old Testament law into New Testament living.  Who does Paul say the the law is for?  How do we understand this, in light of Paul’s message of salvation and life in Jesus Christ?

Should be an interesting foray into a very timely epistle, I hope you can join us this Sunday!

Back in 1979, David Macaulay wrote and illustrated Motel of the Mysteries, an imaginative picture book of an archeological find in the far flung future of 4022. In the ancient country of Usa, archeologist Howard Carson finds the remains of an ancient motel buried beneath many feet of earth and debris. It’s a fun exercise in acknowledging the challenges of making sense of artifacts from an ancient world. He sees the “do not disturb” sign hanging on a doorknob and assumes he has discovered a royal burial chamber. He decides the T.V. was an ancient worship device through which the primitives communicated with the gods. Stuff like that.

It really highlights the challenges we as Bible readers face in trying to grasp the meaning of some Scriptures. We are very far removed by time and culture from the original audience, and it requires diligent exploration of the time and culture of the ancient world in which the Scriptures emerged. That’s something we’re going to think about this Sunday as we begin a new series in the books of 1&2 Timothy

Both the letters to Timothy as well as Titus have become known as the “pastoral epistles”, because they written to specific church leaders with instructions about leading and church structure.  Some people assert that their only real purpose is to set up church policy and government, but I beg to differ.  It seems to me, that while the regulation of leaders and doctrine brackets the whole work, the real import of the message is staying on target with the Gospel which should effect our lives with REAL change.  That is, change that gets evidenced in the lives we live. 

This week as we introduce the book, we’ll be reading chapter 1 v 1-2, and we’ll introduce Paul and Timothy and talk about the ancient city of Ephesus, in hopes that we can lay the groundwork that provides a better understanding of some “difficult” aspects of these ancient letters.

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday at 10 AM as Janelle and I introduce these amazing letters.

Well, after a year and some change, we have come to the final study in the Gospel of Matthew. We will be finishing up chapter 28, reading verses 16-20. This is Matthew’s abbreviated account of Jesus meeting up with his disciples after his resurrection. It’s a brief passage, but there is a lot of stuff to consider in these final words.

For one thing, v16-17 are fascinating and delightful to me. As his followers gather around their previously deceased Rabbi, they respond in a way that is telling about the nature of Christ. They worship him. Jesus allows them to worship him. What does that tell us?

In V17 it says that some doubted. It’s a very brief and unqualified statement which Matt just slips into the narrative. What did they doubt? That it was Jesus? Or did they doubt that he had really died? What doubts would you be wrestling with if you stood in their sandals? 

Jesus goes on to give several instructions in these final verses. Go to all nations, make disciples, baptize, teach, obey and trust. This is what will be going on until, as he puts it, the end of the age. Which of those imperatives are more challenging for you? How has our study of Jesus’ ministry helped to shape our understanding of what this will look like?

I hope you’ve gotten as much out of Matthew’s gospel as I have. I hope we all gain a clearer focus of God’s kingdom and heaven meeting earth to make all things new.

I’ve said many times before how much I love the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. Critics will often point out all the discrepancies we find in them and declare the whole story as untrustworthy because of them. But it’s precisely because of those discrepancies that I find them so compelling! The narrative carries the tone of people who were shocked by something unexpected and impossible to believe, who stumble all over themselves trying to piece together the chain of events that led to their world being turned upside down.

We’re just a few studies out from completing our study in Matthew, and we’ll be reading Matthew 28:1-15 which describes the mind-imploding event of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Everything about this event carries the message of God’s intent for this world. Resurrection proclaims new creation. That’s what we’ll be focusing on this Sunday.

There’s an interesting pattern of reversal that we find that bridges ch 27:45-66 and ch 28:1-15. We start with darkness, then an earthquake, then Jesus dies and the religious leaders plot. Then in ch 28 we begin with light, and an earthquake, then Jesus lives, and the religious leaders plot. It’s a reversal of things…well, not all things, the religious leaders seem stuck in their repeated action – but for those outside of that, new life, new light, and new hope has dawned.

We’ll get into in more depth on Sunday. I hope you can join us as we explore the most important event that human history contains.

It’s amazing to me how much the crucifixion of one Middle Eastern man two millennia in the past has persistently and relentlessly invaded the imagination of humans right up until this present day. We just can’t escape the cross. That cross emanates something we vaguely intuit. There is a key there and we can’t shake it.

The New Testament presents the crucifixion of Jesus as a central theme from which the hope of the gospel flows out. While a robust theology of this event was still in it’s primitive stages in the minds of the NT writers – one thing is crystalline clear: Something VERY important happened in relation to the human condition and the future of the world when Jesus died on the cross. That much they unflinchingly declared.

This Sunday we’ll be reading the account of Jesus’ crucifixion in our ongoing study of Matthew – we’ll be reading Matthew 27:32-66.

As you read over the passage – what other consequence of sin, if any, do we see Jesus bearing in our place? Are there connections to the curse from Gen 3 that you can pinpoint that Jesus takes on himself at the cross? We’ll be looking at those specifically in our study.

This, again, is a brutal yet beautiful passage – a window into the heart of God towards you and I. Hope you can be there this Sunday!

This Sunday we’ll be reading Matthew 27:1-31. It describes the preliminary stages of the cross experience of Christ. We’ve stated before that the cross is the central revelation of God’s character. So, we’ll be focusing on the cross in our teaching, discovering what it reveals and provides for us. It’s a very painful section to read and discuss, but it is also beautiful when understood as a picture of God’s heart towards humanity. That’s one of those strange, delicate tensions that the Gospel is full of.

In v1-10, Judas went to the temple and the temple leaders because his heart was burdened by what he’d done. What response did he meet there? What does that tell us about what had happened to the temple system of that time? How does that contrast with Jesus’ ministry and what warnings do we discern when it comes to our own framework for the practice of our faith?

Through the rest of the section we’ll cover we read about the trial before Pilate. Pilate had political aspirations and clearly wanted to protect those, but he also had difficulty with the apparent innocence of Jesus. The crowd and their leaders wanted blood and Pilate wanted to avoid a riot which could further tarnish his reputation as a competent leader for Rome. He offers a trade – he’ll let one prisoner go as a gesture of good-will for the Passover – the crowd chooses guilty Barabbas and innocent Jesus takes his place. Matthew is pretty heavy handed with the telling of this – it’s obvious what he wants us to see. What do you see?  What is this a picture of the cross revealing about God’s heart and the Gospel?

When the soldiers mock Jesus, they dress him up like a clown king…a parody of what a ruler should look like. They fashion a crown out of thorny brambles to put on his head. The Creation story comes to mind, and the curse pronounced because of sin:

Gen 3:17…”cursed is the fertile land because of you;
        in pain you will eat from it
        every day of your life.

Considering that curse, what does Jesus being crowned with thorns mean to you? What can it be picturing about what the cross of Christ is providing for us?

As I said – it’s a heavy and painful section of Scripture to read – but beautiful beyond comprehension as well. Hope to see you Sunday.

One thing we realize, right away, when we read Scripture is that God’s people are never immune to experiencing troubles or suffering. The characters in the Biblical narrative are never lionized but shown with all their flaws in clear view. Not just flaws, but the pain they experience is represented as well.

Still, Scriptures also reveal that pain is often on the path to redemption. Not that I believe God wills for us to suffer, but that even our suffering is in the scope of God’s intent to make all things right again.

This Sunday we’ll be reading Matthew 26:31-75. That’s a big chunk of verses, but they are all tied together through one character who shows up in each section. If you’ve read the passage, you know that it’s Peter!

We’ll be looking at Peter’s missteps and his flailing faith and trying to glean lessons on what not to do when our faith begins to fail.

Read the passage all the way through, then go back and consider each thing that Peter says and does, his movements and attitudes, and consider what the opposite of those would be. If you do that, you should be able to track with our thoughts on it this Sunday.

For all the trouble and pain in this section, I really do think there are some good, practical lessons we can take away from Peter’s story. I hope you can join us this Sunday at 10 AM!

This week we’ll be reading a very familiar parable – what is often called “The Parable of the Talents”, in Matthew 25:14-30.

As you read this story, remember that parables aren’t meant to be exact representations of God’s kingdom in all the details. Jesus said it is “like” this sort of thing. The most important element of this story to discern is just what Jesus meant the bags of silver to represent. Older translations call this money “talents”, which is a literal translation. A talent was Roman currency.  We get our English word “talent” from this parable, interestingly enough. Do you think Jesus is talking about money? Probably not, since money is the image he’s employing. Do you think he’s talking about our skills though? What else do we know that God has entrusted to us, his subjects, to manage while our King isn’t presently seen?

The element of investing the talents is intriguing to me. It carries the implication of risk-taking. What would taking risks with what God has entrusted to us look like in our lives? What would it look like in our churches?

The third steward in this story seemed to speak respectfully to his master. But what do you think his actions actually revealed? Contrast the way the first two stewards interacted with the master and the third stewards assessment of what the master is like. What do you make of that contrast, if anything? Here’s a hint – how did the Pharisees understand God’s nature in contrast to Jesus’ revelation of God?

We’ll have a lot to think about as we engage this passage on Sunday. I hope you can join us!