Everyone has a place where they can rest. Personally I feel most restful when I’m at the beach. Oftentimes I’m out doing the hard work of surfing (which in my case means thrashing around as a turbo-kook) – but even though I’m active, it’s still restful. You get that, right? Rest is a state of mind and being.  Where do you like to be, what do you like to do to find rest?

The Bible presents a picture of spirituality as rest. That’s something we’ll be looking at this Sunday in our study of Hebrews as we tackle the very challenging passages of chapters 3:1-19 and 4:1-13. Do me a favor and be sure to read The Message version of this passage, it helps provide a clearer framework for what is being said.

In 3:1-6, what does the writer describe the house of God being? When the word house is being used, we have to understand that it is most likely speaking of a household – not just the place a person sleeps and keeps his stuff but the children, extended relatives, servants and holdings that a family has. He’s describing God’s family. By whom does the writer say we will be included in God’s household? What is significant about the contrast between a servant and a Son?

The writer then draws an analogy from Psalm 95 which talks about Israel’s rebellion during the wilderness journey – how they refused to trust God to take them all the way past the giants in the land and ended up not entering the rest God promised…the home of their own.  It’s a sobering warning to us. The Israelites fell short of getting home even though they had seen God do so many amazing things. They gave up when it looked as though it would cost them too much. How would we apply this warning to our own lives? What role can community have in keeping us on course?

Chapter 4 elaborates the idea of entering into God’s rest, drawing comparisons between the Israelites of the first Exodus and the church’s journey through the desert in the 2nd Exodus of Christ. What do you believe the idea of rest is conveying? How does the Sabbath become a picture of what it means to rest (v4, 9-10)? What does this tell us about how we enter into the household and rest of God?

The section finishes with a description of the Word of God like a sword, or a scalpel according to The Message. How does God’s Word strip away all the masks and pretenses we tend to project about ourselves? How is it beneficial to us to have those things removed? In what ways could this sort of honesty before God provide rest?

I wont lie – this section has some very challenging stuff in it. It may make us uncomfortable but I promise it will end up refreshing us as we dig into it. Hope to see you on Sunday!

It’s almost alarming how often I have found myself in way over my head when it comes to trying to fix things around the house. I’m just not good at it – but somehow I seem to overestimate my abilities to fix things and usually make a serious mess before I give up. (No…that’s not a picture of me, but thanks for wondering)

If you think about it though, all of humanity is sort of like that. We’ve been made in God’s image, meant to be caretakers of a created paradise, but we rejected God’s rule in order to assert our own and made a terrible mess of everything. From then on we have been trying to fix this thing – to restore God’s image on our own, to manufacture our own paradise.

And as I think about it, all of human history is really an incredibly long DIY FAIL!

We had so much potential, we sense that innately. How can it be recovered? That’s what the writer of Hebrews will be dealing with in the section we’ll be studying this Sunday – Hebrews 2:5-18.

The overarching theme of the letter to the Hebrews is that Jesus is greater. Greater than the communications from God before, greater than the Law of Moses, greater than any understanding of God we previously had. In the rest of chapter 2 we learn more about why we consider Jesus so great as we observe the ways in which he is restoring us to God’s original intent.

In v 5-9 the writer quotes Psalm 8:4-6, where the potential of humanity is described (as a little lower than the angels), meant to wisely rule the earth, yet we don’t even rule ourselves well much less anything else. What is the solution proposed by the writer in v9? Based on that, what is Jesus intending to restore for us? What is the end-game?

Verses 10-13 describe our relationship to God through Jesus. What terminology is he predominately using to define who we are to Christ? What does Jesus restore us to relationally? How important is it for you to know that you belong somewhere, to someone? How does this affect our sense of dignity and humanness?

We are described as being delivered in v 14-16. Delivered from what? What does that deliverance restore to us as frail human beings living in a broken world?

The last two verses of the chapter describe Jesus as something else: a high priest. But not just a high priest bringing a sacrifice to set things right between God and us – but a high priest who offers Himself as a sacrifice for us. His suffering qualifies him in two ways (according to v17) to help stabilize us. What are those two attributes and what does that inspire in you when you consider it?

Looking forward to digging into this on Sunday – hope to see you there!

 

 

Hey everyone – we’re going to start a new teaching series tomorrow in the book of Hebrews! I’m really stoked about this book, I think you will be too!

The book of Hebrews is a fascinating letter written by an unknown author to a group of Jewish believers sometime between 50-70 AD. The general theme of this letter is that the Messiah has come and his coming is much greater than we ever expected it would be!  He’s greater than the law of Moses, greater than the prophets, greater than angelic appearances….you’ll get the picture as we get into it. This letter, more than any other New Testament writing, provides a bridge that links the Old and New Testaments together as a singular narrative. It reminds me of one of those art installations that look like a chaotic group  of objects, until viewed from a particular angle where we realize each piece is part of a larger picture.

This Sunday we’ll be reading all of chapter one and the first four verses of chapter 2.

In verses 1-3, what reason does the writer give for saying that Jesus is a greater than the other forms of communication God employed in the past? Why is it important to us that Jesus is the “exact imprint of God’s nature”?

Verses 4-14 strings together a series of quotations from the Psalms and 2 Samuel that reveal Messiah as being superior to any angelic creation because he is the actual, eternal creator. So here he’s making a progression – Jesus is greater than the Law and Prophets, and he’s greater than any other spiritual beings. In what ways to people tend to gravitate to religious laws or mystical spirituality involving angels? What do you think the writer is trying to get across to us concerning how we relate to God through Jesus?

In the first four verses of chapter 2 the writer gives us a warning. What is the warning? What are some of the ways in which we can “pay much closer attention” to Jesus? What suggestions does the writer provide in v3-4?

As I said – I’m really stoked about this study! I believe it will be challenging and open our minds up to whole new horizons as believers! Hope to see you Sunday.

Hoo boy…am I ever late getting this post done.

This Sunday we’ll be reading Acts 25.

We’ll be focusing on v19 in this ongoing series of trials that Paul faces.

V19 gives us a unique view of how the world at large perceives the message of the gospel. What does Festus say the issue is about? Can we really blame Festus for seeing things this way?

How do you think we claim Jesus is alive in our own lives? What are some of the ways that Jesus has shown that he’s still alive in your own experience?

Hope to see you tomorrow!

 

Whoops – I got so far behind this week that I almost skipped Wonderwhat. This Sunday we’ll be reading all of Acts chapter 24. For the next three chapters we are going to be focused on Paul’s court appearances. We’ll actually meet an ancient Roman Lawyer in the passage.

It will help you to read a little bit about Antonius Felix – he was not a good dude.

There’s something that jumps out at me from v10. How does Paul say he’s willing to give his defense…with what attitude?

How do you think it’s possible for Paul to have this kind of attitude during his court appearance?

What kinds of attitudes do you find yourself adopting when faced with a severe trial? What can we learn from Paul’s earlier experiences and his presentation of defense about how he maintained his composure during his trial? It’s something to think about which will both challenge and encourage us, I believe.

The last Surf-N-Grill of the season is upon us – hope to see you out there!

I really like a good courtroom drama…as long as I’m not the defendant, that is. Michael Connelly, the author of The Lincoln Lawyer is one of my favorite fiction writers. I enjoy all the legal machinations that get described, and especially how the good guys finally see that justice is done. Those are fictional stories though. Real life courtrooms don’t get last minute confessions on the stand like they do in Law and Order. Most frustratingly of all, many times justice doesn’t get served at all, but is actually subverted.

We’ll read about an unjust courtroom scene in our study in Acts this Sunday as we read Acts 23:1-35.

When Paul begins his defense, he says he has a clean conscience. What do you think he means by that?

Why do you suppose the high priest orders him to be struck? Have you ever been hit in the face while trying to explain something? What sort of reaction would that inspire in you? It helps us understand Paul’s reaction if we put ourselves in his place.

Paul’s attitude changes when he hears it’s the high priest he’s talking to? What does he attribute his retraction to? What does that tell us about how we, as Christians, speak concerning those who have civil rule over us?

Jesus appears to Paul again, and encourages him about his testimony. Paul didn’t convince anyone by his testimony…why do you think Jesus validated it nonetheless?

Ultimately, the fanatics of religion break their own laws in order to try and defend their laws against a perceived attack by Paul’s faith. Yet through all of these schemes, Paul ends up going exactly where God intended him to be going all along. What does that tell us about human resistance and God’s plan?

Hope to see you this Sunday!

 

Recently I bought a new weed-trimmer. I’ve really been wanting one that ran on battery power, but I just wasn’t sure if they really could do the job well enough. To make my purchase, I did what every normal person does….I shopped on Amazon. I saw a lot of different models and all of them had manufacturers descriptions that explained they were the greatest weed-trimmers the planet had ever known. That didn’t sell me though. I looked at the customer reviews – the testimonials of people who had actually used the device. Reading about their experiences go a long way towards informing my choice.

In many ways, our commission to share the good news of Jesus is a lot like that.  Not that we are reviewing a product being sold, but we are providing our own testimonial to the reality of Christ at work in our lives. That’s something we’ll see in the passage we’ll be reading this Sunday as we continue our study in Acts. We’ll be reading Acts 21:37-22:29.

Do you ever worry that you don’t know enough about the Bible, or have enough verses memorized, or know the theological matrixes well enough to share your faith with someone else? You’re not alone if you do. For many people, sharing the good news about Jesus feels like too tall of a task. But think about this – Paul was very well versed in Bible knowledge having studied under the famous rabbi Gamaliel. He knew history and philosophy and was highly trained and educated; yet when he got the attention of the crowd in Jerusalem, he didn’t lay out a logical, propositional argument. What did he tell them?

Why do you think our own story is one of the most effective means of sharing the reality of Jesus? What’s your story? How have you experienced relationship with Jesus? What has he done in your life and how has your life changed as a result? These are the important things when passing along our hope to the world around us.

This will give us some challenging things to think about – hope to see you Sunday!