I was going to put up a series of links to stories about tragedies in recent news…but honestly, I just didn’t have the heart to do it.  There are so many, and re-reading them is hard to bear.

Tragedies and hardships and difficult times are some of the most perplexing things we have to face as people who believe in God.  Our most common and reflexive response to them is to look up to heaven and ask “why?”.  The why’s of the thing are the biggest wrestling matches we can have in our faith.

Jesus is confronted with senseless suffering, and offers some insights for us in the passage we’ll be looking at in Luke 13:1-9 this Sunday.

What do you think Jesus is getting at when he says “unless you repent, you will likewise perish”? I would like to challenge you to think outside of the box a little on this passage.  There is a very common and accepted understanding about the point that’s being made…but are we sure about the point?  Think long and hard about the context before you answer.

Even the parable Jesus tells about an unfruitful fig tree can be a little challenging to grasp the meaning of.  We want to say that God is the vineyard owner and Jesus is the gardener…God wants to chop the fig tree down (because, heh heh…God hates figs) but Jesus intervenes and keeps God from judging so harshly…but does that concept really make a lot of sense?  Is God really at odds with himself when it comes to Israel, or humanity for that matter?  What other possible meaning could this parable have, as you think about it?

Ok…that’s pretty heady stuff to ponder just before the weekend.  But I hope you do…AND I hope you have a great weekend, and hopefully I’ll see you Sunday!

Lots of stuff vying for my attention this week…sorry for the delay in getting this posted.

This Sunday we continue with Luke 12, finishing up the chapter reading vs 49-59.

What do you think of when you read Jesus’ words proclaiming that he came to start a fire on the earth.  Do you see that as something positive or negative…or both?

Have you ever had an experience where following Jesus cost you a friendship…or a family member?  How did it make you feel?  Jesus makes it clear to us that not everyone is going to dig his message; he is the proverbial line in the sand.

What connection do you see between what Jesus has been talking about and his story about settling out of court to avoid a negative judgment against you?

Just a few questions to spark your thinking…hope to see you Sunday!

A young couple has their first child. As they sit down to examine their new budget, which now includes diapers, baby food and new clothes every six months, they begin to think even farther ahead. One day the little darling will be in school and they wonder what kind of student they’ll be raising. But that thought leads them to the realization that college will also be on the horizon, a mere eighteen years away. So in their budget, they decide to put aside funds to prepare for the college education of their precious angel. They are living prospectively at this point. Living now with the events of the future in view.

We’re going to be reading Luke 12:35-48 this Sunday.  Jesus will be encouraging us, his followers, to live prospectively as well. Living now with the reality of the end in view.  The church is apocalyptic by nature. We’ve invested a lot in life after life here, so it makes sense that this is a big subject for us. Jesus has some fairly somber warnings and quite radical encouragements for us all tied together in this section of ch 12.

The overall theme of these verses is that we as the church are supposed to be ready for the end.  The end of the world? Sure, Jesus seems to have that in view, but I would say the end can also include our own, individual lives. Either Christ will return, or we will die…either way, we ALL are facing an end of time here. Jesus uses that fact to challenge us to consider how we are living right now. He warns us to be ready.

Some people not only try to live ready, they obsess about the end.  Sometimes people feel more ready for the end if they can create elaborate charts that explain when the end will come. Others stockpile food, some hide in the woods. None of those things are things Jesus encourages in this passage though.

As you look at the examples he gives through the use of parable, what do you think living ready means in our everyday life?  Knowing that is the key to actually being ready for the end.

Definitely stuff to think about, huh?

“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it.  The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.” ~ Ben Franklin

Ever watch a mouse on a habitrail wheel?  So much frantic energy…and yet the mouse goes nowhere.  Worry about material things and finances is like that.  A lot of expended energy which results in going nowhere. God has better things in mind for us, he wants us off that “worry wheel”.

This Sunday we’ll be continuing a theme about value and values as we continue our study in Luke 12.  We’ll be looking at verses 22-34.

If we were to break this section down, we’d say that Jesus gives us a threefold illustration to grasp how God provides for us, a sort of lesser/greater argument, which can be found by observing nature. What are some of the ways in which you see God’s hand of provision revealed in the natural order of the world we live in?

V25-25 also give a very practical reason why worry is unproductive.  What has worrying ever done for you?

Instead of obsessing with what we have or don’t have, what should we be concentrating our priorities on, according to Jesus?  What does it mean to you, to “seek God’s kingdom”?

Treasure is a way of describing something of great, intrinsic value. Things that are sharing in the broken, deteriorating properties of this fallen world are compared with things that never end.  What are the things that never end and how do we value them?

Stuff to ponder.  See you Sunday.

“The old Master had come to a bad end. Bard had given him much gold for the help of the Lake-people, but being of the kind that easily catches such disease he fell under the dragon-sickness, and took most of the gold and fled with it, and died of starvation in the Waste, deserted by his companions.” ~ The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

Greed is a often broached subject in Scripture, I suppose because we are so susceptible to it as humans. In the passage we’ll be looking at this Sunday (Luke 12:13-21 ), Jesus will address that issue as it touches his followers.

In this section, Jesus refuses to be an advocate for a guy looking for part of an inheritance…and then he launches into a warning about greed (covetousness). Why do you suppose Jesus refused this guy’s request?

The story that Jesus tells about the Barn Builder provides an enlargement of his warning.  Living a life of greed will leave us empty in the end…its pretty straightforward.  As we contemplate this warning…how do you apply it to your own life?  If I were going to be honest, I’d say that I get uncomfortable with this subject because I know there is still some dragon-sickness lingering in my soul.  As much as I like to promote simplifying…I still love all the nifty techno-gadgets that seem to become available every day. I start to get shifty at the thought of getting behind the curve on those things…and I have to wonder if my sense of contentment has shifted from God to stuff. An honest inventory of my emotional reactions in life usually reveal a LOT of areas where stuff is still controlling me.

How about you?  Do you still struggle with the temptation to define yourself by what you own…or by what you feel you lack?  What do you do about it?  I’d also be interested in what you believe Jesus meant by being “rich toward God”.

Ok…hope to see you Sunday!

It’s been a strange week for me.  I’ve really fought hard, wrestling with the verses we’ll be covering this Sunday.  I find it so important not to take the easy route of pointing fingers everywhere else when dealing with the subject of empty religion or legalism.  I honestly believe these are constant struggles that all of us, no matter how nobly we begin our journey, have to guard against.  I have a wealth of old anecdotes about how legalism oppressed me or twisted my thinking…yet the real challenge is to not live in the past, but have an eye on the present.  How do these issues effect Eastgate, or myself personally?  That’s where things get dicey…I’m more than happy to offend myself, but I hate the thought of offending someone else.  Unlike Jesus,who, in our text, let loose with a full on Ultimate Fighting Cage Match against religious stupidity with no apparent hang-ups about making Pharisees cry .

We’re going to be reading Luke 11:44-54 this Sunday, finally finishing up the chapter.  I probably could have broken this section into two parts as well…but I don’t want to belabor the point.

This section tells us that lawyers not get in on the discussion, which is never a good thing.

Actually though, the “lawyers” in this section are not lawyers like the one’s on Law and Order…it’s another term for Scribes.  They were experts on the Law of Moses, as well as the Talmud.  They learn right away it is not wise to pick a religious fight with Jesus.

Four more woes are leveled at legalistic religion.  If you were to summarize each woe, what would you say the warnings are?  v47-51 create a serious accusation against …saying that experts on religion as an end in itself are guilty of innocent blood all the way back to Abel.

Whoa, that’s a pretty serious woe.  But what do you think it means?  Why Abel?

What ways can you think of that will guard our hearts against legalism and empty religion?  How do you keep the main thing the main thing?

Stuff to gnaw on ’till Sunday.

This Sunday we’ll be reading from  Luke 11:37-54…as it stands right now, we’ll probably have to explore this in two parts.

In this account, Jesus goes toe to toe with the Pharisees, and confronts the legalism of their movement.  He declares six woes on their movement, or we could say, he gives us six reasons why legalism sucks.

Legalism is still an issue for many churches and Christian groups today.  It certainly didn’t stop with the Pharisees.  There are many modern day incarnations of this Pharisaical attitude that Jesus resisted.  I know I’ve had my share of both being a Pharisee and being under the scrutiny and buffeting of them.  Out of curiosity, what have YOUR experiences been.  It would be interesting to hear your stories of experiences with legalism in the church.  If you have time, tell me the goofiest rules you’ve encountered in the context of church.  Tell me your personal experiences.  This isn’t intended to bash anyone…just to be able to laugh at our human condition when it comes to religion.

I’ve never denied that I’m a recovering legalist.  I still find areas, after nearly 20 years of pursuing grace, where I’ve been blind to a legalistic approach to things…whether its with my kids or my church…I still have to remember the keep the Main Thing the main thing.

Anyway…tell me your stories….quick, before Sunday so I can share ’em in my teaching!

Oh…and please don’t forget about the prayer meeting Saturday for Sudan…the particulars are in the post below.  Thanks!