Tag: god

The Mission Continues

Rob WoodrumLeave a comment

I still remember one of the most often repeated phrases I heard after Hurricane Michael was: “I just can’t wait for things to get back to normal”. It was an understandable sentiment. Whenever we go through times and circumstances that push us out of our regular patterns in life, as when life is hard and confusing, we just want to get back to something familiar so we can try and reorient ourselves. It’s a typical response.

We’re going to be reading about Jesus’ disciples doing just that as come to the final chapter in our study of the Gospel of John this Sunday. We’ll be reading John 21:1-25. Peter and six other disciples don’t quite know what to do with themselves after all of the events that unfolded in Jesus’ execution and then mind-blowing resurrection. They probably had hoped that the skies would rain fire and Rome collapse in a blaze…but none of that stuff happened. Instead, life seemed to just go on and Jesus only seemed to pop in on them sporadically, and I’m sure it all felt really surreal. It makes sense to me that they wanted to get back to what they knew how to do, fishing.

However, now that Jesus is on the loose, things done under their own initiative seem to result in frustration (v3). Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever not known what God is up to and so in exasperation just decided to go back to old habits and patterns you had before meeting Christ? What were the results, and what can we learn from that?

Jesus’ interaction with Peter is, to me, one of the most moving scenes in all of the Gospels. What significance do you see in Jesus inviting Peter to confess his love for Jesus three times? How could this interaction provide a sense of closure to Peter? What can that tell us about our own failures and Jesus’ intent?

Jesus doesn’t just let Peter say words, he commissions him with a way of demonstrating his love for Christ. How does Jesus indicate a love for him is revealed? Is it something we can do in isolation, and if not, what does that tell us about our Christian priorities?

Jesus finishes his instruction to Peter by commanding him to follow. What does it mean to you to follow Jesus? What does it look like for a 21st Century American Christian?

I’ve really loved this gospel. We’ll have one more study after this Sunday where we wrap up all the themes we discovered. I hope it’s not the last time you visit this gospel…we barely scratched the surface of it. I truly hope you go there often, and go looking for Jesus in those words.

I hope you can join us this Sunday at 10 AM!

A New Creation

Rob WoodrumLeave a comment

The creation account in Genesis begins in the dark: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”. God intervened and spoke light, order and life.

All of that went wrong when a man and a woman stood in a garden and rejected God’s rule. As a result, darkness, chaos and death again captivated the scene.

The gospel of John echoes a lot of those themes in his account of Jesus, and maybe none more so than in the section we’ve come to in our study of John. We’re going to be reading John 20:1-18 this Sunday, the account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

The main purpose of John’s gospel, as he explained in chapter one, is to let us know that all that Jesus did and taught was revealing what God is like and what God is up to – and here in his resurrection we see it in full bloom: redemption; new creation….RESURRECTION!

As you read this account, put yourself in the place of Peter and the DWJL (the disciple whom Jesus loved) – how do you think you would have reacted to Mary’s news? What would you think was going on initially?

V9 says Pete and the DWJL returned to their own home (literally, to themselves). What ways do we turn back to ourselves when we go through dark and confusing times?

Mary was inconsolable. She was on task: find the corpse of Jesus and get it re-buried. She was so miserable and fixated on that problem that she didn’t even realize the solution to her dilemma was standing right in front of her. What can that tell us about how we perceive our troubles – how should resurrection and new creation affect our expectations?

Jesus and Mary are pictured standing in a garden – what does this harken back to? What is this image revealing to us about what has happened in Christ’s resurrection?

If I asked you who the first evangelist, ambassador, teacher and missionary of the gospel was…who would you say? I know who v 18 says it was.

This is the landing place that all of John’s gospel has been leading us to – I really hope you can join us this Sunday as we dig in and explore this passage together!