2010 Feb 21 - Overview of the Life of Jesus

Handouts on the Life of Jesus:

• Events appearing in the Gospels (by book)
• Overview

Sunday, we postponed the Philippians wrap-up and concentrated on the life of Jesus, with handouts. Those handouts can be downloaded with the above links. We'll do the wrap-up this coming Sunday, weather permitting. (The forecast currenly looks good.)

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the primary sources for the events in Jesus' life. They differ in details and in sequence, and each of them has some items that are unique.

Mark was probably written first. It is an action book, with most passages beginning with "and then." Because it is focused on action, it may be the book with the best clue to the order of events. Many think that it was strongly influenced by Peter's memories of his time with Jesus.

• The early years are barely mentioned after his birth and dedication in the temple.
• Jesus' early ministry begins just after His baptism and the temptations.
• His ministry emphasis shifts when he sends out the twelve on their preaching ministry.
• When He and the disciples head north, His final ministry begins. In this phase, He starts preparing the disciples for His death and resurrection.
• Palm Sunday to Easter are well-documented in each gospel.
• The resurrection, appearances to various disciples, and ascension conclude each of the gospels.

Matthew adds a lot of teaching material. He groups the teaching into extended passages, so that it is hard to get a feel for time sequences. But using what Mark has written allows us to estimate when the new material in Matthew takes place. Since Matthew was one of the original disciples, He is probably relying on his own memory for this gospel.

Luke's introduction says that he's put everything in proper order. He adds more teachings and more events, but his order sometimes disagrees with both Matthew and Mark. Luke was a close companion of Paul, so his gospel probably reflects Paul's understanding of the life of Jesus. Since Paul was not one of the original disciples, Luke's introduction explains that additional research had to be done.

John's gospel was probably written last, and he adds a lot of personal interaction that the others missed. John was part of the inner circle, so he may have seen some of these interactions, such as the encounter with Nicodemus, that are mentioned nowhere else.

• The different accounts of the gospels would be troubling if we thought God had actually dictated every word of these four books. We actually believe that God guided the writers, helping them to select the stories that best told the life and message of Jesus. Everything we need to be Christ-followers is in the Bible, but the Bible is filled with poetic license (Your Word is a lamp), with plays (Song of Solomon, Job), and with first- and second-hand accounts that differ as much as they ever have.
• The gospels were not written as history books. By the time they were written, there were churches over at least half the Roman Empire. Many of the original Christians had already died, and the gospel writers wanted to tell the story of what they knew about Jesus.
• While details vary between some of the accounts, the message of all the gospels is the same: A Jewish teacher told people to trust Him, demonstrated His closeness to God as He performed miracles, insisted that God loves people and wants them to be part of His Kingdom, ran afoul of the authorities and was eventually killed, and then rose from the dead.

It was also suggested in class that having four different viewpoints helps us to get a more complete picture of just who this Jesus is.

2010 Feb 14 - Contentment (Phil 4:10-13)

Philippians 4:10-13
Contentment

Paul's letter used the contrast between poor and rich to describe contentment. Those are relative terms, of course. But Paul's point was focused on heart attitude. No matter how we define our circumstances, can we be content in them?

We described contentment as being full, happy, satisfied, thankful, calm, uncomplicated, peaceful: basking in the moment. Being content should be active, not passive. Some contentment is mere laziness, we thought. It should be more than being too disinterested to care about what's going on in our lives. We should actually be at ease with ourselves and with our circumstances.

Why do people experience discontent? A lack of being full, happy, or calm would lead to discontent. But a lack of faith is a more serious problem. We sometimes try to satisfy our needs without God. We can be distracted from what's really important. Fear may play a part. And contentment may be affected by our goals for ourselves. It is also hard to be content when our aim is to keep up with others, a common form of coveting. The more complicated our lives, the more difficult it is to be content.

1. False contentment can stem from a passive approach to life. Low goals and low expectations can pass for being content. This may be more of an issue of laziness or lack of motivation. Discussion pointed out that this lack may be because of our background, and not necessarily because we deliberately chose such an attitude.
2. False contentment can stem from fatalism, a blind acceptance of anything that happens. The example of careless driving was given, for instance: "I don't need to watch out for hazards. I'll be okay until it's my time to go."
3. True contentment stems from trust. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

We should recognize, no matter the circumstances, that God has plans for us and a purpose. God has a will for us in every situation. This is not necessarily a detailed map ("spend three weeks without a job") but more of a goal ("learn to depend upon me and my resources"). Psalm 55:2, Isaiah 29:11, Romans 8:28, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and Revelation 21:4 have been helpful to various class members. Carmen's The Champion has also been an inspiration. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ogO4tW2ck)

Discontent causes us to lose the joy of the moment. "I can't wait" is a potential joy-killer. Even looking forward to the end of a major project can help us miss what God has for us during the project. One example was given of learning to pray for today, insteade of just for tomorrow's challenges.

Discontent also hurts relationships.

One cynic has noted two tragedies: Not getting what you want, and Getting what you want. The point is that we should trust that God is on our side, aiming for our best.

Contentment is an attitude of the heart. We can choose not to dwell on the downside of the situation. We can be intentional in what we focus on. Richard Foster's Freedom of Simplicity book can help us with un-complicating our lives. Contentment removes competition and keeps us from chasing the unattainable. We will discover that we have fewer needs as we learn to distinguish them from our wants. We will have less stress, better priorities, and fewer demands on our time and energy.

How do we learn to be satisfied with less? Not just by trying harder. We have to learn to trust. Trusting God does involve practice, which means there will also be some errors. We won't get it right all the time. But improvement comes. Our choices should be prayer-directed, not want-based.

And we can always take the advice of an old song. When you recognize restlessness and discontent within yourself, analyze the source. And then, you can Count Your Blessings.

2010 Feb 7 - Paul's Cure for Anxiety (Phil 4:4-9)

To live as a victorious citizen of God's Kingdom, we've got to let go of our anxiety. This week, someone defined anxiety as "Living in a state of 'What if?'"

When we're focused on all the things that might happen, and when all those possibilities seem negative, we lose focus on God and what He's actually doing. Paul gives several insights into how to keep life centered on Jesus.

First, Paul says to rejoice. Second, Paul says to rejoice. Apparently we need to focus on the good that's happening, and to recognize God's work in our lives.

Then, Paul says to be "gentle" or to exhibit "moderation." This includes being reasonable under pressure. And it includes being satisfied with less than our due. Perhaps one of the causes of anxiety is the need to "get what's coming to us." If we make up our minds in advance that God may ask us for sacrifices of our own "rights," maybe we'll be less worried about how to maintain those rights.

Before going on, Paul reminds the readers that "The Lord is near."

This probably refers to Jesus' eventual return. It also reminds us that, with the presence of the Holy Spirit in a believer, Jesus is always close to us.

Rather than worry, Paul suggests we pray. There should be an element of worship in our prayers, recognizing God's presence. Then, we are encouraged to make our requests known to God. This suggests that giving up anxiety does not mean pretending everything is perfect in life. But rather than seeing the bad and wondering "What if?", we should be seeing the bad and taking it to God. And we are to be thankful, which puts us back in the "rejoice" mindset.

When we let God handle the problems, we can expect His peace to guard our hearts and minds. The word for "guard" is a military term, as in a sentry at his post. But it also gave us the image of God keeping our heart whole.

The class discussion included the example of defensive driving. We are expected to be aware of our surroundings, taking appropriate action when it is required, but not living in a constant state of tension for everything that might go wrong.

We also distinguished between trusting God and being oblivious. One way to be carefree is to pay no attention to what's going on around us. That appears to be irresponsibility, not God-centered faith.

We noted that Jesus told His followers not to worry about tomorrow, but He also had the disciples gather up twelve baskets of leftovers, presumably for future use. There is an appropriate element of planning ahead, but the future is not to rob us of the pleasures God offers today.

Next, Paul gives us a list to take us beyond ourselves. We can focus on positive, inspiring thoughts, reminding ourselves what we love about life. Looking for things that are "true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable" will take us beyond our narrow concerns to God's larger world.

Finally, Paul tells the Philippians to use him as their example. Perhaps we would do well to find our own examples to follow. We need to remember that any human being has flaws. We must be careful not to offer any person the total trust and admiration that belongs only to God. But we also need to look beyond ourselves to the good that others display.

The class mentioned two takeaways this week:

When confronted by anxiety, we need to pray and give it to God. And then, we need to remember that it has been given to Him.

Anxiety is us trying to solve problems on our own.

2010 Jan 31 - Getting Along (Phil. 4:2-3)

Paul mentions a problem in the Philippian church. Two women are in disagreement, and Paul asks the church to help settle the difficulty.

Paul doesn't go into any detail on the disagreement, so it is easier to make application to our own lives. The class noted that women must have had a much more prominent role in the church than in the general society. In those days, women were not important enough for their disagreements to be noted officially. Paul's mention of their argument is actually an acknowledgment that women were considered leaders, even co-workers, in the Kingdom.

One thing the class stressed repeatedly: Both these women were recognized as Christians, as Christ-followers. Their names were both written in the book of life. Christians must fight the temptation to de-Christianize their opponents in Kingdom work. Two devout women were on opposite sides of some issue. That can still happen today. Even though we take positions that we believe are consistent with God's work, we mustn't assume that opponents are not in God's will.

Conflict is not only possible in the Kingdom, it is to be expected.

Differing personalities react differently. That's what differences are. Our backgrounds differ, our discipleship paths differ, and our priorities differ.

The influence of the church is harmed when members cannot resolve their differences, however. When the differences are emphasized, we are stressing the human side of the church, not the spiritual. There certainly is a human side to the Kingdom. God invites a bunch of fallen people into the Kingdom. While the goal is transformation into people fit for heaven, the transformation isn't complete in this life.

During the transformation, our humanity is still evident.

But when we focus our attention on our human differences, we lose sight of the fantastic spiritual opportunities that are ours in the Kingdom.

Also, so long as the church is focused on the problem areas, it is distracted from its central mission of making disciples.

We all have a personal responsibilty to control our responses to disagreements. With God's help, the following steps may be useful.

1. Talk TO others, not ABOUT others.
2. Keep a forgiving spirit.
3. Find something good to say about the other side, and say it. (Second-hand compliments are very effective.)
4. Stay open-minded.
5. Matthew 18 outlines several steps, including keeping the disagreement as private as possible.
6. Gossip makes it worse, even if what is said is true.
7. Refuse to be a lightning rod. (Don't attract disagreements.)

Finally, the class agreed that it we need to get to know the person we disagree with. We need to really listen to them in order to understand their motives.