Tag: answers

Devotionals tagged with accountability.

  • Lamb Expectations

    Numbers 27:15–17, John 10:1–16, Luke 10:1–12

    Shepherds have long held a presence in the story of Israel. were part of Abraham’s, Isaac’s, and Jacob’s, and the 12 patriarchs’ lives. Moses, too, was a shepherd. Therefore, it is not a surprise that he talks about the people of Israel needing a shepherd. And, after being “bitten” by them numerous times, he probably thought they acted like sheep. Moses even goes and uses shepherding language (go and come back) to describe his successor.

    Goes and comes back terminology is used by Jesus, too, as he calls himself the shepherd. Jesus goes further and says that his sheep will know his , and run from the voice of a stranger. What’s really interesting is that John then makes an aside and calls it a figure of . As John was writing much later, one can safely that John saw many “running” away from Jesus, who had once proclaimed to follow Jesus. Thus he saw Jesus’ words more figural because the sheep sure didn’t seem to be listening.

    When taking all the sheep and shepherding imagery , it becomes a little more obvious that when Jesus sends out the 72, his expectations are not high. He calls them lambs. This means that they are innocent. In many respects, lambs are innocent even of what it means to be a sheep. The innocent lamb being sent out has no protection in the herd, meaning that the threat of wolves is even more significant. This lamb has no protection (, food, clothing, weapon).

    The other part of being called lambs, especially in the of the shepherd, is that they are his little lambs of his little flock. Someday, they up to be big sheep. As big sheep, they will lead, guide, and teach the new lambs what it means to be sheep, and who the shepherd is, who the shepherd isn’t, all while the shepherd isn’t present.

    1) Who are the lambs in the (don’t jump to just the easy !)?

    2) Who are the “big sheep” in the church (again, don’t jump to just the easy answers!)?

    3) How do you, we, the church teach who the shepherd is? Can you think of new ways? What about old ways no longer used?

  • Questions, Questions

    We have all heard an instructor, teacher, professor, or lecturer say, “there is no such thing as a dumb question.” The intent is to make the students or hearers more comfortable to questions. While that statement is often made, on the other hand, when students are graded on participation, their questions are evaluated on how they contributed to the understanding (i.e., the education) of the topic. In other words, yes, there really are dumb questions. That being said, what are usually considered dumb questions are really ignorant, , or purposefully disruptive (to the purpose of the venue).
    Solomon asked for . Was that really a question in the context of the verse? Yes and no. In English, no, it isn’t a question. In context, however, it is. “Is it possible, God, that you would me the wisdom and discernment to lead your people?” That really is the question. God in the affirmative. As we follow Solomon’s , we do see that he stopped asking wise questions when it came to his wives and practices. In fact, it seems in that area he stopped asking questions at all.
    Nebuchadnezzar asks some questions out of anger, pride, and offense (people in his immediate circle did not obey his law). We look at his questions and think they’re dumb. Think about it from his perspective. He made a gold statue to worship (no in-depth theology on this new god). Everyone will now suddenly worship it. In many respects, this sounds more like a civil religion than true religion. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t seem to really believe in the god he’d made nor the God of the Jews. In the midst of his anger, he was probably pretty confused.
    Then we have the Sadducees. Really, the question they asked Jesus could have easily been asked of the Pharisees. In fact, this exact question was indeed probably asked of the Pharisees during theological discussions. Jesus gave a brilliant answer to their question, but their question wasn’t dumb. For people concerned with fulfilling the law correctly, this would be a matter that needed an answer. The consistency of their logic was sound.
    Questions need answers, and we often judge our answers by what we perceive is the brilliance of . Sometimes though, people just need their questions to be heard. They may not need an answer, but they may need a sounding board.
    1) What can you do to show others that you are open to their questions, especially regarding ?
    2) What will you do to train yourself to not always see questions in black or white, right or wrong? What causes you to think answers must be formed in that way?
    3) What do you think the better question that Nebuchadnezzar and the Sadducees could have asked, in the context of these ?
  • Grace for the Askers

    Luke 24:36–49, Matthew 28:16–20, James 1:2–18, Jude 20–25

    So, this guy you’ve been hanging out with for three years dies a brutal death. A few days later, he’s alive. He was dead and buried, and now alive. Must be a ghost…except they could touch the wounds and he ate. They doubted. After some more time, they Jesus on a mountain. They worshipped Jesus, yet they still doubted.

    We all have doubts. Sadly, however, when verses such as James 1:6 are badly used, we can question our faith. Some even go so far as to lose their faith. People take such passages and twist them so that a person cannot question or be perceived to doubt. James’ warning is sound in so far as being about requesting things (such as wisdom) from God, but false expectations of God. In other words, don’t be surprised when God doesn’t answer your and walk away from the faith.

    The grave danger is that if we take James’ words without a large measure of and , people will truly walk away. Jude’s words are to be gentle with doubters. Imagine a person who suffers with depression, and in the depths of depression doubts. Would you cast them out? What about a person in the midst of who is crying out to God? Will you shame them for doubt in the midst of their pain?

    What about the person who was raised as a non-believer and/or strict secular scientist? If they struggle with believing as it conflicts with their growing up, will you shun them and tell them they are unbelievers and should disappear?

    In our world, we should actually be encouraging doubt, or perhaps a better phrasing would be questioning. The world as it is needs a lot more questions asked. There may not be , but often when we questions aloud, the doubt and that can go with them loses much of its .

    Last, but not least, often those that seek to silence the doubt and questions of others are those who have the deepest fears. When those fears remain buried, faith, love, and hope can easily be lost in a flash.

    1) Do you ever doubt or question your faith? Do you feel ashamed? Why?

    2) What can other Christians do to support you when you question? What can you do when Christians their own doubts?

    3) Jesus asked his followers about the why of their doubts but did not seem to diminish them because of it. Why does it appear that James does? How do you balance that with Jude?

  • Good At The End

    Proverbs 19:16-25, Jeremiah 24:1-10

    is all around us. It’s on our phones. Just ask Google. True wisdom starts with God. That is the premise of Proverbs. How is such wisdom gained? There are a number of ways.

    The best (and easiest) is to from (Proverbs 19:20). Proverbs is one of the wisdom storehouses in Scripture. One of the thing that puzzles and frustrates people when trying to read Proverbs straight through is that it seems to contradict itself. Often as we read Proverbs, we can find to riddles we didn’t know we had. Yet, too often we ignore this valuable book.

    However, sadly, wisdom is often learned another way…the hard way. You could never apply that to anyone you know, right? Certainly not yourself? Let’s be honest with ourselves, often we learn through pain (Proverbs 19:25).

    The Israelites were in pain. They were in trouble. Jeremiah’s vision is very interesting. There were a lot of good figs! Those good figs got stuck in a mess with the bad figs, that the bad figs started! Or did the bad figs really start it alone? Often, all it takes is a good person to allow the bad person to have their way, and all is lost. At least that is the perspective. It is not God’s.

    There is good at the . God uses the trouble to clean up some of the bad fruit so that the people who will be less inclined to turn their hearts away.

    1) When has God used your mistakes to teach you? How have you tried to those lessons with others?

    2) Often wisdom comes from unusual or even uncomfortable sources. Can you think of a time recently when you dismissed the wisdom of others because they weren’t like you?

    3) God’s redemptive plan is always at work. There is no time too late to turn to God on this side of the veil of . Whose are you praying for? If no one, then it’s time to add at least one to the list.