We'd appreciate you allowing the use of cookies. They are anonymized while allowing us to see how the site is used.

Devotion.al

Tag: church

  • Catching What

    Psalm 99, Deuteronomy 11:1–25, Malachi 4:1–6

    Truth and story cannot truly be caught. They must be taught. And it doesn’t end there. Teaching may often have the appearance of catching, and if the teacher is truly skilled, the hearer/learner will not realize that they have been taught as they have already internalized both truth and story. Actions and words have to be repeated over and over until they become programmed. Yet, the church and the Israelites often stopped there. Empty words and empty actions are empty of all value and relationship.

    It isn’t until the connection is made to the heart that words and actions (i.e., Truth, story, ritual, etc.) truly begin to reflect what the intent is, and begin the journey of relationship. A great (yet sad) example is The Lord’s Prayer. Most long-time Christians can repeat the prayer. Yet, how many are not affected in their hearts when they say the words. Far too many.

    During his long farewell speech, Moses talks about binding the words to hands and heads. The Israelites turned that into both an art form and a boasting form. By the time of Jesus, the words bound on heads and hands (called phylacteries) became a source of bragging rights with their size. That missed the entire point. Moses talks about writing the words of God on the doorposts of houses or city gates. Christians today have scripture and “inspirational” quotes on their walls and even their phones. Many Christians vocally advocate for the 10 Commandments in courtrooms. How many of them, however, actually read—let alone follow—those words?

    Moses words were followed in a way they weren’t intended. These guidelines or suggestions were treated as rules. Moses’ whole point was to do whatever it takes to make sure that God was put first and never forgotten. Moses wanted the people to live and breathe the scriptures and the stories not to earn God’s favor, but because God had already poured his favor out! Moses intended for a way of life to develop that people would be formed by God, and not by man.

    His concern wasn’t so much for the generation who had grown up in the wilderness following the cloud of God. They had watched their parents—who had disobeyed and opposed God—die in the desert. Their very lives from the cloud to six-days-a-week of mana was based on God. It was their children and grandchildren (their and his legacy) that Moses was concerned about. The parents had had God so ingrained in their practices that they could easily take it for granted (or, honestly, forget). They had to teach and form their children to prevent drifting away from God.

    There is the famous “Pot Roast Story” of a mother teaching her daughter how to prepare pot roast. When the mom cut the ends off the roast, the daughter asked why. The mother really didn’t know and responded with, “that’s the way my mom did it.” The story goes on, and it ends with the daughter finally asking Great-Grandma the reason. The response? “Because it didn’t fit into the oven.”

    1) No matter who we are, we are always teaching. What are you teaching others about following Jesus?

    2) You cannot force someone to connect heart with action. You can nurture it, however. How and who can you nurture to be more like Christ?

    3) Is there some family or church ritual that you always wondered why? If so, how can you find an answer?

    FD) What are some family rituals that your family has? What do they tell you about your family?

  • Forgiveness Such As This

    Psalm 38, Leviticus 5:1–19, Luke 17:1–4

    “Already forgotten.”

    “Don’t worry about it.”

    We sometimes hear these words when trying to apologize or make amends for something we have done wrong to another. Sometimes the person says these words as a veiled acceptance for the apology. Sometimes it was so inconsequential to them that they spent little-to-no time thinking about it after it occurs. Forgiveness is often spoken of in churches, encouraging each of us to forgive wrongs committed against us. Much of the time it is forgiveness towards those we are distant from (physically or by death, for example). Not that this isn’t good. The question is, can we accept apologies and repentance when given?

    In this passage in Leviticus, the phrase, “…without being aware of it, but later recognizes it…,” is repeated multiple times. How often have we done something wrong, and only later realized we did it? Sometimes we do something and don’t know that it is wrong, but we do we are to make amends once we realize it. This should be the state of our relationships with one another, if we become aware that we have offended, we make amends. The reciprocal of this is being grace-filled people. Often people will innocently and/or ignorantly hurt us. Often it is actually the remnant of an old hurt that someone has triggered, yet we hold this new person (and new offense) against the old pain. We then go down the grace-less path of thinking, “they should have known better,” or something like that. Or, if something is so obvious an offense, we are offended both by the offense and their ignorance (or we sometimes say their callousness). God doesn’t operate that way, which this passage in Leviticus shows. If God doesn’t behave that way, why would we?

    Yet, it seems that many people inside and outside of the church are unable to forgive and unable to accept apologies and/or repentance. We can look at a lot of media stories where people said what is now viewed as stupid and harmful, yet at the time they said it, it was well within the norm. Take the show Seinfeld (proudly a comedy show about nothing). It has been running in syndication for years, but viewership is dropping. Millennials and Generation Z do not find the humor in much of it (granted, the humor was of limited appeal anyway), as much of the cultural language that was appropriate and even “sensitive” for the time is now inappropriate and horribly insensitive. Before you say, “they’re a bunch of snowflakes,” or “they need to stiffen up,” or “they need some thicker skin,” or “they’re just looking for something to be offended by,” think about your own response. Instead of feeling attacked or put on the spot, realize that you are behaving the same way they are…offended.

    There is a huge cultural change occurring, and some of it, though painful, is actually good. Ultimately, we are headed toward a kinder and gentler nation (truly). It’s just that right now we’re using hammers and chisels on each other getting off the high spots, and it hurts. There are some exceptions to the general tendency towards kinder and gentler (and it isn’t just one name, either). The reality is that our cultural and generational language is getting a long-needed overhaul. Really, this is a good thing. What has happened, and many of us are unaware of it, is that offenses, abuses, oppression, suppression have become such a part of our cultural and generational language that we are often unaware what message we convey with the words we use. The reason this is important to truly understand is that while we go through this paradigm shift we are going to offend each other…a lot.

    This is why having a personal understanding and responsibility regarding grace, forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation is so important. We can keep being offending. We can keep remembering the hurts and offenses, or we can be like Jesus.

    When Jesus is speaking to the disciples (similar words can be found in Matthew 18:6–9, 18:21–22) there is an underlying question of, how much forgiveness is enough? When we ask that question we are speaking from the flesh (or sin) nature, rather than the saved (or sanctified) nature. John Ortberg (Pastor, Menlo Church) proposes that Christians use up more grace than “sinners” because grace is God’s power at work in us. So, use that grace with one another! God’s grace is unending! As long as you keep using it and keep asking for it, God will keep pouring it! Remembering who offended us and how is easy (and natural), it’s what we do afterward that shows whether it is us or Jesus who is the Lord of our lives.

    1) An unspoken part of Jesus’ directive on repetitive forgiveness is directed at the forgiver: accept and forgive wholeheartedly. Have you ever “forgiven” someone, but held back from wholeheartedness by saying (in effect), “trust but verify”? If you hold back on forgiveness by even the tiniest portion, have you really forgiven?

    2) There is always a balance of forgiveness versus safety. Is it really “versus”, though? In this context, repentance and forgiveness are tied together. How does that work in your life?

    3) What does the passage in Leviticus show about God’s perspective of human nature?

    FD) What is the difference between apologizing and repenting?

  • Growing Foundations

    Romans 1:19–23, Isaiah 2:1-5, Nehemiah 8:1–12, 2 Corinthians 1:12–14
    From the foundations of the world, God’s hands are at work. We often are blind to our own ignorance, sometimes willingly so. God doesn’t want us to remain ignorant of Creation, its ways, and certainly not his ways. The high ways of God are often easy to see, but hard to travel. We may know the paths, but remaining on them is hard. One of the biggest obstacles is our own pride.

    In Nehemiah, the pride of Israel has already been struck hard. They are at the mercy of a powerful empire. This powerful empire through a powerful act of grace of God, allowed the exiled Jews to return to their homeland. However, sadly, many of them had lost, or never learned, what the ways of the Lord even were. They did not know the law. They did not know the law that their forefathers violated leading to their exile. They did not learn from their past. Many, apparently, willingly avoided learning from the past, just based on the ignorance of their history conveyed in this passage in Nehemiah.

    The appointed religious leaders had to teach the people what they should have already known. While it is easy to blame the religious leaders, it had always been the duty of the families to pass on the history and laws. The religious leaders had their duties, but it wasn’t to replace the responsibilities of families, clans, and tribes to teach their people. As the people were taught, they learned. They mourned. They began to understand how far they were. It may have not been their fault, but it was their responsibility. Now, however, the religious leaders interpreted and explained the basics. Then they probably built upon that. They had to rebuild an entire religious understanding in a people with no foundation.

    There is no fault here. It just is. There is responsibility. The responsibility each of us have with God’s words and ways. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul knows that he cannot convey everything to them in a letter, or even multiple letters. It takes living with them to teach them to the depth of understanding he wants for them. Yet, by laying the foundation which they can understand, the leaders the follow after Paul have a foundation they can build on to explain the depth, height, and width of God’s grace, love, and mercy.

    1) What can you do to deepen your understanding of God’s word? Now, will you commit to doing it?

    2) Church-y language (or jargon) is often mysterious to people with no religious or church experience (and sometimes even to those that do). What can you do to speak in a way that people are better able to understand God and God’s ways?

    3) We often cast blame at others saying, “they ought to know better.” Instead of that attitude, will you take on an attitude of, “how can help them better understand God, and be full of grace, and be open to learning myself?”

    FD) What is the difference between fault and responsibility? Why does that matter in our relationship with God?

  • How Do We Look?

    Psalm 120, Mark 13:9-13, 2 Peter 1:20-2:9

    Psalm 120 is a lament. The psalmist is among those who live a life of lies. These same people are warmongers, seeking strife and conflict. The psalmist is living in foreign lands that seek no peace, but the cry of the psalmist’s heart is for peace. The psalm begins with the end. God answered him, the rest of the psalm is about what the problem was. The truth is that while the psalmist was referring to a specific people, we all know the type. There are those that do not seem happy unless there is conflict. There are those who do not trust peace. When one does not have peace, one resorts to force fairly quickly. We are all guilty of this to some degree. Sometimes the response is yelling, crying, ambivalence, disregard. These all are violent to the heart and soul of others, and often to ourselves. We quickly think that all violence is physical. The truth is that violence is the outward sign of an inward pain.

    Jesus’ words in Mark are certainly not comforting. They can be terrifying. The internal strife of families torn apart. Neighbors calling out neighbors. Remember the Second Great Commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. This is the outward sign of it not being so. Jesus is warning that his peace is not the peace of this world. All too often, the peace of this world is bought and paid for by blood and death. The peace of God is not so. The psalmist understood this. The response of the psalmist to those around him was, “God save me!” It wasn’t a slap to the face, or something more. It was prayer. As Jesus continues, he refers to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the source of the peace of God. When the Holy Spirit resides in us, we can respond to those around us with a grace and wisdom that is not ours.

    The God-ly wisdom of the Holy Spirit requires our humility. Peter has to confront people already who say that they have a new revelation from God. Peter is quick to point out that the prophets themselves did not understand their prophecies (unless granted so by God). It was only after the fact that it was proven that their prophecies were true. This is an important thing as the church, and groups that masquerade as the church, often have those that call themselves prophets or revealers or divine actors of some sort that are bringing a new truth from God. Often these new truths are then used in ways that are violent to the hearts and souls of the innocent (and even not-so innocent). These people use the power of media, guilt, society, anything at all to crush the hearts of the people of God. We too can be guilty of using God in this same way. God’s ways are the ways of peace. God’s ways are the ways that sooth and heal.

    1) Has some “religious” person ever said something to you that was hurtful? How did that make you feel toward the religious they claimed to follow?

    2) Often (and rightly) people are told that if they are abandoning religion because of people, then they are looking at the people not God. What does that mean, then, when we also say, “we may be the only Jesus they every see?”

    3/FD) Being a peace-lover or peace-maker does not mean being a pushover. How does one make peace without violence?

  • Trusting God’s Way

    Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17:5-10, 1 Corinthians 6:1-11

    Has someone ever said to you, “I don’t trust anyone?” First, imagine living life like that. Someone who lives such a paranoid life could never be happy. You cannot love if you cannot trust. Second, anyone who says that hasn’t walked down the road of thinking that through to the end. You certainly cannot function in modern society, or really among humans, without some level of trust. Even when driving (when trust is often least), we generally trust people. We have no choice. To get from one place to the other we have to expect that everyone is trying to get to their destination, too, and will behave accordingly. Oddly enough, if such a person were to exist, there is still one person they have to trust, themselves.

    While it is almost impossible to distrust everyone, it is far to easy for people to believe in those who are in power or have influence. We often seem to turn off our common sense and our ability to discern right from wrong when dealing with certain people. Sometimes, even more strangely, we continue to trust people that have already betrayed our trust. People put a lot of trust in the things of man: wealth, power, influence, cars, homes, boats, knowledge, etc. The most dangerous trust, though, is when we get to the point where human knowledge trumps God. For clarity, we’re talking about God. We aren’t talking about, for example, evolution and Genesis, or Jonah and the whale (fish). We’re talking about trusting things of man rather than God. The thing that probably endangers man most of all is knowledge.

    Whether your perspective of the Garden of Eden (a story in the book of Genesis) is a parable (story) or definitive truth, the underlying truth (other than humankind’s pride) is that knowledge is a barrier between us and God. We put it there. We chose, and daily choose, to put knowledge between ourselves and God. Our society honors and elevates those who use knowledge to oppose God. This is nothing new. The sad state of most American Christians (and there are exceptions) is that if there is an enemy (of which America has had and has made many) the general response is not one of, “God, forgive us.” It is, “…raise the Department of Defense budget.” We often justify this response by saying, “it’s a wise choice.” The question we should constantly be asking ourselves “is it the God-ly choice.” Now, here is the real rub. Honest (with themselves) Christians may disagree on many fronts including “just” war, dealing with poverty, dealing with immigration. That is perfectly okay (and normal). What is not normal, and should be, is, “what is God’s response to this through me?” Am I honoring God, or dishonoring God. Again, the reality is that different people will come to different conclusions. Yep.

    When we trust God’s redemptive work in us and by extension God’s redemptive work in others, we can trust people not because people are trustworthy. We trust God’s work because it’s God’s work, not ours. When we trust God’s work, we become that tree planted by the water, nourished by the love and grace of God. God’s transformative grace continually works on, in, and through us. Changing our lives from ones that trusted the things and ways of man, into lives the revolve around God and his love. When God justified us he set us apart to be weird. Trust God. God does amazing things.

    1) Even in the church, people often turn to the ways of man. Why do you think that is?

    2) Especially in the church, people turning to the ways of man is problematic at best, sinful at worst. How can you tell when something is the “ways of man” rather than the “ways of God”?

    3) Often the phrase, “the reason of the heart,” is used to not judge another (and justifiably), but also it is used to justify our personal actions. Why is the concept of only God knowing our heart (both feeling and motivation) both freeing and very dangerous?

    FD) How can you start asking yourself “is this God’s way” questions? What do you think the result will be?

  • Heart of Food

    Psalm 141, Daniel 1:1-16, Mark 7:14-23

    With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, chocolate and sweets often come to mind. Food is often a significant part of gatherings whether they be gatherings of family, friends, or church. Barring royalty or the blessings of developed nations (mostly), food scarcity is a real thing. In the days of Scripture, people would spend either the majority of their time or wages to secure food. When food is such a significant part of your efforts, food can take on deeper cultural and religious meaning.

    The story of Daniel begins with a test of food. It is easy, but not certain, to believe that the king’s food did not meet Jewish dietary law. Or it could be that the food was first “sacrificed” to idols before being eaten. Or it could be that the four wanted to show that their sympathies were with their starving fellow Jews. Regardless, food was the center of a challenge. As the four were Jewish captives, this was viewed as a political move. The religious overtones within Scripture are there, as well. All of it revolves around food.

    In Jesus’ time, there were many rules regarding food. The Jewish religious rules were intended to fulfill the requirements of Israelite law. And the religious leaders imposed further rules, just to assure that the original rules weren’t even close to being infringed upon. Under Roman rule, however, Jewish dietary law also took on political overtones. Dietary laws were often used to socially separate Jews from Romans, creating a barrier between people. Food, one of the unifying themes of humanity, was now a separator, not an uniter.

    Jesus’ declaration regarding dietary laws was indeed not just about the food. It is definitely about relationships. Jesus takes the concept of food and turns it into the matter of the heart. When we look at how food was used to separate people, we can see Jesus’ point. Food was the outward symbol of an inward truth.

    1) Have you been the guest of a family whose taste of foods was distinctly different than yours? How did you react? Did it impact your ability to fellowship with them around the table?

    2) While Jesus was correcting the excesses of the Jewish religious leaders, he is correcting us. What outward symbol (food, attire, accent, stuff) have you ever used to categorize another person? Does that categorization help or hinder looking at others like Christ?

    FD) Why do we use food in our gatherings? Why is that good? Why is that bad?

  • Life Vessel

    Psalm 71, Isaiah 55:1-13, Acts 9:19b-25

    It is easy to get lost in despair. It is easy to let the troubles of this world get you down. When the world especially tries to drag you down with, “if there really was a God…” The psalmist feels overwhelmed and opposed. There is even some feeling of being abandoned by God. Yet, the psalmist does not lose hope, and trust God, even when questioning. It’s okay to question what’s going on. God’s big enough to handle the question. It’s not that we question. It can be how we question. Really, it is who we look at when we question. Are we looking at ourselves? Are we looking at others? Or, are we looking, really looking at God?

    Isaiah has questions. The people of Israel have questions. They have lots of questions, and heartache, and loss, and pain, and anger, and despair, and…a whole of issues. The words shared by Isaiah are really the question…who/what are you looking at? When we look at God, we can receive life-giving water and life. When we look elsewhere, it goes out of us. That can be good, as long as we keep looking to God to receive. However, the longer we are open to receiving, we end up leaving ourselves open to being changed. Some people take a touch. Others take tap. Others require a spiritual 2×4. It is what happens afterwards that is the difference: our response and how we look at God.

    Paul got the 2×4 (or something bigger). He had an experience that was so powerful that he changed. He went from a man successfully penalizing the church (including being an accomplice to murder), to being an obvious and outspoken support of Jesus Christ and his church. So much so, that it is not an unreasonable question to ponder, if he was so quickly able to successfully defend Jesus as the Messiah, why couldn’t have figured it out earlier? What if…a powerful question, that has no real answer.‌

    • ‌1) Being a vessel of God’s living water (spirit) can change us deeply. Why can that be scary to people?‌
    • 2) What do you think of the Christian life in the light of Isaiah’s words? Should your Christian life be changed?
    • 3) We often think of Paul being alone. Yet, he was never alone. What does that tell us about Paul, ourselves, and how we view important people?
    • FD) Sometimes we don’t understand God. Is that okay? Is it okay to not understand, and still love and trust God?

  • Decisions and Struggles

    Jeremiah 11:15–16, Isaiah 52:1–12, Galatians 4:12–20

    We cannot avoid the reality that the world as it stands opposes the Good News, while at the same time yearning for it. People try to avoid the reality that the gospel is opposed, and try to “be at peace” with the world. On the other hand, there are those who are so obsessed with “the opposition” that they either spend the majority of their efforts and energy opposing, or huddle behind the “four walls” of their church, family, and/or larger “tribe”. Part of what makes the Christian walk so difficult and why it requires constant reorientation, is that we are to walk between these two extremes.

    The two verses in Jeremiah recall that the people of Israel have wandered far away from their God, and have turn rituals of life into empty actions. They were set apart and planted to be a symbol. They became spiritually diseased, and the only thing that could cleanse the disease was fire…a cleansing fire. Yet, instead of changing their ways they kept to the old.

    Isaiah’s call to Zion/Jerusalem is for it to “wake up” out of the despair and disgrace that it has found itself in. It is time to throw off the old clothes and the contaminated ways. It is time to put on new clothes and new ways. Purify yourselves.

    The old bad non-life-giving ways have a way of coming back. Jeremiah and Isaiah opposed them. Generations later, Paul had to fight them again. Now it was not just the old Jewish ways that he had to confront (like Jeremiah and Isaiah), it was also the ways of the Gentiles that had to be opposed.

    Paul is makes two very important points. The first is there are people that are trying to put themselves above others (mostly Paul, but they would have also been putting themselves above the elders) to control and try to change what is Truth. They also appear to be doing it for personal gain of money or pride. Not good reasons to change who one respects.

    The other important point is that Paul speaks of them being his children, that he is again going through the childbearing pains, trying to restore them to where they were in their beliefs. Christ has to be formed in them (again). This would be what we would call backsliding. Paul was now separated by distance, and was doubly pained that he couldn’t be there in person.

    Christian formation should always move forward, but sometimes, due to culture, family, habits, we go backwards. It sometime seems we have to start all over again. If it has been a really hard fight, we could succumb to despair.

    • 1) American individualism, especially prevalent in the Western parts of the United States, almost convinces people to find their own way in a vacuum. What happens when we make decisions in isolation?
    • 2) Spiritual decisions made in isolation along with cultural influences can endanger our spiritual lives. What do you do to help immunize yourself in that area?
    • 3) Most often, our biggest spiritual battles will be in areas that we have always struggled with. What are you doing to strengthen yourself in those areas, and finding accountability?
    • FD) Do you have, or ever had, a favorite article of clothing, a shirt, or accessory? Have you ever not wanted to wash it, because it might get hurt? What happens when it gets really yucky? Then what? Your spirit sometimes needs some cleaning, too? What do you do to clean it?

  • Seeking Voices

    Psalm 57, Galatians 4:1–11, Luke 7:20-30

    Paul words to the Galatians are a warning and yet imbued with hope and grace. Paul recalls for them that they were slaves to statues, sacrifices, and temples that did not give them life. In fact, these things took life. When we are talking about life here, we’re not speaking of biological life, but spiritual life. The Galatians were spiritual captives to those that wanted to keep them chained up.

    This spiritual enslavement is both Jewish (to the Mosaic law and to the Rabbinic law put over it) and Gentile (to the pagan and Roman cultures and religions to which they began). Paul’s concern is that they are being called/cajoled/harassed by both insiders and outsiders to return to “their roots,” whether Jewish or Gentile, respectively.

    This is why the concept of slave and heir are important here. A way to think of it is that their souls have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit. They are now children of God. However, in similarity to those enslaved by the “old” ways, they aren’t quite free yet. They have a choice to make. They can choose to be free, fully accepting the inheritance of God, or they can choose the comfortable old way, where they are not free. They are free to choose, but only one path leads to true freedom.

    By and large, the rituals of both the pagan and Jewish traditions were to satisfy the rules and to make things okay. On the other hand, Christianity has many traditions and rituals. All of them are (supposed to be) a response to what was already completed by Jesus Christ. However, even the Christian church can sometimes forget that it is free of those requirements. How easy it is to follow the old ways!

    In the time of Jesus, we cannot forget that Jesus wasn’t the only wandering teacher. He also wasn’t the only person called a prophet. The sad truth is that there are always those who set themselves up as prophets, and many people would follow them. These followers were seeking the release of what was holding them down, though many could not put it into words. We even still see this today.

    The interplay between Jesus and John is significant, as John is testing and validating Jesus’ prophetic call, and Jesus is affirming John’s prophetic call. This ties them together as far as many of the people are concerned. Yet, the trap of having a prophetic voice to follow is that people will often find themselves always following the latest and greatest prophetic voice. The church is no different.

    Often pastor, elders, and leaders do the same. It is human nature to want to be near the successful. The successful, though, are often as trapped (if not more so) than “normal” people.

    When Jesus and John validate each other’s calling, there is a sense of mutual submission. They are looking to the other for validation and confirmation. This is unusual when it comes to those who put themselves up as prophetic voices, for they then consider their voice the only one to be listened to.

    • 1) When you seek voices to speak into your life, do you test them? If so, how? If not, why not?
    • 2) Thinking of the grisly deaths of Jesus and John, why would anyone set themselves up to be a prophet?
    • 3) Where do you see voices in our modern context trying to be prophetic influencers? What seems to be the primary motivation?
    • FD) What does it mean to have someone speak into your life?

  • Be Being Prepared

    Psalm 54, Acts 20:16–32

    Be gracious. How many times did you hear someone say, “If I were God…,” or have you said that yourself? Most of the time, those four words do not result in a gracious response. In fact, they are usually the introduction to something vengeful or self-righteous.

    Sometimes we do hear a gracious response after those four words, but then how often is our response to that grace…grace-filled. It’s sad, but often grace is not the initial human response.

    Despite our own orientation to grace-less-ness, we still look to God for grace-full-ness. Why is it that we expect more out God’s response than we deliver on our own?

    Deep down, beyond our conscious thoughts, we have an understanding that grace should be the way of things. As we all know, and as the psalmist states, we are among people whose “…teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords…” Sadly, we are often those same people to others.

    Even sadder, sometimes we are that way to those we hold closest in our hearts. The psalmist takes a breath…and then…PRAISE GOD! God is faithful! Trusting that God is faithful often allows us to be grace-filled, even when highly distraught or distressed, as Paul was on his way to Jerusalem.

    As Paul gives his farewell address to those he loves personally and deeply, he summarizes his time in Ephesus. There are some things we should be taking from Paul’s address. First, he sought to be humble. We know that Paul was smart.

    Often smart people act as though they are better than others, just because of their intelligence. Paul made the case that wasn’t this way with him. He did not shy away from telling what needed to be told (profitable). It also tells us that others said many things that were not “profitable” to the Ephesians. This was one of Paul’s deep concerns.

    He warned the Ephesian elders to be aware of those that would tear the innocent apart and lead them astray. He is telling them to grow up. They will no longer be able to rely on Paul to be the leader, but they are now responsible. Paul reminded them of the tears he shed as he spoke the Truth, not just of God’s grace and kingdom, but that people will come (who might even be friends) that will try to destroy the faith of the Ephesians.

    He is doing those last minute reminders. He believes that this journey to Jerusalem will be the end of his journey, and wants them to be prepared both for grief and to wear the mantle of leadership.

    • 1) In his address to the Ephesians, Paul mentions the “…the gospel of God’s grace…” Why is that especially important for Paul as he looks to the end of his journey?
    • 2) When we look at the psalmist’s words about the “speech” of humanity, how can the gospel of God’s grace respond?
    • 3) Paul’s history with Ephesians, and his effectiveness with them was built over years. What does that tell about the legacy of faith?
    • FD) Why does Paul use the imagery of sheep for the people of the church and wolves for the people outside of the faith (not necessarily outside of the church)?