A Reminder

Read It: Matthew 28:1-10

28 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” 

Learn It:

What an amazing morning!  The two Mary's were probably on their way to the tomb to go and mourn the loss of Jesus, as was the custom when a loved one passed away, when an angel of the Lord not only appears but causes a great commotion.  The angel then tells them something they already knew!  I'm here to remind you that Jesus isn't here...he's gone like he said he would be.  Go and tell the disciples.  Then as they are on their way Jesus comes to them and he too reminds them to go and tell the disciples and also lets them know where he will be to speak with them.

Jesus told them before he died that he would rise from the dead; then an angel appears to them on the day of the resurrection to remind them that he has risen; and finally Jesus reminds them again that he is risen and to tell the disciples.  3 times the disciples including these Mary's are reminded of his resurrection!

Share It:

What are some things that you need to remind your brothers or sisters, or child(ren), or parents about because it is so important?  How many times do you think would be the right amount to remind someone of something you think is really important?  Is there anything so important that you think you will always repeat it so that you remind others?  What kinds of things do you think God wants us to remember?  What constant reminders do you think God sends us?  Share these and other thoughts with your family.

Live It:

With the excitement of the Resurrection go out this week and remind people of the amazing power and gift of the Resurrection.  Remind them of God's love and Jesus' sacrifice for each of us.  Share those important reminders with everyone that you care about.  Reminding people about things is always important and it is especially important when it's about Jesus.

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Advantages

Read It: Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

      6 Who, being in very nature God,

         did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

      7 rather, he made himself nothing

         by taking the very nature of a servant,

         being made in human likeness.

      8 And being found in appearance as a man,

         he humbled himself

         by becoming obedient to death—

         even death on a cross!

      9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

         and gave him the name that is above every name,

      10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

         in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

      11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

         to the glory of God the Father.

Learn It:

I am reading a book entitled He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado, and the last chapter I read was about how Jesus allowed the crown of thorns to be placed on his head.  One of the emphases he placed on this particular form of punishment was that Jesus chose to be one of us, he chose to be fully human.  He could have chosen to stop being beaten and he could have chosen to stop the people from spitting on him and he could have chosen to have the crown not placed on his head because besides being fully human he was fully God.  As our passage says Jesus didn't use his equality with God as an advantage, he didn't use it to avoid the uncomfortable or the difficult things he had to face, but instead gave himself to the world completely and gave himself to God's will completely.  Because of his obedience God lifted him above everyone so that we all might know that the true advantage that Jesus had was a Father in Heaven that loved him more than anything.

Share It:

Obviously Jesus had a greater advantage than any of us, being God's own son, but what are the advantages that you have being born into the family you were born into?  What sorts of privileges or rights do you have automatically for being born into the family, nation, town, race etc?  I know these are some tough questions but it's good to see the advantages we have in our life.  What are some of the disadvantages that we have?  Lastly, what are the advantages we have for being Children of God? Look at the passage again and see what honor and blessing it is to be a child of God.  It's quite a wonderful thing.

Live It:

Being a child of God has advantages.  We don't like to think of it that way so maybe think of it as a gift...call it a grace.  What can you do this week with that gift of grace...with the knowledge and advantage of grace that will make someone else's day or week or life a little (or a lot) better?  Think about how you can share with someone else the advantage of a relationship with God.  There are small and big ways that we can show people how much our Father in Heaven cares for them.  Here's a suggestion:  Show them the passage above...it's quite powerful!

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Humanness

Read It: John 11:35 (NIV)

"Jesus wept"

Learn It:

(I like the NIV translation because it retains this passage as the shortest verse in the whole Bible)

One of the traditions in Biblical times was for people to mourn the loss of a loved one and to do it loudly.  Sometimes people were even hired as "professional mourners" and they would wail, cry, beat their chests, and make the biggest scene possible to let people know that someone had passed and that this person was going to be terribly missed.  What is interesting about Jesus' response is that he doesn't wail or scream out but he silently lets out some tears of sadness at the loss of a friend.  This is one GREAT example of the humanness of Jesus.  We tend to focus on the divine nature of Jesus but it is equally as important to notice the human side of our Savior as well.

Share It:

When you think of Jesus do you tend to think of him in terms of his humanness or of his divine nature more often?  Why do or don't you focus on one side or the other?  Why do you think that Jesus wept instead of wailed and made a huge spectacle over the loss of his friend Lazarus?  What do you think was the focus of Jesus's tears?  What are the things in our life that make you sad and want to simply weep about?  What things do you silently think about that make you feel sad at times in your life?  In what ways might Jesus' sadness be a comfort to you in the times of your own sadness?

Live It:

In the next week as you go out about your days pay attention to things that might make you sad.  What is it that makes you sad about that particular thing?  In that moment remind yourself of John 11:35 "Jesus wept". Remind yourself that even the Savior of the world had times when he mourned over the loss of people and the difficulty of life.  Even Jesus wept.

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Fruitful Children of the Light

Read It: Ephesians 5:8-14 (NRSV)

 8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 

    “Sleeper, awake! 

    Rise from the dead, 

    and Christ will shine on you.” 

Learn It:

It's great when people talk about faith in terms of fruit, isn't it?  There are such great images of fruit that come to mind.  It is sweet and tastes good; it's good for you.  We also have an example of what fruit can mean too if we look at Philippians 1:9-11.  Here we learn that the fruit that is talked about here might be righteousness which is associated with goodness and truth.  So we are supposed to be good, righteous, fruitful children of the light.  Part of being in the light is doing what we think God would want us to do.  Sometimes that old phrase WWJD (what would Jesus do) comes in handy.  When we think in those terms we think about doing what would put us in the light of Christ and would put that situation in that light as well.  I like to call this an ethic of love - doing what is the most loving, which would then make us and the situation fruitful.  And by making the situation fruitful we are doing what is pleasing to God.

Share It:

Have everyone sit together and bring a piece of fruit with them from the kitchen.  What are some characteristics of the fruit?  What makes it so desirable?  What is the best part of the fruit?  Now think about if any of those items you listed can be said about God.  If you get some characteristics or not come up with some things that you think are Godly characteristics and add them to your list.  What kinds of choices would you have to make to live as a child of the light?  Share together.

Live It:

Well our text says that we should live as children of the light.  Think about ways that you can be fruitful and live as a child of the light.  When you find yourself in a situation why not ask yourself WWJD?  Also think about an ethic of love...what would be the most loving thing to do in this situation?  Share with your family what you find out about using these ideas as ways to handle different situations.  Live as a fruitful child of the light!

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