What's with all the Commotion?

Read It: John 1:43-46 (NRSV)

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.  He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”  ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  

Learn It:

Nathanael may seem like a skeptic when his friend Philip tells him about this man named Jesus from Nazareth but it's helpful to understand that LOTS of people would have almost no idea where or what Nazareth was and those people who had heard of it knew that it was a TINY town that didn't really have much of anything going for it.  So to be fair to Nathanael his question is a legitimate one...little did he know that the messiah is the one who came from Nazareth.  My favorite part of this text is Philip's invitation to "come and see".  What a wonderful invitation.  He doesn't try to convince or persuade his friend he simply invites him to come and find out for himself what he is so excited about.  

Share It:

What are the things in your life that get you excited?  Why do those particular things get you excited or happy?  You can use this time as a show and tell if you want (bring something to the table to share with everyone else).  Now...what are the things that get you excited about Jesus and about your faith?  If you can't think of something then what things might you be able to do to help you get excited about the things that God promises you (love, support, forgiveness, everlasting life, community)?  Talk about these and other things that come up during your share it time together.

Live It:

This week I encourage you to find a way to find excitement in your faith.  Find something about your faith that really brings you joy and then invite someone to share in that joy.  Be like Philip and invite someone to 'come and see' the goodness and wonder of God.  

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Blessed Difficulties

Read It: Acts 7:56 (NRSV)

56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

Learn It:

Read the whole Acts story (Acts 7:55-60) from this Sunday's story.  It is such a violent story that seems rather odd to include, but my favorite part of the whole story is the line I have quoted above.  Amid all the anger and violence, though, is this profound statement of faith declaring Jesus as resurrected and being with God in heaven. Then again in verse 60 you can see that Stephen also asks God not to hold the sins that they are committing against them.  In the midst of his death he focuses on the his faith and the well-being of others.  I think this is such a wonderful picture for us.  No matter how bad things get and no matter how dark the world can seem at times we have this certainty that God is God and that God is present with us through all aspects of our life.

Share It:

What difficult times have you faced recently in your life?  Have you sought God during them?  Have you declared Jesus as the resurrected Son of God during those dark or difficult times?  Talk about what difference it might make if you were to instantly declare the greatness of God when you began to face adversity.  How might that change your viewpoint of the situation?  How might it change your attitude as you walked through that point in your life?

Live It:

Take this next week to focus on the difficult times you are dealing with (either ongoing or ones that occur in the future) and take them as opportunities to declare the greatness of God and the presence of God in those moments so that  you can see the goodness and mercy of God.  See what difference that makes and how it might change your relationship with God in your daily faith walk.

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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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Spirit Born

Read It: John 3:4-7 (NRSV)

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’

Learn It:

As Christians we all have two births.  This isn't something that we often talk about but we truly are given new life (born again) when we are baptized, and of course we are born when we first came into this world.  But, Jesus does not say that the new birth trumps the old.  We must be born of both water and Spirit.  We must be both of this world and not of this world.  We must be people of God living for the kingdom that Jesus promises, and we need to be people who truly do live in this world.  It is being in this world that we are able to connect and interact with others.  It is how we can teach them about baptism and about what it means to be born of both the physical water and of the Spirit that God gives us through the waters of baptism.

Share It:

Talk with your family about if you have ever had a time when you felt you were truly just a plain "old" human and were there times when you just felt that you were being used by the Spirit.  What was it like?  When did you realize that  the Spirit was working through you?  Do you often think of your baptism as having given you a new life and having been born again?

Live It:

In the next week while you are at work, school, playing, relaxing or whatever you find yourself doing, pay attention to the times when you might see how you were born of the Spirit.  Maybe you find yourself praying for someone on the side of the road; helping someone who needs a hand; maybe you talk to someone about God.  There are things that we do because we are born of the Spirit.  Because we have a new Spiritual life in Jesus we do things differently, so pay attention to those moments when you do something that makes you think about how you are blessed with that new Spirit birth.

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