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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Sought After

Read It:  Ezekiel 34:15-16 (NRSV)

 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. 


Learn It:
What a wonderful gift to be sought after by the shepherd.  In this passage God seems to take this opportunity to not rely on or use other shepherds (i.e. prophets or kings) to seek out the sheep.  In this passage God decides to take all of this into God's own hands.  The language here is wonderful in that God will seek us out...God comes to us looking for us when we are lost.  That indicates that sometimes we might stray and not realize it and God will come and bring us back into the fold.  God will help all who are injured and all who are weak.  God is here to look out for all of us that have lost the way and have been pushed aside from those who are fat and strong.  We have a God that will look out for us in all the difficult times in our lives.


Share It:
Try to think about a time in your life of faith that you have strayed from your beliefs.  How did you get back to the flock?  Who or what was it that brought you back?  This might be a good time for parents to do most of the sharing and let the children listen.  It's good to understand that faith can sometimes be difficult and that through it all, or in the end you kept or strengthened your faith.  When are times when you think your faith might be challenged or when you might have a lot of questions about your faith?  Why do you think that you might have those questions during those times?  Share these thoughts and other ideas that come up during your sharing this week.


Live It:
This week I simply want you to live out your faith walk to the fullest.  As you do, and as you realize how much freedom we have in this part of the world I want you to say a simple prayer for those who don't have the freedom to live out their Christian faith because of persecution.  Pray for them and their families and for those who persecute them.  

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Survey Says...

Read It: Matthew 22:37-40 (NRSV)

37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Learn It:

At the time of this question about what is the greatest commandment Jesus has already entered into Jerusalem for the final part of his ministry leading up to his death.  The Pharisees and Sadducees are doing whatever they can to try to stop Jesus and have his followers deny him.  They ask a series of questions trying to trick him into answering their questions in such a way that will prove that he is not a prophet but simply a phony who isn't worth following at all.  The reason why this question was meant to be tricky is that there were 613 mitzvot (commands) in the Old Testament.  As Christians we only focus on the 10 Commandments but every time God declared the people to do something it became a mitzvot, a commandment.  So you can see the whole idea of picking which one is greater than the rest is not quite so easy.  

Share It:

Think about your favorite items.  What are they (color, ice cream, sport, instrument, musical group, movie, TV show, subject in school, etc)?  Is it always easy to come up with your single most favorite thing for everything?  If your parents (whether you are an adult or child right now) gave you 613 rules to follow (I know it may seem like they do or did) do you think you could remember all of them well enough to make sure that you didn't break a single one of them?  What if they broke it down to something simple like love your parents and love your siblings?  Would that be easier?  Why or why not?  Talk about these questions and anything else that may come up during your time together.

Live It:

Spend this next week living by rules of love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  It's just two rules you have to follow this week.  See how well you do and see how loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself might change the way that you interact with people this week.  

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How Can I Help?

Read It:  Philippians 2:3-5 (NRSV)

 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus..."

Learn It:

That is hard!  I remember playing sports when I was a teenager and I know I constantly regarded (thought of) myself as better than other people on my own team and better than players on other teams.  I wasn't so good, however, that I thought I was better than everyone else.  This passage from the letter to the Philippians teaches us some valuable lessons.  So often in sports, in school, in work we are taught to compete and be better than everyone else so that we can get ahead in the world.  I'm sure it was similar when Jesus was around too.  You have to be good at what you do to make a living, but I think the point trying to be made here is to realize that we cannot think of ourselves always above others or we will be selfish all the time.  The more we think about ourselves the less time we have to pay attention to others.  If we have the same mind as Christ Jesus then we would pay attention to the needs of those around us as he did and realize that the skills and talents we have may be used to better ourselves but they might be able to do a lot more to help others too.

Share It:

Where are the places and times when you feel most competitive or feel that you really do need to be better than others?  Do you notice at those times or in those situations that your benefit might or does come at the expense of others?  In what ways can you look at the interests of other people so that you aren't always focused on how things might benefit you?  How might humbling yourself by helping others might exalt you in the sight of God?  Share these thoughts and others that might come up as you talk with your family.

Live It:

As you go through this week take a look around you and try setting your goal or agenda aside and helping someone who might be struggling with theirs.  See how it makes you and the person you helped feel.  See how helping out people for the good of the community might be better than working for you own gains.  

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The Fairness of God

Read It: Matthew 20:11-16 (NRSV)
11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”


Learn It:
When I was a child I always had the impression that God was fair.  After all, God loves everyone and we are all God's children so God must be fair and equal to each and every one of us.  That is what I was brought up understanding (whether I taught that to myself or learned it I don't remember exactly).
While I was in seminary I spent some time chatting with a professor about fairness.  As you might guess the professor brought up this passage and asked me if in this passage I thought God was fair.  I couldn't help but answer with a "no" even though I very much wanted to say yes because of my childhood understanding that I brought into adulthood.  God loves us all but that doesn't equal God is fair to us all.  All the workers in the passage above received the same wage even though they didn't all work the same amount.  God gives us all the gift of life and gives us God's promises no matter what.  We may not want "this person" or "that person" to be saved as we are because they didn't believe as much or as well or they weren't as "good" a Christian as we were.  Fortunately it's not up to us.  God loves us all...no matter what.  Salvation is up to God not us.  Trust me when I say that is a VERY GOOD thing!


Share It:
What do you think about this whole idea of God being or not being fair?  What is your impression or feelings about this?  How would you differentiate fairness from God to God's love for everyone?  What are examples that you can come up with that show that God isn't fair?  Do you think God should be fair in everything or do you think that God should be "generous" in God's promises and gifts?  Share you answers and any other questions that might come up during your time together.


Live It:
Spend this next week trying to do what is loving and generous not necessarily what is fair.  There are times when those two things might be different.  If you can't find a way to do it yourself spend the next week watching others and see if you can identify times when people are being fair but not loving and times when people are being loving but not fair.  Good luck!

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Loving the Law

Read It: Romans 13:8-14 (NRSV)

8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. 

Learn It:

Everything for Paul and Jesus is summed up in the Great Commandment in Matthew 22:34-40.  It all comes down to love.  It sounds odd at the end that love is fulfilling the law because I think we tend to think that when it comes to God's love we think that we don't have to worry about the law anymore...God's love abolishes the law and yet Paul sees it differently.  If we truly love one another as we love ourselves (or ought to love ourselves) then we shouldn't be breaking any of God's laws.  So in the end, even though we are focusing on loving others as God taught us to love each other, we are fulfilling the law.  When we love each other we won't commit adultery, we won't murder, we won't steal, we won't covet, etc.  Love is fulfilling God's law.

Share It:

Take a look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17 and see what each one says.  Then take a look at Luther's Small Catechism and see his explanations of each one.  Take turns reading the Commandments and the explanation and talk about how each one could be completed by loving one another.  Do you think that if we truly loved one another as we love ourselves that we could live peaceably with each other? What is hardest about loving other people?  What do other people do that makes it hard to love them?  Talk about these questions and any others that may come up during your conversation.

Live It:

Take this week to try your best (you may find it harder than it sounds) to love everyone that you interact with and meet.  See what kind of reaction you may get by loving them instead of treating them as they may think you might treat them.  It may surprise them, but it might just surprise you even more.

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