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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The Right Stuff

Read It: Philippians 4:8-9 (NRSV)

⁸Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  ⁹Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.  

Learn It:

This passage is a wonderful reminder for us each day.  It reminds us to think about all those good things in our lives that we can do for ourselves and for others.  Think about what is true...not what is true like a true false question but what is God's truth.  Think about what is honorable...what are the things that you can do that will honor God.  What is commendable...what are the things you can do that God will say you have done well my good and faithful servant.  What things can you do that will bring about not your praise and your excellence but let others see the praise and excellence of God.  Keep doing each and every one of those things and the peace of God will be with you.  God's peace isn't just a nice time of quiet, but God's peace is something that goes much deeper and more complete.  Having peace with God is being in relationship with God.  Peace with God is fulling trusting in God's promises and knowing that God's promises are faithful and true.  

Share It:

What are the times when you have felt God's peace?  When have you felt that you were in a full relationship with God?  Was it a time when you were away or just a moment where you felt everything was right with the world?  What are some ways that you can help to spread that peace?  What kinds of true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing and commendable things can you do for God to help bring about his peace?  Share these questions and anything else that may come up during this time.

Live It:

Try to find a way this week to live in peace with God, or try to find a way to live out one of those ways in the passage above.  Try to be just or pure or honorable, etc...

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Say It

Read It: Matthew 5:37 (NIV)

 37 Simply let your‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Learn It:

Luther says that we should not say anything more than what we mean.  The things that we say should  be based on what we feel God is telling us to do at that moment.  Some examples he gives us is when you get angry you should only get angry if it is justified and that if you feel a certain way about something that you should conduct the way you say it based on what example Jesus leaves us about such matters.  

Share It:

John Mayer has a song entitled Say.  Check out these lyrics and talk with your family about them.  Do you think it is better to say what you need to say than to not have said anything at all?  What might it be like if you were to say exactly what you were thinking without filtering it?  Do you think that it would be hard to stop and think about what you are going to say to say the right thing? Why or why not?  What makes it hard to say "no" to people when they ask you to do something?  Why do or don't you say "yes" to lots of things?   

Live It:

Jesus tells us to say exactly what we mean to say.  Don't say yes when you don't really want to do it or when you're heart isn't in it.  The next couple times someone asks you to do something whether it is a family member or a friend, stop and think for a moment about if you really want to do it.  Let your "yes" be "yes" and your "no" be "no".  See how freeing that might be and see if you are responding the way that God asks us to respond.  Share with your family what it was like. 

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