We began class by reading and making notes on Romans 8:28-39 using the following template.
Read Romans 8: 28- 39: As you read, make notes in the following columns
Thoughts, surprises, and insights
Questions
One question raised had to do with the verses around Romans 8:29 that refer to the notion of predestination, the notion that before all time God has chosen those to whom he will show mercy. We observed that John Calvin had made predestination one of the central issues in his theology and that some modern denominations continue to give attention to this theme. This is one of the areas that divide Methodism and churches that are strongly influenced by Calvin’s thought. Methodists usually argue that these verses are counter to the thrust of the rest of the New Testament including Paul’s life mission of inviting all to receive the gospel and verses such as John 3:16. Barclay in his writing interprets the verse this way: God predestines every man and woman to be conformed to the image of the son, to be called, justified, and glorified but allows men and women to choose other destinies.
In Chapter 12, Paul moves abstract conversation to very practical conversation. What does it look like on the ground to be a Christian. What does it look like on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? Paul’s first statement would be a shocker to the Gentile members of the church at Rome. “Present your body to Christ as a living sacrifice.” In the popular philosophies of the day in the Greek world, this would have been nonsense. Our physical bodies had nothing to do with religion … religion was a thing of the spirit and it occurred in rarefied times and special places. Two consequences
• Hedonism and debauchery
• Aestheticism … punish and deprive the body
Paul says, Real worship is offering day to day life to God … and this involves the body …
Read Romans 12: 1 – 21 mindful of these questions
Read Romans 12: 1 - 21: As you read, think about the questions in the left column
Questions:
1. What does it mean to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice.”
2. What does Paul mean “Do not be conformed to this age?”
• Examples
• Have you ever experienced “renewing of the mind.”
3. Are you more likely to overestimate or underestimate your spiritual gifts? Of the six gifts Paul lists in verses 6 - 8, which is your strongest gift.
4. Look at characteristics of a Christian found in verses 9-21.
• Which is hardest for you?
• Which is easiest for you?
5. Suppose you were giving advice to a friend about how to acquire one of the Christian character traits that was hard for him or her. What would you suggest?
Surprises?
Insights?
Questions?
Your thoughts:
We did not get too far in our discussion of these questions and may return to them later.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Newsletter, October 14, 2007
NewsFlash: William Jamison Koser was born to Devin and Rachel Koser on Friday, October 12. We are so pleased to have this new member of our community. Chrissy Snider will deliver a “Shower in a Basket” from the Family and Friends Class.
Many, many thanks: To those who prepared the wonderful breakfast that we enjoyed in business meeting today. Those of us who usually suffice on a bowl of cereal in the morning are particularly grateful and feel particularly blessed.
Report from Business Meeting: Well, the old man was feeding his face rather than taking notes as he should, but here are his best recollections of what was decided today in business meeting … with some additional info that comes from telephone conversations with Kristen this afternoon.
November 10: Upside Down Progressive Dinner and Game Night
On Saturday, November 10, a team of noted chefs will entertain all comers in an “upside down” progressive dinner. Courses will include appetizer, salad, dessert, meat, vegetable and soup in some order, not yet determined. Here are the details:
• Nursery opens at 5:30 at the church (Robin will be ready with helper(s))
• Dinner begins at 5:45 at the church
• After the dinner, Hostess Kristen Maynard invites those whose schedule will permit to stay for a game night
• The Chefs:
Meat: K. Maynard
Dessert: C and R Anderson
Appetizer: J and M Everly
Appetizer: E and C Wheeler
Salad: C and P Snider
Soup: E and C Larsh
Starch: A and T Murphy
Vegetables: J and J West
Backup-Chefs: C and D McCorvey
• Note: this is not a “pot-luck” dinner. We would welcome other participants, both those in the Family and Friends Class and those who are not in the class. You are warmly invited. (Scott and Dwayne, we would particularly enjoy feeding you a home-cooked meal.) To register your intention to attend (and make sure we have food for you); call Kristen Maynard at 921-7688 (home) or 657-3634 (cell). If you are a chef who finds you are not able to attend, call Kristen also.
October 27 (Saturday): This will be the church’s Fall Festival. Erica and Curt will be taking pictures from 10:00- noon as our class contribution to the festivities. Extra hands to help with Rebekah and Alex will be appreciated. Clearly children of our families may find this a fun time and place to be. Any profit from this event will go to support the youth program. We decided that we would not take on the project of being the “drip of blood” for the American Red Cross promotion that will be occurring on the 27th.
October 31: Halloween is on Wednesday night this year and the usual Wed night supper will adjourn to a “Trunk or Treat” event in which it is envisioned that attendees will raise their trunks and let children “Trick or Treat” out of the back of cars.
Children’s Church: The implementation of “Veggie Tales” Children’s Church has run into a few rough spots. Rhonda Anderson will convene a meeting involving herself and Janet and Pastor Castor and Sarah M. to work out details. If you would like to be included in the meeting, call Ronda at 925-3799.
Safe Sanctuary: There will be a Safe Sanctuary training meeting in Statesboro on January 26. However, Claire was disturbed that we must go out of town to get training and is trying to get the credential so she can do the training herself. We must wait till later to determine if the “powers to be” felt she is sufficiently qualified.
Door Decoration: Kristen Maynard (assisted by Chrissy and Janet) will coordinate our “door decorating” efforts on December 2.
Nursery List: The list of persons who will help in the nursery needs to be refurbished. Several persons on the list have moved on to other places and their places on the rotations need to be filled. Jennifer will do some walking around to other classes to request help. If there are those in this class that have not yet signed up, Jennifer would be glad to hear from you (484-5554). [This responsibility can be completed by persons of both genders; prior experience not necessary!! ]
Coffee Fellowship Cleanup: November is our month to clean up after the 10:30 fellowship. We passed around the sign-up sheet and to my knowledge, all spaces were covered.
Many, many thanks: To those who prepared the wonderful breakfast that we enjoyed in business meeting today. Those of us who usually suffice on a bowl of cereal in the morning are particularly grateful and feel particularly blessed.
Report from Business Meeting: Well, the old man was feeding his face rather than taking notes as he should, but here are his best recollections of what was decided today in business meeting … with some additional info that comes from telephone conversations with Kristen this afternoon.
November 10: Upside Down Progressive Dinner and Game Night
On Saturday, November 10, a team of noted chefs will entertain all comers in an “upside down” progressive dinner. Courses will include appetizer, salad, dessert, meat, vegetable and soup in some order, not yet determined. Here are the details:
• Nursery opens at 5:30 at the church (Robin will be ready with helper(s))
• Dinner begins at 5:45 at the church
• After the dinner, Hostess Kristen Maynard invites those whose schedule will permit to stay for a game night
• The Chefs:
Meat: K. Maynard
Dessert: C and R Anderson
Appetizer: J and M Everly
Appetizer: E and C Wheeler
Salad: C and P Snider
Soup: E and C Larsh
Starch: A and T Murphy
Vegetables: J and J West
Backup-Chefs: C and D McCorvey
• Note: this is not a “pot-luck” dinner. We would welcome other participants, both those in the Family and Friends Class and those who are not in the class. You are warmly invited. (Scott and Dwayne, we would particularly enjoy feeding you a home-cooked meal.) To register your intention to attend (and make sure we have food for you); call Kristen Maynard at 921-7688 (home) or 657-3634 (cell). If you are a chef who finds you are not able to attend, call Kristen also.
October 27 (Saturday): This will be the church’s Fall Festival. Erica and Curt will be taking pictures from 10:00- noon as our class contribution to the festivities. Extra hands to help with Rebekah and Alex will be appreciated. Clearly children of our families may find this a fun time and place to be. Any profit from this event will go to support the youth program. We decided that we would not take on the project of being the “drip of blood” for the American Red Cross promotion that will be occurring on the 27th.
October 31: Halloween is on Wednesday night this year and the usual Wed night supper will adjourn to a “Trunk or Treat” event in which it is envisioned that attendees will raise their trunks and let children “Trick or Treat” out of the back of cars.
Children’s Church: The implementation of “Veggie Tales” Children’s Church has run into a few rough spots. Rhonda Anderson will convene a meeting involving herself and Janet and Pastor Castor and Sarah M. to work out details. If you would like to be included in the meeting, call Ronda at 925-3799.
Safe Sanctuary: There will be a Safe Sanctuary training meeting in Statesboro on January 26. However, Claire was disturbed that we must go out of town to get training and is trying to get the credential so she can do the training herself. We must wait till later to determine if the “powers to be” felt she is sufficiently qualified.
Door Decoration: Kristen Maynard (assisted by Chrissy and Janet) will coordinate our “door decorating” efforts on December 2.
Nursery List: The list of persons who will help in the nursery needs to be refurbished. Several persons on the list have moved on to other places and their places on the rotations need to be filled. Jennifer will do some walking around to other classes to request help. If there are those in this class that have not yet signed up, Jennifer would be glad to hear from you (484-5554). [This responsibility can be completed by persons of both genders; prior experience not necessary!! ]
Coffee Fellowship Cleanup: November is our month to clean up after the 10:30 fellowship. We passed around the sign-up sheet and to my knowledge, all spaces were covered.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Summary: Romans 9-11
In our next lesson we will return to Romans 8 and begin Romans 12, but today I want to discuss Romans 9 –11 as a unit. In order to prepare to read Romans 9-11, I want you to imagine or remember a dark moment in your life … a moment in which there was a terrible disappointment or tragedy or loss or misunderstanding. Perhaps you
• Lost a job
• Did not get a job you believed you deserved
• Were betrayed by a friend
• Were unfaithful to a friend
• Lost a child to accident or disease
Imagine your state of mind in the days that would follow. For many of us, our thoughts would churn. We would race from one explanation to another … we would create theories and then we would debunk those theories … we would live in the world of “if only” and “why” and “surely not” I imagine pacing around a room, and as I reach each corner of the room a divergent thought would arise to lead me further into despair.
In Romans 9 – 11 Paul wrestles exactly such a disappointment.
• Why did not all the Jewish people understand that Jesus was the Messiah for whom they had long waited?
• Why were all true Jews not Christians?
• (Note many Jews were Christians, indeed it appears that for the first few years virtually all persons who followed Jesus were Christians. At some point the Christians in Jerusalem numbered 8000.)
Now why is this such a crucial question for Paul?
• He was a Jew … a very serious Jew … a Pharisee … who had studied under one of the great Jewish rabbis of the first century, Gamiliel
• As he traveled around Turkey and Greece as a missionary to Gentiles, as he arrived in each city he first went to the Jewish synagogue with his “good news.” He reached many Jewish converts, but many of those who most vigorously persecuted him were Jewish.
• It was a crucial issue for Paul … because he loved his people and wanted them to respond to God’s love in Jesus
Now, Romans 9-11. When I read these chapters, I do not find a carefully reasoned argument. Rather I hear the struggles of a man who is wrestling with a very difficult issue. I imagine Paul pacing around a room, trying on different ideas, trying to understand .. but never quite achieving understanding. At each corner of the room he has a new idea … sometimes contradicting the idea he had at the last corner … in each case he is turning the great tragedy of the rejection of Christ by some Jews over and over again in his head.
Before we walk to some of those corners with Paul, I want you to read his beginning and his conclusion. Let’s read the beginning lessons of Romans 9 and concluding verses of Romans 11 (Romans 11: 33 – 36)
The Beginning: Read Romans 9: 1-5
As Paul begins his long night of wrestling with the tragedy of the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish people, what is his tone? Is he angry, sad, frustrated, belligerent, condescending, hoping, …?
The End: Read Romans 11:33-36
As Paul ends his long night of wrestling with the tragedy, what is his tone?
How do you respond to his conclusions?
As Paul finishes Chapter 11, he acknowledges that some questions are too big for him to answer … no matter how hard he tries. He prepares himself to go forward without his tragedy resolved … indeed in next chapter he shifts into practical advice for living Christian life. His resolution is remarkably similar to the position at which Job arrived in the Old Testament after his time of trial
Now, let’s follow Paul as he wrestles with this question in these 3 chapters of Romans. As I summarize his thought, I will imagine him pacing a room, arriving at a different and divergent thought at each corner:
First Corner: This is the fact of the matter. God owes the Hebrew people nothing. God can choose to be merciful to whom he wishes to be merciful. Not all the biological descendents of Abraham became Hebrews … Abraham’s son Ishmael was rejected in favor of Isaac; Isaac’s son Essau was rejected in favor of Jacob. Indeed, God used Pharaoh as an instrument to show his power … everything has to do with what God chooses. (Romans 9: 6 – 18)
Second Corner: But this sounds a little like we have no choice in the matter at all … no free will. Well that is the truth of the matter. We are like clay in the hands of a potter. He chose some of us to serve a noble purpose and some of us to serve a base purpose. (Romans 9: 19 –21)
Third Corner: Maybe the whole idea is this. In order to show his power and glory, God chooses his people not only from the Jews who are his covenant family but also from those who have no claim to be part of his family. (Romans 9: 22 – 27)
Fourth Corner: But I don’t think God acts this way. He does not deprive us of our free will and punish us when we don’t deserve it. Maybe it was really Israel’s fault. Perhaps God allows the Israelites to reject the Messiah because the Israelites chose to pursue salvation by seeking righteousness under the law rather than by faith. (Romans 9:30 – 33)
Fifth Corner: But my heart breaks. My hearts greatest desire is that the Israelites be saved. They are so serious about their faith .. yet their seriousness is misdirected. Here is the truth they must apprehend. (Romans 10: 1 – 12 and following)
Sixth Corner: But God is working in Israel. There are thousands of Hebrews in the church in Jerusalem and across Asia. Perhaps God is just saving a remnant and the rest have been lulled to sleep. (Romans 11:1 –9)
Seventh Corner: But you Gentiles had best be careful. Don’t get arrogant because you are part of God’s coming kingdom and the Hebrews are not. By God’s mercy you have been grafted onto the tree of God’s family .. .but the roots and lower branches of that tree are Jewish. Indeed, God may be using the fact that you have been grafted onto the tree to make Israelites jealous so that they will come to the faith. (Romans 11: 11 – 24)
Eighth Corner: I tell you what I really believe. I cannot see how it will happen right now, but I know the God I love and in the end, He will save his people. All of Israel will be saved. They are disobedient now … but in time … they will receive mercy. “God has bound all people over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” (Romans 11:25 – 32)
• Lost a job
• Did not get a job you believed you deserved
• Were betrayed by a friend
• Were unfaithful to a friend
• Lost a child to accident or disease
Imagine your state of mind in the days that would follow. For many of us, our thoughts would churn. We would race from one explanation to another … we would create theories and then we would debunk those theories … we would live in the world of “if only” and “why” and “surely not” I imagine pacing around a room, and as I reach each corner of the room a divergent thought would arise to lead me further into despair.
In Romans 9 – 11 Paul wrestles exactly such a disappointment.
• Why did not all the Jewish people understand that Jesus was the Messiah for whom they had long waited?
• Why were all true Jews not Christians?
• (Note many Jews were Christians, indeed it appears that for the first few years virtually all persons who followed Jesus were Christians. At some point the Christians in Jerusalem numbered 8000.)
Now why is this such a crucial question for Paul?
• He was a Jew … a very serious Jew … a Pharisee … who had studied under one of the great Jewish rabbis of the first century, Gamiliel
• As he traveled around Turkey and Greece as a missionary to Gentiles, as he arrived in each city he first went to the Jewish synagogue with his “good news.” He reached many Jewish converts, but many of those who most vigorously persecuted him were Jewish.
• It was a crucial issue for Paul … because he loved his people and wanted them to respond to God’s love in Jesus
Now, Romans 9-11. When I read these chapters, I do not find a carefully reasoned argument. Rather I hear the struggles of a man who is wrestling with a very difficult issue. I imagine Paul pacing around a room, trying on different ideas, trying to understand .. but never quite achieving understanding. At each corner of the room he has a new idea … sometimes contradicting the idea he had at the last corner … in each case he is turning the great tragedy of the rejection of Christ by some Jews over and over again in his head.
Before we walk to some of those corners with Paul, I want you to read his beginning and his conclusion. Let’s read the beginning lessons of Romans 9 and concluding verses of Romans 11 (Romans 11: 33 – 36)
The Beginning: Read Romans 9: 1-5
As Paul begins his long night of wrestling with the tragedy of the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish people, what is his tone? Is he angry, sad, frustrated, belligerent, condescending, hoping, …?
The End: Read Romans 11:33-36
As Paul ends his long night of wrestling with the tragedy, what is his tone?
How do you respond to his conclusions?
As Paul finishes Chapter 11, he acknowledges that some questions are too big for him to answer … no matter how hard he tries. He prepares himself to go forward without his tragedy resolved … indeed in next chapter he shifts into practical advice for living Christian life. His resolution is remarkably similar to the position at which Job arrived in the Old Testament after his time of trial
Now, let’s follow Paul as he wrestles with this question in these 3 chapters of Romans. As I summarize his thought, I will imagine him pacing a room, arriving at a different and divergent thought at each corner:
First Corner: This is the fact of the matter. God owes the Hebrew people nothing. God can choose to be merciful to whom he wishes to be merciful. Not all the biological descendents of Abraham became Hebrews … Abraham’s son Ishmael was rejected in favor of Isaac; Isaac’s son Essau was rejected in favor of Jacob. Indeed, God used Pharaoh as an instrument to show his power … everything has to do with what God chooses. (Romans 9: 6 – 18)
Second Corner: But this sounds a little like we have no choice in the matter at all … no free will. Well that is the truth of the matter. We are like clay in the hands of a potter. He chose some of us to serve a noble purpose and some of us to serve a base purpose. (Romans 9: 19 –21)
Third Corner: Maybe the whole idea is this. In order to show his power and glory, God chooses his people not only from the Jews who are his covenant family but also from those who have no claim to be part of his family. (Romans 9: 22 – 27)
Fourth Corner: But I don’t think God acts this way. He does not deprive us of our free will and punish us when we don’t deserve it. Maybe it was really Israel’s fault. Perhaps God allows the Israelites to reject the Messiah because the Israelites chose to pursue salvation by seeking righteousness under the law rather than by faith. (Romans 9:30 – 33)
Fifth Corner: But my heart breaks. My hearts greatest desire is that the Israelites be saved. They are so serious about their faith .. yet their seriousness is misdirected. Here is the truth they must apprehend. (Romans 10: 1 – 12 and following)
Sixth Corner: But God is working in Israel. There are thousands of Hebrews in the church in Jerusalem and across Asia. Perhaps God is just saving a remnant and the rest have been lulled to sleep. (Romans 11:1 –9)
Seventh Corner: But you Gentiles had best be careful. Don’t get arrogant because you are part of God’s coming kingdom and the Hebrews are not. By God’s mercy you have been grafted onto the tree of God’s family .. .but the roots and lower branches of that tree are Jewish. Indeed, God may be using the fact that you have been grafted onto the tree to make Israelites jealous so that they will come to the faith. (Romans 11: 11 – 24)
Eighth Corner: I tell you what I really believe. I cannot see how it will happen right now, but I know the God I love and in the end, He will save his people. All of Israel will be saved. They are disobedient now … but in time … they will receive mercy. “God has bound all people over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” (Romans 11:25 – 32)
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