Hello friends! We discussed James 2:14-26 last night. Much of this was similar to the beginning of the chapter, but we pulled out a few main ideas that stood out. This may be a bit rough, but here's the main thoughts:
We observed several key words that were repeated and stood out: faith, deeds, action, foolish, dead, righteousness...and a few key names: Ambraham, Rahab, demons. We though it was interesting that Rahab and Abraham were the two examples used. More on this later.
Next we noted that demons seem to be able to have a theoretical understanding of faith. If we have this theoretical knowledge, but it is not paired with action, we are no better than the demons. Interesting thing to be thinking about if you're sitting in a cubicle at seminary...
We wondered what it means to be "justified" by faith. We are familiar with the idea that only faith in Christ can save us, so where do the works fit in? Faith without works is empty, spirit-less, and James compares it to a dead corpse. To be justified by works gives life, courage, energy, and a path for our faith to follow. It connects us to our fellow believers and also brings us closer to God. We can communicate and demonstrate our faith through our actions.
Juliann mentioned that postmodern thought often focuses on the lack of an objective truth. Therefore, how can we know that we are saved or justified by our faith? Action is one way our faith is made real for ourselves also.
We also touched on what kind of deeds do we need to be doing, and how do we know that they are the right actions guided by God/faith and not by our own logic? James seems to emphasize that our actions should serve the whole person, providing our brothers and sisters with physical needs. Greg brought up a point that if we are keeping our focus and prayers on God, we should have courage to try out our actions and trust God to guide us along the way. It is easy to be wrapped up in a holding pattern of not acting, just worrying about where to step next. Through our faith, and by activily seeking to grow in our faith, we can be bold and step out in action. Checking back in with prayer may help us. I think this points to the freedom in Christ that we are invited to enjoy. Freedom to act-- in Christ. It gives a purpose to our actions.
We considered Rahab and why James included her in this section. We noticed that she already had the knowledge that God is the one true God, and her actions of hiding the spies and risking her life showed that. Faith and deeds.
Amanda gave an example of bringing cookies to the work crew at thier house. She wanted to uplift them, but wasn't sure if they would understand this or even appreciate the gesture she was giving. But she took courage and did it anyway, and I think the workers appreciated them very much.
So we talked about homework a few weeks ago...
Here's our challenge!
Find a way to put your faith into action this week. Be brave. Don't show favoritism. Use prayer. And tell us what happened next week. I already forgot about this until I saw Kim's email, so thanks for the reminder! Enjoy your week!
-Alicia
Showing posts with label recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recap. Show all posts
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Recap 2008.02.13
Tonight we read James 2:1-13.
Favoritism Forbidden
1My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. 2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself,"[a] you are doing right. 9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11For he who said, "Do not commit adultery,"[b] also said, "Do not murder."[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
Some observations:
James is apparently writing to Jewish Christians who may or may not have actually been poor. There are thoughts that they may have been an upper Jewish class of people that were not the poor Jews nor the rich Romans effectively making them a middle class of sorts.
James tells his readers not to show favoritism. In this case the favoritism is shown based on outward appearance. Most of us read into this to mean that the man in the "shabby clothes" was poor and the man in the "fine clothes" was rich.
The point was made that it seems that God shows favoritism in some cases. For instance choosing Israel to be the holy nation. However upon further discussion it was noted that God has the authority to judge because his motives are pure and never evil as ours often are.
Some interpretations:
James appears to want his readers to abstain from showing favoritism because "if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers." It was also noted that he seems to draw a distinction between the "royal law found in Scripture" and the law by which people are judged as lawbreakers. James seems to be offering his readers the opportunity to live "as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom".
Some applications:
We talked a lot tonight about how this lesson would apply to the way we treat people asking for help on the street. It seems that the overall consensus is that it would be better to error on the side of too much mercy than to not help the person out for fear of being used or taken advantage of. It seems that God is not concerned with our being used, but is more concerned with us helping those in need. If this means getting more creative in the ways that you help the person (i.e. buying him/her lunch instead of giving them money) then we should be thinking of ways that this could happen.
Shannon brought up a good point toward the end of the lesson about the possibility that we were selling the passage short by just talking about homelessness and street beggars and suggested that the scripture recommends that we not show favoritism to anyone based on anything. This includes race, ethnicity, religious background, sexual orientation and a host of other ways to segregate or differentiate between people.
Favoritism Forbidden
1My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. 2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself,"[a] you are doing right. 9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11For he who said, "Do not commit adultery,"[b] also said, "Do not murder."[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
Some observations:
James is apparently writing to Jewish Christians who may or may not have actually been poor. There are thoughts that they may have been an upper Jewish class of people that were not the poor Jews nor the rich Romans effectively making them a middle class of sorts.
James tells his readers not to show favoritism. In this case the favoritism is shown based on outward appearance. Most of us read into this to mean that the man in the "shabby clothes" was poor and the man in the "fine clothes" was rich.
The point was made that it seems that God shows favoritism in some cases. For instance choosing Israel to be the holy nation. However upon further discussion it was noted that God has the authority to judge because his motives are pure and never evil as ours often are.
Some interpretations:
James appears to want his readers to abstain from showing favoritism because "if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers." It was also noted that he seems to draw a distinction between the "royal law found in Scripture" and the law by which people are judged as lawbreakers. James seems to be offering his readers the opportunity to live "as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom".
Some applications:
We talked a lot tonight about how this lesson would apply to the way we treat people asking for help on the street. It seems that the overall consensus is that it would be better to error on the side of too much mercy than to not help the person out for fear of being used or taken advantage of. It seems that God is not concerned with our being used, but is more concerned with us helping those in need. If this means getting more creative in the ways that you help the person (i.e. buying him/her lunch instead of giving them money) then we should be thinking of ways that this could happen.
Shannon brought up a good point toward the end of the lesson about the possibility that we were selling the passage short by just talking about homelessness and street beggars and suggested that the scripture recommends that we not show favoritism to anyone based on anything. This includes race, ethnicity, religious background, sexual orientation and a host of other ways to segregate or differentiate between people.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Recap: Wednesday, February 6, 2008
This past Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, in the spirit of Lent being a time of reflection, we took some time to reflect on where we have been, where we are, and where we are headed as a home group.
We started off with a get-to-know-you game led by Mandy. We answered a series of questions, then compared answers. We learned that nearly everyone, excluding Bernie, Kim, and Mandy, waited to the last minute to do our homework in high school. We also learned of several talents our group-mates posses: Greg can play the recorder, Alicia can play the violin, Lisa can ride a unicycle, etc..
Next, we discussed why we continue to show up on Wednesday nights. Here are a few of the answers people gave...
Next, we moved into a discussion of what the mission of our home group is. We reviewed the values listed on the Visio Dei web site.
We started off by defining what growing as a learners per the values site. Then, we talked about what that means to us, practically. Here were some of the responses...
Then, we discussed some ways that we as a home group could be encouraging the individual members to be growing as learners. Some of the ideas were...
After the learner discussion, we talked about that it means to be growing as a lover. Again, we took a look at the definition from the Visio Dei site. Then, we made of list of what that looks like practically. Some ideas we came up with were...
One idea that we came up with for how we can encourage one another to be growing as lovers was to keep a list of upcoming activities, no matter how far out they are. That way we will be reminded of what people in our home group have going on that they want other members to take part in. Another idea was to take a week and have everyone write down every time they think of or see a place where love could be shown. This activity would help everyone become more aware of new ways that they could be showing love.
We wrapped up our night with a discussion of what it means to be a giver. We discussed how this related to everyone discovering and growing in their giftedness. We also talked about ways people could be growing as givers within our home group. A few of those things were...
I thought Wednesday night was a great night. I think our home group is an awesome community. We do a great job of providing a place for relationships to start and flourish. We love one another well. My hope is that by focusing on growing as learners, lovers, and givers, we can move from being just a great community to being a community on mission, a "missional community". If we stay focused on that purpose, I feel like we have the capability to do amazing things for God's kingdom.
We started off with a get-to-know-you game led by Mandy. We answered a series of questions, then compared answers. We learned that nearly everyone, excluding Bernie, Kim, and Mandy, waited to the last minute to do our homework in high school. We also learned of several talents our group-mates posses: Greg can play the recorder, Alicia can play the violin, Lisa can ride a unicycle, etc..
Next, we discussed why we continue to show up on Wednesday nights. Here are a few of the answers people gave...
- For the relationships
- For the social interaction
- For the dialogue
- Because of the diversity, e.g. some married people, some single people, etc.
- To grow...
- ...in knowledge
- ...by learning more about ourselves
- ...by learning how we can use our gifts
- For the accountability
Next, we moved into a discussion of what the mission of our home group is. We reviewed the values listed on the Visio Dei web site.
We started off by defining what growing as a learners per the values site. Then, we talked about what that means to us, practically. Here were some of the responses...
- Bible study
- Serving
- Taking action
- Recognizing what God's doing now, the on going story
- Recognizing that we are a part of the story
Then, we discussed some ways that we as a home group could be encouraging the individual members to be growing as learners. Some of the ideas were...
- To assign more responsibility to members
- To give updates, especially for those not in attendance, via blog, email, etc.
- To have a recap time at the beginning of a meeting to go over what happened the previous week
- To focus on teaching to the various learning styles in the group
After the learner discussion, we talked about that it means to be growing as a lover. Again, we took a look at the definition from the Visio Dei site. Then, we made of list of what that looks like practically. Some ideas we came up with were...
- Seeing needs and showing love
- That we are to be known by our love
- That love is a desire that leads to action
- That we are being challenged to love people different than us
- That love takes intentionality
- That love can start with a personal journey of accepting yourself
One idea that we came up with for how we can encourage one another to be growing as lovers was to keep a list of upcoming activities, no matter how far out they are. That way we will be reminded of what people in our home group have going on that they want other members to take part in. Another idea was to take a week and have everyone write down every time they think of or see a place where love could be shown. This activity would help everyone become more aware of new ways that they could be showing love.
We wrapped up our night with a discussion of what it means to be a giver. We discussed how this related to everyone discovering and growing in their giftedness. We also talked about ways people could be growing as givers within our home group. A few of those things were...
- Allowing people other than the servant team to be using their gifts
- Reaching out to new members to find out where they are gifted
- Encouraging people to do things that they are good at
I thought Wednesday night was a great night. I think our home group is an awesome community. We do a great job of providing a place for relationships to start and flourish. We love one another well. My hope is that by focusing on growing as learners, lovers, and givers, we can move from being just a great community to being a community on mission, a "missional community". If we stay focused on that purpose, I feel like we have the capability to do amazing things for God's kingdom.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Jeramie's Timely Teaching
Last night, Jeramie led us through a passage in Philippians 1. We took "the long way" to get there, via Ephesians and Acts. Where we ended up was in a discussion of Paul having great perspective. Though he went through many trials in his life, he could see them as being for the greater good because "in spite of, and sometimes because of" his trials the gospel was being preached.
This was a good message to hear because we all can get bogged down by life. Sometimes things happen in life that we are not ready for, that we can't control, or that we would not want to happen. But, as Lisa said, we have to remember that God sovereign and He is good. We have to be able to "pirouette and the entire dance".
No one is claiming that life is going to be easy all the time. We just have to hold fast to the fact that we have a God that loves us, and cares for us, and says in his word that he will not give us more than we can handle.
Jeramie's teaching was timely because he and Joye are currently going through a rough time with their house. You can read more about that on his blog, but the gist is that their AC broke, and thus they have been displaced from their home, and just when they thought it was going to be fixed, the AC repairman caught the outside of their house on fire. Let's hope that Jeramie and Joye can put into practice what we talked about last night.
Who else has something going on, or has had something, that requires them to keep things in perspective?
This was a good message to hear because we all can get bogged down by life. Sometimes things happen in life that we are not ready for, that we can't control, or that we would not want to happen. But, as Lisa said, we have to remember that God sovereign and He is good. We have to be able to "pirouette and the entire dance".
No one is claiming that life is going to be easy all the time. We just have to hold fast to the fact that we have a God that loves us, and cares for us, and says in his word that he will not give us more than we can handle.
Jeramie's teaching was timely because he and Joye are currently going through a rough time with their house. You can read more about that on his blog, but the gist is that their AC broke, and thus they have been displaced from their home, and just when they thought it was going to be fixed, the AC repairman caught the outside of their house on fire. Let's hope that Jeramie and Joye can put into practice what we talked about last night.
Who else has something going on, or has had something, that requires them to keep things in perspective?
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