"Making the Lame Walk" - Doug Rehberg

Lorraine Hansberry in her play, Raisin in the Sun, tells of an African American family living on the South Side of Chicago when the father dies leaving a small insurance claim.  The mother has specific designs on the money.  She wants to use it to fulfill one of her fondest dreams – buying a little bungalow on the other side of town. 

The problem is that her son wants the money to go into business.  He’s a young man who’s never had a break and now he’s got one.  All he needs is the money to go into partnership with a friend, and he’ll be making all kinds of money, he says.  So he begs his mother for the money.  She refuses at first, then later acquiesces.  She puts half the money in his hands and you can guess what happens. 

The family is gathered together when another victim comes in to announce that he, too, has been swindled.  With his head down and his shoulders slumped, the son confesses the whole story.  Instantly, his sister, Beneatha, rips into him.  She pours out contempt. She screams at him for being so stupid and destroying their only escape route from the squalor they’ve lived in all their lives. 

When she finishes her tirade her mother says, “I thought I taught you to love him.”  Beneatha shouts back, “Love him?  There’s nothing left to love!”  Then her mother says, “There’s always something left to love.  And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.  Have you cried for that boy today?  I don’t mean for yourself and the family ‘cause we lost all that money.  I mean for him; what he’s been through and what it’s done to him.  Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most?  When they’ve done good and made things easy for everybody?  Well then, you ain’t through learning, ‘cause that ain’t the time.  It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ‘cause the world’s done whupped him so.  When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right child, measure him right.  Make so you done take into account what hills and valleys he’s come through before he got to wherever he is.”   

That’s what Jesus always did.  That was His signature.  And, it’s His signature that we see so vividly displayed not in the days following the Pentecost, but throughout the Book of Acts. 

This Sunday we are in Acts 3 where we read the account of the healing of a man born lame.  It is the first recorded encounter of the disciples outside the Upper Room.  Luke tells us that Peter and John are heading into the temple for afternoon prayers when a lame beggar calls out to them for many (alms).  This is interesting on many counts.  First, they are headed to the temple.  This is the first place these spirit-filled believers go after Pentecost.  Second, the lame man is carried to the temple gate every day for years.  Third, the gate offers a picture of his condition.  Fourth, there’s a mirror image of this man in II Samuel 9.  Fifth, Peter and John redirect the man’s eyes from the milling masses to them.  Sixth, Peter offers the man a curious command.  Seventh, Peter declares that neither he nor John have any money.  (Or is that what he really says?)  Eighth, Peter exercises his faith on behalf of this man.  Ninth, the man joins Peter and John in the temple.  And tenth, the man’s healing offers Peter a platform for lifting up Jesus. 

There’s so much in this passage that informs us as to what doing justice and loving kindness means.  It’s not by accident that Luke places this miracle as the first miracle after Pentecost. It is a perfect model of what the Holy Spirit can do through you and me as we are moving along this poor, lame world. 

In preparation for Sunday’s message, “Making the Lame Walk”, you may wish to consider the following: 

1.      Read II Samuel 9 and explore the correlation between Mephibosheth and this lame man in Acts 3:1-16.

2.      How is the God of Jacob described in Psalm 146:5-7 different from the gods of other ancient cultures?

3.      How does the description of Jesus in Matthew 12:18-21 mirror the God of Psalm 146?

4.      How is Peter’s description of Christians in II Peter 1:4 an apt description of what happens after Pentecost?

5.      What is the background on giving alms?  Was it required?

6.      Where was the “Beautiful Gate” in the temple in Jerusalem?  Why was it called that?

7.      What contrast is Luke pointing out in stating that the lame man was positioned by that gate every day?

8.      Why does Peter tell the man to look at him and John?  (vs. 4)

9.      Acts 3:15 is the first recorded time Peter uses the word “faith”.  What does he mean by it?

10.  How do this miracle and this message signal God’s purpose for Pentecost?

This Sunday, October 5, 1024, is World Communion Sunday.  It’s the day in which Christians around the world gather at the Lord’s Table to remember.  May the Holy Spirit be quite active this Sunday helping us to remember all Jesus has done to enable us to do justice and love kindness. 

See you Sunday!

"A Generous Heart" - Doug Rehberg

Thirty minutes after Pentecost the apostles knew more about Jesus Christ than they had known from three years of following Him as disciples.  The effluence of Pentecost had given them a new capacity they had not experienced before.  The infilling of the Holy Spirit had given them the gift of faith and the desire to exercise it.  Prior to Pentecost they had felt dependence and loyalty, but they had no firm faith.  They had witnessed Christ’s death with anguish and His resurrection with wonderment, but didn’t really understand the cosmic or personal meaning of it all until the gift of faith was mysteriously birthed within them through the distribution of the Holy Spirit’s power.

Albert Camus, the existential philosopher and atheist, once wrote, “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very act of existence becomes an act of rebellion.”  That’s what we see in the life and ministry of Jesus.  That’s what we see in the Book of Acts as those first disciples carry with them the full signature of Jesus.  On the day of Pentecost they receive what God had spoken through the prophet Ezekiel so many centuries earlier.  He puts in them a new spirit and a new heart and their lives begin to reflect a generous justice.

Years ago a man I know was on a trip to South Carolina from New Orleans to speak to a group of Episcopalians.  On the first leg of the journey he sat on the aircraft and centered his thoughts and prayers on Jesus.  He silently repeated Jesus’ name over and over again.  He focused on all that Jesus had done for him on the cross.  He said that he became so conscious of Jesus’ presence in him that the flight into Atlanta seemed like minutes.  During the two-hour layover he decided to get his shoes shined so that he might look more presentable to the crowd later that evening.  He approached the elderly shoeshine man and asked for the going rate.  The man instantly said, “A dollar fifty, sir.”  He handed him two bucks and sat in the elevated chair while the shoeshine man shined his shoes.  When he finished the traveler said, “Now it’s your turn.  You get in that chair and I’ll shine your shoes.”  The man stuttered, “Huh?  What?”  So the traveler said, “I won’t charge you.  Go ahead, get up in the chair and let me shine your shoes.”  The man stared at him and said, “What for, then?”  “Because you’re my brother,” he answered.  The man looked disconcerted.  Finally, he said, “Well, when I ain’t busy, the boss leaves me some shoes to shine.  But thank you anyway.”  It was at that point that the traveler saw the tears in the elderly man’s eyes.  Instantly he reached out to him and hugged him.  And when he did the elderly man said softly, “No white man ever talked to me like that before.”

Now what had possessed this traveler to engage in such conversation?  Had he planned it?  Was it his good deed for the day?  Was it the product of a fertile mind?  Was it an underlying desire to be lauded by a stranger?  Was it a way to make the traveler feel superior or wonderfully altruistic?  It was none of that.  It was the result of being lost in Jesus.  It was the product of a Spirit-controlled heart, rather than a craven mind.  In fact, it was the confluence of two biblical attributes – justice and kindness.

This week we continue our examination of what the Lord tells us in Micah 6:8.  What does the Lord require of us?  To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him.  In Acts 2:42-47 we see how the disciples of Jesus are living that out.  As we will see, justice and kindness or mercy are not two separate things.  Throughout the Old Testament the Lord portrays them as the two sides of the same coin.  Justice or misphat in Hebrew signifies an action.  Misphat is used more than 200 times in the Old Testament.  When you read the Old Testament and pay attention to this theme you find that God, by His own character, is acting our justice all the time.  However, it is critical to note that rarely is justice required without hesed (mercy) or tzadegah (righteousness).  Scores of time in the Old Testament justice and righteousness are spoken of in the same breath.  While justice is the action, kindness, mercy, or righteousness is the attitude behind the action.  When the Lord commands His people to discharge justice it’s always intended in a merciful or kind way.  And that’s exactly what we see in Sunday’s text.  In short, we will see that justice and mercy are the principle features of the Signature of Jesus.

In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the following:

 

1.      Do you think Jesus was tolerant or intolerant of sin?

2.      What charge was repeatedly leveled against Jesus regarding sin?

3.      What did Martin Luther mean when he spoke of “the sin under the sin”?

4.      How and where does Jesus address the sin under the sin issue?

5.      How is doing justice and loving kindness a matter of heart motivation rather than willful behavior?

6.      How do you define “fellowship”?  How can the Holy Spirit be the only author of true fellowship?

7.      What does it mean when Luke says in verse 42 that they “devoted themselves”?

8.      Is it true that one’s grasp of grace determines how much justice and generosity someone dispenses?

9.      What is the motivation behind God’s command in Leviticus 24:22?

10.  Look at Judges 6:34(a).  What does that mean to you?

See you Sunday!

Raising Him Up

We hear a lot today about Timothy Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.  Indeed, in one of the fly leaves of one of his books he’s called “the renowned” pastor of Redeemer Church.  A few years back, when Newsweek was still a “hold in your hands” publication, the editors called him “the Smart Preacher.”  But before Keller ever got to New York City, he studied at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.  It was there that he was profoundly impacted by Dr. Harvie M. Conn, the director of Westminster’s Urban Mission Program.  In fact Keller says that one of the principal ways in which the Lord called him to Manhattan was through the teaching and writings of Harvie Conn.

In 1982 Harvie Conn wrote a little book entitled Evangelism:  Doing Justice and Preaching Grace that has had a profound impact on many, including Tim Keller.  In it Conn cites a German by the name of Rudolf Obermüller who wrote a book in 1952 entitled, Evangelism in Latin America where he tells of a Brazilian university student who left the Christian faith for Marxism.  The student said, “You Protestants seem to be concerned only about getting people to stop smoking, drinking, and dancing.  When the communists speak to us about feeding the starving, teaching the illiterate, and putting an end to exploitation and injustice.”  And the sad truth is that that’s largely the sad truth of many Christians and Christian communities.  Conn calls it, “one-dimensional spirituality.”  But, as Conn points out, God refuses to see a dichotomy between the spiritual and the material.  We see that throughout the Old Testament where God defines “righteousness” and “doing justice” as serving “the least of these.”  Remember a few weeks ago when we mentioned “the quartet of the vulnerable” in Israel – the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant?  From the beginning of Israel’s history the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stood apart from all the gods of all the other religions as being on the side of the powerless and the disenfranchised.  (See Palms 68:4-5; Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 1:16-17; Zechariah 7:9-10; Psalms 146:7-9; Deuteronomy 10:17-18, to cite only a few such texts.)  The truth is that most, if not all, of the Lord’s searing indictments of His people in the Old Testament have little to do with their individual morality and everything to do with their oppression of the poor and weak among them.  It’s a remarkable thing to realize that though the Lord has called us, saved us, and blessed us so that we can do likewise for others, our basic tendency to keep it all for ourselves or worse to steal from others.

Last week was the second message in our series, The Signature of Jesus, and we were in Acts 1 talking about how doing justice and loving kindness is a matter of the heart.  And as we saw, the truth is simply this – that the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in a life will manifest itself in Jesus’ heart becoming our heart.

Let me give you a great illustration from Harvie Conn’s book.  In the summer of 1980, Harvie joined a half dozen other Christians on the garbage dumps in Kampala, Uganda nine years after Idi Amin had left the city devastated by terror and a public health crisis.  There were massive amounts of garbage on almost every street corner with children all over them throwing stones at rats.

Harvie says that every street told the same story and the question was, “What can we do to dramatize God’s love for the city and our willingness to serve in humility?”  Jack Miller was with them and he gave them the answer – “Garbage Evangelism” was born.

They went to the Minister of Health and asked for a truck to haul away the garbage.  He couldn’t believe it.  “Why?” he asked.  They answered, “Jesus!”  He gave them two trucks.  The first thing they did was raise a banner on each truck that read, “Jesus is the Answer.”  Within a few short days hundreds of Ugandas circled the piles and joined in loading the trucks and singing praise songs to the Lord Jesus.  During the breaks they’d preach the Gospel to them.  Soon a newspaper reporter showed up for an interview.  “Why are you doing this?  Are you members of a political party?”  They answered, “No.  We are members of the body of Christ – the same body that suffered, died, and rose again because of His great love for Ugandans and Americans alike.  We are here picking up garbage because He picked us up first out of His great love.  And it’s out of His love that we love you!”

This week we are going to look at where all of this begins – Acts 2.  Indeed, the reason Harvie Conn, Jack Miller, and the others were engaged in Garbage Evangelism in Uganda was because the same Holy Spirit who showed up in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost showed up in Uganda.  What He did in the heart of Peter and the other disciples is what He did in Harvie Conn’s heart.  It’s exactly what He intends to do in your heart too!

In preparation for Sunday’s message, “Raising Him up,” from Acts 2:29-41 and Matthew 6:19-24 you may wish to consider the following:

1.      What does Matthew 6:19-21 have to do with Matthew 6:22-23?

2.      What’s Jesus mean by “the eye is the lamp of the body?”

3.      Is there a connection to Proverbs 31 and the virtuous woman?  (Of course there is)

4.      Is there a connection to Genesis 22:14?  (This one too!)

5.      How many times does Peter reference Jesus in Acts 2:29-41?

6.      How does Peter demonstrate inclusivity in what he says?

7.      How does Peter mirror Jesus in his speech?

8.      Why do the foreigners call Peter and the other disciples “brothers” in verse 37?

9.      How does Peter demonstrate a “good eye?”

10.  What’s the significance of Peter’s words in verse 40?

For fun:

·         Who was Frederic Bartholdi?

·         Who was Giovanni Montini?

 

See you Sunday!

"It's All About Jesus" - Doug Rehberg

            In recent decades both psychology and pastoral theology have laid strong emphasis on “being” over “doing.”  In theological circles we have reacted sharply against the heresy of works and the pharisaical focus on the endless doing of ritual acts and “good deeds” which is a diversion to genuine, authentic faith.  We have been cautioned not to identify ourselves with our career or ministry because when change comes, with old age and/or retirement, we will feel worthless and useless and without a clue as to who we are.

            There is undeniable wisdom here.  The tendency to construct a self-image based on performing good deeds easily leads to the illusion of self-righteousness.  When our sense of self becomes tied to some particular acts of service, our hearts become puffed up and we lose touch with the source of our life and the reason why we do what we do.

            However, what we do may be far more decisive and expressive of the ultimate truth of who we are in Christ than anything else.  Indeed, as we mentioned last week in our first message in the series – “The Signature of Jesus,” humbling ourselves and walking with God is the necessary and natural foundation of doing justice and loving kindness (Micah 6:8).  Substituting theoretical concepts for acts of love keeps life at a safe distance.  It also envelopes us in a false shell of insular security.  This is the dark side of putting “being” over “doing.”  This in fact is the exact indictment Jesus leveled against the religious leaders of His day.

            When Jesus called you to follow Him, it was not a call to abstraction.  It was a call to service.  It was a call to be what Martin Luther called “little Christs.”  The truth is, a commitment that is not visible in humble service, suffering discipleship, and selfless love is an illusion.  That’s what Jesus means when He says in Matthew 7, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them is like a stupid man who built his house upon the sand.”  Later He confirms this by saying, “The Son of Man has come not be served, but to serve.”

            But how is the transformation possible?  How is self-possession culled from the life of the Christian and selflessness rooted?  Those are the questions before the house this Sunday.  As with all questions of faith the Bible answers them.

            The answer begins and ends with the heart of God.  It’s a heart that’s expressed perfectly in Jesus Christ.  It’s not a head thing.  It’s a heart thing.  In fact, the scriptures labor this point by linking Jesus’ actions in the Upper Room before the cross and resurrection and after them.  The truth, is walking with Him, doing justice and loving kindness is the product of touching Jesus’ heart.

            The title of Sunday’s message is “It’s All about Jesus.”  We will read Matthew 12:9-21 and examine Acts 1:1-11.  In preparation for the message you may wish to consider the following:

1.       What do you make of the description of the Apostle John in John 21:20?

 

2.      How important is John’s position in the Upper Room prior to the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus? 

3.      How significant is it to you that Acts 1 follows John 21?

4.      How is what Jesus promises in Acts 1 an exact replica of what happened to Him in Luke 3?

5.      How is that the heart of Jesus is communicated to the disciples in Acts 1 and 2?

6.      What is Jesus expressing to the disciples in verse 7 that the power of the Holy Spirit will remediate?

7.      Is Benhoeffer right in saying that the first service anyone owes another consists of listening to them?

8.      What’s the significance of the cloud in verse 9?

9.      What is the significance of the two men dressed in white who speak to the disciples after the Ascension?

10.  Why does He call them, “Men of Galilee”?

11.  How is the signature of Jesus the product of His heart?

"Walking with God" - Doug Rehberg

In his book, The Magnificent Defect, Frederick Buechner writes: “For what we need to know, of course, is not just that God exists, not just that beyond the steely brightness of the stars there is a cosmic intelligence of some kind that keeps the whole show going, but that there is a God right here in the thick of our day-by-day lives who may not be writing messages about Himself in the stars but in one way or another is trying to get messages through our blindness as we move around down here knee-deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world.  It is not objective proof of God’s existence that we want but the experience of God’s presence.  That is the miracle we are really after, and that is also, I think the miracle that we really get.”  And to that, I think we’d all agree.

Several decades ago Brennan Manning was conducting a three-day silent retreat for some women in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  As the retreat opened, Manning met briefly with each woman and asked them to write on a sheet of paper the one grace that they would most like to receive from the Lord.  A married woman from North Carolina, about 45-years-old, with an impressive biography of prayer to God and service to others, said that more than anything else she’d actually like to experience, just one time, the love of God.  And when Manning heard it he assured her that he’d join her in that prayer.

The following morning this woman got up early, before anyone else, and headed to the beach less than fifty yards from the house.  As she walked along the sand on the seashore, with the chilly waters lapping up against her feet and ankles, she noticed some one-hundred-yards down the beach was a teenage boy walking in her direction, followed closely by a woman about her age.  In less than a minute the boy had passed by to her left, but the woman, seconds later, made an abrupt ninety-degree turn, walked straight toward her, wrapped her arms around her, kissed her on the cheek and whispered, “I love you.”  She had never seen this woman in her life.  Within less than twenty seconds the stranger turned and walked away.  The woman from the retreat continued her walk for another hour before returning to the house.  When she arrived, the first thing she did was walk to Brennan’s room and knock on the door.  When he answered she was smiling and said, “Our prayer was answered!”

This week we begin a new, 13-week series called, “The Signature of Jesus.”  And our intent is to examine in considerable detail the profound truth of Jesus’ presence in our lives.  Indeed the whole of the New Testament points to the power of the risen Christ in the lives of all believers.  In short, He writes His signature on our lives.

We’ve selected a theme text for the series from the Old Testament.  It’s from the prophet Micah, Chapter 6:  “He had  told you, o man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”  And it’s only in Christ that anyone is able to do that.  Thus, we begin this first Sunday of the Fall Grove Semester with a message entitled, “Walking with God.”  How is it that we are to walk with Him?  What shape does such a walk take?  What evidence is there that we are walking with Him?  And how will walking with Him produce through us justice and kindness?  There are a number of wonderful answers that we begin to examine this week.  In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the following:

 

1.      What did Jesus mean when He said, “I will never leave you or forsake you?”

2.      How is Jesus’ call in Matthew 4:18-22 a recapitulation of Micah 6:8?

3.      What was the nature of God’s charge against His people in Micah 6:1-5?

4.      What does Micah 6:6-7 say about our basic tenderness toward God?

5.      How could you build a case from Scripture that walking with God is the essence of life?

6.      How do justice and kindness flow from walking with Him?

7.      What does it mean to walk humbly with God?

8.      In what ways are we to humble ourselves?  (See Romans 3:10-12; Romans 5:6; Isaiah 29:13-16; Romans 9:14-23)

9.      Who is G.K. Chesterton?

10.  What did C.S. Lewis learn from him?

See you Sunday for the beginning of “The Signature of Jesus.”

"Rest from Your Labor" - Tim Williams

On a recent road trip through Ohio my grandson and I pulled into a couple of rest areas.  The facilities were appreciated along with the opportunity to stretch, take a break from driving and check out the vending machines.

Periodic rest stops on a trip are often helpful as are rest periods in our lives.  They can take the form of vacations, slowing our schedules, or just taking a nap.  Preaching on Mark 6:31 (KJV), "Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile," evangelist Vance Havner said, "Come apart or you'll come apart." Rest periods are important even in the Bible!

In Genesis God rested on the 7th day after 6 days of creating the world.  I don't believe God was tired, but in doing so He set a pattern for us.  In the 4th Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) the Israelites were told that the Sabbath day was holy and no work was to be done.  God intended that no person or work animal should labor on that day but have a day of rest.  Travel and meal preparation were limited as well to insure rest.  Extremists took the point of Sabbath rest too far in that they wouldn't even allow emergency help or acts of compassion to be performed.  (Jesus rebuked such misunderstanding with His teaching that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath).  God even required the Israelites to give their farmland every 7th year off for rest. (Exodus 23:10)

Not only do we need physical rest periods but emotional ones as well.  The Bible speaks of "being still" as we lay our fears and frustrations aside and rest in the love, wisdom, and power of the Lord. (Psalm 37:4; 46:10)  Emotional rest can also come as we pause from concentrating so hard to figure it all out and take a moment to do something we purely enjoy or appreciate a moment of beauty, quietness, or humor.

In our text today, Jesus speaks of spiritual rest for our souls.  What a joy to realize we can't earn our salvation but that we can rest in the finished work of Christ to save us. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:25)  What a delight to know that even when we don't know the future or life brings the unexpected, that we can be led of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14)  What a peace to know that even when the world seems to be "out of control" that God's Word teaches us of His sovereign plan. (Proverbs 19:21) What a blessing to know that following the will of Christ brings greater rest to our heart, mind, and conscience than any worldly pathway. (Matthew 11:30)  What an encouragement to know that our future in Heaven provides permanent rest from the heartaches, hurts, struggles, and sins of this life. (Revelation 21:4)

See you Sunday.  (Just don't rest too much during the sermon!)

1.      Read about that first day of rest.  Genesis 2:2-3

 

2.      What is the intended result of rest?  Exodus 23:12

 

3.      Ancient Israel often failed to give the land the rest God commanded in Exodus 23:10. What was the final result of that?  2 Chronicles 20:21

4.      Where can we find peace and rest?  Jeremiah 6:16; Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:6-7

 

5.      Note some of the rest periods of Jesus.  Matthew 14:13a; Mark 4:38; John 4:6

 

6.      In our text Jesus speaks of wearing His yoke (worn by an animal working to pull a plow or wagon) and yet having rest for our souls rest.  How do these 2 concepts work together?

7.      How does Jesus indicate completion of His work of salvation?  Hebrews 1:3

8.      Study Hebrews 4:1-11...a fascinating passage about spiritual rest.

"The Pharisee, the Publican, and the Prophet" - Doug Rehberg

One of the great servants of Jesus and His Gospel was Jack Miller of Philadelphia.  Jack taught practical theology at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia and was founder of World Harvest Mission and New Life Presbyterian Church.  Someone has summed up Jack’s theology this way:  “Cheer up; you’re a lot worse than you think you are, but in Jesus, you’re far more loved than you could have ever imagined.”

I have a lot of friends who run in conservative political and theological circles, including one man who describes himself as “right of Genghis Khan”.  Back in the 1990s he was speaking to a large crowd of conservative Christians and he was saying how angry the exploits of President Clinton had made him.  As soon as he said it the audience erupted in applause.  “No, no,” he said.  “You don’t understand.  I’m not talking about Monica.  The thing that really bothers me about the President is the way he has given so many Christians the opportunity to be self-righteous.  We had a great opportunity to say, ‘Given the right opportunity and that much power, it could have been me.  I’m just like the President – seriously needy and sinful.  But let me tell you about Someone who loves me anyway.  In fact, He loves me because of my failures and failings.  He came to save me because of all my junk.  And the good news is that he came to save you for the same reason.’  You see, we blew a wonderful opportunity big time!”

The truth is, it doesn’t take much for any of us to move in the direction of self-righteousness.  And it’s against self-righteousness that Jesus railed time and time again. The reason is plain – there’s always a choice – will I trust in His righteousness or my own?

For weeks this summer we have been exploring the implications of Jesus’ post-resurrection Bible study; it’s the one in which He said, “All the Scriptures speak of me.”  And we’ve seen Him in  the story of David and Goliath and in the story of Joseph and his brothers.  We’ve seen how the words of the law and the prophets speak of Him.  But what about the writings in the Book of Proverbs?  For most, they are simply a compendium of moral statements and axioms.  How do we see Jesus in all the Proverbs?

This week we’ll focus on Proverbs 17:15, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.”  If I had to guess I’d say that everyone who reads those words immediately has the same thought – “It’s talking about the crooked scoundrels who call evil good and good evil.  It’s talking about what we see all around us today – defining deviance down.  Anything goes these days.”

But to see only that is to miss Jesus.  In fact, when you take this proverb and place it against  Luke 18, you suddenly discover that the words of the proverb are the best good news you’ve ever heard!  It’s just as Jack Miller said!  It’s just as Bill Clinton proved.  And this Sunday we’re going to talk about it.

In preparation for Sunday’s message and the Lord’s Table, you may wish to consider the following:

1.      How do you measure the purity of a church?

2.      What are the links between the two parables Jesus tells at the beginning of Luke 18?

3.      Why does the judge finally relent to the widow’s demands?  (Luke 18:4-5)

4.      What does the Bible tell us about our responsibility to widows, orphans, immigrants, and the poor?

5.      What is the connection between the Pharisee in parable # 2 and the judge?

6.      How does the Pharisee display self-righteousness?

7.      How does the tax collector display a lack of self-righteousness?

8.      How is the tax collector justified?

9.      What do you think is a bigger problem in the church today – cheap grace or cheap law?

10.  How does the cross demonstrate the truth of Proverbs 17:15?

See you at the table this Sunday!