We begin a new series this Sunday, but it’s not totally new. Actually, what we intend to do over the next 5 ½ months is to look at the implications of Christ’s healing of our brokenness.
Throughout the fall we examined the four areas of chronic brokenness that afflict every sinner. You will remember that sin affects brokenness in the four critical relationships of every man, woman, and child. There is brokenness in our relationship with God, ourselves, others, and the world around us. And as we have vividly seen, God understands every single dimension of our brokenness and in Christ He alone can heal it.
Throughout the fall we’ve examined biblical case studies of God’s healing of brokenness. During Advent we dove into the Book of Ruth and saw many of the brilliant instances of God’s healing power in Naomi, Ruth, and us. Isn’t it amazing that an 85-verse story of a family living 1300 years before Christ God can profoundly illustrate the full dimension of His healing power?
So the question before us now is this: What does the healing look like in a life where Jesus is Lord? What does it look like to be living beyond your brokenness in the power of Christ’s healing and wholeness? What does a transformed life look like?
A few weeks ago I had the chance to see what the perfect golf swing looks like. It was a sequence of video images of Mr. Woods on the fairway at St. Andrews in 2000. As the pros rolled the tape, they were able to draw critical lines on the video images. The result was a “frame by frame” portrait of perfect positioning, body turn, hand rotation, etc.
After showing Tiger’s images the pros videotaped my swing. They put all the lines on me as they did on him. And suffice to say it was instructive to critique all the features of my set up and swing in light of “perfection.”
So it is, that we intend in this New Year to focus on some “videos” of essential features of the transformed life. While there are myriad aspects of Christlikeness, we’ve selected six to examine over the next twenty-four weeks. As you can see from the card you received in the bulletin on Christmas Sunday, the first three are: Love, Hope, and Forgiveness.
We begin this week with our first of five messages on “Living in Love” with the message entitled, “Loving Your Brothers.” The text is Genesis 50:15-21 where Joseph addresses his brothers for the last time. In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the following:
1. Identify the catalyst for this final meeting.
2. What is the implication of Jacob’s death for Joseph, the Egyptians, Joseph’s
brothers, and Israel?
3. What does the saying, “Conscience does make cowards of us all,” mean? How
does it apply here?
4. Having been made aware of the forgiveness of Joseph in chapter 45, why do
the brothers fear him now?
5. What does this say about our basic disposition toward divine grace?
6. What is the brother’s view of the continuity of grace?
7. What is the meaning of their self description in verses 17 and 18?
8. Why does Joseph weep in verse 17? Any correlation to Jesus’ tears in John
11:35, and/or Luke 19:41?
9. What is the answer to Joseph’s question in verse 19?
10. Someone has said that verse 20 is “one of the strongest rocks in the
foundation of God and one of the softest pillows on which faith may lay her
head.” What does he mean?
See you on NEW YEARS DAY! (Before the food and football)
