Getting a Grip on Reality (Sunday evening study)

Reality Check: Do I really understand what “sin” is?

  

So, what words in Scripture are used to mean “sin”? What kinds of actions and motives do these words cover?

(to do a word study on sin, trespass, iniquity, wrong, unrighteousness in the ancient Hebrew and Greek of the Old and New Testaments, I recommend Strong’s exhaustive concordance and similar study tools. See for ex:  http://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html  )

Hebrew has a wide range of words for these concepts, which cover:

-doing wrong purposefully, with planning and scheming

-committing offenses out of ignorance

-empty/vain wickedness, esp. in connection to running after idols; being foolish and stupid

-going “off the path” or rebelling against something legitimate

-wickedness that comes from weakness/sickness (of the inner person)

-distorting and perverting things; perverseness, lewdness (“nastiness”)

-doing violence, harm, destruction, and injustice

-a fault or crime     -something worthless    -to miss, to wilt and fall away

-despise and disgrace        -go astray, be deceived, or to deceive and lead astray

Greek has a bit narrower range of these words, but they cover ideas related to:

-doing wrong and injustice   -to miss the mark; to err or fail

-do violence, defraud, and deceive others   -committing an offense or crime    

-impiety (lack of reverence or regard for God)    -slip, fall, stumble  

-to trip up/snare, offend 

So…Why are some things “right” and some things “wrong”? What is the basis for “sin” and “righteousness”? What is the Standard? (Is it some arbitrary or random decision of God?) 

[we broke into groups to read and discuss each series of verses below, and then came back together to share with each other the main points and observations]

What do Leviticus 19:2, I Peter 1:14-16, Matthew 5:48, John 15:12, Ephesians 5:1-2, I John 4:7-12 tell us about the answers to these questions?

(Bottom line: the Standard is God’s character, God’s nature—“right” exists and comes forth from who God is)

What do Ephesians 1:4-6, Romans 8:14-16 and 29, John 10:10, Deut. 28:1-2, 15 and 30:15-19  (see also Isaiah 55:1-3)  tell us about the answers to these questions?

(Bottom line: right and wrong also have to do with who we were created to be, how we were created to be living in fellowship with God, each other, the rest of creation. Right has to do with our Destiny: to be like Christ and be part of God’s Family, to show off God’s glory and grace, to have life to the fullest!)

What do Jeremiah 3:1-23 and I John 1:5-7 (*see also Matthew 7:21-23; Hosea 2; John 15:4-6) tell us about the answers to these questions?

(Bottom line: Sin vs. righteousness has to do with our way of being (not just doing) and, especially, our relationship with God. God’s Standard for us is like the terms of a contract, the terms of His marriage covenant with us—righteousness is about living in intimacy with God.)

Note: sometimes, theologians distinguish between sins and sin:

From Oswald Chamber (Oct. 7): Sin is a fundamental relationship; it is not wrong doing, it is wrong being, deliberate and emphatic independence of God. The Christian religion bases everything on the positive, radical nature of sin. Other religions deal with sins; the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ faced in man was the heredity of sin…
The revelation of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took upon Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took upon Himself the heredity of sin which no man can touch. God made His own Son to be sin that He might make the sinner a saint…He deliberately took upon His own shoulders, and bore in His own Person, the whole massed sin of the human race - "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin," and by so doing He put the whole human race on the basis of Redemption. Jesus Christ…put [the human race] back to where God designed it to be, and anyone can enter into union with God on the ground of what Our Lord has done on the Cross.

[remember what hooked Eve into going against what God had set up (Gen. 3), and what trap Lucifer fell into (Isa. 14): wanting to be in the place or role of God/being “like” or equal to God]

A core part of sin is refusing to accept our place in the universe as creatures before a Creator.

The Take-Home Stuff:

Some very useful questions to ask ourselves along the way:

¬     Is what I am doing (and thinking, feeling, wanting) something that goes along with God’s nature, with who God is?

¬     Is what I am doing (and thinking, feeling, wanting) something that goes along with how God created me to be and live?

Does it or will it bring me closer to my Destiny (fellowship with God, being like Jesus, making God “proud”/showing off God’s Beauty and Goodness)?

¬     Is what I am doing (and thinking, feeling, wanting) something that will increase my intimacy and love relationship with God? Is it something that belongs in and strengthens my “marriage” with Jesus?

¬     And finally, am I putting myself in the role of God (or wanting something that only God rightly deserves), or am I accepting my creature status and God's status as the infinite God?

Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin and open our eyes to God’s truth and righteousness (John 16:7-11)!

Over the next couple of weeks, let us all read over Romans chapters 1-8 again as we remind ourselves of the reality and meaning of both our sin and Jesus’ death and resurrection to pay for and cleanse us from our sin!

Getting a Grip on Reality (Sunday evening study)

The Reality Check: What is my Drive in Life?

The check-up: We started the evening’s study with some questions for reflection:

      A) When I wake up in the mornings, what are my usual thoughts? What am I
            usually feeling?

            As I plan my day, what am I focusing on?

B)     As I go through my day—work, school, home, wherever—what do I think is most important? What is most important to me in what I am doing (what are my goals)?

            What is most important to me when I am interacting with the people around
             me?—what are my major goals when I interact with the people in my life?

     C) At the end of my day, what makes me feel I’ve had a “good day”?

Look at your answers (I encourage you to write them down!—these are good for periodic “check-ups” on our spiritual well-being). What do you see??

Is my Drive in Life for Pleasure, Power/Prestige (can include Security), or Meaning/ Communion with Christ?

What do stories from Scripture have to tell us about these things? What makes our life a life worth living? And what does life really come down to, in the end?

(first, are Bible stories useful? check out Romans 15:4 and II Timothy 3:15-17)

King Solomon in Proverbs 20:1; 21:17 and Ecclesiastes 1-2:23; 7:1-14; 12:11-14:

·        A life of running after pleasure or power/prestige is empty

(Viktor Frankl, Jewish psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, on this topic: …happiness cannot be pursued [cannot be your goal]…one must have a reason to “be happy.” Pleasure is…a side-effect or by-product, and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree to which it is made a goal in itself. (from Man’s Search for Meaning)

·        The emptiness of running after things other than God can lead us to “hate life” or to live in a state of boredom 

Checking in with myself:  Can I be alone with myself and be comfortable—no music, TV, video games, Facebook, other people, food, drugs, etc.?

Am I always looking for the next rush, the latest excitement?

[If I have trouble in these areas, it is telling me that something is wrong or missing in my spiritual life—I need to pay attention to this!!]

           

·        The BIG question in life is NOT “How can I be happy?” or “What’s in it for me?” The BIG question is asked of us by God: What did you do with the life I gave you? (see also II Peter 1:3-11; Matt. 12:36; Hebrews 4:12-16)

What should we be running after in this life?

King David’s conclusions after a full life, in Psalm 16; Psalm 119: 30-37; 84:10-11

Jesus’ answer to a weary, hurting woman in John 4:10-14

God’s answer to His covenant people (whose “tree” we have been grafted into, Rom. 11) in  Isaiah 55

           

·        God  wants to offer us a life of true, full satisfaction, joy and pleasure!

·        Jesus is the Source of all lasting pleasure and fulfillment

·        Remember, if this is a stretch for you, ASK the Holy Spirit to open your eyes (Psalm 34:8 is God’s invitation!)

C.S. Lewis, Christian literature professor and philosopher/apologist, on some of these things:

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (from The Weight of Glory)  [emphases added]

Let us pray—for conviction of our sin, for our eyes to be opened to Truth, for God to change our hearts, our desires, our goals!

Thoughts on the Meaning of Lent

As the Lenten season began, our Bible study group shared about what Lent can be “about,” the place and purpose it can serve in our lives during the church year.

“Lord, my deepest hunger is for you...May you alone be my food, my sustenance; keep me hungry for you...”  James Howell

We talked about how fasting during this season—from food or activities—can help remind us that we should be hungry for God, and that God is the Source of all true satisfaction, filling our deepest needs and longings.

“I tend to take the Lenten sacrifice as a prompt to prayer: It should be something that one does habitually so that when the urge to do XXX comes about, it serves as a reminder to pray at that moment…a call to mindfulness and awareness of the automaticity of life.”  Don Hosek (in an online comment on an article in the Chicago Tribune)

Group members shared that this was a new angle on Lent for them, and saw the value in replacing the urge for whatever (is being fasted from) with the urge to pray. It is such a wonderfully concrete, “right in front of our nose” kind of reminder of the importance of prayer. Group members shared about giving up chocolate, for example, as a reminder that in times of stress or sadness, we shouldn’t run to our “candy jar,” but run to Jesus. The idea was put forth of replacing the candy or cookies (or whatever snacky foods usually entice) with Scripture cards, so that one would reach into the “cookie jar” during Lent and pull out a Scripture to meditate on. : ) Wonderful, concrete reminder of going to Jesus for the comfort and filling-up that we need and long for!

We then mentioned how Lent has traditionally been a time for self examination and repentance, and discussed the parable or example from St. John of the Cross that the Lenten season is a time to get rid of all the “little fish” that slow us down: We are like big ships full of treasure, needing to head out of port to deliver our goods to the world around us. But as we leave the harbor and set sail out into the world, reams of “little fish” (we said barnacles) start attaching themselves to the bottom of the ship, and slow the ship down more and more. Lent is a time for us to deliberately take stock before God’s Holy Spirit of the state of our “ship,” to ask for His help in getting rid of those pesky barnacles that have attached themselves to us without, perhaps, us even being aware of them. One group member recalled time in the Navy, seeing sleek, smooth ships go out to sea and become encrusted with piles and piles of barnacles—clusters which marred the sleekness of the ship and needed to be scraped off! We compared this to Hebrews 12:1-3, where Paul tells us we need to get rid of all the sin that is “entangling” us so we can run the race effectively!

We then read and contemplated this set of thoughts:

“Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.” Joel 2:13

At the beginning of Lent, we remember that the Holy Spirit and the promise of salvation have been given to us through baptism, and we ask ourselves, "How are we living differently because of that gift?" 

Lord Jesus, you gave your life for us on the cross.
Help us to give our lives for you this Lent and always. From Springs of Living Water by Mark Neilsen

And then we read together, as a closing prayer, these words of the song “Ashes,” by Tom Conry:

We offer You our failures, we offer You attempts,

The gifts not fully given, the dreams not fully dreamt

Give our stumblings direction, give our visions wider view

an offering of ashes, an offering to You.

Then rise again from ashes, let healing come to pain,

Though spring has turned to winter, and sunshine turned to rain,

the rain we'll use for growing and create the world anew

From an offering of ashes, an offering to You.

Thanks be to the Father, who made us like himself,

thanks be to the Son, who saved us by his death;

thanks be to the Spirit, who creates the world anew,

From an offering of ashes, an offering to you.

Amen~