Youth Specialties, Day -1 October 30, 2008
Posted by questcollegeministry in Quest, Youth Specialties.Tags: Youth Speciailties
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It’s been a busy day today, and it will be a long night. Andy and I are volunteering to help in the Soul Care department, which includes the Prayer Labyrinth and the Prayer Chapel. We’re really excited about it. However, we need to be there at 10:00 a.m. Pittsburgh time on Thursday morning. That’s a little bit of a problem, because the earliest flight we could take would get to the Pittsburgh airport, which is a long way from down town, a little after 9:00. We aren’t sure that we would be there in time, especially if there were any kind of weather delay. But Andy can’t leave until after Frontline tonight, which means we won’t be on our way until 9:30 or 10:00 tonight, at the earliest. And that means lots of late night driving.
This is going to be a great weekend. We’re really excited. We’re excited to help out. We’re excited to be going to the convention. We’re excited to spend time with God and each other as we plan for the next year. Keep us in prayer this weekend. Pray for safety while travelling. Pray for our wives and babies (newborn or unborn). And pray that God will meet with us and help us plan for next year.
You can follow what’s going on all weekend. I’ll be blogging about it here. Andy will be blogging about it here. You can read the Frontline or Quest twitters, and you can follow the live blogs from the General Sessions at www.nywc.com/live.
Have a great weekend.
It starts small October 26, 2008
Posted by questcollegeministry in Bible, Quest, christianity, following God, spirituality.Tags: Bible, christian living, christianity, faith, following God, following Jesus, religion, spirituality
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Last week at Quest, we continued our discussion of the Kingdom of God, especially the parables from Matthew 13 that Jesus begins with the phrase “the Kingdom of Heaven is like…” This time we looked at two similar parables that Jesus told together. He compares the Kingdom of Heave to a mustard seed (Matt. 13:31-32) and to yeast (Matt. 13:33). These are similar parables, but the differences between the two help us to see some slightly different aspects of the Kingdom. Here is some of what we discussed about these parables:
- Both a mustard seed and yeast are very small. Mustard seeds were the smallest plant seeds known to First Century farmers. Similarly, you only need a few grains of yeast in order to make a large loaf of bread rise. So both of these start small but create something or have an impact this is much, much larger.
- The impact of the Kingdom of Heaven should be visible to others. While a mustard seed is the smallest garden seed, it creates a plant that can grow to be 10 feet tall. If you think of a garden being planted behind a house, you would be able to see the tops of the mustard plant from in front of the house. There would be no hiding that it was being grown. The Kingdom of Heaven should have that kind of impact in our lives. If we have a relationship with Jesus, the effects of the Kingdom should be apparent in our lives. Even if we wanted to try to hide it in the “back yard” of our lives, it should be visible to everyone.
- The Kingdom of Heaven should be useful and beneficial to others. Jesus tells us that once the mustard plant has grown, the birds of the air come and perch in its branches. (Matt. 13:32). Outsiders, who have no direct connection with the Kingdom of Heaven, can receive a benefit from it. And this impact should extend beyond simply other people who are themselves connected to the Kingdom of Heaven. It is interesting to note that Ezekiel uses the phrase “birds of the air” to refer to Gentiles, who would be people who did not know God. Therefore, when the Kingdom of Heaven is working is us, and when we are operating within it, it should have a positive impact on people who do not yet know God.
- Once the Kingdom of Heaven starts its work, you can’t stop it. Once you plant the seed, it is going to grow. Short of cutting the plant down, there is nothing that the gardener can do to keep the plant from growing, or to make sure that it only grows 3 feet high. This idea is even more evident in the Parable of the Yeast. Once a person starts mixing yeast into dough, the process can’t be stopped. That person can’t remove the yeast. They can’t contain it to only one part of the bread. The yeast works its way into the entire loaf. Similarly, the Kingdom of Heaven should work its way into all parts of our lives.
That should give you a feel for our discussion of the Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast. next week, we will continue to move through Matthew 13 by looking at the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl.
Parable of the Sower October 24, 2008
Posted by questcollegeministry in Bible, Quest, christianity, following God, spirituality.Tags: christian living, christianity, following God, religion, spirituality
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Recently at Quest, we started looking at the idea of the kingdom of God and discussing what that encompasses and what it means for the way we live our lives. Over the next several weeks, we are going to look at Matthew 13, because in that chapter Jesus tells six different stories that begin with the phrase “The kingdom of heaven is like.” Before we turned to those stories, however, we took at look at the Parable of the Sower that begins the chapter. Since Jesus uses this story to introduce his parables about the kingdom of heaven, we felt like this was a good place to start. Here is some of what we discussed:
· This is one of the few parables where Jesus gives an explanation. After telling the story to the crowd, Jesus turns to his disciples and provides an explanation. He compares the four types of soils to the different ways that people respond when they encounter the message about the kingdom of God. Some people don’t get it. Some people initially like it, but when things get tough, or people give them a hard time, they give it up. Some people initially receive it, but then the distractions of the world choke it out and take its place. Others receive it and create a harvest that is greater than the seed they received. Part of the reason why Jesus puts this parable here, before his stories about the kingdom of heaven, is because these are the four ways in which people are going to respond to parables he is about to tell.
· There is one major element in this story that Jesus does not explain – the farmer. Clearly Jesus is the farmer in that chapter. He is going to be telling people about the kingdom of heaven, so he is the one who is about to be scattering the seed. However, Jesus is not the only person who is the farmer. Any time that we are spreading the kingdom of heaven, whether by words or by actions, we become the farmer. When we live out the kingdom, or when we tell people about the difference that Jesus has made in our lives, we start spreading seeds. In that case, we are the farmer and the people who hear us or see us are the different kinds of soils.
· One thing that is not directly discussed in the story, but is probably assumed by Jesus’ audience, is that the farmer would have done some work to prepare the field. A farmer doesn’t just scatter seed in random places. Instead, there is a lot of work that is done before the planting begins. Similarly, there is likely work for us to do to prepare the fields where we scatter seeds.
· The farmer’s job is to scatter the seed, not to make the seeds grow. The farmer doesn’t know exactly where each seed is going to land or exactly what kind of ground it is going to find. Once the farmer releases the seed, it becomes God’s job to make the seed grow. When we are the farmer, it is important that we don’t prejudge what kind of soil a person is. It is our job to scatter the seed by living out what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, both in words and in actions. Once we do that, it is God who makes that seed grow in someone else’s life.
· When Jesus tells the parable of the farmer, he is speaking to a large crowd of people. The image is that they are sitting on a hill side (1st Century stadium seating!) while Jesus is sitting on a boat with his disciples. He tells the parable to the crowd, using his public speaking voice. However, the explanation is given only to the disciples, who were probably in the boat with him, or else would have been right on shore. So this explanation was given in his conversation voice. I think one of the reasons why Jesus speaks in parables is to encourage people to get closer to him. The closer someone is to the boat, the more likely they will hear the explanation. When we don’t fully understand something, like many people must have felt listening to Jesus’ parables, we can have one of two reactions. Either we can walk away, or else we can go talk to the person and ask questions so we understand better. Jesus doesn’t just want to give people information. If that’s what he wanted to do, he wouldn’t speak in parables. Instead, he wants them to initiate a relationship with him. By speaking in parables, he encourages people to come to him and ask questions and find out more about him.
Those are the highlights of our discussion of the Parable of the Sower. Next week we will turn to the parables describing the kingdom of heaven that Jesus begins to tell later in Matthew 11. I hope everyone is well. As always, if there is anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to let me know.
The Kingdome of Heaven is Near October 22, 2008
Posted by questcollegeministry in Bible, Quest, christianity, following God, spirituality.Tags: Bible, christian living, christianity, following God, following Jesus, religion, spirituality
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Recently at Quest, we started to explore a new topic. We had been looking at the idea of forgiveness and discussing the importance of forgiveness between ourselves and God and between ourselves and others. The last aspect of that topic we discussed was the idea of repentance. Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached the message “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 3:2 and 4:17) Over the next several weeks, we are going to be discussing what all this idea of the “kingdom of heaven” or the “kingdom of God” encompasses. Here is some of what we talked about as we introduced this idea:
· The word “near” is interesting because it has a couple of different meanings. It can refer to either location or time. Both of those are relevant when thinking about the “kingdom of God.” We can really think in terms of there being two aspects to the “kingdom.” There is the part that is coming in the future when the followers of Jesus will be together with him for eternity. There also is the aspect of living out the message of Jesus in the world around us. The future that we will spend with Jesus is heaven is “near” in the sense of time. It is coming, and (at least in comparison to eternity) it is coming soon. And the way we represent Jesus and live out his message here on earth is “near” in terms of location because it is all around us.
· It is important to remember and to balance these two different meanings of “near.” We need to both be prepared for the future kingdom and to live out the message of Jesus here on earth. Focusing primarily (or exclusively) on one or the other can lead to real problems. If our primary emphasis is on the future kingdom, we run the risk of not really living out the message of Jesus here on earth. It can become easy to ignore issues of injustice that were obviously important to Jesus when he was alive. At the same time, if we put too much emphasis on the kingdom in this world, we run the risk of creating a very legalistic form of Christianity that looks only at whether or not a person is doing the right things, and checking the right boxes, and doesn’t look at the heart. We need a balanced view of the kingdom of God that recognizes the kingdom both in this world and in the next.
· When going back to the Greek expressions that are translated as “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of Heaven” imply that there are a couple of different aspects to the definition. In one sense, the kingdom of God is made up of everywhere that God is sovereign, which means that it is everywhere. At the same time, there are people who are in rebellion against God. So the “kingdom of God” can also be used to refer to those places where the sovereignty of God is recognized; that is, in the lives of those who follow God. To illustrate this distinction, I used the example of the Civil War. According to the Union, it was not possible for a state to leave the U.S.A., so the Confederacy was still part of the United States. However, because of the rebellion, the authority of the United States was only recognized in the North. Similarly, while God is sovereign everywhere, we will really only see his kingdom operating among the people who want to follow him.
· The ideas of repentance and the kingdom of God go together. In fact, both Jesus and John give the nearness of the kingdom of God as the reason to repent. As we talked about last week, repenting involves turning away from the old life and going in a new direction. This goes hand in hand with the kingdom of God because the kingdom of God operates on different principles and has different priorities than the rest of the world. When we choose to become a part of the kingdom of God, we need to realign our principles and priorities with those of the kingdom. In order to do this, we need to turn away from, or repent from, our old way of looking at the world. It is only when we do this that we can become an effective part of the kingdom of God.
Over the next several weeks, we will begin to explore these principles and priorities of the kingdom of God, and we will see how Jesus intends for this kingdom to operate.
Forgiveness and Repentance October 21, 2008
Posted by questcollegeministry in Quest, christianity, following God, spirituality.Tags: christian living, christianity, following God, following Jesus, religion, spirituality
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Recently at Quest, we continued our discussion about forgiveness. This time we look at the story of John the Baptist from Matthew 3:1-12 and Luke 3:1-18. This is the story where John is baptizing people before Jesus begins his ministry. He is telling people to repent and be baptized. While this is going on, many of the Pharisees come out to see him from Jerusalem, and John doesn’t have very kind words to say to them. In this story, we see the idea of repentance added to the forgiveness picture. Here is some of what we talked about along those lines:
· We started with a discussion about what repentance means. Repent and repentance are words that used to be commonly used, but now basically only are used within the context of church. The words mean to turn away from. They have a meaning similar to retreat, but where retreat implies (particularly in a military sense) that someone had to or was forced to go back, repenting is voluntary. The idea is one of intentionally turning your back on something and going the other way.
· If we repent from a sin or something we do wrong, the idea is that we realize that it is wrong and we don’t want to do it again. We turn the other way. This idea goes hand in hand with forgiveness, particularly when we are asking for forgiveness. If we ask for forgiveness, we should be wanting to turn away from what we did wrong and not do it again. If we can’t do that, we have to ask whether or not we are really sorry for what we have done.
· When we come to God, repentance is more than just turning away from our specific sins. It involves changing our very way of living life. We can see this in the Luke version of the story, where the tax collectors and soldiers (among other) ask John how they should live now that they have changed their lives. John gives them ideas on how to change things. For example, he tells tax collectors to not collect any money they don’t have to, and he tells soldiers to not extort money or give false testimony. So developing a relationship with God, and the repentance that comes with that, leads us to live our lives differently than we did before.
· The Pharisees who came out from Jerusalem appear to have no interest in repentance or changing their lives. They don’t come across as being willing to do anything different, and John calls them out on it. This is important because the Pharisees would have been seen in society as the people who had their act together spiritually. However, what John is saying that that, no matter what their background and no matter how much they appear to be religious, everyone should respond to God and his message by displaying repentance in their lives.
We also used this story to wrap up our discussions about forgiveness and to bridge to the next topic. John tells his listeners to repent because the kingdom of God is near. Over the next several weeks we are going to take a look at what the kingdom of God is and what that idea means for our lives.
