Part 2: How Big a Deal is This to Jesus?

SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY

Series: Free to Love - How to Leave the Judging to the Judge Part 2: How Big a Deal is This to Jesus? September 27, 2009 | by Ken Wilson SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY Series topics: 1. The Original Sin: Eating from Knowledge of Good & Evil [last week] 2. The EMPHASIS in gospels on love without judgment 3. The Sin of the Pharisees 4. The EMPHASIS in Paul on love without judgment. 5. The EMPHASIS in James on love without judgment. 6. The teaching of Paul in 1 Cor. 5-6 about the need to judge in the church 7. The teaching on speaking the truth in love to each other, in light of the fact     that true community includes accountability. Today: How big an emphasis is this in gospels?  Why is it important to pay attention to what Jesus emphasizes?  Because it is an important safeguard in our pursuit of truth. Jesus emphasizes: 1. It is not our job to judge, 2. It is our job to love. Jesus & Judgment in John's Gospel The Genesis Backdrop in the Gospel of John + the creation accounts in Genesis 1 & 2 + Gen. 1:1-2 The Eternal  Life Theme + big in John's gospel: Jesus gives eternal life + evokes Gen. 2: 9, the tree of life [for it's eternal nature Gen. 3: 22] The Choice in John's Gospel: + is not between good & evil, per se [or good-bad; righteous unrighteous] + but between two competing visions of righteousness  Jesus: Rooted in the Tree of [Eternal] Life  Pharisees: Rooted in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil Read gospel of John with this backdrop: Jesus is offering the tree of life--the one that we eat in order to live for ever, eternal life--to people who are used to feasting on the knowledge of good & evil. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."   (John 3:17) Context: Jesus tells Nicodemus that he has to start over: a whole new approach to righteousness. John 4: Jesus and Samaritan woman. A woman in a continuing state of adultery plants the first Jesus community. John 5:19, 22, 24:  Jesus, who is authorized to judge doesn't; he gives eternal life. John 6:  What's to eat? (Feeding of 5,000; Jesus, the Bread of Life) Corresponds to Gen. 2: 16-17, which answers same question. John 8: 1-11 Jesus, the Pharisees and the woman caught in adultery "You judge by human standards, but I pass judgment on no one" (Jn. 8:15) Notice he doesn't say, "You judge by human standards but I judge by Godly standards."  He is holding them to a higher standard: not  just correct judgment: withhold judgment John 9, Pharisees investigate Sabbath healing [Often we judge without bothering to investigate; in this respect their righteousness is superior to ours.] They use their judgment to exclude [as we often do] To this, Jesus says: "For judgment I have come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will be blind!"  (John 9:39)  The only people Jesus judges in the gospel of John are the people judging. John 12: 47-50  Jesus is all about giving eternal life and withholding judgment. Food he offers is from the tree of life, not the knowledge of good & evil. If you are a member of the moral outcast class, Jesus is protecting you from the  judgments of the righteous people who are using their knowledge of good and evil to exclude you. He offers you eternal life.  Jesus is pressing the restart button on sin, righteousness, judgment, holiness, religion, how God and humans connect.  Everything before was rooted in old order. He had to work with people who had eaten from tree of knowledge of good and evil...so they could be like God and judge. And that had its place. But he is replacing that order! Christianity is not about enforcing righteousness! Christianity is not about separating the wheat from the chaff. The wheat will be separated from the chaff one day, but NOT NOW! Christianity is about something else. It has a different EMPHASIS! For complete sermon notes online, visit our sermons page.

PRACTICAL TIPS

1. Try to remember a time when you were walking in darkness in some way, and someone loved you without judging you, and how God worked in your life through that particular way of being loved. 2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you someone in your life right now who needs to be loved like that by you.  During this series, storm the heavens until God enables you to love that person like that. This week, ask the Holy Spirit to sensitize you to this tendency to judge. Ask God if this is a big deal in your life.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Do you often find yourself making judgments about people? Who are you most likely to judge? 2. What are the topics in the Bible where you see the most disagreement and confusion among Christians? 3. Is there a clear difference between "discerning" good and evil and "judging"?  If so, what is it? 4. What do you imagine when you read the words "eternal life" in the Bible?  What does it look like? 5. Who are the people in our world Jesus would be defending from the religious authorities, as he did the woman caught in adultery? 6. Jesus says, "You judge by human standards..."  (John 8:15) What does he mean?

The Original Sin as the Original Impediment to Loving Others Freely

SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY

Series: Free to Love - How to Leave the Judging to the Judge Part 1: The Original Sin as the Original Impediment to Loving Others Freely September 20, 2009 | by Ken Wilson SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY How can we be free to love with the extraordinary, supernatural, mind-blowing, world changing love that Jesus sets loose in the human heart: holy love, healing love, bring-you-to-your knees love, set-the-captives-free love. The last time we were truly free to love is recorded in Genesis 1-2. Gen. 1: God is free, creative, love in action Gen. 2: Human beings freely created in love by LOVE: as God breathes into the human the gift of life and the human become a nephesh--a soul, a living being.  But....something happens that takes away our freedom to love. What is that something? Foreshadowed in first command of love to first human:  And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will certainly die." (Gen. 2: 16-17) How this first command violates our common sense: Don't we need the knowledge of good and evil in order to be good people in a good world created by a good God? When this command comes in the bigger story: just before Adam meets Eve and has the first opportunity to love another human being. Did he need this command in order to be able to love freely? Gen. 2: 18-25: The love-fest. Then Gen. 3: our original sin and its consequences. Gen. 3: 1-11 Is this a simple story with a simple-to-grasp point?  Or is it a complex story that requires our willingness to wrestle with it in it order to extract the blessing? What happened to the love between the two people?  It soured. How do we know? First accusation: "The woman you gave me, gave it to me, and I ate." Was the accusation accurate?  Was the accusation self serving despite being accurate? What two parties are implicated in Adam's accusation? Do we implicate God when we accuse others? Is Adam using his forbidden knowledge of good and evil to accuse others, while excusing himself?  Is this a powerful human tendency? Is there anything about the original command that bothers you?  Isn't God and religion about morality? And don't we have a responsibility, in order to be moral agents, to have this knowledge? God and religion are about morality. There are moral imperatives.  But there is a common sense approach to morality that gets in the way... I think this is the first test in the Bible. Are we going to choose common sense over spanine sense?  Are we going to choose our common sense over spanine revelation? And this command was necessary in order for us to love. The reason we're not free to love isn't that we disobeyed any old command.  It's that we disobeyed this command. Can you see how the original sin relates to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 7:1-2, Judge not, lest ye be judged? Who in the Bible is the judge? God. What does a judge need in order to do his job?  The knowledge of good and evil. What is our job? Upcoming sermon topics: 1. The OVERWHELMING EMPHASIS in the gospels on not judging as a requirement for loving others freely. 2. Judging Others: The Sin of the Pharisees 3. The OVERWHELMING EMPHASIS in the writings of Paul on not judging as a requirement for loving others freely. 4. The OVERWHELMING EMPHASIS in the writings of James on not judging as a requirement for loving others freely. 5. The teaching of Paul in 1 Cor. 5-6 about settling disputes between brothers in the church and the occasional need to kick someone out of the community. 6. The teaching on speaking the truth in love to each other, in light of the fact that true community includes accountability. For complete sermon notes online, visit our sermons page.

PRACTICAL TIPS

1. Try to remember a time when you were walking in darkness in some way, and someone loved you without judging you, and how God worked in your life through that particular way of being loved. 2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you someone in your life right now who needs to be loved like that by you.  During this series, storm the heavens until God enables you to love that person like that. Don't go through the series as an academic exercise. Go through the series as an exercise in regaining the ability to love others freely.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. How have you understood the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? What has it always meant to you? How has this sermon challenged those ideas? 2. Does the word "judging" have positive or negative connotations for you? Why? 3. Can you think of times in your life where "spanine sense" has conflicted with "common sense"? Which won out? 4. Why do we desire to have the knowledge of good and evil? 5. How does judgment get in the way of loving people and loving God?

A Conversational Relationship with God

SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY

A Conversational Relationship with God September 13, 2009 | by Don Bromley SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.  (Mark 1:35; p.684) ...But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.  (Luke 5:16; p.705) solitary does not mean alone Loneliness is the most terrible poverty.    -Mother Teresa we weren't made to be alone The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone." (Genesis 2:18; p.2) friends of God The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. (Exodus 33:11; p.62) "But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend... (Isaiah 41:8; p.493) You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know their master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:14-15; p.739) friendship        conversation    intimacy do you talk to God? 78% of all Americans pray at least once a week 57% pray at least once a day Of the 13% of Americans who are atheists or agnostics, nearly 20% pray daily. does God talk to you? problem #1: it's hard to believe God would talk to me But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. (1 Corinthians 1:27; p.780) I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (Luke 18:17; p.718) problem #2: "God said to me..." problem #3: it's harder to listen than to speak problem #4: I can't seem to hear it what's it like? The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:11-13; p.244) a still small voice thoughts        impressions            dreams God is talking are we listening? making space to converse with God what works for you? For complete sermon notes online, visit our sermons page.

PRACTICAL TIPS

1.  If you can, schedule a silent retreat for yourself. There are many places you can do a directed retreat, such as Manresa Jesuit Retreat House. 2. If you can't do a directed silent retreat, try to set aside a day or half-day where you are in a quiet place, without phones, computers, or other media. Spend the time praying, walking, reading the Bible, or meditating. 3. Try a few prayer/meditation methods you haven't used before: prayer walking, praying as you listen to worship, praying as you drive, The Spanine Hours, listening to the Bible on your MP3 player, or pray-as-you-go.org. 4. Write down the thoughts, images, impressions, or sensations you experience as you pray or meditate.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Do you agree that loneliness is the most terrible poverty? Why? 2. Who in your life do you have regular conversations with? Are these the people you feel the most intimate relationship with? 3. Do you think of Jesus or God as your "friend"? Why, or why not? 4. How often do you pray? What's the form of prayer that works the best for you? 5. Have you ever experienced God "speaking" to you?  What was it like? How often does that happen?