A tale of two cities

2. We have read two stories of people who seek to live in the story of the Bible. Do you find these stories helpful?

In the area of money the life of Gary Ginter is a good example. Gary says that God called him to make money, to live on as little of it as possible and then give the rest away. To do this one must be a ‘stewardly entrepreneur’, a careful guardian of the opportunities and money given to us by God. This story was helpful to me because it showed me that whatever I choose to do, if I seek to maximise my impact on the people and places to which God has called me. Therefore regardless what I do for a career if I am focused on impacting the people around me then God can use me in my vocation. The story of A Rocha wasn’t as helpful as the first story. Although it did show me that if I approach anything with the goal of serving God, it becomes an act of worship and obedience. It also showed me that any task if done with the right attitude can be used as a form of worship. At A Rocha the founders saw no distinction ‘between the field work and the times when we could talk about Jesus with the students’.

4. We have seen how God had special concern for the poor, the marginalised, and the outcast. How can we follow Jesus in this path? Who are the poor and marginalised today?

To follow Jesus in this path I think that we have to view everyone as He viewed them, as one of God’s finest creations. To do this we have to look past there dirty faces and love them as Jesus loved them. He loved them so much that he died for them on the cross. For us to love them as He did we have to realise how special and precious they are to Him. The poor today are probably similar to the poor in Jesus’ time, people without anything in the world. The marginalised today in this country are probably the Muslims. They are generally mistrusted and in some quarters hated for things extremists have done in the name of their religion. As Jesus showed kindness to the Samarian woman at the well (the Samaritans and Jews hated each other). I believe to follow Jesus’ example we as Christians today should show kindness and love to the groups in society that are mistrusted and even hated.

A kingdom story waiting for an end

1. In the time between the testaments, many Israelites either ‘sold out’ to the surrounding pagan culture or reacted against it in hatred, withdrawing and isolating themselves. Are these two dangers still present in the Church?

The danger of making church a pleasure cruise instead of a life boat is very real in church today. Reinhard Bonke suggests that many churches have become pleasure cruises, insular organisations sailing towards eternal life. He argues that God designed church to be a lifeboat rescuing people from damnation. How can the church save people from the community if the church is withdrawn from the people it is trying to save. Some church members argue that to be involved in the community, the church is risking the possibility of corruption of the church. The Bible says however that Jesus came for the sick; hence church should be designed to meet the needs of such people.

 The danger of selling out is also real; many Christians are seduced by the easy wide path which leads to hell. The way to combat this seduction is to realise that there are only two ways to live, God’s or Satan’s. Many non- Christians believe that they are living good lives and following their own plans, but the Bible says that if you aren’t following God’s path to salvation then you are walking Satan’s path to damnation.

1. We have seen how ancient Israel often abandoned God and turned to idols. Has modern secular culture adopted idols of its own? Is there idol worship even in the lives of Christians, and in the church?

Modern secular society has adopted many idols in an attempt to replace God. These idols are numerous, but are simple anything that someone makes the most important thing in their lives. A few common examples are money, fame, pleasure and even a relationship. People try to build/ focus their lives on these things, in an attempt to give their lives meaning. There is also idol worship to be found in the lives of Christians. Many church members will only attend a church that caters to their tastes. Some older members of congregations prefer a more traditional format for church and worship, and some young people prefer more lively energetic forms of worship and church. If we as Christians are not careful we can make an idol of the way church is run, and forget about why we come to church, to worship God. Another possible form of idol worship in church is seen in the way some church members will only attend church if the pastor is preaching. This is similar to followings some Christian leaders accumulate. If we aren’t careful we can start to follow a man instead of God. A recent example of this was seen when Michael Guglielmucci announced the problems he’d been having, and some Christians stopped attending church because of it. This shows that these people had raised Mike up as an idol to follow, and forgotten that men and women (idols of any kind) can let you down but God never will.

1. Abraham was chosen by God to be a channel of blessings to others. If Christians were to take this up as their own responsibility in daily life how do you think that would transform the Christian Church?

If Christians decided to take up the responsibility of blessing others in their day to day lives I personally think that as a by product you would see many people saved. Originally God choose Israel to be like a light to the other nations of the earth. To show the people of earth God’s blessings through obedience to Him. The nation of Israel was chosen by God as a way to show the world the best way to live. The best way to live is in harmony with God (God dwelled with them). If the modern day church took up this responsibility of blessing others then people couldn’t fail to see the benefits of living in obedience to God. Some churches would be transformed from an insular body of people content with gathering together on Sundays, into a dynamic evangelistic tool in the community.

3. We have seen that sin does not ordinarily destroy what God has made, but it does distort it. Discuss ways in which God’s good gifts have been distorted by sin.

Sin is a decision to choose our own way in life instead of following God’s way. Sin has a destructive power in human lives; it has tainted every human decision since the fall. It consequently taints the good gifts that God has given us.

Food is an obvious example of this corruption. God made man to be stewards over creation. This stewardship includes the cultivation and distribution of food. The gift of livestock and vegetation has been tainted to the extreme, in some areas of the world there is a serious obesity problem and others there is famine and starvation.

Sin has also distorted the gift of drink. The first vineyard in the Bible was created for the glory of God. The gift was abused when the owner became drunk and fell asleep naked in his tent; this led to a family feud with his son. This shows again that what God created was good, but mans sinful nature distorted it. Sexuality is another gift from God that has been tainted by sin.

Sex was created by God to be an expression of oneness between a man and woman. The declining moral standards concerning sexuality in today’s society has led to an increase in sexual transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancy. Sex was a gift from god to be experienced in a loving relationship between man and woman. It has been tainted by the ‘if it feels good, do it’ ideology of today’s culture and has led to things like adultery and exploitative relationships. 

The family unit has been tainted by sin as far back as Adam and Eve’s offspring. The story of Cain and Able depicts how jealousy perverted the gift of family and corrupted Cain to the point he killed his own brother. The family was designed by God to be a loving environment, where family members helped and encouraged each other. Sin tainted God’s gift by introducing jealousy into the family environment, making Cain feel he had to compete for the love of his parents and God with his brother.

The gifts of work and leisure become distorted by sin when these things take precedence before God. If the main goal of a person’s life is money or pleasure then that person is making an idol of that goal. They are replacing God with that pursuit. God created work and pleasure to be used to honour Him. Many men and women who have tried to make a ‘god’ of pleasure or money discover that these ‘gods’ can never deliver what they promise.

Act 1 God establishes his kingdom

7. In Moses’ time, only the pharaoh was thought of as being in the image of God. What does it mean for us that we are made in God the Creator’s image?

In the book God is described as truly unique. The word unique is over used in today’s society, but God is the uncreated incomparable creator of the whole world. The Bible shows that god created man and woman in His own image, God says ‘let us make man in our image… and let them rule over all the earth’. Bartholomew and Goheen describe man as the piece de resistance of the creators work. From these two things we can clearly see a clear similarity between God and humanity. The similarity is found in humankind’s ‘unique vocation’, we are called by God himself to ‘rule’. This means that we are created as stewards for God’s creation, we should rule over God’s creation in such a way as to glorify God. This call or commission to us to ‘have dominion’ over God’s creation contains a compliment. The commission hints at what we are capable of achieving as God’s stewards.

What really is faith? One little boy in Sunday School was asked that question and quick as a flash he replied, “Believing something you know isn’t true.”

Many people today are sceptical of faith because you can’t touch it or hold it. A friend of mine describes his faith as having a hope in something bigger, a hope in a God who watches over the helpless and who loves everyone. My friend describes faith as a hope because according to him ‘there is no way to know for sure’, there is no way to be certain that what we place our hope/ faith in is actually right. Is this hope enough for us? Can we build our lives on nothing more than hope, or is there something more to faith?   

Building with invisible bricks. The most challenging part of the residential was Paul Oxley’s talk on building character and not reputation. It’s easy to do things for the credit, so that people will say nice things about us. Paul challenged us to build things into our lives like integrity and humility, things that aren’t always visible. “We should only be seeking one person’s praise”.