A. Person
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17 – NIV) Today, I launch a new clergy collegial blog. I hope we will encourage and empower each other toward success and excellence in pastoral ministry. As I sit in the Pastor’s Study at Cambria Heights Community Church, I often ponder the possible feedback of clergy colleagues as it relates to preparing sermons, counseling in particularly difficult situation, designing fresh worship, balancing competing priorities of ministry, marriage and family, maintaining self-care, pursuing personal dreams and private interests outside of ministry and family, and finding resources to meet the ever evolving and changing needs of the people whom I serve. After a sustained period of prayer, reflection and meditation, I realize I can invite you to come “In The Pastor’s Study” for an exchange of ideas.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Sermon Feedback Survey
A. Person
Bible Study Feedback Survey
Bible Study Notes - 1 John 5:1-12
- The Gospel of John and the apostle’s Epistles were written primarily to assist the younger Christians in the beloved community to better understand the Lord Jesus Christ. The last remaining disciple instructs these relatively new believers about the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith.
- John boldly asserts the impossibility of believing in God without also believing in the gift of His “One and Only Begotten Son” whom God sends as the Redeemer, Savior and Lord of humankind. You cannot love the Father without simultaneously loving His Son.
- More specifically, disciples must believe that Jesus came in the flesh.
- John continues his exposition on “The Great Commandment” as he states our obedience of God’s commands results in our love of our fellow disciples and human beings.
- Obedience to God’s commands is the clearest evidence of a disciple’s love of God. In a marriage covenant, a husband and wife pledge to honor and obey each other as it relates to love, respect, support and fidelity regardless of the circumstances they experience. Love and commitment are the primary means and motivations for obedience in marriage. Fear of divorce, legal punishment and loss of finances, material resources and reputation ultimately will not coerce faithful obedience from a wandering and indifferent heart. Likewise, fear of hell and divine punishment on Judgment Day is not enough to yield a lifetime of obedience to God’s precepts and directives. Instead, we seek to please the people whom we love. We find joy in their happiness. If we make God our “ultimate concern,” we devote our hearts and lives to Him. We obey Him because we wholeheartedly love Him. We seek to please Him and honor His holy character out of our love for Him. The gospel through God’s love and grace accomplishes a main feat which the Law and threat of divine retribution could not. In the loving and sacrificial gift of Jesus Christ, God faithfully keeps His covenant with humankind and appeals to our hearts. Interestingly, His love earns and yields our love.
- Where there is love, there is no burden. Obeying God is not burdensome for a disciple who genuinely loves Him. As we mature spiritually and more greatly desire living in right relationship with Him, the temptations of the world lose their luster in our eyes. As a consequence, we do not primarily seek the satisfaction of our physical instincts and the fulfillments of selfish desires. We live to honor and glory of Almighty God by faithfully and joyously obeying His commands and selfless and tirelessly serving humankind.
- Everyone who has been born again and thus of God overcomes the temptations and lure of the world. I hasten to add this victory is a lifelong spiritual process which necessitates perfect intention and commitment as you progress daily.
- Our faith in the perfect, embodied and historical example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, equips us to triumph over the world’s system of beliefs which clash considerably with the values of Christ. In the Gospel of John, the apostle reassures the disciples that Christ overcame the world; thus they can do. John quotes the Lord as saying, “Be of good cheer because I have overcome the world.”
- In the end, faith in Christ will surmount any adversities or challenges of the world.
- Only people who truly believe Jesus is the Son of God will be victorious over the world. Otherwise, they will consent inevitably to the world’s ideology.
- As members of the Reformed Church in America, we succinctly express our belief in Christ through our adherence to the “Apostles Creed” which we recite regularly as an affirmation of our faith.
- According to Dr. Thomas L. Constable, 1 John 5:6 alludes to Christ’s baptism and crucifixion, hence His arrival by water and blood.
- The Holy Spirit leads and guides into all truth by reminding disciples of Christ’s teachings and perfect example.
- In the next verse, Constable explains the three who bear witness are the Holy Spirit, Christ’s example via baptism, crucifixion and resurrection and the apostles’ teaching.
- In the ninth verse, John reaffirms the supremacy of the Word of God over human testimony. This is a sobering word in an era of personality driven ministry in which ministers utilize their personal testimonies to organize churches and define a vision for ministry. We must always remember as John exhorts the members of the beloved community that the Church is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. In agreement with Paul, we preach not ourselves but Jesus Christ crucified.
- The failure to believe God’s testimony about His revelation of Jesus Christ equates with calling God a liar. Moreover, a denial of God’s revelation in Christ essentially says God is powerless to perform the miracles of the Incarnation and Resurrection. A refusal to accept the gift of God’s Son means you believe God reneges on the eternal covenant He makes with humankind. Using legal language, this means God perjures Himself as it relates to the promises He made to us.
- John finishes this section of his letter with a bold declaration that eternal life is only available in Jesus Christ who came in the flesh.
Bible Study Notes - 1 John 4:7-21
- In the seventh verse of this passage, John insists love comes from God. To love genuinely one must be born of Almighty God because God is love. As disciples, we strive daily for a greater revelation of God’s love as embodied in Jesus Christ. John uses the word, agape, which is Greek for the most supreme form of sacrificial and redemptive love.
- A person’s inability to emulate Christ’s example of love is a clear indication of his ignorance of God. We do what we know. Our relational and experiential knowledge of God means we freely share His love with our fellow disciples and humankind. Adherence to religious tenets does not suffice to demonstrate knowledge of God. Sharing His love in accordance with His word (Isaiah 61:1-3, Matthew 25 and James 2:14-26) is more reliable evidence.
- God most clearly reveals and demonstrates His faithful and covenantal love for humankind in the gift of Jesus Christ as the “Lamb of the God who takes away the sin of the world.” Christ is an atoning sacrifice, a literally a perfect sin offering that satisfies the holy wrath of God, in exchange for the totality human sin. Christ’s gift shows sacrificial, selfless and redemptive love which enables each person to experience abundant and eternal life.
- In the eleventh verse, John exhorts the disciples in the beloved community to follow Christ’s example. We demonstrate Christian love in appreciation for His indescribable and immeasurable gift. Our willingness to love without the expectation of receiving anything reflects our understanding of Christ’s love for us.
- In the next verse, John essentially shuffles the emphasis of “The Great Commandment.” St. Matthew details this primary purpose of discipleship as loving Almighty God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself. Usually, believers emphasize their undying love of God. However, John insists our love of fellow disciples and common people is the surest way to demonstrate our love of God. In as much as God is love as we claim to know Him, we prove our knowledge through daily acts of lovingkindness. John reminds his fellow disciples they have never seen God. How can we pledge undying love to Someone whom we have never seen and ignore people who need our love whom we see each day? If express love for our fellow citizens, we prove God who is love actually lives in us.
- God graciously gives us the Holy Spirit who encourages and empowers us to emulate Christ’s love. Human nature intrinsically resists selfless giving without any expectation of reciprocation. After our born again experience, the Holy Spirit enables us to progress spiritually as we more greatly acquire the mind, heart and character of our Lord.
- In the fourteenth and fifteenth verses, John reminds the beloved community of the necessity of believing in the actual, physical incarnation of Jesus Christ. Again, he opposes the prevailing heresies of Docetism, Gnosticism and other ideas that questioned this fundamental teaching.
- In accepting this non-negotiable doctrine, disciples have assurance of God’s love as He embodies and reveals it in Christ. In 1 John 4:16, God defines Himself as “Love.” When combined with Exodus 3:20, the biblical definition of God means literally “I AM Love.” I am the perfect, eternal, faithful, limitless Spirit of love.
- Accordingly, in order to know God, a person must know how to love.
- Moreover, God’s unfailing love liberates His children from fear of punishment or divine retribution for offending His holy character. God does not sit in heaven with a sadistic thirst awaiting the final judgment so that He may satisfy His holy wrath. His faithful love yields confidence on the Day of Judgment. Like a parent who does not want his children to be afraid of him because he unconditionally loves them, God desires that we know His eternal, covenantal love which faithfully covers our sin and thus eradicates punishment.
- 1 John 4:18 is a divine promise worthy of heartfelt memorization. In his first epistle, John offers a compelling legal argument about God’s perfect love. In 1 John 4:18, the great Apostle of Love offers a four-point, line of reasoning. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” John assures early disciples the perfect love of Almighty God completely annihilates fear. In Christ, God most clearly and uniquely reveals His perfect love for humankind. This truth liberates us from fear of death; and empowers us to receive abundant and eternal life.
- In the next verse, John says we love simply because we understand the height and depth and breadth and width of God’s sacrificial love in Christ. Selflessly demonstrating God’s love in Christ is the surest act of worship and thanksgiving.
- John concludes this passage with an admonition to love our brothers and sisters. Frankly, anyone declaring love for God while maintaining a hatred of some human being is a liar. In fact, it is impossible to love God without simultaneously loving our neighbors.
- Summarily, John insists we prioritize the second part of “The Great Commandment” as much as the first part.