Galatians 4:3-7
3 So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 4 But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Colossians 1:13-23
13 For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the Church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. 22 But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation - 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

In our weekly Bible study on Wednesdays we have finally reached the end of Revelation, and two weeks ago we started back at the very beginning again in Genesis 1. One of the first things we realise as we spend time studying the creation in the first 2 chapters of the Bible is that Jesus is the eternal God, and He was active in the work of creation. This is what Paul was writing about in Colossians 1 when he said, “By Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

One of the fundamental truths that Christians simply have to get some kind of grasp on is that Jesus is not just a New Testament character, restricted by physical life in time and space as we are. Most of us know the first verse of the Bible well: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” John’s gospel begins in similar fashion, but he also makes a remarkable statement that Paul echoes in Colossians 1. They both proclaim the eternal nature of Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3)

As we know, this whole concept of eternity is just too vast for us to fully comprehend, but it is important for us as Christians to trust what the Bible teaches us – there has never been a time that the Triune God (Father, Son and Spirit) did not exist. Neither will there ever be a time when God will no longer exist. He always has been, and always will be. God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit is the eternal God. This is one of the cornerstones of the Christian faith as it proclaims that the eternal God is over and above all things, both seen and unseen, simply because He brought everything in all of Creation into being. A word used by theologians to describe this doctrine is the transcendent nature of God. A dictionary definition of transcendent is “beyond or above the range of normal or physical human experience, existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe.”

But then one day, from this mysterious dimension of eternity, this eternal God broke through time and space, and in the words of the title of one of Max Lucado’s books, God came near. The transcendent God became the immanent God as He became one of us.
For a brief moment in history, God entered our dimension of time and space, and in the thirty-three or so years of Jesus’ human life, He changed the course of history forever.
We know the Christmas story well, but it is good to be reminded often of the amazing miracle of the eternal God taking on frail human flesh, and of course, we need to be reminded of the reason He came near.
This will be our theme during the next month as Christmas approaches.

When Paul wrote what we now know as the book of Galatians, he said, “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son.” This is actually the first time that Paul mentioned the incarnation of God – the coming of Jesus, and there is an interesting word he used in Galatians 4:4. “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son.”
We say rather glibly at times that God’s timing is perfect – well, it is. And it always has been. The KJV talks about the fullness of time, and the NLT says, “When the right time came.”
The first thing that this tells us is that Jesus is not plan B. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but when Adam and Eve sinned, God didn’t look down, scratch His head and say, “Well, that didn’t quite work out like I’d hoped. Now what are we going to do?” The redemption plan of God through our Saviour Jesus is the eternal plan of salvation. Remember that God is transcendent. Included in His nature is His omniscience – a fancy word that means He knows everything. He has known we would sin and would need a Saviour for all of eternity. Human sin did not catch God by surprise. So the plan of salvation is and was a perfect plan that has always existed, and at just the right time, God picked the perfect moment to enter our world and allowed the plan to unfold.
In less than a month it is Christmas, and there will be manger scenes all over the place to remind us of the birth of Jesus.

Jesus Christ the human being was conceived by the Spirit and was born to a human mother, but He was not created in Mary’s womb. In a deeply mysterious, supernatural way, far beyond our ability to fully comprehend, He was delivered to the world through her body. I love the picture printed on our bulletin today. The manger may well have been a substitute for a cot for a newborn baby, but at the same time it was a King-sized bed. God came near. Jesus, the eternal King of the Universe, the pre-existent one, entered into our time through the agency of Mary’s body.
He became one of us as part of His perfect plan and in His perfect time.

So what was the purpose of this plan of God’s? The short answer is the redemption of mankind, but the way that He put this plan into place was also perfect.
Firstly, we’re told that Jesus came to redeem those under the law. More specifically Paul was talking here about the Jewish law, so He came firstly to redeem the Jews, God’s chosen people, but the good news of the Gospel is that God’s redemptive work did not start and end with the Jewish nation. Jesus Himself taught that the Gospel is to be preached to the entire world, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. “For God so loved the world.” The offer of forgiveness and salvation is available to everybody. There are no exceptions. God entered into time in the person of His Son, to redeem lost humanity. That was the purpose of Jesus’ mission. Paul highlights two aspects of this amazing promise of God in Galatians 4.

He talks about redemption. Redemption means far more than just forgiveness. Let’s say I steal something that belongs to you, and I end up in prison for my crime. Out of the goodness of your heart, and in obedience to God, you decide to forgive me for what I’ve done to you. Now that’s a wonderful thing to do, but I will stay in prison. I still have to pay the price for what I’ve done. Redemption is a completely different matter. In fact, Jesus paid the price for our crimes even before we realised we’d done something wrong. “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
God not only offers us forgiveness, but He paid the price of our sins as well. He has redeemed us from the punishment which is rightly ours. To go back to our analogy, it would be like you going to the judge and saying, “Yes, he’s guilty and he deserves to go to prison, but I have forgiven him. In fact, please would you let him go free, and I will go to prison in his place.” That’s redemption.

There’s this mistaken idea that God is a God of love, and because of that He will freely forgive us for our sins. Yes He is a God of love. The Bible goes one step further by saying that God is love – love defines His very character and nature.
But He will not forgive you because He loves you. He will forgive you because of the blood of Christ. There is a price to be paid for what you have done. You, and every single other human being that ever has lived or ever will live have sinned against, and offended a Holy God. And there is a price to pay for that sin. Forgiveness from God’s perspective does not mean He will sweep your sins under the carpet and say, “I just love you too much to see you punished for your sins, so I forgive you.” That is a misrepresentation of God, His perfect just nature and of His eternal plan of redemption. What He does say is this: “I just love you too much to see you punished for your sins, so I will pay the price instead. If you are prepared to believe that the atoning death of Jesus is sufficient to pay that price, then (and only then) will I forgive you.” So God came near, and entered our world to pay the price for us, to redeem us.

But it doesn’t end there. Paul highlights a second promise of God in Galatians 4: “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son… that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
This speaks about our adoption into His family. If you legally adopt a child, that child doesn’t just live in your house. He or she bears your name and becomes one of your own children. As far as the law is concerned there is no difference between your adopted and biological children.
So not only does God pay the price of our sins by redeeming us, but He brings us into His own family by adopting us. We now bear His name, and are heirs of God Himself. This is simply amazing. What this means is that all the unimaginable beauty and glory of what awaits us in Heaven isn’t simply there for us to experience and enjoy. Rather, it is ours – it is our spiritual inheritance, guaranteed by God because we are His children and His heirs. He gives us full rights as His heirs. 
When the prodigal son returned to his father with his tail between his legs he begged to be treated like one of his father’s farm workers. But what did the father do? He put a ring on his son’s finger. This wasn’t any old ring – this was the family signet ring, which symbolised the authority given to the son by the father. Then he put a cloak on him, which symbolises what God has done for us through Jesus. At great personal cost to himself (there’s the principle of redemption once more), the father in the parable not only welcomed his wayward son home, but he reinstated him as his heir with all the rights and privileges he had before he fell from grace. Jesus Christ has clothed us with robes of righteousness by adopting us as His own. We’re not just forgiven, but we are now His. This is what gives us the right to call this eternal, transcendent God, the almighty King of the universe, Abba – Father. What an incredible thing God has done for us.

During the next few weeks as Christmas approaches, we’ll be looking deeper into the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus, and how God’s eternal plan of redemption applies to us.

I do want to go back to the timing of what happened at that first Christmas, and how it applies to our lives today.
As we look at the different accounts of the story of Christmas in the gospels, we can see the importance of the sequence of events – the timing of what happened. Matthew 2:3-6 says, “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.”
Herod was keenly aware and fearful of what was unfolding in time. He wanted to know the what (the Messiah’s birth) and the where (the location). He knew the significance of what had happened, because he had been taught all of the prophecies as he grew up, and his religious advisors confirmed his worst fears as they quoted those same prophecies to him. Luke is even more specific with regards to the importance of time. In chapter 2, he refers to the fact that Caesar Augustus sent out a decree “in those days.” This has helped historians to pinpoint more accurately the birth of Jesus. But what does this have to do with us? Why is the timing of God coming near that important?

It is because our time in this life is limited. We are eternal beings, but our window of opportunity in this life to turn to Christ in repentance is limited. It’s an eternal plan, but the opportunity to accept that plan for yourself is temporary, constricted by the amount of time you have in this life. And because you don’t know when your life will end, there is no time like the present. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation.”
God came near and entered our time and space. From eternity He chose to allow Himself to be constrained by time and space so that our eternal life can be guaranteed. God is the author of time. He created it, and He is outside of it. He understands everything that has happened or will happen, and those of us who don’t know Him need to see that now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation. For those of us who do know Him, we need to use the time he has given us in this life wisely. We need to live our lives for Him, and not for ourselves. Ephesians 5:15-16 warns us, “Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Moses prayed in Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Paul reminds us of the importance of using our time wisely at the end of our second reading today: “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation - if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”
There’s that timeline again. He briefly looks back at what we once were, where we have been rescued from, and where we now stand in Christ. We’ve been reconciled by Jesus’ death – there again is the exclusivity of the Gospel. It is only through Christ that we are redeemed. If God’s love alone could save us, then every person will be in heaven for eternity, but that is not what Scripture teaches us. It is only by the blood of Christ.
Paul then reminds us that we now stand holy and unblemished in God’s presence – that’s because we’ve been adopted as his children, and then finally, he urges us to “continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”
So, is this the season to be jolly, or is this the season to be awestruck once more that the eternal God, over and above all things, came near for one reason and one reason alone – to redeem us and to take us home?
That’s the choice we have this Christmas.

Homegroup Study Notes
Read Galatians 4:3-7
How do you understand the phrase “we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world?”
One of the great mysteries of God is that He is eternal, and not constricted by time and space as we are, but one of the fundamental principles of His plan of salvation is that He entered our world at a specific point in history, and lived among us as one of us.
What are some of your struggles in understanding and believing this?

What do we mean when we say ‘God came near?’

There are two promises that Paul highlights in verse 5:
a) Redemption, and b) Adoption.
a)     How do you understand the doctrine of redemption?
How does redemption differ from forgiveness?
A point made on Sunday is that God does not forgive us because He loves us. He forgives us because of the blood of Christ. What does this mean?

b)     Discuss how God goes further than redeeming and forgiving us by adopting us as His children.
In which ways have you felt like a son or daughter of God?
Close by praying that God would keep us focused on the real joy of Christmas during the festive season.

 

 

 

Luke 24:13-35
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognising Him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked Him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” He asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him; 21 but we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find His body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see.”
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if He were going farther. 29 But they urged Him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them.
30 When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognised Him, and He disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when He broke the bread.

For the past three or so years the followers of Jesus had seen some amazing things happen right in front of their eyes. The lame walked, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the dead lived – the list goes on. But in the words of that old song, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” The next 40 days between the resurrection and ascension were even more dramatic as the risen Jesus appeared to many of His disciples as the reality of His victory over death began to sink in.

Luke is the only gospel that records the story of Cleopas and his friend journeying to the village of Emmaus, but it is a wonderful story, as it not only gives us an historical record of what happened that day, but it also speaks of our own spiritual journey today.
As the risen Christ meets us on our travels through life, He takes our brokenness and confusion, and reveals Himself to us as He teaches us the truth of God. The result is a total transformation as the Spirit of God gives us a new purpose for living and a new burning desire to serve and worship Him.
This story teaches us not only about ourselves, but also how Jesus opens our eyes to see Him for who He is and about how we can come to know Him better.

So the journey to Emmaus is both a literal and a spiritual journey. For Cleopas and his friend it was a literal journey on that first Easter Sunday. We don’t know for sure, but Emmaus was probably their hometown. They were devastated by what had happened during the past few days, and Friday in particular, so now they had to pick up the pieces of their lives and carry on. This man Jesus had promised so much, and in their own words, “we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” But it hadn’t worked out as they’d hoped. The Romans were still here, and Jesus was dead. They had not understood who He really was and what the real purpose of His life was, but they were soon to learn the truth on their journey home.

For us, we are on a similar journey. We don’t fully understand the purposes of God, and if the truth be told sometimes He is right there next to us, but because we’re so distracted by all the clutter in our lives we don’t even recognise Him. But as He walks with us on our spiritual journey to our spiritual home, He teaches us, reveals His purposes to us, and fills us with new hope.
The story of the Emmaus Road outlines for us the journey that we all take from not recognising Jesus, to understanding what the Bible teaches about Him, to recognising Him for who He is, and finally to being witnesses of what we have seen and experienced.

The first thing we’re able to learn today is that He seeks us first. In the words of Romans 5:8, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We don’t seek God – He seeks us. Cleopas and his friend were just going home, discussing what to do next, when Jesus joined them.
They knew who Jesus was, but they did not recognise Him. They knew a lot about Him. They had been witnesses to all those things that had happened in Jerusalem. They had heard on many occasions the things Jesus said about Himself. Yet, they were not able to recognise Jesus when He joined them.
Why is that? Why do we so often fail to recognise the presence of God?

The first problem is our weak faith. As Jesus said, “How foolish you are, and slow of heart to believe.” Our sin and our weak faith will always hamper us, and this is why we need God to teach us about Himself, but in His grace, this is exactly what He does.
His gradual revelation of Himself allows us to learn lessons about trusting God and in His promises. Even though Jesus had told His disciples many times what was going to happen that weekend, they still struggled to believe it.
One of the main reasons for this is the same thing we battle with: We often have our own preconceived ideas of who God is and what He should be doing. As far as the followers of Jesus were concerned, He was meant to be the knight in shining armour that would get rid of the Roman oppressors once and for all. And when He didn’t do what they expected of Him, they were disillusioned, confused and felt that God had let them down.
How often are we disillusioned by God and left confused because He hasn’t done what we thought He should do for us?
Just like Jesus’ followers 2000 years ago, we find ourselves questioning God and His goodness, and sometimes we wonder if He is really there at all. Things do not happen as we expect, and our faith in God is weakened even further.

But God always has a plan – a plan that we very often cannot see or understand. Remember, He is God and we are not, so when things don’t quite turn out like we expect, instead of giving up and walking away from Him, maybe we should try to see things differently. Maybe we should try this prayer once in a while: “Lord, I don’t understand why this has or hasn’t happened, but I really want to seek your will for me. What is it you’re trying to teach me here?” Try it – you might be surprised at how He answers that prayer.
The disciples had heard the reports of the women who went to the tomb. Others had been there and also seen the empty tomb, but still they just could not believe what had happened. For God to do something as miraculous as raising Jesus from the dead was simply too much for them – despite the fact that they had seen Him do it many times. After all they’d seen and heard for years, they still did not see Jesus for who He really was.
And we must guard against making the same mistake – to dismiss what God has done or is doing simply because we cannot explain it or understand it. While God often uses natural things to accomplish His will, He also does things we can neither explain nor understand. These two disciples knew something had happened, but it was beyond their level of faith to see things as they truly were.
Just because they knew about Jesus does not mean they knew Him. Just because they could see Him does not mean they could see who He was. Many people today know who Jesus is. They’ve heard about Him, they’ve read about Him, some have even read the Bible, but their eyes are blinded to the truth of who He really is. And as a result, they would not recognise Him if they saw Him. Their eyes have not been opened. Knowing about Him and knowing Him are two different things.

And that’s where every single Christian once was, but by His grace, Jesus opens our eyes to see Him. A couple of weeks ago we looked at how God speaks to us today, and you’ll remember that His prime means of speaking to us is through Scripture, which is precisely what He did on the road to Emmaus that day. Verse 27 says, “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.”
We’re not told the specific passages Jesus used, but we do know He used Scripture to show them how what we know today as the Old Testament all points to Him. The entire Bible can be summarised in just one sentence: It points us to Jesus Christ.
And just as He used the prophecies and promises of Scripture to teach our two travellers that day, so He continues to do the same with us today.
The Bible taught them and teaches us who Jesus is, why He came, and why it was so necessary. Jesus wants us to see that if we would only believe what the Scriptures say about Him, we would understand why He came and why He had to suffer. That’s how we know who He really is, when we understand the reason He came.
The Bible is the written testimony of who Jesus is. And He still uses it today to open the eyes of those who do not know Him.
In Luke 16:31 He says, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
And in John 5:46, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.”

Many people will try to tell you who Jesus is. They will tell you He is one of many ways to get to Heaven. They will tell you He was a good man, a great prophet, a good teacher, and a rebel who defied the Roman authorities. But take away what the Bible says about Him, and you will never have a proper understanding of who Jesus is. So long as the non-believing world disregards what the Word tells us about Jesus, He will remain a prophet and a good teacher, and nothing more.
That is one of the reasons why it is so important to believe the entire Bible. You either believe all of it, or none of it. If we are going to pick and choose the parts of the Bible that suit us and disregard the parts we don’t like or feel are no longer relevant in modern society, we might as well just throw the whole thing away. If we feel it cannot be trusted on just one point, then we cannot trust any of it.
It is either all of God’s Word or it is not His Word at all. When we get into the Bible and the truths it reveals, it builds our faith, and as it teaches us, we come to realise that it is only through faith that we come to Jesus in the first place. The truth of Scripture about Jesus leads to personal faith in Jesus.

There is a very good reason for what we are told in verse 16: “They were kept from recognising Him.”
God prevented these two disciples from recognising Jesus to teach us a deep truth: Even if we were to see Jesus, we might still not believe. We have to learn to trust the testimony of the Bible. This is why we disregard or tamper with God’s Word at our peril.
We need to get a grasp on Biblical truth in order to learn and understand who Jesus is. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.”
Outside of Scripture there is no reliable witness to who Jesus really is, simply because the Bible tells us the truth about Jesus.

And so the journey of discovery continues, because in verse 30 and 31 we’re told that Jesus revealed Himself to them – and the setting was important too. They were sitting down to a meal with Him. It was only when they had fellowship with Jesus that He revealed Himself to them. Many of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus were while people were sharing a meal. Even in the secular world, sharing a meal is not just about consuming food to fuel our bodies. It is about connecting with people. You can grab a bite to eat on the run, you can balance a tray on your lap while you stare at a TV screen or you can sit down for a family meal. Physically it makes no difference – you have to eat to survive, but when you share a meal with people and talk to them, you are having fellowship. You are investing in each other’s lives. In much the same way you can give a nod of acknowledgement in God’s direction and carry on with your own busy life, or you can stop what you’re doing and have fellowship with Jesus. You can choose to invest your time and your efforts in Him, and when you learn to do that, He begins to reveal more and more of Himself to you.

It’s in the intimacy of fellowship Jesus in spending time in prayer and in reading His Word that He reveals Himself to us. His working in our lives becomes clearer, and His provision and protection come more into focus. Of course, we’ll never fully understand God and His purposes, and I’m very comfortable with that, but the more time we spend with Him, the more of Himself and His purposes for our lives He teaches us.

It’s also interesting that once the disciples recognised Jesus, He simply disappeared from sight. What does that teach us? Quite simply, our trusting Jesus does not depend on seeing Him all the time, as much as we might like that to be the case, but rather we learn to trust Him by taking Him at His word. Just before the ascension, He told His disciples, “Surely I will be you always, to the very end of the age.” So while we might not physically see Him, we know that He is with us, and that we can trust Him. In the person of the Holy Spirit, He is here in this place right now, and He is in our hearts too. Jesus is much closer to us than we’ll ever fully understand.


But of course, that is not the end of the story. Look what happened to Cleopas and his companion: When they finally recognised Jesus, they could not help but share Him. When we begin to understand just who Jesus is and what He has done for us, by His Spirit He moves us to share the good news of salvation with others. When our eyes have been opened, we will want others to have their eyes opened too.
It was already evening – we’re told that in verse 29, but verse 33 tells us that halfway through their dinner they got up and went straight back to Jerusalem to share the good news that Jesus was alive. By now it would have been dark and the roads were dangerous places to be in those days, especially at night, but that didn’t stop them. The lesson for us here is that for many people it is almost evening. Time is running out, and this should fill us with a new urgency to tell others about Jesus. There is no time to lose.

You can sense their excitement: “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Are our hearts burning with excitement within us? Is your heart burning with excitement with you? If it isn’t, ask God to give you a new passion and a new blaze of energy to share the truth of Jesus.
Their encounter with Jesus had been an emotional one. It had stirred them on the inside and moved their hearts. And once moved they could not help but share. They went back to the people they knew and loved, and told them, “It is true. The Lord has risen.”
And for us today – those who have seen and experienced the risen Christ should be no different. We should not be able to contain it. In John 20 is the well-known account of Jesus appearing to Thomas and dealing with his doubts. The most important part of that account is where Jesus speaks to Thomas, but actually refers to every other believer through the ages: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Do you believe that Jesus conquered death and is alive today? Then you are blessed!

Do you know Jesus this morning? Have your eyes ever been opened to who He is and what He has done for you? Do you know that He walks with you and talks with you? Can you testify to His presence in your life? Do you have fellowship with Him? Has your experience with Him been so real, so moving, so life-changing that it has caused you to tell others about Him?
You are on your own Emmaus Road through life. If you feel that you cannot see Jesus with you and that you don’t understand what He is doing in your life, then ask Him. Trust me – He will answer you, because this is what His word tells us.
I close with a promise I’ve used often during the past couple of months, because it is so true: “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

Homegroup Study Notes
Read Luke 24:13-35
The journey of the two disciples to the village of Emmaus reflects our own walk with God at times.
At first they were confused and disillusioned with God as (in their eyes at least) Jesus had failed in His mission to free the Jews from Roman rule.
How have you felt disillusioned or even let down by God?
Why do we go through times like this – times when He doesn’t do what we feel He should do?

As we know, eventually the disciples realised just who the stranger was that joined them on their journey, but this did not happen immediately.
What is the significance of Jesus teaching them from the Scriptures first?
Why did He not reveal Himself immediately to them, and how does this apply to our lives today?

It is no coincidence that Jesus revealed Himself fully to them once they sat down for a meal.
What is the significance of this, and again, what does this mean to you?

We know from verses 29 and 33 that by now it would have been dark, but the two disciples, whose “hearts were burning within them” left immediately to tell the others that Jesus was alive.
What can we learn from this?

Close by praying that God would give each of us a burning desire to share the good news of salvation in Christ.

 

Luke 10:25-37
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” He replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

I’m always nervous when it comes to preparing a sermon on a passage of Scripture as well known as the parable of the Good Samaritan. Along with the story of the Prodigal Son, these are certainly the two most preached about parables that Jesus taught us.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ does not change – it is the same good news, but hopefully this morning we’ll be reminded of some of the deeper truths in this parable that we tend to miss, simply because we know the story so well.
So what is it about the parable of the Good Samaritan that makes it so popular? I suppose the easy answer is because it teaches us to care for each other. Even the non-Christian world will agree that if there were more good Samaritans around, regardless of their religion or belief system, the world would be a better place. There’s no denying that.

In fact, to call someone a Good Samaritan is a compliment – it’s a term we hear often, and even those opposed to Jesus Christ and what He stands for would have to admit that caring for others is a good thing.
The problem is though, that because this parable is so well known, and it’s message (at first glance at least) seems easy to understand, it becomes just as easy to miss what Jesus was really teaching us here.
Unfortunately the secular world has hijacked this story and taken it out of its spiritual context. The world has instead turned it into a moral statement of caring for one another, and not much else, and it ignores what Jesus was really trying to tell us.

The parable of the Good Samaritan has also become a favourite of those who advocate the “social gospel” – the belief that our faith is about social action. Now I need to point out that as the Church we are supposed to be concerned about social issues. We are meant be a voice of conscience in the world, and we are commanded to care for each other. In James 2 we’re told that it is our duty to look after orphans and widows. But merely slotting the parable of the Good Samaritan into the social gospel category and moving on is a mistake. In fact, to do so is a dreadful and tragic misrepresentation of Biblical truth.
This parable is meant to be much more than a heart-warming reminder that we’re to care for each other. When we read it and examine it properly, we’ll see that it cuts to the very heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. While Jesus’ parables may well teach us lessons about ourselves and how we should strive to be better people, the central character is Jesus - always. 
I have a Bible commentary that gives this definition of a Biblical parable:
“A parable is a story describing some everyday possible occurrence, told with the fixed purpose of conveying to the hearer some higher spiritual lesson. In other words, a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” It goes on to say that the earthly part is merely the vehicle that conveys the spiritual meaning. The real lesson is the spiritual.

So bearing this in mind, what we’ll do this morning is to look at the different characters in the Parable of the Good Samaritan – what and whom they represent, and my prayer is that we will not only be reminded of our desperate need of a Saviour, but that God, in His mercy, has in fact done exactly that through Jesus. That, after all, is what Jesus intended us to hear through this parable.

The first character is the unnamed man who goes on a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. The way Jesus tells the story implies that he was alone – not a very wise thing to do as that particular road was a notoriously dangerous road to travel alone. I’ve even heard of a sermon preached on this parable, and the main point of the entire teaching was that we should not travel dangerous roads on our own! It’s good advice, but I think its safe to say that wasn’t the main reason Jesus told the parable. 
The man recklessly travels from Jerusalem to Jericho – a notorious trouble spot – and finds himself mugged and mercilessly beaten up by robbers. This is what happens to each of us on our journey through life. We have been spiritually mugged by satan, our enemy. As Jesus says in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
We need to be careful of shirking our responsibilities here, because we are personally accountable for many of the bad choices and unwise decisions we make in our lives, but the fact that satan mercilessly and consistently attacks us as we journey through life’s trouble spots does not help.
As the man in the parable very quickly learned, and we also learn sooner or later, we are helpless to save ourselves, and we desperately need a Saviour.

The next character we meet is the priest who, on seeing the man left for dead, walks past on the other side of the road. Our first reaction is to be horrified. A priest is a man who is supposed to know better after all, but the real message here is not that a man of the cloth couldn’t be bothered to help someone in need. It’s about what he represents and the futility of trusting those things alone. In this parable, the priest represents religion and religious rituals. But religion in itself means nothing. I wonder how many people all over the world go to Church buildings Sunday after Sunday, believing that their religion and their rituals will save them?


There’s this mistaken idea that religion will save us, but this is what the Lord has to say about meaningless rituals, and if His words feel a bit like a slap in the face, that’s precisely what He intended: “The multitude of your sacrifices - what are they to me? I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations - I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.” (Isaiah 1:11-15)
What all of this means in the context of our parable today, is that when you find yourself in desperate need of a Saviour, and close to death, reaching out to religion and rituals will not help you. Religion will simply cross over to the other side of the road, leaving you helpless.

Then we meet the Levite. The book of Leviticus in the Old Testament is where God first introduces us to the Law. Ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, mankind had been separated from God. He is holy and we are not, and as God introduced the law, and more specifically the sacrificial system, we began to take the first steps back towards the holiness of God. Keeping the law of God is a good thing. Living according to the Ten Commandments is wonderful. There’s just a small problem though – we are incapable of keeping God’s laws.
And even keeping most of them is also an exercise in futility, as James 2:10 teaches us: “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”
I know I have mentioned this before, but I was talking to someone about our need for Jesus a number of years ago, and he simply could not see his need for a Saviour, as he spoke the words that have been spoken by countless people for generations: “I try to live a good life. My goal is to live according to the Ten Commandments, and although I do occasionally slip up, I am basically a good person, and I refuse to believe that a loving God would send anyone to hell.”

These words may sound quite noble, and we would all agree that trying to do the right thing is good, and again, the world would be a better place if we all tried to live like that, but beneath that statement is nothing more than spiritual pride and arrogance. It is looking at the Cross of Calvary, looking at the offer of mercy and forgiveness, and saying, “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m a good person, and I can do this on my own.” We think that using the name Jesus as a swearword is blasphemy, but rejecting His offer to die in our place and taking our punishment on Himself is the ultimate and final blasphemy.
So why is there a Levite in this parable?
In Galatians 3:19 Paul writes “What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.” The Seed in this verse is Jesus, and we’ll get onto that in a moment, but look at the sequence of events in the first part of this verse: The law was added because of transgressions. Sin came first, and then came the law. It’s crucial that we understand this because this answers the question Paul asks in Galatians 3:19 – “What then, was the purpose of the law?”
Romans 3:20 also helps to clear up this question: “No-one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”
Essentially what Paul is saying here is that even though it may sound like a noble thing to keep the law, all it really does is make us aware of our total lack of ability to do so in the first place. God’s Law is good, and holy and perfect, but because sinners are incapable of keeping the law, all it does is expose our sin, and our desperate need of a Saviour.
And just as the Levite walked past the man in our parable, so too will our futile attempts to keep the law desert us in our hour of greatest need.  

The priest and the Levite represent our religious rituals and our futile attempts to uphold the law. They will cross over to the other side of the road and leave us for dead. They will not help us. All they do is confirm our need of a Saviour, a true Good Samaritan.
And this person is of course, Jesus.

He is the stranger on the road, the person we don’t even realise we need until our own attempts at salvation fail us. He is the One who sees us in our need, and who at great personal cost to Himself rescues us and sees that we are cared for. Our true Good Samaritan is the one who binds up our wounds, heals our spiritually broken hearts, and does what is necessary to protect us forever from the enemy. On the Cross of Calvary, He bore the full weight of responsibility for us even though we have done nothing to deserve His favour.
The non-believing world is completely oblivious to the fact that each and every human being is the man lying helpless on the road. By God’s grace He has opened our eyes to the truth that we were lost and without hope, and praise be to God - now we are found.
Our Good Samaritan has rescued us. Sin has destroyed us, and has separated us from God forever, but the good news is that in Christ we have someone who is capable of rescuing us and carrying us home.

It’s interesting that in the parable the Samaritan takes the man to an inn. The inn here is a picture of the Church. The Church is a gift from God to us. It is the place of refuge where our wounds are able to heal until He returns to finally take us where we’ve always belonged – home with Him. The Samaritan gave the innkeeper enough money to care for the man. By His Spirit, Jesus has given the Church what is necessary for us to care for each other until He returns. So the message of caring for each other remains valid. We have a huge privilege and responsibility to care for each other within the Church as our spiritual wounds heal, and as Jesus said in His parable, we are to do likewise – we are to bring others into the Church too. The Samaritan left enough for the man to be cared for, and promised to return with more if needed. And Jesus continually provides the Church with what it needs to carry out its ministry and He will return to make sure that His instructions have been complied with.

So the gospel is in this story, and that was what Jesus has always intended for us to see in this parable. The scene is set at the very beginning, before Jesus even tells the story. A man, an expert in the Law, addresses Jesus as ‘Teacher’. In the original text he would have used the name ‘Rabbi’. A Rabbi was a religious teacher. So the man was a legal, religious person, which is precisely why Jesus put a Levite and a priest into the parable.
The question the man asked Jesus is also important, as it helps set the scene for the rest of the story: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
His question wasn’t about how we are to treat others at all. What this means is that too often we have missed the main point of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, because we have regarded it as a social lesson, rather than a lesson on eternal life.

The whole thrust of the passage is the questioning of Jesus by a religious law-keeper who wants to know how he can get to heaven. That’s what he really wanted to know. And what does Jesus do? He responds by telling him a story that confirms his worst fears. The standard required for eternal life is perfection. Nothing else will do. And we can assume that the reaction of the crowd who also heard this parable would have been the same as those who heard Jesus teaching in John 6: “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” They would have heard the parable, made the connection with and understood the significance of the Levite and the priest in the story, and would have said, “this is impossible”. And that is the point.
We cannot justify ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. Our well-meaning attempts at following religious rituals and habits and our determination to do the right thing and earn God’s favour by keeping His laws are ultimately doomed to fail. When we need those things most to save us, we will see them crossing over to the other side of the road, and they will not help us.

We need a Saviour. We need a Good Samaritan, we need someone who will take us into His heart, rescue us and do whatever is necessary to save us. The Cross of Calvary was necessary in order to save us, and that is why He went to the Cross. In John 10:17-18 Jesus said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
Jesus is our Good Samaritan. We can trust in our good works for salvation or we can trust in Jesus for our salvation. The message is clear. Trusting in our works will not get us anywhere near the Kingdom of God.
Trusting in Jesus is what brings us to heaven. Nothing else will do.

Homegroup Study Notes
Read Luke 10:25-37
This parable is undoubtedly one of the most popular of Jesus’ teachings, and is known and loved both inside and outside of the Church.
Why do you believe this parable is so popular, despite the fact that it challenges our prejudices and selfishness?
A point made on Sunday was that the secular world has hijacked this parable and taken it out of its spiritual context. Do you agree? Why, or why not?

Discuss in your group the different characters in the parable: the traveller, Levite, priest and Samaritan. How have you traditionally understood the roles each of these people play in the parable?
On Sunday we were challenged to try and see the parable as Jesus intended it to be heard – a representation of the truth that salvation is available through Jesus alone, and not through our attempts at keeping the law and doing good works. Look again at the question Jesus is asked in verse 25, as this question sets the scene for the rest of the story.
In which ways do you see the roles of the people in the parable differently?

Using the parable of the Good Samaritan as a foundation or a backdrop, discuss Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:8-9. In which ways do you see the doctrine of grace versus works in the parable?

Close by praying for each other.
Ask that the Lord would give us a deeper understanding of the truth in Scripture, and that we’d be able to break through what we think the Word says and see the true meaning of His Word

 

 

2 Peter 1:12-21

12 I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain.
19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him,” - 10 but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: 16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-16
11 It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

“I just wish God would speak clearly, and tell me what to do.”
Do those words sound familiar? They echo the cries of Christians throughout the ages. We’ve all been in situations in our lives when we’ve been confused and unsure of what to do next. One of the inner struggles we face as disciples of Jesus is trying to overcome our natural desire to do what we want, and seeking God’s will for our lives instead. But what if we’re unsure just what it is that God is saying or calling us to do?
It’s a bit like trying to talk to someone on a cellphone, but one or both of you is in an area with bad reception. You can hear their voice and you can see their name on your screen, so you know who you’re talking to and you know they’re saying something, but you can’t make out what they’re saying. Our prayer lives feel a bit like that at times as well. Prayer is a good thing – it brings us into God’s presence in a mysterious but very real way, but far too often we feel as if our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. We’re distracted by our everyday lives and our circumstances, so prayer becomes more of a chore than the joy it is meant to be. Mother Teresa had an amazing understanding of the mystery of prayer. She was once asked in an interview, “When you pray, what do you say to God?” She said, “I don’t talk, I listen.” The interviewer then asked, “What does God say to you?” She replied, “He doesn’t talk. He listens. And if you don’t understand that, I can’t explain it to you.”

Occasionally in our prayers we can sense the Lord sitting next to us – it’s almost as if we’re able to reach out and touch Him, but we’ve also experienced the frustration of wondering just what it is God is saying. We find ourselves questioning whether He is speaking at all, despite the many promises we have in Scripture that He does speak to us.
Jeremiah 29:11-14 is just one example: “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord.”
It may feel a bit like a dropped call or a crackly line sometimes, but God does speak, and this morning we’ll look at three of the main ways He speaks to us today.

The first is through Scripture – the written word.
The Bible is the most powerful and direct communication we have from God, mainly because it tells us things from His point of view.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
If you want to know what God thinks about something, go to the Bible. It is here where we’re given an insight into His commands, His promises, and His principles. Though the writing styles and circumstances of the 66 books of the Bible are very different at times, the words that are written for us are inspired by God, and given to the writer – it is quite literally the voice of God.
It contains real letters to real people. The Bible is a unique book – there is no other piece of literature quite like it, but it does confuse so many people, probably because it’s not just one book, but a compilation of literature written over a period of about 1500 years by more than 40 writers. It contains history, narrative stories, poetry and letters. Different writers, but one author. Together they form the whole counsel of God’s Word.

One of the things you hear most from people when it comes to the Bible is that it is confusing and very difficult to understand. That is only partly right. Of course there are some passages that we struggle with.
The apostle Peter knew Jesus personally. He spent three years with Him, learning from the Master, and this is what he had to say about some of Paul’s writings in 2 Peter 3:16: “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand.” Many Christians read that verse and come to the conclusion that if Peter couldn’t understand some of what Paul was writing about, then we have no chance. As a result the Bible is not read as diligently as it should be, and it becomes more of a reference book than a guide and a compass for Christian living.
But that’s only an excuse.

We need to get into the Word, and seek God’s will for our lives. There will always be parts of it that are not as clear as others, but the vast majority of what God says in His Word in crystal clear.
So start off by worrying about the things that are clear and easy to understand, and not so much about the obscure or cryptic passages of His Word. God will reveal His true meaning to you when He is good and ready to – in the meantime, read and take to heart the parts that are easy to understand. You’ll find there is more than enough easily understood material to keep you going. And don’t only read the verses you like – those you’ve underlined or marked with a highlighter. Read His whole Word, especially the verses that challenge you.

So what did Peter mean when he wrote these words then? When he said that some of Paul’s letters are hard to understand, he wasn’t saying we should disregard them. That’s taking things out of context. He was actually giving us a warning, which we can see when we read the rest of 2 Peter 3:16.
“His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

Ignorant people distort God’s Word. A common objection to Scripture is that it was written thousands of years ago, and is therefore no longer relevant in modern society. But God is the same yesterday, today and forever, so that criticism of the Bible holds no water.
If you are a Christian, then the whole of the Bible is the whole of God’s Word to you. You either believe all of it, or none of it. We live in an age where we can cut, paste and edit anything, but we approach the Bible with that attitude at our peril.
The very last chapter of the Bible ends with these words: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19)

It is easy to get caught up in the obscure or difficult portions of Scripture, and to fight over those things, but the result is usually to the detriment of the rest of the Bible, most of which is crystal clear.
The purpose of the Bible is not to make us theologically clever, but for correction and instruction in righteousness, and to change how we live. Remember, it’s all about our pursuit of Christlikeness, and Scripture is our plumb line, because it tells us what God has to say, and it remains His primary means of talking to us.

Secondly, God speaks to us by and through His Holy Spirit.
In Ephesians 1:17 Paul writes, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.” And in 1 Corinthians 2:13, “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.”
The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual insight and understanding.
The Bible tells me what’s right and wrong, who God is, who Jesus is and how I’m supposed to live. Now that’s all very well. I have a pretty good idea of what’s wrong in my life, and I know I should be striving to be more like Jesus, but I’m a weak sinner, so how am I supposed to make these changes in my life? The Holy Spirit does these things from within as He guides me through living out this knowledge with spiritual insights and understanding.

He changes us from the inside out. Just after the Last Supper, the night before Jesus was crucified, He explained to His disciples just some of what the Holy Spirit would do in their and in our lives. In John 16:13-15 He said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”
When you take the step of surrendering your life to Christ, He forgives your sins, He adopts you into His family, and He comes and literally lives His life through you.
Of course we still make a mess of our lives, but there are times when we do the right thing. There are times when we forgive the ‘unforgivable’, love the ‘unlovable’, and every now and then people can see Christ in us and through us. At those times, it is because of the inner working of the Spirit, because in and of ourselves we cannot do these things. So when you do do the right thing, it is not you. It is God, through the power of His Spirit empowering you, or as Paul puts it in Philippians 2:13, “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”

But how does the Spirit actually work in us? Principally, it is by Him guiding us through our thought processes. Now this doesn’t mean that we become programmable robots. Rather it means that the Lord opens our hearts and minds to see things the way He does. Everything we see, think and do is influenced by our sinful nature, but God has the power to overcome that, and to help us see, think and do things from His perspective.
Romans 8:6-9 explains it very well: “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.”

A couple of weeks ago I said that through Jesus we’re able to see others as eternal beings, created in the image of God. You can’t do that unless the Spirit lives in you, revealing these spiritual truths to you.
Paul consistently teaches that the Holy Spirit gives us the mind of Christ. It’s not natural for us to see God in everything - on the contrary we tend to look at everything from our own perspective. But as we grow in Christ, our minds are informed by Scripture and guided by the Spirit to have God’s perspective.

And thirdly God speaks to us through His Church, through fellow believers, or as Nicky Gumbel puts it on the Alpha Course, through the counsel of the saints.
Together we’re able to learn and teach things we might otherwise miss. In the Church, and in our small study groups in particular, we share our life experiences with each other as we learn to grow together. Because of our spiritual maturity level or sin in our lives, we often misinterpret Scripture or miss relevant passages completely. Our judgment is often clouded by our circumstances too. There are times when we’re too spiritually and emotionally fragile to hear what God might be saying to us, and this is where the Church plays a role in supporting each other. The Church is a place where we should be able to make ourselves vulnerable, seeking help and guidance from God, through each other. You may be in a Bible study and someone gives you a verse or an insight you hadn’t considered. This is exactly how the body is intended to operate - not in isolation but in unison. We don’t just come here once a week to sing a few songs and to endure a sermon. We are family. And a family helps and supports each other. Sometimes you’re the one who is limping, and you need a strong shoulder to lean on, and there are other occasions when you are that strong shoulder for someone else in our Church family.

It’s been said many times before, and it’s true – you don’t have to go to Church to be a Christian. But if you’re not connected to the Body of Christ you’re missing out on so much. And so is the rest of the Body because of your absence. It’s no wonder so many Churches limp along, making little or no impact on their own lives and on their society. It’s because half their limbs are missing…
Two passages of Scripture that warn us against spiritual isolation are Proverbs 13:10 “Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice,” and Hebrews 10:24-25 “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Spiritual isolation is actually a sign of spiritual arrogance. If we go through life with the attitude of “all I need is my Bible and the Spirit,” it may sound spiritual, but it’s arrogant.

I’ve quoted this before, but it is so relevant: On the Alpha Course, when speaking about the Church, Nicky Gumbel says, “The freelance Christian, who would be a Christian but is too superior to belong to the visible Church on Earth in one of its forms, is simply a contradiction in terms.”
We are the Church, and we need each other. Anyone unwilling to turn to wise counsel is someone who will, sooner or later, make a fatal decision.

Of course, God speaks through countless ways, and He reveals Himself to us in ways that we sometimes can’t even see, but primarily He speaks to us through Scripture, His Spirit and through His Church, but He does speak.

Finally, what do we do if we ever sense that the voices we are hearing seem to conflict, and we’re confused by what we think God might be saying? It’s an important question for us to consider, and the answer is to go to God’s Word. 2 Thessalonians 5:21 simply says, “Test everything.” If you ever find that the voices conflict, and you’re hearing mixed messages as if the signal is breaking up, understand that the Bible is the most clear and should be the ruling factor in any discrepancy. As a sinner, I have an uncanny knack of filtering out the things I don’t want to hear from God – and so do you. Even though His Spirit is living within us, and is far more powerful than the power of sin, all too often I only hear what I want to hear from God. Similarly, even though a fellow Christian’s advice is given with all the very best intentions, he or she is also a sinner, and that means our judgment is always clouded by our sin. Their advice may well be sincere, but there is always the possibility that their advice is sincerely wrong. So test what you feel God may be saying within your own heart and what you’re hearing from others by applying God’s Word.  

“As for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

God has been gracious enough to give us His Word, to give us His Spirit, and to give us each other to speak to us. He does speak. He always has, but of course the bigger question is, are we listening?

Homegroup Study Notes
Read 2 Timothy 3:14-17
The Bible remains God’s primary means of speaking to us today.
How have you been guided by spending time reading the Bible?
How have you felt inspired, comforted and challenged by His Word?

Read 2 Peter 3:16
How do you deal with parts of the Bible that are unclear or confusing?
A common criticism of the Bible is that because it is so old, it is no longer relevant in the modern world. How do you answer such criticism?

Read Romans 8:6-9
In which ways have you felt the Spirit of God teaching and guiding you?
Philippians 2:13 says “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”
How have you experienced this in your own life?
The Bible teaches us that the power of God is greater than the power of our sinful nature, yet we face a constant uphill battle against our sin and temptation, failing often. Why do you think this is so?

Read Ephesians 4:11-16
Discuss the role that the Church is meant to play in our personal spiritual growth. How have you grown through seeking Godly advice from other Christians?
On Sunday we looked at 3 prime means of communication that God uses today: through the Bible, His Spirit and through His Church.
Which others can you think of?
How has He spoken to you? 

 

1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts.  And now I will show you the most excellent way. 1CO 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

MT 18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"  MT 18:22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. MT 18:23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. MT 18:26 "The servant fell on his knees before him. `Be patient with me,' he begged, `and I will pay back everything.' 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. MT 18:28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. `Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. MT 18:29 "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, `Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'  MT 18:30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. MT 18:32 "Then the master called the servant in. `You wicked servant,' he said, `I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. MT 18:35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Almost everyone I know is talking about the Oscar Pistorious’ trial. Some are sighing with relief whilst others are angry and disappointed. Some believe that his sentence sends out a message that “it is ok to take another person’s life” if you are physically challenged. As I was listening to a discussion on TV about the global impact this case has had in the media, I was deeply moved when the camera focussed on Oscar.
As I looked at him, with his hands covering his face and his head bowed in shame, I was reminded of the fact that each and everyone one of us will one day have to give account to God for what we have done in our lives.
Yes it is true that by the grace of God believers in Jesus will not be condemned. But we will have to give account to God for what we have done with our lives. In HEB 4:13 we read “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account”.

The reality is we have all sinned and our heads would also hang in shame if our sins were laid bare before the world.
Some people are angry because they believe Oscar is not getting what he deserves. But what if we got what we deserve? Remember God ordained that the wages of sin be death and God paid the price the law demanded on our behalf.
RO 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.


BUT WHY WOULD GOD DO THAT?
Why would God save a motley bunch like us?
PS 144:3 O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? These amazing words appear 5 times in various books of the Bible.
The Bible tells us that it is because “He so loved us!”   God did what He did for love’s sake! Nothing more nothing less! God loves you and God loves me and all people everywhere and will do whatever it takes to save us.
We are commanded to love God with all our hearts and our minds and our strength and yet He does not want our love to be insincere. But God knows that once we discover what it means to be loved by Him we will love naturally love Him in return. We will want to please Him, not because we must but because can.

“WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOVE GOD? 
It has been said that love is “the will to do good .To love someone is to “promote their good for their own sake”.  This definition covers all loves. The love between a man and a woman, the love between a parent and child the love between friends and our love for God! I am not talking about cupboard love! The kind of love that does good in order to promote one’s own good! This is not really love is it? I call that pure skullduggery!

Paul said “without love we “are” nothing and we “gain” nothing. All the deeds we do and all the things we say and all the accolades we receive are nothing to God unless they are outward expressions of an inner love for Him.
Because God is love, His will is naturally to promote our good for our own sake, and He proved that beyond doubt when He went to the cross on our behalf. There is absolutely nothing selfish in God’s love for you and me.
·      God does not desire revenge, or recompense He desires restoration and repentance.
·      God does not offer us a life that is easy He offers us a life that is eternal.
·      God does not expect us to be success in all things but requests obedience in everything.

AT THE HEART OF THE MATTER OF LOVE IS THE MATTER OF THE HEART. 
How do we move from reluctant obedience to joyful service to God? Our relationship with God is like any other love relationship; at the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
If you feel that your love for God does not inspire you and motivate you to “do good for His sake”, then it is time to take a long hard look at your heart. You might be surprised by what you find!
We know that our physical hearts struggle to operate as they should when our arteries are hardened and the same can be said for our spiritual hearts. 
Jesus says that (Luke 6:45) The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
By using the “analogy” of the human heart we can see that what goes into the heart affects what comes out of our hearts.

The condition of our hearts is directly affected (or infected) by our thoughts. Our thoughts can be compared to the arteries that feed the heart with blood, they have the capacity to channel both good and bad into our hearts.
Paul says in (Phillipians 4:8) … whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy --think about such things.
When we spend time thinking of the goodness of God, the beauty of His creation the hope we have in the many promises He has made, the inexplicable truth that He loves us and that He is with us every day, our hearts are stirred by the Holy Spirit, and love is able to flow into our hearts. The more our thoughts are filled with God the more we will love Him as he deserves to be loved.

This applies in our personal relationships too. When we look for the good in our fellow man rather than the bad it changes how we feel and in time how we act.
We might argue that we are justified in thinking and feeling the way we do about certain people in particular circumstances and that may well be true, but we cannot use that argument unless we are willing to concede that God would also be justified in condemning us for our sin rather than saving us. 
God has never said our sin doesn’t matter, but he has shown that it matters to Him that we are set free from the hold it has over us.
He has set us free to love and not to hate, to forgive and not to hold grudges, to be to Him and to others all that He is to us.

When we accept God’s invitation to receive a “new life” in Jesus it is so important that we let the baggage we have collected along the way go. The kind of baggage we collect includes un-forgiveness, jealousy, greed, envy, malice, hate, prejudice and there are more.
There is no room in a believer’s thoughts for these things because like diseased arteries, they will most certainly will slowly but surely kill any chance of their hearts producing the fruit of the Spirit, the best of which is love. Love for God and love for each other.
The most lethal of all “bad baggage” is un-forgiveness. It provides a perfect seedbed for other ungodly thoughts and feelings. As the story in Matthew showed, to refuse to forgive others is as irresponsible as a heart patient refusing treatment.

I began this morning with a conversation about the Oscar Pretorius trial because it graphically revealed to me the spiritual “fall out” of the opposite to love which is malice.
As disciples of Jesus it is our spiritual responsibility to take measures to prevent our hearts from being seed beds of hostility. If we sincerely want to grow in our love and commitment to God we must make a conscious decision to allow God, and not the world, to shape our hearts and minds.
Paul said that must “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

I do not want to over simplify what it takes to change the way we think. We cannot stop thoughts from entering our minds, but we can decide what to do with them when they arrive there. A bird might land on your head but you don’t let it make a nest there. Taking charge of our thoughts and feelings is like taming a wild horse. It is hard work but with patience and determination and discernment they eventually submit to the one who is their master. Who is the master of your mind?

I want to encourage, or perhaps go as far as to say “challenge you” to take some time this week to sit alone with God and prayerfully allow Him to help you to sift through what lies beneath the surface in your hearts and in your mind. Perhaps there are hurts you are holding on to that are hindering your love and commitment to God.
Is there anything that needs to go? Addiction? Regret? Anger? Hate? Greed? Vengeance?  Jealousy? Fear? ………
Allow God help you. He is able to do more than you can imagine. Be assured, He will fill those empty spaces that are left behind with more and more of His amazing and everlasting love.

HOME GROUP DISCUSSION NOTES
READ DEUT 30:15-20
Today we look at the subject of love in its broadest sense. Love for God and love for each other. Dallas Willard in his book “Renovation of the heart” says this about love. “We love someone when we promote their good for their own sake”. 
·      Discuss ways in which we “promote the good” of those we to love, for their sake.
·       In what particular way do you prefer your loved ones to “promote your good” for your sake? (Be specific here! This is not a spiritual question?)

It’s easy to be affectionate and generous towards those whom we love but doing this for God and people that we do not know (or even like) is not so easy.
·      Why do think this is so?
·      What attracts you, or prevents you, from developing loving relationships?
·      How does God’s love differ from ours in this respect? Read Romans 5:1-8

God has commanded us to love as He loves but we struggle when our hearts and minds are focused more on the things of the world than they are on the things of God. This hinders our spiritual growth and our hearts remain hardened towards God and others. 
·      What can we do to change this? (Phil 4:8-13)
·      In what ways can we “promote” God’s good for His sake?