The Checklist

Introduction

We’re continuing with Galatians. As we study this book we’re asking questions like: 1. What were the circumstances surrounding Paul’s letter? 2. What was happening in Galatia that made the letter necessary? 3. Why was Paul so fired up? 4. What was really at stake?

These are good questions to ask of any of Paul’s letters. Finding the answers brings new meanings to the books.

Last week you’ll remember the issue was Galatia thought this new faith was a little to easy..surely they needed to DO something to stay in it...they were only complicating things by adding to it.

They were wondering how they fit into this new Christian church and what they were going to have to do to be a part of this group of Christ-followers.

It seems like there are many times in my life that I try to be something I’m not. It’s not like this happens by accident either. I do it because I want to fit in in a way I don’t already. I can especially remember myself being this way in high school, but it hasn’t really changed. I feel like I’ve done that in college, out in the working world, and even here at church. You know how this goes, if you think acting a certain way, talking a certain way, liking a certain thing will get you acceptance by a certain group of people, then you morph a little bit in order to get into that group.

Lots of things will motivate you to do this. Organizations, groups of friends, girls. I’ve definitely changed for a girl. (Gina) I’ve definitely changed for an organization (Corps, PwC) For many of you this might be seen as a good thing, I mean, when you interview for a job later in life, you’re really trying to convince that company that you’re the right person for the job, whether you really are or not.

In most cases, hindsight tells you that you shouldn’t have changed, but you were so intent on changing in order to get the approval and the consideration you craved.

Tension

A lot of us probably know that feeling. It’s a rare person that’s not familiar with that drive inside that’s willing to do nearly anything to fit in, to feel accepted. Maybe with that guy you really like, or that group you really want to be a part of. Maybe we even feel it here in church. Maybe you feel like you have to act a certain way, or talk a certain way, or be a certain way and we’ll fit in at church...some of that is ok, but it doesn’t end there...

Because sometimes when we make that change, and then we get into that group and we turn things around and make it difficult to be accepted. Once you get that group of friends, you don’t anyone else to be able to earn it. We make boundaries and draw an exclusive circle around our little group that makes it really hard for others to get in.

Honestly, what we’re all looking for is to be loved and accepted unconditionally. I don’t know about you, but I rarely receive that people, and I rarely give that to other people either. It’s just not typical in our world.

Maybe, deep down, we believe that if stayed just like we are, we wouldn’t be accepted anywhere. We are constantly living with this level of expectation put on us...fit in, adjust, become who you’re expected to be, wherever you are.

Admitting that feels kind of personal, doesn’t it? It makes us vulnerable to always have to fit in...so we deflect that pressure, and make it harder for others as well. Make someone else fit in. We don’t want to feel that pressure, but we’re quick to put it on other people. It’s a double standard, but it plays out all the time in our world.

Truth

Last week you learned a little about the Galatians story. What do you remember?

This week we’re going to dig a little deeper. We’re going to hear the words ‘Jew’ and ‘Gentile’ over and over. They don’t mean much to us today, but they were loaded words back then.

Jews - 1. Had a very specific worldview 1. considered themselves chosen, with good reason 2. had a divine heritage 1. very proud of Abraham, Moses, David, etc 3. Very rich history and they’re rightfully proud of that. 2. God set them apart to give them his Law 3. Messiah would come from their lineage

Gentiles - 1. Anyone that wasn’t a Jew is a Gentile 1. In the Jew’s eyes, all Gentiles are pagans, with no religion, no legacy of faith, no sense of right and wrong 2. As a result, there’s some tension between the two groups

This new church for a worshiping a Jewish man was filled with former Jews and Gentiles. The two groups used to have nothing in common now trust in the same saviour. The Jews are thinking: how Jewish is this new Faith going to be?

This conflict showed up in several different ways.

1. Food
   1. Jews couldn’t eat pork, shellfish or food sacrificed to idols
   2. Should these laws now move over to the Gentiles?
   3. Should the Jews forget their old laws and eat whatever they want

That was one problem, the bigger one was a lot more personal than food, and a lot more complicated.

1. Circumcision was the practice in question.
   1. Was it still necessary for little Jewish babies to be circumcised?
   2. Was it necessary for Gentile MEN to be circumcised now?
   3. Should this be a requirement for this new religion?...if so you were going to have a bunch of former Jews and Gentile women!

You can see how this was getting complicated? For the Jews they were in jeopardy of physically losing something that set them apart. To suggest that it was not necessary felrt like a punch in the gut...or lower. Their history no longer mattered.

On the other hand the Gentiles didn’t want to take part in something that they had no history in. But if they didn’t do it, they didn’t fit in. Can you feel the pressure they felt?

Paul immediately saw this was a problem and is really trying to clear it up. Unity was necessary, not division.

Someone read Gal 6:15

Paul leaves little doubt. Circumcision is not to be used to get people in or keep people out. The point is a new way and in this way, ALL ARE WELCOME

Someone read Gal 3:26-28

This is Paul getting rid of ALL the categories, extending Jesus to everyone, literally everyone.

• What is your reaction to hearing now equal we are when it comes to our standing before God?
• Do you act and treat other followers of Christ like this is the case?

The Gentiles were just looking to fit in. The Jews were just looking for a way that was familiar...both were looking for acceptance. They didn’t realize that acceptance comes a lot easier than any of them thought. No practice, no rule, no standard. Just Jesus.

That unconditional love they’re looking for? It’s in Jesus alone.

Application

So what does all of this have to do with us? Thankfully, the issue today is no longer circumcision. But the principle is the same. Sometimes we feel like if we do certain things then it makes us more “IN” with God. We’re being just as divisive and wrong as the Galatians were.

• What are some ways we create new barriers today, keeping people from fitting in?

These are ways of us deciding who can have access to Jesus and who can’t!

We know exactly how both the Jews and the Gentiles were feeling, right? We are willing to do some crazy things to feel like we belong because we think we have to and that’s how the world has always operated.

Jesus does NOT operate this way. Paul wouldn’t stop spreading the mesage that Jesus is totally inclusive and accepting. Paul says that None of That Stuff Matters!

Chances are there is something that makes you feel like you don’t belong...even here where everyone is supposed to belong, maybe it’s clothes, or a different school, or different friends or interests.

Chances are there is something about you that makes others feel like they don’t belong too.

With all of us working so hard to fit in and to keep others from fitting in, it all starts to get a little uncomfortable. Paul has news for you though. God has news for you. His love for us isn’t based on any of that stuff. Our faith in Jesus makes us all ONE.

WWJD bracelets, fish car stickers. Go from thinking they’re kind of dumb, kind of cool, I want one, I have one. What you don’t have one?! There’s a new boundary and category for acceptance.

Music. Vote. Worship. Read. Bible version. We start to label, draw lines. We separate in our minds who stays in and who stays out when it comes to God.

Have any of you seen this played out at church? School? Friendships?

At its most basic, what is a Christian? Why do we add to that?

Landing

It’s really easy to point fingers here. But that’s just shifting the blame isn’t it? Taking the focus off myself is part of the problem.

We live in a culture that already divides us? How?

Paul is saying the church is one place where labels shouldn’t exist. We are called to be part of a community that is united in our conviction that Christ has died for our sins, he has risen, and he will come again. What else do we need, really? The cross makes the ground level.

Some of you may have been on the receiving end of some of these conditions. Someone might have told you or shown you that you need more than Jesus. Whether you created them, or got victimized...Paul says that the divisions aren’t true.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, we are all one. We are all sons and daughters of God. We all fit.

What would a church look like if the categories were eliminated? What some ways we, as a church can work at making everyone feel more accepted. Small group? What can you do personally to make others feel more accepted?

Read Galatians this week. Be aware of how you label other people and create un-needed barriers.

Jesus +

Introduction

Jigsaw puzzles - anybody good at them? The big 1000 piece things. What’s the point of a jigsaw puzzle?

It’s cool to put together small parts of the puzzle and see how the pieces come together to create a small picture, then a bit bigger picture, then a bit bigger and then...

Is is easier or harder to do the jigsaw puzzle if you can’t see what the finished puzzle will look like? That’s the big picture.

The Galatians were trying really hard to put a puzzle together. Have you ever read Galatians before? We’re studying it for the next few weeks. It’s a fascinating book that covers the basics of Christianity, which is what Paul specialized in.

The Galatians needed Paul to help them put the puzzle together and see the big picture.

Tension

How did the early church operate? It was a small group of people, no Bibles, no church model, no camps, maybe no pastor/teachers to explain every issue of Christianity to them.

They knew this: Jesus had been alive, he died on a cross and then he rose from the dead. Paul’s “job” was to travel all over the world to these small groups of people and help them get the big picture and then help them figure out what that meant to them personally.

• How did he do that? (Visits and Letters)

Here we are 2000 years later and we really like to think we’ve got it all figured out...look at all we have now...most of you have several Bibles, teachers, a thriving church to teach you and disciple you. TBH we think we’ve got it all figured out. Most of us in this room have a theology degree compared to the average early church member.

As good as we think we are...Paul’s going to mess with us while he messes with the Galatians. He’s going to put the puzzle together for us and it may not look exactly how you thought it was supposed to look. He’s going to cast the vision and then help us make it a reality in our lives....all the advantages we have over the early church members don’t mean squat if we’re focusing on the wrong big picture.

Truth

• What was the main problem for the early church members in Galatia after Paul’s visit? (Here’s a hint, have a look at Gal 1:6-7)
• Anybody know what this other non-Gospel might have been? (Judaism)
• How did this sneak in? There were lots of questions about the faith early on and no one had the New Testament for the answers...sometimes when we’re faced with things that we’re not quite sure about, we drop back to things that we’re comfortable with...many of the new Jesus followers were converts from Judaism.
• Somebody tell us a little about the Jewish faith please.
• Why do you think Paul got so fired up about this issue? (He was a Pharisee...they added a LOT of extra laws to the faith.)

No one could agree about how the Law related to this new faith, besides, they weren’t all Jewish converts. It had gotten back to the Galatians that they had to accept Jesus AND follow the law.

The law itself isn’t bad...don’t murder, don’t steal, etc. But following the law just made you realize how bad you were because you couldn’t do it...it was just foreshadowing for a larger story, a bigger picture.

This fired Paul up. Jesus’ message was that of acceptance, unconditional acceptance, made possible by his death on the cross. Period, end of story.

• Someone please read Galatians 2:16.
• We knkow very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it - and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good. (MSG)

Does it get any clearer? Paul says we tried, and we failed and now there is a better way. Leave the failure behind!

• Wh do you think it is so easy for us to think rule-keeping is a way for us to get approved by God?

• Why is it so hard to simply believe that Jesus as Messiah is enough?

• Someone read Gal 3:2-5 for me please.

• What is Paul saying? Do we need anything other than the Gospel? Are you sure?

Application

We may not call it the law, but I think a lot of us would admit to times when it’s just easier for us to count on Jesus AND something else...sometimes such a simple thing doesn’t seem so simple.

• Do you have a hard time with this today?
• Do you have a hard time believing that nothing you do or don’t do, say or don’t say, think or don’t think could keep you from the work Jesus did on the cross?

When we add to the gospel, it’s our way of saying: “Thanks for being willing to die and everything Jesus...but I just don’t think it’s enough to get me to You. I think I have I have to believe in you AND

• have a quiet time seven days a week
• go on a mission trip twice a year
• give all my babysitting money to the Cross fund
• never curse
• never think lustful thoughts
• What else? What are some other rules people following Christ live by? Explain France.

We may never say it just like that, but do you see what I mean? Can you imagine what that must sound like to Jesus? - Have you ever thought about adding stuff to the gospel and how that LESSENS the value of what Jesus did on the cross?

Jesus doesn’t care about all of that stuff...we shouldn’t either!

Those of us who are believers in Christ cannot get hung up on this stuff. We have to get this right. We need to hold on very tightly to the big picture, and very loosely to the methods that get us there.

What is the big picture? This IS the big picture: WE NEED TO REMEMBER WHAT JESUS DID FOR US, AND KNOW THAT IT IS ENOUGH.

Landing

For a lot of us here today, we need to learn how to simply believe. How to rest in what God has already done on our behalf.

We need to throw out all the rules that we think will get us there and go instead for the big picture vision - A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.

Jesus fulfilled the Law for exactly this purpose, to make it easy, simple, and accessible to everyone. The hard work has already been done, all we need to do is believe!

If you need to talk about it...

This is good news! Jesus has come, freed us

Jesus is the big picture, if he alone is what we are aiming for we’ll find freedom everytime.

Challenge

• What does it look like to live in such a way so that what Jesus di on the cross is enough?
• What does it look like to trust his sacrifice and not try to do anything to earn our forgiveness or to get in good with God?
• Is that what your life looks like?
• Read Galatians this week, the whole book, it’s not long.

We - September 2, 2012

Introduction

We took a vacation this summer. We went to the beach. Those first few days at the beach feel like nothing else. The sun is warm, the water is blue, my feet are in the sand, total relaxation. It almost feels like I could live there and just relax forever.

3 days later...the sun is too hot, the water is too rough, I’ve got sand everywhere and I really can’t relax anymore.

Too much of a good thing is just too much, period.

Any of you know what I mean?
Did you have things you did this summer that got old?
Did you spend time with people this summer that got old?

Those people start to annoy you...a lot. Too much of anything gets old after a while.

Sometimes it’s not just one person either. Sometimes it’s everybody, right? Everybody is getting on your nerves. So you disengage, you hole up in your room and turn on some music and just stay away.

In truth, sometimes life seems a lot easier without people around.

Eventually even that gets old though...

A part of us still craves that tension of learning to live in relationships with people despite how difficult and trying people can be.

Tension

How many different ways can you think of to communicate with other people?
- Text
- Email
- phone
- face to face
- FaceBook
- MySpace
- instant messaging
- Twitter
What do all of these examples tell us about ourselves?  (We want to relate to each other)

Still, with all of these connections, we still need someone around every now and then.

At our core, we all long to connect. We all want to belong. We’re desperate for contact with other people. We desire relationship. God CREATED us to connect with others. You can feel it when you walk into the cafeteria at school, alone. You feel it when you get on the bus looking for the person who might have saved you a seat. How many of you compulsively check email, Twitter and Facebook? Why? Because your looking to see who reached out to you.

We want people who know us, really get us. That need is deep within you. God put it there!

We not only need a relationship with God, but we need relationship with others.

Truth

We’re going to see that God gave us that desire today.

“In the beginning” - what book? Most of you can tell me which book along with a lot of the details about that book.
“It is good” - how many times does God say that in Genesis 1 and 2?

Someone read Genesis 2:4-7

For the next 11 verses God is alone. Describe his life though, sounds pretty sweet right?

Do you think Adam complained?  
What would God have said if he did?

Adam may not have known that he was alone, but God did, God knew Adam needed something more. So what does God do?

Someone read Genesis 2:18-23

No other creature could give Adam what he needed. It is good, it is good, it is good. Whoa, wait a minute, it is NOT good. Loneliness, alone-ness is NOT GOOD. Adam needs a friend, somebody who really ‘gets’ him. Adam needed something more.

He got it.

Application

Like we talked about, sometimes you really don’t want this community. No parents, no drama, no chores. We could just escape. But it doesn’t stay that way. Eventually we realize it not what we want.

1990, Christopher McCandless was a recent graduate from Emory university...set out for a quest of independence. He changed his name, cut of contact with his family, donated all of his savings to charity, abandoned his car.

Inspired by writers like Jack London and Henry David Thoreau, he set off for the wilderness. Seeking the ultimate freedom and a pure union with nature. He hitchhiked, journeyed all over, finally ended up in the wilds of Alaska. He brought 10 pounds of rice, a .22 rifle, ammunition, camera, camping gear and a journal. No map, no compass. Alone.

Chris lasted 112 days out in the wilderness. He had been dead for 20 days when some moose hunters found his body in early September 1990. He either starved to death or ate something that was poisonous on accident. We can’t do this alone. Into the Wild(1996) by Jon Krakauer writes about him. At the end of his life, Chris started to realize his need for people. Just days before dying he wrote this: “An unshared happiness is not happiness...happiness is only real when shared.” He had tried to get back civilization just a couple of days earlier but realized he was lost, and trapped by a raging river too cold to swim. He confessed to being scared, afraid, and...LONELY.

We need other people. That doesn’t make us weak, it makes us human.

Following Jesus Christ was never meant to be a completely personal, private thing.

We were meant to stumble through this with other people, learning about Him, them and us while we do it.

Is this just having friends?

Community is not just having friends, it’s having a group of people that really know you, not just your name, but who you are. They know the things you want them to see and the things you don’t want them to see. They know what scares you and they know what you charge through.

Gina needs food
I need time alone

This is what God had in mind when he made Eve for Adam. Not just a spouse, but someone to really get him. He created community.

How do you think community is different from  a clique? (similar, different)
What’s the difference between having a ton of friends on FaceBook and having community?
If you were God, why would you want people to live in community?  What might be some benefits?

These is a spectrum here: - Some of you don’t think you need it. You can handle it on your own. People are more trouble then they’re worth, so you stay removed. - Some of you have tried it in the past and things got ugly. Things were good and then they got really painful, people said things or did things that hurt.
- Some of you feel like you have community just because you love being around people. You are with them all the time. Everyone signs your yearbook and is in your phone. You think you have community but no one really knows you. No one has permission to dig deep in your life. No one knows your insecurities or your fears. Even though you’re surrounded by people, loneliness is close by. You can be around people all the time and still feel alone.

No matter where you are on the spectrum, the point is that we are all the same and that we need community.

Right relationships, community and intimacy with people who truly know us - that is what God had in mind, that is what God says is good.

Landing

Where are you when it comes to community? Scared? Searching? On the fence? A lot of where you are on the spectrum comes down to your personality and how you are with people.
What comes to mind when you hear that God did not create you to live in isolation?

If you’re alone, it isn’t good.
If you have been burned by people, it isn’t good. If you think you can handle high school and life beyond alone, it isn’t good, You need a helper, and when you don’t have one you’ll notice that something is missing.

Today we need to agree that we need other people.

If you don’t believe this or don’t have this, know that it’s holding you back from knowing God on a deeper level.

Challenge

How do we get real community going in our class? Youth group? Church? Town? You’ve got to start somewhere!

Collisions - August 26, 2012

Ground rules

• This is a safe place, treat it with respect, no Facebook or trashing of someone else in school this week
• You don’t have to be here every week, but when you’re here, be completely present. Leave the drama outside, and bring your brain in the room
• If you have a Bible, bring it. Don’t rely on your phone, I’m very guilty of this but it’s too easy to get involved in other things on your phone.
• Speak up! This will be really boring for all of us if it’s just me standing up here talking for an hour each week. I’m working in lots of questions so please answer them as best you can. I intend to learn from you as well!

Collide

Introduction

Words are powerful. One of the things you’re going to learn about me this year is that I LOVE words. Some of my favorite words are the ones whose sounds capture what they mean.

Onomatopoeia - BUZZ, BARK, VIOLENT, FLOWER, what if the meanings were reversed?!

Anyway, one of those is COLLIDE.

- When you hear the word COLLIDE what kinds of things come to mind?   
- Is this a positive word to you or a negative one?  
- What are some bad collisions? (Cars, concussions)
- What are some good collisions? (Waves on the beach, ideas)

Powerful word, but not inherently bad. It’s really about the power to change.

When two things collide, one of those objects will change.

• small collisions, small changes - when I collide with someone a lot like me or just in passing, there’s not much change
• big collisions, big changes - when I collide with Gina, or a child...bigger changes

CHANGE feels better than COLLIDE. Obama got elected on the word change. We spend a lot of time in church talking about how to change, read verses about it, sing songs about it, pray prayers, join youth groups about it. All of us can identify things in our life that we’d like to change.

- Corny joke: 4 frogs sitting on a log, 3 decide to jump off, how many left?
- Is easier to change or to talk about changing?  Why?
- What are some things about you that you wish you change?  Think internally
- What is keeping you from making those changes?

Deciding to change doesn’t make the change, you have to collide with something to change.

Tension

- What could you possibly collide with this week?
    - Those possibilities determine the change that is available to you.
- Every day God gives you things to collide with... 
    - What would happen if you said yes and started colliding with everything?

Truth

Jesus collided with people all of the time. Sometimes that change is good, sometimes not, but there is always a change when you encounter Jesus.

Sometimes they get a brand new perspective, a brand new body, or a brand new start. This woman got all three! This story is found in all three Gospels, but we’re looking at Luke today.

Someone read Luke 8:40-48

• “Power has gone out of me”
• Luke is a doctor, no one could help this woman. Lost cause?
• 12 years?! How could she even move?
• What did she have to overcome to find and get to Jesus?
• She knew her condition wouldn’t change without a COLLISION

Application

This woman gets something very important: Regardless of what is at stake, our reservations, our fears, our concerns, if we let those things rule us and guide our actions, then we are in danger of missing out.

- What would this woman have missed out on had she decided not to collide with Jesus?
- What would we be missing out on if we don’t collide?

You have to put yourself in the position to be changed...or collide.

Be intentional about colliding. What does colliding look like for us? Does it have to be a big move?

Why do you think we tend to want to stay the same instead of changing?

If we don’t collide, we don’t change. Nothing will

Landing

We need a collision to get where we want to go. If we don’t, things will stay the same, and that isn’t healthy. Look at what this woman, what if she hadn’t collided?

You weren’t meant to be the same forever...you’re meant to change, be changed, and change others. You need to collide. Starting now.

What are some circumstances we need to work at putting yourself in, in order to really collide this coming week?