
Series that seeks to answer the following set of questions by learning from the very first Christians as they made their way in the Roman Empire: In a nonChristian culture, how can we live faithfully and boldly, how can we be distinctive, and how can we best represent and proclaim Christ?
Video Message | Resources |
Week 1: Fear God and Honor the Emperor | Monday Memo notes Explore More this Week 1) Interested in learning more about the sister passage to 1st Peter 2.13-17 found in Romans 13? Here’s a doctoral student at Duke Divinity School walking you through our peculiar American Christian history of “obeying the government” (11 min. video): Does Romans 13 Say We Have to Obey the Government?. If you find her moderate evangelical point of view helpful, her book, from which this video is drawn, is excellent: Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here: Kaitlyn Schiess 2) Some questions worth your reflection this week: – Are you ready to celebrate our local, state, and federal officials when they champion policies and practices that mirror God’s own sense of right and wrong, good and bad, and are you ready to stand up, speak out, and advocate when they don’t? How will you do that? – Who are the “less thans” around you in your life that you can care for or empower in a way our culture does not? – If we are to “honor everyone,” who is someone you can esteem or value actively this week, perhaps someone who often goes unnoticed by others? – Is God your first and primary allegiance, above all others? How can that singular commitment inform or infuse all your other important commitments? – Are you flirting with the idolatry of politics, patriotism, and power so prevalent in our country right now? 3) Return a few times to the affirmation of faith we read at the end of the service about Jesus being the present Lord of all earthly Lords (from The Declaration of Faith, section 4.5, written in 1977): “We declare that Jesus is Lord. His resurrection is a decisive victory over the powers that deform and destroy human life. His lordship is hidden. The world appears to be dominated by people and systems that do not acknowledge his rule. But his lordship is real. It demands our loyalty and sets us free from the fear of all lesser lords who threaten us. We maintain that ultimate sovereignty now belongs to Jesus Christ in every sphere of life. Jesus is Lord’ He has been Lord from the beginning. He will be Lord at the end. Even now he is Lord.” |
Week 2: Kingdom Past, Present, and Future | Monday Memo notes Spend A Week Focused on God’s Kingdom – Want to do a little reading in the Old Testament about God being the rightful King of the whole earth and every nation therein? Most of the psalms between Ps. 93 and 99 focus on that very topic: Psalm 93 NRSVUE Psalm 95 NRSVUE Psalm 96 NRSVUE Psalm 97 NRSVUE Psalm 99 NRSVUE – Scatter these excellent short devotionals about God’s Kingdom throughout your week: Signs of God’s Reign What a Kingdom Cat Brains Mundanity and Messes No More of This! – Come back to the affirmation of faith about God’s Kingdom that we used at the end of yesterday’s service; use it as a focus on your prayer and journaling: The Declaration of Faith, 9.5 10.2, and 10.5 Jesus announced the coming of God’s kingdom and its hidden presence in the midst of the world’s kingdoms. He taught His disciples to seek God’s kingdom first. We are in the world, but not of the world. Our confidence and hope for ourselves and other people does not rest in the powers and achievements of this world, but in the coming and hidden presence of God’s kingdom. Christ calls each of us to a life appropriate to God’s kingdom: to serve as He has served us, to risk the consequences of faithful discipleship, to walk by faith and not by sight, and to hope for what we have not seen. In Christ God gave us a glimpse of the new creation God has already begun and will surely finish. We do not yet see the end of cruelty and suffering in the world, the church, or our own lives. But we see Jesus as Lord. As He stands at the center of our history, we are confident He will stand at its end. In Christ the new world has already broken in and the old can no longer be tolerated. Hope gives us courage and energy to contend against all opposition, however invincible it may seem, for God’s new world and humanity are surely coming. Jesus is Lord! Amen! |
Week 3: Untangled in a Tangled World | Monday Memo notes Dig More Deeply This Week 1) Do a little more reading this week about the pervasive negative impact that our world can have on us: – Romans 12.2 NRSVUE;MSG – John 1:9-11 NRSVUE;MSG – John 15:19 NRSVUE;MSG – Ephesians 2.1-3 NRSVUE;MSG – Ephesians 2.11-13 NRSVUE;MSG – Colossians 2:8 NRSVUE;MSG 2) Keep in focus this week the three prayer prompts we used at the end of the sermon; do a little journaling about them, pray about them, talk to a trusted friend about them: Ask God to help you see and acknowledge how you’ve been influenced negatively by your culture and places (in the ways described during the sermon) Ask God to give you the courage to enter or continue the spiritual migration away from these negative influences. Ask God to show you one specific, small place in your life where you need to be healed and renewed. 3) Do a little reading about how culture invariably shapes and impacts us, often in ways we don’t perceive…the last link is to a guide used to introduce international students to American culture, which in turn may open your own eyes to things we assume are normative but in actuality are not or come with perils all their own: Culture: How it influences all of us culture has a profound influence on human behavior. It shapes our values, beliefs, and norms, which in turn guide our thoughts, feelings, and actions. How Culture Affects the Way We Think – Association for Psychological Science american-culture-guide.pdf |
Week 4: When Good is Called Evil | Monday Memo notes Explore More this Week – Pay attention this week to how our country seems upside down morally, and/or how different prominent voices within or features of our culture deride the values we’re taught by Jesus. What evils are we calling good, and what good do we call evil (Isaiah 5.20)? – Want to read more about the “desires of the flesh,” that most fascinating New Testament turn of phrase for those inherited traits that so plague human beings?: Gal 5.16-26 NRSVUE;MSG 1 John 2.15-17 NRSVUE;MSG Romans 13.11-14 NRSVUE;MSG – If you wanted to take a deeper dive into how our evolutionary history deeply impacts the choices human beings make, you could read these: Human Behavior and Evolutionary Psychology How Hardwired Is Human Behavior? – Linger with this reading we used to introduce Communion yesterday, one inspired by an expanded paraphrase of The Beatitudes (Matthew 5.1-11) by J. B. Phillips in the 1950s…it contrasts the good of Jesus with what the world around us often values: “The world declares that the proud will rule the world; Jesus Christ declares the poor in spirit will inherit the Kingdom of God. The world proclaims that we should avoid sadness at all costs; Jesus Christ proclaims that those who mourn will be comforted. The world is ruled by those who demand their way and won’t take no for an answer; Jesus Christ taught that the meek will inherit the earth. The world excuses injustice and tells us that the ways things are is good enough; Jesus Christ told us that those who hunger and thirst for God’s good justice will be filled. The world decrees that you get what you deserve and that there is a line you can cross from which you cannot be restored; Jesus Christ decreed that the merciful will receive mercy. The world is superficial, far more concerned with appearance than substance; Jesus Christ reminds us that the pure in heart will see God. The world demonstrates that you can only get what you want if you fight for it, and the winner really does take it all; Jesus Christ insists that peacemakers will be called the children of God. The world says that suffering is never a good outcome and it’s better to go along and get along; Jesus Christ asserts that those who are willing to be persecuted for righteousness will find a home in the Kingdom of heaven.” |
Week 5: The Burning Coals of Nonviolence | Monday Memo notes Explore More this Week 1) Spend a week immersed in the scriptures about nonviolence, loving enemies, etc.: Leviticus 19.18 Exodus 23.4-5 Proverbs 20.22 Proverbs 25.21-22 Matthew 5.38-48 John 18.36 Romans 12.9-21 1 Thessalonians 5.15 1 Peter 3.9 2) Scatter these devotionals throughout your week, the last of which includes a simple yet powerful prayer exercise: So That You’re Braver than You Believe God’s Campaign Slogans Pray for those Who Persecute You 3) You may want to read or mull Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s six principles of nonviolence, in which you’ll find many of the principles we explored yesterday: Terrorism Violent Extremism Six Principles of Non-Violence 4) Pastor Chris mentioned that this current series, “Shine Like Stars,” isn’t meant to cover every single way that the first Christians were distinct and different in the best possible way in their world. In fact, this series is intentionally not covering ground that we did in an earlier series a couple of years ago entitled “Ancient Future Mission,” in which we talked about loving those nearest to us in our lives and inviting nonChristians to come and belong in our church community before they believe like we do. You can revisit that series here, if you like: Sermon Series “Ancient Future Mission” |
Week 6: | Monday Memo notes |
Week 7: | Monday Memo notes |