I put all the questions left in this session here because I will be out of town for the rest of the week. Hope all will make sense to you. Deb I am enjoying your comments. they really make me think.
I wonder if anyone else is reading and not posting or if you and I are the only ones reading? Oh well, happy studying. WaynO
3. Is it not possible to achieve meaning, purpose, and peace through two avenues at the same time—accumulating wealth and serving God? Why, or why not?
4. Do you know people who seem to have found the meaning and purpose the rich young ruler who talked to Jesus was seeking? If so. describe their thinking and behavior patterns.
5. In what ways do churches offer opportunities for finding meaning and purpose? Do some congregations offer more of these opportunities than others? If so. what makes the difference?
6. Are there sections in this chapter with which you strongly disagree? Why?
7. Did one of the ideas in this chapter grab your attention as an important insight for you to consider in your own spiritual growth journey?
The Proteus Pressure
The Greeks, not having the benefit of modern psychology, explained many of life's complexities through mythology. Among their many gods was one named Proteus, who could change himself into any shape to meet any situation. If you could hang on to him. he would grant you any wish. But one moment he was a raging bull and the next a flame of fire, so he was not a reliable God. On our way to find meaning and purpose, we all meet Proteus. He offers us a turnoff that looks like an interstate highway but leads into a meaningless marsh. Paul, like Jesus. warned us about Proteus: "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity" (Romans 12:2. J.B. Phillips).
When the empire he had built on fraud was starting to collapse. Billy Sol Estes told a friend that he had made a deal with God at the start of his business career. He had promised to do everything for God's glory, but he had broken his part of the deal and his world was falling apart.16 Shortly. Estes went to prison for life. For most of us. however, the Proteus temptation is not that obvious. Our choices are seldom between extreme good and extreme evil. Few of us are tempted to rob a bank or commit computer larceny. Rather, we are tempted to settle for a good thing instead of the best thing. We are tempted to become good money managers rather than good life managers.
Bishop Gerald Kennedy said that the great heresy of our time is the belief that getting can substitute for being. He noted that our heroes are not philosophers but manipulators who help us believe that if we can get enough "stuff together, we can do without character.' When that procedure fails, as it always does, we try to arrest our long fall into the pit of despair with a net of alcohol, or cocaine, or Xanax. or work. Defining our major problem as stress—pain coming from outside ourselves—can be an unconscious way of denying that we have a spiritual thirst that money cannot assuage.
The friend of a pastor scoffed at the pastor's stupidity in deciding to spend his life serving others. Years later, someone heard the friend, who became quite wealthy through his business successes, say at the pastor's funeral. "Oh. God. I have worked for the wrong world! I wish I had seen it sooner!" The British wit Oscar Wilde was expressing the same truth when he noted that two tragedies can befall us—not to get what we want, or to get it.
Proteus helps us get what we want. But if what we want ends up being the wrong thing. Proteus cannot help us fix it.
We often think that if we could get out of debt and have enough security to face the future without fear, we would feel that we "have it made." But would we?
C. William Nichols suggests that most of us need to take a warning from the rich young ruler, whose estate was enormous but who one day found himself "running after a penniless vagabond preacher, confessing that his life was empty." In our sober moments, between the frequent times when we are preoccupied with responding to pressures from Proteus, many of us know that feeling.
The Yearning to Be Free
Despite the temptation to make ourselves number one, rather than God, the evidence indicates that we know there is a better way. The rich young ruler's instinct is still alive among us. Studies by the Gallup Poll and other research institutions during the past several years indicate an intensified search for meaning in life. Materialism, while still a god, has been tested by many and found to be an insufficient God. Volunteerism is on the increase among Americans. We are finding better ways to express our personalities than through accumulating money. The fact that a method of stewardship called "Miracle Sunday" has during recent years raised more than a million dollars on one Sunday for renovation projects in large churches across the country and more than one hundred thousand dollars on one Sunday for renovation projects in several smalltown congregations across the country tells us that people want to give their lives to something besides a bank account.""
Deep within us all is the growing recognition that we are spiritual beings whose hunger for spiritual realities defies all efforts to crush it or feed it with houses, cars, gadgets, or trinkets. A lot of people have seen the bluebird of happiness up close. They enjoy a swimming pool, an expensive car. and the other amenities of a high standard of living. But after the new car smell wears off. life goes on. with the same emptiness as before. They see that a love affair with consumerism is not enough to fill the void. A religion of the mall is not the answer. And they ask themselves. "What is?
Breaking Out of the Proteus Prison
Jesus said an amazing thing on his way to Easter Sunday: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).
This is a hard saying, isn't it'? What can Jesus possibly mean? He made this statement just a few days before Palm Sunday. At the height of his career, the multitudes were following him everywhere, hanging on his every word. He was a famous man, drawing the kinds of crowds that world leaders do today. Everything was going right for him. But Jesus, who seems to have been seated at that moment at a dinner table where he had been invited by a wealthy Pharisee, said to his followers that if they wanted to be his disciples, they would have to hate the members of their family. How could Christ, a compassionate, loving man, be telling us not to love our family?
A story from several years ago pictures two little boys standing on the shore of a lake watching the first water skier they had ever seen. As the man sped across the lake behind the boat. Bobby said to the other boy. "Why does that boat go so fast?" His companion gave a logical answer: "I guess the man on the rope is chasin' him." What kind of relationship does a water skier have to the boat he or she follows? A good water skier gives total attention to the boat. Any distraction preventing the skier from seeing where the boat is going and following it must be rejected and hated. This is not because the distractions are bad in and of themselves—but because they could make the skier fall. If the skier waves too long at a friend on the beach, then looks around to see that the boat turned right a long way back, the skier could end up face-to-face with a cedar tree on a sandbar. That is surely what Jesus was getting at with his amazing remark. He was saying that if you let important responsibilities like family and work and money become the center of your attention instead of God—if you concentrate on them too much and too long—you will soon lose your ability to relate to God, and life will become meaningless.
This is surely one of the biggest problems Christians have today—not the temptation to reject Christ altogether, but the temptation to proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, then promptly substitute something else as the matter of first importance in their lives. Our problem is not that of the Jewish religious leaders, who rejected Jesus outright and tried to kill him. Our problem is that of the "almost disciples" who followed him gladly at the height of his career. They listened eagerly to his seashore sermons and after-dinner speeches, but promptly had other things to do when he asked them to become real disciples.
When Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning, he brought into our lives a whole new set of possibilities. He brought us the opportunity to live a life that transcends death, but also the possibility of living a life that transcends life as we know it. A pastor says that in younger years he always preached Easter sermons that tried to prove Jesus really is alive. In more recent years he has realized that this is not the question. Enough people have met Jesus face to face in the quiet Emmaus roads of their own lives that we know he is alive. The real question is? "How do I find that newness of life in my life that he made possible by his life?" "Follow me?" he said (Matthew 4:19). Will I? "Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's," he said (Luke 20:25). Will I?
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Okay, so stewardship is not the greatest thing in the world to talk about. It is however important in the life of a Christian, as it speaks so loudly about our faith. As I post the next part of the study (part 3) it occurs to me we don't often even address it on a personal level when we discuss it. The tendency is to point to someone or someplace other than ourselves.
As you move through this next portion try relating it to yourself. Put your name in the places where it asks us questions, put your life into the story where there are examples, become the question. Enough from me here is what Herb Miller has to say. WaynO
Bible Study/Discussion Possibilities
1. Matthew 19: 16-24 (the rich young ruler talks with Jesus)
2. Luke 20:19-26 (render what is appropriate to Caesar and to God)
Discovery Questions for Group Study
1. Do you think it is true that everyone has a deep yearning for meaning and purpose? Or is this need found only among high achievers who have unusual talents for bettering the world? Illustrate your opinion.
2. Have you known people who came to a turning point in their life where they seemed to be asking the same kind of question about how to find meaning and purpose that the rich young ruler asked? If so did their experience take the form of a "mid-life crisis." or did it seem more like what most people experience at the time of their initial conversion to Christ?
III Look Out for Number One
In his book. When All You 've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough. Harold Kushner tells about going to the funeral of a man his own age. He had not known the deceased well, but they had worked together and talk occasionally. They had children the same age. Two weeks after the funeral, it was as if the man's life had been a rock thrown into a pond, sending ripples for a moment, then gone. Someone else replaced him at the office, and the work went on. Kushner said that he could not sleep well for days afterward. He kept thinking that this would happen to him. He kept asking himself. "Shouldn't a person's life mean more than this?"'"1
Most of us. sooner or later, ask similar questions: "Am I worth anything? Docs my life have any lasting purpose and meaning? Most of us have an urge toward achievement. Most of us would like to make a positive impact on the lives of other people and on our world. If we do not feel that this is in some way happening, we tend to experience a sense of emptiness, low self-worth, futility, and sometimes even depression. The little card that came with a tiny sample vial advertising a new brand of aftershave lotion said. "Discover perfect harmony, fullness, and clarity."' Advertising agencies, knowing of our deep hunger for a meaningful existence, sell us everything from houses to soft drinks by touching that nerve.
Paul Tillich. in The Courage to Be. says that three different kinds of anxiety have predominated in different eras of history. In ancient civilizations, the chief anxiety was about fate and death. From that time through the Middle Ages, the primary anxiety was about guilt and condemnation. Now our anxieties center on emptiness and meaninglessness. Tillich may be right in broad terms, but the evidence indicates that emptiness anxiety is not totally new. That appears to be precisely the question a young man raised with Jesus 2000 years ago. He was religious. He was successful. He had wealth. But is that all there is? Isn't there something more'.'
Jesus answered the young man's question in a way that challenged his basic assumptions about how to find meaning and purpose: "If you wish to be perfect, go. sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: then come. follow me" (Matthew 19:21). Jesus's answer applies equally well to each of us. Our yearning for fulfillment and wholeness cannot be achieved in the way we expect. A sense of meaning, purpose, and peace is imperative. Yet we do not find it by setting sail toward the goal of meaning, purpose, and peace. We find it by doing God's will for our life.
No instinct is more natural than looking out for number one. but we easily become confused about who number one is. The real number one is God. We take care of ourselves best when we focus on God and God's will as number one. rather than by focusing on ourselves. That is why Jesus said, "...it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24). Wealth can influence us to inaccurately identify number one and thus misdirect our energies and commitments.
The question Jesus posed so graphically in his adv ice to the rich young ruler is one that each of us asks every day of our lives: Will I try to achieve meaning, purpose, and peace through managing my money well, or through, doing God's will for my life? As we answer that question, each of us tends to both believe and resist believing what Jesus indicated was the only rational choice. On one hand, we see that Jesus is right. On the other hand, we are constantly tempted to think and behave as if Jesus missed the turn on this issue. We feel constantly pressured to try to attain a sense of purpose and meaning by methods that do not work, while overlooking altogether the only method that does work.
As you move through this next portion try relating it to yourself. Put your name in the places where it asks us questions, put your life into the story where there are examples, become the question. Enough from me here is what Herb Miller has to say. WaynO
Bible Study/Discussion Possibilities
1. Matthew 19: 16-24 (the rich young ruler talks with Jesus)
2. Luke 20:19-26 (render what is appropriate to Caesar and to God)
Discovery Questions for Group Study
1. Do you think it is true that everyone has a deep yearning for meaning and purpose? Or is this need found only among high achievers who have unusual talents for bettering the world? Illustrate your opinion.
2. Have you known people who came to a turning point in their life where they seemed to be asking the same kind of question about how to find meaning and purpose that the rich young ruler asked? If so did their experience take the form of a "mid-life crisis." or did it seem more like what most people experience at the time of their initial conversion to Christ?
III Look Out for Number One
In his book. When All You 've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough. Harold Kushner tells about going to the funeral of a man his own age. He had not known the deceased well, but they had worked together and talk occasionally. They had children the same age. Two weeks after the funeral, it was as if the man's life had been a rock thrown into a pond, sending ripples for a moment, then gone. Someone else replaced him at the office, and the work went on. Kushner said that he could not sleep well for days afterward. He kept thinking that this would happen to him. He kept asking himself. "Shouldn't a person's life mean more than this?"'"1
Most of us. sooner or later, ask similar questions: "Am I worth anything? Docs my life have any lasting purpose and meaning? Most of us have an urge toward achievement. Most of us would like to make a positive impact on the lives of other people and on our world. If we do not feel that this is in some way happening, we tend to experience a sense of emptiness, low self-worth, futility, and sometimes even depression. The little card that came with a tiny sample vial advertising a new brand of aftershave lotion said. "Discover perfect harmony, fullness, and clarity."' Advertising agencies, knowing of our deep hunger for a meaningful existence, sell us everything from houses to soft drinks by touching that nerve.
Paul Tillich. in The Courage to Be. says that three different kinds of anxiety have predominated in different eras of history. In ancient civilizations, the chief anxiety was about fate and death. From that time through the Middle Ages, the primary anxiety was about guilt and condemnation. Now our anxieties center on emptiness and meaninglessness. Tillich may be right in broad terms, but the evidence indicates that emptiness anxiety is not totally new. That appears to be precisely the question a young man raised with Jesus 2000 years ago. He was religious. He was successful. He had wealth. But is that all there is? Isn't there something more'.'
Jesus answered the young man's question in a way that challenged his basic assumptions about how to find meaning and purpose: "If you wish to be perfect, go. sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: then come. follow me" (Matthew 19:21). Jesus's answer applies equally well to each of us. Our yearning for fulfillment and wholeness cannot be achieved in the way we expect. A sense of meaning, purpose, and peace is imperative. Yet we do not find it by setting sail toward the goal of meaning, purpose, and peace. We find it by doing God's will for our life.
No instinct is more natural than looking out for number one. but we easily become confused about who number one is. The real number one is God. We take care of ourselves best when we focus on God and God's will as number one. rather than by focusing on ourselves. That is why Jesus said, "...it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24). Wealth can influence us to inaccurately identify number one and thus misdirect our energies and commitments.
The question Jesus posed so graphically in his adv ice to the rich young ruler is one that each of us asks every day of our lives: Will I try to achieve meaning, purpose, and peace through managing my money well, or through, doing God's will for my life? As we answer that question, each of us tends to both believe and resist believing what Jesus indicated was the only rational choice. On one hand, we see that Jesus is right. On the other hand, we are constantly tempted to think and behave as if Jesus missed the turn on this issue. We feel constantly pressured to try to attain a sense of purpose and meaning by methods that do not work, while overlooking altogether the only method that does work.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Okay, so no one is complaiining at all about this so here is the new stuff. I haven't heard much on the blog so please sign in and share what you are thinking. I need to hear from all of you out there to help me and the others make some sense from what is here.
Happy reading WaynO
Counting on Providence
As two little girls counted their pennies, one said. "I have five. How many do you have9"
"Ten." the other answered.
"You don't! You just have five, the same as me." the first protested, pointing at the other girl's palm.
"No. 1 have five here, and my dad said he would give me five more when he gets home tonight." her friend said. "So that makes ten."
That little girl's answer summarizes in one sentence what Jesus said about the financial security of persons who maintain a strong prayer relationship with God. The poor woman Jesus observed giving the largest possible offering (all she had) at the temple did not expect to starve to death. She did not see herself as doing something rash. She gave generously because she knew there was more where that came from—God (Mark 12:41-44). Giving is not so much an act of generosity as it is an act of trust. We do not feel financially secure because we have: we feel secure because wre trust God to continue providing what we need.
Jesus at this point connected solidly with Old Testament faith: "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want" (Psalms 23:1). "I have been young and now am old. yet I 'nave not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread" (Psalms 37:25). With Jesus, as with the Old Testament prophets, the bottom-line question of financial security was not. "How much money do I have?" but "Arc we or are we not alone in the universe? Is there just us. or is there something more? Are we or are we not alone in this room'.' Is there just what we can see with our eyes and hear with our ears? Or. is there something more—something invisible, yet powerful and knowable—something that the generations before us have called God?" If we believe what Jesus said, that God is here and that he loves us and will care for our needs like the best of good fathers, that those who relate to him in prayer and ask for his help will receive it. we can feel financially secure. Without that conviction and connection, no matter how big our bank account, we arc likely to feel the anxiety of financial insecurity.
A few years ago, a young Catholic boy had listened intently to one of Bishop Sheen's appeals on television. His family was of very modest circumstances, but they were so moved by Bishop
Sheen's appeal that they rounded up all the money in the house, a total of $5.35. When someone raised the question of whether they should give all of it to Bishop Sheen, the mother of the family said. "We are going to give it. It will come back to us many fold"—and they did. About a week later, the family won a hundred dollars in a drawing at the local supermarket. When the family discussed what to do with their winnings, the six-year-old promptly said. "Let's put it all back on Bishop Sheen." In most respects, this boy's idea is not very biblical (God is not a heavenly bookie). In other respects, it is intensely biblical. However we classify this little boy's idea, it does not fit with the usual rational thought patterns of Western civilization. It is rational, but it is more than rational; it is spiritual. As Jesus said. "... strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
The Feast of Booths was one of Israel's three great annual festivals. Commonly known as the Feast of Tabernacles (2 Chronicles 8:13). it was celebrated by the Hebrews with great joy in autumn, at the end of the agricultural year. The name—booths—comes from a verb meaning "to weave together." referring to plaited branches with which the booths are covered (Leviticus 23:34). Celebrants constructed a booth after collecting myrtle, willow, or palm twigs. They slept in and ate all the meals in these booths for seven days. This ritual reminded them of their years of living in tents while wandering in the wilderness, prior to securing their permanent homeland. But most of all. the booths reminded them that security is not in a house but in God. When Jesus said that we find our bottom-line security by looking up. he was telling the people of Palestine something they already knew but had forgotten, even though they celebrated the truth even fall.
In the 1980s movie Courage Mountain, a schoolteacher commiserates with a grandfather about the tragedy of war. The teacher says. "The world has gotten out of control."
The grandfather replies. "The world was never in our control." That is the whole point of the Feast of Booths and of Jesus's teaching about financial security. The world is not in our control. It is in God's control. By letting go of the illusion that we gain and maintain financial control through our own will and work, we take the first step into God's kingdom of emotional peace and financial security.
Theresa of Avila was a Christian leader 400 years ago. Although feeling called to build a convent, she had little money with which to do so. A practical friend warned her that she could not hope to build a convent with such a small sum. "That may be true." she replied. "But Theresa and a small sum and God can build a convent!"'" Theresa was speaking with a wisdom that includes but is not limited to rational thought. She was speaking with the wisdom of the spiritual kingdom that Jesus described.
Fail-Safe Security
The Greek word for closet is tame/on, meaning storehouse. Stewards (business managers) went into this room to count their money. The Greek word for treasurer is lamias, derived from tame/on13 People who visit their safety deposit box in the bank usually do not take a friend along. It is in just such a "closet" that Jesus tells us to go for prayer, not to the temple or to a church. Here, along with our money. Jesus says we should get in touch with God. Here, in the midst of the security we tend to count on the most. \\e are told to seek the only fail-safe security: "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
A line of six greenhouses belonging to a commercial nursery clustered along a highway near Weatherford. Texas. A passing motorist noted that two of the greenhouses had been completely covered with black plastic. Blocking the sun surely served some functional purpose, but the motorist did not know what. Perhaps one could grow mushrooms in those conditions, he thought, but not flowers.
Green plants must connect with both soil and sun in order to grow, not just with soil. Financial security' comes not just from money but from God. If we completely block God out of our lives, we have only money on which to depend. Money, by itself, is an insufficient security blanket. When we "strive first for the kingdom" through daily prayer, we remove the black plastic that blocks us from feeling secure—and from being secure.
Discovery Questions for Group Study
7. Are there sections in this chapter with which you strongly disagree? Why?
8. Did one of the ideas in this chapter grab your attention as an important insight for you to consider in your own spiritual growth journey?
1. Matthew 6:24-33 (do not be anxious)
2. Matthew 7:7-11 (ask and you will receive)
Happy reading WaynO
Counting on Providence
As two little girls counted their pennies, one said. "I have five. How many do you have9"
"Ten." the other answered.
"You don't! You just have five, the same as me." the first protested, pointing at the other girl's palm.
"No. 1 have five here, and my dad said he would give me five more when he gets home tonight." her friend said. "So that makes ten."
That little girl's answer summarizes in one sentence what Jesus said about the financial security of persons who maintain a strong prayer relationship with God. The poor woman Jesus observed giving the largest possible offering (all she had) at the temple did not expect to starve to death. She did not see herself as doing something rash. She gave generously because she knew there was more where that came from—God (Mark 12:41-44). Giving is not so much an act of generosity as it is an act of trust. We do not feel financially secure because we have: we feel secure because wre trust God to continue providing what we need.
Jesus at this point connected solidly with Old Testament faith: "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want" (Psalms 23:1). "I have been young and now am old. yet I 'nave not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread" (Psalms 37:25). With Jesus, as with the Old Testament prophets, the bottom-line question of financial security was not. "How much money do I have?" but "Arc we or are we not alone in the universe? Is there just us. or is there something more? Are we or are we not alone in this room'.' Is there just what we can see with our eyes and hear with our ears? Or. is there something more—something invisible, yet powerful and knowable—something that the generations before us have called God?" If we believe what Jesus said, that God is here and that he loves us and will care for our needs like the best of good fathers, that those who relate to him in prayer and ask for his help will receive it. we can feel financially secure. Without that conviction and connection, no matter how big our bank account, we arc likely to feel the anxiety of financial insecurity.
A few years ago, a young Catholic boy had listened intently to one of Bishop Sheen's appeals on television. His family was of very modest circumstances, but they were so moved by Bishop
Sheen's appeal that they rounded up all the money in the house, a total of $5.35. When someone raised the question of whether they should give all of it to Bishop Sheen, the mother of the family said. "We are going to give it. It will come back to us many fold"—and they did. About a week later, the family won a hundred dollars in a drawing at the local supermarket. When the family discussed what to do with their winnings, the six-year-old promptly said. "Let's put it all back on Bishop Sheen." In most respects, this boy's idea is not very biblical (God is not a heavenly bookie). In other respects, it is intensely biblical. However we classify this little boy's idea, it does not fit with the usual rational thought patterns of Western civilization. It is rational, but it is more than rational; it is spiritual. As Jesus said. "... strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
The Feast of Booths was one of Israel's three great annual festivals. Commonly known as the Feast of Tabernacles (2 Chronicles 8:13). it was celebrated by the Hebrews with great joy in autumn, at the end of the agricultural year. The name—booths—comes from a verb meaning "to weave together." referring to plaited branches with which the booths are covered (Leviticus 23:34). Celebrants constructed a booth after collecting myrtle, willow, or palm twigs. They slept in and ate all the meals in these booths for seven days. This ritual reminded them of their years of living in tents while wandering in the wilderness, prior to securing their permanent homeland. But most of all. the booths reminded them that security is not in a house but in God. When Jesus said that we find our bottom-line security by looking up. he was telling the people of Palestine something they already knew but had forgotten, even though they celebrated the truth even fall.
In the 1980s movie Courage Mountain, a schoolteacher commiserates with a grandfather about the tragedy of war. The teacher says. "The world has gotten out of control."
The grandfather replies. "The world was never in our control." That is the whole point of the Feast of Booths and of Jesus's teaching about financial security. The world is not in our control. It is in God's control. By letting go of the illusion that we gain and maintain financial control through our own will and work, we take the first step into God's kingdom of emotional peace and financial security.
Theresa of Avila was a Christian leader 400 years ago. Although feeling called to build a convent, she had little money with which to do so. A practical friend warned her that she could not hope to build a convent with such a small sum. "That may be true." she replied. "But Theresa and a small sum and God can build a convent!"'" Theresa was speaking with a wisdom that includes but is not limited to rational thought. She was speaking with the wisdom of the spiritual kingdom that Jesus described.
Fail-Safe Security
The Greek word for closet is tame/on, meaning storehouse. Stewards (business managers) went into this room to count their money. The Greek word for treasurer is lamias, derived from tame/on13 People who visit their safety deposit box in the bank usually do not take a friend along. It is in just such a "closet" that Jesus tells us to go for prayer, not to the temple or to a church. Here, along with our money. Jesus says we should get in touch with God. Here, in the midst of the security we tend to count on the most. \\e are told to seek the only fail-safe security: "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
A line of six greenhouses belonging to a commercial nursery clustered along a highway near Weatherford. Texas. A passing motorist noted that two of the greenhouses had been completely covered with black plastic. Blocking the sun surely served some functional purpose, but the motorist did not know what. Perhaps one could grow mushrooms in those conditions, he thought, but not flowers.
Green plants must connect with both soil and sun in order to grow, not just with soil. Financial security' comes not just from money but from God. If we completely block God out of our lives, we have only money on which to depend. Money, by itself, is an insufficient security blanket. When we "strive first for the kingdom" through daily prayer, we remove the black plastic that blocks us from feeling secure—and from being secure.
Discovery Questions for Group Study
7. Are there sections in this chapter with which you strongly disagree? Why?
8. Did one of the ideas in this chapter grab your attention as an important insight for you to consider in your own spiritual growth journey?
1. Matthew 6:24-33 (do not be anxious)
2. Matthew 7:7-11 (ask and you will receive)
Friday, October 26, 2007
I think it is well that I keep with Herb Miller's words so will include for today the next from lesson 2. It is not that the text relates directly to the listed questions, it may reach back to the last set or forward into the next. As this goes on it seems I find stuff I am doing is way far out and needs changed so hopefully we are getting better all the time. Again I will accept any ideas or suggestions.
Security Systems Are Not Created Equal
The need to feel secure is basic to every personality. All of us ask. Am I safe'; If our emotional system does not hear a positive answer to this question, we experience fear and anxiety, hi trying to block that painful fear and anxiety, we often reach for a feeling of security by using methods that do not work—while overlooking altogether the one method that Jesus says does work
Whether we feel secure or insecure is greatly influenced by the feelings of hopefulness or lack of hope in our personality. Without hope, fear takes charge of our psyche. Jesus says that prayer, not money, is the secret to feeling hopeful. Much contemporary cv idcnce indicates that Jesus was right. Newspapers print numerous stories about people who had great wealth but lived and died in abject poverty. They had enough money, but it did not sufficiently protect them from the demons of fear. Feelings of optimism and hopefulness about our future do not come from having sufficient money. These feelings can. however, come from having the sufficiency of God. which comes primarily through prayer.
When Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, his major concern \vas not religious rules or financial ethics. He was demonstrating that the top religious leaders had lost their spiritual focus. God had been marginalized. We are all exposed to the same danger the temple administrators experienced. When we focus on money—getting it and keeping it—we tend to unfocus our spiritual connection with God. This is like trying to photograph in two directions at once. You cannot shoot north and south simultaneously. Jesus never said money was unnecessary. He said it was trivial, when compared to the central need of even- human personality, a relationship with God.
Jesus said that the answer to financial security and to the recurring fear of not having enough is not money but prayer: "Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart" (Luke 18:1). That is one of the many reasons John Henry Jewett. the great pulpit personage of another century, said that he would rather teach one person to pray than ten people to preach. Every person has faith in something. Same place their faith in persons, things, institutions, themselves, or money. That is misplaced faith. We are saved through faith but not just any kind of faith—through faith in God. Faith is empowered by prayer or it is not empowered at all.
4. If prayer is more important than money in providing security for individual persons, are there ways in which that principle applies to entire congregations?
5. Have you had any personal experiences that seem to validate the teaching of Jesus that the bottom line comes from above?
6. What are your personal convictions about the giving of money for God's work'? What life experiences were especially influential in helping you arrive at these opinions?
Security Systems Are Not Created Equal
The need to feel secure is basic to every personality. All of us ask. Am I safe'; If our emotional system does not hear a positive answer to this question, we experience fear and anxiety, hi trying to block that painful fear and anxiety, we often reach for a feeling of security by using methods that do not work—while overlooking altogether the one method that Jesus says does work
Whether we feel secure or insecure is greatly influenced by the feelings of hopefulness or lack of hope in our personality. Without hope, fear takes charge of our psyche. Jesus says that prayer, not money, is the secret to feeling hopeful. Much contemporary cv idcnce indicates that Jesus was right. Newspapers print numerous stories about people who had great wealth but lived and died in abject poverty. They had enough money, but it did not sufficiently protect them from the demons of fear. Feelings of optimism and hopefulness about our future do not come from having sufficient money. These feelings can. however, come from having the sufficiency of God. which comes primarily through prayer.
When Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, his major concern \vas not religious rules or financial ethics. He was demonstrating that the top religious leaders had lost their spiritual focus. God had been marginalized. We are all exposed to the same danger the temple administrators experienced. When we focus on money—getting it and keeping it—we tend to unfocus our spiritual connection with God. This is like trying to photograph in two directions at once. You cannot shoot north and south simultaneously. Jesus never said money was unnecessary. He said it was trivial, when compared to the central need of even- human personality, a relationship with God.
Jesus said that the answer to financial security and to the recurring fear of not having enough is not money but prayer: "Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart" (Luke 18:1). That is one of the many reasons John Henry Jewett. the great pulpit personage of another century, said that he would rather teach one person to pray than ten people to preach. Every person has faith in something. Same place their faith in persons, things, institutions, themselves, or money. That is misplaced faith. We are saved through faith but not just any kind of faith—through faith in God. Faith is empowered by prayer or it is not empowered at all.
4. If prayer is more important than money in providing security for individual persons, are there ways in which that principle applies to entire congregations?
5. Have you had any personal experiences that seem to validate the teaching of Jesus that the bottom line comes from above?
6. What are your personal convictions about the giving of money for God's work'? What life experiences were especially influential in helping you arrive at these opinions?
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Life gets so difficult at times. sorry I am so late posting this just seemed to get off track. I inquired and have permission to post out of what Herb Miller has as part of this study. The addition of his info should promote and invoke more thought. WaynO
III
Scriptures are Matt. 19.16-24 and Luke 20. 19-26
Questions
1. Do you agree or disagree with the interpretation of Jesus's teachings that says prayer offers more security than money?
2. What warnings would you want to give people who operate their daily life on the conviction that prayer provides greater security than money?
3. Have you been closely acquainted with people who seemed to live out the belief that prayer is our most important source of security? If so. how did that seem to affect their emotional and behavioral patterns? What do you think caused those patterns to develop in their personality?
As for what Herb has to say I will include it a bit at a time.
II. The Bottom Line Comes from Above
Two psychiatrists were having a drink at a convention.
"What was the most difficult case you ever had'1" one asked.
"A patient who lived in a fantasy world." the other replied. "He insisted that he had a rich uncle in South America who would soon die and leave him a fortune. Even day he waited for a letter from an attorney. I treated him with psychotherapy three times a week for eight years."
"Did you cure him?" the other psychiatrist asked.
"Yes and no." the first psychiatrist said. "Just as I was making progress, that stupid letter came."
Some of the statements Jesus made about money sound like that story. We try to force his teachings into rational, scientifically verifiable thought patterns. But some of Jesus's words will not fit into those categories. At the point of financial security, for example. Jesus sounds more radical than rational. In the Sermon on the Mount, he lists several of life's material necessities and talks about the anxiety we sometimes feel with regard to these basics. Will we earn enough to attain them? He concludes that discussion with this paradoxical statement. "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
While that statement rnav not fit with our normal rules of logic, it does fit with the other things Jesus said about money. Note what the Gospel of Matthew reports Jesus saying just before he makes that radical statement. He has just finished teaching his disciples the Lord's Prayer, among whose verses we find "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11). Then, early in the next chapter, Jesus says, "Ask, and it will be given you: search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you" (Matthew 7:7). "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11). Jesus's listing of the basic necessities of life proves that he does not live in a fantasy world. He knows that we need food, doming, and shelter. But he says our financial security does not come by accumulating money; it comes through our daily prayer relationship with God. For Jesus, the bottom line of the family budget comes from above—not by adding the list of anticipated expenses. Jesus says the bottom line of our financial security comes from God. To get the bottom line balanced, we must look up. but much higher up than our rational thinking suggests.
The question implicit in Jesus's teaching about financial security is one that all of us ask every da\ of our lives: Will I try to achieve financial security through money or through prayer? As we answer that question, each of us tends to both believe and resist believing what Jesus said is the only appropriate choice. On one hand, we see that Jesus is right. On the other hand, we are constantly tempted to think and behave as if Jesus were wrong on this issue.
I hope this is not too much to get in one blog. Waiting to hear from you all. WaynO
III
Scriptures are Matt. 19.16-24 and Luke 20. 19-26
Questions
1. Do you agree or disagree with the interpretation of Jesus's teachings that says prayer offers more security than money?
2. What warnings would you want to give people who operate their daily life on the conviction that prayer provides greater security than money?
3. Have you been closely acquainted with people who seemed to live out the belief that prayer is our most important source of security? If so. how did that seem to affect their emotional and behavioral patterns? What do you think caused those patterns to develop in their personality?
As for what Herb has to say I will include it a bit at a time.
II. The Bottom Line Comes from Above
Two psychiatrists were having a drink at a convention.
"What was the most difficult case you ever had'1" one asked.
"A patient who lived in a fantasy world." the other replied. "He insisted that he had a rich uncle in South America who would soon die and leave him a fortune. Even day he waited for a letter from an attorney. I treated him with psychotherapy three times a week for eight years."
"Did you cure him?" the other psychiatrist asked.
"Yes and no." the first psychiatrist said. "Just as I was making progress, that stupid letter came."
Some of the statements Jesus made about money sound like that story. We try to force his teachings into rational, scientifically verifiable thought patterns. But some of Jesus's words will not fit into those categories. At the point of financial security, for example. Jesus sounds more radical than rational. In the Sermon on the Mount, he lists several of life's material necessities and talks about the anxiety we sometimes feel with regard to these basics. Will we earn enough to attain them? He concludes that discussion with this paradoxical statement. "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
While that statement rnav not fit with our normal rules of logic, it does fit with the other things Jesus said about money. Note what the Gospel of Matthew reports Jesus saying just before he makes that radical statement. He has just finished teaching his disciples the Lord's Prayer, among whose verses we find "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11). Then, early in the next chapter, Jesus says, "Ask, and it will be given you: search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you" (Matthew 7:7). "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11). Jesus's listing of the basic necessities of life proves that he does not live in a fantasy world. He knows that we need food, doming, and shelter. But he says our financial security does not come by accumulating money; it comes through our daily prayer relationship with God. For Jesus, the bottom line of the family budget comes from above—not by adding the list of anticipated expenses. Jesus says the bottom line of our financial security comes from God. To get the bottom line balanced, we must look up. but much higher up than our rational thinking suggests.
The question implicit in Jesus's teaching about financial security is one that all of us ask every da\ of our lives: Will I try to achieve financial security through money or through prayer? As we answer that question, each of us tends to both believe and resist believing what Jesus said is the only appropriate choice. On one hand, we see that Jesus is right. On the other hand, we are constantly tempted to think and behave as if Jesus were wrong on this issue.
I hope this is not too much to get in one blog. Waiting to hear from you all. WaynO
Saturday, October 20, 2007
I didn't want to clutter up the posts with this invitation so will add here. I am taking some members of the church to a gathering in Lincoln on Nov. 1,2,3. It is at Sheridan Lutheran Church and is entitled "Beyond Survival III" I attended last year and felt it to be a great opportunity and a recharging eye opening event.
The cost for joining us will be the $25 meal ticket and motel accomidations. When my car is full we will need additonal rides but have room for a couple yet at this point. If I know soon enough I think I can still get rooms at $40 each (waiting to confirm that).
If you have further questions you can get to the web site @ www.sheridanlutheran.org or phone them 402-423-4769.
It should be a great event and I am looking forward to taking more each year.
WaynO
The cost for joining us will be the $25 meal ticket and motel accomidations. When my car is full we will need additonal rides but have room for a couple yet at this point. If I know soon enough I think I can still get rooms at $40 each (waiting to confirm that).
If you have further questions you can get to the web site @ www.sheridanlutheran.org or phone them 402-423-4769.
It should be a great event and I am looking forward to taking more each year.
WaynO
Sorry I am late adding the next set of questions. Seems as though I forget these things. I hope the original thoughts will be provoked by the next questions and i will add some additional thoughts as I close for the week. Next week will be posted with new scriptures and new ideas about stewardship and it's importance in our spiritual walk with God. WaynO
1) What are your personal convictions about the giving of money for God's work?
b) What life experiences were especially infulential in helping you arrive at these opinions?
2) Has something in the discussion thus far or in the material offered grabbed your attention as an improtant insight to consider in your own spiritual growth journey????
1) What are your personal convictions about the giving of money for God's work?
b) What life experiences were especially infulential in helping you arrive at these opinions?
2) Has something in the discussion thus far or in the material offered grabbed your attention as an improtant insight to consider in your own spiritual growth journey????
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
well moving on to the second set of questions:
1) Do you know people whose lives are or seem to be captured or distortedbecause they focused primarily on money? if so, what do you think caused that pattern to develp in their personality.
2) Do you agree or diagree with sociaologist Rober Bellah's observation that the two major goals of contemporary Americans are success and the desire to feel good? Why or why not?
3) Have you known instances in which churches seemed to focus on fundraising rather than on teaching stewardship as an aspect of our spiritual relationship with God? Illustrate, and say why you do or do not see that as a destructive pattern.
1) Do you know people whose lives are or seem to be captured or distortedbecause they focused primarily on money? if so, what do you think caused that pattern to develp in their personality.
2) Do you agree or diagree with sociaologist Rober Bellah's observation that the two major goals of contemporary Americans are success and the desire to feel good? Why or why not?
3) Have you known instances in which churches seemed to focus on fundraising rather than on teaching stewardship as an aspect of our spiritual relationship with God? Illustrate, and say why you do or do not see that as a destructive pattern.
Monday, October 15, 2007
first lesson of stewardship study
I am not sure just how to begin so i will list the scriptures
1. Luke 12.32-34 (treasure in heaven)
2. Luke 12.13-45 (the rich fool)
3. Luke 16.10-17 (the unjust steward)
4. Luke 15.11-24 (the prodigal son)
we can begin with a discussion of any but lets do it in response to these 4 viewpoints about money:
1) some people insit that money is not important. "money does not but happiness," they often say.
2) Other people insist that money is th emost important thing in life. "Money is not the key to happiness, they say, "but if you have enough of it, you can have a key made!"
3) Still others say that life is like 2 lanes of traffic. "Money is important in the material lane but not in the spiritual lane," they seem to say. "To connect with God, you move to the spiritual lane---you pray. to be in touch with the real world, you move to the material lane - you run in the rat tace, trying to make a buck."
4) Jesus held a fourth view. Jesus said that money is everything- not in the usual sense of that term but in the spiritual sense. Jesus did not divide reality into two parts -- the material and the spiritual. he said that the way we think and behave with regard to money impacts us both physically and spiritually. Its use and misuse aggects our relationship with God and the quality of our life. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," Jesus said (Luke 12.34), illustratiing his point with a story about a rich man who tried to achieve a quality life by building more barns to hold his wealth. The punch line says, "So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God" (Luke 12.21)
Now we look up the scriptures and begin to answer the questions
1) Does the list of viewpoints describe all the different philosophies of money that you have observed in people? If not, what other philosophies would you add?
2) would you agree that every day we try to achieve a quality of life by focusing on money or by focusing on God???
to be part of the study you simply respond to this blog with a post....
everyone can be part of the discussion either replying to the post or the comment.
happy studying Pastor WaynO
1. Luke 12.32-34 (treasure in heaven)
2. Luke 12.13-45 (the rich fool)
3. Luke 16.10-17 (the unjust steward)
4. Luke 15.11-24 (the prodigal son)
we can begin with a discussion of any but lets do it in response to these 4 viewpoints about money:
1) some people insit that money is not important. "money does not but happiness," they often say.
2) Other people insist that money is th emost important thing in life. "Money is not the key to happiness, they say, "but if you have enough of it, you can have a key made!"
3) Still others say that life is like 2 lanes of traffic. "Money is important in the material lane but not in the spiritual lane," they seem to say. "To connect with God, you move to the spiritual lane---you pray. to be in touch with the real world, you move to the material lane - you run in the rat tace, trying to make a buck."
4) Jesus held a fourth view. Jesus said that money is everything- not in the usual sense of that term but in the spiritual sense. Jesus did not divide reality into two parts -- the material and the spiritual. he said that the way we think and behave with regard to money impacts us both physically and spiritually. Its use and misuse aggects our relationship with God and the quality of our life. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," Jesus said (Luke 12.34), illustratiing his point with a story about a rich man who tried to achieve a quality life by building more barns to hold his wealth. The punch line says, "So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God" (Luke 12.21)
Now we look up the scriptures and begin to answer the questions
1) Does the list of viewpoints describe all the different philosophies of money that you have observed in people? If not, what other philosophies would you add?
2) would you agree that every day we try to achieve a quality of life by focusing on money or by focusing on God???
to be part of the study you simply respond to this blog with a post....
everyone can be part of the discussion either replying to the post or the comment.
happy studying Pastor WaynO
Friday, October 12, 2007
stewardship study
I am new at this kind of thing so bear with me as we get started learning. This will be announced and added to the announcements. I also want to welcome any blog hounds out there who would like to join us. also invite any friends to come along on this journey.
WaynO
WaynO
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