Chapter 19-23
1. On page 193, “God will not ask us in that day whether we
were good Protestants, but whether we have done his will. We will be asked the same question as
everybody else. The Church is marked off
from the world not by a special privilege, but by the gracious election and
calling of God.”
- As it pertains to
God’s will, what have we been elected and called to do on behalf of Jesus and
his gospel? Please be specific.
2. On page 195, “But Christ’s followers must ask by what
ultimate criterion Jesus will accept or reject them. Who will pass the test, and who will
not? The answer lies in the words of Jesus
to the last of the rejected: ‘I have never known you.’ Here we are at last,
here is the secret we have been waiting for since the Sermon on the Mount
began. Here is the crucial question –
has Jesus known us or not? There is
nothing left for us to cling to, not even our confession or our obedience. There is only his word: ‘I have known thee,’
which is his eternal word and call. If
we follow Christ, cling to his word, and let everything else go, it will see us
through the day of judgement. His word
is his grace.”
- How do you understand the “ultimate criterion”
by which Jesus will accept or reject you?
What is your response to that?
3. On page 196, “Humanly speaking, we could understand and
interpret the Sermon on the Mount in a thousand different ways. Jesus knows only one possibility: simple
surrender and obedience, not interpreting it or applying it, but doing and
obeying it. That is the only way to hear
his word. But again, he does not mean
that it is to be discussed as an ideal, he really means us to get on with it.”
- What does “simple
surrender & obedience” compel us to do?
4. On page 197, “There is only one other possibility, that of
failing to do it. It is impossible to
want to do it and yet not do it. To deal
with the word of Jesus otherwise than by doing it is to give him the lie. It is to deny the Sermon on the Mount and to
say No to his word. If we start asking
questions, posing problems, and offering interpretations, we are not doing his
word. Once again, the shades of the rich
young man and the lawyer of Luke 10 are raising their heads.”
- When are we most apt to respond is this fashion? Why?
5. On page 203, There is now no time to lose: the work of
harvest brooks no delay. ‘But the laborers
are few.’ Jesus is looking for help, for
he cannot do the work alone. Who will
come forward to help him and work with him?
Only God knows, and he must give them to his Son. No man dares presume to come forward and
offer himself on his own initiative, not even the disciples themselves. Their duty is to pray the Lord of the harvest
to send forth laborers at the right moment, for the time is ripe.”
- Is this a model
response for the Church today?
6. On page 205, “No power in the world could have united these
men for a common task, save the call of Jesus.
But that call transcended all their previous divisions, and established a
new and steadfast fellowship in Jesus.”
- Where have you
witnessed this remarkable call of Jesus?
- What new fellowships
emerged in response to that call?
7. On page 206, “In his very first word, Jesus lays down a
limitation of their work, a circumstance which they must inevitably have found
strange and difficult. The choice of
field for their labors does not depend on their own impulses or inclinations,
but on where they are sent. This makes
it quite clear that it is not their own work they are doing, but God’s.”
- How do you discern where
Jesus is sending you?
8. On page 211, “Vice and sin may be forgiven, according to the
word of Jesus, but the man who rejects the word of salvation has thrown away
his last chance. To refuse to believe in
the gospel is the worst sin imaginable, and if that happens the messengers can
do nothing but leave the place. They go
because the Word cannot remain there.”
- How does this
provide context and clarity for our work?
No comments:
Post a Comment