Sermons on Spiritual Growth (Page 2)
The Problem of Others: “The Woman You Gave Me”
A few weeks back we looked at how our view of God changed in Genesis 3, and a week later we reflected on how our view of self changed. But that’s not all. In Adam’s “defense” to God in the Scripture reading above, you see a hint of how our view of others changed as well. “The woman you gave me . . .” No longer are they allies and partners; now she’s the “other,” the enemy, the one to blame. It’s…
Let All the Earth Keep Silence
Habakkuk’s struggle is a classic one: where is God when wicked people and evil nations flaunt his ways through oppression, violence, and arrogance? God answers with a series of “Woes” that he puts into the mouths of the nations Babylon was oppressing. He says a lot, but his message could be distilled to this: Evil will not have the last say (if you have time, read the whole passage: Habakkuk 2:4-20). We’ll talk about that some tomorrow, but because that…
Loving the World
“Don’t love the world,” John writes in the passage above, but in another place he tells us that “God so loved the world . . .” So God loves the world, but we’re not supposed to? You already know the solution to this “contradiction” . . . the words “world” and “love” are used in different senses, and we’ve got to be careful that we understand their nuances. Tomorrow we’ll explore them a bit, focusing more on the “loving the world” part…
Look at it and Live
If you’re following the church’s Bible reading plan this year, you’ve just begun the book of Numbers, so you’re about to read about a series of rebellions that culminate in an event at Kadesh-Barnea that seems to be the tipping point (the 12 scouts, Israel’s disbelief, etc.). God turns them back toward the wilderness where they’ll spend almost four decades. Our story today falls into this period of time–after the Kadesh rebellion and during the wilderness wandering. It’s short, but…
The Temptation of Christ
There’s an obvious connection with Israel’s temptation in the wilderness in this story. Israel experienced “baptism” in the Red Sea, then went into the wilderness for 40 years, while Jesus was baptized by John then went into the wilderness for 40 days. Jesus’ response to the devil with each temptation was to quote from Deuteronomy, the book of the Torah that in many ways summarizes and completes Israel’s wilderness experience. Israel failed, while Jesus did not. That, in itself, helps us…