God Calling VI (Finale): You and the Blues Brothers

Matthew 28:16-20

To growing love and growing unity, we add growing mission. The old adage is that “it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.” The sharing of our spiritual and natural gifts and fulfilling the call of God on our lives is part of a much bigger and grander work. As the old “Blues Brothers” movie says, “We’re on a mission from God.”

Picture yourself as those disciples. You have just experienced the horror of having your leader falsely charged and brutally crucified. You ran for your own lives and feel like you let the master down. You are absolutely confused about the direction of your life, because you have been following Jesus 24/7 for three years. Then you discover that Jesus has risen and he is sending you back into the mission field, but this time it is without him. The mission is still the big picture of your life. So it is with you and me. We share ourselves as part of God’s bigger picture of the redemption and transformation of the world. It is that mission for which others have gone before us, often at great sacrifice.

This passage is theme of the entire United Methodist Church, but there is often great debate about what “making disciples” means. Is it leading people to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Is it teaching people the basics of the Christian faith? Is it feeding the hungry and clothing the naked? Is it changing the lives of people and the systems in our world that are unjust and harmful? For a long time, we have majored on one of these four things, believing that doing one would lead to the fulfillment of the other three. We now know that is not the case. “Making disciples” means intentionally doing all four of these things. That’s why the missional cry for the United Methodist Church is “Make disciples for the transformation of the world.” I like that statement a lot.

Where do we make these disciples? The answer is both inside and outside the church. But clearly the greater part of that work is outside the church! That’s why your spiritual and natural gifts have been given to you – to make the life-changing world-changing presence of Christ real right where people live, any time and any place.

The promise of this passage is as we “make disciples”, he will be with us always. I have appreciated the WWJD campaign that asks, “What would Jesus do?” But the truth is that it is the wrong question. Christ is risen and still at work in the world. Christ indwells us by the Holy Spirit. Following Jesus is not hypothetical. It is a present reality. As the Easter hymn sings, “He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today.” The proper question is “WIJD” – What Is Jesus Doing? And once we figure that out, we do it along side him, sharing our spiritual and natural gifts, allowing our greatest passion to meet the world’s greatest need.

This is the final blog entry for this Spring Master’s Program class. What a joy it has been for Matt and myself to share with you in this daily Bible Study and this wonderful class. Our prayer is that your walk with Christ has been advanced, that you have become clearer about how God has “graced” you, and that you are more intentionally listening and seeking to fulfill God’s call on your life. May God fill you with His Holy Spirit to the point of overflow. Amen and Amen.

God Calling V: The Call for Growing Unity

John 17:6-26

If love is the disposition from which we share our spiritual and natural gifts, then unity is the environment in which that sharing becomes powerful. While what we find in Matthew 6:9-13 is what we often call “The Lord’s Prayer,” it is really a teaching model. The prayer by Jesus himself is found in John 17. It was a prayer given just before Jesus was crucified, about how the disciples would function in his absence. It is full of passion and deep care for his disciples.

First,in verses 6-10,Jesus thanks God for his relationship with his disciples. Before they were his disciples, they belonged to God. So in spending the three years with his disciples, Jesus saw these friends and co-workers as a sacred trust. He has poured himself into them and now is relinquishing them back into God’s hands.

Second,in verses 11-12,Jesus prays protection for them, so that they can be one. The chief strategies of the devil could be summed up in three Ds: distraction, dissension and division. If we can be kept so busy that we are unable to focus on the things and people that are the most important…If we can be led into picking each other part rather than complementing each others weaknesses with strengths…If we can be fractured into power groups and conflicted relationships rather than functioning as Christ’s body, then the devil succeeds at disempowering God’s people. The sly part of this is that often the devil uses the most well-meaning and most spiritual people to get the job done. Know wonder Jesus taught to pray, “Deliver us from evil.”

Third,in verses 13-19,Jesus prays for us to be sent into the world without becoming of the world. We are sent into the world just as Jesus was sent. Jesus, in his resurrection body, would repeat this saying, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you.” (John 20:21) How can we be “in the world” without becoming “worldly?” Jesus would say in Matthew’s gospel,

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is not longer good for anything…”

Jesus knows that ministry as laity and clergy is hazardous duty. In trying to save souls, you can lose your own soul – losing your sense of God, your integrity and your effective witness. Nothing hurts the mission of the church like worldly Christians. That’s why daily prayer, regular worship with others in the body of Christ, study of the scriptures, and accountability with people whom you love and trust is so important.

In verses 20-26, the prayer shifts to you and me and everyone who was to become a follower after the death and resurrection of Christ. He prays for our unity, that our oneness would reflect the oneness of God and Christ. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three-in-one: different in function but one in essence and purpose. The body of Christ must learn to be diverse without being divided. And in our oneness with each other, we end up developing an even greater oneness (both individually and corporately as the Church), oneness with Christ.

Growing Love, Growing Unity … I wonder what could be next.

God Calling IV: Motivational Gut Check

I Corinthians 13

Matt and I have already done a four-sermon series on this text and we devoted an entire class session to it. All that would seem to be left is to memorize it. But even if you have already done that, the real key is to live from the center of selfless sacrificial love. In our spiritual gifts study, we have seen that the gifts we are discovering were often dormant before we met Christ or allowed the Holy Spirit to fill and guide us. The closer and more integrated our walk with Christ is, the more these gifts become operative at home, at work, out in the community and in church. But what is the attitude or disposition from which we share those gifts? If I offer the gift of proclamation or prophecy and my motivation is frustration, anger or the desire to straighten people out more than it is to speak a word from the Lord that will bring people into line with God's purposes for them, then the gift has been compromised. If I share the gift of generosity or servanthood so that I can feel significant or have people bless me with deep thanks more than I desire to serve them so that their lives are blessed and enhanced, then the gift is compromised. The more love-motivated we are, the freer we become to share both our natural and spiritual gifts for the greatest impact. The more I read I Corinthians 13, the more I see I need the grace of God to make me the loving child of God I was meant to be.

One of the great disciplines of the church is called "an examination of conscience." It is not an invitation to guilt trips, but rather an invitation to see what is broken, what is wrongly focused and what needs to grow. If in reading this passage, I notice that I have been rude and unkind lately, it is good to ask why I was that way. Perhaps I was rude because the person, the comments or the situation exposed an insecurity or inadequacy in me and I reacted. That means something is broken or hurt and needs healed. If I notice that I have been "insisting on my own way" lately, what need for validation and the sense that I have to be right is feeding that? Something is either broken or misaligned and needs put right. At least for awhile, it might be good to review the Love Chapter about once a week to be sure that the way we share ourselves in life is healthy and Christ-like. And always remember that we are a work in progress. The ideals of this chapter are, in the end, unachievable on our own. But they become more and more a reality as we allow God to do His great work of grace in and through us. Have a great day in the love of Christ.

God Calling III: Worship in the Vernacular

I Corinthians 14

The New Testament was written in Koine Greek (the Greek used by common folk) not Classical Greek (that used by the educated). In Jesus' ministry, his native tongue was Aramaic, which was the language of the common Jew from 539 BCE (following Israel's return home from exile and the building of the second temple in Jerusalem) until about 70 CE (the invasion and destruction of that temple). A similar theme is found in the Reformation that God's Word be allowed to be translated from Latin into the different vernacular languages of the people. In the Methodist movement, the Wesleys did not permit worship in Latin. At the same time, religion tends to offer an alternative way of experiencing life and reality. At its best, it is a better way of seeing things from the perspective of faith through a relationship with God. To talk about "life in the Spirit" and studying spiritual gifts is one way of exploring this alternative way of life. Jesus' mission was to demonstrate and to proclaim the kingdom of God in this world. The long-term strategy for that was the creation of the Church. At it's worst, religion can become an exclusive club with exclusive practices, including languages and codes.

Glossolalia, ecstatic utterance described in I Corinthians 12 and 14 (and in parts of the book of Acts), what theologian Michael Green calls "a love language unto the Lord" had become a major feature of the worship life of the Corinthian Church. In Pentecostal and charismatic worship, speaking in tongues is used both privately and in public. In private, it is often called a "prayer language." It sounds to the ear, like a form of babbling, a free form of speech that is a celebration of God's presence in prayer or singing. In I Corinthians 14:2, Paul writes, "For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit." In 14:18, he writes, "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you." So Paul himself worships in this way.

In Pentecostal and charismatic worship, this free form language is both spoken (usually subdued so as not to stand out as an individual – though I have sung concerts in Pentecostal settings where the "prayer language" grew quite loud as a group) and sung (quite a beautiful and ethereal sound, the free form sounds sung in the sounds of a single chord - much like an overtone series on a guitar). When I was at Oral Roberts University, Sunday evening vespers had this as a regular practice. Singing "in the Spirit" would go on for several minutes, even 10-15 minutes. Though I rarely attended, for a reserved Presbyterian at the time, it was an unusual and impressive experience. If you have friends who worship in Pentecostal , Assembly of God or interdenominational charismatic churches (Trinity Church in Lubbock, for instance), you may want to ask them about "praying or singing in the Spirit." At the height of the charismatic movement in the United States, during the 1970s, praying and singing in tongues was more prominent than it is today.

Paul's dispute with the Corinthians was that they made this largely private worship practice a central feature of their public worship. It is not a taught language, so no one could translate. Therefore, in public, Paul required that speaking in tongues in worship, when offered individually must be accompanied by another spiritual gift, the interpretation of tongues. As such, the message is understandable to everyone present and functions in the same way as prophecy, as a message given from the Lord.

In Pentecostal and charismatic worship, a person will speak out individually in glossolalia (free form or ecstatic speech). Then the worship will become very quiet as the worshipping group expectantly awaits someone to receive an interpretation. As such, it is not considered a literal translation, but a representation of the same message in the vernacular where everyone can understand. When you took the spiritual gifts survey, 24 of the questions were on speaking unknown languages and interpreting them. In United Methodist settings, as well as most mainline settings (the writer of the survey is a Presbyterian), most people mark "rarely" or "never." Some denominations forbid the practice entirely, relegating tongues and interpretation as a purely early church phenomenon that is now extinct and unnecessary.

For Paul, the problem with the Corinthian use of tongues was they were making it so strange and mystical that it had no practical value, but was rather the practice of people who saw themselves as "more spiritual" than others. I call this "super-spirituality", and it is a hazard for any religious body. Of course, there is the opposite extreme, "empty spirituality," where worship and devotion are just a rehearsal of learned creeds and songs without there being a sense of God's presence among the people. That one is the much more common hazard.

The bottom line for Paul is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit must be practical, including speaking in tongues and interpreting them. Spiritual gifts make the ministry of Christ portable, public and practical in the lives of people. How is God using your gifts to do that?

But I have an even more haunting question. How much of our present day worship and ministry is really in "the vernacular", in the language and practices that are accessible to people and their needs? Much of the language of the church is full of theology: justification, sanctification, pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit), eschatology (the study of Revelation and second coming themes), soteriology (understandings of salvation), ecclesiology (understandings of the church), et cetera ad nauseum. We talk about faith, grace and salvation as if the people around us really understand what we're talking about. Is the church speaking Latin again or speaking in tongues that are largely unknown or at least outdated? It is true that the language of faith communicates a reality that is hard to describe in secular terms. In music, we need a score. In football, we need a playbook. In the military, we need a manual. We need to be people who will communicate the reality of God's world-changing love, power and grace in the vernacular. We also need the gifts of the Spirit to be shared in ways that people can receive and understand them. In the end, that's what this course and what God's call on your life is all about.

God Calling II: Gifted for a Purpose

I Corinthians 12:1-11, 28-31; Ephesians 4:1-13

In these verses, you find where most of the spiritual gifts we have studied are found in the scriptures. I find it interesting that sometimes the church has shaped the gifts that it will allow to function. For instance, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches lift up speaking in tongues, interpretation, and discernment of Spirits much more than United Methodists and Presbyterians. On the other hand, teaching, service and other gifts will quickly rise to the top. Another way we have shaped the gifts is that church members tend to put generosity, service, hospitality and encouragement and are not as prone to put visionary leadership, proclamation, and other leadership gifts. That's because we have given those responsibilities over to the clergy and staff of the church. This distinction is not supported by either our study or the scriptures. Because this spiritual/natural gifts study has been about discovering our gifts for service both inside and outside the church, we must broaden what gifts we will nurture and develop. This will allow us to truly be a force for Christ outside the walls of the church, and the ministry inside the church will be greatly enhanced. For the truth is that your clergy and staff do not have a monopoly on the spiritual gifts of leadership and administration. I will glory in the day when our committee and team chairs have administrative gifts. When that happens, we won't overload them with so many things to do, because they have delegated the ministry not only among the people of their teams or committees, but also out into the congregation at large. I'm always amazed at the number of people in the church who are leaders in their secular positions, but feel absolutely unqualified to share those leadership gifts in the church. There's seems to be an implicit message being given that says those leadership gifts are not welcome. We only want doers. When we open the church to leadership gifts beyond the clergy and staff, then the leadership deficits they have (and all of us have them!) are compensated for by the complementary leadership gifts in the congregation. Then we don't have to look for superman or superwoman or Jesus clones in pastors and staff people. We can learn to lead in complementary relationships.

Furthermore, because some of the gifts have been so sensationalized, we have not welcomed some of the very needed gifts of the Holy Spirit. Why can't United Methodist Churches be places where the gifts of healing, deliverance, prophecy and miracles flow? The Spirit is quite able to work in the flavor of the people who are sharing, as long as we are open to the Spirit's work. I am daring to say that healing doesn't have to look the same in every setting, nor deliverance, nor the prophetic or the miraculous. In fact, if we slow down the clock and allow God time to work, not just in instantaneous results, we will see that God is doing those things in our midst, and how much more would that be the case if we were open to that happening in and through us? Because here is a little secret question I have in my head. How do we know that the way these gifts are operating in our day are the same as they were in the first century? Was speaking in tongues the same then as it is in the 20^th century charismatic movement?

That leads me to a further consideration. Is the list in these chapters exhaustive? Could there be other gifts that the Holy Spirit would cultivate to bring the ministry of Christ alive in this generation that are not in these first century lists? I think there can be, but we will need to bounce them off scripture to see if these really are of God or not. I was taught early in my faith that "the Holy Spirit will not force itself" on us. And I think for the most part that is true. There are a few notable exceptions. So our openness to be used and to allow the gifts to function both inside and outside the church does make a difference. What would happen if we truly let the Holy Spirit loose to make us true extensions of Christ? We fear it would make us strange. Or is it that we fear it would make us new or a little less "in control?" The Holy Spirit doesn't have to be spooky, but the Spirit does need the freedom to operate in us.

God Calling I: The Role of the Holy Spirit

John 14:12-21; 16:5-16; James 1:16-18

The passages we study this week will pull together everything we have been learning over the past eight weeks. What a privilege it has been to be in this adventure of learning and growth in Christ together. You have looked at your gifts from several different angles: seeing them in those you admire, in your fulfilling live events, in your spiritual gifts survey, in the actions of Jesus, and in the things that bring you joy. By now, some of the gifts may be getting a little clearer to you. Does your ministry inside and outside the church make use of these spiritual/natural gifts? If not, how can you make adjustments so that you are working from a greater sense of mission, passion, and sense of God’s presence in what you do? Those questions also apply to the church. Do our ministry activities reflect our God-given giftedness or are we mainly doing things because we have either been doing them before or because we think we “should” do them. If our goal as a church is not to offer the whole package (so no one will go anywhere else!), then we continue to try to be all things to all people and not be fully anything to anybody. Most churches fall into that trap. The same is true if we do that as individuals. Is the body of Christ more than you as an individual, more than St. Luke’s as a Church?

At first, John 14:12 seems ludicrous. Do I do greater things than Jesus? Do I heal the blind with the touch of my hand? Do you raise the dead? Qualitatively, this makes no sense at all. But I believe this is a quantitative statement. Because the Holy Spirit has made God’s presence in Christ portable in each of us, we can have an impact way beyond the ministry of Jesus. None of us can do greater things than Jesus on our own, but together we become part of what Jesus dreamed for the Church – a world-changing life-changing movement that would transform every corner of the globe. Our spiritual/natural gifts are the raw material with which the ongoing ministry of Jesus happens through you and me.

Having said that, it is crucial that we keep the gifts and the Holy Spirit connected in our thinking and our motivations. Our spiritual gifts are for the lifting up of Christ everywhere that we are, not for the lifting up of ourselves. As much as we have talked about fulfillment and what gives us joy, seeking fulfillment and joy will short-circuit our ministry. They are not ends in themselves. The goal is to make disciples of Jesus Christ so that the world is forever changed. With that as our goal and our focus on God’s love in Christ through the power of the Spirit, we are then able to become the high-impact children of God we have been created to be.

In chapter 16, we have the role of the Holy Spirit as our guide into all truth. The key metaphor is one of “journey.” We are on a journey of faith, a journey in our spiritual giftedness, and a journey in our ministry for Christ together. Quite often, we want to know what it will be like when we get to our destination. But this journey has a destination in heaven, and we may find that, too, is an even more epic journey. When Jesus talked to Nicodemus in John 3 about the Holy Spirit, he said it was like the blowing of the wind, that couldn’t really be traced where it is going or coming from. We know that meteorologists can do that kind of tracing, but even they cannot control it. To be on this spiritual journey with God is to embrace unpredictability and the need for constant growth.

James 1:16-18 again reminds us where the gifts come from. We are more than conduits, in that we shape and flavor all the Spirit does through us. But we are vessels of a sort. The gifts are not for our benefit. It is those around us who have a claim on the gifts of the Spirit we share. Remember the great theme we learned in class this week: Wherever your great passion and the world's greatest need meet is where your calling is. Have a great, fulfilling and high-impact day in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul VI: "A Charge to Keep I Have"

II Timothy 3:10-4:8

There is an old Methodist hymn that sings

"A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify,
A never dying soul tos ave, and fit it for the sky.
To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill;
O may it all my powers engage to do my Master's will."

In II Timothy 3 and 4, we have a charge being passed from the older apostle to the apostle-in-training, a charge that is passed through the ages to you and me. The sad part about this passage is that it tends to be only read at ordination services or memorial services. When we read it as something that can and does apply to all who follow Christ, then it speaks powerfully.

First, Paul warns that following Jesus is a risky and at times dangerous venture. Because many of us have grown up in times when Christianity shaped the values of our society (at least in theory), we have been insulated from this fact of our history. There still has not been a U.S. presidential candidate considered that wasn’t a member of a Church. When political pressure forced President Obama to distance himself from Reverend Jeremiah Wright and resign his membership at Trinity Church (United Church of Christ), a precedent was set. This does not mean that our presidents have all been ardent believers or participants in churches (those who did not attend would surprise many), but they all did have an affiliation. Such consensus in the USA exists no longer. The church still holds some power, but nothing like it used to. With that change we are beginning to see more persecution of people who actively share and live out their faith. I expect that to continue. If history repeats itself (and it usually does) then the persecution will only feed the vitality of the Church. In comfort, the Church tends to get complacent.

Second, Paul urges Timothy (and us) to keep ourselves true to Scripture. A worthy question is “which scripture?” If this letter was written near the end of Paul’s life, then Luke, John, and some of the letters like Hebrews, I, II, and III John, Jude and Revelation had not yet been written. And what of Paul’s letter were considered "scripture" or is Paul mainly referring to what we understand as the Old Testament? It’s something to think about, because up through the fourth century, scripture was very much in flux. As we apply it today, it is no problem.

Harold Lindsell wrote 40 years ago about the “Battle for the Bible” and denominations have struggled with the authority of scripture for more than a century. The Southern Baptists have great debates and even throw out churches and pastors who do not hold to a doctrine that says the Bible is inerrant. I find that interesting for two reasons: 1) the Bible doesn’t claim to be inerrant, just inspired, true and trustworthy, and 2) those who hold to that doctrine say that inerrancy only applies to the “original autographs” (the original copy by the author), which never has been located.

In this passage, the Bible claims to be “God-breathed.” If I read Genesis 2 correctly, Adam was made alive by the breath of God, even though he was distinctly a man. It is implied that the same was true of Eve. A careful reading of scripture will show that God breathes into passages that have misspellings, bad grammar, and even have conflicts in what details are. It is because they haven’t found the “original autographs” yet, or is it because God puts his treasure in earthen vessels (II Corinthians 4)?

Chapter 4 begins with the charge: “Preach the Word.” As soon as we read the word “preacher” we think of clergy, but this could also be translated “Proclaim the Word” or “Herald the Word” (like the newspaper guy on the corner). We all are called to that, each in our own way. It says we have to be ready at any time to offer the hope that is our in Christ. But again, the results will be mixed. Some will be responsive while others will follow those who will “tickle their ears” and “just make them feel good.” That’s a tough one. I have discovered that you have to do a little “ear tickling” or the people won’t give you a hearing. At the same time, we don’t want to be so busy making people feel good that we never confront them with the truth that God is calling people to change their ways.

Paul finishes our reading by preparing Timothy for Paul’s death. It is eloquent and beautiful. The picture is of the Olympic crown of laurel leaves given to the marathon winner or the fighting champion, only this one is a crown of righteousness. I was listening to the speed skater, Apollo Ohno as he said with satisfaction, “I left everything on the ice.” He knew that he had offered his best, even though he had been disqualified in one race and did not win in some of the other races. He is the most decorated US winter Olympian. Paul offered his gifts and everything he had. He went “all out” for the Lord. Tradition has it that Paul was beheaded by Rome not long after this letter. The Roman government was boldly saying by such a punishment, “You don’t want to be a loser like this.” Yet, I can hear Paul saying from this passage, “I have won in the only race, the only fight that matters” or from Romans 8:37, “I am more than a conqueror through him who loves us.” Our call to follow is no less – to go “all out” in reaching the world with the love of Christ. How are you responding to God’s call?

Paul V - "Body Language"

I Corinthians 12:12-27

The church is not properly as much an organization as an organism, not as much an institution as a body. In our last church newsletter, I asked whether you “go to Church” or “are the Church” wherever you are. How often we, in error, separate ourselves from the church – as something to which we go or do not go, something we like or don’t like, something that is relevant or irrelevant. In our hymnal, the song cries out boldly,

“I am the Church. You are the Church. We are the Church together; all who follow Jesus, all around the world. Yes, we’re the church together.”

Another song by the same authors takes a children’s rhyme and turns it on its head.

“I can be a Christian by myself, leave my Holy Bible on the shelf, sing a hymn and pray a bit, God will do the rest of it. I’m the Church and I’m the steeple. Shut the door and I’m the people. I can be a Christian by myself (Avery and Marsh)."

God uses our backgrounds and our gifts in relationship together to make a huge impact on our world. But the original sin of groups and churches is that we try to make each other into duplicates of ourselves. Any good leader knows that the worst thing she or he can do is to surround herself or himself with people of the same styles and gifts. God is not an insecure leader and so has gifted his body in great diversity and complementary relationships. But the result of such diversity is difference of function, opinion and style, i.e. conflict! Another result is constant comparison and competition for status and significance, i.e. conflict! Conflict can be healthy, if it is constructive and happens in an atmosphere of humility.

We really are incomplete without each other and every one of has a role in the kingdom that is worthwhile and significant. I really can’t be fully me without you. That’s that old thing of interdependency we talked about in class.

Paul IV: The Gifted Teacher

Romans 5-8

Of all the gifts of Paul (apostle and missionary, shepherd, healer and miracle worker, prophet and preacher), the gift as teacher-coachmay be the greatest of them. It is obviously a mix of his teaching under the finest minds of his day and the gift that developed in him as a spiritual gift. Notice the themes he so expertly describes: 1) How to have peace with God, even in the tough times, 2) Who Jesus is and how we are saved through faith in Him, 3) How to deal with sin and where grace works in us, and 4) the power of God’s love and the role of the Holy Spirit in it. The letter to the Romans is so very different from the more hurried and passionate letters of Galatians (his first one), Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. Here Paul is writing to a church and to people he has never met, giving them the basics of the Christian faith.

Picture yourself as Paul. How would you address these very difficult issues? The issue in behind Romans 5 is “why bad things happen to good people”. How would you put his answer into your own words? How do people get through suffering? In chapters 6-7, the issue is “why people still sin after they have been saved.” I had a professor who said in response to this chapter:

“You may be dead to sin, but sin is not dead to you. That’s why in areas of temptation, we still easily and repeatedly fall. There needs to be a sign posted around key areas of weakness in our life that says “no fishing.”

We also know people who have a relationship with God that allows them to be holy on Sunday and then live like the devil the other days of the week. What does this passage have to say about that?

Yet the bible is so very realistic. We are tempted and we fall, but the grace of God is there for us. Chapter 8 is all about moving from good intentions and guilt trips to living by the love and grace of God. Isn’t it true that most people understand Christianity as a morality code that nobody really keeps anyway? What does Paul have to say about that? Notice the role of the Holy Spirit in this chapter. What dimensions of the Spirit do we not think about that are offered in this chapter? How does what Paul teaches help us to have a freer and more confident faith?

Some of you have the gift of teaching. You know how to bring the basics of the Christian faith to people in ways that make sense and help them embrace the grace of God. Paul gives here some examples of how the gift of teaching works. By the way, from reading the writings of Paul, I can’t help but see growth and learning by him in what he writes. Those who have the gift of teaching must always be open to being taught and are always anxious to be continual learners. One way to spot a false teacher is that he or she is not teachable. So how teachable are you?