March 24: Groups Guide
About This Guide
The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
pdf download
Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.
Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.
more Resources
Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.
Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.
Love
Teaching Text: Luke 18: 28-48
Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him;they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Triumphal Entry
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.
5 moments as Jesus comes into this final week and what they show us:
About what it takes to save the world
What it costs to forgive
How we can be brought into God’s family and Kingdom forever
How that Kingdom might come on earth as it is in heaven
Why this MARCH OF LOVE was worth it
The Triumphal Entry
Luke has been telling us that Jesus had set His face towards Jerusalem. Even though He had been there many times, this was different. He had tried to tell His disciples, but they didn’t seem to be able to hear.
He was coming to Jerusalem to give his life away. To die.
Jesus is deeply aware this is THE MARCH OF LOVE
“Imagine the imperial procession’s arrival in the city. A visual panoply of imperial power; cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. Sounds: the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, the beating of drums. The swirling of dust. The eyes of the silent onlookers, some curious, some awed, some resentful.”
– The Last Week
NT WRIGHT summarizes this…
“That was the way the pilgrims came, with Jesus going on ahead as he had planned all along. This was to be the climax of his story, of his public career, of his vocation. He knew well enough what lay ahead and had set his face to go and meet it head-on. He couldn’t stop announcing the kingdom, but that announcement could only come true if he now embodied in himself the things he’d been talking about. The living God was at work to heal and save, and the forces of evil and death were massed to oppose him, like Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt trying to prevent the Israelites from leaving. But this was to be the moment of God’s new Exodus, God’s great Passover, and nothing could stop Jesus going ahead to celebrate it.”
The Borrowed Donkey
There a centuries-old prophecy from Zechariah…
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Jesus is not riding a warhorse or accompanied by soldiers
It’s an unexpected Kingdom. A donkey is the carrier of the king.
In what ways is the kingdom of God unlike what you’d expect as strength in our culture?
Weeping over the city
“As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it”
– Luke 19: 41
Even further back than the prophecy about the donkey, God revealed Himself to Moses in a way that Israel has repeated ever since…
“And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
– Exodus 34: 6-7
GOD HAS SHOWN THAT HE IS COMPASSIONATE, GRACIOUS, MERCIFUL, LOVING, FORGIVING
God will not compromise His holiness. But He will not let go of His love.
He doesn’t say I will throw our justice so I can forgive
He doesn’t say I love so much that it means people living as their own God is fine and does no damage.
This is the Gospel.
“For the essence of sin is we substitute ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. ”
– John Stott
The tears of Jesus show that God hates what our separation has done to us.
“Oh, that you would know even now what makes for peace”
That you wouldn’t cling to your stubbornness
That you would come out of your blindness
You have no idea what pain you are bringing on yourself
You are missing the moment of God visiting you
His heart breaks for His people. But then also for people who aren’t His people yet…
What does it mean to you that God weeps over the separation you experience because of sin?
Cleansing the Temple
“When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
– Luke 19
A HOUSE OF PRAYER (FOR ALL NATIONS)
A place of communion for all types of people, for anyone who would join
For us.
JESUS did something to get Himself arrested. But it wasn’t a random act of anger. IT WAS MAKING SPACE FOR ALL OF US.
A Meal with Friends
Sometimes, you will hear the crowds who shouted Hosanna, just a few days later in the week, were shouting crucify Him.
That very well may have been true. There may have been some of the same crowds from this moment of walking into Jerusalem who were there when Pilate offered to release Jesus.
But we know with more clarity where His disciples, His friends were in these scenes
In the height of emotion, at the height of a long climb when they could fairly see the city. They shouted, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord"
Then days later they would betray Him, argue over their own status, fall asleep in His hour of agony, run away, and deny Him multiple times…
The Gospel is that Jesus laid down His life for friends, knowing all of that.
On the Cross, He speaks mercy over the ones who are killing Him. Forgive them; they dont know what they are doing. At the heart of the Gospel is a man dying for His enemies.
DO YOU SEE THE SAVIOR’S MARCH OF LOVE?
He has come to the city, though He knows what it holds
He is inviting us to join in
He is weeping when we do not
He is making space for us
And when we fail or scream “crucify Him”, or deny Him by the fire
March 17: Groups Guide
About This Guide
The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
pdf download
Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.
Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.
more Resources
Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.
Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.
Love
Teaching Text: Ephesians 4: 11-16
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Spiritual Parenting
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
Who has been a parental figure in your life for whom you are very grateful?
What did they do that impacted you?
Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.
We have looked at the ecosystem of our various relationships during lent. Jesus says that people will recognize us as those who are becoming like Him - by noticing the way we love.
Today, we are looking at spiritual parenting.
Spiritual parenting: This journey of helping one another from infancy to maturity.
I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
– 1 CORINTHIANS 4 v 14-17
Paul as a spiritual father cares about their future!
Who has been involved in your life that really cared about your future? Send them a text of gratitude.
There are many tutors… with their own agenda and their own ministry.
A father or a mother is different
There is a powerful combination of invitations in what is described here in Spiritual Parenting.
Imitate me
See the integrity between my words and actions
If God’s world is a relational world and the Kingdom of God moves along relational lines then YOUR INFLUENCE IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL GIFTS YOU CAN GIVE
Can you recognize when someone is exerting their influence for their own benefit instead of for the benefit of those being influenced?
What a privilege:
That someone would know God’s love from your life
That someone would know the good news of Jesus from you. That they can know forgiveness and union with God
That someone could be rooted in their true identity as deeply loved by God because of you
That someone could see an aspect of how to follow Jesus from your life
That you walk with someone in how to endure grief without giving in to bitterness
How to experience free from crippling addiction
How to navigate treacherous career waters with grace and trust in the Holy Spirit
Someone learns how to pray from praying with you
“It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations....
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
– C.S. LEWIS
YOUR INFLUENCE IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL GIFTS YOU CAN GIVE
The gifts of the spirit:
They are ways God helps us to love one another.
Apostles: Often carry a burden and spiritual responsibility to take new ground. To establish new works. To build the church where it hasn’t been. To expand the community of Jesus into new places.
This could be thought of like spiritual entrepreneurship. They often are strong at carrying and creating a certain type of culture.
My friend Jon Tyson who helped start the first Trinity Grace’s in Manhattan is one of the most apostolically gifted people I have ever been around.
Prophets: A prophet is gifted with hearing and longing to hear God. They keep asking
What is God saying? What has God said?
They want to speak the words of God to the people of God.
A prophet helps a community continually align itself around the world of God.
Where have we drifted from the heart of God?
Evangelists: someone gifted with communicating the good news of Jesus.
Someone who might say I love the new ground we have taken, I love that we are listening for the Lord, but are we welcoming in the outsider?
Is our church aware of those around us who need to experience the love of God?
Do we have the courage to be honest about the hope with have in Christ?
Pastors: these are shepherds of the soul. They are gifted with caring for people
Are people being loved well or forgotten?
A community may be growing and doing new things and sharing faith but are people falling through the cracks, getting trampled by busyness
Are we healthy in our souls?
Teachers: They help take the mysteries of God and give us access points
They help teach us how to read, hear, understand and hear God’s word
They may take something that feels inaccessible or confusing and break us off nourishing morsel
Our city last year mourned the loss of Tim Keller who was certainly an evangelist, but one of the greatest teachers of the Scriptures of his generation.
As we look at these things, we can start to see the brilliance of God.
Not only should we ask “Which can i identify with (there may be more than one)?”
We should also celebrate the diversity and difference that others represent!
GOD HAS GIVEN THEM ALL TO THE CHURCH - and in concert they help us move from infancy to maturity.
We are “given to one another” and can appreciate and show gratitude for one another.
There’s a picture of spiritual parenting in this passage.
the word equip here is a rich word with many uses in the ancient world.
if you’ve been at TGC for a while you will have heard these uses before.
EQUIP
To reset a broken bone
To pack a ship with the supplies it will need for a journey
To restore something that has been damaged to its original condition
To train a soldier to fight
We need healing
When we parent well - we help offer healing for wounds the world gives us
We need to be made ready for what is ahead
When we parent well - we help supply someone with what they will need for their journey
We need reminders of our identity
When we parent well we help remind each other of who God says we are - apart from any sin or failure
We need help (skills and tools) for the struggle of life
When we parent well we help prepare each other for the fight of keep faith, hope, and love
When we parent well we remind people who they are in God:
WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST | The Identity of a Christian
John 1:12 I am God's child.
John 15:15 As a disciple, I am a friend of Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 I have been justified.
1 Corinthians 6:17 I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 I am a member of Christ's body.
Ephesians 1:3-8 I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.
Colossians 1:13-14 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
Colossians 2:9-10 I am complete in Christ.
Hebrews 4:14-16 I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:1-2 I am free from condemnation.
Romans 8:28 I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances. Romans 8:31-39 I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Colossians 3:1-4 I am hidden with Christ in God.
Philippians 1:6 I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
Philippians 3:20 I am a citizen of heaven.
2 Timothy 1:7 I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
1 John 5:18 I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.
John 15:5 I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life.
John 15:16 I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit.
1 Corinthians 3:16 I am God's temple.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
Ephesians 2:6 I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.
Ephesians 2:10 I am God's workmanship.
Ephesians 3:12 I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
AND FROM THIS IDENTITY YOU HAVE A LOT TO OFFER. No matter your age or life stage.
March 24: Enemies and Friends | Greater Love Has No One Than This
March 10: Groups Guide
About This Guide
The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
pdf download
Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.
Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.
more Resources
Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.
Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.
Love
Teaching Text: John 15: 11-17
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Friendship
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
Think of a childhood friendship. What aspects of that friendship did you particularly enjoy?
Who do you most unlikely friend? Why does this friendship surprise you?
Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.
In our text today, Jesus is talking about friendship in one of the most crucial hours in the history of the world.
God is a relational being - the Trinity
The world is a relational world
The Kingdom of God moves along relational lines
So friendship is one of the most powerful forces in this world
If we can see an enemy become a friend, it is one of life's great miracles
It happens to be at the heart of the Gospel.
What is a friend?
How can we make friends?
How can we keep friends?
What makes a good friend?
Share with your group something that stood out that a friend did for you.
What a friend is:
A friend is someone you share with and who shares with you
That’s what we hear Jesus saying here. You are my friends and not something else like a servant because I am sharing with you.
Friendship and Selfishness. Two of the great defining realities of human experience. It’s wild how often selfishness feels safer, but over time diminishes us.
“Each of us has contact with hundreds of people who never look beyond our surface appearance. We have dealings with hundreds of people who the moment they set eyes on us begin calculating what use we can be to them, what they can get out of us. We meet hundreds of people who take one look at us, make a snap judgment, and then slot us into a necessary category so that they won’t have to deal with us as persons. They treat us as something less than we are: and if we’re in constant association with them, we become less.
And then someone enters our life who isn’t looking for someone to use, is leisurely enough to find out what’s really going on in us, is secure enough not to exploit our weaknesses or attack our strengths, recognizes our inner life and understands the difficulty of living out our inner convictions, confirms what’s deepest within us. A friend.”
– Eugene Peterson
When you stop sharing, friendship will diminish. This can happen in a well established relationship or a brand new one.
When we look at Jesus life.
We see Enemies, Multitudes (Neighbors), 120 disciples, 12 apostles, and the 3 close friends.
The difference in a real way was He shared more as the relationships grew in intimacy.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
– ACTS 2 v 42-27
That word FELLOWSHIP there is a Greek word KOINONIA and it means SHARING.
“It is no small thing to open our hearts and our arms and allow another to enter there, to grant another person the same worth, the same consequence, the same existential gravity that we take for granted in ourselves. The fact is that our natural tendency is to treat people as if they were not “others” at all, but merely aspects of ourselves. We do not experience them as the overwhelming, comprehensive realities we find ourselves to be. Compared with us, they are not quite real. We see them through a haze, the haze of our own all-engulfing self-hood.”
– Mike Mason
How can we make friends?
Jesus says here to His friends that He made a choice. He chose friendship with these whom He is sharing the meal with
Friends are discovered and friends are made
We aren’t joined in Christ by mutual compatibility similar demographics. We are joined by the love and mercy of God revealed to us in Jesus.
One the most beautiful and needed aspects of church life is we don’t curate who is here. We brought together and we discover friendship. By first sharing the mercy and grace God has given us with each other.
We don’t begin with the old resume lists for friendships. We, together at the communion table, offer the grace we have received.
Friendships in Christ are discovered, but they are also MADE, and I think it comes back to sharing.
When you share time, share honesty, share a love of something, share a sense of humor, share an effort, share suffering even you see bonds strengthen.
Companionship becomes friendship through intentional sharing.
C.S. Lewis said it’s hard to find friends if you just want friends. Because friends bond over something shared.
Pursue deep friendship with Christ - Jesus will shape and reshape your heart with grace
Helps ground your identity
Go after your loves, passions, and talents. Pursue the things God has made you to love and be good at and care for most
Your passions may be a clue to your friendships
We keep showing up to serve together, to create together, to practice together, to enjoy something together
Pursue God and what God has given you to care about and then…
Pay attention to whom your fellow-travelers are.
When you see a potential friend
Take the risk of sharing
That intentional paying attention and sharing can build and strengthen friendships
***I HAVE SOME FRIENDS WHO HELP ME WITH THIS***
Friendship has risk
Someone could move away, or hurt you, or not give as much as your giving to the relationship
It might cost you time at some achievement or accomplishment
It requires investment and some of those are without guarantees
Some of you have seen a regression in your willingness to pursue friendship in
”To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
– C.S. Lewis
Sometimes People Use the Word Friend When They Mean Something Else
Internet acquaintance
Someone I am networking with to get what I want
People I compete with and compare myself to
We won’t be able to be friends with everyone even some of our companions and that’s ok
We have lost the art of loving confrontation, confession, and forgiveness
Friendship has to be maintained by resolving differences
If we cant confront, confess or forgive - our friendships will be short lived or shallow
If you get close to someone they are going to hurt you.
How can we keep friends?
We do have to lay down our lives for one another.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
– JOHN 15 v 11-13
We keep friends by walking in the way of Jesus - the way of forgiveness and mercy and self-giving love.
But also we keep friends in Christ because we share in His death to share in His resurrection.
What aspects of your friendships do you feel to pay attention to and change?
Where do you withhold sharing more of yourself?
Are there any friends that you need to share forgiveness with?
Any friends you want to build and share more of your resources asnd even yourself with?
March 10: The Deep Mystery and Sacrificial Art of Friendship
March 3: Groups Guide
About This Guide
The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
pdf download
Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.
Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.
more Resources
Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.
Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.
Love
Teaching Text: Revelation 21: 1-5
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City,the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bridebeautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
The Marriage of God and His People
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
What parts of marriage represents to you the relationship between God and the church?
Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.
Ancient Jewish weddings
As we look at Ancient Jewish Weddings: (I should say I am indebted to Ray Van Laan, Marty Solomon (from Bema), Frank Viola, and Bethany Allen (from Bridgetown and 24/7 prayer) for all presenting great work and helpful research on this …)
Arrangement - How the family makes the choice. We sometimes think of this in only negative terms, but quite often this worked well and was a true communal effort. A way today maybe a teenager with raging hormones could use some guidance - this isn’t just about you. But it’s a negative Disney type myth that the wishes of the kids wouldn’t have been take into consideration.
Betrothal - father would bring a cup and give it to the son. The son would hand this cup filled with wine to his potential bride and he would say, “This is the cup of a new covenant that I make with you today. I will drink of this cup again until I drink it with you in my Fathers house.
He hands her the cup. He is saying I will do what most be done. I will prepare a place. I will pay whatever price to make us one.
If she takes the cup and drinks from it, it was her way of covenantally sealing the arrangement.
Preparing a place: groom goes back to father’s dwelling and builds a place for he and his bride.
Only the father knows the timing, because he has to approve the work
A time where father gets to really see the formation of his son.
Groom Returns - he returns. The timing was not known. There was an expectation of readiness and preparedness during whole engagement. Remember Jesus’ parable of the ‘bridesmaids.’
Cleansing - She goes for a big ritual spa day - helped by her bridesamaids and community
Shofar is sounded - a trumpet blast to begin the festivities
Gather under the Chuppah - symbol of their new home and open doors of hospitality
Present the Ketubah - take their vows - Ketubah
A covenant of what their marriage will me
Saw this this fall on a roof top but industry city. Chuppah whipping in the wind.
Room Set Aside for the consummation where the best man stands gaurd
Produces a bloody cloth (scandalizes us, but our cultures norm of using sex to get to know someone would scandalize them)
The families Exchange the Dowry - bride price from the cup of the betrothal
Party for up to a week - remember when they ran out of wine
One Year - Honeymoon. Severely reduced communal responsibility. Learn to love each other
This is also the story of God and His people Israel:
We can trace this same picture through the story of Israel.
The Arangement
Is off the page.
On the recesses of eternity past God determined to get bride for His Son
Betrothal - Genesis 12 -15
God tells Abram leave your father's home and come to a place I will prepare for you.
They ratify this covenant by walking the blood path
He becomes Abraham
Time in Egypt – Waiting. Where is the Groom to be found? They are oppressed. Crying Out.
Arrival of the Bridegroom – Passover
God tells Moses to Consecrate Israel – prepare them
A SPECIAL TREASURE TO ME
Wedding talk in the Hebrew
Later in Exodus 19 is the SHOFAR - the sound of the Trumpet
They gather Under the Chuppah - the cloud at Mt. Sinai. Camped against the mountain.
God presents the Ketubah - the Ten Commandments.
Here is how we thrive.
Tabernacle is going to serve as the Honeymoon suite and the Law is Gods gifts to them.
It makes it all the more tragic that when Moses is up on Mt. Sinai and the people become unfaithful and we have the Golden Calf incident.
This is like a bride being unfaithful in the middle of the wedding ceremony.
But God continues to move in covenant love. There are places like Ezekiel 16 that describe God’s heartbreak at this unfaithfulness.
But the picture is there over and over.
The marriage of God and His people.
And then when Jesus arrives and on the eve of his betrayal and death. He says….
“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
– John 14 v 2-4
Look at this detail Matthews account gives us…
“Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
– Matthew 26 v 27-29
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church”
– Ephesians 5 v 31-32
How do we live as the Bride of Christ?
Why are we talking about this in Lent?
Lent a time for us to examine our lives in light of Christ.
We often think of only personal devotion.
But what about our relationships?
How are we living in our marriages? How are we living in our singleness? As the Bride of Christ?
As men, as women? Are we faithful to Christ and faithful to one another?
Are we living with what the Apostle Paul calls a sincere and pure devotion?
“When somebody belongs to the Messiah, they continue with their life on earth, but they have a secret life as well, a fresh gift from God, which becomes part of the hidden reality that will be ‘revealed’ at the last day. That is why, in those great scenes in Revelation there is a great, uncountable number of people standing around God’s throne in heaven, singing glad songs and shouting out their praises. This is the heavenly reality which corresponds to the (apparently) weak, feeble praises of the church on earth. And one day this heavenly reality will be revealed, revealed as the true partner of the lamb, now transformed, Cinderella-like, from slave-girl to bride.”
– NT WRIGHT
Enjoy Communion - there is clearly some ALREADY and NOT YET in the reality of God and his people.
Make Ourselves Ready
Let Christ wash us with water and with the Word
“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless”
– Ephesians 5:25-27
Consecrate ourselves
Where have we given ourselves to other gods, to other loves?
What else has your primary devotion, attention and affection?
Long for His Appearing - think about where we are the story
Bethany Allen - pastor and elder at Bridgetown in Portland about the bride:
A term distinguished from wife—emphasizes being the center of one’s affection and love
Intrinsically tethered to a counterpart: the groom and the groom brings these aspects of pursuit, promise, patience
An anticipatory term connects to something that is about to happen or has just happened
“At the core of a bride’s greatest and most defining act is waiting. This waiting has the power either to define her or to diminish her.”
Waiting can either:
Builds appetite v dulls senses
Deepens love v. inflates fragility
Reveals our deepest hope or illuminates our fears
“Singleness points us beyond earthly marriage (and earthly sex). And bears witness to a life beyond this one—to a heavenly life. It exhibits a high invitation to give oneself to God, who enables us to give oneself to others. Singles can offer a divine state of existence from which marrieds have a lot to learn.”
– Abbie Smith
If you are married in this church you have a chance to show us something of the faithfulness and delight of Christ.
Let your marriage reflect the love of Jesus and His covenant love
Work on and protect your talking and listening
Make a covenant with your eyes - not to look on another
Remember what your marriage represents
March 3: The Marriage of God and His People
February 25: Groups Guide
About This Guide
The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
pdf download
Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.
Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.
more Resources
Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.
Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.
Love
Teaching Text: Luke 10 :25-37
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
The Good Samaritan
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
If your apartment is in the middle, how many of your neighbors do you know?
Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.
Here are lent resources: https://trinitygracechurch.com/lent
Read the text and share what stands out to you about the encounter.
In this text… A really important question:
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
The temporal state of our current context
Many of us are not thinking about Eternity. We are thinking about:
How to get through today
How to get through this week
Our minds are caught up in a trend we won’t be able to remember this time next year
“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’”
Luke is letting us know that this man is not just curious. He isn’t simply wanting to learn. He is testing Jesus. And he does so with a famous question of his time.
”He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
”To inherit eternal life, all he must do is to consistently practice unqualified love for God and his neighbor.” – Kenneth Bailey
It’s a huge question, its the right answer and none of us can execute this perfectly.
THE priest and the Levite - this should have been good news for our wounded Jewish traveler.
Yet, both of them avoid this man.
What do our needy neighbors think of our presence?
The man is naked and might be dead. If they are on their way to serve in the temple, they cannot come in contact with a dead body and being naked they cannot tell if this man is Jewish. So they aren’t sure what their obligation is to him
Basically they have really good reasons from experience why they cant help. And their reasons are connected to good religious conviction.
How easily do you find very legitimate, reasonable, and logical reasons not to show love to the most difficult/risky people to love?
And everyone hearing the story knows who the next person was going to be. The parable has a set rabbinic formula.
The priest, the Levite, the Jewish laymen. Jesus is going to make the hero a Jewish laymen.
But then he doesn’t. He introduces the hated enemy - the Samaritan.
There is so much risk and cost in what the Samaritan does.
What do our needy neighbors think of our presence?
What does the Samaritan do?
He saw him
He had compassion
He acted on his compassion and went to him
He used his own oil and wine
He went on a the dangers road on foot
He brought him to safety
He paid a high cost for his needs to be met
“Go and do likewise”
”Salvation is not some felicitous state to which we can lift ourselves by our own bootstraps after the contemplation of sufficiently good examples. It is an utterly new creation into which we are brought by our death in Jesus' death and our resurrection in his. It comes not out of our own efforts, however well-inspired or successfully pursued, but out of the shipwreck of all human effort whatsoever.”
– Robert Farrar Capon
American evangelicalism has shown us you can have a ornate systems of personal devotion, prayers, Bible readings, conferences, and NOT LOVE your neighbor.
We often measure our spiritual well-being in personal devotional terms but God keeps putting the emphasis on how we love.
You cannot reach eternal life without the rescuing love of Jesus, and that is all
Once changed by that love, we learn to love our neighbor who includes our enemy.
The world is not moved by people who love the other people who like them and are like them.
The Kingdom of God looks like loving your enemy. At its heart is a man dying for his enemies
Jesus is interested in how you love your neighbors, because how we love our neighbor is how we love Him.
February 25: Strangers and Neighbors | Parable of the Good Samaritan
February 18: Groups Guide
About This Guide
The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
pdf download
Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.
Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.
more Resources
Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.
Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.
Love
Teaching Text: Matthew 25: 31-41
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Sheep and goats
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
How do we measure fruitfulness in our spirituality?
What makes people seem more spiritually mature?
Lent: Historically, the season of Lent in the church year is a time of preparation, repentance, and renewal. We remember and mark Jesus’ time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We ask God to help remove our sin and anything that has entangled us or is keeping us from experiencing our union with Jesus.
Here are lent resources: https://trinitygracechurch.com/lent
In this text, we see:
Do not be apathetic about the time
You will be held accountable for what you have been given
The measurement is how you treat your neighbor - how you love those in need
Criteria for righteousness:
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”
– Matthew 25 v 37-39
Shocking Detail #1: The Righteous Don't Know They are Righteous
This was contrary to what the Pharisees were saying equates to righteousness.
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’”
– Matthew 25 v 37-39What do current religious norms describe as characteristics of righteousness?
Shocking Detail #2: The King (The Son of Man) so identifies with these people in need that he says a kindness done to them is a kindness done to them.
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
– Matthew 25 v 40
Shocking Detail #3: The Consequences of Not Caring for Those in Need is Extremely Drastic
It was the same as denying, ignoring, and withholding help from Jesus
The eternal fire is not prepared for people, but pride and lack of love makes it there place
We have to wonder is this passage saying something different than many other parts of the New Testament?
DEPART FROM ME - there is an echo of a phrase that isnt here but is in the chapter and several other places I NEVER KNEW YOU
The hinge point is their sacrificial love and their pride or humility
THE DANGER FOR US
HOW TO BE A THEOLOGICALLY ACCURATE CHRISTIAN PHARISEE
Using the atonement of Jesus to let myself off the hook for living a comfortable American life where I ignore my neighbor
This is so close to what the Pharisees of Jesus day did with the Law of Moses
We are covered by God's covenant so we worry about keeping ourselves clean and we despise others
IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STORY - prophetic picture
Knowing Jesus must lead to loving like Jesus and loving Jesus through our neighbors
“It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.”
– C.S. LEWIS
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
– C.S. LEWIS
Loving our neighbors is a primary way God has asked us to Love him.
“God identifies with our neighbor just so we can do for the neighbor what we cannot do for God, which is to love another with complete and total generosity. Moreover, it is precisely this recognition of how freely and generously we have been loved by God that inspires our free and generous love of neighbor.”
– Frederick Bauerschmidt